While taking a quick look at the Bard College home page, I was stunned to see a link to video coverage of Milosevic's kangaroo court show trial, which is provided through a joint project of the Human Rights project at Bard and an outfit called the International Center for Transitional Justice (http://www.ictj.org/). Ever since Susan Soros got the plum assignment of running the Bard College Center for Decorative Arts (funded by her sugar daddy), we can assume that a tit-for-tat relationship between the billionaire investor and my alma mater has not only been ongoing but largely responsible for this latest sordid exercise in human rights imperialism.
A cursory examination of the ICTJ website will reveal all the usual culprits. It gets its funding from:
Ford Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Open Society Institute (ie., Soros)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Andrus Family Fund
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The Atlantic Philanthropies
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
This is what you might call the philanthropic wing of the East Coast white shoe Protestant liberal establishment, with George Soros's Open Society Institute functioning as the arriviste Yiddisher caboose.
The president of the ICTJ is Alex Boraine who as former deputy chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa was probably selected for his proven ability to get fascists off the hook. While 50 years of apartheid most assuredly should have called for a Nuremberg type trial, Boraine and his allies in the right wing of the ANC were anxious to avoid any kind of nasty confrontations with the Afrikaner ruling class. No doubt the aspiring ruling class within the ANC sought to move as quickly as possible to a "normalized" South Africa where the Black rich could have equal rights with whites in exploiting miners and other wage earners.
Commenting on the wholesale pardons of the apartheid murderers, the widow of Steven Biko said, "We teach our children that if they do something wrong, they will be punished. We don't say if you do something bad, whatever it is, all you must do is confess. Even if they confess, they must be punished in some way. I don't care if Steve's murderer is given a fine or a light sentence, just so long as he stands up in court and is judged."
Even though most of the racist killers have gone scot-free, Boraine dubbed the Commission to be a huge success and now tries to export this model around the world like any other multinational commodity through the auspices of the International Center for Transitional Justice. With the lavish funds available from its deep-pocketed funders, it hires and trains field workers in Burma, South Africa, former Yugoslavia, Peru, Rwanda and elsewhere. It is part and parcel of a human rights imperialism agenda, which amounts to a kind of missionary service to the South from the North. It goes like this: the banks and brokerage houses that fund the Foundations penetrate the nations of the periphery and bleed them dry. After the economically desperate population throws itself into a disastrous civil war, the NGO's that get funded by the Foundations go in and try to straighten things out, usually aligning itself with whichever faction is more in favor of "peace" and "democracy". In other words, that which takes its marching orders from the US Embassy.
As might be expected, the International Center for Transitional Justice website betrays not an ounce of leniency when it comes to Slobodan Milosevic. In an op-ed piece that appeared originally in the NY Times and which can be found on the ICTJ website, Boraine lays out the difficulties facing prosecution of Milosevic, which at that time had not gotten off the ground. In conversations with Boraine, President Kostunica expressed his "deep reservations as to whether any Serb could receive a fair trial in The Hague."
But Boraine assured his NY Times readers, "Mr. Kostunica is also a very astute politician and knows there are clear political realities that will not go away. He is mindful that the demands from the West are inextricably linked with the economic support he so desperately needs." Translation: If the Serbs know what's good for them, they'll kowtow to Washington or else they'll starve. This was the same tactic that got the Sandinistas removed from power in Nicaragua.
For a reminder of how grotesque Boraine's pretensions are with respect to the Balkans, I recommend a look at Marko Lopusina's "War, Lies, and Videotapes: the role of the CIA and the News Media in the Breakup of Yugoslavia", from which this is extracted:
>>Today, when the U.S. impact on Balkan events became direct and open, it is clear that official Washington was only too concerned about who would come to lead Yugoslavia and who would lead the process, first of saving and then of extinguishing SFRJ. Americans therefore placed their bets on Stipe Mesic, Ante Markovic, and Janez Drnovsek. Warren Zimmermann, the last U.S. ambassador to Belgrade, speaks openly about his cooperation with Yugoslav prime minister in his memoirs, first published in Zagreb:
"In the seething cauldron of ethnic rivalries, Yugoslavia needed a leader who could deal with the growing economic crisis and at the same time appeal to Yugoslavs to stay together and build a democratic society. Amazingly, a man who represented all these qualities found himself the new prime minister of Yugoslavia in March 1989. Ante Markovic, a man of great ability and determination, had been voted into office by the Yugoslav parliament with a mandate to curb the runaway inflation and institute a radial economic reform. Milovan Djilas, the famous dissident and political seer, called him Yugoslavia's first modern statesman. Markovic was impossible to dislike. A good-looking silver-haired man in his mid-sixties, he radiated good humour and ebullience. He laughed easily - not a trait of Slavic officials and certainly not of Yugoslav communists. He had a can-do attitude and an unbounded conviction that he could overcome what was now universally called 'the Yugoslav crisis'. A man of large ego, he saw himself as a messiah for Yugoslavia. After he became Yugoslav prime minister, his dynamism and supreme self-confidence impressed visiting Westerners. The financier-philanthropist George Soros, a shrewd judge of Eastern European politicians, told me after a visit to Belgrade that Markovic was one of the most remarkable leaders he had met.
"What Markovic wanted most of all was support from the West. He saw the United States as the key country. He wanted to visit Washington to meet President Bush. He wanted clear statements of American support for his programs. And above all he wanted money. How much? 'Well,' he said with his infectious smile, 'I'm playing a big game, and it requires big money. I think four billion dollars would be a good start to help a reform that's going further than anything in eastern Europe.' Swallowing hard, I told him I'd report his request to Washington. I knew what the answer would be. U.S. policy on Eastern Europe was heavily focused on Poland and Hungary, countries that were moving on the reform path faster than Yugoslavia and without the baggage of divisive nationalism. Yugoslavia would be seen as a poor risk and therefore a low priority. Markovic got his trip to Washington in October 1989. I had lobbied hard for it," writes Zimmermann.
With the support of Eagleburger and European Bureau of the State Department, the White House agreed to a meeting with President Bush. He then had meetings with Secretary of State James Baker, Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, Treasury Secretary Brady, and Commerce Secretary Mosbacher, as well as a visit to Congress and a trip to New York for talks with bankers and businessmen. U.S. President repeated his strong support to Yugoslav independence, unity and sovereignity, welcomed Markovic's determination to implement reforms which were to establish market-driven economy and build up democratic pluralism.<<