Posted June 10, 2002

Nader's Green Party

The timing of Justin Raimondo's recent article, "Turn Toward the Left," couldn't have been better as it coincides with Bush's proposal for the creation a new, 170,000 person strong, domestic spy agency -- the Department of Homeland Security. In support of Mr. Raimondo's thesis that post-9/11, the main source of opposition to statism and defender of libertarian values appears to be the left, not the right (with many notable exceptions of course), I would note the only national party to come out strongly in opposition to Bush's massive defense buildup, the Patriot Act, US unconditional support of Israel, sanctions on Iraq, military actions in the Middle East, and the "war on terrorism" in general has been Ralph Nader's Green party -- a point which I also note in disgust as a lifelong member of the Libertarian party.

~ GM

Testament to Atrocity

Yes, excellent idea, Salem [Backtalk, June 4]. I read that story also, and considered it another testament to atrocity. But you are correct; perhaps further investigation into this soldier's and other's experiences would get the people's attention. And it would be excellent if it started at Antiwar.com.

~ Sue Skinner

Macedonia

I cannot as a Macedonian-American comprehend this, Ali Ahmeti was and is the leader of the UCK/KLA, or as they like to call it, the NLA, in Macedonia....

This Ahmeti is responsible for the murders of hundreds of both Macedonian soldiers and civilians, responsible for the kidnappings of hundreds (12 Macedonians are still missing), responsible for the destruction of Macedonian homes, churches, monuments, businesses etc. as long as they are non-Albanian, and it still goes on every day in Northwest Macedonia.

The Macedonian Government was forced to give these murderers amnesty, imposed by the West, was forced to look in humiliation while Solana brought in KFOR to ferry away the KLA/NLA from Arachinovo after the Macedonian forces were almost done with their mission of destroying the KLA Terrorists in that region, was forced to watch Macedonian soldiers burn alive while getting hit day after day with ambushes during a Western ceasefire..., was forced to watch an ambush where Macedonian soldiers were killed on there way to secure a location in Trebosh for an international forensic team to determine a mass grave site, was forced to sign the embarrassing Ohrid Agreement basically partitioning Macedonia by ethnic lines, and after all this, Ali Ahmeti is rewarded by the West (thanks to the amnesty they imposed) in opening up a political party in Macedonia for the upcoming elections. In his launch of his party yesterday, here are some notable facts about Ahmetis efforts in living in Macedonia peacefully:

1. The Albanian anthem was played, not Macedonian.
2. The flag of Albania was present everywhere, not 1 Macedonian flag.
3. All the writing was in Albanian, nothing was written in Macedonian.

And the list goes on.

The West is helping them create their Greater Albania, if anyone had any doubts, yesterday should be very clear to everyone.

Ali Ahmeti has no education, a man who has made his money through drugs and arms, who has blood on his hands from innocent civilians, and he is rewarded in this fashion.

Shame on America.
Shame on the Macedonian Government for putting up with this (no matter what the threats are).
Shame on the international media.

It will all blow back one day, that is the Balkans, and that is a guarantee there, you can only push those people there so much before there is that point of no-return.

Maybe for some of the Americans to understand the Ultimate Humiliation for Macedonia that is happening today -- well, let's register a political party in America for the upcoming elections and the candidate is Bin-Laden, would you put up with it?

Result of USA/EU policy towards Macedonia: "do as I say, don't do as I do."

~ Nikola Atanasovski

Nebojsa Malic replies:

Ahmeti's political ascendance is a natural outcome of Solana's 'peace' Macedonia was forced to accept. I've said as much in 'Murdering Macedonia' and 'Macedonia's Futile Surrender', but it doesn't hurt saying it again: if the Macedonian government -- and all others -- do not stop kowtowing to the Empire, they are bound to wake up one morning and find Greater Albania a reality. No one should say they weren't warned.

