Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 08:19:46 -0500
From: "Mike Nickerson, Inviting Debate" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: War, Peace and Sufficiency.
Greetings:
There are lessons to be learned from the first Internet
transparent war. If you haven't seen the analysis challenging the
commercial media's black & white coverage, let me know & I will forward
some key items.
What follows here are observations that have not seen much exposure.
Yours, Mike N.
--------------------------------------------------
War, Peace and Sufficiency
Why is it that the greatest military force ever amassed cannot
defeat the small Serbian army that holds Kosovo?
For many weeks NATO planes have bombed out the infrastructure upon
which that force supposedly depends. Military facilities, roads, bridges,
factories, waterworks; it's hard to imagine there being anything left, yet
there is no sign that NATO has any control in the territory.
This points to an interesting fact that was equally apparent in the
Vietnam and Afghanistan wars. People don't really need much to live. Most
of the sophisticated systems which we think of as essential are really just
complex ways of providing convenience. The Serb forces are likely living
on a simple diet and a sense of mission. Recollect the Vietnamese fighter
in "black pajamas" carrying a bag of rice and a gun. Bombs rained down,
some died, but mostly they just waited for the planes to leave and then
went about their business.
Human beings are remarkable. With only food, water and basic
modern weapons, we can stand up to enormous attack. This was not the case
in colonial times because the difference in weaponry was extreme; guns
versus spears and arrows was no contest. In the early history of
colonialism European ambitions in other lands were not foregone
conclusions. Efforts in the 15th Century to colonize the Canarie Islands
failed repeatedly. When the Islands were finally taken, it was more the
consequence of European diseases than superior fighting ability. It only
became possible to conquer the world when Europeans began to industrially
mass-produce firearms.
Comparing the Serbian force with the Nazis' is seriously
misleading. Hitler's Germany had applied modern industrial mass-production
techniques to making weapons on a scale that made it possible for them to
overrun much of Europe. It wasn't until other industrialized states revved
up their arms production that Hitler's force could be effectively
challenged. Serbia has no such competitive edge and is no more likely to
impose its will beyond its immediate territory than its neighbours are
likely to impose theirs on Serbia.
Today, any country with a few million dollars can buy enough
sophisticated guns to hold off invaders. It is very difficult to overpower
a people with territorial imperative and a historical attachment to their
place. The battle in Kuwait was misleading because it has not been a part
of Iraq since the 1930s and because movements are clearly visible in the
open desert. Not so in the mountains of Kosovo.
The point of this article is not the improbability of NATO being
able to 'take' Kosovo by air or on the ground; its point is to underscore
the immense resilience of human beings.
Imagine the same ability to follow our purpose with a minimum of
material needs in a peaceful situation. We keep the waterworks and
shelters and the libraries and communications networks. Rather than
carrying guns and fighting, our purpose would be to share the tasks of
mutual provision and to enjoy living. Once we have the material
necessities for health, there are endless ways to enrich our lives based on
being human. Learning, love, laughter, creativity, communication and
appreciation for the wonders of existence are available in endless
abundance and place little or no stress on the Earth. Such a lifestyle is
a practical solution at a time when our material demands are dangerously
undermining the Earth's ability to provide for us.
There is a connection between NATO ambitions and unsustainable
resource demands. Lead has been mined in the area since pre-Roman times
yet the Trepca Mines in Kosovo are still among the planet's three largest
sources of this metal. As a key component in electric car manufacture,
lead has value similar to oil: especially if one believes that climate
change is a problem. Interestingly enough, with NATO running out of things
to bomb, the Trepca mining complex where lead, zinc, cadmium, gold and
silver are produced has not been attacked (as of mid May). This same
mineral wealth was a prize sought and won by Hitler. The plant he built
there to produce batteries for Nazi submarines is still producing
batteries. As the tragedy of Kosovo plays out, it will be interesting to
see who ends up controlling this vital resource.
