La Guerra Infinita - The Infinite War

An Italian film about ethnic cleansing of Kosovo conducted by Albanian terrorists. It's not an easy viewing...

eXiled: Mark Ames taks to Scott Horton

I ventured over to eXiled and found this talk given by Ames to Horton on Antiwar radio. They discuss variety of issues, notably the destructive economic policies implemented by 'wonderful' American strategists, rise of Putin and the conflict this created with neo-liberal Westerners who still cannot get over the fact that their policies were a massive screw up.

Mark Ames -- Scott Horton Antiwar Interview from The eXiled on Vimeo.

Delfi.ua: Kuchma: Yushchenko's main mistake - sharp change in course

Yet another translation, original of which can be found here...

Former president [of Ukraine] (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma considers acting president's Victor Yushenko's main mistake to be a sharp change in foreign policy course during the time of his incumbency. (1) He claimed so in an interview given to the radio Ekho Moskvy.

'The main mistake - sharp change of foreign policy course...The second - internal [policy]. Instead of uniting the country (2), [instead of] asking everyone for forgiveness for the filth that was spilled during pre-election campaign, to come in the first place to the East where most of the Gross Domestic Product is made (with an address): 'Look guys, I'm sorry, let us live by our laws, and work on common goals.' This did not happen.' -said Kuchma.

He [Kuchma] is convinced that Ukraine does not have a future without close ties with Russia. 'Ukraine does not have a future without the most closest cooperation with Russia. I am absolutely convinced by this and I always spoke about it. We need to have closest ties with Europe. Yes Europe - it is democratic values and so on (3), we can name a lot of things. Yes in Europe there are investments, in Europe there are high technologies. We certainly need to cooperate with them.' - the ex-president mentioned. (4)

He also said that he does not support the obligatory withdrawal of Russian Black Sea Fleet after 2017. 'I don't support such a position and understand well that Russia has nowhere to go...Building bases in Novorosiysk, the bays there are not well adjusted for a fleet. (I consider it inevitable) in our mutual interests to construct an extension of the sojourn of the Russian fleet' -Kuchma said.

He also said that is not planning a return to high politics.

1) каденции I sense I made a mistake here.

2) This reminds me of Misha the tiemuncher's recent ranting.

3) I would not be so sure about that.

4) Having very close ties with Russia and Europe is difficult task requiring agile diplomatic manoeuvring, I am not sure anyone in Ukraine's top political circles is up to the challenge. 

Absence of Will

A classmate of mine posted this movie on my facebook page stating that it is a must watch and for my part I must say it is very interesting. A couple of Georgian university students interview a diverse group of people, featuring among others the former Georgian president Edouard Shevarnadze, about relations and conflicts with the Abkhaz. It is filmed right before the Summer 2008 war and in fact finnishes with its aftermath. It is almost entirely in Georgian, accept for the narrative which is in English and some statements by Abkhaz and South Ossetians which are in Russian, so concentrate on the subtitles. The Channel containing this film has other very interesting documentaries, see here.

Newsru.com: The chief rabbi of Ukraine prepared to return his Honourary Order to the governement for declaring Bandera a hero

The decision by the outgoing Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko to award Stepan Bandera the title hero of Ukraine was bound to have a critical response, most importantly from the Jews. The following text, which was brought to my attention by Michael Averko, is a translation of a news article, Russian original of which can be here...

Chief rabbi of Ukraine and Kiev Moshe Reuben Asman is getting ready to return his Honourary Order 'for accomplishments of III degree' because of awarding Stepan Bandera the title hero. This he disclosed to the newspaper Сегодня (Segodnya) (1), Itar-Tass reported.

'I am angered by these events, in the five years of his rule Viktor Andereyevich did not decide to make such a move, he only did so when it became apparent that he has no political future' said rabbi.

'This is a terrible blow to Ukraine's international image and unfortunately resolving this issue will be up to the new government. I am a holder of the Order of Ukraine for accomplishments of III degree but because of Yushchenko's decree I am planning, in the near future, to return the Order back to the government' rabbi stated.

