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Criminal Charges against Ibran Mustafic

Date: 09/07/2010 16:54

Author: U. Vukic,

Serbian “Independent News”

Srebrenica - Srebrenica Municipal Police Basic Court in this city has filed misdemeanor charges against Ibrahim Mustafic, president of the Association "Mothers of Srebrenica", because he failed to respond to their orders to remove the controversial billboards set on the eve of commemorating 11th July at the Memorial Centre in Potocari.

Officials of the District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina say they have ordered the Municipal police in this city to remove the billboards and flags because they are criminal, and that they in turn ordered Mustafic to remove the disputed content within two days.

Given that Mustafic has not removed the disputed content, the municipal police against him filed misdemeanor charges in primary court of contempt for the decision for enforcing communal order.

The source for the "Independent" from the municipality of Srebrenica explained that in such cases, the Municipal Police should remove the disputed content, and that the bill for the cost of removing should be delivered to Mustafic, but none of that has happened.

"It's all politics. The Communal police have a duty to remove the offending content, if told by the district prosecutors' office in Bijeljina that there is a criminal offense, however, those such as Mustafic do not listen to anyone, nor fear anyone," said this source.

Mustafic setup billboards with offensive content, war flag of the former BiH Army and signs offensive to Serbs.

At the MUP RS (Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of the Serbs) we were told that ten days ago, after they learned of the disputed content, they went to the scene and drew up an official note and submitted the report to the District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina, which has assessed that there are elements of the crime of causing racial and religious hatred, discord or intolerance.

"The District Prosecutor has filed a criminal complaint against Mustafic for this crime and has informed the Municipal police in Srebrenica," said Mirna Šoja, spokesman of the MUP RS.



2. Attorney for the Mothers of Srebrenica: URGENT ACTION OF THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REQUESTED

Dear Friends:

As you can see the Republika Srpska has now filed Criminal Charges against Ibran Mustafic, Co-President of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinja, over political Signs and Flags at the Potocari Memorial Center--a mere expression of his political opinion. Furthermore, the RS are the same people who committed the genocide at Srebrenica, and Mr. Mustafic was one of the very few male survivors of that genocidal massacre. There is a serious threat to his life if he is taken into custody by the RS pursuant to these criminal charges. Therefore, I hereby request that Amnesty International issue an Urgent Action on behalf of Ibran Mustafic. The sooner the better.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours very truly,

Francis A. Boyle
Professor of International Law
Attorney for the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinja Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92)

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Avenue
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (voice)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)



3. Honest people must urgently act to prevent this terror in Srebrenica

Ibran Mustafic is a victim of genocide. He lost 14 members of his family including his brother and father. He raised flags of the Republic Bosnia and Herzegovina in his own property and he raised the 4 (four) banners with the following statements, all of which are stated by legal authorities of the world including the International Court of Justice:

1. SERBIA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SREBRENICA GENOCIDE

2. SERBIA = AGGRESSION = GENOCIDE = DAYTON = REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

3. JUDGEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERSEDES DAYTON'S GENOCIDAL CREATIONS

4. VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE DEMAND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

For those banners he is charged with “criminal charges” by the same entity and police that committed genocide in Srebrenica.

The Golden Lilies flag was the flag of the Bosnian Medieval kingdom and was internationally recognized in 1992 as the flag for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is no law against that flag. It is not the flag of the Bosnian army, which displays two swords crossed above the shield. No mass crimes were committed under either flag – the Golden Lilies flag nor the Bosnian army flag -- and neither is forbidden.

We hope that the honest people from Europe and the world will urgently act and prevent this new terror over the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

The following are pictures of the location with flags and banners

http://republikabih.net/content/odgovor.htm

NCR B&H
 


4. PRESS RELEASE: Surviving victims of genocide do not want Boris Tadic in Srebrenica

The “Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje” were the first to initiate annual commemoration of the genocide in Srebrenica. They were the ones who spearheaded and fought for the decision of the High Commissioner to build the Memorial Center in Potocari/Srebrenica. Despite this role of the “Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje” in establishing the Memorial Center, the self-proclaimed “Organizing Committee” for the Commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the Genocide in Srebrenica failed to invite or include the “Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje” to participate in the planning of the activities surrounding the 15th anniversary. The sole goal of the “Organizing Committee” was to give exclusive control to the members of criminal and genocidal political party of The Party of Democratic Action (in Bosnian: Stranka Demokratske Akcije, SDA) .

In order to realize their genocidal plans, in conjunction with the 15th Anniversary of the Genocide the entire leadership of SDA led by Sulejman Tihic and Sadik Ahmetovic set off on an official visit to Belgrade, and with heartfelt hugs and kisses with Boris Tadic and Ivica Dacic they agreed that the president of Serbia will visit the Memorical Center in Potocari on July 11 and Bratunac on July 12 to commemorate the crimes against Serbs – not Bosnian victims of genocide.

Even though the Mothers tried to work with the Organizing Committee for the commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the Genocide and the burial of newly found remains, the Mothers only found out through the media that at the ceremonies, the survivors of the Genocide will addressed by Osman Suljic, the official head of the Srebrenica county; Haris Silajdzic, member of the presidency of the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sadik Ahmetovic, minister of internal affairs; and Boris Tadic, President of Serbia, the same Serbia that committed aggression and participated in the Genocide in Srebrenica.

The presence of Serbia’s president in Potacare and his speech have only one goal—to solidify and validate the nationhood of Republika Srpska whose army and police, working directly with the Government of Serbia, committed genocide. With such plans by the Organizing Committee, the living victims of genocide who will be present at the ceremonies are left to lower their head, weep, and accept their fate.

