By William Markiewicz
(As other short items may follow, I've decided to group them together.)
Christiane Amanpour Honored (6/19)
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. Amanpour is among a small number of journalists to have been awarded a CBE.
Amanpour was the champion of "advocacy journalism" which, in my view, is equivalent to propaganda. The journalist - reporter is not an attorney; no place there for prosecutor, defence or judge. The journalist - reporter is primarily a witness; his place is where the action is, definitely a harassing, life-threatening job. He/she has to interview equally all sides, leaving the conclusions to the audience. Did Amanpour fulfill those tasks? Correct me whoever can, but personally I have my doubts.
Double Game with the Islamic World (6/18)
The Empire attacks the Islamic core in Central Asia while simultaneously supporting the Muslims in Kurdistan, Turkey, Bosnia, Albania and the West Bank. This double game will not bring credit to the Empire. The modern imperialists have learned nothing from their predecessors’ defeats. To become modern means not to cook politics among the upper cream of Imperium holders and warlords. The imperialists should go home. Afghanistan and Iraq must settle their own affairs. The Kurds and Turkey, Turkey and Greece, must rely less on mediation from their Imperial friend. The same goes for Bosnia and Albania; they shouldn’t be the dominant power's close allies which alienates them from the rest of Europe. Success with Palestine depends very much on how the Empire will behave elsewhere in the Muslim world. Israel must make logical concessions to become integrated. The ecological menace to our planet may give a powerful thrust to change the Imperial priorities and we may witness a return toward global village ideas.
Does Sarkozy Want to Reward Blair for Invading Central Asia? (6/18)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently proposed outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair become the European Union's first full-time president.
Is Vagabond or Vagabond’s World Aging? (6/12)
For almost all twelve years of Vagabond’s existence, I’ve nourished it with my own thoughts and often I’ve been stimulated by world events. The visitors’ abundant contributions to the Communication Page also provoked my gray matter. Now, with the development of blogs, contributions to the Communication Page have declined and world events and other topics of mine, have, in my view, become monochromatic. This considerably blocks my contributions to Vagabond’s expansion. To keep its vitality I propose that visitors contribute by submitting topics, problems, opinions etc. Nobody will be censored; it’s a free tribune open to polemics. Thank you for your understanding.
Legal Purgatory And Effective Hell (6/07)
The Jews in the Nazi camps were detained for life in accordance with the official law and submitted to Hell by unofficial tortures and death. Guantanamo is another legal purgatory where detainees can be kept for a lifetime without specific charges and submitted to Hell through uncontrolled tortures called interrogations. The only difference between the detention and treatment of those "enemy combatants" and lynching is that lynching was faster. If the greatest power on earth can declare its right to behave like lynch mobs it is legalized crime. The enemy combatants around the world were captured mostly in combat and detained as prisoners of war. This treatment cannot be reserved only for uniformed adversaries; the French 'sans-culottes' had no uniforms and nobody denies them the right to be named soldiers. Are there killers of civilians among the Guantanamo prisoners? Then judge them as terrorists! Those who killed soldiers, call them prisoners of war and treat them as such. Detainees who are not judged are like ghouls, the "undead." Save those for fantasy movies and don’t curse real people.
Racial Agenda (5/23)
In Nazi schoolbooks, the Punic Wars were called, "War of Two Races." Comparatively, the war between the West and Iraq and Afghanistan also has a racial agenda with racial pride. The NWO, Nato, can gain nothing from victory in Iraq and Afghanistan as Iraq and Afghanistan will have nothing from the Western victory; their agenda being mostly religious. So we are stuck in absurdity.
To make war in Afghanistan for the liberation of women and the freedom to listen to music is an absurdity not worth one death on either side. It is their own internal matter. In Iraq it's a civil, sectarian, religious war. Again, it's an interior matter in which the 'superior' invader should not be engaged.
The official reason for invading Afghanistan was to get Osama bin Laden -- that's over. The real reason for invading Iraq was their oil. The quintessence of the present war in Central Asia is racial, as were the European conquests in Africa. For the average Westerner, those "Iraqis" and "Afghans" are subhuman though those countries have their own history and culture to be respected. Regarding blatant injustice and harsh religious customs there, it can go slowly for the better without wars.
Size Matters (5/17)
In his Agoravox blog, Mr. Brian Barder who is retired from British diplomatic service, concludes that the monumental and criminal mistake of the attack on Yugoslavia over Kosovo preceded the monumental criminal mistake of the attack on Iraq. Because it was so easy to win Kosovo, the assailants mistakenly concluded that Iraq would be just as easy prey. Instead they fell on two hard to crack nuts: Iraq and Afghanistan. The moral of this ongoing political and warrior campaign is that history will always repeat itself. Convinced of their strength the powerful will face those who are apparently much weaker and seem easy to swallow. The problem with Iran and, before that, with North Korea, was that they were not sufficiently weak to be worth starting trouble with. In my view, a US attack on all those that oppose it in Latin America would be too big of a risk; it would inflame the whole continent. Therefore, the USA holds back. The other giants like China, like Russia, are obviously not weaklings and that may be enough to keep them safe. All those conflicts may continue simmering in the manner of the past Cold War between the US and the Communist bloc which lasted from 1945 until the early 90s.
Legal Galimatias (5/10)
There are trials where one party is rewarded with a lighter sentence for "telling the whole story". Is somebody who changes his story when rewarded less credible? Which version was true, the current one or the former one? We can prove neither side. But, the old adage stands: "Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are." If somebody becomes the subject of accusation by his former friends, most onlookers will assume that, rather than a confession of truth it’s a matter of price and straightening accounts among cronies.
Back to the index of the Vagabond
William Markiewicz