Monday, October 06, 2014

"Vote or Suffer"

I have already written about some incongruities in the campaign preceding the Bosnian general elections, scheduled for next weekend, but there is one thing I left out, as it deserved a post of its own.

Local TV stations aired two ads in the third and fourth week of September, produced by USAID - the Empire's "Agency for International Development." Both had the punchline "Vote or Suffer" (Glasaj ili trpi). 
Still from the USAID propaganda video - "Vote or Suffer"
The first ad (watch on YouTube) blames the Bosnian authorities for failing to help the victims of May and August floods (!). On the same day it aired, the Imperial embassy website published a blog post co-authored by the military attache and the USAID head of mission, which accused the Bosnian authorities of embezzling the flood aid funds!

Both the Serb Republic and Federation authorities responded right away that the Empire was flat-out lying: they couldn't have embezzled anything, as not a penny of the promised flood aid from the US and the EU had actually arrived. But the Imperial officials refused to retract their claims. A few days later, another ad appeared, this time criticizing the economic situation (watch on YouTube).

There is no question that Bosnia is in a dire economic predicament, but a great deal of blame for that lies in the absurd legislation the locals outright copied from the US and the EU, under constant pressure from Washington and Brussels. One example is a 2009 law on "animal rights" which turned the Sarajevo Canton into a free range for feral dogs.

Let's also remember that US and EU officials supported the "demonstrators" with supposedly economic and democratic grievances, who earlier this year torched government offices in Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla, Maidan-style.

Lest you think this is someone impersonating USAID on YouTube, you can see both videos featured on the agency's official website. The claim by the agency head and Embassy officials that this is purely a "get out the vote" campaign is absurd. The ads very specifically urge the voters to elect a different government - presumably one more willing to obey orders from Washington. More to the point, USAID is engaging in behavior that would be blatantly illegal in America itself. Imagine a foreign agency running TV ads urging Americans to "vote or suffer"!

This is but the latest in a series of attempts by the Empire to influence the outcome of Bosnian elections. Imperial officials have turned a blind eye to jihadist activity (even when directed against the US!) in Bosnia for years, backed the rioters who torched government offices in February, sent in additional troops as a way of signaling support to those they back and threaten those they oppose, and outright "midwifed" the opposition coalition in the Serb Republic, recycling a name of a previous creation in the process. Thanks to genuine activists on the ground, their interference has been documented and brought to light.

Keep that in mind when Empire's stooges begin crying foul, after they lose at the polls.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Not meant to distract from the argument and intent of the message, but doesn't "Glasalj Ili Trpi" translate to "Vote Or Endure." I think "Glasaj Ili Pati" would translate to "Vote Or Suffer." Anyways... just a point of interest.

CubuCoko said...

If you're machine-translating, sure. But Serbian (Bosnian, Croatian, whatever) has a very precise cognate for "endure" - издржи (izdrži).

From the context of the videos - accusing the current government of incompetence, corruption, theft, etc. - it is abundantly clear that "trpi" is intended to mean "suffer". The line "suffer, while evils are sufferable," from the US Declaration of Independence, comes to mind.

Natalie said...

Maybe it's just me, but this slogan seems very strange. "Vote or suffer" is a tad too threatening for my tastes!

CubuCoko said...

It is absolutely meant to be a threat. This isn't a cheerful "get out the vote" campaign, but an attempt to intimidate the voters into supporting those parties promising "change" - which just so happen to be backed by the Empire.

Anonymous said...

The dead MH17 passenger with an oxygen mask indicates he had just enough time to put on the mask, because the plane did not instantaneously disintegrate. A missile impact would disintegrate the plane immediately, while machine gun fire at the plane would give a passenger, with quick reflexes, just enough time to put on an oxygen mask.

Also, no missile trail seen on the videos.

CubuCoko said...

Very interesting. Though I think both of those comments would fit better under one of my MH17 posts...

Unknown said...

The key for Yugoslavia/Bulgaria/Slavs is cooperation. And friendship. That's what the empire fears most. LOVE.