Military Resistance 12C14 : a Blanket Betrayal

8/12/2019 Military Resistance 12C14 : a Blanket Betrayal

1/31

Military Resistance: [email protected] 3.16.14 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 12C14

The U.S. Senate This WeekDefeated An ImpassionedLegislative Push To Reduce The

Growing Problem Of SexAssault In The Armed Forces

Its A Blanket Betrayal What HasHappenedThe Measure Would Have RemovedMilitary Commanders From Deciding
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/31

Whether Most Serious Allegations OfWrongdoing By Their Subordinates

Should Be ProsecutedIts An Antiquated System, It DoesntWork, Said McCoy

March 7th, 2014 by Jake Tapper, CNN

The U.S. Senate this week defeated an impassioned legislative push to reduce thegrowing problem of sex assault in the armed forces by overhauling the way themilitary prosecutes serious crimes.

A bill championed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand failed to get the 60 votes needed forpassage, by a vote of 55 to 45.

The measure would have removed military commanders from deciding whether mostserious allegations of wrongdoing by their subordinates should be prosecuted. Theresponsibility would have been shifted to prosecutors outside the chain of command.

Sen. Claire McCaskill led the effort to defeat Gillibrands bill, a move military sexualassault survivor BriGette McCoy slammed.

Its a blanket betrayal what has happened, said McCoy, saying the Missouri senatorhas shown us her cards.

She sat down with us survivors, asked us so many questions, and included us in somany dialogues. And we perceived over a year or so ago, that she was going to besupportive of making changes within the system, McCoy said in an interview with CNNsThe Lead with Jake Tapper.

McCoy was raped on her first military assignment, two weeks before her 19th birthday.Later that year, she was raped by another soldier in her unit. Then came sexualharassment by two officers including one who requested that she be moved to workdirectly for him.

Testifying before lawmakers last year, the former Army specialist described theanguish and entrapment she felt, and the horror of the ordeal that followed.

When I reported (the sexual assault and harassment) to my commanding officer,and wrote a written report, and stood in front of him and explained whathappened, they basically said I misunderstood what was going on, that this (non-commissioned officer) was trying to help me, McCoy told CNN.

McCoy said if there had been support and someone she could have reported tooutside the chain of command, she would have reported the rapes earlier.


3/31

It just wasnt available. And it still isnt available, said McCoy, who foundedWomen Veterans Social Justice, a non-profit that provides services to femaleveterans.

McCoy supports the Gillibrand amendment that died in the Senate, and says the currentsystem is flawed.

Its an antiquated system, it doesnt work, said McCoy.

Across the board, we do have more people coming forward saying this is happening tothem because they perceive something is going to change, said McCoy. We havepeople who are ... survivors like myself who are saying we want to support somethingthats going to protect the people coming in.

MILITARY NEWS

Egyptian Military DictatorshipLosing Sinai To Insurgents:

The Army Is In Control Of The

Main Roads But Is Unable To EnterMany Villages. It Can Only AttackBy Helicopter

Residents Say Military OperationsActually Creating New Enemies For

The StateInsurgents Control About A Third Of

Sinai Villages And Have Moved To TheNile Delta, Bringing The Conflict Much


4/31

Closer To The Capital And Egypts MainPopulation Centers

The army is in control of the main roads but is unable to enter many villages. Itcan only attack them by helicopter, said Mustafa Abu Salman, who lives near al-Bars village.

Even when the armys armored personnel vehicles enter villages they fail toarrest militants who have better knowledge of the place, which the militarycompletely lacks.

Mar 16, 2014 From AL-LAFITAAT, Egypt; Reuters.

(The name of the correspondent is being withheld for security reasons; Additionalreporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Yasmine Saleh and Michael Georgy)

******************************************************************************

Egypts army says it is crushing Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but inthe regions villages and towns a victory for the state feels a long way off.

In a rare visit to eight villages in Northern Sinai last week, a Reuters reporter sawwidespread destruction caused by army operations, but also found evidence that a fewhundred militants are successfully playing a cat-and-mouse game with the Arab worldsbiggest army and are nowhere near defeat.

It is increasingly difficult for foreign correspondents to openly enter conflict zones in theSinai.

Residents say the militants - a mix of Egyptian Islamists, foreign fighters anddisgruntled youth - have seized control of about a third of the villages in theregion and are now taking their fight closer to Cairo.

The army is in control of the main roads but is unable to enter many villages. Itcan only attack them by helicopter, said Mustafa Abu Salman, who lives near al-Bars village.

Even when the armys armored personnel vehicles enter villages they fail toarrest militants who have better knowledge of the place, which the militarycompletely lacks.

Many residents say that the authorities military operations are actually creatingnew enemies for the state.

The fight against militant Islam is a key test for the interim government in Cairo.


5/31

Sinai-based militants stepped up attacks on police and soldiers last year, soon afterEgypts army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and tried him on a wide rangeof charges.

The violence has left 300 people dead and hammered Egypts economy, which has notrecovered from the political turmoil that began in early 2011 when a popular uprisingousted Hosni Mubarak.

