Sins Of The Past

Tragedy Of The Present
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

The quickest way to destroy an enemy that you perceive due to race is ironically not through the bullet. Bullets are costly when you are talking about killing not only the living but those still yet to be born. Soldiers have to be rewarded for their efforts in annihilating another race of man. Eventually hatred alone is not the only sin needed to continue the descent into hell. Bullets are the embodiment of hate on genocidal battlefields. But they can't sustain a prolonged effort to exterminate. That is where other sins come in. Sins such as lust.

When the Serbian militias began their war to purge old Yugoslavia of Bosnian blood their commanders knew the battle would be long. Almost from the beginning the leaders of death squads knew that payment and patriotism alone would not keep their savage troops on the battlefield. Leaders like Mladic and his fellow dogs told their soldiers that the rape of a Bosnian was their duty to the Serbian people. Through "breeding" the Bosnian out, the Serbs could end an entire ethnicity. And through that approach they could save their bullets for the religion of the Bosnian people while their soldiers could get cheap entertainment at the cost of the Bosnian women and girls.

Today the lessons of Bosnia are being repeated as history itself tries to teach us what we apparently didn't learn the first time. In places such as the Congo and Burma rape is once again being used to motivate murderers and keep them on the battlefield. The human cost unfortunately is harder to measure than simply putting another tally mark on the wall or adding another body to the count. The initial victim passes on her misery and pain to future generations. Her family and friends experience the crime in ways they themselves could have never imagined. And the war criminal usually gets to walk away without even facing a judge or jury.

Recently Assed Baig released an article about the Myanmar military's use of sex trafficking as a weapon of war. In it he describes how the Burmese government is complacent in allowing it's soldiers to keep Rohingya women as sex slaves. In particular, Assed Baig focused on Regiment 270's encampment just outside Sittwe where Rohingya girls are taken and held as sexual slaves.
(Link listed in Source Documents)

The story of the Rohingya's exploitation is remarkably similar to that of the Bosnian people during the Serbian prosecuted genocide against the Bosnians. Once again we can see that the militants use the Rohingya as a source of military moral. Prisoners that happen to be male are beaten and at times killed by Burmese military who become bored with the lulls between "riots" (pogroms). Rohingya women however are subject to a living hell.

 Rohingya women are claimed by a Burmese soldier or the entire camp. Their families, especially their children, are used as leverage to keep them silent during their imprisonment. During their imprisonment the Rohingya women are subjected to abuse and rape whenever the Burmese soldiers wish. It is only upon release that the Rohingya women are given an illusion of liberty. Their families are still kept as leverage (threatened to kill or have killed) to keep them quite after they have left the custody of the camp.

This is how rape is used in war. It is a weapon meant to degrade the lives of the targeted community. When it kills its victims it adds another number to the body count in the eyes of the outside world. But for the victims, death is a release from the hell their captors have made for them. For most this form of victimization is one that they will have to live with. It is a nightmare that will forever haunt them. It is a weapon worse than bullets alone... for it not only damages the flesh but manages to wound the soul as well.





Source Documents
(note that not all sources are listed)

Assed's Article via Vice
http://m.vice.com/en_uk/read/rohingya-women-are-being-kept-as-sex-slaves-by-the-burmese-military

Be Happy, Sad Mother...

The Holocaust in Croatia

 

 Like heroes, like Croats,

They poured blood for homeland!

~ Lijepa nasa domovino ~

Croatian National Anthem

In September of 1939 Yugoslavia declared itself neutral in the new war that was sweeping across Europe. However the dogs of war had already been howling for sometime in Yugoslavia. After the last "Great War" the Powers of Europe had carved up the territories once held by the Ottomans and Austrians. The failure to take note of the ethnic and religious differences that officially demarcated the region of the now Yugoslav kingdom was coming back to haunt the region. Croatia was just the first dog to bite.

In March of 1941 the Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact sealing its desire to be left out of the war. Yet no matter how often Yugoslavia assured the Axis, Germany especially, that they would adhere to the treaty the Axis didn't seem to believe them. This suspicion was fueled in part by Yugoslavia's leadership at the time. It was also fueled by Croatia's flirtation with the Nazis.

Upon Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6th of 1941 the Croatian political class began to maneuver for an independent state within the Third Reich. Only four days later, on April 10th, the Croatian politicians got exactly what they wanted as Germany allowed Croatia to declare itself independent of Yugoslavia. However Croatia would be expected to fall in line with Hitler's Europe. A catch in the agreement that Croatia's Ustase party was far too willing to take part in.

