When a tiny group of people in southern Philippines kicked Spanish, American, Japanese and Filipino butt for centuries

This is an extraordinary story of a war of independence stretching over 400 years. The Moro in Southern Philippines have been fighting for independence against the Spaniards, then the Americans, then the Japanese, then the Filipinos (whom the Americans also helped again) and it is still going on.

this is a photograph of American soldiers at the massacre of hundreds of Moro civilians and soldiers, including very large number of women and children in the early part of last century.

Surprisingly, I learnt that the Americans asked for the help from the last Caliph in Turkey to help manage the insurrection. Like what the Americans did in Afghanistan, asked for help from Saudi Arabia and then Saudi's went and killed thousands in Afghanistan and also in 9/11. People who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. And we are still sucking  up to the Saudi's. We dont learn do we?

but they are still fighting for their independence, these Moro's have tenacity. you have to give them that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Conflict

When India invaded Hyderabad

This was a fascinating article dating back to 1950 which I read recently. It talks about how the state of Hyderabad merged into India after independence. Its amazing how much has changed since then. The state of Hyderabad is going to be bifurcated by Telengana being born. I didn't realise how much communism had its roots in this area and how much Nehru worried that it can become the source of a Maoist central hub..Also how many Muslims were killed by the Hindu’s after the “police action”. Estimates range between 50,000-200,000 and some even higher. But I would like to quote the last section intoto.

It would seem beyond all cavil that the new regime was both
welcomed, and justly welcomed, by the great majority of the
population of Hyderabad. Even for the Muslim minority, the
regime is on paper fair, substantially undiscriminating. But it
would, indeed, be hardly human if at least the lower Hindu
officials took no advantage of their new power to deviate from
the ideal of impartiality. More calamitous is the plight of the
village Muslim, who probably was not personally implicated
in Razakar activities, but, glad enough to escape with his life,
lost his home and goods at the time of the invasion and has but
the little man's chance of getting them back. On a larger scale,
the entire Muslim community suffered at once from insecurity,
from the social and economic revolution which dislodged it as
the ruling class. The Muslims' status as a community had been
intimately bound up with an antique social structure which was
now being discarded. In the new society their problem is not
that of being given a status that they can call unjust, but the
difficulty of building up for themselves any status at all. The
loss of privilege is itself a downfall, in which legal justice may
go with economic disaster. No social revolution, however neces-
sary or just, can fail to disrupt the group which it abruptly ousts
from power. In theory, the Hyderabad Muslims in the new
order took their place indiscriminately along with everyone else;
in practice, they, who had been seated as it were on the platform,
have had to find themselves places on the floor already fully
occupied by firmly established, and defiant, crowds. Even in a
democracy the position, economic and other, of a small minority
depends not only on the justice of the laws but also on the degree
to which that minority is accepted by the major group. And in
Hyderabad, although the laws be democratic, society will be
Hindu.
Apart from the initial blow and the long-term readjustment
to the loss of social integration and of function, the Muslims

suffered also an inner dismay. It is too early yet to say whether
this psychological upheaval may not prove in the end the most
significant. It is part of the spiritual crisis through which Islam
is passing in the modern world. The two chief factors in this
crisis were both acute in the Hyderabad instance: the impact of
an unassimilated modernity on an old-world way of life and its
Weltanschauung; and the loss of power.
One wonders how the group, or anyway its leaders, could have
lost their heads so starkly as they did before the invasion.
Originally, the Nizam apparently felt that the British with-
drawal from India, coupled with partition, would lead to chaos;
and that out of the confusion he, with an army, wealth and
prestige, stood a fair chance of emerging as a major power in a
Balkanized India. The hope was not at first absurd, but should
have faded within six months. After this, he made, as to power
dynamics, a series of astonishing miscalculations, both interna-
tionally and in home affairs; until he allowed a vicious group of
men within the state to acquire power to a point where he could
no longer control them. He emerges as a clever man utterly desti-
tute of wisdom. The Razakar leaders were ruthless fanatics and
criminals who played for sordid stakes and lost. The mass of
Muslims was poor and ignorant, leading lives in which there
was little of significance except their religion and its social
solidarity. They are traditionally gullible, ardent but easily
misled. Several hundred thousand, however, had nothing to do
with the Nizam or the Razakars; but the innocent, too, suffer
for the mistakes of their community's leaders. The most signifi-
cant blundering was that of the middle classes, the one group
who might have saved the situation but failed utterly in both
understanding and judgment.
Brought up in an isolated, anachronistic society, with a point
of view that throughout much of the world would have seemed
normal only a few centuries back, the Muslims of Hyderabad
sincerely believed that their group's portion was to rule, the
Hindus' portion to learn to be content. The Muslims reposed,
too, a remarkably blind faith in the legal validity of their posi-
tion, and it will be generally conceded that in the dispute with
India, Hyderabad's case was on the whole considerably the

