Thursday, January 29, 2015

Nazis and ISIS

The other day marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Approximately 1.1 million people died in the camp, which still stands as the most infamous monument of the Nazi regime's horrific, yet carefully planned, attempt to cleanse Europe of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, the disabled, and others whose mere existence was viewed as unacceptable.

Polish-English sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has written a thorough analysis of how the Holocaust was made possible. In Modernity and the Holocaust he offers the explanation that - in short - it was not despite of modernity that this mass murder happened, but that modernity itself provided the framework within which a high degree of specialization, division of labor, and rational bureaucratization made it possible to kill so many people and have a relative few admit to their complicity.

Today, our societies are as technologically sophisticated as ever. This, as history so depressingly proves, is , however, no antidote against brutal mass murder on a huge scale. Technology is a double-edged sword. As Goebbels - the Nazi's genius in charge of propaganda - used the technology of the day to demonize Jews and other types of 'others', so technology today is used by The Islamic State to spread the propaganda of their mass killings - whose barbarism easily matches that of the Nazis - to draw wannabe jihadists to Iraq and Syria to fight for IS' pervertedly warped interpretation of Islam. 

IS' 'others' are Shias, Christians, Yazidis, and others who do not - faced with the barrel of a gun or the blade of a knife - immediately yield to IS' demands of complete submission. This extreme intolerance of other world views matches that of the Nazis - it is merely statistics that tells them apart. 


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Russia's descent

Since this blog is about E.U. and U.S. affairs it shouldn't really be dealing with Russia, since I don't believe Russia is really part of Europe. There are differing views on this, but when one looks at what Europe has in common with Russia, it should be clear that Russia doesn't belong in the group of European countries alongside Denmark, Sweden, Britain, Germany, etc.

Therefore, some would argue that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the E.U. are justified. Russia has in effect been fighting a war with the Ukraine, only by proxy. Pro-Russian rebels may not be official partners with Russia, but it is clear that their interests are closely aligned. Which is why it can hardly come as a surprise that the rebels get arms, money, and other facilities directly from the Russians.

Unfortunately, until Mr Putin realizes that the sanctions being put in place by the West are not acts of agression but merely logical responses to Russia's violations of international law and order, odds are that the current situation is only going to escalate further. Self-reflection never has been Russia's favorite pasttime.