Someone Got It Right

Antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo, that is. One would think that after eight years of Clinton "humanitarianism" and another eight years of Bushian "humble foreign policy" the American people would not be eager to elect another warmongering imperialist to the White Marble Throne. Not so.

This week Antiwar.com is doing its quarterly pledge drive, soliciting donations from readers in order to continue its operations. As part of illustrating the consistent opposition of Antiwar.com to imperialism (which is bad for both the people being "liberated" and Americans), Raimondo has posted excerpts from his 1996 brochure opposing intervention in Bosnia. From his introduction:

It was the Kosovo incursion that set the stage for the Iraq invasion, from the rhetoric of "liberation" to the mechanics of "nation-building." Operation Allied Force had all the elements that were later developed to the max in Operation Enduring Freedom – an allied group that provided phony "intelligence," i.e., war propaganda, and had the same hubristic, hectoring style. Militant interventionists, such as John McCain, jumped on board the war bandwagon because they realized that a precedent had to be set in the post-Cold War world, an assertion of American hegemony.

Today, we are all paying the consequences.

Whether you want to or not, you are already funding murder and pillage at home and abroad, through taxes you are forced into paying. If you value your freedom and oppose the soul-sucking and murderous enterprise that is the Empire, I urge you to make a voluntary contribution to a cause of liberty and justice today.

(Yes, I'm a columnist for Antiwar.com and as such, keeping them in existence is in my self-interest; but that doesn't make anything I've said here any less true, and you know it.)

Democracy, Tolerance and Enlightenment

There is a small, but very loud, group of people in Serbia that style themselves better than the rest of their countrymen. They are the "Other Serbia," gathered around the radio/TV network B92, the Liberal Democratic Party and so-called non-governmental "human rights" organizations (who are financed almost exclusively by foreign governments, and care not a whit for human rights of Serbs). These "true believers" even see the quisling Democratic Party and its sycophantic leader Boris Tadic as "too soft", too willing to make compromises with the underfolk - the Serbian people, the Serbian Orthodox Church, academia and press. Naturally, they see themselves as the paragons of democracy, tolerance, and enlightenment - and in the pursuit of these lofty ends, consider any and all means acceptable.

(That they are an instrument of foreign governments isn't even questionable; just look at their analogs set up in Russia, funded from the same source...)

Once a week, the radio show Peščanik ("Hourglass") channels the feelings of these "Otherserbians" (not to be confused with "Serbnationalists"). The two hosts - Svetlana Lukić and Svetlana Vuković - have taken to publishing transcripts of the show; the latest book of these transcripts, volume 10, was recently reviewed by Slobodan Antonić. I've translated the review here, omitting perhaps a sentence or two; those who read Serbian can see all of it here.

Please note that Antonić writes with dripping sarcasm, and that the language and imagery used by the self-proclaimed champions of "modernity and reform" can be nauseating to some readers. Proceed at your own risk.

Any errors in the translation are my own.

Educating the "People Gone Wild"
(Pečat, issue 12, May 6, 2008, p. 48-50)

Peščanik is often dubbed a "cult show" of the Other Serbia. That is quite literally true, as the authors and fans of Peščanik are an ideological and political cult, gathering once a week by their radios to listen to the same preachers. Those most dedicated will buy the books of collected sermons.

One such book is before us, containing the transcripts of shows between September and November 2007. It contains the core ideological messages of this cult: belief in their own ideological and political exceptionalism, contempt and hatred towards their surroundings. They curse the sin-soaked people for not accepting the cult and not giving itself fully over to its shamans. But the cult is noble, and instead of leaving the unworthy to their fate, it is ready to make sacrifices and lead it into deliverance. All they need is a tiny bit of power - and the entire society will become like Peščanik.

"My people are a special kind of stupid," says Petar Luković (p. 314). "Serbia is not a normal country," agrees Svetlana Lukić (p.99). It is a "pit of a country, a suffocating room, a cell and an insane asylum both at once" (p.9). Latinka Perović says the same thing, in a more sophisticated way: "Serbia is a very neglected country with institutions that aren't functioning, and very far away from any notion of rule of law." (p.329). It is a country, adds Ivan Kuzminović of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, where "thirty percent of people are missing teeth and voting Radical" (p.248).

It is hard to love such a pit of the toothless. "We Serbs are a people who worshiped Milošević and killed Đinđić," explains Sreten Ugričić. "It is hard to love that, belong to that, and identify with that, it is hard to be a Serb patriot" (p.347). So one must understand why this cult believes that "contempt for the people is the highest form of patriotism" (Ugričić, p.346). However, members of this cult are not snobbish, willing to look upon the sinful with contempt from on high. They want to help, and "take responsibility," so they have a plethora of advice.

One such advice is to disregard the will of the people. "Oh, if everyone heeded the will of the people, we'd have all been fucked," explains Petar Luković (p.235). "The very worst thing here is that the elected politicians follow the will of the people," he warns (p.235). "The government has to listen to the citizens, yes," concurs Nataša Kandić, "but those citizens have to have certain values" (p.260). And since the toothless people don't have the right values, the government ought to listen to the elite, gathered around Peščanik. If only they are given a chance, they will perform their social mission: "to educate the people gone wild"(Dubravka Stojanović, p.265).

"We need a self-transformation," claims Nikola Samardžić, "we don't need to pollute the European Union, like so much biological waste" (p.61-2). Of course, such wild people and "biological waste" needs to know order before even thinking about the EU. "Do they need our garbage? I don't think so," says Samardžić (p.62).

To educate and enlighten such garbage, one has to resort to extreme measures. Since, as Nenad Prokić educates us, the last witch-burning in Europe happened in Serbia (p.153), perhaps it would be proper to apply similar measures to the unworthy populace: "Nothing will get better in Serbia until the Holy Spanish Inquisition starts burning people at the stake. Think of it what you will!" (Prokić, p.33).

"Either we get them, or they will get us," agrees the paragon of tolerance Biljana Srbljanović (p.152). "We need to attack, but not piecemeal, but straight at the head, where they are most dangerous," she adds. Sadly, it's impossible to burn the entire people at the stake, but one could make an example of the nationalist elite. "I have only one thing to say about the Serbian elite: Napalm is all!" said Petar Luković in the previous volume (book 9, p. 282). Thus the Other Serbia easily resolves the issue of "biological waste," between the stakes and napalm.