Immigration Vote

Richard O. (Backtalk, 4 June) writes that "No European nation has had serious, open debate about immigration in which the average citizen can participate. And no European citizen has voted directly on the issue in his/her own country" and that "everyone knows what the results would be". One European country has in fact voted on the issue of immigration. In September 2000, Switzerland put to a national vote a proposal that would have limited the number of foreign-born people in the country to 18%. ('Foreigners' made up 19.3% of the population at the time the initiative was put to the people) The result 63.8% voted no, 36.2% voted yes.

~ Michael M.

Libertarians Can Now Shed Illusions

I very much agree with Justin's criticisms of the shabby state of the libertarian movement. The Catoites and the LP are sellouts and we are better off without them. As for the question of a libertarian-leftist alliance, I'm not particularly optimistic about that. I've worked with left-anarchist groups for nearly fifteen years and, believe me, most of them of are clueless. The left these days is little more than a haven for every sort of countercultural lifestyle project and every form of fanatical political correctness yet to be invented. I've had some success with attempting to reach out to Arab-Americans, Muslims, black nationalists and the like. Perhaps libertarians could attempt to move in this direction. Also, we might want to consider the "hard" right, not just ordinary conservatives, but militias, regional separatist movements, third positionists, etc. Wherever we go from here, at least the idea of libertarians operating as meaningful participants in the mainstream right-wing coalition is discredited. Libertarians have nothing in common whatsoever with the neocons, religious right, corporate conservatives, militarists and others who comprise the Republican coalition. Those libertarians who have had fantasies to contrary can now shed their illusions.

~ Keith P.

'Races'

[Regarding Kevin G.'s letter of June 4:]

Sorry for not having been clearer when I wrote to Backtalk after reading your letter. I did realize it while I was writing but I wanted to keep my letter short. I was very upset by:

1. the use of the word 'race' to describe "Arabs" and the implication that there are many 'races', very different from each other physically;
2. the assertion that these 'races' have mores and religious views that have remained unchanged for thousands of years;
3. your stating that 'moving hordes of third-worlders into the USA or Britain would not be beneficial to their host countries.'

Racial differences, genetically speaking, are minimal. I invite you to read recent articles on the subject that would explain it much better than I ever could. ("Despite our visual perception of the variation between races, studies have shown that as much as 85% of all human variation occurs between individuals of the same population while less than 10% of the variation was between the major races -- represented in the broadest sense by Africans, Asians and Europeans. This pattern of diversity is largely accounted for by human evolutionary history." This I took from the first website I picked at random after a google search, genomebiology.com.)

Visible physical differences are also not as abysmal as you think, either, certainly not between some of those groups you and many Americans are inclined to call "races". You'd be amazed to find out just how much we all blend together in this 'global melting pot' and how difficult it is to tell someone who is, say, half (or 100%) Jewish from someone who is half Arab or half Gypsy or whatever. So many people have changed their names and that was all it took to move around unnoticed wherever they wanted to move around unnoticed. (Hollywood, Vienna, Cornell U., wherever.)

Mores change, no doubt about that. The way people talk, walk, dress, eat, flirt, etc., what people consider acceptable behavior in public, in private, etc. How can you possibly believe that they have remained the same for thousands of years? Not even in backward countries whose peoples you don't want to allow in your country. All it always took was one guy with a boat or a raft to go somewhere near and bring back new foodstuff or... ideas!

Just the way you worded it was terrible, so pejorative. Besides, the fact that laws allow for immigration is by no means the same as to "move in hordes of " people from abroad. That is not what your INS is doing.

As regards your second letter, yes, we tend to stick to birds of our feather, of course. But that very gradual influx of new elements that alter populations slowly is not only desirable from a number of points of view -- the US would have very few Nobel prize winners were it not for relatively recent immigration -- but unstoppable. From my point of view, like it or not, it is the only hope to blur the line 'we-they' that is at the root of so much horrific aggression these days. (And in the past, otherwise there never would have been the desire to 'convert' anybody.)

~ M. Cerritelli

Much Ado

Thank you very much for posting my piece -- "Much Ado About Very Little" -- on your site. I received a fascinating response from a reader who as a young Marine saw the devastation of Nagasaki first hand.

~ Mike Shannon