Baksheesh

[Info from:  wikipedia entries] BAKSHEESH Baksheesh or bagsheesh (from Persian: bakhshesh) -- tipping, charitable giving -- certain forms of political corruption and bribery -- practised in the Middle East and South Asia -- derived from Middle Iranian Pahlavi -- goes back to Sanskrit: 'bhiksha' or 'bheeks' (same meaning) Middle Persian = Pahlavi script (incl. Zoroastrian Middle Persian of 9th-11th C.) 'Middle Persian' = 'Middle Iranian' language of south-western Persia / Iran Sassanid period:  224 - 654 AD Western Iranian language classification -- descends from Old Persian -- linguistic ancestor of Modern Persian -- was  prestige dialect spoken in other regions of empire -- Middle Persian = several dialects & variants -- one of which was:  Pahlavīk (Pahlavi) -- for Parthian -- language of Arsacid Dynasty -- Pārsik = official language of the Sasanian Dynasty -- Parsik = another Middle Persian variant -- when referring to 'Middle Perssian' -- it is this latter variant (Parsik) that is referred to Parsik -- native name for Middle Persian -- means 'language of Pars' Pars = Persia -- aka 'Fars'  = Fârs is the Arabized version of Pârs / Arabic has no 'p' -- Fars Province is one of 31 provinces of Iran -- ie Pars?  Province:  is cultural capital of Iran -- it is in south of Iran -- admin. centre = Shiraz -- Fars Province is original homeland of Persian people -- Persians present in region from abt. 10th Century BC -- became rulers of largest empire at that time -- ie Achaemenid empire (est. mid 6th C. BC) -- ruins of Persepolis & Pasargadae = x2 of x4 capitals -- of Achaemenid empire -- Persepolis & Pasargadae - are located in Pars Province -- 333 BC - Achaemenid empire defeated by Alexander the Great -- Seleucid empire then overtook, but never extended power beyond trade routes in Pars -- Seleucid Empire = Hellenistic state ruled by Seleucid dynasty -- Seleucus received Babylonia empire -- Seleucus expanded to incl:  pt. Anatolia, Persia, Levant, Mesopotamia     * now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan & Kuwait -- Seleucid Empire = major centre of Hellenistic culture -- maintained Greek customs at fore / Greek political elite dominated -- mostly in urban areas - immigration from Greece enforces Greek dominant elite in cities -- decisive defeat by Roman Army ends Seleucid expansion into Anatolia & Greece -- blocked by Roman demands re Egypt as well -- + more, not time to view Seleucus I Nicator -- rival general of Alexander the Great -- one of Diadochi (successors) of Alexander the Great -- son of Antiochus -- Antiochus - Macedonian, orig. from Orestis, Macedonia -- Seleucus as king, founded x16 cities named honour of father, Antiochus -- incl. Syrian city of Antioch (now in Turkey) Orestis -- region of Upper Macedonia -- corresponds roughly to region now in western Maedonia in Greece -- inhabitants are:  Orestae, ancient Greek tribe part of Molossian tribal state -- Molossian tribal state, known as:  koinon -- term 'Orestis' derived from 'mountains' -- part of Macedon after early 4th C. BC -- prior to that associated with Epirus -- Epirus rugged mountain region b/w Greece & Albania -- home to ancient Greek tribes x3 -- home to sanctuary of Dodona     =  oldest ancient Greek oracle, & most prestigious one after Delphi -- Epirus - in reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus campaigns -- versust Rome are the origin of the term "Pyrrhic victory" -- 146 BC - Epirus (therefore Orestis region) -- became part of ROMAN EMPIRE with rest of Greece -- Byzantine Empire then ensues, following fall of Constantinople to Fourth Crusade -- Byzantine empire than conquered by Ottoman turks in 1400s -- semi-independent Epirus under Ottomans to 1821 assertion of Ottoman control -- Balkan Wars & WWI ensued -- Epirus becomes part of Greece -- northern portion Epirus designated NEWLY CREATED STATE OF ALBANIA Parthia -- historical region of north-eastern Iran -- Parthians were an Iranian people -- cultural base of Arsacid dynasty -- rulers Parthian Empire: 247BC - 224 AD) -- were subjects of: -- Medes -- Achaemenids -- Assyrians (Cyrus the Great defeats Medians) -- Darius I features also: Achaemenid throne sized by Darius I -- Parthians + Median king revolt c. 522–521 BC suppressed -- 331 BC Darius III vs. Alexander the Great -- Darius III defeat -- on death Alexander the Great = Partition of Babylon 323 BC -- Parthia = Seleucids governate under Nicanor Partition of Babylon -- distribution of territories under Alexander the Great -- following death Alexander the Great 323 BC -- Satrapies (provinces ancient Persia): -- Babylon -- Triparadisus -- Persepolis *it was not a 'political partition' -- before Alexander death Macedonian mutiny among troops since prior -- expedition to India -- Alexander formed special unit of Persians, the Epigoni -- Epigoni Persian guard armed & trained in Macedonian ways -- hired as exclusive bodyguards on Alexander return from India -- senior staff holders Macedonian generals (with official title bodyguards) -- Alexander covered with old wounds from head to foot & seriously ill prior death -- 'Pahlavi' term derived from Parthian lang. -- word 'arthav' or 'parthau' meaning Parthia -- Parthia region east of Caspian sea Pahlavi an admixture of -- written Imperial Aramaic -- Aramaic derived script, logograms, and some of vocabulary Logograms -- written character that respresents a word or phrase eg. - Chinese characters - Japanese kanji - Egyptian hieroglyphs (some) - some 'graphemes' in Cuneiform script -- use of logograms known as 'logography' Alphabets -- differs to: alphabets & syllabaries -- in which: -- individual written characters represent sounds rather than concepts -- known as: phonograms (vs. logograms, described above) Word 'baksheesh': -- absorbed by following languages: -- German - bakschisch (small bribe) -- French - bakschisch (small bribe) -- Russian - actual russian for gift is: podarok / подарок - prob. from дар / dar / gift - 'bakshish' not listed in my search - therefore possibly informally adopted some regions? -- Greek - baksisi - gift (in general) -- Serbian - Standard Serbian: based on Shtokavian dialect - South Slavic subgroup of Slavic language - in South Slavic group: Croation, Montenegrin & Bosnian -- Bosnian - standardised variety of Serbo-Croatian - however, incorporates loan words from: - Arabic - Ottoman Turkish - Persian - via cultural influence (Islamic ties) - ie. 