The year almost behind us has been rather interesting. Who would have thought, looking at the rubble of the Twin Towers on the afternoon of September 11, that exactly a decade later Osama bin Laden would be dead, but the "war on terror" long lost? Eight years after Bush the Lesser declared "Mission Accomplished" from the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln, bitter and bloodied U.S. troops trudged back from Iraq, whose future is still very much uncertain. The revolts eagerly dubbed by Western commentators as the "Arab Spring" are turning into springtime for Jihad. Meanwhile, the financial crisis shaking Europe and the U.S. has grown into a proper depression.
In March, a massive earthquake struck Japan, and the resulting tsunami led to a major failure at the two nuclear plants at Fukushima. Fallout from the meltdowns was much greater than publicly acknowledged, but has mostly been absorbed by the ocean.
Fallout from Imperial politics, however, has shown up in many places around the world, from the Balkans to the sands of North Africa. 2012 won’t bring about the end of the world, or even the "end of history", but it may well usher in the end of the world order as we know it.
The Long Shadow
Two anniversaries, half a century apart, marked 2011 in the Balkans: Hitler’s 1941 invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the 1991 beginning of Socialist Yugoslavia’s murder by recognition. Today’s map of the region eerily resembles the one created by the German Reich seventy years prior. And just as the victorious Communists rewrote history after 1945, the Empire is attempting to impose its own version of history, through the war crimes Tribunal – one that has little or nothing to do with justice, but everything to do with politics.
Balkans precedents, from abolishing a country by fiat and weaseling on declarations of independence to "humanitarian" bombing and occupation, have come to haunt the rest of the world, in not quite the ways the Empire originally intended.
For example, the Empire claimed that Kosovo – an occupied Serbian province currently controlled by ethnic Albanian separatists – was a unique case, unrelated to anywhere else, when it supported the province’s claim to statehood in 2008. This year, Palestinian Arabs begged to differ.
When a desperate fruit vendor set himself on fire in January, the Tunisian government faced a torrent of popular protest. The revolutionary mood soon spread to Egypt. What began as a case of withdrawing consent from their respective governments soon became "regime change." Though the dictatorial presidents of Tunisia and Egypt were Empire’s clients, Washington threw them under the bus and rode the Sandstorm, dubbing it the "Arab Spring." Yet while Empire-trained professional revolutionaries aided the demonstrators in Cairo and Tunis, the revolt in Bahrain – a major US fleet base – was brutally suppressed.
Libya and Syria also saw the deployment of the weapons of mass subversion. The Syrian uprising is ongoing, though the thick cloud of propaganda makes it difficult to say what’s actually going on. In Libya, however, the Benghazi rebellion was used as a pretext for invasion. The Balkans intervention march was played on fast-forward: NATO bombers were called in, the "transitional council" claimed victory in August, and by late October, Col. Gadhafi was dead and the entire country conquered.
Springtime for Jihad
Yet the misnamed "Arab Spring" was no victory for the Empire. While the new regimes paid plenty of lip service to democracy, the vacuum created by the demise of Ben Ali, Gadhafi and Mubarak has been filled by militant Islam. Many of the Libyan rebels are Al-Qaeda veterans who fought against U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tunisian elections were won by an Islamist party. In Egypt, the Salafists make the Muslim Brotherhood seem moderate in comparison. Violence against Christians and Jews has been widespread, priceless records and artifacts have been stolen or destroyed, and the revolt so bankrupted the Egyptian treasury, that Cairo will soon be unable to feed its people.
While the U.S. Navy SEALs located and killed Osama Bin Laden in May, the ideology that he fronted for is very much alive, and more dangerous than ever. Ironically, it was the Empire itself that made it so.
Ground Zero
The Balkans itself remained relatively calm in 2011. The peace in Bosnia turned 16, despite all efforts to undo it. Attempts to bully the Bosnian Serbs into accepting a strong central government failed spectacularly, while squabbles between Muslims and Croats continue to thwart the establishment of a central government, more than a year after the general elections. If the situation continues, Bosnia may well beat Belgium’s record (541 days). It is already ahead of the EU by the number of government employees per capita. It’s not what the U.S. and EU officials had in mind when they spoke of a "Brussels Bosnia," but that’s what their policies have produced.
