The Enemey Is Not Human, Rieff

• The following section is drawn from the book Slaughethouse - Bosnia and the Failure of the West (1995) by David Rieff


• Rieff concedes that all sides in the war committed atrocitites


• But he comes down hard on Serb leaders and on Western nations for failing to curb their aggression


• The slaughter of Bosnia is the story of defeat


• War has its laws, and soldiers, at least when they are failthful to their codes, rightly claim thiers to be an honorable as well as a terrible calling


• If Bosnia proves anything it is that this is a shameful lie


• 200,000 Muslims died in Bosnia in front of the world's tv cameras, while 2 million more were displaced


• A State formally recognized by the European Community, by the U.S., and by the UN was allowed to be destroyed


• The slaugter was led by a group of extreme Bosnian Serb nationalists


• They succeeded through a campaign of propaganda and terror


• Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia was about methodically humiliating a people and destroying their culutre, as well as killing them


• A crucial factor in their success was convincing the Serbs they were an injured party


• The waves of UN officials who went to talk to the leader Radovan Karadzic proved to be a hopeless exercise


• Over the years Karadzic and other Serb leaders learned that the Un and the great powers were not going to lift a finger to stop them


• With the world community supine, the Serb leaders only had to win a propaganda war among thier people, which they did surprisingly well


• In reality, the victory of the ethnic nationalists was not inevitable


• They won because of what they did, and because of what others did not do - particularly the West - not because history was on thier side


• They won because the idea of Greater Serbia was coherent in a way that the idea of the Bosnian state never succeeded in becoming


• Because the Serb fighters had 100 guns for every one the Bosnian side had


• They won because they knew how to take old fears and complaints, repackage them, and cause otherwise decent Serbs to commit genocide

Glinkina: Crime and Corruption

Main Idea: The liberalization of the Soviet Union provided high governmental officials and top managers with an opportunity to take advantage of the system to reap huge profits. The police force also deteriorated and organized crime became a huge part of Russian life.

Organized Crime
An estimated 200,000 active criminal groups existed in Russia by the mid-1990s.

Retail markets in every Russian city are controlled by gangsters who collect a share of the revenues of each vendor.

It is estimated that from 1992 to 1994, over 20 percent of the petroleum output and one-third of the metals production were smuggled out of the country.

At one point, 70% of the raw materials shipped from Russia by rail through Lithuania never reached their legal destination, Kaliningrad. Railway personnel and costums officials conspired in these operations.

Government information indicates that roughly 70 to 80 percent of banks, as well as state and private companies, make payments to recketeers and corrupt officials.

Due to the access to former KGB operatives and the fact that law enforcement was lax, the cost of a professional murder in Russia is low.

Privatization
Most enterprises were privatized by the mid-1990s.

The first phase of "official" privatization entitled individual Russians to vouchers that were redeemable for cash or a share of industry. Criminal elements began to collect these vouchers through various means. With the vast amounts they collected, these groups bought up most desirable enterprises at giveaway prices.

Corrupt privatization aggravated Russia's financial woes, as the state disposed of valuable assets at extremely low prices.

The Oligarchs
A young, unscrupulous economic elite known as the oligarchs now controlled much of the Russian economy.

They were able to use their influence to influence government appointments and sway elections.

From the outset, the oligarchs have been reluctant to invest to modernize production.

The wealth of Russia was shunted abroad.

Illegal capital flight has also helped them shield their gains from taxation, undermining the capacity of government to finance itself adiquately.

STEPHEN SPENDER'S EUROPEAN WITNESS

Thesis: In Stephen Spendler’s account of the German city of Cologne, he describes a city and a people devastated by the war and struggling to make any sort of recovery
I. Few buildings remain habitable, most are empty
II. Thousands walk through the rubble that used to be the “hub of the Rhineland, with a great shopping center, acres of plate-glass, restaurants, a massive business street”
III. “The external destruction is so great that it cannot be healed and the surrounding life of the rest of the country cannot flow into and resuscitate the city”
IV. The people do not resemble residents, merely wanderers
V. The unscathed cathedral gives the city hope
VI. The destruction is a remarkable achievements of modern society in cooperation between several nations
VII. The city, held together by numerous civilizations for centuries, has died

Arbatov: New Russia

Russian economist Georgi Arbatov describes the tragedy of perestroika: it created too little incentive for the transition to a free market system, yet cut social services too much for the government to serve the Russian people.