As they see it, garbage is not confined to "nationalist" parties. Its fountainhead is the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Patriarchy, explains Svetlana Lukić, "is still looking for the first decent human being" (p.353). Since there are no decent human beings within the Church, that explains how Petar Luković commented on the hunger strike of Bishop Filaret: "The pig slopped" (93). The Church pigs will have their turn, once the "education" begins, followed by the nationalists and all the other "fascists."

Speaking of which, "fascism" was in particular a topic of this collection. Rajko Đurić established that the number of Nazis in Serbia is "over 250,000" (p.191). "Fascists and Nazis," explains Đurić his numbers, "aren't just those who wear the swastika. There are salon fascists, thought fascists, academic, literary and media fascists..." (p.191). How to treat these professors, authors and journalists is clear: "They are Hitlerspawn, and there is no talking to Hitlerspawn; for communication, one needs logos, a mind, reason" (p.191). Dealing with the estimated quarter million Serbian fascists, as Peščanik counts them, is simple: "The depth of thoughts and breadth of soul of a Nazi can only be measured by a bullet" (p.190). Burnings at the stake, napalm and bullets - and there we have it, the holy de-Nazification and decontamination trinity of Other Serbia.

In addition to "Serb fascism," this book also dwells on uncovering the evil Russian imperialism. Until recently, Peščanik paid no heed to the gigantic heap of biological waste out east, perhaps too busy with the one at home. Now, however, the evil Russia has invaded Peščanik's blissful existence. They have discovered that all the evils that have visited us throughout history came from - Russia!

Nenad Prokić thus lectured us that the Russian secret service, the Okhrana, was behind the key assassinations in Serbian history: the 1860 murder of prince Danilo in Kotor, the 1868 murder of prince Mihailo in Belgrade, the 1903 murder of King Alexader Obrenović - and of course, the 2003 murder of Zoran Đinđić (p.28). But Prokić was not satisfied with these incredible discoveries - he also taught us that the Russians were behind the Holocaust! Namely, says Prokić, the Nazi genocide of Jews would not have been possible without the Okhrana agent Matvei Golovinski writing the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Paris in 1898 (p.28). Hitler drew inspiration from the "Protocols," and "Golovinski was believed by Churchill and Stalin"(p.28). And this satanic Empire is now thought of in Serbia better than our eternal friends and worldwide benefactors, the United States? Never!

No wonder Pera Luković rages whenever he sees something Russian on TV. "I watched the Russian version of 'My Nanny' on B92, and you know what? I'd have these Russians shot, and I'd shoot those who bought the show, too. It's a Russian home, man, we're watching a reality show from a fucking Russian home!" (p.232). Only the evil Cuba can measure up to the evil Russia, so Luković does not cloak his rigtheous anger over the dire Cuban threat to the Other Serbia: "Fuck Cuba, fuck all of Cuba with both Fidel and Raul, and all their brothers and sisters if they have them. Fucking cunts!" (p. 234).

Mirko Đorđević explains the justified odium towards the evil Cuba. He is horrified that now "Che Guevara is used as a symbol by the most aggressive of nationalists" (p.307). And since it's well known that fascists are easily identified by wearing Che T-shirts, as well as those that say "Rossiya", it is finally understandable how thye preachers of Peščanik arrived at a number of some quarter-million Nazis in Serbia.

Finally, this volume introduces a sudden discovery by Peščanik of the incredible potential for Euro-reforms in the - Socialist Party! This was claimed as early as September 14, 2007 by Miljenko Dereta. Asked how to ensure "the maximum support for the pro-European option," Dereta explained his vision: "There is a surprising potential in the Socialist Party of Serbia" (p.48). This potential, Dereta says, can only be realized if the SPS does the following : "I expect of the Socialists to reform, denounce the past and help the pro-Europeans. We need to support those leading the SPS in that direction. There is a generational change in SPS, and those who were directly involved in the events of the 1990s are dying out. New people will replace them and reform that party, and they will need help. They should not be forgiven, or forgotten, but they will need help to make a new step"(p.48).

The prophetic Dereta clearly saw the danger of Euro-reformers never winning a majority in Serbia, so he demonstrated his tolerance by offering the warm embrace of the Cult to the outcast SPS. Who can say the Cult is discriminatory, who says the only things they offer are napalm and bullets? No, Dereta says nicely, "Don't forgive, don't forget, but help them make a new step." And look how useful listening to Peščanik can be, in the aftermath of the May 11 elections. All it takes now is that "one small new step" by Ivica Dačić; his membership won't get absolution, but if he makes that one "right step," everything will be all right. Every radio will be Peščanik, every TV will be B92, every newspaper will be the "Helsinki Charter" (newsletter of Sonja Biserko's Helsinki Committee for Human Rights - GF.), every school will become a "summer camp for civic instruction," and the government will finally begin "educating the people gone wild."

Once every Serb is issued his personal "self-liberation kit", there won't be much need for the holy trinity of decontamination. The SPS would be transformed, the Orthodox Church will call for entries for a reformist Patriarch, Serbs would stop wearing Che T-shirts, and the Serb professors, authors and journalists will know the beauty of The Hague and the Pentagon. Then N. Samardžić would have to work less on cleaning out biological waste, P. Luković will put down the chainsaw, and N. Prokić will put down the torch.

All will be happy, all will be in NATO - except for that trifling quarter-million. But after that group of infidels is treated by the holy trinity of decontamination, the remaining hard-liners will have to listen to the holy sermons of Peščanik, read the holy books of Peščanik, and meet the holiest relic of Peščanik, the Blessed Chainsaw. Following such testimonies, who would dare not believe?

Smurftastic

It's been four days since the election, and Serbia still doesn't have a government. Last time around, it took four months. Of course, last time it was hard to imagine that DSS would even think of an alliance with the Radicals (and now that's pretty much assumed), while anyone even thinking of a possible coalition between the DS and the Socialists would have been locked up in an insane asylum. Yet now you have the Imperial propaganda machine straining to promote the very people they've demonized for years as genocidal nationalist architects of Balkans bloodshed... It's actually kind of funny, if in a twisted way.