The Ustaše were Croatia's ultra fascist political party that had come to power by taking advantage of the economic depression which hit small economies like Croatia's disproportionately. They had realized that without implementing extreme policies like those of Hitler's Croatia would not be able to recover. Thus Croatians across Yugoslavia began to flock to the party. After all, this was the party that was promising the moon (for Croats only) and linking the Croatians to Aryans.

For the Jews, Roma, Homosexuals, Handicapped, or Mentally Handicapped this call to arms was the sound of the clock striking midnight. The darkness of the Holocaust was now spreading across Croatia and over all the rest of Yugoslavia. There was nowhere left for Yugoslavian Jews to run. Europe had been devoured by Hitler's army. Croatia was simply driving the final nail into the coffin.

(Ustaše Murders Resorting to Axes At Jasenovac Death Camp)

In Croatia the Holocaust came in a unique manner. The German SS weren't the main presence at death camps like Jasenovac. Instead the Croatians, almost as a whole, were the leaders of the operations to slaughter the Croatian Jews and Romani. With their ruthless Ustaše, the Croatians employed massacres using axes, hammers, and at times their own hands. Many Ustaše leaders were known to grab children up by their legs and bash their heads against walls as a means of instilling fear among new inmates. In Croatia the Holocaust was almost more personal than it was ever meant to be. 

All across Europe Jewish businesses were confiscated and handed out to loyal Nazi party members. The Legal Decree on the Nationalization of Jewish Properties and Jewish Companies of October 10th, 1941 made it far to easy for any Croatian to claim ownership of their neighbors home or their competitor's business. The government of Croatia also stated that it would not prevent or prosecute the blatant murder of Jews and Roma within Croatia. Thus allowing even noncombatants to engage in the Holocaust in as much a role as the Gestapo of Germany. 

Across the border in Bosnia the Croatians lend Ustaše commanders to the "Grand Mufti's" Bosnian SS units. These Croats were eager to work toward the goal of cleansing not only Croatia of Serbs, Jews, and Roma but also wanted their borders cleared of any future resistance. The compromise here was simple, work with Muslims and Arabs or allow Bosnia to fall to the Yugoslav partisans. 

In further support of Hitler's goals the Ustaše and Croat politicians ordered the construction of Koprivnica, Pag Island, Jadovno, and Kruščica death camps. These camps were raised in the spring of 1941 and each would continue their industry of death and murder till October of 1942 when Jasenovac is fully operational. However unlike in Germany and Poland, the local politicians did not wait for the German Nazis to order the construction of the said camps. In Croatia it seemed to be a status symbol for the politicians in the new regime to have a concentration camp operating in their region of the state.

From August of 1941through February of 1942 the Ustaše established the Jasenovac camps: Krapje, Bročica, Ciglana, Kozara, and Stara Gradiška. This group of satellite camps would rival the horrors of Auschwitz and Dachau. And at its heart was the aim of killing all of Croatia's Romani community as well as importing Serbian and Bosnian Roma. The Jews of this area were often sent off to Auschwitz as the war came to a close so as to make room for Roma and Serbian prisoners. 

(Emaciated Child at Jasenovac Death Camp)

The Ustaše camp guards however did not readily send off their prisoners. Instead the Croatian SS were notorious for working for days on end as they carried out massive executions of prisoners to decrease the number of victims needed to be sent out to German concentration camps. Guards in Croatia were renowned for their lack of concern for the health of the inmates kept in their camps. Thus extraordinary cruelty, even by Nazi standards, was often overlooked by Ustaše SS units. 

It wasn't till September of 1941 that the Ustaše even began to admit that they could not kill all the Jews in Croatia without some form of help from Germany. Thus from September of 1941 through March of 1942 the Ustaše establishes the Ðakovo, Tenje, and Loborgrad camps. All three served as transit sites for Croat Jews whom Croatian authorities turned over to the Germans for deportation to Auschwitz. 

In many cases the Holocaust in Croatia was not stopped until Yugoslavian partisans under Tito were able to overrun the camps. In select cases the local Croatian authorities would dismantle the death camps and attempt to hide their crimes as the partisans approached. These cases were often induced by the sheer fear of reprisals that often marked the liberation of camps by Tito's militias. In most cases however the Croatian SS and Ustaše combatants would fight tooth and nail to keep hold of their villages and the camps they supported. 

