http://www.swans.com/
S W A N S c o m m e n t a r y
May 26, 2003
Note from the Editor: This issue of Swans takes a look at the
strategic moves through violent means that the Western powers
have unleashed on the entire world since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
with a primary focus on the exceptional book written by
Diana Johnstone, FOOLS' CRUSADE: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western
Delusions. It is exceptional for at least two reasons. First,
it may well be the most thorough and rigorous work that has been
published in the past four years on the disintegration of
Yugoslavia, with an acute historical perspective that clearly explains
the current strategic policies of the western powers; and
second, because it has been remarkably ignored by the main media and
the so-called alternative press. Freedom of speech is a lofty
principle, but if your voice is literally buried so deep that no one
can hear it, then the principle becomes moot!
We are publishing an excerpt of the book -- the introduction -- with
the permission of the author and her publishers in both the
U.K. and the U.S. Then Louis Proyect, Edward Herman and Gilles
d'Aymery review Fools' Crusade from different angles, each
providing additional perspective. Furthermore, we are presenting four
other articles in support of Diana Johnstone's work.
Konstantin Kilibarda provides a legal analysis on the dismantling of
Yugoslavia and Jan Baughman looks at the common threads
among the wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Lest you not be
outraged by these analyses, read the transcript of the
interviews that Greg Elich conducted with Serb refugees. Their
experiences were far from the 'humanitarianism' in the name of
which these wars were conducted. Finally, Aleksandra Priestfield looks
at the other non-reasons for going to war.
Please do your utmost to read and disseminate Johnstone's book.
In addition on Swans, Deck Deckert cleverly imagines the truths we
could learn if journalists were embedded in various
circumstances. Embedded journalists at peace rallies? Imagine the
possibilities! Richard Macintosh questions the dreadful and
superb sides of America where, according to Philip Greenspan, knowing
the right person is as good as being on the right side of the law.
Last but not least, Sabina Becker and Gerard Smith have once again
produced two powerful poems to tie it all together.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and
foes) know about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.
From the Balkans to Iraq: Hungry Man, Reach For The Book
FOOLS' CRUSADE: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions
by Diana Johnstone
Book Excerpt
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/dianaj01.html
[Ed. This is the full introduction of the book, published by
permission of the author and the publishers, Monthly Review Press
(http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm), in the U.S., and
Pluto Press (http://www.plutobooks.com/), in the U.K.]
At the end of November 1999, an important new movement against
"globalization" emerged in massive protests against the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle. Strangely enough, only months
earlier, when NATO launched its first aggressive war by bombing
Yugoslavia, there had been remarkably little protest. Yet NATO's
violent advance into southeast Europe was precisely related to the
globalization process opposed in Seattle. Few seemed to grasp the
connection. Was it really plausible that overwhelming military power
was being wielded more benevolently than overwhelming economic power?
Or that the two were not in some way promoting the same interests and
the same "world order"? ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/dianaj01.html
Diana Johnstone is a widely-published essayist and columnist who has
written extensively on European and international politics.
Diana Johnstone's Fools' Crusade
Book Review by Louis Proyect
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/lproy04.html
On December 8th 2002, George Packer wrote the following in a New York
Times Magazine article titled "The Liberal Quandary Over Iraq":
"Why there is no organized liberal opposition to the war?
"The answer to this question involves an interesting history, and it
sheds light on the difficulties now confronting American liberals. The
history goes back 10 years, when a war broke out in the middle of
Europe. This war changed the way many American liberals, particularly
liberal intellectuals, saw their country. Bosnia turned these liberals
into hawks. People who from Vietnam on had never met an American
military involvement they liked were now calling for U.S. air strikes
to defend a multiethnic democracy against Serbian ethnic aggression.
Suddenly the model was no longer Vietnam, it was World War II --
armed American power was all that stood in the way of genocide.
