2009. március 28., szombat

...ki esküszik s azt megszegi...

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Fotós-szerkesztő: OSZTYAPENKO

KIS FIÚ
Anyácska; áruló volt-é apám?
LADY MACDUFF
Az volt, fiam.
KIS FIÚ
S mi az az áruló?
LADY MACDUFF
Hát a ki esküszik s azt megszegi.
KIS FIÚ
S mind áruló, ki így tesz?
LADY MACDUFF
Mind áruló, s azt mind felakasztják.
KIS FIÚ
Mind felakasztják, a ki esküszik s azt megszegi?
LADY MACDUFF
Mind föl azt.
KIS FIÚ
S ki akasztatja föl?
LADY MACDUFF
Hát a becsületes emberek.

Ami közelebbről az árulót vagy az árulást illeti, arra vonatkozólag
Shakespeare föntebb idézett mondatai legalább adnak támpontokat.

Ki esküszik s azt megszegi.

Persze ennek csak akkor van értelme, ha bevezetjük a hallgatólagos eskü fogalmát, ami abban állna, hogy ráutaló magatartásával az egyed kvázi elkötelezi magát az ő családja, osztálya, baráti köre, golfklubja, etnikuma, vércsoportja, eszmetársai, általánosabban bizonyos, a saját személyén kívül álló, de általa mégis fontosnak vélt dolgok, elvek vagy értékek mellett, aztán a valóságban ellenük dolgozik.

Ebből máris adódik számunkra egy fontos következtetés:
nem lehet áruló az az egyén, akiről köztudott, hogy számára a saját érdekein és a hatalom pőre akarásán kívül semmi se számít.

Besúgó persze válhat belőle, ha megfelelő helyen és időben születik, de áruló nem, mert az árulóvá váláshoz kell egy bizonyos erkölcsi minimum.

Aki az etikai szférán kívül rekedt,
abból lehet ugyan népvezér,
de Júdásnak még a lábát se moshatja meg.
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Poesia Latinoamericana I

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Luis Chaves
después del recital

la mitad son amigos.
como prueba máxima de solidaridad.
la otra mitad equivocó el bar.
pero es mal visto levantarse. y llueve afuera.
así que bueno. qué se le va a hacer.

entre más sillas vacías que botellas.
los poetas se acercan al micrófono con la derecha atrás.
la izquierda intenta calmar al papel enloquecido de pánico.

nunca falta el señor erudito:
- este no tiene unidad temática. aquel formal.

¿acaso ellos mismos no dicen: la vida es poesía?

¿será que la vida no llega en buen orden
sino patadas y con espuma en la boca?

para ellos es asunto de métrica y reglas.
como si la tristeza rimara.
o la soledad visitara en días pares.

no será que la poesía es esas sillas desiertas.
el tipo que bosteza en la mesa del fondo
el autobús que hay que alcanzar lanzándosele en frente

¿será llegar a una avenida después del carnaval?

contrahombre
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Magyarsága miatt támadták meg a szerbek - magyar gyalázás a Délvidékén

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Felszólítás a Magyar Koalíció vezetőihez

(Az Emberi Jogi Központ közleménye)

2009. március 17-én, kedden 7-8 szerb fiatal megtámadta Balog Eliot 16 éves bezdáni fiút, akinek súlyos sérüléseket okoztak. A támadás este hét óra körül történt a zombori buszállomáson.
A sértett édesanyja kérdésünkre elmondta, hogy fiát azok a 18 év körüli szerb fiatalok támadták meg, akik ugyanabba a műszaki középiskolába járnak, ahova Eliot. A támadást megelőző héten az egyik küllődi (Kolut) szerb fiú megkérdezte Eliottól, hogy „Jesi ti Mađar?” (Te magyar vagy?). Ő igennel válaszolt, majd megkérdezte, hogy miért kérdezik. Erre a szerb fiatalok csak annyit feleltek, hogy: „Dobro, dobro”. (Jól van, jól van). Néhány napra rá (március 16-án) Eliotot a szerb fiúk közül egyikük meglökte, amit ő hasonlóképpen viszonzott. Az incidens után a szerb fiatalok azt tanácsolták neki, hogy iratkozzon ki az iskolából, majd a következő szavakkal fenyegették meg: „Sutra si gotov”! (Holnap véged van!). Másnap a fenyegetés beváltásától tartva Eliot kollégája egy önvédelmi célokra használatos gázsprayt adott Eliotnak.
A támadók hátulról közelítettek, és amint a magyar fiú megfordult, egy boxerrel arcon ütötték, ennek következtében nekiesett egy üvegkirakatnak. Ezután még volt annyi ereje, hogy elszökjön támadóitól, akik azonban üldözőbe vették, de mire utolérték volna, sikerült elővennie az önvédelmi gázsprayt, amellyel lefújta a támadókat, de így is súlyos sérüléseket szenvedett, eltörött az orra és az arccsontja. A sértettet a sürgősségi betegellátó osztályra vitték, ahol az ügyeletes átvette, majd értesítette a rendőrséget. (Eliot sérülése műtétre szorult, amit 2009. március 24-én el is végeztek.)
Az édesanya azon felvetésére, hogy Eliotot magyarsága miatt támadták meg, a rendőrök azt válaszolták, hogy hagyják ezt a „nemzeti alapon történt támadás” mesét (az édesanya nem tudta pontosan felidézni a rendőrök szavait, de ez volt a lényege). A hozzátartozók arról is beszámoltak, hogy szinte mindennaposak a szerb diákok részéről a magyar diákok számlájára elhangzó sértések, negatív jelzők Zomborban, amit legtöbb esetben a magyar diákok elengednek a fülük mellett.
A helyzet tarthatatlanságára való tekintettel, felszólítjuk a Magyar Koalíció vezetőit, Pásztor Istvánt, Ágoston Andrást és Páll Sándort, hogy a leghatározottabban ítéljék el a történteket, illetve tegyék meg a szükséges intézkedéseket (személyi konzekvenciák kérdése) azon megnyilatkozásokkal kapcsolatban, amelyeket az MK képviseletében politikusok tettek a helyzet javulására vonatkozóan, miközben ma semmivel sem jobb a délvidéki magyarság helyzete. A semmitmondó nyilatkozatok helyett végre konkrét intézkedéseket várunk, de mindenekelőtt biztosítsanak ingyenes jogi képviseletet Balog Eliot számára.

