Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Unholy Alliance

After some struggling and contemplation, I wrapped up last week's column for Antiwar.com with the following passage:

There is something disturbing about how Karadzic's arrest is being cheered by slimy Eurocrats, Imperial interventionists and frenzied jihadists alike. Either he actually is a paragon of evil – which, assertions and allegations notwithstanding, there is little evidence for – or the three most destructive forces in the world today can agree on somebody (or a whole nation of somebodies, rather) they all love to hate.


Around that time, Mick Hume was writing for Spiked about how Western imperialists manufactured the myth of Bosnia (and Serbs as the "new Nazis") to give itself purpose and meaning.

It appears Brendan O'Neill, Hume's colleague at Spiked, had a similar thought to mine - and chose to put it together with Hume's thesis, producing a fascinating essay. "Bosnia, Hysteria Politics, and the Roots of International Terrorism" was published yesterday on Antiwar.com, and is a great read.

Essentially, O'Neill points out that the Empire and the jihadists worked together during the Bosnian War, both seeking a new purpose in a changed world, and finding a shared enemy in the Serbs. Their relationship was almost symbiotic: mujahedeen would be Empire's proxies on the ground, fighting the war, while the Empire recruited fighters for the jihad by making outlandish propaganda claims about "genocide", "rape camps" and Muslim suffering.

Concludes O'Neill:

There is nothing so bitter as a conflict between former allies. We should remind ourselves that much of today's bloody moral posturing between Western interventionists and Islamic militants – which has caused so much destruction around the world – springs from the hysterical politics of "good and evil" that was created during the Bosnian war. No doubt Karadzic has a great deal to answer for. But the West/East, liberal/Mujahideen demonization of Karadzic and the Serbs, and through it the rehabilitation of both Western militarism and Islamic radicalism, has also done a great deal to destabilize international affairs and destroy entire communities.


Read the entire article. It will open your eyes. That is, if you don't have them wide shut already...

9 comments:

VINEYARDSAKER: said...

Grey Falcon,

First, I want to thank you and commend you for having the courage to denounce the "imperial kangaroo court" this farcical "trial" will be.

Do you know if there is any way of regularly getting full transcripts of the trial of Radovan Karadzic and/or (even better) full video feed/download?

Kind regards,

The Saker

CubuCoko said...

The only full transcripts I've ever seen available are the ones from the ICTY itself, which usually run anything from weeks to months late, and suffer from horrid translations. During the Milosevic trial, some really good reports were available from www.slobodan-milosevic.org. Unfortunately, the only people "reporting" from the Inquisition on a regular basis are propaganda outfits like Sense or IWPR. Serbian media seems satisfied to publish the Inquisition's official statements and quote the Western press.

VINEYARDSAKER: said...

check out this:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=65316&sectionid=351020606

So it seems that Karadzic was one of the most betrayed persons ever. He was betrayed by Milosevic when Serbia agreed to impose sanctions on the Republika Srpska, he was betrayed when Milosevic told the Federal forces not to oppose the Croat and, later, Muslim assaults on the Serbian enclaves (whose weapons had been handed over to the UN), he was betrayed by the Serbian "democrats" who arrested him and handed him over to the Imperial Inquisition and now it appears that he was also betrayed by the USA who promised him to scrap the (politically motivated) charges against him if he stepped down.

CubuCoko said...

I'm not exactly surprised that the Empire double-crossed Karadzic. After all, they've reneged on every single agreement they made regarding the former Yugoslavia. From the Vance Plan that ended the fighting in Croatia (or rather, gave Croatia a 4-year window to rearm and train under U.S. sponsorship, it turned out), to Dayton itself, or the Kumanovo agreement and the Resolution 1244 concerning Kosovo - in all of these cases, the Empire treated signed deals like it treats its own Constitution.

VINEYARDSAKER: said...

No, you are right, of course. I was not really surprised either, only disgusted. I am also starting to think that the Empire will have to kill Karadzic or, at the very least, find a way to make him shut up. Even the Serb-hating BBC just published the 4 page letter Karadzic wrote to the court so the news blackout is not as tight as the Imperial High Command might wish. Not to mention that Holbrooke ALREADY said he wanted Karadzic dead. Lastly, though very subjectively I have to admit, look at Karadzic's expression. I think that he has already accepted that he will be killed and is prepared for it.

Unknown said...

Thank you for linking to Spiked, a magazine I'm ashamed to say I've never read. Its columns about a variety of issues appear so refreshingly BS-free, and its column about Karadzic was spot on.

CAP said...
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CAP said...
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Apex said...

Good point.I while back I read that the Empire makes and holds deals with countries they consider partners and not vassals.As the Native Americans.

They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it." -- Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux

Just about the only thing you can trust America with is that they will lie.Look at how hard the seasoned Serb hater Holbrooke is working to deny claims of a deal with Karadzic.What would Karadzic have to gain locked up in the Hague by saying Holbrooke promised him freedom in exchange for disapearing? I have no doubt Holbrooke made the deal he is as vile and rotten as any US representative.