For those who may have forgotten: president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, is the son of Ljubomir Tadic, an academic and member of the group of Serb intellectuals who created the plan of aggression and genocide. We should not forget that Boris Tadic was the Minister of Defense at and under his watch the war criminal Ratko Mladic was gallivanting freely around military bases across Serbia acting as the Commander of the Serb forces.

It is also by no accident that Premier of the Turkey, whose new role as peacemaker between “two sister peoples,” will be present on July 11. This is despite the fact that Turkey, one of the most influential member countries of NATO, did not lift a finger while aggression and genocide were being committed against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its people.

Under the unseen pressures put upon the victims of genocide by the plans and actions described above, we are informing the world that on July 11 the voices of the victims of Genocide will not be silenced in Potacare. If the “guests” think they are coming to the territory of the Republika Srpska, to those “guests” the doors of the Memorial Center and Cemetery are permanently shut. We are informing all of the “guests”, that they are only welcome to come and visit the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina because the decision of the International Court of Justice overrides the Dayton Agreements which was created by genocide.

If President of Serbia and Prime Minister of Turkey view Republika Srpska as an untouchable, durable, and legal state, then the surviving victims of genocide under the norms of international law have only one thing to say: “Vojvodina is an independent state, Sandzak is a Republic, and Kurdistan is a Republic.” International legal norms can only be legal norms if their application is just and equally applied across the world. If the “guests” think that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is precedence, they only fool themselves.

The living victims of genocide demand the implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice and they will never give up the fight because genocide will never be accepted as the means of creating genocidal states and genocidal constitutions.

Sarajevo.
July 8, 2010.

Ibran Mustafic,
President of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinje
 


Odgovor Ibrana Mustafić a muslimanskim četnicima u genocidnim institucijama u Srebrenici

Srebrenica 15.06.2010

10 juna 2010-te godine Ibranu Mustafić u je uruč eno rješenje "da u roku ode 48 sati izvrši uklanjanje-skidanje sa jarbola 5 (pet) zastava postavljenih iza memorijalnog centra u Potoč arima". Rješenje je potpisao Mr. Munib Avdagić , muslimanski č etnik i komunalni policajac u genocidnim institucijama u Srebrenici i genocidnoj Republici Srpskoj.
 

 

Ibran Mustafić , Predsjednik UO udruženja Majke Srebrenice i Podrinja.

 

Ibran Mustafić je na ovo rješenje odgovorio sa postavljanjem 4 panoa izmedju jarbola na kojima se vihore zastave Republike BiH. Na panoima su citati iz presude Internacionalnog suda pravde, citat Profesora Francis Boyle-a da je presuda Internacionalnog suda pravde nadredjena Aneksu IV Dayton-skog sporazuma i genocidnim tvorevinama u BiH. Na jednom od panoa je zahtjev žrtava genocida da se implementira presuda Internacionalnog suda pravde.

Uzbudjenje medju muslimanskim č etnicima u Srebrenici je izazvala najavljena posjeta Borisa Tadić a Srebrenici. Njima ne smeta sto č etnici ne uklanjanju bespravno izgradjenu crkvu na privatnom imanju gospodje Fatime Orlović , ali im smetaju zastave Republike BiH koje su  Srebrenič ki Bošnjaci postavili na privatnom posjedu.  

 
 
 
 

Ovo su zastave Republike BiH, žrtve agresije i genocida, koje gencidna policija Srebrenice želi da skine čak i sa privatnog posjeda.

Skenirano rjesenje Komunalne policije Srebrenica se nalazi na ovom linku: RJEŠENJE

 Poziv Policije Srebrenice Ibranu da se javi u Policijsku stanicu se nalazi na ovom linku: POZIV

Nastavak uznemiravanja Predsjednika UO udruženja "Majke Srebrenice i Podrinja" putem Tužbe: Tužba protiv Ibrana Mustafić a

  

       

Proč itajte više na: http://www.republikabih.net/content/odgovor.htm



ENGLISH

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS MONTENEGRO STYLE:

On the margins of the recent sentencing of Veseljko Koprivica


Veseljko Koprivica is the sharpest pen in Montenegrin journalism. He is also the author of several books of non-fiction and collections of reportage's. During the turbulent war years in the former Yugoslavia, Koprivica was the editor-in-chief of Liberal. He is currently one of the editors of the Monitor weekly. Koprivica`s weekly column in Monitor is a vivid reminder of the importance of critical thinking and analytical approach to journalism, and an example of journalistic integrity and personal courage.
Veseljko Koprivica, was recently sentenced by the High Court to pay 15,000 Euros in compensation to the former editor-in-chief of the Montenegrin State Television (TVCG), Bozidar Colovic. The High Court found Koprivica liable for damages that were ``non-material in nature`` and in its ruling stated that he was responsible for causing ``mental anguish`` to Colovic and was ``questioning his honor.``

On September 24, 1994, while working as the editor-in-chief of the weekly Liberal, Veseljko Koprivica published an article written by Milo Djurdjevac, a Bosnian journalist then living in the Netherlands as a refugee. In his article, Djurdjevac stated that according to the documents of the Hague Tribunal, some 16 Montenegrin journalists were listed as war mongers and were considered persons of interest by the Tribunal. According to Djurdjevac, the name of Bozidar Colovic was on that list.
Before publishing the article in question, Koprivica tried to confirm the validity of the information and spoke with the author of the article 3 times. Furthermore, he asked for and was provided with the faxed copy of the document from the Hague Tribunal containing the information about Montenegrin journalists being persons of interest for the Hague Tribunal because of their war mongering and nationalist propaganda. He also consulted with his colleagues in Montenegro about the possible implication of such article appearing in the Montenegrin press. Only then did Koprivica agree to publish the article.