Without the cold war to distort the debate, and with the inspiring
example of the East bloc revolutions of 1989 still fresh, a number of
liberal intellectuals in this country had a new idea. These writers
and academics wanted to use American military power to serve goals
like human rights and democracy -- especially when it was clear that
nobody else would do it."
If George Packer's assertion is true, and I believe it is, then it
becomes necessary to revisit the Yugoslavia events in the light of
everything that has transpired over the past decade. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/lproy04.html
Louis Proyect is a computer programmer, the moderator of marxmail.org,
and a regular contributor to Swans.
Diana Johnstone On The Balkan Wars
Book Review by Edward S. Herman
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/herman10.html
[Ed. This review was first published on Monthly Review and is
re-published courtesy of the author and the publisher.]
Diana Johnstone's Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western
Delusions (Monthly Review Press, 2002;
http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm ) is essential reading
for anybody who wants to understand the causes, effects, and
rights-and-wrongs of the Balkan wars of the past dozen years. The book
should be priority reading for leftists, many of whom have been
carried along by a NATO-power party line and propaganda barrage,
believing that this was one case where Western intervention was
well-intentioned and had beneficial results. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/herman10.html
Edward S. Herman is a Professor Emeritus of Finance at Wharton and a
regular contributor to Swans.
Diana Johnstone And The Demise Of 'Yugoslavism'
Book Review by Gilles d'Aymery
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ga156.html
On May 21, 2003, the US Senior Senator of West Virginia, Robert Byrd,
delivered one of his customary Senate Floor Remarks that began thus:
"Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure
it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what
lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows,
truth has a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually.
But the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The
danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The
reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts
and go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue. We see a
lot of this today in politics. I see a lot of it -- more than I would
ever have believed -- right on this Senate Floor." ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ga156.html
Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Selective Recognition and the Dismantling of SFR Yugoslavia
by Konstantin Kilibarda
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib03.html
The conflicts that wracked the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY) during the 1990s -- and international responses to
these crises -- have profoundly shaped the face of the post-Cold
War order. The nature of Western intervention, not to mention its
ultimate outcome, casts a long shadow on the heavily mediated and
selective rhetoric of a "new (militarized) humanitarianism" and the
promise it holds out of an increasingly just and law governed global
order. In fact, for the peoples of the global South, the ascendancy of
such interventionist impulses among the wealthy states of the global
North increasingly threatens to undermine fifty years of widespread
and progressive gains stemming from the process of decolonization and
the national liberation struggles of formerly colonized peoples. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib03.html
Konstantin Kilibarda is completing a Collaborative MA in International
Relations and Political Science at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Lessons From Yugoslavia: Blueprint for War?
by Jan Baughman
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/jeb125.html
In March 1999 NATO forces began their 'humanitarian' war on Yugoslavia
to stop the 'ethnic cleansing' of Albanians by the Serbs. We related
to the pain and suffering of the alleged refugees of war, and
Slobodan Milosevic became the Hitler of the '90s. Operation Allied
Force unleashed 78 days of bombing and destroyed the infrastructure of
a country that no longer exists in name or in the cultural diversity
the bombing was intended to preserve. Milosevic is embroiled in the
war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and what lead us to war, and the
aftermath of it -- has been long forgotten, if at all understood. It
is no surprise that we've learned no lessons from this tragedy. Or
have we? ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/jeb125.html
Jan Baughman is a Biotech scientist and Swans' co-editor.
We Have The Right To Live
Interviews with Kosovo Serbian refugees
by Gregory Elich, Jeff Goldberg and Iman El-Sayed
With an Introduction by Gregory Elich
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/elich011.html
Four years ago NATO waged war against Yugoslavia in what was billed a
"humanitarian" war. The lofty motives proclaimed by Western leaders
had the hollow ring of hypocrisy for those on the receiving end of
NATO bombs. In order to destabilize the last remaining socialist
nation in Europe, the United States and Great Britain supported and
armed the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a violent secessionist
organization. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/elich011.html
Gregory Elich is a long-time peace activist and a Swans' columnist.