'orientalisms' - otherwise, it is Serbo-Croatian -- Macedonian - eastern group of South Slavic branch of Slavic languages     - along with Bulgarian & extinct Old Church Slavonic     - closest to: Bulgarian / high degree intelligibility     - next closest: Serbo-Croatian -- Romanian - romana - lang. of Romania & spoken Moldova - Daco-Romanian - Soviet times, referred to as Moldovan in Moldova - since 2013 Moldova court rules it 'Romanian' language - bakschisch (small bribe euphamism re şpagă (outright bribe)) - closest relatives: Vlachs (Gk. term) for all Latin descendants Balkans etc, incl. Romanians -- ie general term for descendants of Latinised Balkans & Central-East Europe - Aromanian - Latin, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria - from vulgar Latin spoken by the Paleo-Balkan peoples - prior to Romanisation: - domination by: - Roman Republic - Roman Empire - ancient Roman historians referred to this as: "civilising of barbarians" - Megleno-Romanian (Vlăhește) - Romance language: sim. Aromanian & Romanian - dialect of Romanian - spoken Moglena, spans Greek Macedonia & Rep. Macedonia - spoken by small Muslim group Turkey - moved as part of population exchange from Greece 1920s - Istro-Romanian - aka Ćiribirci, Ćići, Vlahi - ethnic group Istria & other (Croatia) - total just over 100 speakers - endangered lang. - first historical record of Romanians in Istrian region - distinction re Romanian = not Orthodox, Roman Catholic - lang. mention dates to: 940 AD - Roman Emperor Constantine VII recorded Latin speakers - calling themselves 'Romans' but not from Rome - mention in 1329 Serbian chronicals re that region - in ref. to Vlach pop. - thought to have migrated from: Transylvania 600 years prior - after Black Death depopulated Istria - Istro-Romanians lived for time Dalmatia - brief Italian fascist rule - post WWII migrations / assimilation under Yugoslav admin. -- Bulgarian - first Slavic language attested in writing - Slavic linguistic unity lasted to late antiquity LATE ANTIQUITY From: Late antiquity from: -- reorganisation of late Roman Empire -- by: Diocletian (reigned: 284-305 -- b. Dalmatia province -- ranks through military -- under Roman Emperor Carsus -- death Carsus & son campaign in Persia -- Diocletian proclaimed emperor (contested - Battle of the Margus) -- stabilised empire -- marking end 'Crisis of the Third Century' -- 286 AD: appoints officer Maximilian as Augustus (co-emperor) -- 293 AD: rule of four (tetrarchy) by additional appointment: -- Galerius -- Constantius -- as ceasars: junior co emperors -- each ruled quarter of empire -- separated enlarged Roman empire civil & military services -- rearranged provincial divisions -- established largest & most bureaucratic govt in history of Roman empire -- admin centres: -- Nicomedia -- Mediolanum -- Antioch -- Trier -- autocrat / follow-on from 'absolutism' of 3rd Century AD trends -- helped stabilize the empire economically & militarily -- enabled Roman empire to remain essentially intact anor. 100 years -- despite brink of collapse of Roman empire in Diocletian's youth -- 305: first Roman emperor to abdicate (voluntarily) -- retired to palace on the Dalmatian coast -- modern day city of Split (Croatia) - core = Diocletian palace To:   -- Early Middle Ages (aka Early Medieval) -- Early Medieval = 5th C. to 10th C. AD -- Early Middle Ages followed decline of Western Roman Empire - dramatic changes follow: influence of neighbours, incl. Turks -- Albanian - known as: shqip language - first written mention 1285, Dubrovnik (Croatia) - referred to by witness of crime, in Latin script: " ... lingua albanesca" (... Albanian tongue) - note: 500 years of Ottoman domination of Albania - Albanian in Indo-Euro branch of own (as is Armenian & Greek) - vocab. distinct - proven distinct from earlier groupings (ie Germanic & Balto-Slavic) - evolved from an ancient Paleo-Balkan language, either: - Illyrian or (Dracian or) Thracian - linguists are still arguing this one - earliest loan words from Doric Greek - strongest influence from Latin (2nd C. BC to 5th C. AD) - followed by Slavic & German invasions Word 'baksheesh' - also: -- Turkish - bakshish - tip (in conventional Western sense) -- Arabic Sanskrit -- saṃskṛtā -- sacred language of Hinduism -- philosophical language:  Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism -- literary language & lingua franca Greater India -- lingua franca / common language / trade language / bridge language -- communication means b/w those who do not share native language -- esp. communication in third, distinct language -- standardised dialect of Old Indo-Aryan -- ie.  Vedic Sanskrit -- ancestry to:     -- Proto-Indo-Iranian     -- Proto-Indo-European -- one of the oldest Indo-European languages -- for which *written* docs exist -- Sanskrit:  prominent position in Indo-European studies -- body of literature:  poetry & drama, scientific, tech, philosophical & religious texts -- ceremonial language Hindu religious riguals -- Buddhist hymns & chants = Sanskrit -- evolved out of the earlier Vedic form -- present form Vedic Sanskrit traced back to 2000 BC -- separate to Pāṇinian dialect -- Vedic Sanskrit = lang. of Vedas -- Vedas -- large body texts of ancient India -- in Vedic Sanskrit - oldest scriptures of Hinduism -- Vedas aka  śruti literature  ('what is heard') -- disgingusihed from  smṛti  (other religious texts) -- smṛti ('what is remembered') -- smṛti - body Hindu texts (constantly revised) -- incls. epics & other it is a bit like:  смерть  /  smert /  death ... or maybe not?  sounds similar to me sound of death [Info from:  wikipedia entries] ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Really enjoyed going off on a tangent checking out the trail from 'baksheesh' to Hindu texts and Slavic 'death'. Trouble remembering 'Parthian' -- for some reason, that term reminds me of Indian.  But it's not Indian; it's Persian (Iranian). No time to look more ... must rush to clean up some, or I'll be in the 'doghouse'. *No time to double-check spelling ...  Having trouble with spell-check:  for some reason, not picking up the occasional typos like it normally does.