One year after the publication of this article (1995), Bozidar Colovic sued Koprivica demanding compensation. It is interesting to note that Bozidar Colovic never even attempted to dispute the accuracy of the information published in the article. He decided to sue the editor-in-chief of the Liberal, and not the author of the article, and demanded compensation on the basis of mental anguish being caused to him.

For nine years the court supposedly tried to determine the level of accuracy of the statements about the list of names. It never took as evidence the faxed copy of the document that Veseljko Koprivica received from the Hague Tribunal. It also never subpoenaed the author of the article as a witness for the defense. After many years of hard work of the court-appointed investigators only one thing remains a certainty: in the case file of Bozidar Colovic vs Veseljko Koprivica there is no evidence proving that Koprivica deliberately published an article containing inaccurate information and defamatory statements about Bozidar Colovic. All documents point to Koprivica verifying the information to the best of his professional abilities. The case against him, nevertheless, dragged on until it reached a conclusion a week ago.
Meantime, in 2004 the Montenegrin State Television (TVCG) had produced and aired a documentary entitled Witnesses of a Century, portraying its former editor-in-chief, Bozidar Colovic as a war monger indeed. It should be said that this documentary appeared as an integral part of the new political course in Montenegro and was aimed at polishing up tarnished professional reputation of the TVCG.

It was a good example of the stage-managed self-criticism aimed at avoiding analysis of a systemic problems plaguing the TVCG. Many of those portrayed as war mongers in this documentary were former employees. Mr. Colovic never attempted to dispute the characterizations of his journalistic and editorial work made in the documentary, while the court decided not to take into account the aforementioned documentary film.

At present, the professional conduct of Mr. Colovic during his tenure at the TVCG in the early 1990s and his devotion to the cause of war are a matter of public knowledge in Montenegro. It is worth noting that Mr. Colovic is just one of many journalists in Montenegro (and the whole of the former Yugoslavia for that matter), whose elevated partisan tenor and daily calls to arms issued in newspaper columns and TV editorials greatly contributed to the climate of hatred and ethnic tensions in the region.

Regardless of ther lack of evidence against him and despite serious professional errors on the part of the court officials, Veseljko Koprivica was found guilty for causing mental anguish to Bozidar Colovic and for demaging his professional reputation. While the court`s decision is not final and Mr. Koprivica still has some legal remedy at his disposal, he would first have to pay the 15.000 Euros to the plaintif.

Koprivica`s defense team and some legal experts have argued that these court proceedings are problematic at best. Representatives of non-governmental organization Action for Himan Rights, from Podgorica, stated that vis-a-vis the European freedom of expression standard defined by the Article No. 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, this High Court ruling against Veseljko Koprivica is very problematic indeed.
First, the court failed to subpoena the author of the article, Milo Djurdjevac, despite Mr. Koprivica`s repeated requests.
Second, it failed to consider material evidence in favor of Mr. Koprivica – the copy of the document from the Hague Tribunal and the documentary film produced in 2004 by the TVCG.

Third, it failed to take into account the fact that since the time the article appeared in print (1994) the legislative framework in Montenegro had changed considerably. According to the Montenegrin Law about the Media (2002) that is currently applied, the editor-in-chief of a media outlet can not be sued in case articles published in his newspaper or magazine are causing mental anguish to individuals. This responsibility rests with the author of an article in question.
The sentencing of Veseljko Koprivica is one of a number of court cases involving journalists in Montenegro. Almost all are about journalistic criticism of the ruling business and political elite in Montenegro, and investigative journalistic texts on the issues of corruption, money laundering, and criminalization of the Montenegrin society. The most recent court ruling on May 19th 2008 involved the 20,000 Euros fine that the director of the daily Vijesti must pay to the Montenegrin Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic. Once again, it was the issue of a journalist causing mental anguish and tarnishing a reputation af a prominent public figure.

While each individual case has its own internal dynamic the fact that at present there is some 40 active court cases against journalists in Montenegro should at least raise some eyebrows. The projected lack of impartiality of the judiciary in Montenegro further aggravates the situation. The impression is left that the ruling elite and the business elite associated with structures of power could influence court proceedings and decisions. Faced with the possibility of financial ruin media outlets are understandably reluctant to engage in critical analysis of the transtion process and all its discontent. Many journalist, for their part, are shying away from hot topics involving political and business leaders in Montenegro. Some analysts argue that all this points to a troubling trend of growing authoritarian tendencies of the rilling elite. The freedom of expression and the freedom of the press in Montenegro are applied rathe selectively, and those who dare to publically criticize the current power structure and its business partners could look forward to a potential hefty fine.

Dr. Srdja Pavlovic

Assistant Adjunct Professor
Department of History and Classics
2 - 28 Henry Marshall Tory Building
University of Alberta, Edmonton. T6G 2H4
Alberta, Canada
Office: Humanities 1-53. Tel: (780) 492-7456 (office); 492-3270 (messages)
E-mail: srdjapavlovic@yahoo.com 
and/or: editors@spacesofidentity.net, andpavlovic@ualberta.ca
 




ENGLISH

HE David Wright Miliband,
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,

London, United Kingdom

Dear Mr. Minister:

The decision of the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland to detain Dr. Ejup Ganic on the basis of an extradition request and at the behest of the authorities of the Government of Serbia raises concerns regarding your Ministry’s commitment to the ICTY, the Dayton Accords as well as the standards of justice expected. The Belgrade government has been unilaterally pursuing a “wanted list” of Bosnian & Herzegovinian citizens despite that this contradicts the authority and review of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, “ICTY,” the Dayton Accords as well as bilateral agreements.