(Tito's Army - Yugoslav Partisans)

The Yugoslav liberators were amongst the few groups of liberators that seemed to not be surprised by what they found upon entering Croat death camps. Tito's Army had been told what awaited them when pushing back the Mufti's SS and the Ustaše forces. In every village they entered the Croatian fascist had turned the basements and cellars into miniature death camps. Through the entire liberation of Croatia the Ustaše forces carried out a scorched earth campaign as they withdrew. And just as the Germans would do as the Russians approached Berlin, Croat forces would leave stragglers to "nip at the heels" of the "barbarians". 

Of the nearly 40,000 Jews that lived in Croatia at the outbreak of the Holocaust only around 9,000 would survive its rapid spread across the new state. For the Roma the Porajmos (the devouring) in Croatia was just as horrific. The land that many Croat Jews had loved and been loyal to had nearly erased three quarters of their community. And to make things worse, the Catholic Church (which remains a major part in Croatian politics) had played a major role in this horrific act of genocide. 

On May 5th, 1945 the Legal Decree of the Equalization of Members of the Independent State of Croatia Based on Racial Origin was passed and repealed the race laws imposed by the Ustaše. For many this was the sign that signified the end of the Holocaust in their homeland. It would, in a legal sense, insure at least some safety for the Jews still living in Yugoslavia. Yet the wounds inflicted upon the Yugoslavian community by the Ustaše would never truly heal. 

For forty years the Balkans remained the "powder keg" of Europe. The sins of the Ustaše remained like scars upon Croatia and its neighbors. And in 1995 the horrors carried out by the Mufti SS and Ustaše would come back to surface once more. Proving to the world once again that if we never learn from history we will always find a way to reenact our mistakes. Without addressing the sins of our fathers we will surely repeat their misdeeds.

If They Were Christians Would We Help?

From Syria to Burma
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Just Another Funeral in Syria) 

Over the past few months I have found it hard to not ask myself if things would be different if the current genocide victims were not Muslim. From Syria (where Assad, an Alawi, slaughters Sunni Muslims) to Burma (where the Buddhist regime targets Muslims for extermination) the victims all have one thing in common. Their faith. 

The response given by the United Nations and the Western governments that help guide it has reminded me since the start of how the UN responded to Bosnia. In 1992 the Serbian forces within Bosnia decided that the Muslims had to die to help create a "Greater Serbia". The United Nations responded just as one might have expected. Their actions helped further the cause of the Christian Serbs while punishing the Bosnian Muslims. No arms were allowed to be distributed to the Bosnian forces so as to help defend themselves and their families. Aid to the Bosnian community was seemingly given under the conditions that Bosnian Muslims would not defend themselves but commit to damned attempts at "diplomacy". All the while Serbs were allowed to funnel arms and ammunition across the border from Serbia so as to fuel their war upon Islam. 

The entire time I spent studying Srebrenica I couldn't help but ask myself... if the dead weren't Muslims would the West care? 

In Syria today the Alawi, a minute percentage of the population, have taken every action to reduce the Shiite population while securing power for the Shia minority. Dehumanization began from the very start of the protest against Assad. But it wasn't the rebels who were comparing their opposition to cockroaches. Instead it was Assad who was laying the ground work for genocide. And it was Assad who began working his way through the steps of genocide as if reading them from a book. Yet in Syria today the UN and US can be seen as only helping the Shia die in a little more comfortable ways than Assad would wish. They do not seem willing to stop the bleeding. 

Children are massacred in waves of violence not seen in the region since Saddam's campaign to annihilate the Kurds. Yet the UN did nothing more than ask Angelina Jolie to come and visit the refugee camps... across the border in safety. Aid has been slow (it wasn't till recently that America secured 1.5 billion in aid... with vast restrictions on its use of course) and at times has been left rotting on docks in neighboring countries so as to never arrive. The only thing that the UN seems competent to deliver has been the dirty white tents that help cameras capture the appearance of UN aid. Most aid has arrived through private organizations that have stretched themselves to the limit so as to save at least some of the refugees who have fled. 