KIRCHICKED! Western Media At Work

Western Media At Work KIRCHICKED:  LINK | Post ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Think I may have got a bit carried away with my post.

Western Hand in the Balkans Nightmare

Western Hand in the Balkans Nightmare Random Extracts (followed by summaries) *links provided, per links provided in reference document http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm Press Reports On False Claims Of Genocide By Serbs In Kosovo "General Sir Michael Rose, the former United Nations military commander in Bosnia.... said false facts about the war in Bosnia were being fed to Congress.... he was visited by General John Galvin, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe who had been appointed by President Clinton to advise on a new structure for the Bosnian Army. General Rose said: 'We were escorted by a woman from the US Embassy who, in my view, was the most hostile American I met during all my time in Bosnia.' As they flew by helicopter towards Tuzla in the north, she pointed at all the destroyed villages high in the Zvijezda mountains and 'exclaimed excitedly' to General Galvin: 'Look at what the criminal Serbs have done.' In fact, General Rose said, they were Bosnian Croat villages ethnically cleansed by the Muslim forces. Later when they visited Mostar in the south where the Croats had virtually destroyed the Muslim sector in the eastern part of the town, the US official 'planted her hands on her ample hips' and cried: 'Well, at least this was done by the criminal Serbs.' General Rose said the woman burst into tears when it was pointed out that the Croats had been to blame. 'The fact was not lost on Galvin,' he said." US bugged me in Bosnia, says General Rose London Times, 10 November 1998, via: http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm "American intelligence agents have admitted they helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA] before Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia. The disclosure angered some European diplomats, who said this had undermined moves for a political solution to the conflict between Serbs and Albanians... Several KLA leaders had the mobile phone number of General Wesley Clark, the Nato commander..." CIA aided Kosovo guerrilla army Sunday Times , 12 March 2000, via: http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm "I read the latest reports concerning a recent Executive Order that hands the CIA a black bag in the Balkans for engineering a military coup in Serbia, for interrupting communications, for tampering with bank accounts, freezing assets abroad and training the Kosovo Liberation Army in terrorist tactics, such as how to blow up buildings. How this is intended to help establish a democracy in Serbia or Kosovo hasn't been explained. Nor has the failure to substantially demilitarize the KLA been explained. Nor has the reverse ethnic cleansing taking place in Kosovo by the KLA while NATO rules the province been explained." Democrat Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Ohio The Progressive, Vol 63, No.8, August 1999, via: http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm "NATO Sided With Jihadists In Yugoslavia Who Later Conducted 9/11 And 7/7 Attacks" "base for Al Qaeda:  'In the heart of Europe, thousands of Arab fighters. Zenica [Bosnia], 1995. They come to wage holy war in support of the Bosnian Army. [Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic shown welcoming the mujahadeen.] ...They committed many atrocities; the tapes Sky News has obtained include beheadings and signs of torture. …This isn’t just about history; it's about now. Western intelligence agencies are now pressing the Bosnians to look into exactly where these people are and what they are doing, and asking have any of these men been in contact with the three young Bosnian Muslims arrested last month on terrorism charges. ...In Sarajevo now the influence of Saudi ideas can be found all over the city. ...Radical Islam is attempting to plant deep roots in the community. …The seeds for change were planted back in 1995.'... The narration continues: 'There were some serious players sent to Bosnia, among them the man who planned 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed...'  A similar picture began to emerge in Kosovo, where the late Wall St. Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was uncovering that 'Ethnic-Albanian militants, humanitarian organizations, NATO and the news media fed off each other to give genocide rumors credibility.' The anti-Serb propaganda which misled Americans throughout  the 90s and which Daniel Pearl was debunking continues to guide our perceptions and foreign policy in the Balkans today. But despite the media’s blackout on the subject of Balkans terror--including by Pearl's own Wall St. Journal--more and more Americans have been scratching their heads, wondering why we forcibly precluded the Serbs from doing in their own backyard what we’ve gone halfway around the globe to do.... For the past four years, the Hague's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has been finding what multiple international forensic teams have found--that claims of Serb 'atrocities' were exaggerated and often invented. It turns out we confused an attempt to create an Islamic 'Greater