The initial decision to honor the Serbian request to detain Dr. Ganic is at your Government/Ministry’s discretion and of a political rather than judicial character. The merits of the Serbian authorities factual or legal claims should have been rejected at this political/government level. To do otherwise places the UK Government now as well as the Belgrade authorities in the position to contradict the authority and review of the ICTY. The primacy of the ICTY is encoded in the Dayton Accords and related agreements, (as the “Rules of the Road” reached in Rome in 1996 which prohibited unilateral detentions by states and “parties” without review and confirmation of the ICTY). Unless I am unaware of some non-public communication, the ICTY’s authority was not respected, and more troubling, the Dayton Accord was violated now by the UK Government as well as Belgrade authorities.

Possible motives aside regarding the decision to detain, it is imperative that your Ministry remedies these violations. As an attorney, you may be aware that a hearing by the UK Court will not address the substance of the factual claims beyond a rather tenuous examination of probable cause, if that. Whatever proceedings are held before a UK court, they cannot mask the political and frankly flawed proceedings that would await Dr. Ganic in Belgrade. The long tradition of UK jurisprudence should not be allowed to legitimize such a sham, (especially keeping in mind Belgrade’s extended and continuing history of shielding indicted war crimes suspects and failing to yet heed rulings of the International Court of Justice, “ICJ” and the ICTY). Further, the treatment of Mr. Ilija Jurisic, already unjustly detained and committed to 12 years by a Belgrade court under similar circumstances only confirms our assessment of the political character and lack of justice in the proceedings. Most critically, the UK risks smear to its ongoing contributions and efforts of its many civil servants, as Lord Ashdown, in BiH. We encourage your Government to immediately intervene and remedy what has now become a violation of the ICTY’s own authority as well as the Dayton Accords.

Respectfully Yours,

Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey      Dr. Muhamed Saracevic, president

Former Foreign Minister,                      Congress of North Bosniaks 2000
Permanent Representative to UN,         Founder of World Bosniaks Congress
Agent before ICJ,
Representative and witness before ICTY
and Signatory of Dayton Accords,
 

web link
http://www.kbsa2000kbs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=58&Itemid=110
 




WELCOME to the Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada

It has been my honor and pleasure to extend my most sincere welcome on behalf of the Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada and my own behalf and wish you to be fully and timely informed on the relevant scientific, researching, and other activities of the Institute.

All information about the Institute is available on the web page www.instituteforgenocide.ca, which opening on January 27, 2010 at the International Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, as an important reminder of the universal study of the Holocaust, a unique evil which cannot simply be left to the past and forgotten.

Faithfully Yours, 

Emir Ramic
President of the Board of Directors The Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada




The International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Today, we commemorate the millions of victims of Nazi persecution. We solemnly reflect on the massacre of nearly one third of the Jewish people and countless other minorities. We gather here today, united by a common responsibility, to never allow those who suffered atrocious acts of discrimination, deprivation, cruelty, and murder, fade in vain with the sands of time.

"The long concealed Historical Archives in Belgrade reveal that Banjica, a concentration camp located in Belgrade, was primarily staffed by Serbs... At least 23,697 victims passed through the Serbian section of this camp. Many were Jews, including at least 798 children, of whom at least 120 were shot by Serbian guards." - Dr. Philip J. Cohen

To this end, Holocaust education has provided us with an exemplary model of how humanity can unite to honour the victims of persecution, and give them a permanent place in our collective memory.

It is the responsibility of our generation, and every generation to come, to study and examine why the world failed to prevent the Holocaust, the genocides in South Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Palestine… Let us educate ourselves and our future generations to fight anti-Semitism, hatred, intolerance… injustice!

The genocide committed against Bosniacs in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 20th century is still a fresh wound! The massacre of these people was carried out in pursuit of the ultra-nationalist projects of “greater” Serbia and “greater” Croatia, with the genocidal intent to eradicate Bosniacs as an ethnic and religious group, aiming to “resolve the Muslim question” in the Balkans. As we recall, it was not so long ago that another fascist state aimed to “resolve the Jewish question” in Europe. So I ask you, just as the generations before me have asked: when will we stop massacring ourselves? When will we learn that ethnic and religious identity is not a crime? When will we stop debasing our common humanity?

Although Bosnia and Herzegovina serves as a symbol for all those suffering because of ethnic and religious identity, it is also a beacon of light for all those willing to stand up to injustice. Bosnia and Herzegovina today still stands as a proud example of a paradigm of antifascist resistance and resilience to the worst evil known by mankind – genocide. All this in spite of the shameful fecklessness shown by Europe and other Western nations, which spoke of fighting injustice, constantly repeated “Never Again” as a slogan, yet, they stood by and allowed to unfold one of the bloodiest and most brutal tragedies in recent memory… and all this in the heart of Europe at the end of the 20th century. The civilized world remained silent and deaf to helpless people and their cries for salvation… Again I ask you: is this the example we wish to set for future generations?