Those left in Syria have been subjected to mortars, artillery, jet and helicopter attacks, and scud missiles that may be used to deliver chemical weapons. The dead are buried wherever a spare patch of ground can be found. Water, food, and electricity are subject to Assad's desire to either starve a region out or reward a region for their loyalty. All of these are seemingly random since Assad has begun to see rebels behind every rock and around every corner. 

So why does the West not act to help end the genocide in Syria? 

(Humanitarian Aid Remains Behind Blockades While Rohingya Starve To Death)

In Burma the Buddhist regime has been praised almost religiously by the West as the governments of Europe and America prepare to race in and claim as much of the economy as they can before China gets it all. In doing business with the Myanmar government the governments of the West are funding genocide. For decades now, of and on, the Burmese have been attempting to slaughter the Rohingya minority and all other Muslim groups. Under the Junta regime the Rohingya were not only dehumanized but often massacred. This latest burst of genocidal slaughter was just an extension of the decades of systematic slaughter the Junta perpetrated. 

As the violence spread the Rohingya were rounded up into camps where the Burmese military was seen attacking the Rohingya who attempted to flee. When it wasn't the military killing Rohingya it was the Rakhine mobs that the police let through from time to time to keep the Rohingya terrorized. In effect the Myanmar government was establishing concentration camps like those the Serbs established for the Bosnian Muslims. Yet the West refused to call these "refugee" camps what they truly were. Instead we now find ourselves in a place where Rohingya are banned from leaving the camps and aid is blockaded from entering the camps. 

Food and water have been restricted while the Burmese Muslims are starved to death. Babies, some seen on previous post, are left forever harmed by this cruelty... if they survive at all. Yet the West fails to go beyond their business prospects in Myanmar. 

Once again I have to ask, if the Rohingya were not Muslims would the West care anymore?

Many "humanitarians" in the media and Western culture have spent years upon years trying to get governments to help the victims in Darfur and the Congo. The obvious difference in this post is that the victims in this case are predominately Christians. And the attackers are predominately Muslims. This is not to say that genocide in these two cases should not be protested or should not be stopped. But it is painfully clear that those speaking out for the victims share a fairly obvious link to the victims themselves. Their faith.

With this we should all take a look at the reasons for why we get involved. And more importantly we should take a real hard look at the reasons why we tend not to get involved. Both are the sources for our inaction when faced with genocide. And both have effects that last for generations. By not taking action to help those in need we show our true selves... our greatest weaknesses... and most of all our prejudices.

Will Obama Visit Rohingya Ghettos?

Or Will Barack Skip The Death Camps?
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

As the date of Barack Obama's visit to Myanmar draws near the lives of thousands of Rohingya continue to hang in the balance. In ghettos, imprisoned in concentration camps, and if lucky... in refugee camps; the Rohingya are struggling to survive this latest round of ethnic cleansing. They have little to no access to food in all three camps. They have hardly any access to clean water. And medical aid is limited due to the Myanmar government's intentional denial of relief workers and aid to the Rohingya.

In the 1990's the United States remained silent as a similar situation played out in Bosnia. The White House under another Democrat president sat silent on the sidelines as Serbian forces rounded up Muslims and sent them off to European death camps. The President said nothing as Bosnia's Muslims were denied food and water as their cities were laid siege to. The media in the United States tried to cover up the level of the atrocities within Bosnia so that their doll in the White House would not have to dirty his hands to stop the killing.

Today we watch as the United States remains silent as the Myanmar does the same thing. The White House under a so called "humanitarian" Democrat says nothing as Burmese police and military round up Rohingya for death camps. The President says nothing as Myanmar's Muslims are denied food and water as their homes are torched and their villages wiped off the map. The media remains loyal to the president as they willingly leave out news of the atrocities and word their reports so as to avoid the word genocide.... a word they know could force Obama's hand.

In Bosnia the United States betrayed our commitment to uphold the basic human rights that we claim to believe in so dearly. Some have speculated that Clinton simply did not want to commit troops to a foreign war because of political posturing. There is also the likely possibility that Clinton did not want to directly face off with the fourth largest standing army in Europe. This would have ultimately led to the deaths of several American soldiers. This would have lost credibility withing Washington for the Clinton administration. But more importantly, for Clinton, this would have made a Democrat president be seen as "war mongering" in an area of the world few Americans even cared about.

Today in Myanmar we are betraying those same principles. And it is more than likely that many of the same reasons Clinton had in Bosnia can be carried over and applied to the Obama administration. It is likely that Obama does not want to be seen as a "war hawk" and fighting a fight not our own.