The army and the government say they are beating the militants.

In an attempt to stop the illegal flow of arms, Egyptian authorities have destroyedthousands of tunnels that ran under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, whichborders North Sinai.

Almost every night, Apache helicopters fire rockets at suspected Islamist militanthideouts in the houses and farms of the largely lawless peninsula, a 61,000 sq km(24,000 sq mile) area wedged between the Suez Canal to the west and Israel and Gazato the east.

We are doing an extremely good job but that does not mean we have completely endedterrorism, army spokesman Ahmed Ali told Reuters.

It is a vicious war because the terrorists have light and heavy weapons. The lives of thepeople in Sinai are of great importance for the armed forces and they are seen as thefoundation for national security in that area.

Local Residents Say The Military Is Making Little Progress

So far, though, local residents say the military is making little progress.

The armys blunt tactic of rocketing suspected hideouts is failing, they say,because the militants have mastered the terrain.

They move around villages using alleyways where it is difficult to spot them fromthe air, and mix with civilians or hide in olive groves.

The effort to stop the flow of weapons is also a struggle, they say, in large part becausesmugglers are bringing in weapons from Libya.

Residents say the number of fighters has decreased in the past few months, partlybecause many fighters have moved towards the Nile Valley.

The army has entered a war, but it is not specialized in this type of war, whichrequires special counter-insurgency forces, not an army, said Mussab Abu Fajr, aBedouin leader in the Sinais main city of al-Arish.

Major-General Samih Bishady, the head of security in North Sinai, said that the armyhas killed and arrested many of the wanted in Sinai.


6/31

Many Islamist Fighters Have Moved To The Nile Delta Bringing TheConflict Much Closer To The Capital And Egypts Main Population Centers

At the same time, he and other officials in Cairo agree that many Islamist fightershave moved to the Nile Delta, bringing the conflict much closer to the capital andEgypts main population centers.

Standing beside two olive trees outside the village of al-Lafitaat, a senior militantwho would be identified only by his initials, S.A., set out the way the groupstactics have changed.

At the start of the fighting we used to hide in mountains but now we are present in thevillages among residents, because it is safer there, he said.

When we were in the mountains it was easy for the army to strike us with helicopters.But as long as we are with the people it is hard to reach us.

S.A. said that he and his fellow fighters use simple home-made bombs such as jam jarsstuffed with dynamite. The devices are hidden in olive trees or on the side of road, withdesert sand covering detonation cords.

He said the militants wait on hilltops for military convoys to pass and thendetonate their bombs by remote control, using cellphone identification cards.

We use cooking cylinders and water jugs and we will pack them with explosives, andconnect them to timers and a SIM card and we plant them on roads we know are usedby the army, said S.A.

The threat of roadside bombs has prompted the army to cut mobile phone networks andthe Internet during daylight hours when military vehicles move around.

The militants are dealing with us in haphazard primitive ways and they have entered adirty war with us, said a military official in Sinai who declined to be identified. [Whinewhine whine.]

In an effort to evade the attention of the military, many residents now hang severalEgyptian flags on their homes as a gesture of loyalty to the state.

Ahmed Abu Gerida, who lives in al-Bars village, said militants sometimes hide incivilians houses to avoid detection.

They hang up womens clothes, including bras and underwear, because they know thearmy will hesitate to approach Bedouin women, he said. One time soldiers entered oneof these homes and found a storage place for explosives and blew up the house.

Residents Say The Military Campaign Is Fanning Resentment In APopulation That Already Felt Neglected By The Central Government


7/31

Air strikes, launched almost daily since Mursis fall, have hammered villages like al-Lafitaat, where all 12 single-storey cement houses have been destroyed or heavilydamaged over the past few months.

Some were reduced to a few beams, while others were burnt out, their ceilingscollapsed. Residents fled, leaving behind a handful of sheep.

One woman named Niimaa stood next to the remnants of her house with her twochildren, after returning a few days earlier to retrieve her belongings. She collected apillow, a mattress, some dishes and a small stove and placed them in a pick-up truck.

She said the army killed her husband, who she said was not a militant, four months ago.

We want to go to a safe spot with my children. As you can see a rocket destroyed halfof my house and I will not wait until the other half gets destroyed.

Residents have become familiar with the rituals of the conflict.

Every day at 4pm the army closes the main streets in every village. At night, a buzzingnoise overhead is a sign that rockets may follow.

Sinai residents and some Egyptian security officials believe the noise is made bydrones, perhaps from Israel; Islamist militant groups in the Sinai are seen as asecurity threat to the Jewish state.

The Egyptian military says it does not target civilians.

A military officer at a checkpoint in al-Masoura village said the army only attacksvillages which are occupied by militants.

But residents say the military campaign is fanning resentment in a population thatalready felt neglected by the central government. The Bedouin population has longaccused the Egyptian authorities of neglecting the Sinai region, failing to provide basicservices and jobs.

The military operations hit the wanted and unwanted, said Mona Barhouma, who livesin Rafah and complains that innocent people are regularly killed.