In light of President Tadić's statement that he "won't allow" a government "against the wishes of the people," I can only recall something I wrote last May, when it was Tadić and his Democrats that trampled all over that will (and the Radicals had parliamentary plurality):

Nikolić's election was protested by EU commissars. A scheduled delegation from Brussels canceled its visit. The world media (otherwise known for their fair and impartial coverage of Serbs, right?) are spreading panic about Nikolić being an ”ultra-nationalist” etc. President Tadić, head of the Democratic Party, said Nikolić's election was ”harmful to state interests” and a ”democratic Serbia.” Or was that a Democratic Serbia?

Tadić's party has been negotiating (or not) for months with the old PM Koštunica about a new government, without results. They claim they got the most votes, so they can dictate the make-up of the government. One teeny little problem with that argument is that the Radicals actually got the most votes. But that's an inconvenient truth, and thus overlooked in "democratic" discussion. Because, you see, only the "democratic bloc" can act democratically and build democracy in a democratic state... At which point I'm getting flashbacks to an 1980s cartoon where every Smurf smurfs smurfingly the entire smurfing day!

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, then. Seems like Tadić and his foreign sponsors believe they are the only ones that get to decide who and what is "democratic," regardless of how people vote or what they actually think. Holding people in contempt has never been a winning strategy in the long run. I wonder if they know that.

A Math Lesson

Official results of the Serbian elections haven't been released yet, but the EUphoric Democrats are already claiming total victory. Everyone's got a right to an opinion, of course - but not to their own facts.

Well, what about the facts? According to CESID, a pro-Western election monitoring NGO, the May 11 election results are as follows:

Democratic Party/G17 : 103 seats
Serbian Radical Party (SRS): 77 seats
Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)/NS: 30 seats
Socialist Party of Serbia/PUPS: 20 seats
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP): 13 seats
SDA: (Muslim parties) 4 seats
MK (Hungarian parties): 2 seats
KAL (Presevo valley Albanians): 1 seat
Total seats in the parliament: 250

If I understand correctly, it takes 126 mandates to swear in a cabinet. Let's assume the Democrats will get the LDP on board, as well as the Hungarians, Muslims and Albanians. That's still only 123 mandates.

But if the Radicals, Socialists and the DSS make a deal... they have 127 mandates right there. A majority. A government.

Oh, I suppose it is theoretically possible for the Democrats to court the Socialists, but wait - aren't the Socialists the "hardline ultra-nationalists," the party of "the late dictator Slobodan Milosevic"? Hard to imagine the self-proclaimed postmodern democratic reformers whose wellspring of legitimacy is the coup against Milosevic in October 2000 actually contemplating any sort of cooperation with them. Anyone who can see the Socialists in the same government as LDP has got to be on some powerful hallucinogens.

Now, anything is possible, in theory. But in practice, the only way the Democrats will have won this election is if they can somehow defeat the math that says they do not have a majority to form a government.

A New Kind of War

Gary Brecher, the eXile's resident War Nerd, writes in TakiMag:

To succeed in the post-1918 world, the world Woodrow Wilson dreamed up where “small nations” have rights even if they can’t defend them, you need to use slower, less obviously military methods, like birthrate and immigration.

The classic example of this kind of slow conquest is Kosovo. The Serbs could always defeat the Albanians on the battlefield, even when outnumbered, but the Albanians had a huge advantage in the most important military production of all—babies. According to the BBC, the birthrate of Kosovo Albanians 50 years ago was an amazing 8.5 children per woman.

The Serb/Albanian conflict offers damn near perfect lab conditions to prove my case that birth rate trumps military prowess these days, because the Serbs always beat the Albanians in battle, yet they’ve lost their homeland, Kosovo. Here again, we can blame Woodrow Wilson and his talk about “rights.” In places where tribes hate each other, a tribe that outbreeds its rival will become the majority, even if it can’t fight. So, after generations of skulking at home making babies, letting the Serbs do the fighting, the Albanians finally became the majority in Kosovo and therefore the official “good guys,” being oppressed by the official “bad guys,” the Serbs. At least that’s the way the naïve American Wilsonian types like Clinton saw it. So when the Serbs fought back against an Albanian rebellion in Kosovo, and dared to beat the Albanians, Clinton decided to bomb the Serbs into letting go of Kosovo, the ancient heartland of a Christian nation that had spent its blood holding off the Turks for hundreds of years.

Now, what helped the Albanians in this endeavor were two things. First, after 1945, Serbs had little or no authority in Kosovo (or Serbia, for that matter), so they could do little to stop this. Secondly, Tito's regime plowed massive resources - plundered from all over Yugoslavia - into the Albanian-dominated province, building schools, hospitals, factories, apartment blocks and other benefits of civilization. One notable thing is that the Albanian birth rate did not drop with urbanization - quite the contrary, it rose thanks to better medical care.

This is precisely what KFOR commander de Marhnac spoke of last November: Albanians not only outnumber the Serbs, they also out-breed them by orders of magnitude. And if the Serbs dare procreate, there's ways of fixing that.

Kosovo is not just a case study of successful (for the time being, anyway) demographic warfare. It is also a case study in how not to oppose it. A military response, even a successful one, can be used as a pretext for an actual invasion (i.e. the 1999 NATO bombing/occupation). It is inhumane by definition, and opens one up to charges of "genocide," whether deservedly or not. The only way to resist this sort of takeover is prevention. This means not just tighter immigration controls - though there is good sense in not letting just about anyone in, let alone people who wish you ill - but tackling the core vulnerability that demographic warfare has been designed to exploit: the welfare state.

Without a way to saddle someone else - preferably the host society - with the expense of delivering, feeding, educating and employing all those "weaponized" babies, any project of demographic conquest is effectively stillborn.

Flags and Advertising

Balkans politicians talk a lot about "branding" their pocket-countries. Maybe they should take a look at what that would look like, using the example of flag design.

Hilarious. Or is it?

(hat tip: Vox Day)

Back in the Saddle

I'm back from overseas, and trying to catch up; before regular posts resume, I'll try and answer some questions posed in my absence.

lassejohansson wants to know:

As a libertarian, what is your view of the radical party in Serbia? They seem to have wind in their sails right now. Do you think this is good for Serbia? And if they win, what will it mean for Kosovo? Finally, what do you think it will mean for the cooperation between Serbia and Russia?

