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Originally published on the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies (http://www.balkanstudies.org)

By James George Jatras
Saturday, 24 July 2010

The ICJ majority opinion combines the best of sophistry with the worst of pettifoggery. Its advisory ruling is a perversion of truth and justice. In other words, just more of the same we have seen in the Balkans since 1991, and even before.

The three-hour-long reading of the majority opinion of the International Court of Justice had barely begun when cheerleaders of the pseudo-state hit the world media with their pronunciamentos that the Kosovo question had been settled in favor of independence. Their sole piece of evidence was the tortured holding of ten of the judges that the February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) “did not violate general international law.”

Leave aside for the moment that, on cue, the ICJ’s insubstantial observation immediately was morphed – as the ten unworthies knew it would be – into “Kosovo independence is in accordance with international law” and thence, to “Kosovo really is a state.”

Leave aside the damage done to the reputation of what had been one of the few institutions of the international system that had been respected as relatively resistant to political pressure.

Leave aside the short-term jubilation of the Albanian mafia kingpins who run Kosovo and their shills worldwide, as well as the comparable disheartenment of not only Serbs but anyone with a decent respect for justice and the very concept of the rule of law.

Instead, ask: what really happened at the Court, and what difference will it make? Short answer to both parts of the question: not much.

As to the decision itself: The majority opinion rambled at length, combining the best of sophistry with the worst of pettifoggery, to justify answering not the question the ICJ was asked, but the one the majority preferred to answer. Specifically, since the (Albanian Muslim) Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) created under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 obviously had no authority to declare anything valid about the province’s status, the majority declined to answer the validity of a declaration of the PISG qua PISG.

Instead, the Provisional Institutions – or rather the same individuals who both issued the UDI and who constitute the PISG, but were somehow not acting as the PISG when they issued the UDI – were transformed by an act of pure invention of the Court into a voice of the people of Kosovo generally (as if such existed), whose declaration was outside of (though not, it seems, in violation of) any identifiable legal constraint. Since anyone can “declare” anything without impacting international law, which concerns only actions of states, international law was, ergo, not violated.

It is a stunning perversion of any concept of juridical thought. If one takes the time to read the majority opinion (which almost no one actually does – it is enough to refer to it in respectful tones) and compare it to the dissents, the worthlessness of the former is inescapably evident.

More important is what comes next on the international political front. Predictably, the Obama Administration – notably Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – weighed in immediately, the former with a friendly call to Serbian President Boris Tadic, the latter with an appeal to the world community to jump on board the Kosovo recognition train bound for glory and the EU. As for the Biden-Tadic “come to Jesus” talk, I’ll leave the speculation to others. As for the Clinton appeal, we shall see what the real political waves may be. My guess is, again: not much.

To be sure, the global hosannas to the Court included the usual caveats regarding Kosovo’s “uniqueness” and implied notice stamped on the opinion that negative consequences of any principle of law cited herein applicable only to Serbs. Separatists around the world seem not to have gotten the memo, however. Already we hear the “us too” chorus from Palestinians, Armenians (Nagorno-Karabakh), Ossetians, Abkhazians, Catalans, Basques, Kurds, etc.

To the extent that most global opposition to Kosovo’s supposed statehood is generated by fear of separatism, this decision paradoxically will scare many more countries than it convinces. Spain and Romania have already reaffirmed their firm opposition. Slovakia and Cyprus will be unshakable. (Greece, unreliable from the start, is a greater concern.) But when the matter is examined country by country, it is apparent that the decision may prompt another dozen recognitions, a score at most.

This still would not be a majority in the UN General Assembly, and still not a way to get past a Russian and Chinese veto under Chapter Two, Article 4 of the UN Charter, according to which membership is by “… decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.” Not only Russia and China, but the rest of a world where Washington’s voice matters less and less will not be swayed but will be even more adamant in their opposition to legitimating separatism: India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Ukraine, Georgia, most of Latin America, most of Africa.

What might have been… The real tragedy is that if the independence of the Court – heretofore one of the less disreputable of the UN institutions – had not been subverted, and if a decent decision had been forthcoming, the possible ratchet the other way might have been significant. Some countries – Czech Republic comes to mind – having been bullied into what they know to be an immoral and destructive position, might have used the Court’s ruling as an excuse to do the right thing and withdraw recognition. That path to “walking the dog back,” and perhaps setting the stage for genuine and serious negotiations, unfortunately, is closed for the foreseeable future. What we will have is what we have now: stalemate, tension, and threat of violence.

Viewed in context, the ICJ advisory ruling is a setback, a crying shame, and a perversion of truth and justice. In other words, just more of the same we have seen in the Balkans since 1991 and even before. What it means finally is that the multi-front struggle continues, not only for Kosovo but for simple honesty and decency. So what has changed?

