Turkey: Armenian genocide
29 Apr 2021
In 1915 two million Armenians lived in Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000. Successive regimes deny that there was such a thing as an Armenian genocide. Turkey now appears intent on reigniting the hatred by helping Azerbaijan wage war on Armenia in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, which erupted into armed conflict in late 2020. Turkish mercenaries and their Azerbaijani partners have ISIS-like behavior. They tortured beyond recognition an intellectually disabled 58-year-old Armenian woman before murdering her. Her family identified her by her clothes. When a random pedestrian was asked, ‘If you could get away with one thing, what would you do?’ She looked at the video camera and smiled saying, ‘What would I do? Behead twenty Armenians.’ 24 April was Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the start of the period in which Ottoman Turks massacred 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. On 27 April that Turkey said relations with the US had sunk to a new low after Joe Biden formally acknowledged that Armenians suffered genocide 100 years ago.
USA: Biden’s 100 days speech to Congress
29 Apr 2021
President Biden marked 100 days in office with a speech that put into focus his domestic agenda, the most dramatic shift in federal economic and social welfare policies since Ronald Reagan forty years ago. Reagan’s philosophy resulted in decades-long squeezes on domestic spending and tax policies that benefit the wealthiest. If Biden gets his way Reagan’s policies will be replaced by ones directly addressing long-standing economic, racial and gender inequities. His speech reflected his presidency to date, appealing for bold action by a leader whose demeanour is opposite to that of Donald Trump. Biden believes there is an urgent need to act, an opportunity to do so, but limited time to get it done. He said the nation needs ‘a once-in-generation investment in families and children.’ But because of the Democrats’ narrow majorities and a nation still divided over the president’s performance, Biden’s agenda represents a political gamble.
Japan: Tokyo Olympics and the pandemic
29 Apr 2021
Japan’s government declared a third state of emergency due to rising Covid infections just three months before hosting the 32nd Olympic Games. Documents released on 28 April introduce new Covid restrictions and requirements ahead of the Olympics, with guidelines that limit participants’ movement and require more testing. Takeshi Takazawa of Asian Access said, ‘The government wants to quickly eliminate the rapid increase of new cases with new strands of viruses. We are quite behind with vaccinating the people. We didn’t come up with vaccines of our own, so we depend on US production. Different simulations have been done, and we probably will not be able to finish vaccinating people over 65 before the Olympics are supposed to start.’ One third of Japanese people want to postpone the Olympics for another year; another one third want to cancel it, and the rest want to go ahead after already postponing for a year.
2021 report: persecution of Biblical proportions
29 Apr 2021
50,000 Christians are being held in North Korean prison camps. Some 3,000 Yazidi girls and women are missing in Iraq. 130,000 Muslims are in internment camps in Burma and as many as 3 million Uighur Muslims are in Chinese concentration camps. China finds two religions particularly problematic for the survival and existence of the Communist Party. Christianity and Islam. A recent report identifies ten countries which are the worst offenders and of particular concern. They are already designated as such by the US state department: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. US and NATO ally Turkey is listed as a tier-two offender. There are also recommendations to add India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam to the list. See
USA: cheers filled city streets
22 Apr 2021
From Minnesota to New York to Florida, Americans triumphantly flooded streets to celebrate and mark the moment when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin (a white man) was convicted of the murder of George Floyd (a black man). After Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill in May 2020, he was seen on video being pinned to the ground by Chauvin's knee for more than nine minutes. After the verdict, in New York a dozen police officers closely followed a group who at one point stopped in the middle of an intersection and knelt down. ‘One conviction is not enough,’ a man said over a loudspeaker as horns honked. Protesters held up signs reading, ‘Justice for George Floyd is no more cop terror’, and ‘This isn’t justice, but it’s a start.’
Persistent picketing works
22 Apr 2021
On 16 April Bitter Winter, a magazine on religious liberty and human rights, published the following: ‘His wife’s picket at the Chinese consulate in Almaty got so much attention that the CCP decided to give up, and set her husband free after 17 years of detention. Those who insist that picketing and protesting outside Chinese embassies and consulates is a waste of time were proved wrong in Kazakhstan.’ An amazing Kazakh woman from Xinjiang who had picketed the Chinese consulate in Almaty achieved the return of her husband Rakhizhan Zeinolla. He had been arrested without evidence when he went to Xinjiang from Kazakhstan, and kept in jail for 13 years. Then he was put into a camp, and later was under house arrest.
Abused wife leading Muslims to Christ
22 Apr 2021
Annahita Parsan has led over 1,500 Muslims to Christ. She leads two churches and trains other churches how to reach out to Muslims and disciple Muslim background believers. She believes Jeremiah foretold these days when he said God would restore the fortunes of Elam. Elam is Persia. It's happening now. No one would guess an Iranian woman trying to stay alive in an abusive marriage would one day lead churches, bring over a thousand former Muslims to Christ, and be invited to speak before the Queen of Sweden. As a young woman in a Muslim culture, her journey to Christ led her across two continents and included several brushes with death. Her story could be the plot of a Hollywood movie.
Anti-racism taskforce report
22 Apr 2021
The Archbishops' anti-racism taskforce report calls for urgent changes. Failure to act could be the ‘last straw’ for many from the UK minority ethnic (UKME) backgrounds. Setting out 47 action areas across participation, governance, training, education and young people, the report states that racism is a sin. The church has been discussing the issue for 44 years. The nine-strong taskforce was set up in autumn 2020 to review previous reports of racial justice, discover whether their recommendations had been implemented, and prepare the ground for the establishment of a longer-term Commission on Racial Justice. One of the report’s main recommendations is the recruitment of more bishops and senior members of the church from UKME backgrounds, with suggested quotas. It highlights the fact that the new Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, is the only UKME bishop in the Church of England.