I've written about my mixed feelings concerning the Radicals before. I still think their greatest shortcoming is that they essentially subscribe to the same exact model of governance as the demoncrats and Jacobins. Yes, patriotism is and should be a major issue, but one can't neglect the importance of putting food on the table, either. Look, economics ain't hard; less taxation means more capital for investments, more profit, higher wages and better living. A gargantuan bureaucracy regulating every aspect of life, from the price of rapsberries to banking, is going to require confiscatory taxation even if none of its employees were corrupt in any way. The solution is clear - but the Radicals and Kostunica are yet to grasp it. Surely I'm not the only one pointing this out... am I?

This doesn't mean any sort of "wild capitalism" or "neoliberalism" or what have you; it merely means that the government has become so obsessed with plunder, it's abandoned its ostensible main reason for existence: protection.

Now, the Radicals are Russophiles, while the demoncrats are EUrophiles, so it's to be expected that a Radical government would have better relations with Moscow. There's lessons to be learned from Russia. In 1998 it was a wasteland, ruled by a corrupt puppet of the Empire and lorded over by oligarchs and organized crime. In just a decade, it's turned itself around almost completely, just because the government was business-friendly and cracked down hard on both oligarchs and criminals. For all that the West is criticizing Putin, he has neither sent tanks to bomb the parliament (like Yeltsin) or invaded anyone (like Bush the Lesser).

What any of this may mean for Kosovo, it's hard to tell. The Empire seems convinced that the Serbs will roll over and give up, accepting the Albanian usurpers. I don't think that's going to happen, well, ever. Still, it would not hurt the Serbs to make that known rather explicitly. Just so there's no misunderstanding.

Speaking of which, eudaemonism has a good question:

I'm doing some background research on the term "Merciful Angel" as metaphor for NATO's 1999 Operation Allied Force, and wondered if you could help me identify the origin - if not specific originator - of the term.

Honestly, I have no idea. It's always been clear to me that NATO's 1999 attack was named "Allied Force" - they weren't even pretending to have humanitarian motives, it was just naked aggression, pure and simple. Judging by how widespread the misconception about the operation's name being "Merciful Angel" is in Serbia, I'd hazard a guess it originated from the Serbian television at some point. I know that's not very helpful, but that's the best I've got.

Ok, now back to catching up with emails and news; My latest column about the Balkans contains most of my observations from Bosnia. I'll post some more thoughts later.

On the Road Again

I'm in Europe for the next two weeks, doing some research and getting some (in my opinion) well-deserved R&R. I may post some observations while traveling, but then again, I might not. Reliable broadband 'net access is still a pipe dream in some places. We'll see.

Meanwhile, chew on the notion that Europeans tend to look at Americans with a mixture of pity , sympathy, condescension and smugness. Sure, the EUSSR is destroying itself from within as well - but that self-implosion is far less obvious than the teetering dollar, the Iraq fiasco, and the circus that is the presidential election.

Six Little Reasons

On the anniversary of NATO's bombing of Serbia, March 24, 1999 - March 24, 2008

By Slobodan Antonić

(translated by GrayFalcon; all flaws and mistakes mine. Original at NSPM)

Serbia is the only European country that was bombed by NATO. The bombing was illegal, without UN Security Council authorization. While bombing Serbia, NATO committed atrocities against civilians. This is why Serbia cannot just join NATO. That might be possible only when Serbia receives a clear apology from NATO leaders, even if only for the “collateral damage” it suffered in 1999.

Such an apology has not come. Quite the contrary, NATO and U.S. officials incessantly repeat that the 1999 aggression was “necessary,” and don’t mention atrocities at all. Numerous NGOs in Serbia, receiving a steady stream of funding from the U.S. and other NATO countries, keep telling the Serbian public that all Serbs must atone for crimes. Meanwhile, NATO is not only not atoning for its misdeeds, but considers it somehow rude of Serbia to even mention them.

This made it possible to have a welcoming ceremony for an U.S. Air Force Major in Belgrade on July 13, 2006. As a member of the 555th Squadron, Maj. Andrew Wiles took part in the NATO attack on Serbia; some Serbian media even claimed that it was his plane that cluster-bombed downtown Nis. That did not bother the Serbian Minister of Defense, who greeted Maj. Wiles and welcomed him to Serbia. It seems like the “Euro-reformers” in Serbia agree with U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter, who told the weekly Evropa (November 22, 2007): “We believe that [the bombing of Serbia] was hard, but also necessary. It was needed to depose Milošević.”

Due to this belief, the “Euro-reformers” in Serbia have systematically endeavored to repress the memories of NATO’s crimes. Today we remember only the bombing of the Serbian Television – and that not as a crime committed by NATO, but something for which a Milošević official was blamed. Even the memory of crimes has been subject to spin and political manipulation.

Serbia must clearly recall six “little” crimes of NATO, become aware of them, and challenge NATO to recognize them. Only after there is an explanation, Serbia and NATO can talk again. These six “little” NATO crimes are the six “little” reasons that Serbia, under current circumstances, should not join NATO.

The first “little” reason is the 2-year-old Marko Simić. He went for a walk with his father Vladan, on May 31, 1999 at noon, in his hometown of Novi Pazar. When they reached the apartment building at Stefana Nemanje 74, there was an explosion. The building was struck by a missile probably intended for the nearby bus station. (Why the civilian bus station was targeted still remains a mystery.) Besides Marko and Vladan, nine more civilians were killed. Shortly after this tragedy, Marko’s mother gave birth to a girl. When she grows up, maybe she will read the monograph “NATO Crimes in Yugoslavia” and find a photograph of her little brother, on a hospital bedsheet, his face bloody and his left leg gone.

The mother of 11-month-old Bojana Tošović, another “little” witness of NATO’s un-atoned crimes, was six months pregnant. Then her house in the village of Merdare (near Kuršumlija) was hit by a bomb on April 10. Her husband Božin was holding Bojana when the ceiling caved in. Mother Marija could only watch helplessly as her husband, crushed by the concrete ceiling plate, died slowly with their daughter in his arms.