Albania' with one to create a 'Greater Serbia.' Surely if the latter were Slobodan Milosevic’s goal, he would have started by ethnically cleansing the nearly 300,000 Muslims of Serbia. ..." A Balkan Base For Al Qaeda? FrontPageMagazine, 20 March 2006 ""During an interview on Fox TV this summer, the former US federal prosecutor John Loftus reported that British intelligence had used the al-Muhajiroun group in London to recruit Islamist militants with British passports for the war against the Serbs in Kosovo." http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm -- The Guardian Saturday 10 September 2005 10.18 AEST Britain now faces its own blowback Michael Meacher For nearly a decade the US helped Islamist insurgents linked to Chechnya, Iran and Saudi Arabia destabilise the former Yugoslavia. The insurgents were also allowed to move further east to Kosovo. By the end of the fighting in Bosnia there were tens of thousands of Islamist insurgents in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo; many then moved west to Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Less well known is evidence of the British government's relationship with a wider Islamist terrorist network. During an interview on Fox TV this summer, the former US federal prosecutor John Loftus reported that British intelligence had used the al-Muhajiroun group in London to recruit Islamist militants with British passports for the war against the Serbs in Kosovo. Michael Meacher is the Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton; he was environment minister from 1997 to 2003. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/10/terrorism.politics Milosevic's ouster Milosevic was forced from power in the fall of 2000 -- ouster meant de facto death of the last ruling Communist Party in Europe [Stratfor, 2013] Kosovo -- using forced separation of Serbia & Kosovo -- as precedent for dismembering Russia -- pro-Western govts in former Soviet satellites -- Russia sees West closing in -- 2004:  Orange Revolution, Ukraine     -- pipelines to Europe     -- Russia indefensible     *if NATO Ukraine -- British & US intel services suspected funded NGOs to help engineer this -- Ukraine move indicates USA-Anglo alliance committed    to extending collapse of Soviet Union to collapse of Russian Federation [stratfor, 2013] GERMANY 'It All Began With a Lie' -- high officials of the German ruling SPD-Green coalition -- used fabrications and manipulation of facts -- to counter the growing public opposition -- of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 -- in Bundestag:     -- Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping     -- Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer -- taken to task for having misled the German public -- re:   'genocide' against the Kosovo Albanians -- & that NATO 'only' intervening for 'humanitarian' grounds --  Willy Wimmer, CDU defence policy official on Bratislava event -- directly after NATO bombing Serbia -- NATO's explanation for intervention by US defence spox:  'We waged that war because we have to undo the strategic mistake Eisenhower made in 1943-44.' the Balkans mistake said to be not supporting: Serb Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, led by General Draza Mihailovic (cover Time magazine, 1941 - Europe's first guerilla) instead: support, arms & propaganda aid:  Josip Broz ('Tito') -- misled by Soviet intel moles w/in own ranks, exp. Brit. intel, incl. Kim Philby -- into thinking Partisans vs. Germans while Mihailovic forces 'collaborating' -- not so, claims article & says it was other way around -- disinformation achieved its aims, it says -- well-armed communist forces combined w/ oncoming Red Army -- Yugoslavia lost to the West -- Mihailovic hunted & executed for 'treason' after show trial 1946 -- despite strong objections from West (why????) -- President Truman awarded him a posthumous medal (why???) -- Serbia:  "first to rise in the name of freedom, had fallen under communist slavery", says entry COMMENT: *sounds to me like Serbia might have been infiltrated by Western interests provoking Serbian 'rise' c. WWII, in the first place? SERBIA - post WWII useful purpose as a buffer between the Iron Curtain and Western Europe *thanks to Tito’s subsequent rupture with Stalin *very useful until the arrival of Gorbachev (Berlin Wall soon crumbles) *Yugoslavia had lost its purpose and could dispensed with     (as a communist entity, at least) U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren Zimmerman: 1992 - Danas (Croation newspaper) - openly states 'We are aiming for a dissolution of Yugoslavia into independent states peacefully.' NOTE:  "the Ambassador’s statement was a call for a direct violation of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which guaranteed the integrity of international borders" -- U.S. did not lead the process of Yugoslavia’s dissolution -- main actor in this process was the newly reunified Germany -- practically blackmailed the rest of Western Europe -- to recognise breakaway republics of:     -- Slovenia     -- Croatia -- in return for accepting Maastricht Treaty -- that led more loose 'European Community' -- into becoming MORE tightly-knit EUROPEAN UNION -- reportedly Germany hoping to extend its influence by forming     -- new client states -- EU unable to