stronger in law. Along with their false sense of traditional and
legalistic security went perhaps the opposite - a subconscious
fear. They were frightened by what, in the explosive weeks fol-
lowing partition, had happened to millions of their coreligion-
ists in northern India; frightened, perhaps, by the awareness of
what would happen to them, once they lost supremacy at home.
Such a dread, growing more intense and irrational, may have
inhibited them from facing facts, as well as driven them to
aggression. Or, more rationally, there were those who felt that
any concession to Hindu India would in any case eventuate in
their doom; and that therefore resistance, at whatever cost, could
not be wrong. Also, there was present that curious confusion
between the moral and material strength of Islam which besets
many Muslims.
However it may have arisen, the Muslims' hybris, the over-
weening pride that led them to extravagant folly, brought them,
as in a Greek drama, to disaster. That their fate was to some
degree deserved, their suffering therefore self-inflicted, is in-
tegral to the tragedy.

Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo

A whole bunch of comments on various places (here and here for example) were placed on my previous essay where I said that the current Kosovo declaration will cause problems. Here's a well argued article on this topic. The six cases they quote are:

Spain: The Basques and the Catalans

Cyprus: The Turkish Cypriots

Romania: The Magyars in Székely Land

Bulgaria: The Muslim Pomaks

Greece: The Turks of Western Thrace

Slovakia: The Hungarian Minority

I wonder if those who are getting all excited about Kosovo independence will also join in asking for independence for these and the other minorities such as here, here, here and here.

 

Technorati Tags: Kosovo

Tibet has a better case for independence than Kosovo

Now this should put the cat amongst the pigeons, lol, I warned about this. The EU and USA's frankly stupid foreign policy will get it into major hypocritical and stupid situations. So, the writer, Paul Harris, is a barrister and was founding chairman of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor and he wrote this article. I quote:

Does Tibet have a right to self-determination under international law? There are strong legal grounds to show that it does and that this right is being denied by China. As the recent protests in Tibet and the disruptions to the Olympic torch relay have demonstrated, Tibet is an international problem crying out for a solution.

Tibet’s status has been given renewed topicality by the recent independence of Kosovo which has so far been recognised by 40 countries, including all of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations. If Kosovo has a right to self-determination, the right of Tibet is infinitely stronger. The catalogue of gross oppression, the second-class citizen status of Tibetans under Chinese rule and identity of Tibet as a country are all much clearer than in Kosovo’s case.

Hehehe, fun times ahead...

Technorati Tags: Kosovo,Tibet,China,Independence,EU,USA,Foreign Policy

What would happen if Scotland went independent?

An amusing if improbable story. I have to admit, I am curiously attracted to Wendy Alexander, her mouth is extra-ordinarily fascinating. Very smart lady indeed and quite attractive :)

 

 

Technorati Tags: Humour,Scotland,Independence

More Labour inconsistency and hypocrisy

Sometimes I seriously wonder how these politicians can get up and face the world. On one hand, they dont want the EU reform treaty to be voted by us, then they want the Scottish independence to be voted...., what the hell? are we or are we not allowed to vote in case of matters relating to our sovereignty? All I can think is that Labour is now completely bonkers.

Technorati Tags: EU,Scotland,Referendum,England,United Kingdom

African Union Troops help take back Anjouan

I am not sure how many of you know but there is a wee bit of a war going on in a tiny corner of the world in the Indian Ocean(See here for a bit of a background to this war). So some of the regional African heavies got together, threw their weight around, created an army and went to kick out the chaps who declared independence. Now this step was very interesting for so many reasons. But as usual, I had some stupid questions:

• So this step was carried out without UN blessings. How many of the howlers at the Iraq war out there are howling equally at this imperialistic step? Speak up, guys, I cannot hear you loud and clear....


• So this was a dump on a secessionist self determination exercise. How many of the secessionist self-determinist howlers are howling equally at this step? Hello? cant hear you..


• So Anjouan declared independence. I must have missed the announcements of recognition by USA, Germany, UK etc. just like they did for Kosovo. Where are the police forces and aid convoys from the EU?


• When is the African Union going to deal in a similar way with Congo, Zimbabwe, Darfur, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, Western Sahara..?


• Typically, Anjouan is the island which is most economically active and rich. So this is basically a fight over resources... basically, it was the people who do not have money who went to kick out the people who have money because the people who have money were refusing to pay the people without money....