(Habár az Emberi Jogi Központ alapvető céljai között szerepel a sértettek ingyenes jogi képviselete, feladatát nem tudja ellátni, mivel már több mint két éve nem részesült magyar állami támogatásban. Amennyiben az ingyenes jogi képviselet biztosítása anyagi akadályokba ütközne, az MK forduljon ahhoz a néhány délvidéki magyar szervezethez, amelyek kiváltságos helyzetüknél fogva a Szülőföld Alap által odaítélt támogatások jelentős részét rendszerint megkapják.)

Szenttamás, 2009. március 25. Emberi Jogi Központ

http://www.humanrightscenter.net/
office@humanrightscenter.net
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Profite de la guerre...

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2009. március 27., péntek

On aime / On n’aime pas

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Zentropa

Le patriotisme/ Le chauvinisme
Le pardon/ La complaisance
L’absinthe/ Le coca
Les anti-utilitaristes/ les antifas
L’ivresse/ La défonce
L’autogestion/ Les stock-options
Les droits de l’enfant/ Le droit à l’enfant
La randonnée/ Le tourisme
La fierté/ L’égotisme
Les veillées/ Les discothèques
Les commerçants/ Les commerciaux
Le rock’n roll/ La tecktonik
Les écologistes/ Les Verts
Renaud Camus/ Guillaume Dustan
La courtoisie/ La flagornerie
L’Europe/ L’union européenne
Les paysans/ Monsanto
Benoît XVI/ Sarkozy
L’Ordre/ La ploutocratie
Le mérite/ Le copinage
Le sport/ Les JO
Les indiens/ Les casinos
Les compagnons du devoir/ Les étudiants de Sciences-po
Klaus Kinski/ Vincent Lindon
Les hussards/ Les dandys
Les tribunes/ Le foot
Le rugby/ Les calendriers
La gastronomie/ Le fooding
Proudhon/ Lénine
Le principe monarchique/ les fins de race à particules
La neige et le froid/ Quand ça dure 8 mois
Le train/ La voiture
L’autonomie/ Le salariat
Albator/ Dragon Ball Z
Le service public/ la bureaucratie
Montherlant/ Le nouveau roman
La sensibilité/ Le sentimentalisme
Les feux/ Les néons
La pauvreté/ La misère
L’élégance/ Le snobisme
Les livres/ Les E.book
Les bistrots/ Les lounge
Choisir notre servitude/ La liberté abstraite
Marguerite Yourcenar/ Marguerite Duras
Les anti-mondialistes/ Les alter-mondialistes
Le petit Jésus/ Ceux qui l’oublient tout en portant le symbole de son sacrifice autour du cou
La grande vadrouille/ Bienvenu chez les Ch’tis
Les basques/ L’ETA
La phalange/ La droite
L’humour/ Les comiques
Le pâté Hénaff/ le KFC
La bouffarde/ Le cigare
Les soldats/ Les flics
Les militants/ Les poseurs
La radicalité/ L’extrémisme
Nos femmes/ les féministes
Le musée d’Orsay/ le centre Pompidou
Clint Eastwood/ Sean Penn
Les acadiens/ les floridiens
L’adoption/ La fécondation in-vitro
Aimer/ Devoir tout aimer

Jesús Franco
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333 éve született felsővadászi II. Rákóczi Ferenc a német - római birodalom hercege, a Nagyságos Fejedelem

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II. Rákóczi Ferenc 1676. március 27-én a Rákóczi hercegségben a felvidéki Borsiban született ahonnét üstökösként indul el élete - nemzeti történelmünk legfényesebb csillaga -, hogy a későbbi Magyarországnak és a világnak ragyogjon önfeláldozó hazaszeretete. Édesapját I. Rákóczi Ferencet korai halála miatt nem ismerhette meg. A Nagy Magyar Szabadságharc vezére és legkiválóbb egyénisége apai ágon régi nemesi magyar család, az Árpád-kori Bogát - Radván nemzetségből származott. A másik az anyai ág kiváló ősei a híres, nagy történelmi múlttal rendelkező Zrínyi család. Híres felmenője gróf Zrínyi Miklós Szigetvár hős védője, aki a török elleni és a hazát oltalmazó szabadságküzdelmek mártírja lett. A leghíresebb, gróf Zrínyi Miklós a politikus, költő és hadvezér a nagyapa testvére. Zrínyi Ilona hercegnő - fejedelemasszony, Munkács várának hős védője csodálatos asszonyként vívta “Dávid és Góliát” küzdelmét, három évig ellenállva a Habsburg támadásoknak. Miután elárulták a hős védőt, a császár Bécsbe hurcoltatta Zrínyi Ilonát, akitől örökre elszakították kisgyermekét “Ferkó” 1688. március 27-én, tizenkettedik születésnapján került Bécsbe, ahonnét azonnal a jezsuiták neuhaus-i rendházába vitték. Kiváló középiskolai eredményeit elérve egyetemi tanulmányait Prágában végezte. Idegen hatalmak örökre elszakították az anyát a fiától. A tragikus sorsú fejedelemasszony soha többé nem látta gyermekét, az imádott “kis Herceget”.

Felnőttként hazatérve kiáltványban szólította harcba Magyarország minden “nemes és nemtelen” lakosát. Esze Tamásnak átadta a “Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate” (Istennel a Hazáért és a Szabadságért) feliratú piros selyemzászlókat. II. Rákóczi Ferenc herceg 1703. június 16-án - mindössze 27 évesen - lépte át jelképesen a Vereckei-hágónál a magyar határt. Ezzel a népi kezdeményezésű felkeléssel megkezdődött a nyolc évig tartó Nagy Magyar Rákóczi Szabadságharc.