The author is Director of the American Council for Kosovo www.savekosovo.org

Originally posted at 2.0: The Blogmocracy

In ICJ Ruling: Blow to Serbia, Boon to Tadic, noted author and scholar Srdja Trifkovic explains that the current government in Serbia is, in effect, nothing but a puppet regime that is selling out the Serbian people, and Judaeo-Christian civilization in the Balkans, to jihadi forces in the Balkans.

The back story is that, ever since Reagan left office, the US, NATO, and the EU have worked to assist the jihadis to form a Muslim stronghold in the Balkans. Obviously, this is counter to the interests of the US and of the nations that form the EU. (See Bosnia and Kosovo export Muslim terrorism everywhere.) But our politicians and State Department bureaucrats do the bidding of Middle Eastern oil interests, George Soros, and other nefarious individuals and groups such as Muslim narcoterrorist drug gangs, who covertly bankroll prominent members of the elite in politics, academia, think tanks, the media, and other areas of influence.

As I have pointed out before, the UN is thoroughly corrupt. Just about all NGOs do the bidding of this transnational elite. That obviously includes supposedly “neutral” entities such as the ICJ. The bureaucrats who enjoy cushy jobs at NGOs know what side their bread is buttered on, and they also know what the consequences of defying their masters inevitably must be.

Because the current government in Belgrade is nothing but a powerless American puppet that does nothing to protect the interests of the Serbian people, it is no surprise that the Tadic government will use the decision of the ICJ as a way to try to sell the Serbian people on the idea that they had better give up Kosovo, and continue to throw the remaining Serbs stranded there, under the bus – or else.

As Dr. Trifkovic points out, the time frame is much longer than anybody in Washington or The Hague is capable of comprehending. Kosovo has been Serbian as long as the Serbs have existed, the truth will eventually come out, and God is not mocked.

ICJ Ruling: Blow to Serbia, Boon to Tadic
By Srdja Trifkovic
Thursday, July 22, 2010 – 13:20

Ever since the U.S. intervened in Serbia’s domestic politics two years ago and helped the current coalition take power in Belgrade, Boris Tadic and his cohorts have been looking for a way to capitulate on Kosovo while pretending not to. The formula was simple: place all diplomatic eggs in one basket – that of the International Court of Justice – and refrain from using any other political or economic (let alone military) tools at Serbia’s disposal. On July 22 the ICJ performed on cue, declaring that Kosovo’s UDI was not illegal.

It should be noted that the ICJ has only assessed Kosovo’s declaration of independence; it has not considered more widely Kosovo’s right to unilateral secession from Serbia. Furthermore, the ICJ has not assessed either the consequences of the adoption of the UDI, namely whether Kosovo is a state, or the legitimacy of its recognition by a number of countries. The ICJ decision was unsurprising in view of the self-defeating question which the UN General Assembly posed at Serbia’s request: “Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?” As a former British diplomat who knows the Balkans well has noted, international law takes no notice of declarations of independence, unilateral or otherwise; they are irrelevant:

[I]f the town council down the road here in the UK makes a solemn unilateral declaration of the town’s independence from the UK, the rest of us will make a wry smile and go back to blogging or working. The declaration is ‘in accordance’ with UK law – free speech and all that. [ ... ] If citizens of our town en masse support the declaration of independence, put up road-blocks, stop paying taxes to Westminster and proclaim Vladimir Putin their new king with his consent, things begin to get more interesting. Norms are being created and broken in all directions.

The ICJ has done more than its share of norm-creation. Its advisory opinion is deeply flawed and non-binding, but the government in Belgrade now has a perfect alibi for doing what it had intended to do all along.

Following the appointment of Vuk Jeremic as Serbia’s foreign minister in 2007, this outcome could be predicted with near-certainty. As President Boris Tadic’s chief foreign policy advisor, Jeremic came to Washington on 18 May 2005 to testify in Congress on why Kosovo should stay within Serbia. In his subsequent off-the-record conversations, however, he assured his hosts that the task was really to sugar-coat the bitter Kosovo pill that Serbia would have to swallow anyway.

Two years later another advisor to Tadic, Dr. Leon Kojen, resigned in a blaze of publicity after Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer declared, on April 13, 2007, “We are working with Boris Tadic and his people to find a way to implement the essence of the Ahtisaari plan.” Tout Belgrade knew that “Tadic’s people” meant—Vuk Jeremic. Gusenbauer’s indiscretion amounted to the revelation that Serbia’s head of state and his closest advisor were engaged in secret negotiations aimed at facilitating the detachment of Kosovo from Serbia—which, of course, was “the essence of the Ahtisaari plan.” Jeremic’s quest for sugar-coating of the bitter pill was evidently in full swing even before he came to the helm of Serbia’s diplomacy.