• The country was sent to the dogs by some exceedingly stupid economic policies of the state directed kind. Who will repair this and provide aid to fix these issues? The invasion has immediately mucked up the economics of that island for the next many years anyway. The only basis remaining is, whoops, we mucked up again, because of our political, economic and military policies, our people are AGAIN starving, please help with money, food, equipment.... (tens of coups since independence, welcome to paradise on earth...)....

Thinking about all these questions, the quote "is hammam me hum saab nange" (In this bathhouse we are all naked) comes to mind.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Abkhazia, the country that doesn't exist, prepares to follow Kosovo's example

Further to my essay on the spectacularly silly decision on recognising Kosovo, here's another example of how another country wants to become independent. I quote:

Abkhazia has a president, a flag, a national anthem and even a visa system for foreign visitors but the country doesn't appear on any maps. Officially, this small piece of sub-tropical Black Sea coastline with a population today of about 170,000, is a province of Georgia.
But since a vicious war in the early 1990s, it has been functioning as an independent state and, in the aftermath of Kosovo's independence, the Abkhazians hope their statehood will be recognised by the international community.
Shortly after Kosovo declared independence, the Abkhazian parliament, located in a seafront building in the capital, Sukhumi, issued a call for international recognition.
"After the recognition of Kosovo by many Western states, the geopolitical situation has significantly changed," read the parliament's statement. "Any legal decision has a universal character... All people have the same rights to freedom and independence."
On the seafront promenade, in the shadow of war-damaged buildings, old men while away the days drinking Turkish-style coffee and playing chess and backgammon. "Why is Kosovo any better than Abkhazia?" asked one. "It's exactly the same situation. We're a small country trying to stand on our own two feet."
The local papers are awash with Kosovo headlines and accusations that the West is engaging in "double standards" by recognising Kosovo but not Abkhazia. Western countries have said that Kosovo is a unique case, voicing support for Georgia's "territorial integrity", and a resolution to the Abkhazian conflict that does not alter Georgia's official boundaries.
Abkhazia's main hope for recognition is Russia. Vladimir Putin has hinted on several occasions that if the West recognised Kosovo, Russia may recognise Abkhazia and three other "breakaway states" on former Soviet soil.

Technorati Tags: Abkhazia,Kosovo,Independence,Democracy,Foreign Policy

Kosovo could end Scotland’s European dream

More on the disastrous British and American decision to push for Kosovo independence. I quote:

Kosovo’s independence must have cheered Scotland’s nationalists. The birth of another, smaller state in Europe is, on the face of it, a distant but useful precedent for them.
However, the diplomatic fallout over recognition of the newcomer has ominous implications for the separatists in minority government in Edinburgh. Half a dozen European Union states fear the example that is being set for ethnic minorities within their borders. If Scotland ever votes for independence these states could easily make an example of it by blocking Scottish membership of the EU. The opponents are vehement. Cyprus, determined to avoid any example that might confer legitimacy on the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, denounced Kosovo’s declaration of independence as “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia”, which, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, the foreign minister, said “would set a dangerous precedent”.

Scotland’s nationalists have always affected breezy insouciance about Europe, asserting that an independent Scotland would automatically remain an EU member state. Not necessarily. Legal analysis by University College London’s Constitution Unit suggests that Scotland would not automatically inherit membership. Nationalist lawyers rely on the Vienna Convention, designed to clarify post-colonial states’ adherence to treaties that their former masters had signed. But the convention is weak; only 21 countries have signed it, none of them major states, and only five from the EU. Furthermore, the convention does not apply if it would radically alter the Treaty of Rome – which admitting Scotland to the EU must do, not least to give it voting rights in the Council of Ministers and European Parliament.
The Scottish nationalists’ fallback is to argue that other EU states would never lock Scotland out. Most EU members, including probably the residual UK, would probably reason like that . Yet this seriously underestimates the fear that runs through those countries that oppose Kosovo’s independence. Their motivation is nationalist and, like the Scottish National party, they put their nation first. Nationalism in the Balkans is a raw, visceral force that the milder political culture of western Europe easily underrates.
If these countries think Scottish independence will encourage their separatists – and Basque leaders and Turkish Cypriots have openly hailed Kosovo as a precedent – blocking Scottish EU membership would be their only means of hindering it. If a single EU member, let alone several, announces it will veto changes to the Treaty of Rome to accommodate a secessionist state, Scottish nationalism is powerless.
This uncertainty could be cripplingly harmful to Scottish separatists. Half of Scotland’s trade is with the EU and “Scotland in Europe” is a centrepiece of separatist strategy. As the debate on independence picks up, voters will seek reassurance that they will not be locked out on the doorstep. With the legal omens unhelpful, and a cluster of EU states looking hostile, Scotland’s famously canny voters may shy away from a game of Balkan roulette.


