-Caveat Lector- > Subject: > The Mask of Power, by Nebojsa Malic (Atrocity Porn, Human > Rights, and Empire) > Date: > Fri, 01 Jul 2005 09:37:58 -0400 > From: > Boba <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: > (Recipient list suppressed) > > > > > BRAVO Nebojsa ! B. > ==================== > > http://antiwar.com/malic/ > June 30, 2005 > The Mask of Power > > by Nebojsa Malic > Atrocity Porn, Human Rights, and Empire > > Three weeks after it went public, the video of Serb militiamen shooting > six > Muslims in the mountains of Bosnia has turned into a media monster. The > supposedly "irrefutable" evidence of Serbian involvement in the Bosnian > war > or the "genocide" in Srebrenica is nothing of the sort, but that has not > > stopped the pushers of atrocity porn from imposing their snuff reality > on > the people of Serbia, and any other unwary victim they may snag in the > process. > > Disappointed and enraged by the Serbian parliament's refusal to accept a > > declaration drafted by a cabal of NGOs, the Empire has continued to push > > Belgrade to "confess" to the Official Truth and even to "repent" (!). > The > U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Monday stating that > what > happened in Srebrenica in 1995 was genocide, and that the Serbs were > guilty > of it. Only one conscientious congressman voted against such a blatant > attempt to impose "truth" by legislative fiat. > > In its unbridled arrogance of power, the Empire now seldom bothers to > hide > that it desires to shape reality itself with nothing more than its > strength > of will and weaponry. Yet it continues to use high-minded but utterly > corrupt concepts of "justice" and "human rights" to cover up its abuses. > > Atrocity Spokesmodel > > Aware that dwelling on the atrocity video in itself could eventually > invite > unwelcome questions about its content, character and meaning - as it > already > has, to some extent - the media have now turned to features about the > supposedly intrepid heroine whose brave, tireless efforts have helped > bring > truth to light. > > The Washington Post, a stalwart champion of imperial aggression, carried > a > puff piece Saturday on Natasa Kandic, the "human rights activist" who > has > spent the last decade peddling stories of Serb atrocities. Claiming that > the > video "vindicated" her "long pursuit," the post lavished compliments on > Kandic as much as it heaped scorn on the Serbs. She is described as a > "human > rights sleuth. wisp of a woman with a boyish haircut," a former > sociologist > who decided to devote herself to documenting injustice when the Yugoslav > > wars began. At one point, amid the ceaseless ranting about the evil and > criminal nature of Serbia, Kandic claims she documented atrocities > against > Serbs. If only the Post bothered to check as to when and where that > miracle > may have occurred. Or maybe mentioned that one time when she physically > assaulted a Serb refugee from Kosovo who challenged her bona fides. > > Another paean to Kandic came out Monday, penned by the Associated Press, > as > if to make sure the Post's message got through. Once again, she is a > "nightmare for Serb nationalists" and a "leading rights activists" on a > "quest for justice," who - as the AP headline says - "rattled > Milosevic's > war heritage." Ah yes, Milosevic, the Empire's favorite bete noire. > Whoever > does not believe he single-handedly masterminded and conducted the > savage > wars that destroyed Yugoslavia (as the AP claims in the story) should > expect > a slap from Natasa Kandic. Maybe even an indictment from Carla Del > Ponte. > > Openings and Possibilities > > Far from being a noble quest for justice or rights, Kandic and her deeds > > create an "opening" for U.S. policy in Serbia. So says Roger Cohen of > the > International Herald Tribune, the one who last fall spoke of "solving > the > Serbian question." Cohen's piece is essentially a rehash of the > Holbrookean/ICG thesis that only America can solve the Balkans problem > because it has "credibility" based on force (and assumed moral > rectitude), > and that this solution would necessarily involve an independent "Kosova" > and > a centralized Bosnia-Herzegovina. This thesis has recently become the > "new" > Balkans policy of Bush II, with an old Clinton hand, Nicholas Burns, at > the > helm. > > Meanwhile, Natasa Kandic's fellow sociologist Eric Gordy, who has > dedicated > considerable effort to create a scientific framework for Serbophobia, > gave a > speech at a NGO conference in Serbia on Monday on the possibilities > offered > by the Srebrenica video. His speculative assertions presented as facts > merit > discussion some other time. But one thing he said about the video stood > out: > "Whatever limitations the film may have as evidence, however, it has had > > tremendous value as publicity." > > And so it does. For the Empire has concerned