But there is the problem with the hypocrisy of the Obama administration. Here is a president who was willing to fight the rebels' fight in Libya. Here is a president who claims that the political civil war in Libya was a "genocide" (note Obama did nothing to stop the rebels in Libya from killing black Africans on the basis of their race). And on the flip-side here is a president who has done absolutely nothing to stop the actual genocide in Syria (Assad targets his victims on the basis of the differing religious sects within Islam). This is the president who did absolutely nothing to stop the genocide withing Bahrain (where the minority sect of Islam call their opposition "cockroaches" as they target their victims). This is the president that has watched the Uzbeks were targeted in a spat of ethnic cleansing in 2010. And this is the president who has refused to uphold his promise to recognize the Armenian genocide.

So even in his actions abroad, in which Obama has committed acts of war for political gain, the president appears weak when approaching the issue of human rights. When Obama lent troops to help track down the Lord's Resistance Army in the Congo he gave explicit limitations on the ability of the United States Troops to cross borders in pursuit. This meant that the LRA, a guerrilla army that readily crosses borders to evade capture, could simply dodge our troops without fear of being caught by the technologically advanced American troops. When the political gain was capitalized upon back home... Obama pulled the troops and abandoned the Congo.

In the Sudan Obama has used the excuse of "national sovereignty" to keep his cult of personality untainted by the genocide in Darfur and the Blue Nile. Not once has a member of Obama's administration visited the refugee camps in the genocide stricken Sudan. Instead Obama decided to lift sanctions on South Sudan as they too commit war crimes and employ child soldiers to continue the war with Sudan.

So will Obama be visiting the Rohingya ghettos? Will our president bother to ask about the concentration camps?

It is hard to imagine that Obama's interest in Myanmar has little more to do with anything but the economic boost he wants to gain from patting Thein Sein on the back. This is the only motive Obama has in releasing the might of American economic muscle loose on Burma. And in doing this the Obama White House will be funding this era's Nazi regime. Our tax dollars, our commerce, our food and exports... all will be readily available to a government that is currently using these to keep up it's wholesale slaughter of the Rohingya people.

Join Alder's Ledge and many more like us in telling President Barack Obama that no amount of economic gain is worth this. Tell Obama that we will not stand silently by as his White House help fund genocide.

You can do this by engaging the President's twitter account. After all, this is the first President to make his staff readily accessible 24 hours a day (if you take him at his word). Or you write you representative in Congress and tell them the same thing. This will help put pressure on both Congress and the White House. This will help get the Rohingya peoples' voice heard... all you have to do is exercise your rights to help gain theirs'.

The 8 Stages of Genocide

How Myanmar Is Checking Them Off One At A Time
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Stage 3: Dehumanization and Demonization)

When a country sets out on a campaign of genocide or ethnic cleansing they always start by checking off the stages of genocide. Myanmar is no exception to the rule. In Burma the junta has been gearing up for this latest round of ethnic cleansing for decades. Their brutal tactics of warfare and oppression are now being applied to the Rohingya. 

This is how the Burmese government has proceeded thus far.

The first stage of genocide is the stage of classifying the targeted community so that the target can be isolated. This stage was accomplished in every genocide that has occurred in the past and present. In Germany the government and media set out to isolate the Jewish community by highlighting the religious differences. This let the government separate the "Jude" from the "German". In Myanmar the government has isolated the Rohingya in exactly the same way. They have denied citizenship and forced the Rohingya into a classification all their own. Thus making a virtual difference between the "Muslim" and the "Buddhist". 

When the stage of classification is met the government embarking on genocide moves on to applying symbols to the targeted community. This second stage of genocide is often hard to identify since most societies already have applied symbols to their way of identifying themselves. For Christians the symbol of the cross is a symbol they appreciate. This same symbol becomes a symbol of hatred when used by groups like the KKK. And thus how genocidal regimes begin the manipulation of symbols or the application of new symbols that mimic preexisting symbols. In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge made their isolated targets more visible by applying the blue scarf. In Myanmar the government has isolated Rohingya by limiting the use of religious head scarves and beards. These parts of identification with the religion of the Rohingya have been used to identify the Rohingya by their neighbors and helps with the goal of stage one and leads into the affects of stage three. 

