Tag: Southen Europe

Must We Fight This Thing Again?

The US and its allies fought a war while Clinton was president…..that would be the 1990’s…..in the region called the Balkans.

I have been keeping my eyes on the region for some grievances were not addressed when the ceasefire went into effect…..

Source: The Tinderbox That Is The Balkans – In Saner Thought

Source: The Balkans: Smoldering Ashes Of Conflict – In Saner Thought

Few people are watching the crisis unfold….but many will weigh in when it comes to a full fledged shooting conflict….

On April 27, masked nationalists stormed the Macedonian parliament, injuring Social Democratic Party leader Zoran Zaev, among many others.

It wasn’t an isolated incident in the Western Balkans, a region that comprises Albania and the former Yugoslav countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Twenty-five years after the fall of communism, Western Balkan countries have become halfway democracies and the region struggles with ethnic, religious and nationalist tensions.

Here are three main issues that can explain the political crisis in these countries:

Source: Why are the Western Balkans in crisis? These are the three primary tensions. – The Washington Post

Not much has changed in 26 years…only all out war has not yet taken the place of debate……but as things escalate there is only a matter of time before the region returns to all out conflict….

It can be avoided but not by ignoring the problems….right now it looks like we are trying to ignore the gorilla in the room….this could be very disastrous to the region and to the US policies…..

Time for someone to take this bull by the horns….

Does War loom in the South Caucasus?

When I was in university I studied international relations especially war and conflict management…..and since my interests in war and its causes I have always looked for that linchpin that could cause the world to explode in an all out war …..a war to end all wars……

A couple of years ago I wrote a synopsis of a paper that I was working on about the linchpin theory….in my theory the South Caucuses would be the most likely region that could start this war of all wars……read for yourself…..

http://lobotero.com/2013/06/13/looking-for-the-linchpin/

It appears that all my hard work has paid off…….there are growing tensions in the very region that I was writing about

A recent upsurge in fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh serves Russian interests and shows the dangers of war by accident.

Source: War looms in the South Caucasus – Al Jazeera English

This region should be watched closely….take our eyes off the prize and it could be very catastrophic…..

The Resurrection Of The “Domino Theory”

In case you are weary of fretting over Jolie’s ovaries…….I offer some REAL news and thoughts……..

At present we are fighting a shadowy group called ISIS……the news is all about that conflict but a short plane ride away there is a major conflict that could become much larger….I am speaking about Ukraine.

If you happen to an old fart like me then you can remember the Cold War and the theory of Domino……..it was pushed hard by the West as a counter to communism.  I case you have not made it to that page in your world history text….I can help……..The domino theory, which governed much of U.S. foreign policy beginning in the early 1950s, held that a communist victory in one nation would quickly lead to a chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states. In Southeast Asia, the United States government used the domino theory to justify its support of a non-communist regime in South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam, and ultimately its increasing involvement in the long-running Vietnam War (1954-75).

The problem was that the theory was used to support the M-IC and turned out to be flawed in so many way……the dominoes did not fall as predicted.

Ukraine is being used as the “example” of the reach of Russia and the fear is that if they are successful then other former satellite states will be vulnerable……Newsweek dedicated a feature on this……

http://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-crisis-prompts-new-domino-theory-305078

Personally, it is wishful thinking that Russia can pull this off…..it seems, at least to me, that it is a tactic being used by the M-IC to sell more ordinance to the surrounding states….keep in mind that WAR is big business.

What Of Ukraine?

For some reason this conflict is less important than the Oscars……people are dying, there is destruction and there is politics……the MSM is just NOT interested in this situation unless it is some horrible news that they can milk for days on end for its “news” content.  Who am I kidding?  We know why….Israel!

The cease fire seems to be holding….at least on the surface….but the back and forth between Us and EU and Russia continues but it is just not worthy of attention….but all that will change when the need arises.

I am guilty also….my interests have been laser focused on the Middle East and I have neglected this situation…….a loyal reader, I believe it was dru, brought to my attention that little is given as far as information on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine……his statement made me think that I needed to dig into the conflict and do some reporting from the “other” side……by that I mean NOT the propaganda crap that the MSM wants us to know…….Thanx my friend for the push!