supposedly extinguish fire Germans started in 1994 & 1995 -- Germans had started and the wars of succession -- US stepped in to bomb Bosnian Serbs 1994 & 1995 -- Dayton Accords Dec. 1995 imposed -- USA in drives seat in Balkans since -- 5.5 years after Dayton 'peace' -- under noses of 40,000+ NATO force in Kosovo -- new war threatened to break out (mid 2000 ?) -- Bosnia, clinically dead state held together by most dictatorial powers:     -- High Commissioner     -- NATO forces on ground source Lies and mysteries revealed WorldNetDaily, 10 March 2001 via  http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm 2009 -- Serbia formally applies for EU membership -- Belgrade's treatment by some EU governments -- long been characterised by brazen hypocrisy -- Netherlands was blocking Serbia's efforts to strengthen Union relations -- re view it was not 'cooperating' with war crimes tribunal in The Hague -- zeal of Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister - hypocrite -- Verhagen vigorously opposed efforts to probe alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza   Among wanted:    -- Ratko Mladic    -- Goran Hadzic  NATO CLUSTER BOMBS NATO bombing Serbia 1999: -- use of cluster bombs, weapons that literally slice the limbs of their victims -- bombing of Serbia:     -- lacked UN approval     -- helped usher in the dubious concept of 'humanitarian intervention'        =  military action can be taken on flimsiest of pretexts    Slobodan Milosevic -- had Slobodan Milosevic been more favourably disposed to US capitalism -- US would have tolerated his autocratic streak -- Misosevic refusal to accept neoliberal ideas on which global economy is run -- Bill Clinton & cronies in Europe insisting Milosevic must go can be explained by: -- EU pressing Serbia with now standard conditions of EU accession:     -- privatisation of sate-owned industry     -- at enormous social cost -- Serbia unique:  many facilities first required for sell-off damaged by NATO bombs -- western firms could snatch assets at budget prices -- over 1,800 privatisations have occurred since Milosevic was ousted [2009] -- much of the country's metal industry is now in the hands of US Steel -- US Steel busy shedding jobs -- Yugoslav national car company Zastava was acquired by Fiat David Cronin - Grim reality of Serbia's EU 'dream' Guardian, 'Comment Is Free', 22 December 2009 Rambouillet Accords -- reluctance to achieve a negotiated peace settlement -- acceptable to all sides -- ex-secretary of state Henry Kissinger: 'the Rambouillet text, which called on Serbia to admit Nato troops throughout Yugoslavia, was a provocation, an excuse to start bombing' Nato's bombing of Serbia = escalation of Kosovo crisis into full-scale humanitarian catastrophe now widely acknowledged:  bulk of the ethnic cleansing & war crimes  =   after start of NATO bombing OSCE inquiry highlights: With NATO air war comm. March 24t -- "patterns of the expulsions & vast increase in lootings, killings, rape, kidnappings and pillage" Much-vaunted humanitarian objectives used to build widespread public support -- for NATO bombing -- former US deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbot -- explains NATO war on Yugoslavia:     'it was Yugoslavia's resistance to the broader trends of political and economic reform – not the plight of the Kosovar Albanians – that best explains Nato's war'"     humanitarian or security-related motives =  placed at service of POLITICAL & ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES =  undermining R2P ('Responsibility to Protect') propaganda SAME OLD PATTERN: pre-intervention portrayals of Kosovo conflict -- were ACT OF WILLING DECEIT -- not failed intelligence -- designed to pare down the complex nature of issues -- involving previously designed terrorist org, Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) -- & heavy-handed state security infrastructure dealing with decades of -- ethnically motivated crimes in Kosovo -- Amnesty International reports conflicting with US-Anglo propaganda -- Tony Blair's portrayal of war -- as 'battle between good & evil; between civilisation & barbarity; between democracy & dictatorship" -- not challenged by MEDIA & NGOS NATO intervention important precursor to invasion of Iraq 2003, in: 1.  Bypassing United Nations 2.  engaging in negotiations that precluded diplomatic solutions 3.  manipulating public case for war Serbia's anniversary is a timely reminder Guardian, Comment Is Free, 24 March 2009 http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/balkansusbackterrorism.htm ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Some of what I looked at on this site. Found it very interesting but overwhelming in terms of how much information there is. Also checked out some of the photos (elsewhere).  The jihadi army in Europe is the stuff of nightmares, the powers that be in Europe appear to court destruction, and Europe can thank its intelligence services and the US and its cronies for that and for the severed heads in a box and the mutilated, deliberately roasted bodies etc. Western Europe is doomed, in my opinion.   It is destined to become what you see today in the Middle East. Might have to check out things some more later, until some of it maybe eventually sinks in. Suffering from information overload at the moment.