Making War Out Of Nothing At All
by Aleksandra Priestfield
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/alekp027.html
You know how you sometimes like a song, for nebulous reasons -- a
haunting tune, a turn of phrase in the lyrics? I have several like
that. One of them is "Making love out of nothing at all," by a band
called Air Supply. On the face of it, it has nothing to do with
anything -- it's a song. Just a song. But that refrain -- those two
phrases -- making love out of nothing at all -- those just transformed
themselves in my head of late.
Watching the turns that history has taken in the past ten years or so,
watching the role that the United States has played in that history,
the Air Supply song's refrain comes back to haunt me as something
completely different.
Making war, out of nothing at all. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/alekp027.html
Aleksandra Priestfield is a technical writer, an editor, and a Swans'
columnist.
America: Myths and Realities
Embedding The Truth
by Deck Deckert
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rdeck039.html
The embedding of reporters with military units invading Iraq was a
disaster, both for the anti-war movement and the cause of journalism.
Right from the start, the embeds were emotionally involved with the
men and women of their units and were incapable of achieving the
detachment and objectivity that used to be one of the hallmarks of
great reporting. Instead, they became partisan cheerleaders for the
invaders.
Clearly this was a coup for the Pentagon, White House and other
warmongers. But that doesn't mean that embedding is a bad idea. It
just needs to be extended. We need embeds everywhere. For example...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rdeck039.html
A former copy, wire and news editor, Deck Deckert is a freelance
writer and a Swans' columnist.
Courage And Cowardice
by Richard Macintosh
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rmac06.html
I remember T. Chadbourne Dunham, Professor Emeritus at Wesleyan
University, saying that the Germans were "wonderful and horrible."
Dunham had been in Germany as an American graduate student when
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. He had great interest in
"altphilologie," or the study of ancient cultures and civilizations.
He had special interest in the work of Heinrich Schliemann, who
pioneered excavation of Ancient Troy, hence his presence in Germany.
During his stay, Dunham met Hannah Arendt, who introduced him to
Hermann Broch and Thomas Mann. Following World War II, Dunham worked
as a translator for Thomas Mann, while Mann was in the United States.
To Dunham, the Germans were "wonderful," because of their literature,
music and scientific achievements. They were "horrible," because they
allowed a gifted culture to descend into a pit of war, terror and
murder through thoughtlessness. How do we reconcile such things? Can
they be reconciled? Is this a German problem, or is this something
that applies to all human cultures? Are we all "wonderful" and
"horrible?" ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rmac06.html
Richard Macintosh is a former Public High School Teacher, a part-time
consultant on Personnel/Team matters and a regular contributor to
Swans.
An Awful Lawful World: Who Wins, Who Loses
by Philip Greenspan
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/pgreen24.html
Certain moral precepts accepted as standards of conduct provide the
basis of laws throughout the world. It is assumed those laws will be
equally applied in all situations and to all individuals and groups.
But experience discloses major differences in how those laws are
enforced and to whom they apply.
Accordingly, it is appropriate to modify the belief of equality before
the law to a more realistic concept that enforcement varies from
lenient to harsh based on how favorably the enforcing authority views
the perpetrator. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/pgreen24.html
Philip Greenspan is a retired attorney, a World War II veteran and a
Swans' columnist.
Poetry
Accomplishments
by Sabina C. Becker
There was an evil man
Out in Afghanistan
At least, our Georgie Bushie told us so.
He hid out in a cave,
He wasn't very brave.
Just ask our Georgie Bushie, he should know. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/sbeckr06.html
Sabina Becker is a poet and a writer who lives in Cobourg, Ontario.
She graces Swans with her poetry on a regular basis.