Külföldi kortársa így írt róla: “A legjobban csodálható méltóságteljes megjelenése, okossága, ötletessége, előkelő modora és erénye. Nemzetéhez hű, vallásában igen hívő, igazmondó, szép termetű, igen tudós, vitéz ember.”

Adja meg az Isten a magyar nemzetnek, hogy mielőbb a Nagyságos Fejedelemhez hasonló, tisztalelkű, hívő és igazságkereső államférfi álljon a szegény meggyötört Hazánk élére.

Magyar - Osztrák - Bajor Társaság

II. Rákóczi Ferenc lovassági zászlója
Iustam causam Deus non derelinquet"
Isten az igaz ügyet nem hagyja el.

www.nemzetihirhalo.hu

2009. március 26., csütörtök

Central America: An Emerging Role in The Drug Trade

By Stephen Meiners

As part of STRATFOR’s coverage of the security situation in Mexico, we have observed some significant developments in the drug trade in the Western Hemisphere over the past year. While the United States remains the top destination for South American-produced cocaine, and Mexico continues to serve as the primary transshipment route, the path between Mexico and South America is clearly changing.

These changes have been most pronounced in Central America, where Mexican drug-trafficking organizations have begun to rely increasingly on land-based smuggling routes as several countries in the region have stepped up monitoring and interdiction of airborne and maritime shipments transiting from South America to Mexico.

The results of these changes have been extraordinary. According to a December 2008 report from the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center, less than 1 percent of the estimated 600 to 700 tons of cocaine that departed South America for the United States in 2007 transited Central America. The rest, for the most part, passed through the Caribbean Sea or Pacific Ocean en route to Mexico. Since then, land-based shipment of cocaine through Central America appears to have ballooned. Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen McFarland estimated in an interview with a Guatemalan newspaper that cocaine now passes through that country at a rate of approximately 300 to 400 tons per year.

Notwithstanding the difficulty associated with estimating drug flows, it is clear that Central America has evolved into a significant transshipment route for drugs, and that the changes have taken place rapidly. These developments warrant a closer look at the mechanics of the drug trade in the region, the actors involved, and the implications for Central American governments — for whom drug-trafficking organizations represent a much more daunting threat than they do for Mexico.

Some Background

While the drug trade in the Western Hemisphere is multifaceted, it fundamentally revolves around the trafficking of South American-produced cocaine to the United States, the world’s largest market for the drug. Drug shipment routes between Peru and Colombia — where the vast majority of cocaine is cultivated and produced — and the United States historically have been flexible, evolving in response to interdiction efforts or changing markets. For example, Colombian drug traffickers used to control the bulk of the cocaine trade by managing shipping routes along the Caribbean smuggling corridor directly to the United States. By the 1990s, however, as the United States and other countries began to focus surveillance and interdiction efforts along this corridor, the flow of U.S.-bound drugs was forced into Mexico, which remains the main transshipment route for the overwhelming majority of cocaine entering the United States.

A similar situation has been occurring over the last two years in Central America. From the 1990s until as recently as 2007, traffickers in Mexico received multiton shipments of cocaine from South America. There was ample evidence of this, including occasional discoveries of bulk cocaine on everything from small propeller aircraft and Gulfstream jets to self-propelled semisubmersible vessels, fishing trawlers and cargo ships. These smuggling platforms had sufficient range and capacity to bypass Central America and ship bulk drugs directly to Mexico.

By early 2008, however, a series of developments in several Central American countries suggested that drug-trafficking organizations — Mexican cartels in particular — were increasingly trying to establish new land-based smuggling routes through Central America for cocaine shipments from South America to Mexico and eventual delivery to the United States. While small quantities of drugs had certainly transited the region in the past, the routes used presented an assortment of risks. A combination of poorly maintained highways, frequent border crossings, volatile security conditions and unpredictable local criminal organizations apparently presented such great logistical challenges that traffickers opted to send the majority of their shipments through well-established maritime and airborne platforms.

In response to this relatively unchecked international smuggling, several countries in the region began taking steps to increase the monitoring and interdiction of such shipments. The Colombian government, for one, stepped up monitoring of aircraft operating in its airspace. The Mexican government installed updated radar systems and reduced the number of airports authorized to receive flights originating in Central and South America. The Colombian government estimates that the aerial trafficking of cocaine from Colombia has decreased by as much as 90 percent since 2003.

Maritime trafficking also appears to have suffered over the past few years, most likely due to greater cooperation and information-sharing between Mexico and the United States. The United States has an immense capability to collect maritime technical intelligence, and an increasing degree of awareness regarding drug trafficking at sea. Two examples of this progress include the Mexican navy’s July 2008 capture — acting on intelligence provided by the United States — of a self-propelled semisubmersible vessel loaded with more than five tons of cocaine, and the U.S. Coast Guard’s February 2009 interdiction of a Mexico-flagged fishing boat loaded with some seven tons of cocaine about 700 miles off Mexico’s Pacific coast. Presumably as a result of successes such as these, the Mexican navy reported in 2008 that maritime trafficking had decreased by an estimated 60 percent over the last two years.

While it is impossible to independently corroborate the Mexican and Colombian governments’ estimates on the degree to which air- and seaborne drug trafficking has decreased over the last few years, developments in Central America over the past year certainly support their assessments. In particular, STRATFOR has observed that in order to make up for losses in maritime and aerial trafficking, land-based smuggling routes are increasingly being used — not by Colombian cocaine producers or even Central American drug gangs, but by the now much more powerful Mexican drug-trafficking organizations.

Mechanics of Central American Drug Trafficking

It is important to clarify that what we are defining as land-based trafficking is not limited to overland smuggling. The methods associated with land-based trafficking can be divided into three categories: overland smuggling, littoral maritime trafficking and short-range aerial trafficking.