In the intervening three years Tadic and Jeremic have continued to pursue a dual-track policy on Kosovo. The decisive fruit of that policy was their disastrous decision to accept the European Union’s Eulex Mission in Kosovo in December 2008. Acting under an entirely self-created mandate, the EU thus managed to insert its mission, based explicitly on the provisions of the Ahtissari Plan, into Kosovo with Belgrade’s agreement.

That was the moment of Belgrade’s true capitulation. Everything else — the ICJ ruling included — is just a choreographed farce…

The ICJ opinion crowns two decades of U.S. policy in the former Yugoslavia that has been mendacious and iniquitous in equal measure. By retroactively condoning the Albanian UDI, the Court has made a massive leap into the unknown. That leap is potentially on par with Austria’s July 1914 ultimatum to Serbia. The fruits will be equally bitter.

Aiding and abetting Muslim designs in the Balkans, in the hope that this will earn some credit for the United States in the Islamic world, has been a major motive of American policy in the region since at least 1992. It has never yielded any dividends, of course, but repeated failure only prompts the architects of the policy to redouble their efforts.

It is virtually certain that Washington will be equally supportive of an independent Sanjak that would connect Kosovo with Bosnia, or of any other putative Islamistan, from western Macedonia to southern Bulgaria (“Eastern Rumelia”) to the Caucasus. The late Tom Lantos must be smiling approvingly wherever he is now, having called, three years ago, on “Jihadists of all color and hue” to take note of “yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe.”

In the region, the ICJ verdict will encourage two distinct but interconnected trends: greater-Albanian aspirations against Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, and rump-Serbia (Preševo), and pan-Islamic agitation for the completion of the Green Corridor – an Islamic belt anchored in Asia Minor and extending north-westward across the Balkans into the heart of Central Europe.

Beyond the Balkans, it will breed instability in each and every potential or actual separatist hotspot, from Galilee to Kashmir, from the Caucasus to Sinkiang.

Kosovo is now an expensive albatross costing American and European taxpayers a few billion a year. It will continue developing, not as a functional economy but as a black hole of criminality and terrorism. The ever-rising and constantly unfulfilled expectations of its unemployable multitudes will eventually turn – Frankenstein’s monster-like – against the entity’s creator. There will be many Ft. Dixes to come, over there and here at home.

God acts in mysterious ways. Kosovo had remained Serbian during those five long centuries of Ottoman darkness, to be liberated in 1912. It is no less Serbian now, the ugly farce in Priština and at The Hague notwithstanding. It will be tangibly Serbian again when the current experiment in global hegemonism collapses, and when the very names of its potentates and servants – Boris Tadic and Vuk Jeremic included – are consigned to the Recycle Bin of history.

Here’s the same article in Serbian.

Be sure to visit The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies to read many other articles about the Balkans counterjihad and how US and EU foreign policy has consistently favored our jihadi enemies.

Blog author Sparta received the following email:

By Stephen Karganovic[1]

The aggressive Srebrenica lobby has been having some difficulties lately. It is not used to its demands being ignored or – worse yet – defied. But it seems that its increasingly obnoxious attempts to force-feed the world its version of events in Srebrenica in July of 1995 and to impose permanent global grief on people who had nothing to do with them are finally arousing some long overdue resistance.

A case in point to what absurd lengths the lobby is prepared to go were its infantile demands for the final World Cup soccer game in South Africa, scheduled for July 11, to be suspended to honor Srebrenica “genocide victims.” When that did not work, Bosnian Moslem lobbying groups signaled their readiness to settle for one minute of silence. But the World soccer association, FIFA, would not even have any of that, either. In a polite, but firm response, Srebrenica lobbyists were told that game will go on as scheduled, without the injection of any Balkan political overtones. Sarajevo was furious, but there was not much that it could do about it.

An equally unexpected and “disappointing” development was Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s refusal to endorse a Srebrenica resolution. Since his coalition has a majority in parliament, notwithstanding the impotent fulminations from Sarajevo and its local Canadian outfit, “Institute for Genocide Research,”[2] that effectively took the proposal off the table as far as parliament was concerned, at least for now. Again, the lobby was dealt a setback it is not used to and it does not quite know how to handle it.

The course of the Ganić extradition case in London may also cautiously be regarded as a sign of increasing ennui in the West with the Srebrenica lobby’s campaign to make everyone march to its tune. Serbia’s pro-Western client government did not really expect its pro forma Interpol arrest warrant for Ganić’s arrest to be honored anywhere and it was therefore caught by surprise when British authorities took Ganić into custody at Heathrow airport a few weeks ago. The amateurishly prepared evidence to back the extradition request, that was initially submitted by Belgrade, bore eloquent witness to that. Not that the charges were frivolous. Ejup Ganić, a member of Bosnia’s wartime Presidency, stands accused of organizing and ordering the lethal attack on a column of unarmed Yugoslav National Army soldiers who were evacuating their barracks in Sarajevo on May 3, 1992, after safe passage guarantees were solemnly given. Forty-two soldiers, mostly conscripts, were killed in murderous cross-fire and seventy were wounded. Two hundred and seven were taken prisoner and subsequently released, many after being subjected to humiliation and torture.