Croatia got the final approval to join the EU, and is expected to be officially annexed by 2013. That is, if there is an EU at all by then; the announcement prompted one British paper to quip, "Do they know something we don’t?" The Union is in throes of a major financial and political crisis, which may well see some members leaving the Eurozone, voluntarily or not. As the EU was being created, in 1991, Germany bullied its partners to recognize Croatia and Slovenia; today, it is bullying the EU to accept "reduced sovereignty" in matters financial. Could the EU be turning into a Fourth German Reich?
If that’s a joke, the Serbs aren’t finding it funny. The government in Belgrade finalized its project of appeasing the Hague Inquisition this year, with the arrest and rendition of Gen. Ratko Mladic in May and Goran Hadzic in July. As a reward they received a new demand from the EU: recognize "Kosovo." Germany has been the most vocal on the issue: for Berlin, Kosovo is an independent state, and the only way Belgrade can hope to join the EU is to recognize that as a fact.
Yet though it was put in place for just that purpose, the regime of President Boris Tadic has been unable to deliver on Kosovo. Not for the lack of trying, either. But the Empire and EU have pushed too hard, too fast. The artificially induced EUphoria is wearing off. A street revolution is unlikely – Serbia was the test subject for the revolution virus in October 2000, which brought power, riches and tropical islands to some, but misery to everyone else. Look to it for a possible cure for the plague of professional revolutionaries, though. It may have something to do with identity politics.
Collision Course
At the end of 2010, Swiss senator Dick Marty published a report alleging that "Kosovo" authorities were basically an organized crime network, trafficking among other things in human organs. The Empire swung into full damage control mode almost right away, and has continued to obstruct the investigation ever since. Hashim Thaci, the Albanian terrorist-turned-"statesman" was not thrown under the bus, only removed from the limelight in favor of a photogenic young figurehead.
As for Kosovo itself, the Empire doubled down, supporting an aggressive move by Thaci’s regime to conquer the Serb-inhabited north. Not just once, but twice - first in July, then again in September. NATO’s occupation force, KFOR, and EU’s "law and order" mission, EULEX, have sided squarely with Thaci, in open violation of their mandate. The local Serbs, however, have barricaded the roads and have been resisting ever since, despite bloody attempts to dislodge them.
In doing so, they have not only thwarted Thaci, KFOR and EULEX, but also Tadic’s regime in Belgrade, bringing into question the reality matrix altogether. Meanwhile, Empire’s curb-stomping of Serbia over Kosovo has angered Russia, which is now getting more actively involved in the Balkans. Though Moscow has politely turned down the Kosovo Serbs’ request for citizenship, it did send a convoy of humanitarian aid to the besieged community, and faced down KFOR and EULEX in the process.
However, Kosovo is just one of the flashpoints in the ongoing deterioration of relations between Russia and the Empire. Washington is still smarting from Vladimir Putin‘s 1999 palace coup, which deposed their puppet regime in Moscow. Facing the prospect of Putin leading Russia for five more years, the Empire is now trying everything to thwart it, including a "color revolution." Washington’s hubris regarding Kosovo is thus rekindling the Cold War.
Blowback
Otto von Bismarck once said the Balkans weren’t worth the bones of a Pomeranian musketeer. Twice in the 20th century, Germany meddled in the region – as part of greater plans for European conquest – and suffered disastrous consequences. Could Chancellor Merkel be that bad a student of history, or does she believe that third time is a charm?
For its part, Washington is obviously acting to maintain the fantasy of a white knight riding to the rescue of grateful natives. That particular narrative has certainly made the interventionists feel morally superior, but it has not achieved the desired effect in the Muslim world. Other legacies of Balkans interventions, though, have resonated far and wide: death by recognition, humanitarian bombing, faux revolutions.
The American Empire has rested on three pillars: moral superiority from the victory in WWII, great wealth (as the only industrial nation to escape destruction in WWII), and awe-inspiring military power. But four decades of the Cold War and 20 years of unrestrained imperialism that followed have depleted both the moral and the financial capital. The U.S. military can still kill people and break things, but it takes more to win wars in this day and age.