Obvious that the old system is not functioning

Yegor Gaidar proposes a “Chicago school” program (so named after the influential group of U. Chicago economists who advocated laissez-faire)

Results: disastrous.

Some problems: inflation, loss of social benefits, lower quality of life

Losing pensions

Tremendous increase in medicinal prices

No social services: Education falling precipitously

Less access to culture: books, movies, etc.

Widespread corruption throughout the system

"The way of ordinary Russians has deteriorated remarkably."

Thomas Friedman's Globalization as An International System

Thesis: New York Times journalist, Thomas Friedman, maintains globalization is an international system only arrived at post Cold War. This new system also contains its own rules, and logic, and it influences our politics, environment, geopolitics, and economics for every country on the planet. Friedman thus notes the true international quality of our new economic system.

• Main difference between now and previous eras is the new degree and intensity with which the world is tied together into a single globalized marketplace.



• Previously, pre-1914, nations had been left out of globalization. It was now entirely global.



• New global system also different both technologically (previous era built around falling transportation costs, modern era built around falling telecommunications costs), and politically.



• Falling of tellecommunications costs makes success easier for smaller countries and even individuals.



• Globalization has replaced the Cold War as the defining international system (like the Cold War the new system has its own structure of power, has its own rules, has its own dominant ideas, has its own perspective on the globe, has its own defining technologies, has its own defining measurement, has its own defining anxiety).



• Nonetheless, Globalization stands almost completely opposite in many qualities.



• Cold War about division, Globalization about unity (unity aided by new technologies of communication)



• Driving idea of Globalization is free-market capitalism



• Globalization not "frozen," like Cold War system; rather, it is a dynamic ongoing process.



• Globalization has a culturally homogenous culture, as opposed to Cold War separation



• Globalization has defining technologies different and more advanced than those of the Cold War system



• Last, and most important, Globalization has its own defining structure of power that is much more complex than that of the Cold War system, which relied on the balance between the US and USSR.



• Balance of globalization resulted from 1. traditional balance between nation-states; 2. system lies between nation-states and global markets; 3. Balance of individuals and nation-states.

New Russia: "The Negative Consequences of "Shock Therapy" Capitalism" Arbatov

“The Negative Consequences of “Shock Therapy” Capitalism “ Arbatov

Thesis: As a Russian economist, Arbatov accurately elucidates the poor effects of shock therapy capitalism upon the Russian economy and its people.

· Previous economic system was horrible and extravagant

· Yeltsin took charge of the economic development and the country yet there remained problems with “administrative command” system

· Yegor Gadar with the approval of Yeltsin implemented the “Chicago School” program which launched this program to “inject laissez-faire capitalism immediately into Russian economy”

· Results include the decline of their economy, poor GDP ratings, inability to compete with own domestic markets, inability to make technological and scientific advances, and the “pauperization” of the Russian people

· Criminals ran rampant while the standard of living ceased to be stable de to inflation, increased salaries lagging behind price rises, and decline of birth rate and growth in death rate

· Millions lacked needed medical care and common materials and accessories became luxury goods

· Thus, education deteriorated immensely and culturally, access was limited for financial difficulties were abundant

· Likewise, govt aid disappeared while trade unions vanished

· “The Majority are fully immersed in day to day fight for survival” due to fact that “the country is being robbed of its wealth”

This passage helps explicate the ideas that capitalism and western style economics don’t always provide beneficial affects for all who adopt it

Perry Document- Violence and Xenophobia in Germany- Joachim Krautz

This is Wills Brooks' work not mine.

• Economic growth of Federal Republic of Germany brings in foreign workers (from Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc.)



• Immigrants very quickly make up a sizable portion of the population.



• Resentment leads to backlash of native Germans, racial and xenophobic attacks, neo-nazi groups



• Petrol bomb attacks by skinhead, new age fascists/nationalists occur against outsiders



• Nationalism of any sort was looked down upon in the 60s,, 70s, and early 80s



• East Germany had more patriotism and excessive nationalism due to the discontinuity the government had with the 3rd Reich.