The fact that the British court is giving the matter lengthy and thorough review, notwithstanding Belgrade’s confused reaction, belies Sarajevo’s original expectations that the matter would be resolved quickly with Ganić’s complete vindication and triumphant return home. Regardless of the ultimate ruling in the case, the mere fact that Belgrade’s extradition request was not summarily discarded and that the Bosnian „statesman“ must undergo the lengthy rigours of a court procedure to sort out his responsibility for some rather grave offences, like General Pinochet before him, or any other similarly situated mortal, sends a clear signal that the free ride for the West’s favorite victims may be over.

This string of bitter reverses in the fields of sports, politics, and jurisprudence was ameliorated just in time by the long-expected ICTY judgment in the Popović et al. Case, made public on June 10. Not that there were any major surprises in the court’s findings: Serbian officers guilty, genocide, 7.000 to 8.000 victims, and all the rest. There is, however, one important novelty in the judgment. It is the shift from standard forensics[3] to the cutting edge technique of DNA analysis as the primary tool for dealing with the identification and quantification of exhumed human remains which constitute the corpus delicti of the Srebrenica case. In the Popović verdict, the chamber offers the following conclusions:

“Based on the evidence, the Trial Chamber has found that at least 5.336 identified individuals were killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica. However, noting that the evidence before it is not all encompassing, the Trial Chamber is satisfied that the number of identified individuals will rise. The Trial Chamber therefore considers that the number of individuals killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica could well be as high as 7.826.”[4]

The actual number of victims is a key aspect of the Srebrenica controversy and it goes also to the issue of genocide. It is manifestly incorrect to argue that provided the genocidal dolus specialis is demonstrated, even a handful of victims will do, so what is all the fuss about whether 8.000 or some other number were executed? In fact, it was precisely in the Krstić case that the chamber accepted the thesis that the “scale of killing,” i.e. numbers, was germane to genocidal intent.[5]

The real issue never was the courts’ attempts, provided they were in good faith, to determine the number of victims, but rather the methodologies they used in going about it. In both Krstić and Popović cases no attempt is made to disguise the fact that the “7.000 to 8.000” number of victims is sacrosanct and that evidence must be adjusted to fit that numerical target, rather than vice versa. It is thus that in Krstić the chamber claims, falsely as it turns out, that 2.208 Srebrenica bodies had been found at the time of judgment, and adds, quite absurdly, that in the opinion of unnamed experts 4.805 additional bodies supposedly relevant to the case lay in yet unexhumed mass graves. In relation to the critically important issue of numbers, it thus follows that the Krstić judgment was based not on a fact, but on a prognosis. Needless to say, ten years have passed since then but the predicted additional bodies have failed to materialise.

In testimony to the fact that nothing is new under the sun, or at least at ICTY, we now see the Popović chamber engaging in the same type of legal soothsaying in an attempt to gloss over the critical lack of executed bodies. The chamber notes that „the evidence before it is not all encompassing“ but since the magic figure of 8.000 must be reached by hook or by crook, it simply proclaims its conviction „that the number of individuals killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica could well be as high as 7.826.”

It would be useful to first review the grounds upon which that “conviction” is based and, indeed, the entire fabric of the chamber’s reasoning in this segment of its verdict before deciding whether to take its conclusions too seriously.

For starters, it would be a good idea to ask where the data on which the chamber’s conclusions are based comes from. The answer is in par. 638 et passim of the Popović judgment. The data come from the International Committee for Missing Persons [ICMP], an NGO based in Tuzla, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ICMP’s website projects the image of a benign humanitarian organization whose mission is to apply science, in this case DNA, to identify dead victims of the Bosnian conflict and to provide solace and closure to suirviving relatives. All fine and good. But there may be more to ICMP than meets the eye.

ICMP’s independence is debatable. It was formed in 1996 at the G-7 Summit in Lyon, France, at the initiative of US President Bill Clinton. The list of its chairmen so far reads like a US establishment Who is who. Its first chairman was former secretary of state Cyrus Vance, 1996-1997, followed by Bob Dole, 1997-2001. ICMP’s current chairman, „philantropist“ James Kimsey, used to be the chairman of America Online.

