Remembering Srebrenica, the worst genocide in Europe since World War II; over 8 thousand slaughtered

Imagine if every  male, man and boy, in Grand County were assembled, hands tied behind their backs, marched to a killing field, and shot dead for one reason: they were all of the same religion, an identified ethnic group, hated by a superior force.

  Something like  that took place twenty years ago in a city with a population a little larger than our county.  You say that must have happened in Africa, maybe Rwanda? It is difficult to believe that such a horrendous event  also took place in an industrialized European country, especially since the Western world had hopefully  learned its lesson from the Holocaust. 

The world is just now coming to grips with its failure to stop the worst genocide  in Europe since World War II. July 11 in   Bosnia, former President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,   prime ministers, presidents, a queen,  from Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Turkey, Serbia, and Jordan ( Angela Merkel of Germany paid her respects earlier), marked the twentieth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, occurring  in a conflict which gave birth to  the term “ethnic cleansing”.

 On July 11, 1995, 8,372 men and boys were  marched to the countryside, shot to death, and  their executioners attempted to cover up the slaughter by moving the bodies, scattering body parts, and burying them so that no one would know.  A few of the victims played dead or hid under other bodies to escape and testify  to the world.    Thanks to DNA and forensic  recovery of the remains, all but 1000 have been identified, and another 136 coffins with parts of identified victims, were buried in the memorial ceremonies Saturday.

Oh, you say,  the Muslims did it?  (In Bosnia at that time, the largest ethnic group was Muslims).  Wrong.  The killers were Bosnian Serbs , Christian Orthodox, and the victims were killed for one reason. They were Muslim.

 It was a bloody incident in a bloody war as the former Yugoslavia broke apart in 1991 and the province of Bosnia struggled to gain its independence, with ethnic Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslims engaged in a civil war to determine governance. Bosnia’s population was a little more than Colorado’s. Over 100,000, mostly Muslims, died   before Srebrenica and  in smaller incidents of ethnic cleansing. The United Nations had already intervened and had established Srebrenica as a safe haven, but some Dutch peacekeepers were held hostage and courts later ruled  the Netherlands liable for their failure to protect those in a safe haven.

News of the massacre resulted in the following month with  NATO retaliatory air strikes against Bosnian Serbs  The Dayton Accord three months later   ended the Bosnia conflict, thanks mostly to the belated leadership of the US.  Joined in a federation with a Croatian/Muslim entity, Bosnia Serbs gained autonomy.   War crimes trials of Bosnian Serbs accused of responsibility for Srebrenica are still taking place in The Hague.

 The US last week introduced a resolution in the UN to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide,  but Russia, to its shame, yet  historically allied with Serbia,   vetoed it.  Showing more grace, the prime minister of Serbia attended the commemoration ceremonies and endured rocks   thrown at him by impassioned activists.

Post note: The Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was found guilty in the Hague in 2016  and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Felicia Muftic is a columnist with the Sky Hi News, Grand County, Colorado

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 Highly recommended:http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/europe/bosnia-srebrenica-massacre-commemoration/ and listen to the audio version.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/world/europe/srebrenica-genocide-massacre.html?_r=1

Trump is a demagogue by definition

The sudden rise of Donald Trump in the polls because of his remarks about undocumented immigrants (“ rapists”, “criminals” and “drug dealers” )  is more than disturbing.  He is by definition a demagogue because he appeals to a dark corner of American culture: prejudice and racism.  If we need a leader of our nation, we need one that appeals to our better nature, unifies the nation, and inspires us to promote  to the world  our national motto “e pluribus unum”, out of many, one.  Trump trumpets “e pluribus, pluribus”.

There are a variety of definitions of a demagogue, depending on which dictionary is searched. In ancient Greece it meant a leader of the people, but in current culture, it is defined as  “A politician who seeks to win and hold office by appeals to mass prejudice .Demagogues often use lies and distortion”  (American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy) or “a political agitator who appeals with crude oratory to the prejudice and passions of the mob”  (Collins English Dictionary) .   By those definitions Trump fits the profile.

Compromises were made at our very founding of the United States to accommodate the Southern slave holders. It took a  bloody civil war to end slavery. But  the Charleston massacre of church goers by a white supremacist who used the Confederate rebel battle flag as an symbol of  his hate filled  identity began to gel Southern opinion  that it was time  to take down that flag. Its original meaning had been hijacked by those defying the civil rights movement. It is in the midst of that controversy Trump raised his prejudiced voice.

Trump has a history of riding the wave of prejudice.  In the last presidential campaign, which he sat out, he used his media celebrity bully pulpit to become the voice of birtherism,  that President Obama was a Kenyan and for that reason  he should be removed.   After the release of the Obama original birth certificate, still 14 to 16 percent of the GOP still echoes  the” lies and distortions”, a little more than Trump is polling now (12%).