itself less with evidence > of > anything it has bothered to assert over the years, so long as it could > create the perception in public that would suggest it was true. > > Imperial Synergy > > Perhaps the most persuasive argument that the invocations of human > rights, > truth and justice are nothing but a tool of Imperial conquest is a > recent > book by John Norris, former communications director of Clinton's Deputy > Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, and now a special adviser to the > International Crisis Group. In his review, Chris Deliso of > Balkanalysis.com > quotes a passage from Norris' introduction that strips the veil of lies > from > NATO's supposedly noble enterprise: > > "As nations throughout the region strove to reform their economies, > mitigate > ethnic tensions, and broaden civil society, Belgrade seemed to delight > in > continually moving in the opposite direction. It is small wonder that > NATO > and Yugoslavia ended up on a collision course. > > "It was Yugoslavia's resistance to the broader trends of political and > economic reform - not the plight of Kosovo Albanians - that best > explains > NATO's war." (pp. xxii-xxiii) > > The "conspiracy theorists" roundly dismissed by the Empire and its > Serbian > sympathizers turn out to have been right after all. Serbia was targeted > because it refused to submit, nothing more. > > Hounds of Fury > > Now that the myth of Empire's good intentions in the Balkans - and > elsewhere > - can be put to rest, the self-proclaimed paladins of humanitarian light > > take on a different sheen. Not surprisingly, Natasa Kandic, Sonja > Biserko, > Vojin Dimitrijevic, and dozens of other "activists" on payrolls of > various > Western near-governmental foundations all turn out to be motivated by > something other than love of humanity and justice. > > They all rode high in the ranks of Communists who ruled Yugoslavia for > decades, specifically the faction that was deposed in the 1987 > "anti-bureaucratic revolution," which brought Slobodan Milosevic to > power. > Their hatred of Milosevic and his "regime" is therefore highly personal. > > Their disdain for Serbs is ideological, stemming from an obsessive > Communist > fear of "greater Serbian bourgeois imperialism." And their love of > Empire is > a love of power. > > They are not antiwar - they loved NATO's intervention in Bosnia and > begged > it to come earlier; they cheered Kosovo, and begged it to be harder. > They > aren't for human rights, either - they spend all their energy demonizing > the > Serbs, while they absolutely do not care for abuses committed against > them > (whether during the Succession Wars, or by their own government, > e.g.,Operation Saber). > > In fact, when one looks at today's "democrats, reformers, and human > rights > activists," one will find the very worst scum of a post-communist > society, > folks who've never held an honest job in their life and despise everyone > who > has. They are wedded to power, pledged to the State, and sworn to the > Empire, whose money nurtures their hatred of their host countries. These > > hounds of Empire are not found only in Serbia, but in every country east > of > the former Iron Curtain. They are most rabid in Serbia only because > Serbia > resisted (see Norris, above). > > Moral Victory > > Showing the atrocity video in Serbia was deliberately intended by "human > > rights" activists to exploit basic human decency, counting on a natural > revulsion at images shown on national television. For the Empire, this > represents an opening, and an opportunity. To hear Serbian politicians > talk, > they are readily confessing to everything and anything, on demand. But > the > people themselves are beginning to shake their heads and realize they > are > being played. After all, what sane nation would accept the clearly > manufactured blame for starting wars that have systematically robbed it > of > lives, rights, and patrimony? Who in their right mind would accept > responsibility for a trumped-up "genocide" that is an insult to the very > > real genocides they've suffered themselves? > > According to its own admission, the Empire's talk of truth, justice, and > > human rights is just a "trick and a lie," a cover for an agenda all > about > power. Its powerful media machinery may have managed to persuade the > world > that the Serbs were demons, but it has yet to persuade the Serbs. The > current campaign of atrocity porn and calls for "repentance" are > calculated > to do precisely that. What could the Serbs - stripped of their rights, > dignity, freedom, land, and even history - do to resist the world > superpower > and its legions of willing helpers? What could anyone? > > Well, not accepting the lies as truth would be a good start. Indeed, it > would be a moral victory. And really, is there any other kind? > > > > > >
www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