Three-year-old Milica Rakić, of Batajnica, is our (and God’s) third “little” witness. On April 17, around 9:30 PM, she told her mother Dušica she needed to go potty. Dušica took her to the bathroom, put her on the chamber pot, and went to make the bed. They felt safe, because their house was four kilometers away from the military airfield. Then a bomb hit near the building. Right away, father Žarko ran into the bathroom. Milica lay there in a pool of blood, hit by a shrapnel from the bomb. They took her to a nearby emergency room, but she was beyond help. She, too, was photographed on the hospital bedsheet. The photo shows her bandaged left leg, and her deathly pale face, beautiful and gentle. The angelic face of a murdered child.

There is no picture of the dead Branimir Stanijanović, age six, of Aleksinac. With his father Vidosav and mother Divna, he was on a train that found itself on a bridge at Grdelica on April 12, twenty minutes before noon. The pilot, NATO officials later said, had the mission to destroy the bridge, but he saw the train too late. I guess that’s why he came back a few minutes later and hit the train again. Not the bridge – the train. And in the same spot, cars number two and three. The entire Stanijanović family perished, along with another fifteen or so passengers. There is no exact count of the dead, since their charred bodies fell into the depths of south Morava River. Branimir’s body was one of them. If the pilot who did this, and NATO spokesman Jamie Shea – who disavowed any blame for these deliberate murders – are interested in knowing whom they’ve killed, there is a picture of Branimir in existence. It shows him at a school pageant, serious, smartly dressed, with a bow tie. Maybe that is what he is wearing that now, walking in God’s garden?

Eight-year-old Stefan and his sister, five-year-old Dejana Pavlović are in that garden now as well. They were asleep in their family home, in Ralja near Belgrade, when it was hit by a bomb on May 26. It remains unclear what target of any military importance could have possibly been nearby. Father Vladimir died with his children. Mother Branislava survived. Her only memory of her family, snuffed out in the blink of an eye, is a photograph. It shows the children in colorful pajamas, laid out on the blue bedsheet. Dejana’s nose is slightly bloodied. Stefan looks untouched.

Those are the six “little” witnesses of NATO crimes, six “little” reasons why Serbia has to demand an explanation from NATO leaders. The explanation is simple. At the Tašmajdan park, there is a monument to children killed in the NATO bombing. (It is falling apart – of a statue of a girl with butterfly wings, only the wings remain. Perhaps some day the Belgrade authorities will set aside some funds to restore the monument; if they don’t have enough, they should say something – the people will pitch in.) So, NATO Secretary-General Jap de Hoop Scheffer, or another NATO official, needs to come before this monument and clearly say, “Forgive us.” We don’t need him to kneel, or light a candle. All he has to do is bring one flower and ask forgiveness. And Serbia will forgive.

Until then, there’s nothing to talk about. Not in Belgrade, not in Brussels, not in Ohio. One flower at Tašmajdan – that’s the condition for any further talks. One flower at Tašmajdan – and only then can both we and you be human again.

A symbol of something else, now

It is nothing short of incongruous that the government of Serbia and the Serb Republic in Bosnia (RS) have both adopted a design for their press rooms copied from the USA. The outline of the government building, the font, the colors - it's more than a homage to the U.S. government, it's outright mimicry.

Belgrade adopted the "American look" during the rule of Zoran Đinđić (2000-2003), who was ideologically closer to European socialists. Vojislav Koštunica, who at the time presided over Yugoslavia, was a scholar of American politics and philosophy; he had translated the "Federalist Papers," published a study on De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," and praised Hannah Arendt's "On Revolution," a paean to the American revolution and republican spirit.

Many other Serbian politicians, philosophers and intellectuals have been fascinated by American values and ideals. However...

Everything changed with February 17. The majority of the Serbian political class and intelligentsia now thinks ill of the USA. Having any sympathy for American policy is considered a sign of feeble-mindedness (or lack or morals). Even classic American values, from liberty to rule of law, are seen as having been betrayed by the Americans themselves. The minority voices that advise the Serbs to stop opposing U.S. policy invoke "pragmatism" and "realism" - i.e. the argument of force – rather than some moral or political superiority of the American position.

After everything that happened in 1995, 1999 and 2008, the United States have no true friends in Serbia. There are spokesmen and followers, yes, but no friends - no one left who believes we share the same values. Once, American friends in Serbia shared the ideals of freedom and democracy. Today, American "friends" in Serbia mostly share American money. That's symbolic, in a way. The eager translator of the "Federalist Papers" and the commentator on "Democracy in America" is today dismissed by the American government as a "hardline Serb nationalist." Meanwhile, Washington praises the politician who restored the notion of the "iron broom" into domestic political discourse as a "young and dynamic pro-Western leader." Again, that's symbolic."

(Slobodan Antonić, writing in Politika, March 20, 2008)

Something will have to change, Antonić concludes: either the sign, or the U.S. policy towards Serbia. His bet is that after the May 11 elections, there will be a new symbol in the Serbian government's press room. I would not be surprised.

The one people in the Balkans that actually believed in American values, that actually admired America, whose community in America has always proudly served in the military (leading the way in Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, for example) and took pride in being the ally of America in two world wars... and that's the people Washington picked to demonize, embargo, besiege, bomb and occupy? It almost beggars belief.

This - rather than oil prices, or deficits, or the falling dollar - is why America won't be a great power much longer. It has betrayed its own principles and values in pursuit of power.

I notice that no one in Washington is asking "Who lost Serbia?" they way they asked about China, Korea, or Vietnam. Maybe because they know the answer. And maybe because the question isn't who lost Serbia, but who lost America?

They know the answer to that, too.

Servility

(Update 2: corrected for Canadian FM's gender)

The roll of shame has several new additions this week: Canada and Japan both recognized the "independence" of Kosovo, followed by Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Canada's FM Maxime Bernier demonstrated his mastery of wishful thinking when he said that "unique circumstances which have led to Kosovo's independence mean it does not constitute any kind of precedent."

Hey, whatever you tell yourself to be able to sleep at night, Max. But how many are willing to wager that the Quebecois will also claim to be "unique" (hey, isn't everybody?) and go on their merry way?

Japan - which is still under U.S. occupation, following the 1941-45 war - expressed hope that recognition will "contribute to long-term stability in the region" (IHT/Reuters). Right. Because seizing a part of a country's territory is stabilizing. Remember Manchuria?

