Monday, August 04, 2008

Karadzic's "Invisible Advisor"

Can there be any doubt that the "invisible advisor" Karadzic referred to when he first appeared before the tribunal is supposed to be God? Since I am an atheist there is no reason for me to be offended that Karadzic thinks God is in his corner; what irritates me is that this sanctimonious display of piety will most likely move at least a few otherwise disinterested observers. You can always get good press by playing the faith card.

Referring again to my post on Jimmy Carter's interaction with Karadzic, it's worth noting that while Carter went to Bosnia seemingly without having read even the most cursory reports on the situation there, he had somehow stumbled across a quote in which Karadzic claimed that "The Bosnian Serbs have only two friends: God, and the Greeks." Carter noted that "[t]his was a fairly accurate statement at the time we received his letter."

Perhaps the pious peanut farmer will be moved by Karadzic's faith in the Almighty. Personally, I'd want a lawyer.

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Not only have I been away from blogging for over a week, but I will not return for at least a week, more likely two--we have a vacation planned and then we are hosting company for a few days. I will keep up on Bosnia-related news as best I can, and if time allows I will try to comment on ongoing events. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to check out the usual suspects--i.e., the blogs and websites I link to, where my comrades do their good work and where I get much of the information I count on.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kirk, go off on holiday and come back before you take a look at Louis Proyect's current onslaught against Michael Karadjis.
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/the-dsp-versus-the-archfiends/

Whatever Naser Oric did to ensure Srebrenica's survival until 1995, the fact that in scope and purpose there is no comparison with the blood-letting for which Karadzic et al. were responsible never seems to deter the apologists and genocide deniers from claiming equivalence.

Kirk Johnson said...

Good God, what a stinking pile of nonsense. Thanks for alerting me; I almost certainly will not have time to respond to that tripe until after my vacation.

What is most tiresome about Proyect's screed is how he cannot seperate criticism of Serbian leaders from attack on "the Serbs."

What a cramped, airless little world he lives in.

Anonymous said...

My response to "Louis Proyect's" onslaught on Michael Karajis. (they will probably delete my comment, so I am posting it here)

Oh, here is another pile of revisionist, one-sided, pro-Serbian war-crimes garbage. Who cares what "Louis Proyect" thinks. Opinion is cheap, but Srebrenica genocide is a fact. What a pile of garbage this blog is, geez. I feel like I am sitting on a toilet. Thanks for sending me this link Owen.

Anonymous said...

To be honest, Kirk, I don't think it's worth dignifying with a response. He's worked out how he sees the world and he's not going to sacrifice his analysis for an investigation of who died and why.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's worth commenting on such texts. most of its readers are like minded and therefore whatever we write will only provide a fake legitimacy to their victimization strategy.

better to focus on people of good will that are ready to process the information they get and reach their own conclusions.
many people come to blogs through google searches. What they will think will depend on the information they get, but also on the values they consider to be important, so sensible people who value democracy and human dignity will be able to understand if we provide them the means to deconstruct propaganda and lies.

of course it's much more difficult to be convincing by telling the truth than by lies and manipulation, but many people are sensitive to ethical details, so it is not at all a lost struggle.