The most straightforward of these is simple overland smuggling. As a series of investigations in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua demonstrated last year, overland smuggling operations use a wide variety of approaches. In one case, authorities pieced together a portion of a route being used by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel in which small quantities of drugs entered Costa Rica from Panama via the international point of entry on the Pan-American Highway. The cocaine was often held for several days in a storage facility before being loaded onto another vehicle to be driven across the country on major highways. Upon approaching the Nicaraguan border, however, the traffickers opted to avoid the official port of entry and instead transferred the shipments into Nicaragua on foot or on horseback along a remote part of the border. Once across, the shipments were taken to the shores of the large inland Lake Nicaragua, where they were transferred onto boats to be taken north, at which point they would be loaded onto vehicles to be driven toward the Honduran border. In one case in Nicaragua, authorities uncovered another Sinaloa-linked route that passed through Managua and is believed to have followed the Pan-American Highway through Honduras and into El Salvador.

The second method associated with land-based trafficking involves littoral maritime operations. Whereas long-range maritime trafficking involves large cargo ships and self-propelled semisubmersible vessels capable of delivering multiton shipments of drugs from South America to Mexico without having to refuel, littoral trafficking tends to involve so-called “go-fast boats” that are used to carry smaller quantities of drugs at higher speeds over shorter distances. This method is useful to traffickers who might want to avoid, for whatever reason, a certain stretch of highway or perhaps even an entire country. According to Nicaraguan military officials, several go-fast boats are suspected of operating off the country’s coasts and of sailing outside Nicaraguan territorial waters in order to avoid authorities. While it is possible to make the entire trip from South America to Mexico using only this method — and making frequent refueling stops — it is believed that littoral trafficking is often combined with an overland network.

The third method associated with land-based drug smuggling involves short-range aerial operations. In these cases, clandestine planes make stops in Central America before either transferring their cargo to a land vehicle or making another short flight toward Mexico. Over the past year, several small planes loaded with drugs or cash have crashed or been seized in Honduras, Mexico and other countries in the region. In addition, authorities in Guatemala have uncovered several clandestine airstrips allegedly managed by the Mexican drug-trafficking organization Los Zetas. These examples suggest that even as overall aerial trafficking appears to have decreased dramatically, the practice continues in Central America. Indeed, there is little reason to expect that it would not continue, considering that many countries in the region lack the resources to adequately monitor their airspace.

While each of these three methods involves a different approach to drug smuggling, the methods share two important similarities. For one, the vehicles involved — be they speedboats, small aircraft or private vehicles — have limited cargo capacities, which means land-based trafficking generally involves cocaine shipments in quantities no greater than a few hundred pounds. While smaller quantities in more frequent shipments mean more handling, they also mean that less product is lost if a shipment is seized. More importantly, each of these land-based methods requires that a drug-trafficking organization maintain a presence inside Central America.

Actors Involved

There are a variety of drug-trafficking organizations operating inside Central America. In addition to some of the notorious local gangs — such as Calle 18 and MS-13 — there is also a healthy presence of foreign criminal organizations. Colombian drug traffickers, for example, historically have been no strangers to the region. However, as STRATFOR has observed over the past year, it is the more powerful Mexico-based drug-trafficking organizations that appear to be overwhelmingly responsible for the recent upticks in land-based narcotics smuggling in Central America.

Based on reports of arrests and drug seizures in the region over the past year, it is clear that no single Mexican cartel maintains a monopoly on land-based drug trafficking in Central America. Los Zetas, for example, are extremely active in several parts of Guatemala, where they engage in overland and short-range aerial trafficking. The Sinaloa cartel, which STRATFOR believes is the most capable Mexican trafficker of cocaine, has been detected operating a fairly extensive overland smuggling route from Panama to El Salvador. Some intelligence gaps remain regarding, for example, the precise route Sinaloa follows from El Salvador to Mexico or the route Los Zetas use between South America and Guatemala. It is certainly possible that these two Mexican cartels do not rely exclusively on any single route or method in the region. But the logistical challenges associated with establishing even one route across Central America make it likely that existing routes are maintained even after they have been detected — and are defended if necessary.

The operators of the Mexican cartel-managed routes also do not match a single profile. At times, Mexican cartel members themselves have been found to be operating in Central America. More common is the involvement of locals in various phases of smuggling operations. Nicaraguan and Salvadoran nationals, for example, have been arrested in northwestern Nicaragua for operating a Sinaloa-linked overland and littoral route into El Salvador. Authorities in Costa Rica have arrested Costa Rican nationals for their involvement in overland routes through that country. In that case, a related investigation in Panama led to the arrest of several Mexican nationals who reportedly had recently arrived in the area to more closely monitor the operation of their route.

One exception is Guatemala, where Mexican drug traffickers appear to operate much more extensively than in any other Central American country; this may be due, at least in part, to the relationship between Los Zetas and the Guatemalan Kaibiles. Beyond the apparently more-established Zeta smuggling operations there, several recent drug seizures — including an enormous 1,800-acre poppy plantation attributed to the Sinaloa cartel — make it clear that other Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are currently active inside Guatemala. Sinaloa was first suspected of increasing its presence in Guatemala in early 2008, when rumors surfaced that the cartel was attempting to recruit local criminal organizations to support its own drug-trafficking operations there. The ongoing Zeta-Sinaloa rivalry at that time triggered a series of deadly firefights in Guatemala, prompting fears that the bloody turf battles that had led to record levels of organized crime-related violence inside Mexico would extend into Central America.

Security Implications in Central America

Despite these concerns and the growing presence of Mexican traffickers in the region, there apparently have been no significant spikes in drug-related violence in Central America outside of Guatemala. Several factors may explain this relative lack of violence.

First, most governments in Central America have yet to launch large-scale counternarcotics campaigns. The seizures and arrests that have been reported so far have generally been the result of regular police work, as opposed to broad changes in policies or a significant commitment of resources to address the problem. More significantly, though, the quantities of drugs seized probably amount to just a drop in the bucket compared to the quantity of drugs that moves through the region on a regular basis. Because seizures have remained low, Mexican drug traffickers have yet to launch any significant reprisal attacks against government officials in any country outside Guatemala. In that country, even the president has received death threats and had his office bugged, allegedly by drug traffickers.