Even residents who are opposed to militants say they are scared to cooperate with thearmy, which has appealed for tips to find the fighters.

Sheikh Hassan Khalaf, who heads the Sawarka tribe in Sinai, said 35 Sinai residents

who gave the army information on militants had been shot dead in the past threemonths. The army confirmed the shooting, but not the numbers involved.

We are between two fires. If we report the terrorists to the army, the militants will kill usthe next day, said Subayha, a Bedouin who said that she and her children struggle tosleep because of army shelling in her village of al-Mahdiya. For safety, they sometimessleep outside the gates of a building that houses international peacekeepers, she says.


8/31

If we remain silent the army considers us allies of the terrorists and can startattacking our villages, said Subayha.

Cuts to the mobile phone network and Internet have added to public frustration.

The Big Fear Is That The Conflict Is Spreading

The big fear is that the conflict is spreading. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the best-known Sinai-based militant group, has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks in Cairoin recent months, including a suicide bombing that failed to kill the interior minister lastSeptember. The group also said it shot down a military helicopter in January, killing fivesoldiers.

An army official in Cairo said the Sinai militants had made a strategic move to shiftoperations to other places in Egypt. If Sisi becomes president, the attacks are mostprobably going to increase, as in militants eyes, Egypt will be officially run by a militaryregime, he said.

This will be the biggest challenge to Sisis rule.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh hadI the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream ofbiting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.


9/31

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom theyoppose.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

The past year every single day of it has had its consequences. In the obscuredepths of society, an imperceptible molecular process has been occurringirreversibly, like the flow of time, a process of accumulating discontent,bitterness, and revolutionary energy.-- Leon Trotsky, Up To The Ninth Of January

Around 50,000 People Rallied InCentral Moscow Saturday In ProtestAt Russias Intervention In UkraineThe Main Enemy Is In The Kremlin. No

To Fascism, No To Imperialism

Protesters carry Ukrainian and Russian flags in Moscow, on March 15, 2014, during arally against recent Russias intervention in the Crimean peninsula (AFP Photo/Dmitry

Serebryakov)

March 15, 2014 By Huw Griffith, Anna Malpas, AFP [Excerpts]


10/31

Moscow (AFP) - Around 50,000 people rallied in central Moscow Saturday in protest atRussias intervention in Ukraine, a day before the Crimean peninsula votes on switchingto Kremlin rule.

An AFP team at the rally said its numbers had swelled rapidly from an initial 5,000 ataround 2.00pm (1000 GMT), and stood at approximately 50,000 two hours later.

A livestream of the rally on one website accessible in Moscow had been viewedaround 240,000 times, according to a counter.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as some chanted The main enemy is in the Kremlin. Noto fascism, no to imperialism.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the email address if youwish and well send it regularly with your best wishes. Whether in

Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your servicefriend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growingresistance to injustices, inside the armed services and at home. Sendemail requests to address up top or write to: Military Resistance, Box 126,2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657.


11/31

It Would Be Interesting To KnowHow People In Chechnya View

Putins Action In CrimeaPutin Is Supporting Secession InCrimea, Having Dealt With Chechen

Aspirations To Secession ByDrowning Chechnya In Blood

It Was The Murderous Onslaught OnChechnya That Defined And

Consolidated Putins PresidencyPutin is absolutely right on one point: the western powers protests at the Russianaction in Crimea are completely hypocritical.

Putin said at his 4 March press conference that, when western leaders told himthe action was illegitimate, I have to recall the action of the USA inAfghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

March 16th, 2014 by Gabriel Levy, peopleandnature.wordpress.com/

The Russian military action in Crimea is dividing working people, socialists in Ukraineare warning. The threat of war will exacerbate Ukraines economic crisis which isalready driving the new neo-liberal government in Kyiv to attack living standards.

Struggles over social issues could be the starting-point for countering the poisonouseffect of pro-Russian separatism on one side and extreme Ukrainian nationalism on theother. But radical socialists in Kyiv and in eastern Ukrainian cities emphasise that, in theimmediate future, launching such struggles will not be easy.

Putin is absolutely right on one point: the western powers protests at the Russian

action in Crimea are completely hypocritical.

Putin said at his 4 March press conference that, when western leaders told himthe action was illegitimate, I have to recall the action of the USA inAfghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Some on the European left, who view the world primarily as a geopolitical conflictbetween the US-UK led alliance and the rest rather than in terms of social and classdynamics focus on this comparison, and suggest that the removal of former Ukrainian


12/31

president Viktor Yanukovich is largely the work of right-wing actors supported by theUSA.

Such a view ignores the complex character of the movement that felled Yanukovich. And it exaggerates the role of western powers who are divided, with the USA puttingthe emphasis on containing Russias military ambitions, but Germany and others keenerto preserve economic relationships with Russia.

The conflict between Russia and these powers could deepen, if they feel that Russiasmilitary aggression threatens their hegemony.