My studies at university was that of the causes of war…..and the more that I look at Ukraine I see a conflict that could become a classic for future study.

Now in case you would like a little history of the country….I could go off on a lengthy diatribe but for the sake of my readers sanity….BBC has a good time line from 1917 to present…..it should answer any historical questions you may have…….

Awhile back I wrote a piece entitled…”Looking For The linchpin”……….http://lobotero.com/2013/06/13/looking-for-the-linchpin/ ……….I wrote that a future problem would brew in the Eastern Black Sea area….I was off by a couple hundred miles at most…….but where is Ukraine?

The West mostly NATO countries are poring support into Ukraine in their opposition to Russia…..the US has promised troops to help “train” the Ukrainian forces…….then why if they are that important are they not on the front page of your local newspaper?

Basically to answer the question….the American public has grown accustomed to conflicts in the news and so far they care nothing about Ukraine…..the media and the admin is pumping out as much propaganda as possible to turn the public into caring…..so far they are failing.

But now the government is pulling a page out of the Cold War playbook……the Domino Theory…….Bulgaria is in a panic and the US has sent troops for military exercises……..Lithuania is in a twist and the West is sending arms and stuff to help……Germany is trying to downplay any aggression that may come out of Russia.

All in all….it is a game being played and the weapon at this time is a non-lethal type……propaganda.

 

Are We Building An American Empire?

We have hundreds of bases worldwide (not sure of the exact total) in about 55 different countries……and we seem to be preparing for a total commitment to take over the world……or is it simply a form of imperialism?

US Army commander in Europe Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges visited Ukraine today, as Pentagon officials confirmed plans to send troops to war-torn Ukraine this spring for a “training operation.”

Officials say the number of troops involved has not been determined at this time, and that the troops are part of an effort to strengthen the “rule of law” in the country.

By “rule of law,” they mean getting the Ukrainian military, which is ratcheting up its conscription, ready to crush eastern rebels, who have been demanding reforms after the new government imposed a series of harsh restrictions on the ethnic Russian east.

All this assistance across the globe is starting to smell like a resurrection of a form of imperialism.

Let’s look at the word imperialism…..simply put it is…….”a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.”  Kinda sounds like what the US is doing at this time…..

Author Michael Parenti has defined it thus……

Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations. Yet, it is seldom accorded any serious attention by our academics, media commentators, and political leaders. When not ignored outright, the subject of imperialism has been sanitized, so that empires become “commonwealths,” and colonies become “territories” or “dominions” (or, as in the case of Puerto Rico, “commonwealths” too). Imperialist military interventions become matters of “national defense,” “national security,” and maintaining “stability” in one or another region.

The magic words….:National Security”!

Many have only one comprehension of the term “Imperialism”….that is that it takes a monarch or king to be so……not really…..in its definition it means the control of regions through military or diplomatic influence…….guess what?

The US meets that definition to a tee.

Move Over Merkel

There are not enough women leading governments, at least in opinion, We have Merkel of Germany…..I am sure there may be a few others…..but none come to mind at this point…..anyway my point is the Croatia has joined in and elected a women as there leader…….good for them!

A conservative populist become Croatia’s first female president today after beating the center-left incumbent in a runoff election amid deep discontent over economic woes in the European Union’s newest member. The state electoral commission said that with about 97% of the vote counted, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic won 50.54%, while President Ivo Josipovic had 49.46%. The result meant that Grabar-Kitarovic won by a slight margin of about 21,000 votes, mostly by Croats living abroad.

The presidency in Croatia is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote was seen as a major test for Croatia’s center-left government, which is facing parliamentary elections later this year under a cloud of criticism over its handling of the economic crisis. The conservative triumph could shift Croatia back to right-wing nationalism, jeopardizing relations with its neighbors, including bitter Balkan wartime rival Serbia. Grabar-Kitarovic, a former foreign minister, ambassador to Washington, and assistant to the NATO secretary general, said during her victory speech that she “will work for Croatia, and I won’t allow anyone saying that Croatia will not be a prosperous country.”

Hopefully, she will do a fine job leading Croatia into a new era……time will tell…..but for now it is great to see another woman at the reins of government.