Western Hypocrites & the 1965 Indonesian Right-Wing Massacres

Western Hypocrites & the 1965 Indonesian Right-Wing Massacres Australia’s Role in the 1965-66 Communist Massacres in Indonesia By Marlene Millott                 EXTRACTS Fifty years ago, on September 30, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century took place on Australia’s doorstep. Following an AIIA and ANU conference on these events, a young Australian reflects on Australia’s complicity. An estimated half a million people affiliated with the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party or PKI) were massacred by the Indonesian Army, with help from local religious and youth groups. These killings contributed to a reorientation in Indonesian politics, installing General Suharto as president and eliminating the once-strong PKI through violent purges and systematic imprisonment. Declassified documents have shown that the US and its allies played a significant role in these killings, as the US provided weapons, communications equipment and lists of known communists. As an ally of the US, the Australian Embassy and the Department of External Affairs acted in a way that made Australia an accomplice, by helping to create the conditions that allowed the massacres to take place. In the years leading up to 1965, Sukarno favoured the PKI and it grew in strength, while his foreign policy became increasingly hostile towards the West. The Indonesian Army and the US and its allies watched these developments with suspicion, and formed secret relationships. From 1958-1965, the US secretly trained, funded and advised the Army to turn it into a ‘state within a state’ that would be ready to take over government if the opportunity arose. On the night of the 30th of September 1965, the Commander of the Army Lt General Achmad Yani and five Generals were kidnapped by a group calling themselves the September 30th Movement. They were murdered and thrown down a well. The Army and the US embassy had been patiently waiting for an event like this. It declared the PKI responsible for masterminding a coup, seized almost all media outlets and spread the story of PKI treachery. General Suharto extracted a mandate from Sukarno to return order to the country, before setting out to destroy the Communist Party. Across the archipelago, a campaign to eliminate the PKI saw the murder of an estimated 500,000 people. Victims were rounded up and detained for days, or months, before being executed. The Army was instrumental in the massacres, often accompanied by local militias. Those who weren’t killed were transferred to prison camps, with one million people held in detention facilities without trial, with terms varying from a few months to fourteen years. Following the events of September 30th, Western nations solidified their support for the Indonesian Army, in an effort to remove the PKI from power and sideline Sukarno. The US and the UK, supported by other nations in the region including Australia, carried out clandestine operations which supported and encouraged the Army-led massacres of alleged PKI. Documents from the National Archives of Australia show that the Australian Embassy and the Department of External Affairs were closely aligned with the Indonesian Army, offered support for their activities in overthrowing Sukarno and eliminating the PKI, and used Radio Australia to broadcast Army propaganda in Indonesia that contributed to anti-Communist hysteria. Cables show that the Australian Embassy was aware that Communists were being rounded up and killed from early October 1965. The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Keith Shann, ‘personally witnessed’ around 250 prisoners being taken away by the Army, and noted that it was impossible to know the number of people killed and detained, but ‘it cannot be small’. In February 1966, J.M. Starey, the First Secretary at the Australian Embassy, visited Bali, Flores and Timor, and spoke to Australian students who had been in Lombok. He heard first-hand accounts of the killings by people who had participated in them, and in Flores even saw victims’ heads on spikes in some villages. Starey noted that the Army was in control of the proceedings. The Australian Embassy and Department of External Affairs made it clear they were satisfied with these events. In early October 1965, Ambassador Shann cabled the Department saying that it was ‘now or never’, and that he ‘devoutly’ hope[d]’ that ‘the Army [would] act firmly’ against the PKI. In mid-1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt expressed detached satisfaction with the pro-Western shift in Indonesian foreign and economic policy. He casually told the crowd at the Australian-American Association in New York ‘with 500,000 to one million Communist sympathisers knocked off, I think it is safe to assume a reorientation has taken place’. As the Indonesian Army murdered hundreds of thousands of alleged PKI, the Australian Embassy maintained ties with Indonesian Army generals, discussing anti-PKI activities and ways Australia could assist the Army in its transition to power. A cable from November 12th 1965 shows Ambassador Shann discussed the Army’s anti-Communist campaign and Australia’s military campaign in Borneo to defend the newly created Malaysia against Indonesian aggression with the Undersecretary from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr A.Y. Helmi. Helmi requested Australian and British troops restrict all patrols and activities in Borneo, so the Indonesian Army could deal with the Communists. Shann reassured Helmi that the Army was ‘completely safe in using their forces for whatever purposes they saw fit’, knowing those forces would be used to attack PKI members and allies. The biggest role Australia played in the 1965-66 massacres of the PKI was through broadcasting and supporting Indonesian Army propaganda. In the weeks that followed the attempted coup, the Indonesian Army seized control of virtually all of Indonesia’s media, and began an aggressive and pervasive anti-PKI campaign which spread disinformation aimed at discrediting and dehumanising the communists. ... Australia’s actions as an accomplice to these killings should not be exaggerated. The massacres of the PKI took place against the backdrop of years of tension and hatred between the Army and the PKI, in a complex internal political environment that would have seen the killings take place regardless of any role Australia might have played. Fifty years later, those who committed the atrocities have never been brought to justice. Denial of the killings is rife. Where it is acknowledged, the perpetrators are admired as heroes who saved the nation from a Communist menace. As activist groups across Indonesia struggle to cut through the propaganda and spread the truth about the massacres of the PKI, it is important that Australia’s role in these events is understood. Marlene Millott is a Research Assistant at Monash University. She was a recipient of the Euan Crone Asian Awareness Scholarship in 2014. This article is based on the thesis completed for her Masters in Journalism and International Relations. This article can be republished with attribution under a Creative Commons Licence. Published October 2, 2015 http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/australias-role-in-the-1965-66-communist-massacres-in-indonesia/ -------/\/\/ http://socialistworker.org/2015/12/10/indonesias-massacres-on-trial Indonesia's massacres on trial Janis Hooper reports on a tribunal into the crimes committed in Indonesia in 1965-68, in an article written for the Australian socialist newspaper Red Flag. December 10, 2015 EXTRACTS "Fifty years ago, the Indonesian army, led by Gen. Suharto, used an alleged coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a pretext to mount a savage right-wing seizure of power. Starting on October 1, 1965, at least 500,000 people were murdered and millions were imprisoned without trial