But is that meticulously nurtured humanitarian profile realistic, or is it but another Srebrenica illusion? The probability of the latter option is enhanced when one considers that the chairman of ICMP is appointed by none other than the Secretary of State of the United States. As we learn from State Department press release of May 11, 2001:

„Secretary Powell has appointed Jim Kinsey as the new US chairperson of the International Committee for Missing Persons (ICMP), the leading organisation involved in the identification of remains of people killed in recernt conflicts in the Balkans. Mr. Kinsey isd the Founding CEO and Chauirman Emeritus of America Online Inc.“

Though ICMP’s public image projects the impression of a classical NGO with purely humanitarian objectives, based on the mechanism whereby its management is appointed at least a conflict of interest issue could be raised. Not only that, but while fullfilling its mission it would seem that ICMP is not accountable to any scientific or juridical body. In the opinion of US political analyst George Pumphrey:

„It is a wing of the US State Department and publishes a ’nímport quoi’ to serve the propaganda interests of its masters. Many of their reports are so ambuguously worded that even if someone would attempt to verify their announcements, it would be impossible, because one is not sure if they are speaking of whole corpses or of pieces of corpses.“

Lack of accountability and its corollary, unverifiability, are indeed the salient features of ICMP’s work. ICMP’s data have never been seen or tested by independent experts, even in court settings where they were officially presented in evidence, such as in the Popović case. That took place in closed session and under severely restrictive conditions which did not allow the defence either the time or the resources for a comprehensive expert review of ICMP’s results. But as we learn, if true, those results are in fact quite sensational: 6,481 Srebrenica victims currently identified, and enough evidence leading ICMP to support an estimate of altogether around 8,100 individuals missing from the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.[6]

That is practically on the mark. In short, according to this, ICMP has cracked the Srebrenica case and put skeptics out of business.

If ICMP’s word is all that is required to show that, it may well be true. All requests for DNA profile matches and other pertinent data to be disclosed to be reviewed by independent experts are politely but firmly declined by ICMP. Its secretiveness is justified on the grounds that allowing public access to the data would be an insensitive act that would result in great indignity to the victims and compound the pain of the survivors. It claims that its hands in the matter are tied and that it can release the data only if the survivors would give their written permission. How likely is it in the Balkans that they ever would?

It seems that ICMP’s penchant for guarding the “privacy” of its data does go excessively far, even absurdly so. When Radovan Karadžić asked to be given access to their data for verification purposes, it came to light that in fact he was not precisely being discriminated against because the prosecution revealed that they, also, were denied proper access. Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff made the astonishing statement that “ICMP did not share DNA data with us, either. So it is not correct that they gave it to us, but not to others.”[7]

Reliance on ICMP findings is, therefore, little better then faith-based jurisprudence.

But even if protestations of privacy on behalf of family members who donated blood samples are to be accepted at face value, now that the 5,336 identified victim figure has been enshrined in the official judgment, it would seem simple and convenient to allay doubts by publishing at least the first and last names of all the 5,336 individuals involved. The publication of such a list is indispensable to verify, first of all, if the persons in question ever existed: if they did, whether they are really dead: and if they are dead, whether their deaths had anything to do with the execution of war prisoners in Srebrenica in July of 1995.

That ought not to offend anyone’s sensibilities because thousands of names of alleged Srebrenica victims have already been carved onto a huge slab of stone at the Potočari Memorial Centre, to be seen by everyone. The publication of these names of victims supposedly identified by DNA would not only be quite sensational, it would also make further forms of verification possible. Unfortunately, no such list is appended to the judgment or seems to be forthcoming.

But the Chamber’s biggest problem in this regard is not its failure to name the identified individuals (identification, it should be recalled, means assigning a first and last name rather than a number to each individual.) Nor is it even its cavalier prediction, reminiscent of the failed forecast in the Krstić judgment, that “the number of individuals killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica could well be as high as 7.826. It is, rather, that the Chamber is apparently ignorant of how DNA works and of what it can and cannot do.

That ignorance is reflected in the Chamber’s mystifying finding that “at least 5,336 identified individuals were killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica”, which is a scientific impossibility. By matching samples taken from the deceased person to biological material donated by the potential blood relative, DNA procedure can establish, with various degrees of certainty, the deceased’s probable identity. But in terms that are relevant to criminal liability it can do nothing more than that. It cannot help determine the time and manner of death. The deceased whose first and last name might indeed be established as a result of a successful match, could have been killed in combat, in an accident, or could have died of natural causes, and it could have happened in Srebrenica or someplace else. The casual suggestion made by the Chamber, that the 5,336 identified individuals “were killed in the executions following the fall of Srebrenica” is scientifically unwarranted and, as any biology student could inform the Chamber, it is absurd on its face. No one can make such a determination based on DNA data without exposing themselves to enormous ridicule.

But this is exactly the determination which the Chamber was obliged to make, because without the time and manner of death claim to go with it, the pompously announced DNA identification evidence is quite useless for conviction purposes.