Whatever the motive, the war in Kosovo will grease the wheels of
our economy. This is accomplished through the 500 million dollars a day
which our taxes will pay to replace munitions and equipment being deployed
and destroyed in this war. Another hazard of an economic system doesn't
differentiate between well-being and the consumption of the Earth.
See
Problems with economic accounting at:
http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/Question/GPI.html
and
Life Based Purpose at:
http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/life-index.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we
make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use
of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego
satisfaction, in consumption. . . We need things consumed, burned up,
worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate."
Written by retail analyst Victor Lebow
in the Retailing Journal shortly after WW II
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We know better now.
Sustainability Project - Inviting Debate
P.O. Box 374, Merrickville, Ontario
K0G 1N0
(613) 269-3500
e-mail: •••@••.•••
http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain
******************************************************************
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:04:25 -0700
From: Bob Djurdjevic <•••@••.•••>
Subject: S99-88, Day 63 (May 25, 11:00PM EDT) - A Special TiM
GWBulletin on NATO's War on Serbia
<snip>
---------------------------
<snip>
May 25, 1999; 11:00PM EDT
PHOENIX, May 25 - Check out our letter sent to the Wall Street Journal
today - available at our Web site:
http://www.truthinmedia.org/Activism/wsj5-25-99.html.
--------------
2. NATO's War on Urban Life: A Godsend for Serbia? The World?
BELGRADE, May 25 - At first, the West sold its materialistic way of life to
the gullible Yugoslavs. The urban life, that is. Now it's killing it.
Along with the gullible Yugoslavs. And others, too, who never knew which
end was up. And many who still don't...
When the former Yugoslavia was a buffer between the West and the Soviet
"Iron Curtain" countries, kind of Europe's half-way house, the West
showered this communist country with billions of dollars in aid and loans.
Now it's showering it with billions of dollars-worth of its bombs. Before
their Y2K expiry label runs out.
In the wake of NATO's war on civilians, however, lie some unexpected
victims. Such as the western way of life. In a bizarre mixture of
stupidity and madness, the West is killing itself in Yugoslavia. And
teaching the local populace, and the rest of the awake world, an expensive
lesson about what happens when you get hooked on drugs.
Hooked on drugs? What drugs?
Drugs like Coke. Or McDonald's. Or Levi's. Or Madonna...
What happens is that you become vulnerable. You become a target.
Ironically, it was the very aficionados of the western, materialistic,
urban way of life in Belgrade - the "cool living" - as it was presented to
them by the American hucksters; the people who created the now world-famous
symbol of resistance to foreign oppression - the TARGET sign; that are now
the main victims of NATO's war on Serbia.
The Serb farmers still have their wells, however polluted by depleted
uranium and other chemical toxins released by NATO's bombing. They still
have their cows, goats or sheep to give them milk and other necessary
survival sustenance in times of war, just as they have endured over the
centuries.
But what is an urban Serb dweller on the 20th floor of an apartment
building going to do now that NATO has turned off his power, his water and
all his other "conveniences" of urban living, to which the West has
accustomed him over the last four-five decades?
Rebel against Slobodan Milosevic? (which is what NATO keeps hoping -
against hope). No way. The Urbanites knows Milosevic didn't bomb them.
Besides, they have about as much influence on Milosevic as Americans do on
the criminals like Bill Clinton, or the Brits do on Tony Blair.
So jump off the balcony? Some might. Especially the elderly. And even if
some of them might get their water from the street fountains, how many
60+-year olds can you envisage being able to carry the buckets up 20
flights of stairs? (with the electricity off, the elevators aren't working,
either - remember?).
As for the young Belgrade urbanites, they now also know that the people
they admired and emulated over the years - the "West" - can push their
buttons at will; turn their power on or off; cancel their favorite TV or
MTV shows; or the concerts at the Freedom Square, or on the Brankov's Bridge.
And even if they are young and strong enough to haul the buckets of water
up 20 flights of stairs every day, surely by now they realize that that's
slave labor induced by their yesteryear's idols?