Instead of re-evaluating its premises, however, the Empire clings to dangerous delusions. Perhaps one of the most important lessons of the false "Arab Spring" is that manipulating and subverting democracy not only has a tendency to backfire, but also undermines the legitimacy of the entire belief system which the Empire claims to hold dear. Now that revolutionary activism designed to topple hostile governments has begun to bleed over into domestic politics, there is no telling might happen next.
Read more by Nebojsa Malic
- EUphoria – December 9th, 2011
- Sixteen Candles – November 24th, 2011
- Identity And Other Politics – November 4th, 2011
- A Most Stubborn Reality – October 30th, 2011
- Occupations, Faux and Real – October 14th, 2011
liveload
December 24th, 2011 at 9:27 am
The only moral superiority America has ever had was in the confines of its own mind. We commit and have been committing atrocities on a daily basis which make the Einsatztruppen pale in comparison. Just this week we dragged an Afghan woman out of her home in the night and shot her dead, 8 months pregnant. That's just one person out of dozens. America's thirst for blood is as insatiable as her lust for world domination. America is worse than the Mongols, Nazi's, and Soviets put together. We are the most evil, corrupt, and ethically bankrupt society to have ever existed. Our downfall will bring a day of joy to the world unlike any other ever recorded throughout history. One day when America is weak, her armies lost in the sands, her once proud edifice crumbling…what we're is saying to the world is when we are weak and China, Russia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East are stronger…We're telling them that it's OK to come over and Conquer us. It's OK to come over and Occupy us. It's OK to come take our resources, it's OK to enslave our people to a policy of Robbery. It's OK to round us up into little ghettos and reservations and tell us that we are not citizens and not welcome on this land. Tell them America. Sing it loud and clear.
davidgrayling
December 24th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
"America's thirst for blood is as insatiable as her lust for world domination. America is worse than the Mongols, Nazi's, and Soviets put together. We are the most evil, corrupt, and ethically bankrupt society to have ever existed." So said 'liveload'.
He or she is right, of course. America is a nation that the world would be better without. All it can do is to kill and destroy while it tells lies about wanting peace. Its whole economy is built upon waging war.
If the world doesn't get rid of America, humanity will become extinct, no bad thing of course. Do your bit to bring down the U.S. today!
http://www.dangerouscreation.com
liveload
December 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
The idea isn't to destroy America, David. The idea is to shake the good people and awaken them to the cold, hard reality of their existence. The idea is to remind them of how this country was founded. I indeed have issues with clearly defining the position I'm coming from. It's not hatred, it's not violence as those are indicative of weakness and lack of ethical character; rather it comes from a position of love. I love America and the many beautiful people within her. It is precisely this love that drives me to post things like the above. Every word of it I stand behind, for it is in the truth that we will be set free. We must awaken as a nation and understand that strength and character are best exemplified through Love and not hatred and anger. The latter only leads us to more of the same. As long as people are talking and willing to listen, it is our duty to shake them and awaken them and be there with a warm blanket and a hug when they inevitably emerge cold, shaken, and confused. We cannot fail in this. No matter what your faith or belief system may be, coming from a position of love is universal. So in closing, I myself do find many many points in time where I have failed in that regard, yet all I can do is recognize that and try to do better moving forward. I wont be presumptuous by saying we could all do better in that regard. America can be saved; however, unlikely that may be it wont happen if we do and say nothing or simply vent anger and show nothing but constant hostility.
Wolfgang9
December 24th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
First I want to tell you that I agree with most of the things you state here but ofcourse some I see differently.
To anybody thinking logically it is obvious that that "war crimes Tribunal – one that has little or nothing to do with justice, but everything to do with politics."
The actions of German poliicians and judges are directed more and more against the interests of the German people and inline with those who run NATO.
On all critical issues like war in Yugioslavia, EU membership, participation in the Euro experiment, bailout of bankrupt Euro countries etc. the people of Germany
were never asked and German politicians acted knowingly against the interests of the German people. Germany still does neither have a peace contrect with the winners
of WWII nor has its own constitution (which would need to be voted for by the German people). Germany only has a "Basic Law" (Grundgesetz) which was dicatated to the
German people by the winners of WWII.