My Appearances
by Gerard Donnelly Smith
i am nothing if not expression
a meaningless even if then,
never a poem decrypted,
never wave particle wave.
if not this chiasmus:
i am without this nothing,
nothing within this:
a chair
on it a pipe
the smoke about to fill the room
with an unmistakeable odour
of burning flesh;
the bomb explodes through walls
both thick and thin. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/gsmith04.html
Gerard Donnelly Smith teaches creative writing, literature and
composition at Clark College in Vancouver, WA.
Announcements
* A book to read: Johnstone, Diana; Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato,
and Western Delusions, Monthly Review Press, 2003, ISBN:
1-58367-084-X - http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm
* Another book to read: Catalinotto, John & Flounders, Sarah
(editors); Hidden Agenda: U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia,
International Action Center, 2002, ISBN: 0-9656916-7-5 -
http://www.iacenter/org/
* Yet another book to read: Blaker, Kimberly; The Fundamentals of
Extremism: the Christian Right in America, New Boston Books, 2003,
ISBN: 0-9725496-0-9
* If you wish to receive an e-mail regarding each new rendition (twice
a month) with the Note from the Editor and the URL to each article,
please send an e-mail (mailto:aymery@...) with
"Subscribe Swans" in the subject line. Please also include your
first/last name in the body of the message.
* Remember, every time you reload the front page, one of 82 different
quotes appears randomly in the left margin (below the link to the
French translation).
Latest indexing on Swans
- The Balkans and Yugoslavia -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/yugoslav.html
- America the 'beautiful' -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/usofa.html
- Dossiers - http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/dossiers.html
- Greens in the USA - http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/green.html
- Israel-Palestine -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/israpal.html
- Letters to the Editor -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/letters.html
- Main Media & Propaganda -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/newsspin.html
- *** More indexed subjects
http://www.swans.com/library/archives.html ***
The classification of all the work published on Swans is an ongoing
project. We are adding subjects slowly but surely. We could use some
help on this classification. If someone wants to volunteer his or her
time, please contact us (mailto:aymery@...). Thank you.
Be the change that you want to see in the world. --Gandhi
S W A N S c o m m e n t a r y
May 26, 2003
Note from the Editor: This issue of Swans takes a look at the
strategic moves through violent means that the Western powers
have unleashed on the entire world since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
with a primary focus on the exceptional book written by
Diana Johnstone, FOOLS' CRUSADE: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western
Delusions. It is exceptional for at least two reasons. First,
it may well be the most thorough and rigorous work that has been
published in the past four years on the disintegration of
Yugoslavia, with an acute historical perspective that clearly explains
the current strategic policies of the western powers; and
second, because it has been remarkably ignored by the main media and
the so-called alternative press. Freedom of speech is a lofty
principle, but if your voice is literally buried so deep that no one
can hear it, then the principle becomes moot!
We are publishing an excerpt of the book -- the introduction -- with
the permission of the author and her publishers in both the
U.K. and the U.S. Then Louis Proyect, Edward Herman and Gilles
d'Aymery review Fools' Crusade from different angles, each
providing additional perspective. Furthermore, we are presenting four
other articles in support of Diana Johnstone's work.
Konstantin Kilibarda provides a legal analysis on the dismantling of
Yugoslavia and Jan Baughman looks at the common threads
among the wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Lest you not be
outraged by these analyses, read the transcript of the
interviews that Greg Elich conducted with Serb refugees. Their
experiences were far from the 'humanitarianism' in the name of
which these wars were conducted. Finally, Aleksandra Priestfield looks
at the other non-reasons for going to war.
Please do your utmost to read and disseminate Johnstone's book.
In addition on Swans, Deck Deckert cleverly imagines the truths we
could learn if journalists were embedded in various
circumstances. Embedded journalists at peace rallies? Imagine the
possibilities! Richard Macintosh questions the dreadful and
superb sides of America where, according to Philip Greenspan, knowing
the right person is as good as being on the right side of the law.
Last but not least, Sabina Becker and Gerard Smith have once again
produced two powerful poems to tie it all together.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and
foes) know about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.