Isolated and identified by the application of symbols or the use of existing symbols to inspire hatred against the targeted community the attackers move on to dehumanization. This is the third stage of genocide. In Rwanda the radio blared with the comparisons of Tutsi to "cockroaches". This is the same comparison the government in Bahrain has made against the Shia Muslims. And in doing this the governments inspire the masses to think of the targeted group as less than human. In Myanmar the Rohingya are thought of as slaves or animals. The government in Burma allows for Rohingya to be forced into hard labor by the military and local police. This for of humiliation often leads to physical and emotional abuse that reminds the Rohingya that they are not human in the eyes of their Rakhine neighbors. 

(Rohingya Child Waiting For Medical Attention)

As the targeted society is demonized and used as the excuse for all the troubles of the given society the next stage of genocide begins. Often the fourth stage of genocide begins without warning. The organization of genocide, the fourth stage, is key to launching the attacks on the targeted community. The government will usually use militias to carry out their sadistic desires so as to limit responsibility for what happens next. In Darfur this has been done with the training and deployment of the Janjaweed, "devil on horseback". However there are exceptions to the rule, such as the SS in the Nazi army. And in Myanmar we witness both the exception and the rule all in one. 

In Myanmar stage four is accomplished by using the military to round up Rohingya and force them into small areas much like the Nazi ghettos. The mobs, led by the Buddhist monks and politicians, are then able to be led to the target without warning. With the targeted community isolated and left vulnerable by the junta the mobs can raze the Rohingyas' homes and kill indiscriminately. 

Stages five and six are often carried out simultaneously. Stage five is polarization. This is when the leaders of the genocidal regime begin to ramp up the extremist rhetoric. The goal is to further isolate the targeted group while fanning the flames of hatred. This is usually where the leaders of the extremist begin to give justification drastic actions against the targeted community. In Germany the SA was considered to be less than willing to carry out the "Final Solution". So during stage five the SS were brought about to kill off anyone who might stand in the way of the end goals of the regime. 

In Myanmar stage five has meant that the junta has prevented outsiders from having access to the Rohingya refugees. At the same time the Burmese military has allowed extremist in the Buddhist community to encourage violence against the Rohingya. These monks and politicians have led marches and held protest against the Rohingya as they fan out across the Arakan state. 

Stage six is the preparation for genocide. This is where the distribution of weapons and dispersal of militias takes place. For the Hutu in Rwanda this meant that the militias began to gather where they would later set up road blocks. The infamous machetes were distributed as the militias spread out across the country. For those trapped in Myanmar the police and militia are known to have been supplying the Rakhine mobs with weapons. They have been giving the mobs firearms and machetes while organizing attacks with the leaders that deploy the angry young Rakhine men. 

(Attacks on Rohingya in July)

As stage six concludes the next stage erupts. Stage seven is the stage that makes genocide. This is the stage of extermination. This is the hell we all remember when we think about the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Armenia. 

When the Hutu mobs in Rwanda began their attacks it took them less than 100 days to kill 800,000 Tutsi. Their weapon of choice was the machete. Their methods were primitive. Yet their hatred allowed for them to kill so effectively that the world had little time to respond. In Myanmar this is appearing to be the same case. 

As the Rakhine Buddhist mass and prepare for their attacks the world seems helpless to respond. The sparks of violence are very quick and violent. The attacks flare out of control and seem to burn themselves out. Or so it would appear. 

The junta in Myanmar uses stage seven at times when it appears the outside world is not watching. In October the attacks on Rohingya occurred as the world press was focused elsewhere. The preparation is done while the media and relief workers are focused somewhere else or denied entry. These attacks then are given an allotted time span to occur before the military will give the appearance of stopping them. Yet the military of Burma has not once yet engaged the attacking Rakhine. They have not once attempted to fight back against the "ethnic violence" that is burning out of control in the Arakan state. 

This where stage eight takes effect. The stage of denial and cover up. 

(Rohingya Woman With Her Children) 

For the Armenians this stage of genocide has been going on for nearly a century. For almost 98 years the Turkish government has ardently denied any actions that could constitute genocide against the Armenians. This has been a wedge between the Armenians and Turks for decades. And thus the most painful stage for survivors has been left open ended for the Armenians. 

In Myanmar the government denies that any actions that could constitute genocide or ethnic cleansing have ever gone on or are taking place. They claim that the ethnic tension is "an age old tribal feud" that is just coming to the surface again. This is the government's way of denying any responsibility for the genocide or accountability for the actions taken by the Rakhine. 

