2017

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Saudi king’s “Clash of Civilizations, convergence with Indonesia's hypocrisy and opportunism

by Julia Suryakusuma

 

When my older sister who lives in Germany came to Indonesia recently, we gave her the royal treatment. Well, she’s family after all, and had not visited in 12 years.

So if a family member hadn’t visited in 47 years, the royal treatment would be quadrupled, right? Well, that’s how long it had been since a Saudi monarch had come to Indonesia. The last time was the visit of King Faisal in 1970, so when King Salman of Saudia Arabia came in February the reception was pretty over the top.

Family member? Yes, being Muslims, we are all members of the ummah (community of Muslims), which for some is even more meaningful than being connected by blood. Our qibla (direction Muslims face when praying) is toward Mecca, but more than that, lately Saudia Arabia is our qibla for many things we consider to be part of our Muslim identity. Arabic-style attire is one example, but more importantly is the adoption of a more rigid and literal interpretation of the Quran than the moderate Islam Nusantara (Islam of the archipelago) that Indonesia is famous for.

King Salman is one of the richest world leaders and, boy, did he ever show it! An entourage of 1,500 in eight wide-bodied jets, a few limousines and two gold-plated escalators — because of course, one isn’t enough, right? We lapped it all up and various Indonesian dignitaries and political leaders were falling over themselves to pay obeisance to the custodian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina that Muslims make pilgrimages to. Well, at least we got the extra haj quota we were hoping for.

So why did he come after all this time, and at the age of 80, when most octogenarians would be ensconced in rocking chairs, especially after a stroke he had recently? Is it simply “the ties of Islam?” In economic terms, the visit to Indonesia did not do much to boost the relationship, which has never been fast and furious in any case (see “Saudi King Salman’s visit to Indonesia: Bound by ties of Islam,” The Jakarta Post, March 18 2017).

For almost 40 years, Saudi Arabia has imposed a kind of cultural imperialism in Indonesia by pouring in money which essentially has been exporting their brand of Salafism, a strict and dogmatic version of Islam. Millions of dollars produced hundreds of mosques, schools, a free university, provided teachers, scholarships and much, much more. Will this now change? Whatever the case, the investments have already made an impact.

Despite the ostentatious display of wealth because of falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia is going through a recession. Hence the ambitious one-month tour, not just to Indonesia, but also to Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, China, the Maldives and Jordan. Obviously, the trips to China and Japan have nothing to do with Islam, but are an attempt to look for partners and investors in the Asia-Pacific region to lessen Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil revenues.

Besides China overtaking the United States as a big net importer of crude oil in 2016, there are also geopolitical considerations. With the uncertainty that comes with the Donald Trump presidency, China can certainly be seen as a counterweight to the US for Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.

What about terrorism? That was mentioned too in King Salman’s underwhelming two-minute speech at the House of Representatives — which sounded more like the speech of a Miss World contestant — to stand united against global challenges, in particular against the “clash of civilizations”, terrorism and to work together to achieve world peace.

Funny that. Is decimating Yemen a way to achieve world peace?  Saudi Arabia committed crimes in Yemen as evidenced by the destruction of infrastructure and the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children.

Addressing visiting members of the Supreme Revolutionary Council of Yemen, Ali Larijani, the Iranian parliamentary speaker, said, “The scope of destruction is unprecedented in history and this clearly shows that Saudi Arabia is a rogue state in the region.”

As for the clash of civilizations, it’s more like a clash of ignorance, which is the title of the essay that Edward Said wrote to debunk Samuel P. Huntington’s 1993 Foreign Affairs article entitled “The Clash of Civilizations.” The hypothesis is that people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.

Oh really? Is that why the US and the United Kingdom provide the arms used by Saudi Arabia to crush Yemen? Because, of course, Saudi Arabia is the US’ ally in the Middle East, maybe a bit less so after the US betrayed them by making deals with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main rival.

But even if King Salman repeatedly listened to Paul Simon’s “Fifty ways to leave your lover,” Saudi Arabia could not break up with the US because it still provides them with the best weaponry and spare parts too.

But, Saudi Arabia is not all it appears to be. It’s not by any means revolutionizing, but it is evolutionizing, as Ameera al Taweel said.

The 33-year-old drop-dead gorgeous US-educated princess, businesswoman, high-profile women’s advocate and humanitarian philanthropist is the ex-wife of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, 60. He’s one of the more progressive of the thousands of princes of the Saud family and one of richest men in the world, who is planning to give away his US$33 billion to charity when he dies.

And would you believe that there’s a vegan Saudi prince who wants to veganize the Middle East? Meet Khaled bin Alwaleed (son of Al-Waleed bin Talal), 38, handsome and a fervent environmentalist who believes that “Climate change and the unjustified consumption of energy are two of the most serious issues we face today at the macro-level.”

Hope he’s saying this to his gas-guzzling compatriots as  Saudia Arabia is the world’s largest oil producer, but also the world’s sixth-largest consumer.

Then there’s Ahmed Qassim al-Ghamdi, formerly an employee of the Saudia Arabia’s  religious police who had a life-altering experience when he turned to the Quran to study the stories of the prophet Muhammad and came up with the conclusion that being Islamic is about being more liberal. No need to close shops for prayers, to cover women up, or to ban women from driving. Unsurprisingly, death-threats dogged him after he made these statements.

Like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia has a demographic bonus: Sixty percent of the population is under 30. Like Ameera and Khaled, they are connected to a globalized world and they will rebel against the strictures of the Islam espoused by their forbearers.

Change in Saudi Arabia seems inevitable, as it is becoming more progressive, climate-conscious and is espousing “Western” notions of rights (which the US under Trump seems to be abandoning), while Islam in Indonesia is becoming more Arabized and conservative.

Ironic or what?


Julia Suryakusuma

(First published by the JP)

*The writer is a public-intellectual, social-critic, columnist, researcher,  author of “Julia’s Jihad” (2013) and several other books. She is based in Jakarta.


March 29, 2017

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The World’s Last Colony:
Morocco continues occupation of Western Sahara, in defiance of UN

Nizar Visram

 

ADDISA ABEBA: At the 28th Summit meeting of the African Union (AU) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 January 2017, Morocco’s readmission to the continental body generated heated discussion. At the end of the day the Kingdom of Morocco managed to win over sufficient member states on its side and it was allowed to join the fold unconditionally.

Morocco left the Organization of African Unity (OAU), precursor to the AU, in 1984 after the OAU recognized the right to self-determination and independence for the people of the Western Sahara and admitted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) that was proclaimed in 1976 by the Sahrawi people’s Polisario Front.

