Journey To The Republic Of Armenia

Armenia sits on the cusp between Europe and Asia, landlocked between Turkey and Iran, two opposing powers. For much of its history, Armenia was forced to contend between two greater powers positioned on either side of it. There was Persia and its powerful influence on one side and Turkey on the other, both interested in advancing and assuming control over the Armenian Plains. Today, these enmities continue to persist, with Turkey refusing to open its borders with Armenia, while there is a strong tourist trade with Iran. Besides these competing countries, Azerbaijan claims the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, as does Armenia. There are periodic flare-ups, with the most recent ceasefire, brokered by Russia, taking place on 10 November 2020, resulting in Azerbaijan gaining a distinct military advantage, large territories in the disputed region. In August 2017, I traveled to and spent a nearly month in Armenia, visiting sites both in Yerevan, the capital and in locations distant from the capital. The ancient Zorats Karer, site of the Armenian Stonehenge, has massive stones configured in a curving 'S' shape, placed by ancient and unknown people. The site is also known as the 'singing stones' because of the holes bored into the stones. One must conjecture that the ancient construction of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, attracted ancient hunter-gatherers to this large region, where they constructed these sites for reasons with which we are not familiar. Other than these stones, nothing is known of them, why they were built, and its overall purpose. Even their age is contested. Further south is Tatev, site of an ancient monastery, containing a unique scientific obelisk. The tall stone column, standing free at its base, was designed to predict the severity of earthquakes by its movement. This is a remarkable construction, made by an early seismologist interested in calibrating the periodic earthquakes this area experiences. To travel to the monastery grounds, I crossed the deep gorge by way of the world's longest cable tramway, the Wings of Tatev. As I review in my reviews of journeys to different countries, I visited with the small Jewish community in Armenia. Its chief rabbi, the only formal Jewish leader in the country, welcomed me and I spent one Sabbath as we discussed the history of Jews in the country and the minuscule community he leads today. During the Second World War, he, his mother and aunt sheltered here, finding the country and city a welcome respite from Nazi and Soviet anti-Semitism. Thousand of fellow Jews did the same and were grateful for this place of refuge. But in the years following that world conflict, all but approximately one hundred Jews left the country. Today, they reside in Israel, as in other counties. There is an enduring question why the Armenian setting was not conducive to Jewish settlement and business development. I found Armenia to be a fascinating country, with a long and complex history. Known for the Armenia Genocide, it is a place with attractions that remain unique. I share my journey and the places of interest about this country, with its complex history and its special people.

What do 'Abu Sindi', 'Timothy Sean McCormack', 'Saro', and 'Commander Avo' all have in common? They were all aliases for Monte Melkonian. But who was Monte Melkonian? In his native California he was once a kid in cut-off jeans, playing baseball and eating snow cones. Europe denounced him as an international terrorist. His adopted homeland of Armenia decorated him as a national hero who led a force of 4000 men to victory in the Armenian enclave of Mountainous Karabagh in Azerbaijan. Why Armenia? Why adopt the cause of a remote corner of the Caucasus whose peoples had scattered throughout the world after the early twentieth century Ottoman genocides? Markar Melkonian spent seven years unravelling the mystery of his brother's road: a journey which began in his ancestors' town in Turkey and leading to a blood-splattered square in Tehran, the Kurdish mountains, the bomb-pocked streets of Beirut, and finally, to the windswept heights of Mountainous Karabagh. Monte's life embodied the agony and the follies bedevelling the end of the Cold War and the unravelling of the Soviet Union. Yet, who really was this man? A terrorist or a hero? "My Brother's Road" is not just the story of a long journey and a short life, it is an attempt to understand what happens when one man decides that terrible actions speak louder than words.