So how many more dead or displaced Rohingya will the West need to admit that genocide is taking place in Myanmar? 1.5 million, 6 million, or 20 million? Why can't the West admit that this is genocide?

The Abyss

And No Way Out

Amnesty International finally showed up to the theater of war in Syria only to simply throw their hat into the ring. We should appreciate their calling of Bashar Assad's actions as "crimes against humanity". But we can not accept that this is all we are going to get out of the world as Syria burns. This can not be all we are willing to do as innocence is snuffed out by the evil we can clearly see before us.

Even worse is the call by Amnesty International to impose a full arms embargo upon Syria. Of course we should support an embargo when it comes to Bashar Assad and his goons. And yes we need to stop the flow of Russian weapons into the Syrian Army's arsenal. But we can not accept the same results we saw in Bosnia when we allowed the Serbs dominance by disarming the Bosnian peoples. We must start arming the Serbian Free Army if we are not going to intervene with a military force large enough and willing enough to stop the fighting.

Unlike in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur we can not rely upon unarmed blue helmets standing around. It didn't work in Rwanda, in fact it only took ten dead blue hats before the Hutu controlled everything. No amount of tin stars could stop the militias in Rwanda when they weren't even armed upon arriving in country. In Bosnia our soldiers were able to stand and watch the killings happening right under their noses. This strategy is broken and has never worked.

If the United Nations is allowed to take on this task they will have to be willing to accept casualties. Brave men will have to die so that others may live. It is really just that simple. But sadly the United Nations has never had a stomach to take on a rouge state that is willing to kill indiscriminately. And they are definitely never going to be willing to accept casualties on their side of the intervention.

Last night we watched as the Syrian Army and its Shabiha ran through al-Haffeh. This was just one of the "rebel enclaves" that Syria added to its latest offensive. And yet the world's media refuses to admit what happened last night after the Syrian Army claimed control. We all know that the Shabiha went through the town trying to drudge up any "rebels" who weren't quick enough in fleeing. And we all know that innocent people were rounded up and killed. But the world remains silent.

Valiant "rebels" in the Syrian Free Army however report that they fought long enough and brave enough to hold off the Syrian tanks so that as many innocent civilians could flee. The world press reports that these "rebels take crazy risk" and "fight fanatically" in the face of much larger forces. We have even seen comparisons of David and Goliath. But nobody wants to admit that these so called rebels had never resorted to the AK 47 till after Assad chose to start bombing their homes.

If they are in fact crazy enough to stand in the face of a mad man like Assad and his "Ghost" soldiers... why not arm them?

Uncle Barry in the White House was willing to arm the Libyan rebels. He was even willing to use our military to bomb the Libyan military to help "level the playing field". Yet when it comes to Syria this coward king we call president chooses to wait on the sidelines to see how things will play out. And if all truth be told, Barack is afraid to stage what he sees as a proxy war against Russia.

And yet if Russia wants to fund genocide than we do need to stage a war against the Kremlin. We need a president that is willing to stiffen up his spine and pull his chin up. We need a president that is willing to tell Putin that we the free people of the world will not remain silent in the face of evil like him and Assad. This is Genocide. And it must be stopped.


As I write this Assad's forces are pillaging  the Latakia region in Syria. They are going door to door looking for targets of opportunity. Any innocent women and children that the Shabiha decide to kill are open game for Assad's blood lust. And all we can do is keep the pressure on our leaders to do something... if anything... to stop this genocide.

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

Scream Till Your Throat Bleeds...

...Never Relent, Never Stop, Never Forget.

Turkey
Rwanda
Cambodia
Iraq
Germany
Russia
China
Bosnia
Kosovo
Argentina
Australia
Namibia
United States

All of these are just a handful of modern states that have been the place settings of our most awful of sins. In each country the genocides happened through direct actions of the political parties involved. In every case mentioned above the rewards for slaughtering a "target of opportunity" just seemed to be to great to pass up. We as humans have killed each other for literally pennies on the dollar... with little reward for such great efforts of inhumanity.

The Armenian Genocide is still "forgotten" in the fact that the government formed out of its blood will still to this day deny it with ever increasing ferocity. Our government supports Turkey in its denial of the Armenian Genocide. Republicans and Democrats alike share the blame for this atrocious act of profiteering. Greed stifles the screams of long since dead children of Armenia. Lust for blood money and frivolous perks keeps our government in bed with willful murderers.