Japanese FM Masahiko Komura said, "Our country has traditionally been on friendly terms with Serbia, and by this recognition of Kosovo it is not our intention to disturb our relations with Serbia."

Just like it wasn't the Americans' intention to disturb their traditional feelings of friendship for the people of Japan by nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I guess. What's a little tough love among friends?

If Komura-san had any honor, he'd be polishing a sword with his guts right about now.

Canada's Bernier also claimed that recognizing the Albanian quasi-state meant joining "the international community". What community - some 30-odd countries? And all they have in common is that, when Washington says "Jump!" they answer with "How high?" More than anything else, a country's recognition of the Kosovo monstrosity is an indicator of whether it is truly independent, or a satellite of the Empire.

Canada and Japan have just made their choice.

As for Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria, I'm not wasting words. All of a sudden the "satellite" comment is more apt than ever; these three countries were also on the side of "European integrations" at the Serbs' expense back when a certain Austrian corporal was behind the endeavor.

Remember

Four years ago, the terrorist KLA demonstrated precisely how it envisions the future of Serbs in Kosovo. Hashim Thaci, Agim Ceku, Ramush Haradinaj and the like can make all the proclamations of democracy, tolerance and human rights they want. By their deeds you shall know them:

• Kosovo Pogrom


• Kosovo Burning (Antiwar.com, 3/17/2004)


• Rummaging Through The Ashes (Antiwar.com, 3/25/2004)


• Saying It Ain't So (Antiwar.com, 4/1/2004)

Remember.

"It has no drive..."

One of Arthur C. Clarke's "laws of prediction" is that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

For some reason, it's the opening scenes of Clarke and Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey that first come to mind reading this account of stumped TSA agents hassling a traveler because they could not grasp the existence of a MacBook Air:

"There's no drive," one says. "And no ports on the back. It has a couple of lines where the drive should be," she continues.

A younger agent, joins the crew. I must now be occupying ten, perhaps twenty, percent of the security force. At this checkpoint anyway. There are three score more at the other five checkpoints. The new arrival looks at the printouts from x-ray, looks at my laptop sitting small and alone. He tells the others that it is a real laptop, not a "device". That it has a solid-state drive instead of a hard disc. They don't know what he means. He tries again, "Instead of a spinning disc, it keeps everything in flash memory." Still no good. "Like the memory card in a digital camera." He points to the x-ray, "Here. That's what it uses instead of a hard drive."

The senior agent hasn't been trained for technological change. New products on the market? They haven't been TSA approved. Probably shouldn't be permitted. He requires me to open the "device" and run a program. I do, and despite his inclination, the lead agent decides to release me and my troublesome laptop. My flight is long gone now, so I head for the service center to get rebooked.

Here's the tragic part. The author of this post has surrendered so much of his humanity, having to deal with TSA (and hotels and other trappings of frequent travel) so often, that he titled his post "Steve Jobs made me miss my flight."

How is the appalling behavior of TSA goons (or do I repeat myself) Steve Jobs' fault? Did Apple force this traveler to purchase their product? Is it somehow their responsibility to educate government troglodytes that computers don't need a hard drive any more? Or could it be, just possibly, that the real problem here are the TSA agents who enjoy near-absolute power over the helpless travelers? Just a thought, there.

(hat tip to Manuel Lora at the LRC Blog)

Kosovo Catastrophe

Conservative magazine Human Events published a piece by UPI editor Martin Sieff yesterda, criticizing (well, more like blasting) the Empire's idiotic policy in Kosovo. Sieff's piece is good, with one exception: he seems to believe that the Russian mafia and security services will organize a wave of attacks against EU and U.S. interests in retaliation to the recognition of Kosovo; I think this is extremely unlikely.

For some reason, I looked at the comments posted under Sieff's article. As of the time of this posting, there are about three pages of comments, ranging from isolationists who don't care and Albanians who shower Sieff with ad hominems, to those who claim Serbs should be given a free hand to fight against the jihad.

One comment, on the bottom of the first page, caught my eye. I reproduce it here, because there is no direct link to it. It is from PaulAndrewKirk of Redmond, Wa.:

I have served two tours in Kosovo with the US Military and I can tell you the following as factual:

1. Almost all facets and levels of the provisional government in Kosovo are corrupt. In fact its the worst I've ever seen and I've had to deal with some pretty corrupt governments during my career.

2. Supervised independence or even full independence will not improve the miserable lives of the ordinary people of Kosovo. Partly because of what I've listed as fact "1"., and partly because it will take decades of imense amounts of foreign aid throughout economy in order to bring Kosovo into a functioning state that wouldn't need foreign assistance for its survival.

3. Ethnic cleansing is still a common occurence in Kosovo but, this time its the ethnic Albanians ethnically cleansing the Serbs, Roma, Ashkali, Croatians, and Turk minorities through intimidation and at times outright force. I have personally witnessed this on many occasions.

4. No amount of foreign investment will provide enough jobs for the amount of unemployed people in Kosovo. The only way for Kosovo to maintain stability is for the EU to open its borders for an influx of foreign workers from Kosovo.

5. Islamic extremism is on the rise in Kosovo. KFOR soldiers have been attacked in Gjilan [sic: Gnjilane], Ferizaj, [sic: Urosevac] and Prizren when I was there. You just won't see or hear about it in the news. More Mosques have been built in Kosovo in the last five years than schools, roads, health clinics, and all other santitation project combined. Compliments of Muslim charities from the Middle East.

6. Mass graves of Kosovo Serbs and Roma have been found during my rotation and reported to the UN. Yet nothing has been done. Why? When we posed the question to our UN contacts in Pristina they replied: "During the transitional stage of Kosovo this would be destablizing. We'll wait until there is a final resolution before we proceed." All those journalists interested in a real story...start looking in around Novo Brdo.

7. The US Government along with key EU allies never had any intention of allowing Serbia a fair opportunity to negotiate with the Kosovar provisional government on the possibilities of a workable settlement that might have been permanent. I was party to a couple of meetings where US Government officials point blank told the Kosovar representatives that no matter what, the US will support independence and that going to these conferences in Vienna were just to give a favorable impression on the world opinion.