It may be argued that the Chamber acted most unwisely by embracing the DNA approach without at least consulting a biology student about its usefulness before doing so. Once this segment of the judgment is subjected to thorough critical analysis, ICTY will discover that it will get even less in terms of evidence that can withstand critical analysis than was the case with the apparently jettisoned standard forensic approach. The standard approach at least had yielded 947 potential execution victims (442 with blindfolds and ligatures, plus 505 with bullet injuries). The methodology shift to DNA is incapable of demonstrating a single culpable death in terms of legally relevant criteria. It seeks to impress with the aura of high tech, but like any bluff it can last only as long as it remains unchallenged or, in this case, unexamined.

“ICMP’s identification techniques directly undermine revisionist attempts to deny mass atrocities,” crowed ICMP’s Director-General, Kathryn Bomberger. “By providing irrefutable evidence on victims’ identities, the ICMP helps judicial institutions bring war crime perpetrators to justice, restores victims’ humanity and dignity and brings a sense of closure for their surviving family members. These family members have a right to information concerning the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones”.[8]

One can only feel sad for international justice as long as it is stuck with astute legal minds of the caliber of those who composed the laughable Popović judgment, and as long as in evidentiary matters they continue to be assisted by charlatans such as Kathryn Bomberger.

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Footnotes:

[1] President of the Dutch NGO Srebrenica Historical Project.

[2] The autonomy of this institution on Canadian soil, not to mention its academic pretensions, may well be questioned. It turns out that the Canada-based Institute for the Research of Genocide was founded by an act of the Institute for the Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law at the University of Sarajevo as recently as August 2009 (http://www.instituteforgenocide.ca/about/).

[3] In the previous Srebrenica trials, Krstić and Blagojević asnd Jokić, the forensic evidence consisted of autopsy reports based on the examination of exhumed post-mortem remains. A critique of the Tribunal’s interpretation of that data was published by Dr. Ljubiša Simić, http://www.srebrenica-project.com/DOWNLOAD/post%20mortem/Forensic%20analysis%20of%20post-mortem%20reports.doc

[4] Prosecutor v. Popović et al., see par. 793, par. 837, and footnote 2862.

[5] Prosecutor v. Krstić, Appelate judgment, par. 35.

[6] http://www.instituteforgenocide.ca/6481-srebrenica-genocide-victims-identified-through-dna-science

[7] ICTY, Prosecutor v. Karadžić, Status conference, July 23, 2009, Transcript p. 364, lines 21-23.

[8] Radio Netherlands Worldwide, July 9, 2010: http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/over-6400-dead-srebrenica-muslims-identified

Yes, the translation to English of the label is correct….wow.

Clothing label by a small US company. This shipment was headed for France.

Small business is alive and well in America!

From: Capt.Evangelos Rigos
To: HELLENIC-NET@HEC.GREECE.ORG
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 3:43 AM
Subject: Jennifer Lopez cancels her performance

Dear HEC members and Friends,

Following CANA’s initiative, the whole Hellenism (CANA -AHEPA- PANMACEDONIAN-HEC and other Hellenic organizations) stood united in from of the illegal performance of
Jennifer Lopez. Thousands of letters reached Ms. Lopez and the outcome was to cancel her performance.

It was an example what UNITY can do for Hellenism.

Thanks to everyone who helped this campaign.

Evangelos Rigos
HEC Director

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Jennifer Lopez Out of Controversial N. Cyprus Concert

50 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

Jennifer Lopez has officially “withdrawn” from a concert in a European territory currently under military occupation — claiming she never would have agreed to perform had she known the “relevant circumstances” surrounding the intense political situation.

Lopez was scheduled to perform in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus … an area that neither the United Nations nor the European Union recognize as an independent sovereign state … because of the way it was illegally occupied by the Turkish military in 1974.

In fact, multiple Greek and Cypriot politicians expressed anger after reports surfaced claiming Lopez had agreed to perform at a swanky hotel in Northern Cyprus on July 24.

But a rep for Lopez tells TMZ, “Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse.”

The rep added, “After a full review of the relevant circumstances in Cyprus, it was the decision of management to withdraw from the appearance. This was a team decision that reflects our sensitivity to the political realities of the region.”

Tune in to TMZ on TV weekdays Monday through Friday (check http://www.tmz.com/tmztv/ for syndicated/local listings)

####

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The opinions expressed are those of the author(s)and not necessarily those of HEC.
Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) www.greece.org
This mailing list is powered by L-Soft’s renowned LISTSERV(R) software.

The blowback

The ongoing US intervention in the Balkans, against the Orthodox Christian Serbs, on the side of the Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo, is responsible for most of the jihadist resurgence in the past two decades. Every US president since Reagan left office has been siding with the Muslims in the Balkans, and this represents folly to the extent of treason against US interests. By now, anyone who still believes that the Saudis, or any Muslim nation for that matter, could possibly be allies of any non-Muslim nation is mentally incompetent to serve in public office.

Saudi Arabia is the source of the radical Wahhabi imams who are radicalizing other Muslims all over the world, including the US. The US/NATO intervention in the Balkans opened the door for them to work their evil, not only in the Balkans, but throughout the EU and the US.

