Jesus Christ.
Armenian here. I appreciate this. There's a record breaking demonstration taking place in Times Square this Sunday commemorating the 101st anniversary of the genocide. My views on achieving American recognition are mixed and fluid, I'm not a traditionally nationalist Armenian and I don't feel comfortable being at that viciously nationalistic and often ethnocentric demonstration. But I have a lot of pressure from family and friends that count on me to be there. We'll see. The US is one of the few major UN nations left that hasn't recognized the Armenian genocide, for obvious political inclinations with Turkey. It's really sad, and it's not tolerable.
Interesting that there is a Russian flag on the ad, as that seems like an admission of what happened. As I've read it (and I'm by no means an expert), one of the motivating factors for Turkey to exterminate the Armenians was the belief among Ottoman leadership that Russia was trying to entice Armenia into joining the allied armies with the promise of freedom at the end of the war (many national groups were given similar promises to oppose the Ottomans and Austrians, who both ruled large and diverse ethic and national groups). I don't have any idea what role Russia currently plays in post Soviet Armenia or whether Russia even has a stance on the Armenian genocide, but it seems odd to feature their flag in the ad without trying to be antagonistic. One definitely wonders if WSJ would have printed a revisionist neo-Nazi ad about the Holocaust if the price was right. Somehow I doubt it. This seems like a cynical poly to sell papers; they can't need the ad money that bad, nor can they be that ignorant and insensitive, right?