These are the facts. Some people might be outraged and some might be supprised [sic] however it really doesn't matter in the final analysis of all things considered. Superpowers will do what they want.

Kosovo independence will do nothing for stability of the region, in fact, the opposite will occur.

The Kosovar Albanians are now joyous they will have a new nation but, when all the partying ends and the dust clears, all that will exist is another backward, poverty stricken, underdeveloped, internationally protected country in an area of hostile neighbors thats todays news story and tomorrows breeding ground for extremism and resentment.

There you have it. The Empire-sponsored "Republic of Kosovo" is a crime, but also a mistake.

Empire's Ostpolitik

It's a rough time to be an American Serb. (For the sake of clarification, I'm an ethnic Serb who lives in America, but I'm not a U.S. citizen; I just happen to live here for the time being, resentful that the taxes bleeding me dry are funding the Empire but not having much of a choice in the matter.)

First there is the matter of the U.S. being the principal sponsor of the "independent state of Kosova," the illegally occupied and severed province of Serbia. Listening to lies and hatred coming from Daniel Fried and Nicholas Burns, and knowing it is official U.S. policy, has to be infuriating.

Worst of all, though, is the awareness that all three front-runners for the post of Emperor this fall share the dreadful Serbophobia that governs America's Ostpolitik.

Hillary Clinton is, well, a Clinton. She is fully behind her husband's illegal 1999 war, and eagerly uses the Albanian term for the new false state, "Kosova" (even though the Albanians actually declared recognition as "Kosovo," the province's proper name). Riding on her coattails (petticoats?) are Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, and Richard Holbrooke, war criminals we all know and love from the 1990s.

John McCain is an enthusiastic supporter of the Albanian cause, and specifically the terrorist KLA. 'nuff said.

What of Obama? Surely, he's got to be better than these two, right? Not so fast.
As Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com puts it today, "there is a problem with Obama's foreign policy stances, and I can boil it down to two words: George Soros."

Kosovo is proof positive that there's no shred of difference between the two major parties governing U.S. affairs. American Serbs voted for George W. Bush in 2004 not because they approved of the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, or anything else he and Darth Cheney have inflicted upon the world, but because John Kerry was in bed with the KLA. Unsurprisingly, though disappointingly, the lesser of two evils turned out to be, well, evil.

"It seems to me," comments Raimondo, "that the division of labor between the two wings of the War Party is, to a large degree, geographical." While the Republicans focus on the Middle East, the Democrats obsess about Europe, and more specifically, Russia. Now, Raimondo holds out some hope that Obama is not entirely in Soros's pockets yet, and may be using Soros as a means of getting to power. So far, however, he seems to be following the same Soros playbook Clinton, Albright, Holbrooke and Clark played by a decade ago.

As Daniel Larison of the American Conservative points out:

Recognizing separatist states... is how the Balkan Wars of the ’90s became international conflicts that drew in outside powers. It is how the West could make the wars of Yugoslav succession into an occasion for isolating and humiliating the rump Yugoslavia [i.e. Serbia] and backing up the historic proxies of… Germany, bizarrely enough. It is through the persistent mistaken belief that outside powers have some stake in the conflicts of the Balkans that great powers collide with one another and risk a more general war.

One question a whole lot of Serbs are asking right about now is WHY the Empire is so hell-bent on supporting Greater Albania and dismembering Serbia? To say that atrocities - both real and quite made up - were the actual cause of Imperial intervention in the Balkans is folly; they were an excuse - hence all the fabrications - nothing more. Ignoring the real genocide in Rwanda while making up a genocide in Bosnia; imposing a UN blockade harsher than the one against Iraq because of alleged "Serb aggression," then launching aggressive wars of its own (1999, 2003); condemning "ethnic cleansing," but sponsoring the largest instances thereof (half a million or so Serbs from today's Croatia and Kosovo) - how much more proof do we need that the Empire does not have a moral compass?

Almost 2000 years ago, Apostle Paul wrote, "there is nothing new under the sun." That is certainly a good description of American foreign policy. Its Russophobia is British in origin; its dislike of Serbs appears to be borrowed from Austria-Hungary and Nazi Germany (as is its choice of "allies" in the region). But the sheer stupidity of demolishing the international order over a patch of land utterly insignificant to anyone but the Serbs and the Albanians... that's 100% Made in America.

They should have outsorced it. Seriously.

KV

"Balkan Insight," publication of the Imperial propaganda mill otherwise known as IWPR, reported the other day that the new "Independent State of Kosova" has been assigned an international indexing code by the U.S. bureaucrats. The code used for this abomination will be "KV."

I find that somewhat ironic. No, make that especially ironic. In a recent film version of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, KV is the name of a retro-virus engineered by Dr. Alice Krippin (hence, "Krippin Virus") as cure for cancer. That it did. The "side effect," however, as to kill 90% of humanity, and turn the rest into vicious, rabid killers.

The creation of "Kosova" was supposed to win the Empire brownie points in the Muslim world and finalize the conquest of Europe by subjugating the stubborn Serbs. Instead, it tore up international law. All bets are off now, and God only knows how this will end.

"KV," indeed.

Pseudo-Bourgeois Parasites

I've called them "missionaries" and "neo-Jacobins" before, but I think I've finally found a really good description of the rats that have been gnawing on Serbia for decades. Quoting extensively from a splendid text by Saša Gajić of NSPM, titled "Serbian Pseudo-bourgeois Narcissism" :

"Our pseudo-bourgeois elite originated in Communist times, having supplanted the old bourgeois class that was by and large physically exterminated. They grew into a semi-parasitic class of eager political cronies, drawing constant benefits from their privileged position. When the old system collapsed, these circles simply switched to a diet of foreign donations.

For decades, the pseudo-bourgeois have been reinforced by ambitious arrivals from the countryside, mostly students, who compensated for their superiority complex (accompanied by an actual inferiority complex) and hatred for their home towns by artificially "civilizing" themselves through adopting whatever was considered modern in city culture, all in the service of a fanatical desire never to return to the countryside and "succeed in the city"...

If, during their conceited efforts to "rise above the average," they somehow managed to travel abroad, mostly through one or two summer internships in the West, they became convinced of possessing all the wisdom of the world, which set them apart from the "unenlightened" masses.