A sample of the evidence

• Jihad Watch: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Wahhabist Muslims expel local mufti in bid to take over mosque
  

  “The Wahabi movement has slowly been taking roots in Muslim populated areas of the Balkans, increasingly resorting to violent acts.”

  Funny how that keeps happening. “Macedonia: Islamists blamed for attack on Skopje mufti,” from AdnKronos International, July 2:

  Skopje, 2 July(AKI) – Three people have been detained by police in Macedonia after local mufti Ibrahim Sabani was expelled from a mosque during religious services, local media reported on Friday. Islamists linked to the fundamentalist Wahabi movement have been blamed for the attack on the mufti and police said three suspects had been charged with disorderly conduct.

  Read the rest.

• Balkan Insight: Radical Islam “Threatens Macedonia”
  

  By Sinisa Jakov Marusic

  02 July 2010 The Skopje branch of the Islamic Religious Community, IVZ, in Macedonia has warned that radical Islamist groups following Wahhabi teachings are trying to take control of the central mosques in Skopje.

  Skopje Mufti Ibrahim Shabani, who is the head of the IVZ branch in the capital, made the remarks after a fist fight broke out on Friday in one of the main Skopje mosques when the dismissed leadership of the Isa-Bey mosque refused to let in the newly appointed imam from IVZ to lead the prayer.

  “This was a coup prepared by radicals who operate in Skopje,” Shabani said. “This criminal Wahhabi gang is known for its radical practices and misuse of Muslim believers.” 

  Shabani accused the discharged imam, Ramadan Ramadani, for leading the group that caused the incident.

  “We will ask the authorities to break these radical groups and bring them to justice. This was proof that the Wahhabi structures go against the institutions and against the IVZ constitution, the rule book and the hierarchy,” Shabani said.

  Ramadani denied any involvement with radical groups.

  Read the rest.

• Ground Zero Mosque: Americans Get a Taste of Serbdom
  

  By Julia Gorin
  Last week I blogged about the radical Islam that, thanks to our interventions in the Balkans, has entrenched itself in Kosovo and is now proceeding according to plan. That is, targeting not the Christians whom we helped them target originally, but the ultimately intended victims: the area’s non-radicalized Muslims. I also mentioned the connection of this trend to the participation of Albanians on the Gaza Flotilla.

  The very day that I posted these items, there was a new blog acknowledging the same problem — from none other than the Weekly Standard’s Stephen “Suleyman Ahmad al-Kosovi” Schwartz. Schwartz spent the 1990s making radicalization of the Balkans inevitable by shilling for the “national” interests of the nominal Muslims there — who surely would be immune to the radicals we were infesting the region with! …

  [Clipped for length]

  …[T]he international community has failed to protect non-Albanian language rights and [has] allowed the flag of the Republic of Albania to fly on most public institutions since 1999. In their report’s conclusion, the UN officers point out that the Pristina sports stadium is emblazoned with “an enormous picture of an armed, bearded, combat-uniformed KLA leader.” Such an image, they argue, runs counter to the UN’s original mission of making Kosovo a secure environment for all residents. Failure to remove the provocative poster demonstrates that the international community is in fact “bowing to the dictates of extremists and warlords.”

  That comes from a 2008 interview with Canadian military reporter Scott Taylor, who in a subsequent article underscored that “there are innumerable monuments all over Kosovo to honour these ‘heroes’ and ‘martyrs.’ Given that this conflict in Kosovo was a bloody inter-ethnic civil war, and the fact that the original NATO mandate was to provide a safe environment for all Kosovo minorities…these monuments to KLA fighters only serve to intimidate non-Albanians.”

  Intimidation. Precisely the point of the Ground Zero mosque. Yet what could Americans expect to happen when they raised no concerted objection — and continue to raise no objection — to our leaders doing this very thing to other Christian nations? Remember, what we’re doing with Kosovo is still reversible, with only 69 recognitions out of 192 UN members (35.94%) so far approving of the independence that would enshrine and legitimize this international crime engineered to win over Greater Islam.

  Like many others, even while fretting about the Islamization that has been the result of supporting the violent Albanian national cause, Schwartz continues to support that cause.

  As Peter Worthington, an early detector of the Kosovo fraud, wrote last year in the Edmonton Sun, supporters of the Kosovo war should be embarrassed. Instead, they shamelessly continue talking and writing about this issue. Suleyman al-Kosovi Schwartz is in no position to still be flapping his gums instead of feeling like the useful idiot that he is.

  Does the Weakly Standard have any idea that the man whose Balkans writings it promotes is a fraud? I realize that the term “neocon,” at least in my interpretation of it, means one who takes a longer time to appreciate reality, but this is ridiculous.