The second factor, which is related to the first, is that drug traffickers operating in Central America likely rely more heavily on bribes than on intimidation to secure the transit of drug shipments. This assessment follows from the region’s reputation for official corruption (especially in countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala) and the economic disadvantage that many of these countries face compared to the Mexican cartels. For example, the gross domestic product of Honduras is $12 billion, while the estimated share of the drug trade controlled by the Mexican cartels is estimated to be $20 billion.

Finally, Mexican cartels currently have their hands full at home. Although Central America has undeniably become more strategically important for the flow of drugs from South America, the cartels in Mexico have simultaneously been engaged in a two-front war at home against the Mexican government and against rival criminal organizations. As long as this war continues at its present level, Mexican drug traffickers may be reluctant to divert significant resources too far from their home turf, which remains crucial in delivering drug shipments to the United States.

Looking Ahead

That said, there is no guarantee that Central America will continue to escape the wrath of Mexican drug traffickers. On the contrary, there is reason for concern that the region will increasingly become a battleground in the Mexican cartel war.

For one thing, the Merida Initiative, a U.S. anti-drug aid program that will put some $300 million into Mexico and about $100 million into Central America over the next year, could be perceived as a meaningful threat to drug-trafficking operations. If Central American governments choose to step up counternarcotics operations, either at the request of the United States or in order to qualify for more Merida money, they risk disrupting existing smuggling operations to the extent that cartels begin to retaliate.

Also, even though Mexican cartels may be reluctant to divert major resources from the more important war at home, it is important to recognize that a large-scale reassignment of cartel operatives or resources from Mexico to Central America might not be necessary to have a significant impact on the security situation in any given Central American country. Given the rampant corruption and relatively poor protective security programs in place for political leaders in the region, very few cartel operatives or resources would actually be needed if a Mexican drug-trafficking organization chose to, for example, conduct an assassination campaign against high-ranking government officials.

Governments are not the only potential threat to drug traffickers in Central America. The increases in land-based drug trafficking in the region could trigger intensified competition over trafficking routes. Such turf battles could occur either among the Mexican cartels or between the Mexicans and local criminal organizations, which might try to muscle their way into the lucrative smuggling routes or attempt to grab a larger percentage of the profits.

If the example of Mexico is any guide, the drug-related violence that could be unleashed in Central America would easily overwhelm the capabilities of the region’s governments. Last year, STRATFOR considered the possibility of Mexico becoming a failed state. But Mexico is a far stronger and richer country than its fragile southern neighbors, who simply do not have the resources to deal with the cartels on their own.

http://www.stratfor.com/
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Action makes Freedom!

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Ilich Ramírez en "Los Papeles de Bolivar"

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En su 5ª edición, y coincidiendo con el cumpleaños del Comandante Ilich Ramírez Sánchez "Carlos", este més (octubre, 2008), la publicación revolucionaria internacionalista "Los Papeles de Bolivar", se ha ocupado de la verdadera historia del Comandante Carlos. Además de una biografía redactada por su hermano pequeño Vladimir, y el último téxto redactado por Ilich Ramirez, desde la prisión de París donde permanece secuestrado, y relativo al aniversario de su secuestro en Sudán a manos del Servicio Secreto francés, esta publicación incluye algunas fotografías familiares, de Ilich y su hermano, que no habían sido publicadas nunca.

"Los Papeles de Bolivar", en formato digital, puede solicitarse a damahum@gmail.com y ejemplares en papel se distribuyen regularmente en centros libertarios, asociaciones revolucionarias, etc.
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2009. március 25., szerda

Turkey's fallout with Israel deals blow to settlers

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by Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 25 March 2009

A sign put up by Palestinians refusing to leave their homes and their supporters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, March 2009. (Anne Paq/ActiveStills)

A legal battle being waged by Palestinian families to stop the takeover of their neighborhood in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers has received a major fillip from the recent souring of relations between Israel and Turkey.

After the Israeli army's assault on the Gaza Strip in January, lawyers for the families were given access to Ottoman land registry archives in Ankara for the first time, providing what they say is proof that title deeds produced by the settlers are forged.

On Monday, Palestinian lawyers presented the Ottoman documents to an Israeli court, which is expected to assess their validity over the next few weeks. The lawyers hope that proceedings to evict about 500 residents from Sheikh Jarrah will be halted.

The families' unprecedented access to the Turkish archives may mark a watershed, paving the way for successful appeals by other Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank caught in legal disputes with settlers and the Israeli government over land ownership.

Interest in the plight of Sheikh Jarrah's residents peaked in November when one couple, Fawziya and Mohammed Kurd, were evicted from their home by an Israeli judge. Mohammed Kurd, who was chronically ill, died days later.

Meanwhile, Fawziya Khurd, 63, has staged a protest by living in a tent on waste ground close to her former home. Israeli police have torn down the tent six times and she is facing a series of fines from the Jerusalem municipality.

The problems facing Kurd and the other residents derive from legal claims by the Sephardi Jewry Association that it purchased Sheikh Jarrah's land in the 19th century. Settler groups hope to evict all the residents, demolish their homes and build 200 apartments in their place.

The location is considered strategic by settler organizations because it is close to the Old City and its Palestinian holy places.

Unusually, foreign diplomats, including from the United States, have protested, saying eviction of the Palestinian families would undermine the basis of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The help of the Turkish government has been crucial, however, because Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire when the land transactions supposedly took place.

Israel and Turkey have been close military and political allies for decades and traditionally Ankara has avoided straining ties by becoming involved in land disputes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But there appears to have been an about-turn in Turkish government policy since a diplomatic falling-out between the two countries over Israel's recent Gaza operation.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, accused his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, of "lying" and "back-stabbing," reportedly furious that Israel launched its military operation without warning him
. At the time of the attack, Turkey was mediating peace negotiations between Israel and Syria.