In the end, the Serbs, especially the young and impressionable Serbs,
should thank God for giving them the opportunity to distinguish between
the good and evil. And to make themselves worthy of their ancestors.
The Serbs who defeated the Ottoman Empire didn't live in apartment
buildings. The Serbs who defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire rode on ox
carts, not elevators. The Serbs who defeated Hitler didn't watch MTV,
drink Coke, or swivel their hips at a disco.
And so the Serbs who will defeat NATO's war criminals will not do so by
bemoaning the loss of their urban conveniences. Such as morning showers.
They will do so by banding together with their freedom-loving spirits. And
they will pray to God and thank Him for giving them a chance to find their
own way to redemption from the past sins, when they embraced the western
ideas, such as materialism and communism.
As the Serbian Patriarch told this writer on numerous occasions during our
many meetings in the last eight years, the head of the Serbian Orthodox
Church does not watch TV. Which makes him one of the few humans FREE OF
PROPAGANDA which the materialistic New World Order imperialists are beaming
at the world, day in and day out. And one who is not suffering any great
loss of a TV signal due to NATO's bombing.
On the other hand, we don't know if the 84-year old Serb Patriarch is
having to haul water to his modest bunk every night. We hope not.
But we know that were the Patriarch to do so, he would do it with the same
humility with which he had served as the Bishop of Kosovo before he became
Patriarch. And with the same sense of peace and compassion with which he
had asked this writer to pass on the message to the Serb Orthodox Christian
faithful in America in September 1995: "Don't be afraid of anything except
of sin."
----------------
<snip>----
Bob Djurdjevic
TRUTH IN MEDIA
Phoenix, Arizona
e-mail: •••@••.•••
Visit the Truth in Media Web site http://www.truthinmedia.org/ for more
articles on geopolitical affairs.
********************************************************************
note from Jan:
I find the vision in Mike Nickerson's article a compelling one:
"Imagine the same ability to follow our purpose with a minimum of
material needs in a peaceful situation. We keep the waterworks and
shelters and the libraries and communications networks. Rather than
carrying guns and fighting, our purpose would be to share the tasks of
mutual provision and to enjoy living. Once we have the material
necessities for health, there are endless ways to enrich our lives based on
being human. Learning, love, laughter, creativity, communication and
appreciation for the wonders of existence are available in endless
abundance and place little or no stress on the Earth. Such a lifestyle is
a practical solution at a time when our material demands are dangerously
undermining the Earth's ability to provide for us."
And I feel compelled to express some annoyance with the Truth in Media
bulletins, which have been sent to this list (including the second item above).
While I agree with some of what Bob Djurdjevic writes, such as this bit:
'I have been saying for years the real motto of the New World Order
terrorists is not "world peace through world trade," as its leaders claim;
it is "perpetual commerce through perpetual war."'
I was upset to read that he sanctions the idea of protesting the NATO
bombings yesterday at the Pentagon in this fashion:
'1. The Day Serb Flag Was Flying at the Pentagon
WASHINGTON, June 5 - Mark this day - June 5! This is the day a Serb flag
was flying at the Pentagon possibly for the first time in history, mounted
high on top of the soundstage erected on the Pentagon lawn, right next to
the official U.S. Defense Department flag pole. All around the
red-blue-and-white Serb banner, more than 30,000 anti war demonstrators who
took part in today's "March on the Pentagon," billowed from the top of
their lungs, "Yu-go-sla-via! Yu-go-sla-via!" '
Somehow I doubt that more than 30,000 people were yelling "Yu-go-sla-via!"
...in any case I certainly hope they weren't. ... Even though I have never
visited Yugoslavia, from what I have read and pictures I have seen, I
believe it was, at least for some people there, "Europe's most beautiful
garden". And I deplore the destruction of what was once such a brave home
for so many kinds of diversity and beauty. But I would never think that
participating in the kind of protest described above was being faithful to
the image of the Yugoslavia that I love.
all the best, Jan