It was in keeping with the OAU principle not to recognize the occupation of any part of the continent that it admitted the SADR to its membership. While SADR claimed sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory, Morocco saw it as an integral part of its own territory. Thus, rather than accept SADR’s independence, Morocco left the OAU.

Since then Morocco has refused to join the AU unless the organization withdraws the membership of SADR.


The Occupation of Western Sahara

The area of Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1976 when Spain pulled out and relinquished its claim as a colonial power over the territory. This former Spanish colony was then annexed by Morocco. Sahrawi people, who fought Spanish colonial oppression, were now forced to fight Moroccan occupation. They conducted resistance struggle under the leadership of Polisario Front until 1991 when the United Nations (UN) brokered a truce.

 

 

A UN-supervised referendum on independence of Western Sahara was promised in 1992 but it was aborted by Morocco. A UN peacekeeping mission that was to organize the referendum has remained in the territory ever since, while Morocco built a 2,700km-long sand wall, with landmines.

SADR, headed by the Polisario Front, has been recognized by the AU as the legitimate government in exile. For decades Morocco made futile attempts to delegitimize SADR and Polisario. Eventually it applied to rejoin AU without precondition.

AU member states argued that Morocco should not be readmitted unless it accepts the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, which states that, “All peoples have the right to self-determination; and by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status.”

Morocco was also asked to accept unconditionally the OAU/AU African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which provides that:

Nothing shall justify the domination of a people by another. All peoples shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status.

Thus, before readmission Morocco should have accepted all the 33 Articles of the Constitutive Act of the AU with Western Sahara as a founding member. Morocco should also accept the AU Act which recognizes African colonial boundaries, thus making its continued occupation of Western Sahara illegal.

All this was thrust aside and Morocco was readmitted to the AU when 39 out of the 54 African member states voted for Morocco. They tacitly endorsed the longstanding occupation of Western Sahara, while Morocco refuses to comply with the successive UN resolutions on the holding of a referendum on self-determination.

Western Sahara thus remains the continent’s last colonial outpost, occupied by another African state. It is an albatross on the African Union’s conscience, since it was a departure from its founding principles.

The notable US professor Stephen Zunes (a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, the co-author (along with Jacob Mundy) of the illuminating book Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press.), says:

“For those of us who have actually been to Western Sahara, there is no question that it is an occupation. Any verbal or visual expression of support for self-determination is savagely suppressed. Even calls for social and economic justice can be dangerous. The young sociologist Brahim Saika, a leader of a movement of unemployed Sahrawi professionals demanding greater economic justice, was tortured to death while in Moroccan detention in April 2016. Freedom House has ranked Western Sahara as among the dozen least free nations in the world, along with Tibet, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. Indeed, of the more than 70 countries I have visited -- including Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Indonesia under Suharto -- Western Sahara is the most repressive police state I have ever seen.”


Morocco’s Goodwill Tour

Morocco’s readmission was reportedly influenced by Morocco’s King Mohammad’s affluence. This became evident when he demonstrated his largesse while touring the continent, lobbying for support from African heads.

It is said he will now bankroll the AU in line with what Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi used to do. The two are, of course, poles apart. Gaddafi, arguably, had a pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist vision, while the King aims at continued annexation of Western Sahara.

That is why prior to the AU vote the King embarked on a charm offensive by touring African countries, seeking support for his AU bid. In February 2014 he set off on a tour of Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gabon. This was his second regional trip in less than five months. He took with him a contingent of advisors and business executives who negotiated a pile of agreements covering practically everything – from religious training to agriculture and mining projects.

In December 2016, the King concluded the second leg of a nearly two-month, six-country Africa tour, resulting in some 50 bilateral agreements. The visits came on the heels of trips to Rwanda, Tanzania, and Senegal in October, when more than 40 bilateral agreements were signed.

This is how the monarch wound up his whirlwind tour of Africa prior to the AU Summit meeting in January 2017. For those who say the royal expeditions to African countries had altruistic motive, suffice it to quote his official who said:

Aside from west and central Africa we must open up to east Africa and that is what is under way. The context of Morocco’s return to the African Union is there too of course, and these are important countries in the AU.

The tour of east Africa “is also a way to get closer to countries which historically had positions which were hostile to Morocco’s interests,” said the Moroccan source.

In some circles it is argued that Morocco’s readmission was a ‘positive’ step in that, as full member of the AU, it will now have to recognize the independence and sovereignty of SADR. If that is so then the readmission should have been conditional.

In any case, Morocco has no intention to give in on its occupation. Its return to the union is intended to eventually push for the removal of Western Sahara out of the AU, thus silencing the voice of the Sahrawi people in connivance with ‘friendly’ member states.

Yet while the AU fails to stand by such principles, the kingdom of Morocco is under pressure in the international diplomatic arena where Polisario is gaining global support. In fact, on 21 December 2016, a few days before the Addis Ababa Summit, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara. The ruling means the European Union’s trade deals with Morocco do not apply to the occupied territory of Western Sahara which is endowed with its fish stocks, mineral deposits, agricultural produce and oil reserves.


The UN and the European Union

The ECJ ruled that Western Sahara cannot be treated as a part of Morocco, meaning no EU-Morocco trade deals can apply to the territory. The ruling confirms the long-established legal status of Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory, and upholds existing international law. The EU member states and institutions have been asked to comply with the ruling and immediately cease all agreements, funding and projects reinforcing Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

The Court also ruled that a trade deal between the EU and Morocco should be scrapped because it included products from Western Sahara. Morocco had to accept that any free trade deal would have to exclude Western Sahara. This includes the fruits and vegetables grown by companies such as Les Domaines Agricoles, which is partly owned by King Mohammed VI.

On top of this there have been more than 100 UN resolutions calling for self-determination for the Western Sahara. In March 2016, the then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the situation in Western Sahara as an “occupation.” The UN, however, has to go beyond rhetoric by enforcing its resolutions. It formally recognizes the occupation of Western Sahara as illegal, and has maintained a peacekeeping mission (MINURSO) commissioned to hold a referendum in Sahara since 1991. But it has a skeleton staff, with no mandate to even monitor human rights abuses, thanks to France’s Security Council veto.

And so the French oil company Total is active in Western Sahara, while others have pulled out. Also big investors such as the Norwegian government’s pension fund avoid any deals which involve Western Sahara. And the EFTA free trade association, a group of non-EU countries including Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, excludes Western Sahara goods from its free trade deal with Morocco.

Morocco’s return to the AU is an affront not only to the people of Western Sahara but to African people, for Morocco is a country that once refused to host the African Cup of Nations on flimsy grounds that Moroccans would be infected by African teams bringing in Ebola virus.