Days after the fighting ended in Gaza, Erdogan stormed out of a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, having accused Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, of "knowing very well how to kill."

According to lawyers acting for the Sheikh Jarrah families, the crisis in relations has translated into a greater openness from Ankara in helping them in their legal battle.

"We have noticed a dramatic change in the atmosphere now when we approach Turkish officials," said Hatem Abu Ahmad, one of Kurd's lawyers. "Before they did not dare upset Israel and put us off with excuses about why they could not help."

He said the families' lawyers were finally invited to the archives in Ankara in January, after they submitted requests over several months to the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem and the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Officials in Turkey traced the documents the lawyers requested and provided affidavits that the settlers' land claims were forged. The search of the Ottoman archives, Abu Ahmad said, had failed to locate any title deeds belonging to a Jewish group for the land in Sheikh Jarrah.

"Turkish officials have also told us that in future they will assist us whenever we need help and that they are ready to trace similar documents relating to other cases," Abu Ahmad said. "They even asked us if there were other documents we were looking for."

That could prove significant as the Jerusalem municipality threatens a new campaign of house demolitions against Palestinians. Last week, Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called the recent issuing of dozens of demolition orders in Jerusalem "ethnic cleansing."

Palestinian legal groups regularly argue that settlers forge documents in a bid to grab land from private Palestinian owners but have great difficulty proving their case.

Late last year the Associated Press news agency exposed a scam by settlers regarding land on which they have built the Migron outpost, near Ramallah, home to more than 40 Jewish families. The settlers' documents were supposedly signed by the Palestinian owner, Abdel Latif Sumarin, in California in 2004, even though he died in 1961.

The families in Sheikh Jarrah ended up living in their current homes after they were forced to flee from territory that became Israel during the 1948 war. Jordan, which controlled East Jerusalem until Israel's occupation in 1967, and the United Nations gave the refugees plots on which to build homes.

Kurd said she would stay in her tent until she received justice.

"My family is originally from Talbiyeh," she said, referring to what has become today one of the wealthiest districts of West Jerusalem. "I am not allowed to go back to the property that is rightfully mine, but these settlers are given my home, which never belonged to them."

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.

A version of this article originally appeared in
The National, published in Abu Dhabi.
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Értelmetlen, céltalan, káros

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Megvannak a jelöltek, látjuk, remek csapat, csupa érett, bölcs férfi, csupa joviális, késő Kádár-kori arcél. Csupa nagyszerű szakember, aki már bizonyított. Mit is?

Sokat nézhettük ezt a tablót az elmúlt huszonnégy órában, minden címlapon a nagy hármas: Surányi, Glatz, Vértes. A remény arcai. Jézusom!

Hogy ki mennyire Amway [1], ki mennyire volt szorgos támasza [2] a letűnt rendszernek, ki mennyire megbízható szaki, azt ne is kaparásszuk. Miért van az az érzésünk, mintha három Demján Sándort látnánk (ráadásul a skálás, és nem az orosz lottós korszakból)? Tényleg a nejlongarbólobbi állhat Gyurcsány megbuktatása mögött?

Ebből a csapatból már fazonra is kitűnne Bokros. Ebben a csapatban még egyéniségnek tűnne, lendületesnek, hitelesnek. Komolyabb ötletet vagy víziót abból az arcból sem néznénk ki, de legalább valamit. Csak hogy ő éppen a klasszikus, Sas József-i értelmeben vett politikai kabaré műfaját próbálgatja egy feloszlás előtt álló pincetársulatban, komoly jelöltként szóba sem jöhet.

Nem itt van a kutya elásva.

Hanem: ennek az egésznek az égvilágon semmi értelme sincs.

Azt ugye senki sem gondolja komolyan, hogy válságkezelésre alkalmas lehet egy párttámogatás és választói felhatamazás nélküli kormány? (Amikor egy erős pártbeli bázissal rendelkező, viszonylag stabil fölénnyel megválasztott, karizmatikus politikus által vezetett sem volt képes egyetlen érdemi válságkezelő lépést kiszenvedni magából.) Mégis, hogy működne egy ilyen? Hány MSZP-tagozattal kellene egyeztetni félóránként a különböző gazdaságpolitikai lépéseket? Milyen csodaprogramot lehet kitalálni, ami az elmúlt három évben nem jutott eszébe Gyurcsánynak?

Még egy év agónia biturbó. Minek?

De még az is merész feltételezés, hogy ez a manőver lehetőséget teremtene Gyurcsány Ferencnek a 2014-es visszatérésre. Ugyan. Legföljebb ha az aranyhalak választójogot kapnának.

Akkor tényleg, miért csinálják? (De sokszor feltettük ezt a kérdést az utóbbi három évben.)

Más magyarázat nincs, mint hogy viszi őket előre a fene nagy politikai logika, vagy mi. Illetve, a Magyar Nemzet-esebb verzió, hogy még sürgős eltulajdonítani valók vannak a közös kasszában, és nem más, hanem éppen ez volna az a bizonyos politikai logika, amiből nem tud és nem hajlandó kilépni senki.

Mert ugyan 2006-ban mi értelme volt [3] megnyerni a választásokat úgy? Ha Gyurcsány fele akkora stratéga és fele olyan éleseszű politikus volna, mint amilyennek láttatni szereti magát, akkor rájött volna: az égvilágon semmi értelme sincs. A nagy terveket, a társadalom- és országátformáló programokat (ha ugyan voltak ilyenek) nem lehet sumákban végrehajtani. Meg úgysem, hogy odaállok, azt mondom, hazudtam, és aztán minden másképp lesz.

Ezt sem gondolták végig, semmit sem gondoltak végig, nem volt más, csak nagy löttyös indulat, a kérlelhetetlen belső logika, győzni kell, bármi áron, kormányozni bármi áron, és aztán majd kiderül, hogy mi a cél. Nem derült ki.