in appalling conditions for up to 20 years. Many were subjected to torture--including rape and other sexual violence--forced labor and exile." ... United States, the UK and Australia charged with conspiracy for role in facilitating commission of these crimes ... "established that the state of Indonesia during the relevant period through its military and police arms committed and encouraged the commission of these grave human rights violations on a systematic and widespread basis." "done for political purposes: to annihilate the PKI and those alleged to be its members or sympathizers, as well as a much broader number of people including [former President] Sukarno loyalists, trade unionists and teachers." "design was also to prop up a dictatorial violent regime" "It cannot be doubted that these acts, evaluated separately and cumulatively, constitute crimes against humanity, both in International Law and judged by the values and the legal framework of the new reformist era  ..." "The tribunal called on the Indonesian government to implement the recommendations (to take action to find justice and provide reparations for the 1965 crimes against humanity) made by both its own Commission for Violence against Women in 2007, and Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in 2012 after hearing representatives of both bodies; and for Indonesia's President Joko Widodo to deliver on his electoral promise to act." http://socialistworker.org/2015/12/10/indonesias-massacres-on-trial -------/\/\/ http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/government-brushes-hague-tribunal-1965-massacre.html   Government brushes off Hague tribunal on 1965 massacre thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | National Tue, November 10 2015, 12:31 PM The government has refused to acknowledge the International People's Tribunal 1965, being held in The Hague, the Netherlands, saying that Indonesia works on its own justice system. Attorney General HM Prasetyo refused to accept the mass killings of 1965 and 1966 being brought before a tribunal overseas. "We solve our own issues. There is no need for other parties to be involved in this," he told kompas.com. He said the government was making continued efforts to resolve past human rights violations, however, there had faced difficulties in finding evidence and witnesses to testify. Questioning sessions and early investigations conducted by the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) could not yet be brought to the full investigation stage he said. "The government is trying to resolve the violations through reconciliation, but there are so many things to discuss and prepare," Prasetyo said. State Secretary Pratikno said the government was working to prepare a systematic solution for the human rights violations. "President [Joko Widodo] directed us to [work] based on our own justice system," he said. The international tribunal, initiated by human rights activists, is being held from Nov. 10 to 13, marking the 50th anniversary of the massacre of up to 1 million considered members or supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan also questioned the people's tribunal, claiming it was unjust. "Who do they want to try? How can they make a decision about our [case]?" he said. Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, the general coordinator of the International People's Tribunal 1965 earlier announced that there would be seven judges, six international prosecutors and 16 witnesses taking part in the tribunal. She urged the government to apologize as the first step toward recognizing the crimes committed by a past government, and also take into account the recommendations resulting from the tribunal. (rin)(+) http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/government-brushes-hague-tribunal-1965-massacre.htm -------/\/\/ http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/international-court-revisits-indonesias-1965-mass-killings/ And even if the tribunal has no legal standing in Indonesia, the prosecutors are confident that it can lead to political victories in the future. The tribunal also tackled the “complicity” of the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia in the commission of the mass crimes in 1965. A witness alleged that these governments “provided radio-communication equipment in order to facilitate communication between the troops and delivered small arms and money. They also provided lists of alleged PKI members to the Indonesian authorities.” As expected, the Indonesian government dismissed the international tribunal as a farce. It reminded the participants that Indonesia is a sovereign nation with a functioning legal system. It also insisted that President Jokowi will not apologize for the actions of the army in 1965. Some hardliners even branded the Indonesian participants as traitors and communists. http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/international-court-revisits-indonesias-1965-mass-killings/ -------/\/\/ BOOK The New Rulers of the World by John Pilger "Pilger tackles the injustices and double standards inherent in the politics of globalization and exposes the terrible truth behind the power and wealth of states and corporations John Pilger is one of the world’s renowned investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. In this classic book, with an updated introduction, he reveals the secrets and illusions of modern imperialism. Beginning with Indonesia, he shows how General Suharto’s bloody seizure of power in the 1960s was part of a western design to impose a “global economy” on Asia. A million Indonesians died as the price for being the World Bank’s “model pupil.” " source http://www.versobooks.com/books/2153-the-new-rulers-of-the-world ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT The West is responsible for facilitating murder and atrocity on a MASSIVE SCALE, yet no Westerner has been held accountable for facilitating the 'knocking off' 500,000 to a million 'communist sympathisers', in the noble endeavour to save the world from the 'horrors' freedom from economic exploitation. It is astounding that the above writer  absolves Australia of responsibility on the following basis: "Australia’s actions as an accomplice to these killings should not be exaggerated. The massacres of the PKI took place against the backdrop of years of tension and hatred between the Army and the PKI, in a complex internal political environment that would have seen the killings take place regardless of any role Australia might have played." [source - above] The 'backdrop of years of tension', 'hatred' and 'complex internal political environment' could just as readily apply to the Balkans or to World War II Europe or, really, any other contest. It looks like the attitudes, the course of action taken, and the standards applied depend entirely on who performed the deeds in question, and what is in it for the champions of global capitalism. While Radovan Karadzic has been convicted in some US war criminal sponsored kangaroo court, knocking off half a million to a million pesky Indonesian commies happens to be just fine -- even something to be proud of, by the look of things. The hypocrisy is breathtaking when you consider the enormity of what the West has supported here -- and this is just ONE example of murder, torture and suffering on a massive scale, in a LONG SERIES of wilful evil-doing, right around the globe, committed by those that would have us believe they are the 'righteous' among nations -- this glorious 'international community,' as they refer to their vicious, destructive coterie. And these are the shining examples of humanity that would have us believe the Third Reich 'Nazis', and not they, are the epitome of 'evil' that was righteously conquered for the good of the entire world that our noble WWII heroes have ... *cough* ... lovingly liberated.

Karadzic will be in jail, but what about Bush, Blair, Clinton ...