Some African heads claim that the admission of Morocco will now resolve the question of Western Sahara’s occupation. Such argument is always pushed with some foreign machination. In fact Morocco is now emboldened. That is why those who voted for readmission of Morocco should have demanded an end to the illegal occupation as a precondition.

That did not happen at the AU Summit meeting in Addis Ababa. Instead we see the AU blatantly violating its own Constitutive Act, and the principle for African countries to respect each other’s territorial boundaries.

We witness a violation of both the AU and the UN declarations on the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to independence and self-determination.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi people are disenfranchized. It is estimated that up to 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in the neighbouring Algeria and Mauritania. They are separated by a 2,700km-long wall going through Western Sahara, surrounded by landmines. •




Nizar Visram is a Ottawa-based free-lance writer from Zanzibar, Tanzania. Recently retired Senior lecturer on Development studies, he extensively publishes in over 50 countries on 4 continents. He can be reached at nizar1941(at)gmail.com .



MARCH 24, 2017

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Culture as a binding factor in our society, interview with Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen

By Djoeke Altena

 

We need culture to know where we came from, says her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen. “In a time where society is complaining, is frustrated and not making the best of what we have, there we need culture. The cultural field enables us to build up dialogues better and faster than administrations can.” Contributing to a better world, that is why the descendant of the Habsburg house which leads back to Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Therese of Austria, chose the cultural field over a more political career.

How does it feel be the great-great-great-granddaughter of such historical figure like Maria Theresia?

This year we celebrate the 300th anniversary of Empress Maria Theresias birth. She was bright and very advanced for her time. Great policy such as the obligation to go to school, the vaccination against chicken pox, the opening of the stock market and the founding of the academy for diplomats was one of the many actions implemented by her. Her strong charakter and personality as a ruler, wife and mother impresses me strongly

It is a big responsibility to carry this name, it will always be imprinted on me. As it is not easy to fullfill all peoples expectations but I try to be true to myself, not to loose my focus and keep remembering my history, where I come from

 

 

Do you consider this responsibility to be political?

No, there is no role for me in politics. The time to get involved is very limited. First you have to get elected, and during the mandate you try to do as much as you can – let’s hope so- and then the electorate either replaces or re-elects you. All this makes it difficult to make real changes not mentioning the opponent parties that block every suggestions even if they are good ones

Politicians mostly take responsibility over a certain period. This is understandable because they receive legitimacy over a certain time. But the downside is that many do not understand the responsibility for future consequences of their actions. Monarchies, nobility and family run companies they all have to make carefull decisions as these leave an impact and imprint on the future of generations and the empires or business. Politicians should learn from this and vow to take consequences for the effects of their actions in the future.

Besides that I feel that real change should be realised via initiatives.

Do you feel that we need change?

I am pretty thankful to live in a peaceful country with a strong stability like in Austria. But it worries me that people don’t recognize that. In the last years nearly all over Europe I observe the encrease of a complaining and unsatisfied society that is questioning everything. Also greed and materalism has become very dominant in our times and this leads to a feeling of emptiness. And so its understandable that people become very scared and receptive to any kind of manipulative information that theats this artificial way of life

In our times there is a strong destabilizing fear for the future and other cultures. The result is a lack of focus and investments. Constant worrying will lead us nowhere and won’t enable us to build a strong future. That is something we need to change.

I would say that there is a need for respect. Respect is much stronger than tolerance. The population is growing fast, everybody is getting closer, and more people will live in our countries. Just tolerating others will not be sufficient, we need to respect each other and other cultures and learn from them

Do you see any role for yourself in this?

I have a background in PR and advertising, besides that I am also very active in the field of networking. But most important for me are values: the stability of a society and passing on of ideas and sending impulses. I was never involved in representing companies, firms, but always more looking into the direction of a so called atmospheric PR if you understand what I mean. That is a kind of seismographic feeling towards our environment and our global thinking and acting. Searching for solutions, to get together those people who feel and think in a similar way and then move things into action.

Do you consider that to be diplomacy?

Yes. Diplomacy has a very important stabilizing function in this world. I prefer the cultural field because it is neutral and makes it easier to bind people and nations on a diplomatic base. A few months ago I became Director Euro-Mediterranean Diplomacy and Intercultural Affairs at the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES). In this function I would like to connect the Euro-Mediterranean and Balkan regions and give a voice to those without one. For me that is one of the important aspects of diplomacy.

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Do you feel that the European Union contributes to a better world?

The European project -the European Union, brought prosperity and peace to the continent. But now they are getting lost in a big contruction of burocracy and regulations like on what kind of energy saving light bulbs we are allowed to buy. There are too many paragraphs blocking any fast action. I find this a waste of energy, time and money. There is a real need for solutions for the bigger problems, like immigration for instance. The European Union should focus on the bigger political issues and on the cultural field

The near future might be challenging, but we need to keep the dialogue going, because together we can tackle every crisis.

First published by the Dutch Diplomat Magazine

 

Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen

 

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Unique K. From ‚K und K‘

„Schmelztiegel Wien” – this is a term usually used in the socio-cultural studies to describe the capital of a vast Habsbourg empire, today’s seat of the Republic of Austria, Vienna. Inspired by the past and present meanings of its colours shapes rhythms and ambient, trying to capture a glimpse of everlasting cultural fusions, walking a grace of tradition and charm of modernity in one leap, ethnomusicologist and designer Sofi B., with her collection ‚Unique K by Sofi B.‘ for the Vienna Fabric&Design, is illustrating this jewel of central Europe – historical city of Vienna.

 

Each and every item in this collection is exclusively designed, handmade tailered and unique. Many pieces are of the fabrics which are not produced anymore. The Unique K. items are purchasable exclusively and only in the Vienna Fabrics and Design premises (Schwarzenbergplatz 10, A-1010 Wien) or at the sporadic fashion show reviews. http://www.vienna-fabrics.at/news/unique-k/



MARCH 10, 2017

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ALL BREAKING BEDS OF OUR MOST FAVOURED AGGRESSOR

By Elodie Pichon

 

2017 will be a challenging year for Saudi Arabia, who is losing its leadership in the Middle East and faces looming economic challenges stemming from low oil prices.