On 22 January Viktor Yushchenko awarded Bandera the title Hero of Ukraine (posthumously). Yushchenko underscored that this high ranking title was awarded to Bandera  for 'fervently supporting (2) the [Ukrainian] national idea and fight for an independent Ukrainian state.'

Between the years 1941-1959 Bandera managed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (ОУН-OUN).  Many crimes hount the conciosness of ОУН-УПА (OUN-UPA) fighters which, after their leader were started to be called Banderists. (3) For example they killed more than one hundred Poles, Czechs and Jews in Western Volhynia. Horendously (4) murdered thousands of Ukrainians who refused to collaborate with OUN.

In the years of his presidency, Yushchenko pardoned the veterans of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). [Yushchenko also] posthumously awarded the title hero of Ukraine to UPA commander Roman Shukhevych.

1) Meaning 'Today'

2) отстаивание

3) бандеровцами I know that in Czech they are known as 'banderovci' but am not aware of the term used in Anglo-Saxon literature. I admit I completely invented the term while translating

4) 'Зверски' -literally meaning 'bestialy' 

I'm Gonna Keep It...Bitches Do Better

As my previous post touched on the issue of abortion in a way, I decided to post one of the best anti-abortion arguments I heard lately. This user's videos a little bit 'afro-centered' but they are well applicable to any other community as well...

Atheist iconoclasts against Mother Teresa stamp

By coincidence my latest piece on atheism [see here also see my older piece on iconoclasm here] was picked up by lazyfeed.com and out of curiosity I visited the feed and found this gem on Fox News.

An atheist organization is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring 'individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings.'

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is urging its supporters to boycott the stamp — and also to engage in a letter-writing campaign to spread the word about what it calls the 'darker side' of Mother Teresa.

Whether the principal achievements of Mother Teresa are of religious nature is debatable. Character assassination is such a wonderful tactic isn't is? The only problem Freedom from Religion Foundation has with Mother Teresa is that she was a nun, if she was entirely secular they would keep quiet...

...Freedom from Religion Foundation spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor says issuing the stamp runs against Postal Service regulations.

'Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can't really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did,' Gaylor told FoxNews.com.

Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts expressed surprise at the protest, given the long list of previous honorees with strong religious backgrounds, including Malcolm X, the former chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

'In fact we honored Father Flanagan in 1986 for his humanitarian work. This has nothing to do with religion or faith,' 

It could help Mother Teresa, if she was not an Albanian Catholic working in far away India but a civil rights campaigner in the US...

Gaylor said the atheist group opposed Father Flanagan's stamp but not those for King and Malcolm X, because she said they were known for their civil rights activities, not for their religion.

Martin Luther King 'just happened to be a minister,' and "Malcolm X was not principally known for being a religious figure," she said.

'And he's not called Father Malcolm X like Mother Teresa. I mean, even her name is a Roman Catholic honorific.'

Gaylor said Mother Teresa infused Catholicism into her secular honors — including an 'anti-abortion rant' during her Nobel Prize acceptance speech — and that even her humanitarian work was controversial.

You see these cowards would not dare to raise their voices against civil rights leaders. Besides Malcolm X was principally known as a religious leader and as Brother Malcolm. And of course don't you dare touch the topic of abortion that's sacred. Or should I say untouchable since we are speaking about atheists?

Note how the organisation is not called 'Freedom of Religion', 'Freedom of Religion' is enshrined in the US constitution and therefore is none-issue. What people like these are concerned with is the very presence of things religious in their midst.

The Foundation is encouraging its supporters to purchase the new stamp honoring the late actress Katharine Hepburn, who was an atheist, instead — or any of the other 2010 stamps, which include cartoonist Bill Mauldin, singer Kate Smith, filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, painter Winslow Homer and poet Julia de Burgos.

The best choice organised atheist have is to shut up. Atheists often time reiterate that atheism means disbelief in God. As this case shows, only decent sceptics adhere to this. The front line of Atheism is an iconoclastic movement attacking everything associated with religion.