Most viszont lenne cél: megállítani a lecsúszást és valahogy kimászni az orrig érő szarból. Erre ez a struktúra alkalmatlan. Erre ez a félkisebbségi, félszakértői kavarás alkalmatlan. Az MSZP alkalmatlan.

Vajon mikor esik le egy-két tucatnyi SZDSZ-es és szoci képviselőnek, hogy értelmetlen és káros, amihez asszisztálnak? Hogy senkinek sem tesznek jót, még maguknak sem.

(Akkor majd jöhet a Fidesz, és aztán tényleg lehet hosszan töprengeni azon, hogy tényleg mi értelme volt ennek a 2006–2009-es izének.)

UP

Index.hu

In my homeland....

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Katt a képre!!!
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2009. március 24., kedd

Rabbi burning Israeli passport

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Ajánlom alábbi londoni kép riportot minden földszinti antiszemita olvasómnak...
Hogy ezek után én is filoszemita és cionista leszek megint, -merthogy mégiscsak zsidókat reklámozom- sem nem lep meg, sem nem érdekel.
Az ostobaságot semmilyen szinten nem bírom, mint ahogyan nem bírom a gőgös, nagyképű cionistákat sem.
Nekik is szól ez az anyag.

Van másik út.
A mi utunk!!!

Izraelben született de szégyelli cionista útlevelét.
Avraham Greenberg rabi elégeti izraeli útlevelét tiltakozásul a Gázai palesztinok lemészárlásáért egy a IHRC által szervezett a cionisták elleni tüntetésen a Trafalgar Squaren, 2009 januárjában.


Born in Israel but ashamed of his zionist passport, Rabbi Avraham Greenberg burns his Israeli passport in protest at the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza at a counter-demo organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission opposing a zionist rally in Trafalgar Square on January 2009.


A rabbi from the Neturei Karta, (Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism) Rabbi Avraham Greenberg, gave a short speech in Yiddish before burning his Israeli passport in protest at the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

Rabbi Avhraham Greenberg holding Israeli Passport
A rabi és izraeli útlevele

Israeli Passport in flames
Izraeli útlevél lángokban

Israeli passport - izraeli útlevél

Rabbi Beck translated the words of Rabbi Avraham Greenberg, saying he felt ashamed to hold an Israeli passport. He also said:
"The zionists destroyed the good harmony that we had together with Muslims. We used to live in harmony and peace with the Muslims all over the world, even today Jews live in Iran, in Algeria, in Tunisia, in Yemen peacefully. The only problem the Jews have is in the state of Israel. Zionists proclaim they want to make a safe haven for Jews. The most dangerous place for Jews today is in the state of Israel. Jews can live much better, much safer, in all the Muslim countries - like Morocco, like Iran..

Its true today we have terrorists, but the terrorists are the zionists not the Muslims.."

After burning the passport the rabbis spit on its remains to cheers from the crowd "Judaism here to stay, Zionism no way". Massoud Shadjareh, the chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, and Rabbi Beck embraced each other and together with the crowd chanted "We are all Palestinians" in reply to Rabbi Avraham Greenberg who had wished that one day, after the demise of Israel, he may acquire a Palestinian passport.

Then Rabbi Beck lead the crowds in the chant "Judaism YES, Zionism NO, the state of Israel must GO"
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Death squad leader ‘was top CIA agent’

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A halálosztagok vezetője
a CIA csúcs ügynöke volt
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Milosevic titkosszolgalati jobbkeze a CIA ügynöke volt...és mindez a Horvátországi és a Boszniai, a szerbek által elkövetett, legnagyobb, legborzalmasabb emberiesség ellenes bűnök idején. A CIA ezt el is ismerte...mármint, hogy az az "ember" aki közvetlenül, főiranyitója volt a hírhedt szerb belügyminisztériumi különleges egységeknek a Vukovari és a Srebrenicai tómegmészárlások idején a Központi Hírszerző Ügynökség önkéntes -azaz ingyenesen szolgáló, ezt maga a Cég ismerte el- munkatársa volt...Szépen állunk...Természetesen, az illető, -ez most derült ki- a béke ügyét szolgálta, és információival szolgálta a háború mielőbbi befejezését...Ha nem zárják be jól a szekrényeket, jó sok csontváz fog meg kiesni belőlük.Mondtam, és írtam is mar jó néhányszor: higgyünk csak a szemünknek. Mert minden, és mindenki más, csak hazudik, lop és csal.

Rózsa Flores Eduardo

The late President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.
The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic, head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing his CIA handlers of the thinking in Milosevic's inner circle has shocked the region. Stanisic is said to have loyally served his two masters for eight years.

Vukovar, 1991

He is facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
In the terrifying years of Yugoslavia's internecine wars, he acted as the willing "muscle" behind Milosevic's genocidal campaigns in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia, including Sebrenica.
According to the charges he faces, Stanisic was "part of a joint criminal enterprise that included former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and other Serbian politicians".
Dermot Groome, The Hague's chief prosecutor, has specifically accused him of sending in the Serb Scorpion and Red Beret death squads into the states seeking independence from Belgrade. Stanisic has pleaded not guilty.
Like in a Cold War spy thriller, Serbia's secret police chief met his CIA handlers in safe houses, parks and boats on the river Sava to betray his master's action plans. He provided, it is claimed, information on the where abouts of Nato hostages, aided CIA operatives in their search for Muslim mass graves and helped the US set up secret bases in Bosnia to monitor the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace accord.
This has raised awkward questions for Washington. With Stanisic providing chapter and verse of the genocidal slaughter of Croats, Bosnians and Albanians from the early 1990s, should President Clinton have cut a deal with Milosevic at Dayton, Ohio, ending the Bosnian war on such equitable terms for the Serbs?

