Canada: People for such a time as this in the Balkans

The attempt to ban Dr. Srdja Trifkovic from speaking this week on the Campus of the University of British Columbia is outrageous … Canadians have an unparalleled opportunity to foster freedom and democracy….

Canada: People for such a time as this in the Balkans

 By Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski  Thursday, February 24, 2011

Canada and Canadians, especially new Canadians from the Balkans, have an unprecedented opportunity to foster the concept of an open society, democratic institutions, free market economies, the education of large reservoirs of brain power, and the separation of political power from religion in the Balkans.

Canadians may well be the people for such a time as this – albeit, in face of what appear to be insurmountable political obstacles and centuries-old deep-seated ethnic hatreds. Two outstanding Canadians, Ambassador James Bissett and General Lewis MacKenzie, are among the best informed anywhere on the Balkans and have spoken in balanced ways on how to understand and deal with the Balkan cauldron that has simmered for many generations, which the recent Balkan wars have again bought to a boil.

Multiculturalism has been declared a failure – multicult is dead

For over two centuries various of the European powers, Russians, and Ottomans stirred the pot in their own interests, often only to make matters worse.
Now that multiculturalism has been declared a failure – multicult is dead – by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, buttressed by the outburst of the Austrian parliamentarian on the floor of that nation's Parliament last fall, we should consider, as the philosopher A. N. Whitehead said, that our current problems should be regarded as opportunities.

Western Christian national identities and their historic values do mean something historically and are worth conserving. That should be the message to groups refusing to assimilate. A great blessing of my life is that as an immigrant child I was well educated in Canada in English as a second language and assimilated to Canadian culture.

European and American foreign policy in the Balkans, especially as regards the Serbian people, has been badly skewed and continues to work against the best interests of enduring peace, democracy, comity among the several nationalities, and economic progress.

The artificial political framework in Bosnia has forced the several ethnic groups into closed enclaves. It is not working. The Serbs have created Republica Srpska. The Croats are appealing to Russia and the Security Council for protection of their status. The dominant radical al-Quaeda elements continue fostering Jihad and terrorism training compounds.

The Christian culture of Kosovo has been devastated

The Christian culture of Kosovo, illegally highjacked from Serbia contrary to the canons of international law, has been devastated, with hundreds of monasteries, churches, cemeteries, and other landmarks either destroyed, badly damaged or desecrated.

The recent report of Dick Marty to the Council of Europe makes horrific reading: Serbian youths kidnapped by radical Islamists then killed for body parts to be harvested and sold internationally.

Ironically, fear of their own has compelled many thousands of Albanians to flee to the environs of Belgrade in Serbia to escape the radical Islamists who have overwhelmed their society in Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo.

In Croatia Ustasha memorializing continues – the Nazi-backed Croats massacred tens of thousands of Serbs, Romanies and others during World War II, and little or nothing has been done to repatriate the tens of thousands of Serbs who were expelled from their ancestral lands in the Krajina during the 1990s war.

Serbia has become the odd-man-out in Europe, wondering how to re-establish itself among the nations of Europe, how to restore its traditional relationship with America as the loyal ally of the West it was through two world wars, and what to do with political fragmentation of the country and the mafia elements which bedevil society and the economy.

Why do I see this as opportunity for democracy and freedom? A few weeks ago James Bissett, Canada's former Ambassador to Yugoslavia, gave a lecture in Belgrade in which he suggested that Serbia might be better off outside the EU.
Why?

Bissett said that Germany and other European countries would still invest in Serbia even if Serbia remained outside the EU. Membership in the EU could easily inhibit trade and commerce because of the layering on of bureaucracy and inspections from Brussels and the imposition of multitudes of rules.  Freedom of information might be curtailed, especially if Serbs were forced to teach their children that the NATO bombing was justified. Serbs, he said, need no further humiliation—atrocities were committed by all sides during the recent wars. Croats have never acknowledged the true genocide they committed during World War II. Muslims refuse to acknowledge the crimes committed in their name —one can cite the staged terrorism against their own people during the recent hostilities, about which General MacKenzie has written.

What should Serbia do, Ambassador Bissett asked? Very simple, he said: put its own house in order by stamping out corruption, improving the economy, getting rid of the criminal mafia, and becoming self-sufficient—as it was when it became the harbinger of democracy in the latter part of the nineteenth century and can become again.

Here's what Canadians and Americans of Balkan heritage can do:

Foster education (such as the Studenica Foundation has done through scholarships for students in upper High School).