  But then, we’re always in a vacuum when the subject concerns Serbs. Why, that wasn’t Islamism — merely Albaniansism, and necessarily the result of something the Serbs themselves must have caused. Much like the way people view the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (And never mind that Islam and Albanianism have innumberable uncanny similarities.)

  If the Ground Zero mosque goes ahead, Americans will get the slightest sense of what it feels like to be a Serb living on Serbian land, occupied by one’s tormentors. Some might call it poetic justice. I call it the logical conclusion of Western policies in the Balkans, where the demise of the Free World was sealed by our own hand. What we did to Balkans Christianity when we joined the jihad against it on five fronts was the beginning of the end for all of us.

  Read it all.

Follow the money, if you can

Who is paying for the huge Ground Zero mosque complex? That’s a good question. Saudi Arabia has provided lavish funding for Wahhabi mosques, community centers, “charities,” and other establishments throughout the world. But there has yet to be any official word on the funding source for the Ground Zero mosque.

• The Ground Zero mosque and media conquest of Islam

  …An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building with US$ 4.85 million cash steps away from where the World Trade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques or Ian slamic Mecca right inside USA.

  The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’

  The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said.

  Most US mosques, including many in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are funded directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia the country to which 15 of the 19 hijackers who bombed the World Trade Center belonged. The UAE, Qatar and Iran are other major sponsors across the USA…
  Read it all.

Political correctness versus survival

It is time for Constitutional amendment to disqualify Islam as a religion protected under the First Amendment. It is not a religion, but an expansionist, totalitarian, enemy ideology that seeks to rid the world of everything other than itself. The same amendment should ban immigration or naturalization of Muslims, as well as forbidding the signing of any treaty or alliance, the sale of any weaponry, or the rendering of any form of assistance to any country or nation with a predominantly Muslim population – with absolutely no exceptions whatsoever. And I do mean NO exceptions, not even if the country’s current government claims to be secular.

In ANY conflict, the side with the Muslims is always the wrong side. They are, by their own definition, always our enemies.

From: AHEPA
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 12:42 AM
Subject: AHEPA Requests Entertainer Lopez to Cancel Performance in Occupied Cyprus

Dear Brothers, Daughters, Sons, Maids and Friends of AHEPA

For Immediate Release
Monday, July 05, 2010
Contact: AHEPA Headquarters
Phone: (202) 232-6300
Email: press@ahepa.org

News Release

AHEPA Requests Entertainer Lopez to Cancel Performance in Occupied Cyprus

WASHINGTON – AHEPA Supreme President Nicholas A. Karacostas sent a letter to Entertainer Jennifer Lopez requesting that she cancel her performance this month in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. The performance is planned to occur in Kyrenia at the Cratos Hotel & Casino where she also plans to celebrate her birthday. The hotel will open its doors on the 36th “Black Anniversary” of Turkey’s illegal invasion and subsequent occupation of the Republic of Cyprus.

A copy of The Weekly Standard article “Bare Ruined Choirs: Turkey’s war on the cultural heritage of Cyprus” by Katherine Eastland and a reference to the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s 2009 briefing “Cyprus’ Religious Cultural Heritage in Peril” and the Law Library of Congress’s report on the destruction of cultural property in Cyprus and violations of international law by Turkey were included with the letter to Ms. Lopez.

Please join with AHEPA Supreme President Karacostas and add your voice to the call requesting Ms. Lopez to cancel her visit to occupied northern Cyprus. Sign AHEPA’s online petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/jlocyprus.

###

---

AHEPA is the largest Greek-American association in the world with chapters in the United States, Canada, Greece, Cyprus, and sister chapters in Australia and New Zealand. It was established in 1922 by visionary Greek Americans to protect Hellenes from prejudice originating from the KKK, and in its history, AHEPA joined with the NAACP and B’nai B’rith International to fight discrimination.

The mission of the AHEPA family is to promote the ancient Greek ideals of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility and family and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism.

For more information about the AHEPA family, or how to join, please contact AHEPA Headquarters, (202) 232-6300 or visit www.ahepa.org.

This is an electronic news service of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.
1909 Q Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-232-6300 Fax: 202-232-2140 Email: ahepa@ahepa.org

Click this link to get it.

This animated news ticker from Gates of Vienna looks attractive and works well. Clicking on any of the headlines will get you directly to the blog, so that you can participate in the comments. It’s already in the sidebar of 1389 Blog; scroll down to check it out!

Gates of Vienna is the voice of the European counterjihad. They also offer an excellent daily news feed that covers worldwide news with an emphasis on the counterjihad cause, along with other economic and political issues. It’s worth visiting the blog every day.

There are a variety of tools and techniques for linking content from other blogs. If you’re a blogger, you can choose whatever best suits your work habits, the style of your blog, and the bandwidth available to those who typically read your blog. For example, you can use the built-in RSS feed widgets in WordPress or Blogger to set up clickable headline feeds from the other blogs that you wish to support.