By studying international law and by insisting on its enforcement, in particular, the laws against genocide and other forms of crimes against humanity, we implicitly raise our voices against the Holocaust, genocide, and all forms of injustice wherever it may be manifested. We raise our voices to combat Holocaust denial and speak out in the face of bigotry and hatred. We raise our voices to uphold the standards and ideals of the United Nations. We raise our voices to fight impunity for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. We raise our voices because our world today continues to be plagued by ruthless violence, utter disregard for human rights, and the targeting of people solely for who they are. We raise our voices today and we send our message loud and clear: we will incessantly fight to preserve the most sacred of human values, human freedoms, human rights, and lives of the small, weak and helpless groups, human societies and peoples everywhere, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or gender. We will do this because of the sacred bonds that bind us as brothers and sisters in humanity. We will do this because we have a responsibility to all those whom we honour today, to take heed of history’s lessons and strive for a nobler society where respect and dignity for human lives is not just lip service. And we will do this because we believe that humanity will cease to exist the moment there is no one to fight for it.

Let us unite today under the banner of humanity, let us unify under the flag of justice, let us embrace our fellow brother and sister in humanity, whatever national, ethnic, racial, religious, ideological, or political affiliation they may have, and let us collectively work toward a strategy of prevention and punishment for crimes against humanity.

Emir Ramic
President of the Board of Directors
The Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada


Sanja Drnovsek
President of the Board of Directors
The Bosnian-American Genocide Institute and Education Center


 



ENGLISH

The International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses events in the Middle East and the Balkans. Marjan Hajnal, M. Sc., member of the IFIMES International Institute, presents his view of the current Iran-Israel relations. His article entitled “IRAN - ISRAEL: PEACE OR WAR?” is here published in its entirety.

Marjan Hajnal, M. Sc. 
Marjan Hajnal, M. Sc.
● Member of the IFIMES International Institute


IRAN - ISRAEL: PEACE OR WAR?

The chronology of recent events in the Middle East has been marked by a rather panicky search by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for constructive geopolitical guidelines that would be suitable to all the potential decision-makers resolving the burning issues. Without adequate responses to those issues it is not possible to foresee the answer to the question “Peace or War?”. Defence Minister Ehud Barack has also called the Palestinians to the negotiating table, although in a rather pathetic and untypical manner. The situation was further dramatised by the statement of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who said that an armed response to Israel’s eventual new attack against Lebanon would be far more efficient and destructive for Israel than the 2006 war. Ehud Barack was no less militant as he replied that this time Israel would not give in to the demands to cease war activities and that it would use “all available means“. Despite the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 on the prohibition of armament for Hezbollah this paramilitary organisation has, according to certain reliable Israeli sources, accumulated 42 000 missiles able to hit targets as distant as Tel Aviv.

In this situation and without leaving any manoeuvring space, Netanyahu has called Syria to enter negotiations, sending it some ambivalent messages based on deceptive and insufficiently clear allusions to the return of the Golan Heights. In Syria those ideas are being carefully analysed without excessive optimism, especially since Israel has offered a dialogue without any prior conditions, while the Syrian condition for peace is the return of Golan which was occupied in the six-day war in 1967.


JERUSALEM A DUAL CAPITAL?

At times when the Druze and Bedouin communities, who were traditionally loyal to Israeli authorities, are starting to give their votes to the Palestinians against the dispossession of land for the construction of new Israeli settlements, the Israeli government is feverishly making promises about changes while at the same time persisting on the non-division of Jerusalem and preservation of its jurisdiction. Contrary to the commitments made to the wider international community and its ambitions to meet the demands of its citizens on the allocation of new residential enclaves which are indenting like antipodes deeper and deeper into the Arab territory, the Israeli government is offering to the Palestinian side the trumps it does not posses. How else can we explain the statements of Knesset members on the need to enable the Palestinians to establish their own state, unless this future state is a priori allowed to proclaim Jerusalem their administrative seat? This casts a shadow on the agreements reached in Annapolis in 2007 on the creation of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as dual capital. This frustrating and deceiving vagueness has led the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas to state that he would not run for the second term of office at elections which he has called for February next year. Although five years after Yasser Arafat’s death the Palestinians are still nostalgic about the legendary PLO leader, it should be noted that Abbas’s position has evolved from non-recognition (“Jewish state – what is that supposed to mean?“, April 2009.) to a sharp swerve and recognition (August 2009), which has led to deeper conflicts with Hamas, whereby Abbas was regarded as a traitor and non-Palestinian. The Israelis are sceptical about new concessions after the failed negotiations in Camp David led by the then president Ehud Barack and Yasser Arafat. They still remember concessions made by Yitzhak Rabin (who allowed Arafat to return after long years in exile and approved Palestinian authority over the Gaza Strip, Nablus, Jericho, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Hebron), which were in turn followed by unprecedented terrorist attacks against civil targets (busses, discotheques, markets, restaurants, university) and the bombing of southeast Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. Another disappointment followed when Ariel Sharon ordered the removal of Jewish settlements near Gaza as a pawn for peace, while the rocket attacks not only did not stop but even intensified and lasted for seven years until the Israeli forces eventually attacked Gaza at the end of 2008.


THE IZRAEL-HAMAS-HEZBOLLAH TRIANGLE

Additional arguments for Israel to dismiss the Goldstone report on war crimes committed by its forces were gained with the seizure of the Francop cargo vessel with over 40 containers with hidden missiles and other weapons of more than 300 tonnes of total weight, which was enough for one-month of intensive war. However, the seized weapons only represent the visible part of the iceberg in comparison with the volumes smuggled to Lebanon in spite of all the vigilance of UN observers. It should not be forgotten that the seizure of the Karine-A ship with about 50 tonnes of weapons on 3 January 2002 contributed to a direct brake-up of relations with Arafat and his captivity in Ramallah. In both cases the responsibility for the armament of Hezbollah and Hamas lay with Iran and Syria. For Israel this was the proof that even after devastating wars those states are not eager for peace. The seizure of armament on board the Francop vessel could just as well be a welcome decoy to distract attention from more serious problems such as the accusations of war crimes against the Israeli, Hamas and Hezbollah leadership. Despite the changed picture of Lebanon after the recent war ravages in 2006, little has changed in the militant rhetoric of Hezbollah’s spiritual leaders. After the change in power we have seen an assimilation of terrorists in the Lebanon forces who at first sight arbitrarily and sporadically fire missiles to the northern part of Israel thus maintaining constant tensions and verifying the tolerance levels of the Israeli headquarters. The aim of these high-level tensions and constant missile provocations is to stir up a new chaotic war with even more severe consequences. The synergy effect of the chaos doctrine is reduced to depleting and compromising the Israeli forces.