SA has been humiliated in Syria, and embroiled itself in an endless and costly conflict in Yemen. According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia is spending $175 million per month for bombings in Yemen and an additional $500 million for ground incursions. These low oil prices and military expenses have unprecedented impact on Saudi foreign reserves, which depleted from $732 billion to $623 billion in 2015. However the main cost of these military failures is not a financial one, they also dealt a fatal blow to the Saudi monarchy who used military nationalism to foster support, and implement a cult of the personality to King Salman. The Saudi propaganda relies on anti-Iranian rhetoric, and exaggerate Tehran’s geopolitical role to justify its foreign policy. In Yemen, Saudi monarchy has mischaracterized the Houthis as Iranian proxies. They claim that Tehran provides the Houthis financial and logistical support, as well as military advisers (Financial Times, February 2014). One of the arguments put forward is that the Houthis, who were isolated in the mountains in the North, would not have been able to gain such prominence without external support. However, their growth is primarily due to the support of the ex-president Saleh, who still has tribal and military allies. Thus, the extent of Iran support in term of funding and supply of arms remains unknown. (Salisbury, P (2015).

The war in Yemen embodies a military nationalism, which fired the Islamists imagination but could turn against King Salman. Indeed, Islamists in SA expected a quick victory against the Houthis, qualified as blasphemer puppet of Iran. Moreover, defeated militants in Syria could come back in their country and reunite to canalise their military effervescence in their country, accusing of their defeat SA leaders. Saudi Arabia’s difficulties pose a threat to its hegemony in the region, which reverberates on its allies support. Indeed, Egypt pursues its own national interest when SA was expecting total cooperation, and unconditional support. There could be a backlash from Saudi Arabia population who expect Saudi Arabia to keep its leadership in the region.

Their lack of leadership in the region is aggravated by the deterioration of its relationship with the USA. The US is less and less dependant on SA oil and condemns its religious extremism, which has been worsened since the accession of King Salman in January 2015. Moreover, Trump financial approach to foreign affairs means that Trump will be tough toward SA if they face economic hardships. Concerning the Saudis, the bone of contention is not only the Iranian nuclear agreement but also the absence of support for their ally Mubarak in February 2011, which has been perceived as a betrayal from the US. Despite the disagreements, Saudi Arabia government knows that they can’t afford to break ties with the USA. They rely on the USA military presence in the region, and on American military equipment.

The economic difficulties only add pressure to the government, who can’t afford to be present on all fronts. The collapse of oil price cost SA government 75 billions of euros, even though public spendings increased to finance the war in Yemen. The country’s foreign reserves have dropped by a quarter since oil prices started falling in 2014, and the budget deficit skyrocketed from 6,7% of the PIB in 2015 to 20% in 2016.

Consequently, Riyadh adopted a politic of austerity, and seized on every opportunity to squeeze costs: they cut construction projects, cut pay for ministers, freeze hiring, rise fees for visas, increase fines for traffic violations. Overall, they cut off 80% subsidies on public goods and services. The price for basic goods such as water and electricity has skyrocketed and spurred dissatisfaction nationwide.

In addition to the cut of public spending, the government announced an ambitious plan to diversify the economy, which relies entirely on oil. If the plan is successful, non-oil revenue will triple by 2020. To do that, they want to expand the country’s mining industry to exploit gold, phosphate and uranium deposit and build up the financial, technology and entertainment sectors.

The challenge is high for King Salman, who massed extraordinary domestic power, using a wave of Sunni based Saudi nationalism. The lack of leadership in the region, the military failures, and the economic difficulties poses a threat to the monarchy. For too long, the monarchy has postponed the necessity to implement economic reforms, cut public spending and diversify the economy. Indeed, the efforts put into place by Abdallah, who became a King in 2005, to implement reforms have been stopped when the fear of a contagion of the Arab Springs in 2011 lead the King to spend 135 billions of dollars to buy social peace. With social and political tensions, the government tries to avoid economic reforms, which could spur dissatisfaction. But the situation is critical and the survival of the regime depends on the King’s ability to reform the country, and assure Saudi Arabia leadership in the region.


Ms. Elodie Pichon, Research Fellow of the IFIMES Institute, DeSSA Department. This native Parisian is a Master in Geopolitics, Territory and Security from the King’s College, London, UK.

MARCH 7, 2017

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ONLINE NEWSLETTER International, No. 946
National Congress of The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (NCR B&H)
March 2, 2017

 

CONTENT:

1. Congress to Prof. David Schaffer (a member of Bosnian legal team at ICJ)

2. Bosnian Presidency members to send replies to ICJ separately

3. Bosnian agent at the ICJ was nominated permanently in 2002 and was never removed from that position

4. THE BOOK "THE WAR IN BOSNIA: HOW TO SUCCEED AT GENOCIDE" NOW IN ENGLISH
 

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This issue of the newsletter goes on 3,089 e-mail addresses on our "International" mailing list and on 64,295 addresses in our "Bosnian" mailing list.

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1. Bosnian Congress to Prof. David Schaffer (a member of Bosnian legal team at ICJ)

Dear Prof. Schaffer,

Thank you very much for your help to the Bosnian legal team.

We are Bosnians and friends of Bosnia. We call ourselves Bosnian Congress. Our purpose is to inform the public about important political events that affect Bosnia. We regularly send a Bosnian language newsletter to 65,000 e-mail subscribers in Bosnia and in the diaspora. We also have an English language newsletter that we send to 3000 friends of Bosnia including diplomats and academics. The English version is sent less often, only when we have major developments to discuss.

We have closely followed the progress of the genocide lawsuit since its inception during the war. As you know Bosnia has already won the judgment in 2007 that the Republic of the Serbs committed genocide in Srebrenica. On the other hand, Serbia was convicted only for non-prevention of genocide. Even so, this judgment is a very valuable tool in countering genocide denial, and is a powerful argument in favor of a just and democratic future for Bosnia, and against the carving of Bosnia into states with territories where ethnic purity was created by genocide.

Of course, we agree fully with your intended outcome for this trial, as stated in the NY Times on 2/24/2017. It is obvious that the aggression and genocide in Bosnia were conceived, planned and executed by the Milosevic regime in Serbia. It is obvious that their campaign of ethnic cleansing -- the euphemism for genocide that they coined -- started in 1992 and occurred in many different areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fact that the ICJ stopped short of recognizing that full scope, and Serbia's true role and intent, in 2007 is a miscarriage of justice. We have pored over that outcome and we understand the factors that led to it -- inadequacy of the Bosnian presentation for meeting the high standard of proof that the ICJ set, and the omission of evidence from the ICTY trials. However, given the obvious truth, and given your qualifications, we hope and expect that you will be successful in your goals for appeal.