Human ingenuity has created three great canals in different locations on our planet. Each of these transformed the country and the world in its own way and time. The oldest canal to be constructed was the Grand Canal, an important Chinese waterway, connecting Suzhou and Beijing, a distance of 1,104 miles (1,776 km). This is the longest artificial canal in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not as well known as the other great canals, this important waterway enabled merchants to bring grain and other goods over this long distance so that merchants could transport goods throughout the kingdom. The Grand Canal was first constructed by Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, whose capital is in present-day Suzhou, in 486 BCE. Over the centuries, the Grand Canal was expanded and rebuilt and is still in use in China. The second oldest canal was constructed in ancient Egypt when the waterways of the Nile River were expanded to ease shipping goods throughout the country. Much later, modern engineers reconstructed the Suez Canal, an effort that required much ingenuity and effort to bring this project to fruition. This waterway, at 120.1 miles, was opened in 1869, transforming modern shipping of goods by reducing the journey by between Britain and India by 4,500 miles. Up to this time, ships had to travel around Africa's Cape of Good Hope or past the tip of South America (Magellan or Drake Passages) to reach the other side of the world. Both of these points are dangerous with many ships lost at sea. The Suez Canal completely bypassed this difficulty. However, the territorial disputes and enmities between the Egyptians and Israelis soon saw conflict across these placid waters. In each of the major wars fought between these two countries, the passage of mercantile ships through the Suez Canal became dangerous. Once peace was established between Egypt and Israel, maritime traffic resumed and the world benefited from that peace. Today, there is peace between these two countries, and I recount the instances when I sailed on the Suez Canal. The last canal to be built was in Panama, making travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans possible. French engineers tried to construct this canal but failed for various reasons. The United States then took over the project and in vast effort, saw the project to completion. Two years of preparatory effort was necessary to construct infrastructure for the thousands of workers who would toil in the earthworks being moved to create the Panama Canal. A notable effort was addressing the lethal malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases endemic in this country. In the end, yellow fever was completely eradicated from Panama, though malaria cases, though low, continue to be present. The Panama Canal is 50 miles in length and opened on 15 August 1914. Today, thousands of ships, carrying passengers and goods, travel through this, and the other canals, thereby transforming our world.

The Jewish history of the Iberian Peninsula begins during Roman times, followed by the Visigoths, a Germanic presence that was initially favorable towards the Jews. In 589 CE, their king Recarred converted to Roman Catholicism resulting in the Edicts of Toledo, a series of laws designed to create many difficulties for Jews who refused to convert to Christianity. Visigoth rule ended in 711 when Muslims from North Africa invaded. Tariq ibn Ziyad, a North African general, for whom Gibraltar is named (Jebel Tariq) found Visigoth armies weak and soon reached the Pyrenees and beyond. Muslim rule on Iberia lasted from 711 to 1492, as Christian armies reconquered and gained southern territories. During Islamic control of the peninsula, a conviviality (convivencia) existed amongst the three Abrahamic religions resulting in a vast seminal growth with translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts and advances in every area of human thought. The scholarship that grew from this period later fueled the Renaissance, benefiting modern scholarship. But in 1492, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promulgated the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from the kingdom. This was followed by the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, an institution that tortured and murdered thousands of men, women, and children, even as young as twelve years old. The Inquisition extended to the New World. In Mexico City as in Lima Peru, victims of the Inquisition faced merciless tribunals and faced the same fate as in Spain. The Inquisition was finally abolished in 1968. Transitioning to 2015, Spain began offering dual nationality to Jewish descendants of the expelled. I analyze the requirements to do so, noting its extensive detail, even demanding support of the Spanish constitution and culture as well as tests in Spanish with proof of marriage in the Jewish-Castilian tradition. This book offers a tableau of the harsh, zealous, and intolerant past to an effort by Spain to amend that violent historic record by offering an open hand to Jews. I leave the reasoning why Spain is doing so to the pessimist and cynic or to the optimist and hopeful.

Italy is a wonderful country to explore and experience. Its geography, from the lower peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean to the north and into the heartland of Europe, makes it an ideal setup to travel. Each area of the country has a unique and special identity so the traveler experiences a range of styles that reflects the unification of this special country and people. Visiting Italy is a unique experience for me. Its history, culture, architecture, people, and food combine to provide an extraordinary experience. My review and description of the cities I visited represents months of travel and my examination of the different aspects of each city. As I've done with regard to each city in the world about which I wrote a review, the template I adopted offers a panoramic approach to appreciate its multi-faceted presence. The first section reflects the country’s and each city’s History, followed by Jewish History and Presence, and My Visit. In March 2016, I visited Civitavecchia, a beautiful city overshadowed by Rome, but a short train ride away. I then visited Naples and Pompeii. This visit was while I was aboard the Rotterdam, a beautiful Holland America cruise ship, while on a 91-day voyage from the city of Rotterdam to the Far East. I was aboard the ship as clergy, offering me the wondrous opportunity of meeting incredible people as we voyaged through the international waterways of exotic adventure. I returned to Italy on a personal visit in April 2017. This time, I stayed in Rome, Siena, Verona, Livorno, Florence, Padua, and finally in Vicenza, staying for about a week in each city, leisurely exploring each of these beautiful cities. I hope these descriptions and reviews offer travelers the opportunity to examine these beautiful cities.