WAR AND/OR ILLUSION

The two pillars of the destruction of Logos are called War and Illusion. The battle of concepts at the level of self-realisation of the absolute self-conscience has been present since the Persian invasion of the ancient Israel or, subsequently, the devastation of Athens and the anathema launched from the Acropolis. The systems have changed from anthropocentrism and deism, atheism and Nazism to fictions and technological progress, but each megachange was initiated with the notions of some personal Demiurge who favoured the “chosen” people of “his own” nation. 

The catastrophe theory is not new – its origins can be found in ancient writings on Veda and Avesta, and during the human eras it was marked by impersonal deification of Illusion without identity. The fear of visualising God resulted in the tradition of annihilating any attempt of an aesthetic interpretation of deity through fine arts or literature (in Orthodox Judaism it was even prohibited to mention the deity in the original phonetic form, therefore the synonyms Elohim and Adonai, Lord of Hosts, Shem (name), or simply He were used). The Kabalists passed on the inherited perception of apocalypse as the state of general chaos or “tohu va vohu” to their Christian and Islamic successors. Their common feature was fatal nihilism and destruction of taboos, with the formation of two directions: the Jewish feminism and Islamist patriarchy.  All the future globally-situated suicidal bipolar paradigm on the impossibility of co-existence and even of existence has been based on this artificially conditioned entropic splitting of the social system. From behind the curtain most strings are pulled by the Gnostics, technotronic gurus, the chiefs of totalitary military unions, unifiers of regimes, creators of pacts, coordinators of conspiracies, controllers of pandemies and other plagues, who are mostly based on the idea on the destruction of Israel as a way of its restoration. This has been the common goal of Kabalists, Jesuites, neo-Templars, neo-Nazis and narco-inspirators of general anarchy or monarchy of Darkness and Terror. In other words, this game of the Lords of Light and Darkness has given birth to communism and all of its ideas with over 100 million victims, and to an even greater threat we are facing today: According to the revival of ornamentalism and collective nazi-hysteria which have overflown Sweden, England and the US, the story of Hitler has not ended. What is even more shocking, Nazism has found its followers in the former socialist countries (Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Croatia) despite the inconceivable losses they had suffered.


IRAN BETWEEN THE WEST, CHINA AND RUSSIA

It is the question of time when Iran will regret having overthrown emperor Pahlavi. It would be quite justified to propose a hypothesis on the infiltration of Western intelligence services in the overthrowing, since despite his alleged flexibility and intelligent pro-Western inclination Pahlavi had his own vision of autonomous ruling of the ancient Persian nation with the goal to preserve the original identity. As such he was regarded as indecisive on the outside and as a traitor on the inside (by the Islamists) and eventually became the victim of the change of eras. However, it is only now that the Iranian people have realised that they are terrorised by a handful of despots who are powerful enough to use the cruellest methods of punishing and keeping the whole nation frightened. What else can the young Iranians do but resort to suicidal ideas? On the brink of an abyss Ahmadinadjad's regime is resorting to dubious transactions with China and Russia, not realising that those circles are just as hypocritical, distant  and exploiting as those of the US, France and Germany. Just as Iran has cruelly persecuted members of the Bahai community, China has been engaged in persecuting, torturing and killing the followers of Falung-Gong – this is what the two countries have in common. China and Russia have both their own interests and reasons for helping Iran in developing military technology. The overthrowing of Shah enabled the creation of chaos and the exportation of Islamic revolution to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has brought instability to the whole region. This has made it easy to control the former silk routes, only this time they are used for smuggling drugs, human beings and highly sophisticated military technology. It is not a coincidence that so many states are interested in controlling Afghanistan as all the routes to China pass through this wretched country. However, China is not content with its Eastern side being so very open, which is the reason for its substantial and insufficiently discreet assistance to Iran. Unfortunately, this “assistance” has been revealed in Gaza, the tragic intersection of the three continents. This is where the tripolar geometry of apocalypse starts and ends.

The role of Russia in this conglomerate of relations represents a partial enigma. The strengthening of Slavic white ethnic Nazism shows that Jelcin’s drunk jiving was in fact a virtuoso wire dance. Possessing all the demonic vitality of his Raskolnikov genes and having saved Russia from a coup d'état with his famous speech delivered from a tank on 19 August 1991, Jelcin foretold a new political orientation based on the principled rejection of any redundant economic ballast. The withdrawal from Eastern Germany had significant repercussions on the changes in relations not only in Europe but also in the Middle East. Instead of exhaustive direct confrontation with the West it is much easier to engage hirelings. Thus it is clear that Israel’s conflict with Syria and Iran actually goes beyond the borders of those states. The same applies to North and South Korea. No matter what kind of local war is being fought, it is always the superpowers that are indirectly testing their forces. However, the price of such insanity is always paid by the small nations. The crisis that arises from the failed multi-level ideology always hits most severely those who are the weakest. For the poor, wars are preceded, accompanied and followed by famine, while the wealthy do not even feel it.