From the Balkans to Iraq: Hungry Man, Reach For The Book
FOOLS' CRUSADE: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions
by Diana Johnstone
Book Excerpt
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/dianaj01.html
[Ed. This is the full introduction of the book, published by
permission of the author and the publishers, Monthly Review Press
(http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm), in the U.S., and
Pluto Press (http://www.plutobooks.com/), in the U.K.]
At the end of November 1999, an important new movement against
"globalization" emerged in massive protests against the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle. Strangely enough, only months
earlier, when NATO launched its first aggressive war by bombing
Yugoslavia, there had been remarkably little protest. Yet NATO's
violent advance into southeast Europe was precisely related to the
globalization process opposed in Seattle. Few seemed to grasp the
connection. Was it really plausible that overwhelming military power
was being wielded more benevolently than overwhelming economic power?
Or that the two were not in some way promoting the same interests and
the same "world order"? ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/dianaj01.html
Diana Johnstone is a widely-published essayist and columnist who has
written extensively on European and international politics.
Diana Johnstone's Fools' Crusade
Book Review by Louis Proyect
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/lproy04.html
On December 8th 2002, George Packer wrote the following in a New York
Times Magazine article titled "The Liberal Quandary Over Iraq":
"Why there is no organized liberal opposition to the war?
"The answer to this question involves an interesting history, and it
sheds light on the difficulties now confronting American liberals. The
history goes back 10 years, when a war broke out in the middle of
Europe. This war changed the way many American liberals, particularly
liberal intellectuals, saw their country. Bosnia turned these liberals
into hawks. People who from Vietnam on had never met an American
military involvement they liked were now calling for U.S. air strikes
to defend a multiethnic democracy against Serbian ethnic aggression.
Suddenly the model was no longer Vietnam, it was World War II --
armed American power was all that stood in the way of genocide.
Without the cold war to distort the debate, and with the inspiring
example of the East bloc revolutions of 1989 still fresh, a number of
liberal intellectuals in this country had a new idea. These writers
and academics wanted to use American military power to serve goals
like human rights and democracy -- especially when it was clear that
nobody else would do it."
If George Packer's assertion is true, and I believe it is, then it
becomes necessary to revisit the Yugoslavia events in the light of
everything that has transpired over the past decade. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/lproy04.html
Louis Proyect is a computer programmer, the moderator of marxmail.org,
and a regular contributor to Swans.
Diana Johnstone On The Balkan Wars
Book Review by Edward S. Herman
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/herman10.html
[Ed. This review was first published on Monthly Review and is
re-published courtesy of the author and the publisher.]
Diana Johnstone's Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western
Delusions (Monthly Review Press, 2002;
http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm ) is essential reading
for anybody who wants to understand the causes, effects, and
rights-and-wrongs of the Balkan wars of the past dozen years. The book
should be priority reading for leftists, many of whom have been
carried along by a NATO-power party line and propaganda barrage,
believing that this was one case where Western intervention was
well-intentioned and had beneficial results. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/herman10.html
Edward S. Herman is a Professor Emeritus of Finance at Wharton and a
regular contributor to Swans.
Diana Johnstone And The Demise Of 'Yugoslavism'
Book Review by Gilles d'Aymery
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ga156.html
On May 21, 2003, the US Senior Senator of West Virginia, Robert Byrd,
delivered one of his customary Senate Floor Remarks that began thus:
"Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure
it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what
lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows,
truth has a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually.