Vukovar, 1991

Or, using Stanisic's evidence, should the Americans not have unmasked Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, the then head of Republika Srpska, as genocidal war criminals and demanded their surrender?
From his prison cell at The Hague, Stanisic countered the charges facing him with an aide memoir portraying himself as "a person who had sought to moderate Milosevic and had done a great deal to moderate the crisis".
In an unusual move, the CIA has submitted classified documents to the court that confirm Stanisic's "undercover operative role in helping to bring peace to the region and aiding the agency's work. He helped defuse some of the most explosive actions of the Bosnian war."In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, William Lofgren, his original CIA recruiter and handler, now retired, said: "Stanisic provided valuable information from Milosevic's inner circle. But he never took money from the CIA, worked with the agency on operations or took steps that he would have considered a blatant betrayal of his boss.

Mass grave, Vukovar, Ovcara, Croatia

"Thus the judges at The Hague are having to judge a man who allegedly sent the Scorpion death squads to Srebrenica to "deal" with men and boys fleeing the UN-protected Muslim enclave, while working with the CIA trying to end Milosevic's ethnic wars.
The way the CIA apparently viewed their Belgrade "asset" is revealed in an interview with Balkan Insight, a little known south-east European publication.
The emerging picture is a quaint reflection from a hall of mirrors. Greg Miller of the Los Angeles Times, writing about the links between the CIA and the Serb secret police chief, is quoted as saying: "As I said in the LAT story, the CIA do not see Stanisic as a choirboy. When you talk to people who work in espionage, this is often the case.
"Because of the nature of that job, of that assignment, they are working with people who do not have unblemished records, it would be difficult for them to be effective if they only worked with people who had unblemished records."
People in Belgrade who have been following the career of Jovica Stanisic would say that this was a guy who was an expert in his field; he was ahighly-trained and highly-effective spy. His motivation may have been tha the wanted to know what the United States was up to.
"He did not believe that Milosevic was taking the country in the right direction - so he wanted to influence events. He saw himself as an important guy who could pull strings behind the scenes to make things happen in Belgrade.
"Stanisic apparently did so on his own terms, while trying to remain a loyal Serb. He did not succeed. Now he is having to account for his actions as Milosevic's loyal lieutenantat The Hague.

by Gabriel Ronay
Sunday Herald

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2009. március 22., vasárnap

Racist and sexist Israeli military shirts show the mindset that led to war crimes in Gaza

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Ha'aretz is continuing to divulge soldier testimonies from Gaza. You can find the fullest report yet here. The messianic fervor that fueled the Israeli policy of collective punishment is laid bare.I'm not going to comment on it yet, just go read it.

There is another report in today's Ha'aretz that I do want to comment on. Uri Blau's article "'No virgins, no terror attacks'" describes the practice of Israeli soldiers getting custom clothing printed with their unit's insignia along with graphics and text. Below are some examples of shirts that were printed, along with some of the images. These images only appeared on Ha'aretz's Hebrew-language website:

  • Sdfsd A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him.
  • A sharpshooter's T-shirt from the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills."
  • After Operation Cast Lead, soldiers from that battalion printed a T-shirt depicting a vulture sexually penetrating Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh
  • A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."
  • There are also plenty of shirts with blatant sexual messages. For example, the Lavi battalion produced a shirt featuring a drawing of a soldier next to a young woman with bruises, and the slogan, "Bet you got raped!"
  • A few of the images underscore actions whose existence the army officially denies - such as "confirming the kill" (shooting a bullet into an enemy victim's head from close range, to ensure he is dead), or harming religious sites, or female or child non-combatants.
  • "Let every Arab mother know that her son's fate is in my hands!" had previously been banned for use on another infantry unit's shirt. A Givati soldier said this week, however, that at the end of last year, his platoon printed up dozens of shirts, fleece jackets and pants bearing this slogan.
  • 468blau2 "It has a drawing depicting a soldier as the Angel of Death, next to a gun and an Arab town," he explains. "The text was very powerful. The funniest part was that when our soldier came to get the shirts, the man who printed them was an Arab, and the soldier felt so bad that he told the girl at the counter to bring them to him."
  • In 2006, soldiers from the "Carmon Team" course for elite-unit marksmen printed a shirt with a drawing of a knife-wielding Palestinian in the crosshairs of a gun sight, and the slogan, "You've got to run fast, run fast, run fast, before it's all over." Below is a drawing of Arab women weeping over a grave and the words: "And afterward they cry, and afterward they cry." [The inscriptions are riffs on a popular song.]
  • Another sniper's shirt also features an Arab man in the crosshairs, and the announcement, "Everything is with the best of intentions."
  • A shirt printed after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza for Battalion 890 of the Paratroops depicts a King Kong-like soldier in a city under attack. The slogan is unambiguous: "If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!"

These shirts have to get the approval from IDF commanders and are a military tradition, although the explicit nature of these shirts seem new. Bar-Ilan University Sociologist Dr. Orna Sasson-Levy is quoted as saying the shirts are "part of a radicalization process the entire country is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront." Israeli anti-militarism activist Sergeiy Sandler, who works for the important organization New Profile, emailed this article out saying the shirts are "a long-standing tradition in Israeli military units; you see those shirts, although usually with less outrageous designs, on the streets all over the place. A picture's worth a thousand words, isn't it?"

I don't imagine these types of shirts are unique to Israel. I bet there are similar ones created by US soldiers in Iraq. But the shirts do point to an environment where mass war crimes can be carried out. They reflect a mindset where Palestinian life is disdained, when it's even acknowledged. One of the soldiers says it best in their testimony describing the killing of a mother and her two children: "the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way."

Source: Mondoweiss

More on this topic:

'Shooting and crying'

Dead Palestinian babies and bombed mosques - IDF fashion 2009

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Enes Ukić - Zvao bih Te Gospodaru

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Šehidski rastanak

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Sead Zele Lipovača i Kenan Mačković - Palestino, dušo čista!

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Sa koncerta duhovne muzike “Gaza u mom srcu”, održanog 15.02.2009. god. u Zetri, u Sarajevu.


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And so: NOT IN MY NAME!!!

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Things start again...



And this time, one more, like in 1991-1995: not in my name.
I salute the brave resistance of real bosnians against the forces of darkness!
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