ISRAEL AS A NUCLEAR POWER

Obviously led by distress, Israel has eventually become a nuclear power. Ehud Barack’s reply that Israel would retaliate using “all available means“ominously implies all available options. Despite being inevitably pushed in the direction of mystic Armageddon, Israel does not wish the nuclear premonitions to come true. By sending signals to the West that Iran’s nuclear programme is hiding much more malicious intentions, Israel is appealing to the sanity in an attempt to achieve the impossible: to survive, to enlarge and to enable the creation of the Palestinian state. In a beseeching call for help to prevent Iran’s imamites to get hold of a nuclear bomb the Jewish nation has put their already fragile reputation at stake, ruining it with forced military actions in Lebanon and Gaza. Undoubtedly that region has been sacrificed in advance as a polygon for testing the virulence of Syrian and Iranian intelligence services whose goals are indoctrination, fanatisation and technical training of potential suicide bombers. Faced with the Egyptian border porosity Israel has no other alternative but to build walls and set up more control points.

In an euphoric pursuit of support, understanding and protection, Israel's authorities have overlooked numerous weaknesses in their own rows. The inner enemy number one is corruption, followed by theocratic ruthlessness and insensitiveness towards those who are not the followers of “Tanakh” (“the Five Books of Moses”). This situation provides the pre-conditions for non-selective anti-Semitism, which leads to a general animosity towards everything that is related to Israel. The jargon of neo-Nazis is not a neo-jargon. It is unambiguously not only anti-religious but also generally antisemitistic, anti-Arabian and anti-Islamic. Nazi literature is being translated and read and new books with racist overtones are being written.

Thus, one small country or a micro-polis has become the nursery of macro-diversities. As if turned to stone by Medusa’s eyes, the world is lamenting the destiny and awaiting the sword of Perseus. Iranian religious leader Bab and before him Zarathustra, the real purebred Arians, were the modern Perseus, the envoys and favourites of Aryan Valleyo. Does the Middle East, following the humane impulses of its true prophets, possess the will and power to reach out the hand to its little brother, as did Khshayarsha, Xerxes I the Great,  the “ruler of heroes” in 490 BC when he generously allowed the Jews to return to their homes after Babylonian captivity? If the extremists get hold of the secret of the nucleus, will the destiny of Persepolis be repeated? With its dominating geostrategic position between the Persian Gulf to the South and the Caspian basin to the North, Iran may have a direct influence over the whole Middle East region. Thats is certainly known to the Western forces who want to weaken Iran’s power and establish full control over the oil energy products.

Nevertheless, hopingly the wisdom of the descendants of ancient Indo-Ariyan heroes will prevail and they will find the way out of the labyrinth of hopelessness without the illusive Ariadne's thread. The illusions on the re-levelling of blind powers would then be discarded with the victory of human mind freed from the bonds of violence, proving to the West that its cradle was once in the East.   

Ljubljana, 18 December 2009 

International Institute for Middle-East  and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) – Ljubljana

Directors:

Bakhtyar Aljaf       Zijad Bećirovic, M.Sc.


                 


 



Dutch

Europese media enorm kritisch over aanstelling Van Rompuy

Verschillende Europese kranten staan vandaag bijzonder kritisch tegenover de benoeming van Herman Van Rompuy tot eerste permanente voorzitter van de Europese Raad en van Catherine Ashton tot Hoge Vertegenwoordiger.
 
De Franse krant LIBERATION vindt Van Rompuy "een president voor het decor". "Als eerste daad heeft het Europa van het Lissabonverdrag dus gekozen voor mensen die niemand storen", klinkt het bij de krant. "Er is dan wel niemand van het 'Nieuwe Europa' benoemd, de 27 zijn er tenminste wel in geslaagd een vrouw te benoemen - zij het niet de meest briljante."
 
Twijfels
LE FIGARO vraagt zich af of "de president eerder een organisator zal zijn, een man die in de beslotenheid van de Raad goede diensten levert of een leider die als een gelijke met Barack Obama en Hu Jintao zal praten?"
 
In Spanje uit EL MUNDO ook haar twijfels. "Twee mensen die onbekenden zijn op het Europese toneel, en nog meer op de internationale scène, bijna zonder enige ervaring in buitenlandse politiek en nieuwkomers in de EU, nemen de vertegenwoordiging van de 27 in de wereld waar", klinkt het cynisch. EL PAIS meent dat "het nieuwe Europa, zoals dat werd vastgelegd door het Verdrag van Lissabon, bestuurd zal worden door twee kleurloze en low profile figuren".
 
Zonder glans
Ook in de Duitse kranten klinkt het unisono dat Van Rompuy en Ashton niet in staat zullen zijn om een krachtige Europese stem te vormen. "Kunnen deze twee personen het elan incarneren dat onze bestuurders ons beloofd hebben?", schrijft de FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG. "Het Verdrag van Lissabon is al de lichtere versie van wat in het begin de Grondwet van de Europese Unie genoemd werd. Dat woord was te groot voor de ambities van de Europeanen. De minister van Buitenlandse Zaken en de president van de EU wekken nu toch de indruk groot te zijn."
 
De FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU schrijft dat de EU nu "leiders zonder glans" heeft, "zonder visie en zelfs zonder ervaring in hun eigen domein".
 