Article SOURCE http://archive.is/drTMu English http://archive.is/drTMu Original Serbian http://www.vesti-online.com/Vesti/Svet/561374/Karadzic-ce-u-zatvor-a-sta-cemo-sa-Busom-Blerom-Klintonom Vesti Online Sunday 27/03/2016. 15:51 Vestionline Edited English Translation *confirm original text(s) for quotation purposes Karadzic will be in jail, but what about Bush, Blair, Clinton ... Karadzic will be in jail, but what about Bush, Blair, Clinton ... If you are a member of the Western alliance, you are free to commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,  ... [according to] ... a writer and blogger Neil Clark. Attached to the "Rasa USA Today," Clark asks why are people responsible for much greater crimes than those for which Radovan Karadzic was found guilty, still at large and why will they never be criminally prosecuted. A year ago, the report "Counting Bodies", collected by international physicians, says that at least 1.3 million people died in the 'war against terrorism' led by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.   US worse than Hitler This dreadful figure must be added the numbers killed during and after the NATO bombing in Libya (more than 50,000), with starvation due to lack of basic means of subsistence and famine. There are also those who died in the Iraq war and those who were killed by terrorists in Syria by armed and financed by the West and its regional allies. -------/\/\/  The evil if you are dark-skinned, or Serbs As regards this analyst, the International Criminal Court is biased as the Tribunal in The Hague. Before that court has so far indicted 36 accused and they are all dark-skinned Africans. White war criminals (unless they are Serbs) do not have to worry. -------/\/\/ - In reality, the Western neo-conservatives and their allies are responsible for a large number of deaths, destruction and human suffering, even compared with the dark days of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. But they are not brought to trail in The Hague - said Clark and specify: - If you no one is really above the law, then we would see George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Tony Blair and Clinton in the courtroom; and not only Radovan Karadzic. What is worse, Clark believes, is that the Western war lobby is trying to use the charges against Karadzic as a justification for their own bloody interventionist policy. The war in Bosnia is not, as the neoconservatives argue, an example of "what happens when the West does not intervene." In contrast, the war in BiH has caused quite excessive interference of the West. - We should all be focusing our attention on the "evil Karadzic," but let's not go too deeply into the question of how the secessionist wars in Yugoslavia started and when he lit the fuse - says Clark. For the US and its allies, Yugoslavia of the 1990s was the "sacrificial" country. The West has supported those who aspired to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, such as the Croatian leader Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic in Bosnia, says Clark. He estimated that they were much more extreme in their policy than "official specific bad guy" Slobodan Milosevic, who [was in the way with a united or federated] Yugoslavia. During 1992, the Lisbon agreement was reached on the peaceful division of BiH and Karadzic was one of the signatories. However, the agreement has sabotaged the intervention of US Ambassador Warren Zimmerman, who asked Izetbegovic to withdraw his consent. - This does not reduce the charges against Karadzic for his later actions, but without the intervention Zimmerman, it is likely that the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina could have been avoided - Clark notes and points: ... Does anyone really can not believe that Karadzic would have faced with 40 years of imprisonment had he served US interests in the Balkans?  Indonesian dictator General Suharto committed not one, but two massacres during his career and the number of those killed exceeded one million, but he died a free man after 86 years. Unlike Karadzic, Suharto was a favorite of the US State Department, said Clark. - International Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia is very good on the radio judgments against Serbs, but declined to file charges against leaders and officials of NATO for war crimes committed during the illegal bombardment of Yugoslavia in 1999. When asked why the court does not consider the crimes of NATO, former Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte replied that it was then "perfect justice". Part of the problem for indictment against Western leaders, Clark thinks, is that the International Criminal Court has not adopted an amendment to its Rome Statute to come under the jurisdiction of the "war of aggression".  [comment:   see below] - What we have now is a system of international justice, according to which those who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, are prosecuted only if they are "official enemy" the United States, but those who start wars are protected with immunity.  So Karadzic, who, according to the indictment responsible for the deaths of several thousand people, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, while those responsible for several million dead, after initiating the wars of  aggression, remain free to enrich themselves and to begin new military conflicts. - Indicates Clark for "Rasa USA Today".  English http://archive.is/drTMu Original Serbian http://www.vesti-online.com/Vesti/Svet/561374/Karadzic-ce-u-zatvor-a-sta-cemo-sa-Busom-Blerom-Klintonom ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT If one subscribes to what is, presumably (and ostensibly), a 'universal justice' ideal -- upon which is based, the establishment  of supranational bodies with jurisdiction over the free peoples of sovereign, foreign nations in the name of the concept known as 'international law' -- then the real problem here is that this is a 'universal justice' court which has no teeth and, furthermore, that this cannot be remedied without a serious military challenger willing to invoke the threat of military might to coerce the powers that be, should they play unfair (as they do) ... so it's yet another joke institution, to be manipulated by the powerful at the expense of the weak in geopolitical terms: (a) the Western camp (effectively, under protection of the military might of USA) and Israel have 'unsigned' themselves from the Rome Statute, & USA holds financial & trade powers over less powerful nations outside the aggressive Western & Middle Eastern coterie seeking global hegemony; (b) the US has threatened less powerful nations with sanctions should they fail bow to the US (and associates') demand  for impunity to commit war crimes.    (c) more significantly, USA has threatened military action against any country that attempts to bring the US & its accomplices to account for war crimes. Finally, all things are not & cannot be 'universal' or 'equal' -- ever.  Nor should they be. Therefore this is a faulty doctrine.

American Aggression, Propaganda, Serbia & NATO

American Aggression Propaganda, NATO & SERBIA 1999 SERBIA source SERBIA   Madeleine Albright Former US Secretary of State under Bomber Bill Clinton named like operations are named some fake euphemism for something that is, in reality, its opposite 38,400 sorties 10,484 strike sortie 78 days destruction Special Place in Hell SERBIA SERBIA 2014 US Academic Former US Ambassador to Russia RT News SERBIA SERBIA SERBIA