That would raise a whole host of new problems but it wouldnt alter the fact that Putinswar in Crimea is unilaterally bad for Ukrainians and Russians trying to make their livesbetter and the society they live in better.

Putin sees war as a way of boosting his support among Russians, mobilising theRussian nationalist right (most of whom fervently support the attack on Ukraine),and forestalling social protest in Russia itself, which reached a peak in 2011-12prior to his return to the presidency, and has since subsided.

It Was The Murderous Onslaught On Chechnya That Defined AndConsolidated Putins Presidency

Putins claim that he ordered a humanitarian mission in Crimea is laughable.

There is no threat to Russian speakers or Russian citizens that could possibly justify it.

But the aggressive actions of an estimated 20,000 Russian troops in Crimea have done100 times more than the Ukrainian parliament to stoke tension between Russians andUkrainians who have historically lived together peacefully in eastern Ukraine.

It was the murderous onslaught on Chechnya which for sheer brutality andcriminality, if not scale, surely rivaled the Iraq war that defined and consolidatedPutins presidency.

It would be interesting to know how people in Chechnya view Putins action inCrimea. Putin is supporting todays referendum on secession in Crimea, havingdealt with Chechen aspirations to secession by drowning Chechnya in blood.

His claim to be a hero of democracy and oppressed minorities must sound reallyweird there.

A key turning point in Chechnyas post-Soviet history was the declaration ofindependence by Djokar Dudaev, the former Soviet general who was elected nationalpresident, in November 1991.

The declaration, born out of two centuries or more of rebellions against Russiancolonialism, was certainly supported by the vast majority of Chechens.


13/31

The response by Russia, first under Boris Yeltsin and then under Putin, was aseries of frightful military assaults.

Thousands of civilians were killed, raped and tortured.

Yeltsins onslaught, culminating in the blitzkrieg of December 1994, failed.

Putin sent the Russian military back to Chechnya in 1999, first bombing the towns intosubmission, and then striking fear into villages with hundreds of disappearances ofyoung men.

The hypocrites in the western governments were busy perpetrating war crimes of theirown in Iraq, and never took action over Russian war crimes in Chechnya.

In 2001, the British Labour politician turned NATO secretary general, GeorgeRobertson, notoriously excused these crimes, saying that Russias war onChechen nationalists looked different in the light of the wests own war onterror.

Putin installed a pro-Russian puppet regime in Chechnya. Its current president,Ramzan Kadyrov, has been one of the most vocal supporters of Putins assault onCrimea.

On 2 March, the day the Crimea action began, about 300 protesters were arrested inMoscow, protesting against the war; on 15 March there was an anti-war demonstrationof about 50,000 people in the Russian capital.

Social and labour movements in Europe should support such actions.

The New Government In Kyiv Is Neo-Liberal, But Not Fascist, As SomeEuropean Leftists Claim

The new government in Kyiv is neo-liberal, but not fascist, as some European leftistsclaim.

Ukraines economy is in crisis, its state finances are in trouble, and the new primeminister, neo-liberal economist Arseniy Yatseniuk, is set to negotiate a loan packagewith the IMF.

An earlier package, arranged in 2008, had conditions attached slashing the publicsector wage bill, reforming the pension system and raising tariffs for gas, electricity andmunicipal services that all previous governments failed to meet.

Yatseniuk has said he will implement whatever the Fund demands, although such anattempt could easily bring down his weak coalition. Government assaults on livingstandards, and on welfare, education and social provision carried over from Soviettimes, will present a challenge to social and labour movements.

Batkivshchina (Fatherland), the party led by Yatseniuk and former prime minister YuliaTimoshenko, is partnered in the coalition by Svoboda, the right-wing nationalist, populist


14/31

party, whose leadership is full of antisemites. Svoboda has a deputy prime ministership,three ministries and control of the general prosecutors office. Some other ministers areformer radical rightists now in the parliamentary right.

The Right Sector coalition which during the Maidan demonstrations brought togethergroups to the right of Svoboda, including fascists and neo-Nazis has stayed out of thegovernment. Its leader Dmitry Yarosh was offered the post of deputy head of thenational security council but declined.

The immediate danger from the right wing and fascists consists primarily not inSvobodas government positions, but in the widespread presence of self-defence units,some armed, some of which are controlled by Svoboda and the Right Sector, and someof which have been operating joint patrols with the police.

Svoboda deputies have proposed a law legalising these units, and leftists fear that theywill have access to information on labour activists collected by the police. The Europeanleft should work in solidarity with our Ukrainian friends against such dangers.

Syria -- A Report From Damascus:The Oppression Has A Smell; The

Smell Of Fear, Subjugation AndTerror

The Syrian Regime Has Been HoldingOn To Its Narrative Of Combating

Terrorism While Terrifying The WholeNation

March 3, 2014 by Jasmine Roman, The National (Abu Dhabi) [Excerpts]

Jasmine Roman is a pseudonym for a Syrian writer

**************************************************************************************

After 18 months away, and with a sense of feverish homesickness and peculiar lack ofbelonging, I have again walked the streets of Damascus and hardly recognised it or itspeople.