But the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The
danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The
reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts
and go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue. We see a
lot of this today in politics. I see a lot of it -- more than I would
ever have believed -- right on this Senate Floor." ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ga156.html
Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Selective Recognition and the Dismantling of SFR Yugoslavia
by Konstantin Kilibarda
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib03.html
The conflicts that wracked the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY) during the 1990s -- and international responses to
these crises -- have profoundly shaped the face of the post-Cold
War order. The nature of Western intervention, not to mention its
ultimate outcome, casts a long shadow on the heavily mediated and
selective rhetoric of a "new (militarized) humanitarianism" and the
promise it holds out of an increasingly just and law governed global
order. In fact, for the peoples of the global South, the ascendancy of
such interventionist impulses among the wealthy states of the global
North increasingly threatens to undermine fifty years of widespread
and progressive gains stemming from the process of decolonization and
the national liberation struggles of formerly colonized peoples. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib03.html
Konstantin Kilibarda is completing a Collaborative MA in International
Relations and Political Science at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Lessons From Yugoslavia: Blueprint for War?
by Jan Baughman
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/jeb125.html
In March 1999 NATO forces began their 'humanitarian' war on Yugoslavia
to stop the 'ethnic cleansing' of Albanians by the Serbs. We related
to the pain and suffering of the alleged refugees of war, and
Slobodan Milosevic became the Hitler of the '90s. Operation Allied
Force unleashed 78 days of bombing and destroyed the infrastructure of
a country that no longer exists in name or in the cultural diversity
the bombing was intended to preserve. Milosevic is embroiled in the
war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and what lead us to war, and the
aftermath of it -- has been long forgotten, if at all understood. It
is no surprise that we've learned no lessons from this tragedy. Or
have we? ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/jeb125.html
Jan Baughman is a Biotech scientist and Swans' co-editor.
We Have The Right To Live
Interviews with Kosovo Serbian refugees
by Gregory Elich, Jeff Goldberg and Iman El-Sayed
With an Introduction by Gregory Elich
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/elich011.html
Four years ago NATO waged war against Yugoslavia in what was billed a
"humanitarian" war. The lofty motives proclaimed by Western leaders
had the hollow ring of hypocrisy for those on the receiving end of
NATO bombs. In order to destabilize the last remaining socialist
nation in Europe, the United States and Great Britain supported and
armed the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a violent secessionist
organization. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/elich011.html
Gregory Elich is a long-time peace activist and a Swans' columnist.
Making War Out Of Nothing At All
by Aleksandra Priestfield
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/alekp027.html
You know how you sometimes like a song, for nebulous reasons -- a
haunting tune, a turn of phrase in the lyrics? I have several like
that. One of them is "Making love out of nothing at all," by a band
called Air Supply. On the face of it, it has nothing to do with
anything -- it's a song. Just a song. But that refrain -- those two
phrases -- making love out of nothing at all -- those just transformed
themselves in my head of late.
Watching the turns that history has taken in the past ten years or so,
watching the role that the United States has played in that history,
the Air Supply song's refrain comes back to haunt me as something
completely different.
Making war, out of nothing at all. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/alekp027.html
Aleksandra Priestfield is a technical writer, an editor, and a Swans'
columnist.
America: Myths and Realities
Embedding The Truth
by Deck Deckert
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rdeck039.html
The embedding of reporters with military units invading Iraq was a
disaster, both for the anti-war movement and the cause of journalism.
Right from the start, the embeds were emotionally involved with the
men and women of their units and were incapable of achieving the
detachment and objectivity that used to be one of the hallmarks of
great reporting. Instead, they became partisan cheerleaders for the
invaders.
Clearly this was a coup for the Pentagon, White House and other
warmongers. But that doesn't mean that embedding is a bad idea. It
just needs to be extended. We need embeds everywhere. For example...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rdeck039.html
A former copy, wire and news editor, Deck Deckert is a freelance
writer and a Swans' columnist.
Courage And Cowardice
by Richard Macintosh
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rmac06.html
I remember T. Chadbourne Dunham, Professor Emeritus at Wesleyan
University, saying that the Germans were "wonderful and horrible."
Dunham had been in Germany as an American graduate student when
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. He had great interest in
"altphilologie," or the study of ancient cultures and civilizations.
He had special interest in the work of Heinrich Schliemann, who
pioneered excavation of Ancient Troy, hence his presence in Germany.