• Provided fertile ground when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, attracted conservatives to National Socialism



• Leaders of Neo-Nazi groups threaten "foreignization," encouraging over perception of immigrant numbers



• West Germans held resentment about ex-Communist Eastern counterparts



• Insidious beliefs and concepts extend to non-affiliated Germans, causing drastic misconceptions about numbers of foreigners



• Right Wing exaggerates problems caused by immigration, level much criticism at the Turks due to their cultural differences



• Unemployment and dissatisfaction again give converts to the radical right wing



• Right wing extremism hurts big business, measures are taken by business to make a good foreign image for Germany



• Xenophobic, rascist and eugenic ideas remain in Germany



• To solve problems, pragmatic action must be taken to solve real problems

Global Tensions

Thesis: The shifting geopolitical climate caused by things such as overpopulation, the Rich-poor gap, climate change, and cultural divides, is likely to drastically influence how states deal with conflict as it shifts to being internal as opposed to external.

x- Geostrategic conflicts have continued to some extent post Cold War and may continue to have a strong significance in international conflict- military competition will revive efforts to gain territorial power

x- Most fights will be between civilizations, not necessarily nations, as fault lines are created between cultures

x- Many of the biggest threats to global stability are not definable in geographic terms, spreading discord creates great stresses on many (things such as economic woes, the Rich-Poor gap, religious competition, etc.)

x- Ric-poor gaps are creating fissures among societies as poor masses are becoming increasingly resentful of the wealthy and being attracted to violent gang activities or ethnic strife

x- The erosion of state authority and rise of group identity is creating a new form of ethnic strife that easily sparks conflict- this is only made worse by advances in communication which certain political groups use to their advantage.

x- Rapid population growth is threating world food supplies and creating international tension as states seek to curb immigration and protect their own remaining assets

x- Greenhouse warming is leading to resources scarcity that greatly affects poor countries that cannot handle the damage- additionally, it raises the risk of ethnic conflict as resource scarcity causes groups to fight one another

x- The new forms of international security are likely to shape conflict in a way that makes military power almost obsolete as states shift to dealing with internal, as opposed to international, wars

"Priests, Doctors, and Teachers Turn Genocidal" by Mahmood Mamdani

Mamdani reflects on the atrocities which occured during the Rwandan genocide of 1994:

• People associated with professions that value and nurture life were involved in the killings
• These people were convinced with the idea to kill the minority group and they were also forced to kill or they might be killed themselves
• Teachers, Priest, and Doctors all took part in the killings
• Hospitals, Schools, and Churches which are thought of as places of safe haven were places where a majority of the murders took place. Tutsis came to hide in these places but others were willing to turn them over to the Hutus
• Even Human Rights activists killed people
• It is shocking that the people involved feel little remorse for their heinous actions

The Clash of Civilizations

Thesis:

x- Politics have become multi polar after the Cold War and humans have become increasingly interconnected- this is similar to old Western alliances and competition that existed after the 1500s when states fought one another and colonized others

x-Many people have questioned their identity and attempted to define it with cultural values, this is causing non-Western states who are growing in stature to reject Western values

x- Cultural conflicts are occurring increasingly and have the potential for escalation as other nations support their kinsmen

x- Many of these cultural differences have roots in the economic and social developments of many states

x- The West's power relative to the rest of the world is declining as other Non-Western states are modernizing and have their own ideals that conflict with the West.

x- The West is now tasked with preserving its values and incorporate states such as Latin American and Central Europe into the West to achieve this goal, but resist intervention at all costs

"India's Resentment of the British" by Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru, an Indian nationalist during the 1940's alongside Gandhi, blames British economic exploitation for India's continued poverty:

• The British were allowed free reign to rule over and exploit India
• Although the railways and steam engines modernized the country, they also helped consolidate British rule and helped to exploit the interior of the country
• The British acted as feudal landlords and used India as if it were their own estate. The millions of Indians working functioned as tenants of the landlords
• The Indian newspapers talked only of British life and included nothing regarding the Indian people
• English clubs were exclusive and most of them refused Indian members
• Racism was prevalent in India with many segregated areas designated for "Europeans Only"
• The British markets were closed to Indian goods but the Indian markets were flooded with British products made from Indian resources. This situation crushed Indian manufacturers and caused a lot of Indians to lose their jobs
• The British hindered India's industrialization and forced it to be a agricultural nation
• All of these measures result in the widespread poverty in India

"The Evils of Colonialism" by Frantz Fanon

Fanon, a modern critic of colonialism from the French West Indies, discusses the oppresiveness and dehumanization of European colonialism:

• The colonies are split into two parts: the European side with all the resources and luxuries and the native side which is much worse off
• The police of the colonies enforce peace through their weapons and violence
• The natives always look to the European town with envy and they dream of all of their possessions
• The colonies show forms of segregation based on race
• The settlers believe the natives to be evil because their culture and their ways are different from the Europeans
• The Church is a way for the European to oppress the native

"Report to the Twentieth Party Congress" by Nikita S. Khrushchev

Khrushchev discusses his thoughts on the worldwide struggle with the western capitalists and pleas for peaceful coexistence of the two systems until the communists eventually win:

• After World War II the western powers became reactionary and militaristic. They enforced their will on other countries.
• Their imperialism show their aggression towards the socialists
• The U.S. forced the U.S.S.R into an arms race and a "Cold War" because of their aggression
• These western countries also forced other countries into military pacts and blocs such as NATO
• The "anti-communism" slogan is being used as a cover up for their plans of world domination
• The United States "aid" to recently independent nations is only a ploy to make those nations dependent on the United States while Soviet aid is welcomed and loved by the eastern European countries
• We must peacefully coexist with the capitalists until the communists inevitably win out

Imperialism's Benefits By An Anti-Imperialist African

Thesis: The imposed order by the Europeans united the African states by creating a new form of nationalism form them to all identify with one another and create a common goal for African people to work towards.

x- Humanitarian feeling resulted in a suppression of the slave trade

x- Europeans ended tribal wars when they imposed new order over the African individuals- they improved tribal connections, communication, economic systems, and allowed for creation of new economic classes

x- Tribalism began to end as Africans respected one another by their common labor as workers

x- The new industrialization granted by the West allowed for more invigorated nationalism

x- The European policy can best be described as White Supremacy, this caused a united movement to overthrow white domination out of desire to participate fully in the country's government

"The Iron Curtain" by Winston Churchill

Churchill discusses his beliefs on the duty of Western democracies regarding the "iron curtain" which was a line that divided the U.S.S.R dominated Eastern Europe and the democratic Western Europe:

• It is understandable that the U.S.S.R wants to protect its western borders with buffer states in order to protect itself from any renewal of German aggression
• The U.S.S.R controls all of the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe including Warsaw, Berlin, and Prague.
• All of these countries are subjects under the control of the powers at Moscow
• The Communism in these countries are producing totalitarian control and police governments
• The West must fight for a free and liberal Europe which they fought for in World War II
• We must settle with our Russian friends to ensure a free Europe before a catastrophe overwhelms the whole world

By Myles Anderson

Hannah Vogt: The Burden of Guilt (1961)

- Written during a resurgence of anti-semitism when German teachers began to teach the history of Naziism again

- she believed that trust could only be reestablish if Germans faced the passedthrough self-examination adn repudiation

Excerpt from the conclusion of The Burden of Guilt

- a nation must learn from its past, esp. Germany

- Greeks new that if people in a nation stopped being free and ruling themselves, a tyrrant would take over

1. all people should be educated and participate in politics

- lack of political participation allowed Hitler to gain power

- People must be patient with steady progress, not hope for sudden miracles

- people must constantly control the power of those in charge

- parties should seek maximum cohesion

- a respected opposition party is necessary

- law must be based on justice

- international politics should be balanced and consistant

1. Hitler had made and broken treaties without care

2. He had also thought that force was the only useful method for international politics

- they have to deel with the challenge of reunifying Germany after Hitler split it

- they need to regain the trust of other countries

- although they can never get rid of the past, they can shape a peaceful and prosperous future

- they should respect human life and remember the dead who suffered because of Germany's past actions

1. they should not try to minimize these crimes

- they must welcome those Jews who were beginning to return to Germany at that time

By Myles Anderson

Hannah Vogt: The Burden of Guilt (1961)

- Written during a resurgence of anti-semitism when German teachers began to teach the history of Naziism again

- she believed that trust could only be reestablish if Germans faced the passedthrough self-examination adn repudiation

Excerpt from the conclusion of The Burden of Guilt

- a nation must learn from its past, esp. Germany

- Greeks new that if people in a nation stopped being free and ruling themselves, a tyrrant would take over

1. all people should be educated and participate in politics

- lack of political participation allowed Hitler to gain power

- People must be patient with steady progress, not hope for sudden miracles

- people must constantly control the power of those in charge

- parties should seek maximum cohesion

- a respected opposition party is necessary

- law must be based on justice

- international politics should be balanced and consistant

1. Hitler had made and broken treaties without care

2. He had also thought that force was the only useful method for international politics

- they have to deel with the challenge of reunifying Germany after Hitler split it

