More From Alder's Ledge

November 22, 2011

Never Again Often Comes Too Late...

... If Never At All.
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In Rwanda we as a world community watched as the words "Never Again" fell away. The Hutu militias swept the country with amazingly deadly speed. Rapes, mutilations, and murders earmarked their movement. The machete became their symbol.
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All the while the UN stood helplessly by as the Canadian commander called for help... or if nothing else, permission to engage. The world that April failed to uphold those seemingly hollow words. Never Again.
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Bosnia became a melting pot of ethnic radicals as Europe took a step back. For the first time since World War Two the world watched as death camps were built on European soil. The Serbs were set to destroy their enemies... on ethnic and religious grounds.
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Civilians were targeted while the few combatants Bosnia could field were kept alive as an excuse for Serbian aggression. Muslims in Bosnia were then shipped of to camps or killed outright wherever they could be found. Artillery, grenades, and the infamous AK47 became the Serbian hallmarks.
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We remained silent. Our world leaders left the innocent victims to the wolves. Once again we failed to uphold those two words. Never Again.
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As the Arab Spring amped up we watched as Bahrain began to pit Sunni against Shiites. The stage was set for genocide once again. We got a few news stories about it. Some world leaders may have mumbled something or another about it. But once again we failed to address the issue... we failed to proclaim and stand behind those words "Never Again".
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In Libya the politics of the West out weighed our commitment to preventing and stoping genocide. Instead we seemed to look the other way as arab Libyans began to slaughter their black countrymen. And once again we used the excuse of civil war to mask the ethnic cleansing Libyans engaged in. Worst yet, our support may have contributed to their success in killing on ethnic grounds. We not only failed to stop genocide but also may have supported it.
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Time will tell just how often we have failed in this commitment. We will see in the years to come just how many lives need be lost before we actually act upon those words. Until then we must hold our governments and ourselves responsible for our shortcomings.
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Never Again

November 8, 2011

George Soros and the Roma

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Finances verse Discrimination
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The Hungarian born financier has begun to refocus his efforts on his country's largest minority. In an interview with the EUobserver Soros addressed the issue of integration. This is a subject that the EU had demanded it's member countries to focus on and achieve by January 2012.
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“The problem of the Roma is deteriorating with the economic situation. And the majority of the public is releasing its anger and frustration at its own economic situation by attacking the Roma,” he told EUobserver.
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Soros went on to warn the EU about the growth of the far-right. He focused on Jobbik, the neo-Nazi Hungarian party. He also said that at least seven member nations are failing to meet the obligations set in place back in April by the EU Parliament.
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“The other side of the economic crisis is this growth in the far right. Now Europe is in a process of disintegration which is self-reinforcing, just as the process of integration was self-reinforcing,” he warned.
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“When Europe was in the positive mode, its leadership was in the forefront of pushing further EU integration,” he continued.
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“Now they are just trying to preserve the status quo, which actually is unsustainable and many people who recognise that is unsustainable or intolerable are pushed into an anti-European position.”
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“We are now in a situation where we are pushed to greater economic integration out of necessity of preserving the euro and that creates a very bad political dynamic where people are very close to each other and fight with each other and there is a lot to fight about.
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“When people are forced to live together out of necessity and not desire, it leads to a very unhappy marriage,” he said “ You need to re-invent the process of economic of European integration."
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Soros's ideas are a step in the right direction. However if past behavior is to be any indicator than the EU will most likely fail to meet it's obligations. Jobbik will continue to grow as more banks fail in Europe. And life for the Roma will continue to grow worse in Europe.
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Source Documents, note not all sources listed.
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EUobserver
http://euobserver.com/851/114218
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Romani Man Attacked By Czech Police

"World's Best Police"
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On Saturday, October 29th, a Romani man in the embattled Northern Bohemia reports to have been strangled and further attacked by Czech Police. The officers were in fact two members of the SPJ Praha, the Czech Special Forces Unit - Prague Patrol. And their actions, racially motivated, are not being investigated or punished.
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Mr Ladislav Bíllý, a Czech Roma man, claims that around 4pm the first officer surprised him on his own property. In a matter of moments the second officer darted in and grabbed Ladislav by the throat. The officer proceeded to slam Mr Ladislav into the wall with his hand firmly gripping Ladislav's windpipe.
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'Shut up and be polite' the aggressive officer shouted in Ladislav's face as he began berating the Roma man. The officer, who was trespassing, demanded Ladislav's identity papers. All the while the first officer stood by and did nothing to stop the attack.
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After a short time Ladislav convinced the aggressive officer to let him go and that his identity papers were in his car. Suddenly the second officer became even more irate. It appeared to the Roma man that having to walk a few meters to his car had made the officer even more aggressive.
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Once at the car, a Volkswagen Golf, the aggressive cop yelled at Ladislav very loudly, "Don't piss me off anymore you black swine."
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When the Roma's papers were produced the officers demanded the car's papers. Once the car's documents were produced the officers called for reinforcements. Now there were six officers. All six special unit officers proceeded to trash the car as they "searched" it without a search warrant or permission.
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Finally Mr Ladislav had had enough. He demanded the officers get off his private property. The aggressive officers had a shouting match before leaving. The entire time they were there they had covered their service numbers... masking their identity.
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The "Blue Line" in Czech police forces is rarely crossed. This means no cops rat out other cops. Thus their criminal behavior goes unpunished.
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As for the Romani people in the Šluknov hills the police are just as dangerous as are their "ethnic white" neighbors. The SPJ units are even more dangerous. They are able to get away with murder and never are punished.
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Source Document, note that not all sources are listed.
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Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2935
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