Voldoende capaciteiten?
Een zelfde geluid in de Britse kranten. De FINANCIAL TIMES vindt dat "deze benoemingen twijfel zaaien over de capaciteiten (van Van Rompuy en Ashton, nvdr) om te kunnen wedijveren met Washington en Parijs. Wie Europa meer gewicht wilde geven op het internationale toneel blijft vol consternatie achter na de keuze voor twee relatieve onbekenden."
 
Voor de GUARDIAN hebben de keuzes "alle hoop van Europa dat de wereld haar opnieuw aandacht zou schenken" tot niets herleid. "Gisterenavond heeft het continent een stap teruggezet van de tafel van de groten en een kans gemist om zich op het wereldtoneel op het niveau van de G2 te handhaven, tussen de polen Washington en Peking."
 
Niet toegetreden
Dat Frankrijk en Duitsland onder elkaar uitmaakten om voor een onbeduidende Belg te kiezen, doet het voor de INDEPENDENT aanvoelen "alsof Zweden, Polen en de rest niet tot de club zijn toegetreden. De manier waarop de 27 landen tot een beslissing zijn gekomen doet het Vaticaan bijna transparant lijken." (belga/adv)


20/11/09 13u03
 



Dutch

Van Rompuy gaat op 1 januari aan de slag als EU-voorzitter

(Belga) Afscheidnemend premier Herman Van Rompuy gaat op 1 januari aan de slag als vaste voorzitter van de Europese Raad. Dat heeft hij donderdagavond na afloop van de Europese top bekendgemaakt. Van Rompuy ziet de benoeming als "een eer" en "een erkenning voor België, dat zich als stichtende lidstaat onophoudelijk heeft ingezet voor de opbouw van Europa".


Van Rompuy heeft naar eigen zeggen "niet gedongen naar deze hoge functie" en "geen enkele stap ondernomen". "Maar ik neem de functie wel met overtuiging en enthousiasme op", voegde de afscheidnemende premier eraan toe. Zijn opvolger in België kan op eenvoudig verzoek echter wel op zijn "discreet advies" rekenen wil Van Rompuy in de komende weken "discreet" blijven in de media. Gevraagd naar zijn persoonlijke gevoelens bij zijn benoeming tot vaste voorzitter van de Europese Raad bleef Van Rompuy het antwoord schuldig. Die confidenties behoudt de afscheidnemende premier voor zijn memoires. "Maar ik heb meer dan ooit zin om mijn memoires te schrijven", verklaarde hij. Van Rompuy wil als voorzitter een "tweevoudige gedragslijn" aanhouden. Enerzijds wil hij eerbied voor de belangen van de lidstaten en respect voor hun diversiteit aan de dag leggen en anderzijds blijk geven van een grote luisterbereidheid. "Ik vind dat ieder land als overwinnaar uit onze onderhandelingen moet komen", zei Van Rompuy. (MHS)

19/11/2009


ENGLISH

Belgium's Van Rompuy, U.K.'s Ashton take EU top jobs
Darren Ennis and Adrian Croft, Reuters
Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009


BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders named Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as the bloc's first president on Thursday and appointed Briton Catherine Ashton as its foreign affairs chief.
A consensus was reached at a summit in Brussels after Britain dropped its insistence that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair should become president, ending weeks of deadlock and opening the way to agreement on Mr. Van Rompuy.
The appointments are intended to bolster the EU's standing and help it match the rise of emerging powers such as China following the global economic crisis.
But Mr. Van Rompuy, 62, and Ms. Ashton, 53, are low-profile compromise candidates little known outside the EU and at least initially will not have the clout in foreign capitals that an established statesmen such as Blair would have had.
"The deal has been done. Both positions have been agreed," said an EU diplomat present at the talks, which involved all 27 member states.
The leaders had sought a political balance to satisfy member states and the European Parliament, whose approval is needed for Ms. Ashton. This was achieved by appointing a centre-right president and a centre-left high representative for foreign affairs.
Mr. Van Rompuy, who will not need the assembly's approval, won plaudits for holding together a fragile coalition government after becoming prime minister less than a year ago.
Ms. Ashton, a baroness and former member of the House of Lords, Britain's upper house of parliament, is hardly known even in Britain and has little foreign affairs experience. But she has made a good impression since becoming the EU's trade commissioner, its top trade official, last year.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's insistence that Mr. Blair should become president had been an obstacle to agreement, but a breakthrough became possible when he backed down and decided instead to back Ms. Ashton for the foreign policy job.
"As it became clear that the chances of a Blair presidency, for a number of good reasons, were declining, the prime minister made the decisive intervention in this meeting [to stop backing Mr. Blair]," a spokesman for Mr. Brown told reporters.
Mr. Blair had long been the front-runner but many other states wanted a cver his backing for the U.S.-led war in Iraq and many wanted a leader from a country that uses the euro currency.
Agreement on Mr. Van Rompuy and Ms. Ashton prevented a failure at the summit that would have highlighted the divisions in a bloc representing nearly 500 million people, and undermined the goal it had set of boosting the EU's image on the world stage.
In backing Ms. Ash, the leaders also answered calls by many EU officials for a woman to have one of the Union's top posts.
Although the EU is a major trading bloc, its political influence has not matched its economic mi
ght. Political analysts have questioned whether it will be able to do so even after the new appointments.
The post of president of the council of EU leaders was created under the EU's Lisbon treaty, which is intended to make decision making easier now the bloc has 27 member states. The foreign policy high representative received enhanced powers under the treaty, which goes into force on Dec. 1, and will be in charge of a new EU diplomatic corps.
 


 
WHAT DOES THE EU SAY ABOUT THIS? EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
DENMARK: WHAT A SHAME This happens in Denmark
 




 

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