- they need to regain the trust of other countries

- although they can never get rid of the past, they can shape a peaceful and prosperous future

- they should respect human life and remember the dead who suffered because of Germany's past actions

1. they should not try to minimize these crimes

- they must welcome those Jews who were beginning to return to Germany at that time

Enoch Powell- Bringing the Immigration Issue to the Center of Politics

During the late 1960’s, a great political issue in Great Britain became the influx of immigrants from old colonies. Enoch Powell was the leading spokesman of those in favor of suspending immigration and assisting in re-immigration. He delivered the following speech in Birmingham (UK) in 1968 against the Race Relations Bill:

· Anecdote of a man approached Powell and told him that this country was not worthy of his children

· In fifteen or twenty years from 1968 there will be 3.5 million Commonwealth immigrants and their descendents

· How can this be stopped/reduced? Stopping further inflow and promoting maximum outflow

· It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre

· There is nothing wrong with coming to study in Great Britain then leading the ways back to the old Commonwealth countries, like many doctors do, but this is not immigration

· Families should not be divided, but they will be able to reunited in their native countries with re-immigration

· Every citizen in GB is equal before the law, so the influx of immigrants causes an unequal distribution of first and second class citizens

· The Race Relations Bill will make it illegal to discriminate by color, race, or ethnicity

· However, this bill is only going to bring in more immigration, taking away the rights of original British citizens and increasing the population past its given equilibrium point

Jorg Haiger, "Multiculturalism and Love of One's Country"

(This is Maclin Davis' work. He is having difficulties with the Blog so I am posting
this for him.)

1. Comparisons and similiarities and the racial assimilation of multiculturalism
2. If one looks around the world, he'll find negative results of inclusion of other races within a nation. (civil unrest usually, violent quests for national independence- Eastern Europe) or the haphazardness of a "melting pot" society- United States
3. Say "Yes" to starting a family; this institution will cause less need for a nation to spur on independence to bolster its economy and keep the country less stagnant
4. Austria as a nation should be hospitable to others, but it is by no means a hub for all downtrodden peoples of Europe to come seeking for shelter, as no nation should be
5. The 12 points system in Austria ("Austria first"), laws very restrictive of "foreigners" and xenophobic in thinking their presence in a nation is in itself a seditious act.

Harvel - "The Failure of Communism"

Harvel's speech to the people is honest and tells them the horrible state that the country is in. He goes on to tell them that the new government will need the help of the people to fix the country. He hopes that the new country will be free and that as much as the government serves the people, the people will serve the government.

I. The Truth Unvarnished
a. Previous Communist leaders lied to the people about prosper and success.
b. Harvel will not lie to the people; he admits what a terrible state Czechoslovakia is in.
c. The state humiliates the works it is supposed to support, its economy is poor, and its education system is lacking severely, and the environment is almost toxic to life.

II. Learning to Believe Again
a. The moral of society are poor because people lie, don't trust each other, and are selfish.
b. "The concepts of love, friendship, mercy, humility or forgiveness have lost their depths and dimension, and for many of us they represent only some sort of psychological curiosity or they appear as long-lost wanderers from faraway times, somewhat ludicrous in the era of computers and space ships."

III. Cogs No Longer
a. Communism has turned the people of Czechoslovakia from people to machines, slowly wearing themselves out.
b. It was not just the Communists who brought on the Totalitarian regime, the people helped support it by accepting it and adjusting to its ways. The people must accept the fact that the Communist regime is part of their heritage and not something from another country. If they accept it as their own, they can understand it.
c. The President and the Parliament cannot fix the country by themselves, after all democracy and freedom mean that participation by the whole population.

IV. Recalling Ruined Lives
a. The freedom gained by the Czechs came at a price, thousands of people died in prisons and were driven out of the country.
b. Human suffering affects all human beings, without the events in the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, and the German Democratic Republic, the events in Czechoslovakia could not have happened.
c. Only the people now can fulfill the hope of democracy.

V. A Humane Republic and The People Hold Sway
a. Harvel hopes that the new republic will be independent, free, and democratic. He also hopes that man will serve it as it serves man.
b. The government of the people has returned to them.