Is Trump also racist? Racism is a subset of prejudice, according to psychologists and common definitions.  Dictionary.com defines racism as“ the doctrine that one's own racialgroup is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.” Trump more than made the connection in his blanket characterization of Hispanic undocumented as rapists and criminals. However, Hispanics here for generations and with legal status  take offense of  such sentiments personally  and many have undocumented family members.

  Those sneering at the reaction criticizing Trump attribute it   to pressure to be “politically correct”. They  are missing important points. The GOP knows from their own analysis of why they lost the last election, that to win future ones, then must get around 40% of the Hispanic vote and hyping anti immigrant sentiment is bad politics.  The private sector also understands that for practical reasons they cannot alienate the Hispanic market (15% of the total; 22% of millennials).  It is not just a matter of PC. It is also bad for business. But “ from many,  one” is an American ideal and for that reason above all we should support those who support it.

 A version of this appeared in the Sky Hi Daily News July 10, 2015  www.skyhidailynews.com
Sen. Lindsey Graham called Trump a demagogue July 12, too, http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/lindsey-graham-trump-demogogue-gop/2015/07/12/id/654590/
Wall Street Journal also tagged Trump July 20 in an editorial as a demagogue, too:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-his-apologists-1437345060?tesla=y&cb=logged0.9893790108617395
and Rick Peryy said likewise on July 22 http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rick-perry-trumps-candidacy-cancer-conservatism

And if you ever wonder if racism, birtherism and kindred spirits, and ani immigrants were not factors in some quarters, read http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-americans-are-coming-texans-fear-obama-led-us-military-invasion/2015/07/04/58047fee-2001-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html?hpid=z1on

On same sexmarriage and Thomas Jefferson on changing laws and Constitution to meet changing times

I am indebted to my friend, Denver councilman Kevin Flynn for the following post and the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson.  We often forget that the Constitution in a framework on which our democracy is hung. The issues of the founding fathers are not always the same issues today, but the principles are the same and the decision by the Supreme Court on gay marriage is such an example.  The oft noted abrupt change in public opinion toward same sex marriage and action taken by so many states had the Supreme Court catching up with  majrotity attitudes.

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects.

"But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." - Jefferson to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval), July 12, 1816

Why the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacre care does not make the law more popular

The Supreme Court's decision regarding Obamacare was not one following public opinion, like their decision on gay marriate, but was the reading of the law in context of legislative intent and the essential goal of affordability for all of those who could not afford insurance before.  The law is more popular than before but still not popular by the majority, especially Republicans.   Here is the dilemma: Many more in the US are covered by Medicaid, Medicare, and employer provided insurance than are not. Only 18% were uninsured before the ACA; around 14% now in its second year...with heavier penalties yet to kick in. It is not surprising that those already insured  do not see that Obamacare benefitted them and are only beginning the realize that their friends and relatives are benefitting and no harm was done to them.  This is a case of caring for a minority of citizens and a failure for the insured to see any benefits to them. There are benefits, but if the Administration failed in selling Obamacare, it was to make a strong enough case of how Obamacare benefitted the already insured.

That premiums "soared" or the cost would sink us in the mud of a deficit are bogus fear tactics by die hard enemies of Obamacare.  Premiums have risen, but not to the extent in the past...and a part of that is indeed due to Obamacare.  Obamacare's ability to promote competition was crippled when the public option...a government lower cost insurance plan...was removed from the legislation because that kind of competition would have forced private insurers to adjust the cost of their plans.   There are other cost savings in Obamacare and still a measure of apples to apples comparison of health plans causing participating private plans to compete in price.  The requirement that all plans provide preventative care and checkups without co-pays cannot be discounted since those without insurance were the ones who were more expensive to cover when they turned up unbearably  ill in the emergency room. The result is that health care costs to be covered by government, such as Medicaid and Medicare will be less than otherwise without Obamacare.In fact, years were added to Medicare's life because of Obamacare and the deficit will be less because of it too, per the Congressional Budget Office.  More are paying into the system and fees and taxes charge also reduce costs. The cost shift of charity care to the insured premiums will be reduced, as well.

 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/aug/19/will-obamacare-hurt-medicare-advantage/  

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/medicare-solvent-four-years-longer-obamacare

http://acasignups.net/15/06/19/cbo-aca-repeal-federal-deficit-increase-353b-or-137b-over-next-decade-net-loss-24m-insured

http://wallethub.com/edu/rates-of-uninsured-by-state-before-after-obamacare/4800/

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/236248-poll-obamacare-approval-ticks-up