Damascus is not a city any more, it is merely a military barracks.

The Syrian-Assad flag dominates the public arena: the long fences surrounding thesecurity and military locations; the schools and universities, cars and buses; the shop


15/31

doors, including the fabulous wooden doors in the old town, and even the specialglasses to drink mate, the Argentinian herb that is very popular in Syria.

Those who even think about resistance find themselves compelled to obey in order tosurvive.

The oppression has a smell; the smell of fear, subjugation and terror.

Checkpoints and inspections are becoming normal procedures in the name of security.

The number of security and special forces, intelligence staff, popular committees andregime thugs the shabiha is limitless.

The shabiha are boasting with their weapons, their huge, muscled bodies, long beards,tattoos, camouflage clothing and fierce attitude, realising that they have full authority inthe country.

They rove the city, driving cars with dark-tinted windows and no plates, knowing thatthey can conduct violations without being penalised.

The Syrian regime has been holding on to its narrative of combating terrorism whileterrifying the whole nation, mutating one stratum of society into mere tools to terrorisetheir fellow citizens.

The mobile phone companies are sending messages to the people, telling them to handover their arms and hand in terrorists.

Yet, at the same time, weapons are being funnelled into the hands of the regime thugs. Iwas a few metres away when one of them started to shoot randomly because he wantedto stop a minibus.

The regime loyalists keep decrying the uprising and the existence of armedopposition factions, delegitimising the right of Syrian civilians to freedom anddignity.

But they condone the weapons, tanks and armed thugs, and tolerate the foreignforces mobilised by the regime.

They argue that the regimes various forces and recruiters, despite their thuggery,looting and brutality, are defending the country and securing its stability.

Several governmental offices have turned to the security branches to further intimidate

their employees.

Civil servants have been forced to join the Baath party a tactic designed to obligatethem to vote for Mr Al Assad during the upcoming presidential elections. High-rankingemployees have been arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs and their replacementschosen on a religious and sectarian basis.


16/31

Damascus Is Not A City Any More; It Is Becoming A Place Of LawlessnessAnd Thuggery

Damascus is not a city any more; it is becoming a place of lawlessness and thuggery. Itis a place of legalised prostitution, where teenagers are relentlessly recruited into theshabiha.

The pedagogy of oppression is destroying the young generation; very young males andfemales wear camouflage clothes, bracelets, hats and other accessories withphotographs of Mr Al Assad and his flag to demonstrate their loyalty and imitate theattitude and appearances of the thugs.

Songs glorifying Mr Al Assad and the Syrian army are heard everywhere in the streets,shops and restaurants, and are even played during weddings.

Drivers change their manner of speaking to the coastal dialect when they approachcheckpoints where people, including myself, are discriminated against according to theirregional origins and ID cards.

It Is Obvious That Mr Al Assad Needs To Legitimise His Existence AndAuthority Among His Own Loyalists, And That Merely Determines His

Illegitimacy

The debate over the new image of Damascus takes different perspectives. On the onehand, some believe that the Syrian regime is becoming more powerful due to theimpotence of the international community in response to its brutality.

On the other hand, some believe that the changes in the capital are signs of the regimessurrender and weakness. It is obvious that Mr Al Assad needs to legitimise his existenceand authority among his own loyalists, and that merely determines his illegitimacy.

Several governmental offices have turned to the security branches to further intimidatetheir employees. Civil servants have been forced to join the Baath party a tacticdesigned to obligate them to vote for Mr Al Assad during the upcoming presidentialelections. High-ranking employees have been arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs andtheir replacements chosen on a religious and sectarian basis.

MILITARY RESISTANCE BY EMAILIf you wish to receive Military Resistance immediately anddirectly, send request to [email protected] . There isno subscription charge.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


17/31

Gen. Alexander Released From NSA,Forced To Register As Spy Offender

March 14, 2014 By Paul, The Duffle Blog

FORT MEADE Gen. Keith Alexander will be required to register as a spy offenderafter being released on Friday from the maximum security headquarters of the NationalSecurity Agency, sources confirmed.

As the former head of the secretive intelligence agency, Alexander will be required to godoor-to-door in his community, telling neighbors about his controversial activities whileinside, from listening to their phone calls to intercepting all of their SnapChat sexting

pictures.

Hi, I just moved in down the street and Im required by the FISA court to notify you ofmy status as a spy offender, Alexander said to one neighbor.

The fact is, I had a problem. I did my time for it in a windowless, desolate place, andnow Ive taken off my uniform and want to move on with my life.

Sources also confirmed Alexander would not be allowed within 1000 feet of a telephonecompany.

YOUR INVITATION:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or [email protected] : Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.


18/31


19/31

The Protests, As In The Ukraine Or InBulgaria, Should Be Understood As AClear Message That Citizens Do Not

Want Corrupt Elites That Have CapturedThe State And Govern It For Their Private

GoodCitizens Who Went To The Streets FeelThey Cannot Change The Government

Through Elections

Graffiti on government building in Tuzla says Resign All And Death To NationalismSource: Twitter @RadioNightwatch

Statements that citizens destroyed their own property ring hollow (unless ofcourse, we acknowledge that the limousines of politicians thrown into canals inZenica were paid for by Bosnian taxpayers).