But as the great butcher once said... "Who alive today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?"

WE DO.

Though I shut my eyes the images of wronged men linger in my mind. Though my lips fail me this urge to scream arises ever more relentlessly. It is as if I have just seen the murderous acts first hand and yet nobody around me even bothers to help. Instead we walk on past as the dead await their good Samaritan.

April 24Th marks the bloody beginning of the Armenian Genocide back in 1915. In 1904 the Germans in Namibia began to erect the first death camps of the 20Th century. The Germans began to slaughter the Herero and Namaqua in an effort to gain "vital Lebensraum". General Lothar Von Trotha achieved the Germans' goals by slaughtering an estimated 80 percent of the Herero and just over half of the Namaqua.



Germany today is seemingly believed to have been the kindest "masters" ever to have colonized Africa. Or so people have been led to believe. The "Second Reich" was just as barbaric as the first and last. And as we speak, Germany seems to be on the path toward the far right once more.

The blood on their hands was never washed away. As the saying goes... those who fail to learn from the past are damned to repeat it.

In the United States we seem to feel that our only sins have been to get into bed with the sinners themselves. We seem to forget what we did to the Americans who were here before us. We tend to think of "Indian Reservations" as being "safe places" for the old Americans. We tend not to realize that they were camps much like Buchenwald in the aspect that we set them up only to put the "problems out of sight" and out of mind.

Wounded Knee... the most famous butcher of our American history rode into the Native American camp and ordered the executions of anything that moved. Men, women, children... babies... anything that moved. The reason, the targeted "problems" might be up to something.

We stuck Geronimo on a "reservation" and told him to farm land that white settlers knew was unworkable. When he decided to live the way his ancestors did (instead of starve under white rule) we labeled him an outlaw and a "danger to society". We were not taught in school that the real danger was living in a society that hates you.

Of the sins we do admit... the sins of our allies are far to often never called by their rightful name. Genocide.

And when we have seen such acts taking place we dared not scream. Instead we remained silent and closed our eyes to what was going on before us. In Rwanda the dead and dieing yelled out in many different ways... LOOK AT US!

We decided to do what our good leader, Uncle Bill, told us to... look away.

After the killings were done we decided it was safe to look. After all... you can't help the dead, only the living... right?



We seem even more complacent when these sorta acts are carried out against groups of people to whom we have no connection. When the Serbs began to slaughter the Muslims in Bosnia... it wasn't the United State's problem. Instead we once again sat back and let the bloodbath unfold. We even decided it would be "indecent" to lift the weapons embargo on the Bosnian people, so as to allow them to defend themselves. After all, if we weren't going to ride in and save them why allow them to save themselves?

Trnopolje was the latest concentration camp to be erected upon European soil. Unlike Omarska and Keraterm, Trnopolje was not a standard death camp. And unlike Manjaca, it was not a "political prisoner" camp either. Trnopolje was a camp established to allow Serbian soldiers the pronounced "freedom" of raping Muslim girls and women. Other prisoners at Trnopolje were used in much the same manner and then deported either to other camps or out of Serb held territory.

The United States knew about all four camps in the Prijedor area. We even had photographs of the camp and its prisoners... we just didn't show the public till it was too late.

After all, who alive today remembers the annihilation of the Bosnians?

It has been about the same length of time from now back to the time the Serbs were unleashing hell upon Bosnia as it had been from the time Hitler said the same thing about the Armenians.

And that brings us back to the second genocide of the 20Th century. The attacks on the Armenians marked the first time the entire world knew about the acts of genocide as they were happening. It marks the first time that the entire world knew about the genocide and did nothing to stop it.


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We here at Alder's Ledge invite you to scream with us. Help us by doing anything you can to inform others of genocide. Read articles here on Alder's Ledge that explain how genocides begin, why they begin, and how to stop them. Read about pogroms and other genocidal acts and share them with us here in our comments sections. We will read and reply to every comment you leave in whatever fashion we deem appropriate.

Have questions about anything you have seen here? Just ask us in a comment and we will be more than happy to discuss anything you have questions or concerns about. This is an open forum for you the reader.

And remember... Scream till your throat bleeds or your voice fails you... Never Relent, Never Stop, Never Forget.




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