We offer you our help with anything that is within our means. As we mentioned, our primary mission is informing the public, and to that end we can translate into Bosnian and distribute your statements, or any other information of interest that you wish to share with our Bosnian and international readers. To begin, we invite you to send us a statement regarding the appeal to the ICJ. In addition, we are knowledgeable about the war and politics in Bosnia and Serbia, and are ready to discuss and answer any questions you may have.

Finally, events are happening quickly, and a challenge to your appeal has already been made. Namely, Mladen Ivanic, the Serb member of the Bosnian Presidency has sent a letter to the ICJ noting that he did not give consent to proceed with the lawsuit, which he claims is required for such decisions under the Dayton Constitution. However, his point is baseless, and repeats a similar unsuccessful challenge from 2002. Simply, this appeal is part of the same lawsuit that has already been properly authorized by Bosnia's government in 1993. Continuing with it does not require Mr. Ivanic's consent, as that represents no change. In fact, withdrawing the lawsuit would be a change requiring consent, which Mr. Izetbegovic did not give.

Thanks and Regards,

Tarik Borogovac
National Congress of the Republic of BiH




2. Bosnian Presidency members to send replies to ICJ separately

ZAGREB, Croatia, March 2 (HINA) -- Members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's collective State Presidency on Thursday failed to reach agreement on a joint position on a request by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify the status of the country's legal representative before that court, and all three Presidency members will send separate letters to the ICJ, with their personal positions on the matter.

Presidency Chairman Mladen Ivanic said in a statement forwarded to the media that the Presidency held "informal consultations" on the ICJ request that arrived in Sarajevo earlier this week requiring a reply by 6 pm on March 2.

"It was agreed at the consultations that each Presidency member should individually deliver their own opinion to the ICJ," reads Ivanic's statement.

The ICJ requested the Presidency members to state the current status of Sakib Softic, who ten days ago submitted to the ICJ's registrar's office, on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a request for a review of an ICJ ruling from 2007 that cleared Serbia of responsibility for the genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under a decision by the Presidency of 2002, Softic was the country's legal representative during the trial that ended ten years ago.

A decision on launching a procedure for a review of the ruling has not been made formally by any of Bosnia and Herzegovina's bodies, and Ivanic claims that that would constitute entirely new proceedings and require the appointment of a new legal representative.

The Bosniak Presidency member, Bakir Izetbegovic, believes that the review request is a continuation of the same proceedings, launched with the submission of the lawsuit in 1993, and that the appointment of a new legal representative is not necessary.

The two Presidency members said earlier that they would submit such positions in responses requested by the ICJ.

The Croat member of the Presidency, Dragan Covic, refused to say publicly his position on Softic's status.

The ICJ's decision on whether Softic still has the right to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina will determine whether the request for a review of the ruling against Serbia will be accepted.

Izetbegovic said previously that the review request was a result of a serious analysis of evidence that emerged after the 2007 ruling and that refers mostly to information that became available during the trial of Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The purpose of the review request is to try to prove, in new proceedings, that Belgrade played a direct role in war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including genocide in municipalities apart from Srebrenica.




3. Bosnian agent at the ICJ was nominated permanently in 2002 and was never removed from that position

The quoted article from Zagreb shows how the Serbian side of the story dominates even in Croatia. Namely, in 2002, when Sakib Softic was nominated for Bosnian agent at the ICJ, there was no any time limitation in that nomination. Yet HINA says "Softic was the country's legal representative during the trial that ended ten years ago."

The quoted sentence is obviously intended to mislead reader to believe that his nomination ended with the trial in 2007. If that was the case, we can be sure that Serbs would quote the sentence about the limitation from the original document.

On the other side, according to Bosnian media outlets, e.g. Bosnian news agency Patria, on February 27, 2017, Bosniak representative in Bosnian Presidency Izetbegovic quoted the decision adopted in October 2002, by which there was no time limitation for Bosnian agent Softic at International Court of Justice. Unfortunately, media outlets outside Bosnia did not pay much attention. Nobody translated Izetbegovic's interview to Patria, while many media published Ivanic's baseless letter to ICJ. We hope that Izetbegovic sent the same response to ICJ as to that interview to Patria. (It is widely believed in Bosnia that Izetbegovic filed the revision only because of enormous pressure from Bosniak public opinion.)

There was no procedural reason that Izetbegovic should ask Representative of the "Serbian Republic". In addition, that does not make any sense that the convicted side, Serbian Republic, should be able to prevent or to choose the agent for the process against it (Serbian Republic).

I understand that Serbian politicians repeat baseless "arguments" from Ivanics letter to ICJ, but it was a surprise to read in English that a Croatian news agency, supposedly professional, repeats that propaganda. In addition, have in mind that Croats in Bosnia were also victims of the same Serbian Republic, and siding with Serbs in this matter is an act without dignity.

Recall that Serbia was found guilty of two counts of violating the Convention of prevention and punishment of Genocide, a) Serbia did not prevent genocide in Srebrenica, and b) Serbia did not punish perpetrators of the genocide (typically former high ranking officers of the Serbian army). In addition, in the first trial in 2007, the Serbian puppet statelet in Bosnia, "Republika Srpska" (Serbian Republic) was found guilty for committing the genocide in Srebrenica.




4. THE BOOK "THE WAR IN BOSNIA: HOW TO SUCCEED AT GENOCIDE" NOW IN ENGLISH

The video for book "THE WAR IN BOSNIA: HOW TO SUCCEED AT GENOCIDE" has been launched. You may watch that short video at the link below.

https://youtu.be/RcL_3waDiZw 

Recall the book in Bosnian Language was bestseller in Bosnia. The book completely changed Bosnian public opinion about the war, negotiations, and outcome of the war.




March 2, 2017

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Bosnian precariat, militaristic world images and media cynicism

Media, national projects, neo fascism in precarious society (I)

Senadin Lavić

 

Speaking on the ruins of the world

Fascism is in full sweep around us. Writing about the ruins that left behind it, is the task of our time. Maybe it is the most important task, because we must not remain silent! Disaster of (human) policy is in practice, but we are hardly surprised. Every statement around us which denies the possibility of existence of Bosnia, is essentially fascist howling of a monster that is trying to be covered up by diplomatic phrases about democracy of our next-door neighbours from Belgrade and Zagreb. Politicians, their followers and spokesmen, media experts, semi-conscious girls in military uniforms with rifles in their hands, folk singers with microphones, masses captivated by politicians who encourage them to hatred, the poor in shelters of demolished cities, dead children on the streets, big and small dictators, Muslims who try to take off from their faces the terrorists label while they are bombarded by the aircrafts of civilized world - they all together tempt again the evil of fascist destruction of the world, only today at a higher technical level.