9 February 2014 Florian Bieber,Fbieber.wordpress.com/ [Excerpts]

The protests that have erupted across Bosnia in recent days were in some ways nosurprise.

What was a surprise was the extent to which they quickly spread from the first protestsin Tuzla across Bosnia and the degree to which the occupation and burning down ofgovernment buildings became a central feature.


20/31

In an interview for the Austrian daily Kurier, the current High Representative ValentinInzko noted that the protests were primarily carried by Bosniaks, the Muslims (DieTrger der Proteste sind hauptschlich Bosniaken, die Muslime). Similarly, Tim Judahpointed out that the protests primarily took place in the Federation and in areas with aBosniak majority.

In fact, what is more remarkable that the protests took place in regions of Bosniawith a Bosniak majority, they also took place in Br ko and Mostar, two cities thatare multiethnic, although in very different manners.

The fact that violence in Mostar against the city and cantonal administration andthe HQs of the two dominant ethnonationalist parties SDA and HDZ is particularlysignificant. A place where the threat of violence has been closer to the surfacethan elsewhere in Bosnia and the divisions are particularly tangible, such protestsare more significant than in less divided settings.

It is also telling that the protests began in Tuzla against predominantly Socialdemocraticauthorities. First, these protests are not about Dayton or nationalism, but they are abouta much broader disappointment with the political class.

The epicenter is in a former working class city that also bucked the ethnonationalisttrend during the war and reflects the disappointment with the Socialdemocrats who werethe winners of the 2010 elections and have since squandered all their political capital byacting indistinguishable from the ethnonationalist parties.

As a result, the protests express a sense of lack of alternatives, no party that canrepresent the grievances.

Furthermore, in Tuzla, Zenica and Biha the protests could demonstrate that they wereabout badly governed towns and cantons, not about large questions where parties can

give them an ethnic spin (as some are already doing).

The burning of buildings and finally of a part of the archives of Bosnia in the presidencybuilding have led to media and politicians in and outside Bosnia using the termhooligans in the context of the protests.

However, does this make the protestors hooligans?

I have not seen any reports indicating that the archives were deliberately targeted.Instead, it seems the tragedy lies in them being stored in the same building as thepresidency.

The term hooligans on the other hand is very loaded and authoritarian regimes like touse it again protestors (I remember this being used with some frequency by theMiloevi regime) and it raises a difficult question: What level of violence is legitimateduring protests?

In dictatorships, the use of violence is generally considered acceptable, while of coursethe scale and target of violence remains open for discussion.


21/31

Nobody seriously considered the protestors in Belgrade on 5 October 2000 hooligansbecause they set fire to the Serbian radio and television station or ransacked the Federalparliament.

Bosnia is a tricky case.

While it is no dictatorship, many citizens who went to the streets feel that theycannot change the government through elections.

This is true to a large extent, as the multiple layers of government mean that everybodyis in power somewhere and at the entity and state level we witness complex and fluidcoalitions that blur the line between government and opposition beyond recognition.

The use of ethnonational mobilization has also systematically undermined theorganization and articulation of other political concerns.

As a consequence, the use of violence against buildings representing the current elitebecame a target.

Statements that citizens destroyed their own property ring hollow (unless ofcourse, we acknowledge that the limousines of politicians thrown into canals inZenica were paid for by Bosnian taxpayers).

Remains of politicians cars in Zenica sewage canal. Source: Twitter @YourAnonCentral

The use of fear was a reflection of the anger of the citizens, as Elvira Juki describesvividly in her blog.

It also for the first time politicians became afraid of citizens, an observation madeby many on Facebook and Twitter as cantonal governments resigned and somereportedly even left the country.


22/31

In addition, the violence of the protests was fairly systematically directed at buildings ofthe government, in particular cantonal administrations, the state presidency and somepolitical party offices.

Despite conflict reports, there seems to have not been wide-spread looting (a la Patikeza Kosovo or the London riots) and the violence was targeted.

While it is hard to condone the destruction of buildings, it is easy to understand.

The protests, as in the Ukraine or in Bulgaria, should be understood as a clearmessage that citizens do not want corrupt elites that have in essence captured thestate and govern it for their private good.

What is clear is that the current political elites, at least in the Federation, havewidely lost their legitimacy.

Another defining feature of the protests is the combination of social grievanceswith dissatisfaction with government and corruption.

Finally, international actors will need to tread carefully as well.

Sometimes, silence is golden and if any message should be clear, the strategy of talkingto six party leaders and thinking that this is the way to change Bosnia for the better hasfailed and should be over.