Encourage Canadian and American universities to underwrite university undergraduates and graduate students from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Kosovo to study in North America. Anticipate leader-formation.

Establish professional and business links with aspiring professionals and entrepreneurs in the Balkans – there are many, many talented young men and women there, especially in engineering, business, technology, medicine, and the sciences.

Insist on the development of open societies that are committed to the democratic process and a market economy.

The West is ignoring the existential crisis that pervades the Balkans. Gerrymandering the political process has not worked.

It is time for Canadians and Americans of Balkan heritage to think outside the box. They can make a difference despite the present political and main street media climate on Balkan matters in North America. Modern communication techniques enable little people to break through the stereotypes.  This is an exceptional opportunity.

 

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Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski Most recent columns Dr. Samuel Mikolaski, is a retired theological professor.  His curriculum vitae and published work are on his website: drsamstheology.com Dr.  Mikolaski can be reached at: sjmikolaski@gmail.com

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Economists are paid for what?

Economists are paid for what?

23.02.2011 | 18:03

Economists are paid for what?

Where are the world's economists? And what are they paid for? They are trained to produce viable ideas for the implementation of workable systems which cater for new realities. Now that the planned economic system has virtually disappeared, and the market economy is so obviously a failure, where are these gurus, masterminds of tomorrow's new economic system?

Rising from the ashes, implementing systems where there used to be nothing, was the Socialist/Communist model which provided universal, excellent and free education, healthcare services, free dental treatment, free public transportation, free or heavily subsidised public utilities, free or subsidised leisure/cultural activities, guaranteed free housing for all, guaranteed a job in a society of zero unemployment, social mobility and security on the streets.

Against this system worked the so-called Capitalist world, for decades, complete with its assassination attempts, murders, sabotage, terrorist attacks and endemic unemployment, total insecurity on the streets where marauding gangs of drug addicts and alcoholics trash city centers and kick old ladies to the ground for fun...the society and model which has already attacked and destroyed free universal education and healthcare, turning them into businesses, and in which life is a drama from the word go.

It is a drama to have and bring up a child, it is a drama to get the child into higher education, it is a drama to buy a house, it is a drama to get a job, it is another drama to retain the job - and home - and God forbid if someone needs dental care or if any other emergency arises.

While the former system found itself at a crossroads after all of its main objectives had been reached and achieved, and after it had freed countless millions of peoples from the yolk of imperialism and installed socially progressive governments for them, the latter has simply failed to provide for these countries what they hoped to achieve when they decided to try something different...This is hardly surprising since the Capitalist system never had its own house set in order to begin with.

Now, welcome to the wonderful world which belongs to the large corporations and the banks, the owners of Capital, as Marx always claimed, and as the followers of the Socialist model had said all along. Welcome to the wonderful world of high and increasing food prices, one in which, experts claim, there will soon not be enough food to go round and in which families are set to spend ever-increasing budgets on basic necessities.

Welcome to the wonderful world of endemic unemployment, in which a "good" scenario is "only" an unemployment rate of 4% (wow!), one in which a growing number of cliques have been formed to cater for the whims of a growing number of elitist good-for-nothings whose connections see them gain lucrative sinecures in some Commission or Committee or other, welcome to the world in which international law simply does not exist (as per Kosovo and the US veto against a text condemning Israel's illegal activities).

Welcome to the world in which all we had fought for - workers' rights, children's rights, women's rights, universal education and healthcare - has been chipped away at and whose very essence is threatened. Countries that had a decent school system now have none. Countries where women's rights were guaranteed (Afghanistan and Iraq, for instance) have repressive regimes where women can be beaten or decapitated for not wearing a veil.

Welcome to the world in which an old lady dare not set foot outside her house after dark. Welcome to the world in which it is increasingly not what you know (because you cannot afford to pay for an education) but who you know (to avoid becoming one of the Lost Generation working almost for free in a call center).

So, where are the economists? Are they or are they not supposed to produce ideas? And they are paid, for what? I will table an idea, for free: why don't we all go back to a controlled economy? The public sector will miraculously and suddenly have the P-word (a Plan); the private sector will be regulated, and the resources of the world will belong to the people of the world, not a handful of mega-rich corporations. And your pension plans will be safe from the hands of those who gamble them away on speculative and will likely leave you with nothing.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey Pravda.Ru

 

Kosovo is "mafia state", says Italian MEP

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&dd=24&nav_id=72906

Kosovo is "mafia state", says Italian MEP

24 February 2011 | 15:59 | Source: BBC

STRASBOURG -- An Italian member of the European Parliament Foreign
Policy Committee has commented on the Kosovo organ trafficking case.