Media lead us directly to the streets of Syrian cities that were bombed and destroyed by the Western allies aviation, the Russian military and local forces. Not so long ago, almost yesterday, Serbian guns were destroyed Sarajevo, Konjic, Mostar, Bihac, Gorazde, Olovo, Srebrenica and killed civilians, innocent citizens. Serbian criminals turned the cities into military targets. The cities in which the Bosniaks were the majorities. In other cities they were exterminated and "humanely" moved out, for example, from Trebinje to Scandinavia. In the large crime of Serbian politics, which is developed by SANU (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) and supported by SPC (Serbian Orthodox Church), the cities in Bosnia became the target of Serbian criminals on the way of a large "Serbian state" building, where it is never existed. Serbian war strategy made the "legitimate targets" of the cities - because the Bosniaks live there! In that way, the half of Bosnia has been occupied. The cities have become battlefields. The urban culture and spirit have been destroyed. The destruction of urbanity is in practice. Media recorded the terrible images of death and human evil ... Media recorded ...

In the European tradition, the man is meant in different ways. The man is being determined as a zoon logon echon, as animal rationale, it is like a living being who has language and mind, being who as a social being lives in the community with his equal. For centuries we believed that rational being respects speech and intelligence, all those things that philosophers from Plato's State and Kratil to Wittgenstein's theory of meaning and Sprachspiele talked about.

But people have the ability to abandon all considerations and allow themselves to be infected by ephemerality, nastiness, ideologies. The idea of greed that defines our age is defined by the conservative view of the world. It helps the dominance of consumerism. It rejected every possible sense of the idea of equality among people and recognition of human characteristics. The greed is preferred in it, without mercy and compassion towards each other. It has all kinds of fundamentalism and exclusivity. The capitalist greed for profit is in it. In it there is the power of insane generals and mighty armies that are driven by sick minds. The domination of the fascist forces has become normal in it. The hatred has become characteristic in it. From everywhere, they speak and order: "Stop thinking, stop thinking!" In all this the media has been involved...

Gone are the days when we have thought, deliberated. But, unfortunately, the time "when philosophers like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault or Jean-François Lyotard said about contemporary events or suggestions that they would have done to improve things that were considered important - belongs to the past.

Nowadays, even those who imitate the behaviour of the philosopher, who have pushed out the philosophers in the 1970s, they have compensated themselves have by entertainers and models, football players and boxers. "(A. Badiou / S. Žižek, Philosophy in the Present)

It must be admitted that the models look better, and football players run 'faster' then philosophers! From those dangerous displaced philosophers.

We must not ignore it at all!? The media have hidden critical intellectuals from the scene, pushed them, darken them and offered us manipulators who explain that we need to be serfs of capital, banks, financial funds, elite, leaders, generals... The corrupt deceivers every night mislead us by false claims that we need to be nobody and nothing. The media help to maintain the state of captivity in the ghetto, in the "closed society", in the cage. The media "help" us to forget Bosnia...

Hence, could we write about the ruins, about collapsed architecture of the world, refer to the right to think of our destiny while from all sides deny to us the sense of philosophical attitude in the present, manly courage in front of the world that the capitalists and fascists led before the abysses of the human. Alein Badiou is trying to write a manifesto for philosophy.

We are not aware that an attempt to kill Bosnia will define our life and thinking. Trying to delete Bosnia from the face of the world, is the question of sense of Europe. It has been clear long ago that this issue exceeds the Serbo-Croatian historiography performances, small rural constructions of frustrated tribes, their ridiculous myths, folk singing of mountain-dwellers, nebulous ideas about their own place in history... But they have not still confronted with their crimes as human beings. This confrontation is waiting for them till doomsday, to the their beliefs, at the beginning of each new day when should be built some new human form.

This confrontation cannot be avoided or substituted by some form of art, a novel, something like Andric's novel Bridge over the Drina River, which can be used to escape into the false image of history in order to pushed aside the crimes against Bosniaks in World War II, ignored them and forgotten them. And also, that the history of Bosnia can be forged and focused people's attention on the other side.

Literary, novelistic fiction, the work of contemplation, it is offered as a historical truth! However, it is escapism. Therefore, the panel-warning on the Town hall has a moral sense because it tells us that the criminals from the Serbian people have burned the house of knowledge and killed citizens from the surrounding hills. This is the truth that liberates. So, we have to pass through the ruins. After that, nothing will be the same for us. Let's make Bosnia free of primitive ethno-religious nationalism which the media serve to it...

After all, our confidence in mind has remained. We have fallen into the flow "from solid to liquid" (Z. Bauman) and lost orientation. Around us echoes the authoritarian cacophony - Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer - and we do not understand what this means! We disappear in fog.


Image for the public

The undertaking to "shape the world in the image for the public" (M. Heidegger) through the media, books, proceedings, conferences, political manifesto, the party's programs, Nobel Prize winners literary works and then, this image becomes obliging for all others, leads us to almost hopeless position that shows us the forgery, simplifying, reducing and destruction of the contents of the world that we live in.

Afterwards, it is shown that we already have available finished images, constructed images of the world and experiences, simulations and bad copies, but not our own opinion about the world that opens up the world to another dimension, in addition to simple performance on us as subjects who have mastered the world as a subject that we must subordinate and exploit for its untamable needs. Modern Aged, Cartesian image of the world as an object which approaches the subject to it with its intellect and instruments, has suffered a dramatic criticism and transformations during the last hundred years, and it must continue to transform in the direction of love for the world in which we live. Adaequatio rei et intellectus goes with it, as well as the metaphysical realism of "appearance" of the spirit that we must overcome. The man is seen as a camera that "objectively" shoots the world... A man just constructs media image...

The media are emerging as a threat for our freedom. They dramatically wider cultural pessimism, xenophobia and policy of divergence. The fascist tendencies are pouring from them, ethno-foulism and impassioned sermons on life meaning. The boundaries between fiction and reality or fictional form and actuality disappear without explanation and leveled every form of rationality in the mud of fascism. It has been already seen by Adorno, Lowenthal, Horkheimer, Benjamin, Marcuse and others. We have splashed again by a wave of fascistoid infection, that monstrous that has appeared in the past that we have not overcome and ennobled as people (unbewältigte Vergangenheit / unmastered past), the past which we could not obey to the man and his values.

Unbeaten ghosts of the past are trying to push us into migration again, into the new emigration, the escape into a hidden corner of the world where the fascists cannot reach us. They are trying to prepare for us a new genocide, murder, dehumanization. But there is no more space for migration and running away - finally we have to face with the Serbian Nazis and fascists! The crisis of capitalism and liberal democracy always opens the space to small then to large fascists around us. Usually, most people are not aware and do not notice when the fascists grab them and harness to the crazy circle of crimes. The media have real criminal role in it...