Copies Of Military Resistance Newsletter

Free On RequestIf you have some good use in mind for a package of Military Resistancenewsletters, email [email protected] with a mailing address,an indication of how many you need, and how they will be used.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

Zionist Occupiers DestroyPalestinian Homes, As Usual:Through The Demolition, Hayla Lost

Most Of Her Familys Belongings


23/31

This Is The Third Time Their Home HasBeen Demolished

Hayla Bany Maniya And Remains Of Her Home

February 5, 2014 By Fadwa Baroud Abed Rabbo, Maan

Al-JIFTLIK (Maan) -- Jan. 31 was an unforgettable day for Hayla Bany Maniya, a42-year old Bedouin woman and mother of eight children, who has lived her entirelife in the Jiftlik area of the Jordan Valley in the northern part of the West Bank.

Known as Umm Mohammad, Hayla woke up to the sound of Israeli militarybulldozers demolishing all thirteen sheds owned by three Palestinian families inal-Jiftlik town.

The Israeli Army considers this area a closed military zone and a naturereserve.

Haylas home, as she called the shed, is among three residential structures, five animalsheds (each with a pen), three chicken coops, and one outside-kitchen with a traditionaloven which were demolished.

All were made of metal and covered by tent canvas.

With all her belongings gone, left without hope, Hayla tries to show some strengthto her children who did not have the courage to go to school that day.


24/31

On the day of demolition, six of my children were supposed to attend final examsat the nearest school, said Hayla with the tears in her eyes.

The children usually ride on donkeys for three hours to the main road, and then take a

bus for twenty minutes to reach their school.

Through the demolition, Haya lost most of her familys belongings, part of her livestockand her children need to repeat the class as they did not pass the exam.

Two more families have also been affected 26 people in total including 13children have been displaced.

In addition, the families livestock, of around 750 sheep are now without a refuge.

Our main source of income are our sheep, and like us are now left withoutshelter. Three goats died last night as the weather conditions are hard, says

Hayla.The eviction comes at a time when families in Palestine are struggling to recover from asevere winter storm, which has damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and animalsheds.

The widespread vulnerability of people in rural communities who depend on livestock isincreasing.


25/31

Displacement has serious immediate and longer-term physical, socioeconomic andemotional impact on families and communities in Palestine. It results in the disruption oflivelihoods, reduced standards of living and an increased dependency on humanitarianaid.

In many cases, it also disrupts access to basic services such as education, water andsanitation.

During the Jiftlik demolition, the families complained that the Israeli authoritiesalso damaged the water pipes connected to the nearby Qarzaliya water spring aswell as a traditional oven (known as taboon) and two plastic water tanks.

According to Hayla, this is the third time their home has been demolished.

The first demolition followed an evacuation order when the area was declared aclosed military zone in 2010 and the second in 2011 when the area was declareda nature reserve.

The negative psycho-social impact also extends to the thousands of Area C Palestinianresidents threatened with outstanding demolition orders.

They live in fear that their homes or other structures could be demolished by theIsraeli authorities at any moment.


26/31

According to humanitarian organizations working in Palestine, the number of structuresdemolished by the Israeli authorities in the Jordan Valley in 2013 more than doubled,from 192 in 2012 to 393 in 2013.

UN OCHA in Jerusalem reported that, in 2013, the Israeli authorities demolished 663Palestinian-owned homes and livelihood structures, displacing over 1,000 people, 25percent more people than in 2012.

In addition, OCHA reported that 122 out of the total demolished structures in the WestBank, including East Jerusalem, were donor-funded, of which 49 structures were fundedby the EU and/or its Member States.

Fourteen agencies, part of the Association of International Development Agencies(AIDA) and other regional networks of human rights, had asked the internationalcommunity to put pressure on the Israeli Authorities to cancel the order of evictionagainst the families in Jiftlik, before the demolitions took place.

We are writing to urge you to take action to halt the imminent eviction of Palestinianfamilies, including 15 children, from their homes in the Jordan Valley village of Jiftlik.

In the Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on December 2013, the EU warned againstactions that undermine the negotiations, citing grave concerns regarding housedemolitions.

On the 19 December, the EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a statementexpressing serious concern over recent demolitions, recalling the 16 December 2013Council Conclusions as well as the 14 May 2012 Council Conclusions, where the EUcalled upon Israel to meet its obligations regarding the living conditions of thePalestinian population in Area C, including by halting the forced transfer of populationand demolition of Palestinian housing and infrastructure.

As National Security Adviser Ms. Susan Rice recently stated in her 4 December 2013remarks at the Human Rights First Annual Summit, land confiscations and homedemolitions must end for a culture of peace to take root.

The humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department of the European Commission(ECHO) has been responding to the needs of the most vulnerable Palestinians since2000, with particular attention to those affected by demolitions and at the risk ofdisplacement.

Settler Mob Uproots Palestinian OliveTrees, As Usual:


27/31

Settlers From Susiya Regularly AttackThe Areas Former Residents As Well As

Other Nearby Palestinian Villages16/03/2014 Maan

HEBRON -- Israeli settlers uprooted 30 olive trees on Friday southeast of Yatta nearHebron, a local activist group said.