During his stay, Dunham met Hannah Arendt, who introduced him to
Hermann Broch and Thomas Mann. Following World War II, Dunham worked
as a translator for Thomas Mann, while Mann was in the United States.
To Dunham, the Germans were "wonderful," because of their literature,
music and scientific achievements. They were "horrible," because they
allowed a gifted culture to descend into a pit of war, terror and
murder through thoughtlessness. How do we reconcile such things? Can
they be reconciled? Is this a German problem, or is this something
that applies to all human cultures? Are we all "wonderful" and
"horrible?" ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/rmac06.html
Richard Macintosh is a former Public High School Teacher, a part-time
consultant on Personnel/Team matters and a regular contributor to
Swans.
An Awful Lawful World: Who Wins, Who Loses
by Philip Greenspan
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/pgreen24.html
Certain moral precepts accepted as standards of conduct provide the
basis of laws throughout the world. It is assumed those laws will be
equally applied in all situations and to all individuals and groups.
But experience discloses major differences in how those laws are
enforced and to whom they apply.
Accordingly, it is appropriate to modify the belief of equality before
the law to a more realistic concept that enforcement varies from
lenient to harsh based on how favorably the enforcing authority views
the perpetrator. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/pgreen24.html
Philip Greenspan is a retired attorney, a World War II veteran and a
Swans' columnist.
Poetry
Accomplishments
by Sabina C. Becker
There was an evil man
Out in Afghanistan
At least, our Georgie Bushie told us so.
He hid out in a cave,
He wasn't very brave.
Just ask our Georgie Bushie, he should know. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/sbeckr06.html
Sabina Becker is a poet and a writer who lives in Cobourg, Ontario.
She graces Swans with her poetry on a regular basis.
My Appearances
by Gerard Donnelly Smith
i am nothing if not expression
a meaningless even if then,
never a poem decrypted,
never wave particle wave.
if not this chiasmus:
i am without this nothing,
nothing within this:
a chair
on it a pipe
the smoke about to fill the room
with an unmistakeable odour
of burning flesh;
the bomb explodes through walls
both thick and thin. ...
http://www.swans.com/library/art9/gsmith04.html
Gerard Donnelly Smith teaches creative writing, literature and
composition at Clark College in Vancouver, WA.
Announcements
* A book to read: Johnstone, Diana; Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato,
and Western Delusions, Monthly Review Press, 2003, ISBN:
1-58367-084-X - http://www.monthlyreview.org/foolscrusade.htm
* Another book to read: Catalinotto, John & Flounders, Sarah
(editors); Hidden Agenda: U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia,
International Action Center, 2002, ISBN: 0-9656916-7-5 -
http://www.iacenter/org/
* Yet another book to read: Blaker, Kimberly; The Fundamentals of
Extremism: the Christian Right in America, New Boston Books, 2003,
ISBN: 0-9725496-0-9
* If you wish to receive an e-mail regarding each new rendition (twice
a month) with the Note from the Editor and the URL to each article,
please send an e-mail (mailto:aymery@...) with
"Subscribe Swans" in the subject line. Please also include your
first/last name in the body of the message.
* Remember, every time you reload the front page, one of 82 different
quotes appears randomly in the left margin (below the link to the
French translation).
Latest indexing on Swans
- The Balkans and Yugoslavia -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/yugoslav.html
- America the 'beautiful' -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/usofa.html
- Dossiers - http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/dossiers.html
- Greens in the USA - http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/green.html
- Israel-Palestine -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/israpal.html
- Letters to the Editor -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/letters.html
- Main Media & Propaganda -
http://www.swans.com/library/subjects/newsspin.html
- *** More indexed subjects
http://www.swans.com/library/archives.html ***
The classification of all the work published on Swans is an ongoing
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help on this classification. If someone wants to volunteer his or her
time, please contact us (mailto:aymery@...). Thank you.
Be the change that you want to see in the world. --Gandhi