Our media are provincial. The media are the culmination of an enlightened false consciousness. Sloterdijk denounces them with special pleasure. Guillotine has survived in them. Media lynch as a "proof" of guilt of the accused is the means of prosecutors and conspiracy groups that do not have public responsibility. That is the main method of political disqualification of opponents. Media campaigns are the "evidence" of guilt. Manipulation of public spirit is shown as irresponsibility, incompetence, ignorance and danger for the system.

They asked Umberto Eco: "Do the journalists have the role in stopping of conspiracy ?, and he said: - Journalists must help to prevent the rule of lies and manipulation. This should be one of their struggles, while preserving critical spirit alive, and avoiding standardization of thought ". (http://lupiga.com/intervjui/intervju-umberto-eco-velike-lazi-stvaraju-povijest)

The journalists have been transformed into "soldiers" of organized interest groups in the social structure. They behave as the loyal soldiers of leaders and their clique that rotate. The media, unfortunately, do not work for citizens around the world. The media, the secret police or the prosecution services often work together under one political hat against citizens. They manipulate the citizens from the position of financial interest groups dealing with top-grade transactions and serve to a few in society. The poor pays everything eventually. In Bosnia, Syria, or who knows where tomorrow?

The media has taken in hands the role of creator of our reality. With its superficial power of judgment, they formed millions of forms and contents of the people's minds who move into unconsciousness of their own existence, not knowing the meaning of their lives. They, almighty and all-shaping media, create confusion that cannot be treated or removed. They create terror more than it can be expressed by referencing to the word simulacrum and much more than that can be daily consumed. They can wage wars, rob the countries, exterminate the nations, they can make spectacle from crime, they can mislead as much as you please... And they think they are innocent!

In fact, the media are there to carry out the post-war rehabilitation of the area, subsidence of soil, levelling of horror, relativizing of evil, rehabilitation of war criminals... They are just the extended arm of the ruling policy. The media are there to deceive us and left dazed for the next day. The media give space to local fascists, neo-Nazis, nationalists, misanthropy, bums, primitives and similar creatures that infect the public. And that lasts for decades.

Media collaboration in spreading of hatred and evil among people, cannot be presented at all by rational means. Madmen present the criminal political programs, and the media follow and support them. They transmit their words, using them as exclusive news, scandalous insane appearances due to better viewers rating and profit. This is the simple essence of irresponsible media structures. The media teach us to "tuck tail under" and gather in our corner, to accept the "peremptory set" of systemic attitudes in which we are trapped. Media "teach" us that there is no rebellion...


Lies of the media (II)

Meaningless populist campaigns sputter around us. Politicians scream from all sides and promise "golden spoons for common people". People have become phlegmatic, indifferent, tired from the promises. Citizens live passages as from Adorno's book Minima moralia. Logic disappears in speech. People are talking nonsense. Babble. Trash. They are frustrated and outraged. Only some of them still considers the moral issues of human endeavour. There is no reference to the ethic of responsibility and moral attitude in human matters. On the scene are the "priests" and politicians who are not able to keep like male and knight in front of serious things of life, but they escape into the empty "height" or "bottom", it does not matter.

Endlessly, the media provide the repetition of lies, they provide the duration of the controlled society and choking of critical consciousness. They have the truth that is transmitted by authorities. For decades, they hide questions and possible answers. They do not ask one of the most important questions initiated by Dervis Susic: "Do you know anything about yourself? Let's say, who you are, i.e. we, Bosniaks? It must be known!" Do we know who is Avdo Međedović, at all -"A singer who talks"? What means to us "Bosniak's Homer"? If Husein Basic is right, then Avdo is too big for us or for our powers of understanding? How did we reach this condition? Where did we get from our vocabulary of undefined beings? What are the curricula in the education system? Moreover, the media teach us the emptiness, the silence, the worthlessness of their own existence.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) warned at the end of 2016 that some species that were not on the list of endangered ones, have become the part of the list of endangered species. It happens noticeable reduction of giraffes and African gray parrots in the wilderness. Horrible, indeed? Also, it is endangered the leopard, they assume that only 7100 leopards have remained in wilderness. The animal protectors have slogans: I'd rather go naked than wear wool. Wear your own skin! Let animals keep theirs. Let's protect animals if we cannot protect people. The slogans of fighters for animals protection peal everywhere, but in the same time, small people are eradicated because of their names, language or belief.

Where are Rohinja people who are Muslims? Does anybody think of them while the Nobel Peace Prize is given? Do entity "RS" on the ground of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a result of the crime of genocide? The "priests" of genocide and guards of its results are the ones who would continue the same "job", wouldn't they ? Can the media and media cynicism make of that crime the humanist fairytale about the man's "will"? Immoral human figures tell us that the genocidal creation "RS" on the ground / territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is "the result of the will of the Serbian people". What a juristic formulation?! The media help the rising of this "truth", especially media predators with their destructive content in which the public is experienced as an animal farm.

The media shamelessly deceive and contribute to decline of public morality into the mud of ethnic-nationalist images of the world which can be best understood as Kačavenda-shape idolatry in the heart of fascism. Media bravely return and lead us to the Middle Ages, in the empire of crusade, priests and local rulers, among dogmatized protocols of life and octroyed algorithms of truth, but we must not forget that they only serve to certain policies and have to implement it. Therefore, the media operation is turned into a mechanism that should be objectified the possibility of civilizations wars as a new spectacle - as if the army do not fight with political and economic interests behind them.

The media, unfortunately, are caught in the net of power and it is not hard to serve it, because they are the source of funds to maintain the system. In Bosnia, most of the media (public radio and television broadcasters) are paid by citizens - hence, citizens pay them to be oriented by the media. The media participate in the general moral degradation and education of the population, that shower them with their information and programs.

Such as the industry of beauty maniacally exploits the sense of human beauty, just as well the cynicism of legal system perverts the meaning of law and justice among people. Corrupt prosecutors, police officers, judges, businessmen, at every step destroy the system and order in society. Nowadays, primitive aesthetics and law are the only reflexes of one horrible process in which the human existence is systemic destroyed on all sides of mankind. It seems that the process is complementary in which modern technology destroys human life by shutting off a movement in it, action, thought, dynamics, resulting in autism, with processes ghettoisation and atomization that people for the purposes of capitalism and organized control. Burning Aleppo is in the media image, as if Sarajevo used to be, under the watchful eye of the UN and world forces. Graham Bamford shines in my Bosnian heart.