Pino Arlacchi spoke for the BBC Serbian service in Strasbourg this week
to say that he hoped he and like-minded MEPs would succeed in their
attempt to have an EP rapporteur appointed to look into "what EULEX (the
EU mission in Kosovo) has been doing all these years".

Arlacchi, a sociology professor, is known in Italy as a "mafia expert".
From 1997 until 2002 he was the Executive Director of the UN Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP).

Now he spoke in favor of probing the work of EULEX, in the wake of the
Marty report - which accused the ethnic Albanian KLA of kidnapping Serb
civilians and killing them for their organs, and which provided the
basis for a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE)resolution adopted last month, calling for an investigation into
the allegations.

Unlike PACE which gathers 47 countries, the European Parliament members
come only from the 27 EU states.

The BBC learned from unofficial contacts with MEPs that there was still
"implied resistance" to opening up the issues of "organized crime and
alleged organ trafficking" in Kosovo.

Ahead of a closed meeting that CoE's Dick Marty will have with the EP
committee in March, Arlacchi voiced his optimism and said he believed
the EP would soon "exit its phase of keeping silent on the Marty report".

"I believe there will be a debate. We already have the regular report on
Kosovo, and it touches on various issues. If there is broad agreement,
perhaps we could have a special report on the same subject that was
investigated by Marty. Perhaps I, together with my colleagues, will win
over a majority in favor of investigating this question more seriously.
We could also have another topic for a report - and that is EULEX - the
EU police and judiciary mission in Kosovo, and the fact that even after
three years their work has not produced results," said the Italian MEP,
and continued:

"If nothing has been done during three years, that means something's
wrong, that we must change two things: first, our policy toward Kosovo,
and second, the way EULEX is organized. I read Marty's report, which is
excellent and contains much information and details. It ought to receive
strong support, and I am surprised it has not received it from EULEX."

Asked to comment on unofficial statements coming from some MEPs that
"Marty must provide evidence" - despite the fact the Swiss CoE
rapporteur is neither a judge nor a prosecutor - Arlachi responded:

"The thing is that there is no judicial evidence. I've mentioned EULEX,
which, as far as I know, has ten prosecutors, precisely for that reason.
What have they been up to these three years? They are responsible for
the work of the local judiciary, which should have the final word.
Whatever one says about Kosovo - there is no judicial evidence to back
it up. We can say there is organized crime, and strong ties of
politicians with all that, but we have no judicial evidence on that. The
principal goal of both those accused and democracy is to undertake a
judicial investigation. Marty's conclusions cannot be taken as
definitive. It's a paradox that without a judicial investigation we will
continue as before - and that's unacceptable".

Another CoE rapporteur, Jean-Charles Gardetto, recently submitted his
report on witness protection in the Balkans, which states that EULEX is
not capable of protecting witnesses, and that "the EULEX personnel, if
they do their job in big cases, expose themselves and the members of
their families to danger".

In reaction to this, Arlacchi mentoned Italy's fight against the mafia.

"I'm sorry to say it, but when you fight against organized crime - you
are in danger. They (EULEX) must be prepared for that - there can be no
serious investigation without any risks. That's a separate subject:
investigators must be protected, there must be a witness protection
program in place. It will be hard to achieve anything without that. In
Italy we overpowered the mafia when we established an efficient witness
protection program. It included 5,000 people, and naturally, it's
expensive. But none of the witnesses were murdered. I think that EULEX
should launch an investigation, because that is the job of EULEX. If
they are unable to protect witnesses - then that's a disaster."

Arlacchi also noted that "it is clear everyone knew about ties between
Kosovo's leaders and the KLA with organized crime", and repeated his
recent statement that Kosovo was a "mafia state".

"When I worked for the UN in 1999 as Executive Director of the Office
for Drug Control, I issued an order to have a report made on the
situation in Kosovo. I sent that internal report to the UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the end of that same year. The picture
that the report painted was exactly what you see today: the same
structures, the same people, the same disgraceful situation. It's
disgraceful how Europe and the United States faced the problem. They
wanted political results, and in a way, they wanted a war to break out
over there. It was done by turning their heads away from KLA's criminal
activities. Later on, I was in Kosovo for a few months in 2004, and I
had access to some NATO files. The picture was effectively the same,"
Arlacchi concluded his interview for the BBC.