Members of this caste are not only incapable of performing the functional role of the traditional societal elite, but are ideologically and intellectually mired in a handful of vacuous beliefs drawn from the image they are trying to present and former ideological convictions. They are incapable even to soberly observe current developments in the world, nor perceive the tendencies therein. Although with eyes wide open to the "great world" they've seen as tourists or interns, domestic pseudo-bourgeois have in fact adopted only a load of obsolete prejudices, and have no real clue about the world they claim to value so much. Indeed, they are incapable of actually making their way in the world, because they are essentially incompetent to make an effort, change their mind, or engage in honest work. Their unearned privileges and social status are only possible here, and are maintained not by constructive social engagement, but by direct or indirect service to outside interests."

(Original here; any translation errors are my own)

Apt Comparison

One would think that, for an analysis titled "What Kosovo means to the Serbs," Olivia Ward of the Toronto Star would have talked to, you know, an actual Serb or two.

No such luck; the story quotes two (!) officials of the International Crisis Group, and former NATO commander in Bosnia Gen. William Nash, now at the Council of Foreign Relations. The rest is a rather familiar dish of boilerplate serbophobic rhetoric wrapped in distortions of history.

And yet, I cannot help but wonder what James Lyon (ICG's man in Belgrade) was thinking when he said:

"Kosovo plays an integral role in Serbian identity," says Belgrade-based James Lyon, senior adviser on the Balkans for the International Crisis Group. "Without Kosovo, they suffer an identity crisis that is much more serious than just losing territory."

But he added that "the overriding factor is how easy it is to mobilize the crowds. You could compare it with mobilizing an anti-Muslim rally in New York the day after Sept. 11."

Yes, he did just compare the U.S. recognition of Kosovo to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Perhaps now it will be easier for Americans to understand why the Serbs are so upset.

Perhaps.

Moment of Transition

Everyone, including the Serbian government, has condemned the rioters who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade the other night, burning a portion thereof. How ironic, observes Dimitry Gornostayev, commentator the Russian news agency RIA Novosti:

The Department of State has justifiably appealed to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. But what about the UN Charter, which guarantees territorial integrity of sovereign states? Having recognized Kosovo's independence, Washington has openly violated Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. So, why is it angry at a Serbian student who did a similar thing to the U.S. Embassy? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Don't blame Belgrade officials, he says. After all, they can't protect their own country's territory; how are they expected to protect that of the U.S.?

This is not a good prospect for President Boris Tadic, who talked about European prospects for Serbia, or for Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, a graduate of Cambridge and Harvard. They are not ready for any responsibility.

With all the talk of democracy, friendship and integration coming from the EU and the U.S. for years now exposed as meaningless, false and empty, those political options in Serbia who've staked their entire credibility on serving the West unconditionally are now facing popular ire. For the past seven years, the occupation of Kosovo was blamed on Milosevic (between the Imperial and Serbian quisling media, that wasn't hard; nor was it difficult not to blame NATO and the KLA, the real culprits in the matter). However, the "official" separation of Kosovo took place now, under the "democratic" government and after years of Serbian authorities catering to Empire's every whim. The official line from the West, that this is just desserts for Milosevic's (alleged) crimes, may have possibly worked in 1999, but simply won't fly in 2008. Furthermore, Serbs are so fed up with years of humiliation and demonization, even if they hadn't cared about Kosovo so far, now that it's being taken away - they are beginning to.

I cannot resist thinking that the embassy story is being blown out of proportion, in order to divert attention from the actual violation of international law - namely, the illegal, illegitimate and immoral declaration of an "independent Kosova."

Gornostayev isn't fooled, though:

Responsibility for the humiliated stars and stripes rests with American diplomats and officials - Burns, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Holbrooke, Zalmay Khalilzad, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Madeleine Albright - all those who have created this unique case and have not yet realized how unique it really is.

As Diana Johnstone put it, once you get rid of the law, everything's just one unique case after another, isn't it?

While the mainstream media have given a lot of coverage to the noise coming from Foggy Bottom, they are noticeably more reticent about one aspect of the embassy burning that doesn't fit the "evil Serbs attack sacred American territory" narrative.

One badly burned body was found inside the embassy; it was identified yesterday as Zoran Vujovic, age 21, a Serb refugee from Kosovo.

So it wasn't some sinister agents acting on the orders of the Serbian government that went after the symbols of Empire in Belgrade the other night, but a young man whose home the Empire had stolen, taking out his anger and frustration. Whether he blundered and died by accident, or intended to immolate himself in protest like Jan Palach, isn't clear.

I agree with Gornostayev; the Empire has no clue what it has just unleashed. I don't think anyone knows, honestly. More so than in March of 1999, or March 2003, the world finds itself in a moment of transition. The way it started, it doesn't promise anything good. And it's getting worse by the day.

Embassies, and the Torching Thereof

I'll start off by saying that I don't approve of destruction of property, even if it's government property. Even if that government has just committed what's effectively an act of war, by recognizing the declaration of independence by a terrorist gang occupying the host country's province illegally.

After all, that's just descending to that government's level.

But for that government to actually react with righteous indignation to such an expression of ire? That takes some nerve.

The U.S. government is "furious" over what happened to their fortress in Belgrade. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says:

We are interested in a political dialogue with the Serbian government. The European Union is interested in a political dialogue with the Serbian government. It is very clear there are differences with respect to the action that we took to recognize Kosovo and the action that others have taken to recognize Kosovo. We can talk about that. But none of that, none of those disagreements are an excuse or justification to incite others to violence.

Hogwash. Neither the U.S. nor the EU are interested in "political dialogue"; they demonstrated that by organizing and recognizing the secession of occupied Kosovo. "Differences"? Is that how we're calling it now? Well, Mr. McCormack, I have a feeling that the angry young men who threw a Molotov cocktail at your embassy thought they were engaging in political dialogue over their differences and disagreements with the U.S. government, in a fashion that very government taught them was the right and proper way of doing things. I mean, when Washington has differences and disagreements with people, there's usually blockade, bombing and occupation in those people's near future.

Washington engages in violence, then protests when the victim engages in some violence of their own? Again, I think attacking that embassy was wrong on principle. But the sheer gall of Foggy Bottom protesting it...?

Have you no sense of decency left, Mr. McCormack? Have you left no sense of decency?