Wolfgang9
December 24th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
That there is no such thing as "Democracy" in Germany is indicated by the fact that voting for parties does not change politics.
That people like the former secretary of state J. Fischer favoured the NATO war in Yugoslavia shows that even the parties of the Greenies and Sicialists are
not different from the current coalition of CDU and FDP. They will always be in favour to NATO interests.
When Westerwelle tried to stay out of the war in Libya he was crucified by the zionist media and is now just a puppet doing anything to please the REAL people in Power.
Wolfgang9
December 24th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
About Kosowo: I do understand the anger of Serbs over the treatment of Kosovo by the NATO powers. But how would you proceed there?
There is now obviously a Muslim majority coming from illegal immigration from Albania. How would you like to change that?
In Germany we are facing soon the same problem and don't like to loose our country. In Germany we could just stop paying the social services
like Welfare (its now called Hartz IV) and free health care and pension for people who have never paid into our tax system. Most of those Muslim
immigrants who never bother to lern the language and get a job would probably go back to their countries of origin. But I doubt that
any German politician would ever go so far.
MichaelKenny
December 25th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Every two weeks, stir the pot! But it's always the same old "arguments" rehashed. Even the comments are practically the same! I really don't see the point of this umpteenth article.
Roque Santa Cruz
December 25th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
screw you michaelkenny
MvGuy
December 26th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
MichaelKenny MichaelKenny MichaelKenny !!!!! WTF….. It's YOU that "always (has) the same old "arguments" rehashed" &&&&&&&&& It's YOU MichaelKenny (that) "Every two weeks, stir the pot!"
It's the Serbocentric analysis of the past years events…. with a few soft predictions for the next one, 2012……
Maybe you MichaelKenny should write your own column ….. tell it from your side….or at least present countervailing arguments and synopses of 2011 and your predictions….instead of your incessant whining…
IT'S YOU that NEEDS to GIVE it a REST….. YOU………MichaelKenny…!!!!!!!!!!! We want ideas, impressions…..analysis of events and insights, NOT the same generic complaint….. with ZERO substance.. ZERO….FLESH…. ZERO…..IDEAS…. Worst of all ZERO… CITATIONS!!! Again and again…and again… Every TWO weeks… WTF are you CIA…??? Or a loco troll…??? Get a clue..!!
MvGuy
December 26th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
BRAVO…. and well said… liveload…..BRAVO…!!!
MvGuy
December 26th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Here are the links to the killing of the pregnant women……….
http://www.islamist.com/index.php/imperialism/131…
MvGuy
December 26th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
"Instead of re-evaluating its premises, however, the Empire clings to dangerous delusions. Perhaps one of the most important lessons of the false "Arab Spring" is that manipulating and subverting democracy not only has a tendency to backfire, but also undermines the legitimacy of the entire belief system which the Empire claims to hold dear. Now that revolutionary activism designed to topple hostile governments has begun to bleed over into domestic politics, there is no telling might happen next."
I LIKE IT……….!!
John
December 27th, 2011 at 4:31 am
Every two weeks our resident troll MichaelKenny writes the same crap. Getting old.
John
December 27th, 2011 at 4:33 am
"it's always the same old "arguments" rehashed. Even the comments are practically the same! I really don't see the point of this umpteenth article."
Then why do you keep reading them, Einstein? Maybe the subject is too far advanced for you (there are no pictures) so why not move on to something more on your intellectual level such as comic books.
Beer Baron
December 27th, 2011 at 4:38 am
This forum seems to be a breeding ground for Serb nationalist peasants. There is no serious analysis of the events in the Balkans, just rehashing of the old-style Serbian propaganda.
liveload
December 27th, 2011 at 6:47 am
LA Times Kabul Bureau has it as well: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12…
bleu
December 27th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
ha ha
Wolfgang9
December 28th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Hi,
I wouldn't mind if he would just say something good about his country.
The problem for me is, that he is bashing germany, and what I mean with that is, that he blames germany for things which he has to pin to others. And that's why I'm responding. And I'm very sorry if somebody else doesn't understand that,
Wolfgang
BTW, I have nothing against Serbia and I DO understand his pain.