Spokesman for the local resistance committees Nidal al-Haddar told Maan that settlersfrom the Israeli settlement of Susiya raided the area and uprooted 30 trees belonging tothe Shatat family in the village of Khirbet Zanuta.

Khirbet Zanuta is located in the South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, anarea that lies almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israelicivil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

In the 1980s, Israeli settlers began moving into the area of Susiya and anarchaeological park was established on land expropriated from the localPalestinian village, the original Susiya.

Dozens of residents were expelled, and they have been subject to threats offurther demolition and expulsion. Settlers from Susiya regularly attack the areasformer residents as well as other nearby Palestinian villages.

Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank withimpunity.

Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown thatnine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and EastJerusalem, in contravention of international law.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and EastJerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

To check out what life is like under a murderous militaryoccupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to:

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16 The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call

themselves Israeli.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16


28/31

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

They Just Love Putins Move On

Crimea:[The Crimean Referendums Invited Neo-

Nazi Observers]03. 15.14 by Halya Coynash, khpg.org.ua [Excerpts]

It is difficult to hope for respectable friends when you have just invaded anothercountrys territory without so much as a declaration of war, but the Kremlins props fortheir Crimean intervention are a seriously motley bunch that includes at least threeindependent observers with known far right leanings.

When the second - after Syria - country to declare its support is North Korea, Russianpress agencies might have considered remaining silent.

The same might be said of media reports about international observers for the March16 referendum called by the puppet government installed on Feb 27.


29/31

The date of this fast-track referendum was announced on March 6, giving just 10 days toorganize procedure for both the voting and vote count. As reported, there are twoquestions with no option for choosing the status quo: its either joining Russia or sayingyes to a form of autonomy in force for just a few days back in 1992.

The Crimea has been awash with billboards which claim that the choice is Nazi rule ora Crimea bathed in the blue, white and red of the Russian flag.

However on Saturday, the Russian state-funded Russia Today and a report fromthe website E-Crimea both reported international observers as claiming that thereferendum was entirely legitimate and aboveboard.

Russia Today mentions 30 observers from 10 European Nations, and quotes five ofthem.

E-Crimea claims there are 135 from 23 countries, and names three.

All those quoted appear to have spoken of the democratic and fully legitimate nature ofthe referendum more or less on arrival in the Crimea.

It seems likely that this has more to do with the observer, not what is observed, norexactly, with their highly specific political views.

The director of the European Geopolitical Analysis Centre and the missioncoordinator, Mateusz Piskorski, together with Hungarian MEP Bla Kovcs,Belgian political activist Luc Michel, and Spanish MEP Enrique Ravello all havestrong links with the far right.

If Piskorskis penchant in the 1990s for a form of National Socialism that praised Hitlerand fascism could be charitably called a youthful aberration, this is categorically not the

case with the others.

Ravello can be seen addressing a London far-right forum in anti-immigration,xenophobic mode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3XjgJhJ-XA

Michel is also from the far-right and a former member of the neo-Nazi movementFdration daction nationaliste et europenne.

Bla Kovcs is treasurer of the Alliance of European National Movements, whichincludes the xenophobic and anti-Semitic British National Party among itsfounding members.

Given the Kremlin narrative about the need for Russia to protect its nationalsagainst the supposed fascists and anti-Semites who have seized power in Kyiv,the Alliances Statement on Ukraine is well-worth reading.

One especially telling detail is the justification for not supporting Ukrainian nationalistsagainst an attempt by Russia to annex the Crimea.

The section reeks of anti-Semitism in its attempt to claim that the Red Terror wasnot Russian:


30/31

Indeed, the radical Jewish racism and supremacism and anti-Christian hatredthat in the 1930s produced the Bolshevik terror, now largely find their outlet in theextreme Zionism, anti-white fanaticism and globalism of the neo-cons

Invitations to join these independent observers were also apparently sent to the headof the French National Front Marine Le Pen, the chairman of the Italian Lega Nord,Lorenzo Fontana and the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria Andreas Mlzer,

The attempted storming of the regional administration in Donetsk and violencewhich left at least one person dead were led by the neo-Nazi Pavel Gubarev andseem to have had the support of skinheads and other far right individuals fromRussia.

Since the Kremlins battle for the Crimea has gained the support of the most primitiveRussian nationalist elements, it is probably no surprise that European politicalmovements of the far right should be joining suit.

These are seriously strange fellow travellers for those liberal western journalistsand commentators entranced by the idea that Russia is merely defending anethnic minority or championing the cause of anti-fascism.

Military Resistance distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always beenspecifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advanceunderstanding of the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. We believe this constitutes a fair use of anysuch copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed withoutcharge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the includedinformation for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. Military Resistance has noaffiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is Military Resistance endorsed or sponsored bythe originators. This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research,education, and the advancement of human rights and social justice. Go to: law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml formore information. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use,you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

If printed out, a copy of this newsletter is your personal property and cannotlegally be confiscated from you. Possession of unauthorized material may notbe prohibited. DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.1.2.


31/31

Documents

Military Resistance 12C14 : a Blanket Betrayal