Lies in media reports

The media in the hands of corporate capitalism pelt us by messages, information, products, offers. We are choking and losing support in everyday life. "Children of the rich cannot play rock and roll" - the warning of officers' sons of failed army! We need to start thinking about a new definition of a man and the key terms of human life. The great transformation is in progress, an epochal turn of all that we have conceived as a people.

Eva Bartlett, an independent Canadian journalist and human rights fighter, all around the world, warned in her speech at the UN that the sources from the ground mislead mainstream media, i.e. these sources are compromised and are not credible at all. The image that comes through their reports to the public all around the world is a false image and not corresponds to the state of things on the ground. Corporate media fabricate the reality, deceive the public, adapt their reports to the interests of the big players, fabricate "fake news / story", recycle the testimony, so that everything you read is the opposite to the reality. Bartlett warns that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) is located in Coventry led by the authority of one man who "receives" information from so-called White helmets. Image from Syria, therefore, was under the control of corporate and compromised media.

We are led by financial institutions through debt for borrowed money. The rulers of the 21st century will be the semi-educated and uncultivated, barbarians without shame who are pride of their vulgar manners and ignorance, self-satisfied demimonde. They control the money flows and subordinate the debtors. And media serve to it... We will know all about this today when this is important to no one, when we wouldn't remember criminals and politicians from Belgrade no more, from that dark city. The media will insidiously level Serbian chauvinists crimes and patriotic struggle of the Bosnian people for their survival. As if we are stupid, they still sell us the Yugoslavianism, the old Serbian hegemony and narration, those old and empty speakers of existence without identity... Anti-Bosnian forces are strategically put people on positions in the system and they deliberately disintegrate the state. They attack all the points of the Bosnian state, which make them the resistance - or bribe them with money and escort-ladies or set them the "dance". They have at the disposal the means and resources. They do it by means of the police and secret police services, the judiciary and prosecution, paid media and corrupt journalists, ministries of this and that, embassies and no one is trying to stop them.

Numerous media are in the service of destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Genocidal creation on the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the work of the Milosevic's regime which is on the ruins of Yugoslavia tried to create a Greater Serbia. The identical plan had Tudjman's regime, but handle with velvet gloves. The evidence of it is in the top analysis by Cyril Ribičić about the project HZHB. The complicity of the media in the profanation of our social life is boundless, shameful and invaluable. The media, of course, will never take this responsibility because they remind us to the children who go round like sparrows that tweet from the rooftops, but they are not able to learn the lessons given and do not like the lecture. They never feel the guilt and do not take responsibility.

Media show us that they are the heart of the simulacrum and ideological one-sidedness of the society with no choice. They are callously involved in people liquidation who were aimed from the political opponents. The ignorance and indifference come out of them. Journalists repeat ideological matrix, they do not differentiate the meanings, they do not know the old definitions and do not want to learn the new ones, they speak language that conceals rather than reveals social processes, irresponsibly refer to the words, do not have time for language consolidation and clarification of terms, because they are connected to police, secret services, companies, party's secretaries and leaders. They must fulfil their requirements. They have to satisfy divergent interests and that it all seems "logical" - and that certainly cannot be logical. But citizens? (Nota bene. The growing children need to know that the Army of the Republic in Bosnia Herzegovina was not "so-called" - it was legendary and the only legal military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that got up to save the state of a double aggression of Milosevic and Tudjman's regime. The media in B&H today transfer the deceits from Belgrade media-propaganda and intelligence circles that someone who is legally defended their country "so-called." Such morbidity comes from the heart of fascism. The truth is not proved by means of reveal a lie of fascism or it is not true to prove a lie of fascism.) Citizens should be protected from forgery!

The right-wing hook has raised against Bosnia as a unique state and began peddled morbid attitudes on "three of Bosnia", certainly ethnic-religious fragmented. This is just a continuation of anti-Bosnian hegemonic criminal ideas that cause war and suffering. Still the media are at the service of the fascist attitude towards Bosnia of Great Croatian and the Great Serbian discriminatory arrangement. Thereby, the media openly advocate the right-wing hatred, exclusion, xenophobia, ethno-foulism, they are silent on the constitutional discrimination, support the society of ignoramus, they create the fake image. The media deceive us and lead to the situation to leave rational behaviour and accept something that we have not yet understood, but the next moment we can see that it is disastrous for us. Meanwhile, the media have earned billions of dollars and their owners are rubbing their hands without thinking whether it is dangerous or good for people that have supported a sick fascist to come to power. Therefore, there is not intellectuality in the media, the understanding or superior thinking, because their goal is the manipulation of mediocrity that dominates on the historical scene. Media deception is only the consequence of the old ideological deception of Bosnia that began at the end of the 19th century and continued until our time in many false narratives.


Senahid LAVIĆ

March 1, 2017

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2017

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PUBLICATIONS MARCH, 2017:

 Saudi king’s “Clash of Civilizations, convergence with Indonesia's hypocrisy and opportunism - by Julia Suryakusuma

The World’s Last Colony: Morocco continues occupation of Western Sahara, in defiance of UN - Nizar Visram

Culture as a binding factor in our society, interview with Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen - By Djoeke Altena

  ALL BREAKING BEDS OF OUR MOST FAVOURED AGGRESSOR - By Elodie Pichon

 National Congress of The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (NCR B&H) - March 2, 2017

 Bosnian precariat, militaristic world images and media cynicism - Senadin Lavić


PUBLICATIONS FEBRUARY, 2017:

 SR15 Caspian Basin.pdf

 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - By: Tomislav Jakić

 Decriminalize Victims, please - Sooyoung Hu

 Big data and the Future of Democracy - by Hannes Grassegger and Mikael Krogerus

 The Malta Plan – a humane EU border and asylum policy is possible - Gerald Knaus


PUBLICATIONS JANUARY, 2017:

 The Diplomatic Insight JAN 2017.pdf

 La-La-Land of Central Asia Kazakhstan and its “Astana Code of Conduct” - By Samantha Brletich

 Donald Trump, Nuclear Issue and Nuclear War -By:  Markus Wauran

 TRUMP’S TURN - By Tomislav Jakić

 Facing the Trump Presidency – Will the Monroe doctrine finally die? - Nicola Bilotta

 Human Misery monetized - By Aleksandra Krstic

 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election 2017: Who Will Be Eliminated? - By: Igor Dirgantara

 Battling the Tiger: Combating corruption in the Sino-world - By Lingbo ZHAO

 A European swamp – corruption and human rights - Gerald Knaus

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