MvGuy
December 29th, 2011 at 11:49 am
~~~~~~~~~~ WTF……………….. A Baron too.. But alas a beer one……. "There is no serious analysis of the events in the Balkans, just rehashing of the old-style Serbian propaganda"
AGAIN….. Don't COMPLAIN, CONTRIBUTE…. Where is YOUR "serious analysis "…….. analysis or Tell us just ONE comment on the occurrences there….. ANYTHING….. No, it's …..BoHo……. Sob…!!! WTF..??? Tell us YOUR opinion of the past years events, or of some of the events… OR Give us your analysis of just ONE of the manifold events of the past year there…….. Maybe the barracads and NATO's attempts to remove them…. how about the arrest and rendition of Gen. Ratko Mladic in Mayand Goran Hadzic in July ……….. Something ….. ANYTHING…!!!!! ……Other than the foul crying..!!! Lets have SUBSTANCE. Not whining…!!!!!
Wolfgang9
December 29th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Okay, correct that:
immigrants who never bother to lern the language and
NEVER
get a job
THAT PAYS INTO SOCIAL PROGRAMS
would probably go back to their
And one addon to the writer:
before blaming Germany (which is just ruled by NATO puppets) on all of your problems please think about that fact:
Germany (under the social democrat government of Schroeder and Greenie Fischer!!) was involved in that bombing of Yugoslavua for only one thing:
NATO wanted to punish Russia!! And because NATO wont ever confront Russia directly it confronts and punishs everybody somehow connected to Russia. And that's why Yogoslavia was bombed and sebia got into trouble.
German politicians are just doing what NATO tells them to do!!
Since if a German politician would not agree with NATO, he would no longer be a politician. Some corrupt judges and the MSM would take care of him thet he would never voice any of his thoughts again.
W9
Beer Baron
December 30th, 2011 at 5:06 am
"Lets have SUBSTANCE. Not whining…!!!!!"
It is Nebojsa Malic and other Serb nationalist peasants I was referring to (I suppose you are one of them) who are whining about how Serbia has been – undeservedly (as they claim) – victimized and brutalized by the west. Besides, how strange that he lives in the West, in the USA, that he hates so much, not in his beloved Serbia. He and the likes of him are nothing else but a bunch of borats.
@KathrynLove3
January 1st, 2012 at 11:39 am
Why do you come on here if you hate Serbs so much? I am a USA born citizen and I love it, but I also love Serbia, because I am Serb. What in the world is borats?
@KathrynLove3
January 1st, 2012 at 11:44 am
Germany has two world wars to be proud of and it is starting trouble again, who told Croats to go independent? Why do you come on here? He is intelligent and he loves Serbia as well as USA so what is your problem.
Beer Baron
January 2nd, 2012 at 4:44 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat
Roque Santa Cruz
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:10 pm
mvguy screw you too
eric siverson
January 4th, 2012 at 12:24 am
A lot said with few words and all so very true . Yes I like it .
eric siverson
January 4th, 2012 at 12:30 am
Germany never should have been reunited , We all knew that . NATO NAZI they both are pretty much the same . Yes I believe the German people do not have as much control of their government as some outside forces .
eric siverson
January 4th, 2012 at 1:01 am
I'll give you some analysis , The United States sent a missle into the chinese Embacey and killed a few Chinese . Bill Clinton said sorry this was a accident . The Chinese found out Clinton lied and we had bombed the Chinese Embacey on purpose . This is a humilation from a stupid power that the Chinese will never be able to forget . They said what happend to them in Yugoslavia was something they have not fogotten or forgiven . They told us this story 10 yrs after their Embacey was bombed . Now we want help convincing Iran . In Yugoslavia Russia's president Yeltsin suffered even more humilation , After evreyone agreed to UN resolution 1244 Yelsin promised Milosevic Russian troops will be coming in with NATO forces andwe will protect the Orthadox Christians in Kosovo . U.S. general Wesley Clark issued orders to shoot the Russian soldiers . We evidently did not want the Christians protected did he ? Beer Baron you make your own analysis what you think might happend with these facts . I'll tell you what happend after while .