All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Indian Kashmir separatists get boost from Kosovo independence

Sadly, this is what I predicted!

Read and weep!

Separatists in Indian Kashmir said Saturday Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence has bolstered their resolve to achieve the same status for the disputed Himalayan territory.

Kosovo last Sunday declared independence from Serbia, which vowed never to recognise the move.

Kosovo's independence declaration has "strengthened our resolve to achieve freedom for Kashmir," leading Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah told AFP.

Several countries including the United States and Britain have recognised Kosovo as a new state, but India said it was studying the legal ramifications.

India is wary of recognising Kosovo as an independent state because of its possible ramifications for scenic Kashmir, which has been racked by a nearly two-decade-old revolt against New Delhi's rule.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars for control of the Muslim-majority region each, hold parts of the territory but claim it in full.

"Kosovo's independence is an indicator that struggles based on truth and justice never fail," Shah said, adding that the day is not "far when Kashmiris will be free."

Shah, 54, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Freedom Party, is dubbed the "Nelson Mandela" of Kashmir after spending more than 20 years in Indian jails.

Another separatist leader, Syed Ali Geelani, also said he was delighted by Kosovo's independence proclamation, saying the "creation of a Muslim state within the European heartland has strengthened our resolve to achieve our right to self-determination."

Geelani, however, wants Indian Kashmir to break away from India and join the neighbouring Islamic republic of Pakistan

Technorati Tags: Kashmir,India,Pakistan,Independence,Kosovo

Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo

A whole bunch of comments on various places (here and here for example) were placed on my previous essay where I said that the current Kosovo declaration will cause problems. Here's a well argued article on this topic. The six cases they quote are:

Spain: The Basques and the Catalans

Cyprus: The Turkish Cypriots

Romania: The Magyars in Székely Land

Bulgaria: The Muslim Pomaks

Greece: The Turks of Western Thrace

Slovakia: The Hungarian Minority

I wonder if those who are getting all excited about Kosovo independence will also join in asking for independence for these and the other minorities such as here, here, here and here.

 

Technorati Tags: Kosovo

And more on the Kosovo independence!

1. Belgium still does not have a duly elected government. And since there is no central government, the Flemish and Waloonia parts should separate and each declare independence? And I am sure it will get EU recognition sitting right in the middle of this mess as well, no?

2. The English Border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is voting to secede from England and join Scotland.

I presume NATO peace keepers are on standby?

Technorati Tags: Belgium,England,Scotland,Kosovo

Can North Kosovo declare independence from Kosovo?

Good question, and why not? I quote:

Serbia does not formally back partition but Serb politicians have said that if Kosovo breaks from Belgrade, Serb-majority north Kosovo should break from Pristina.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

EU/USA recognise independent Palestine!

Palestine wants to be independent. Why not indeed? If you do that, then the EU, USA and NATO will send loads of peacekeepers, soldiers, policemen, economists and and and to help the latest state up and running, and protect the Palestinians. I quote:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday the Palestinians should consider declaring an independent state unilaterally if peace talks with Israel continue to falter.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team with the Israelis, told Reuters that if they could not reach a deal with the Jewish state, the Palestinians could consider declaring independence like Kosovo did on Sunday.
"If things are not going in the direction of actually halting settlement activities, if things are not going in the direction of continuous and serious negotiations, then we should take the step and announce our independence unilaterally," he said.

Read my essay which warned of exactly this.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Kashmiri Pandits launch political party in Jammu & Kashmir

Now this promises to be an interesting development in Kashmir. The launch of a political party which concentrates on Kashmiri Pandit's. For those 3 people in the world who have not heard about the Kashmir Problem, it relates to one of the unfinished items from the Partition of India. The ruler of Kashmir was Hindu, the majority of the population was Muslim. The Ruler signed over his state to India, but Pakistan sent in troops way back in 1948. And it got messy since then. From 1989, there is an intifada going on, and in the middle of this gigantic tragedy, the Kashmiri Hindu citizens, known as Kashmiri Pandits (KP's), were forced to leave Kashmir. And they have become a diaspora as well as living in refugee camps in India. They are one more of the forgotten refugee groups in the world and very tragic indeed.

But curiously, they have not really gotten organised since then. Some websites and stories have been circulated but they have not been really taken seriously by anybody, not by India, not by the Kashmiri politicians of every hue, not by Pakistan and certainly not by the international community. And who is to blame and what to do is submerged in a morass of claims, counter-claims and denials.

But a very interesting development has happened. The KP's have formed a political party. "We have launched a political party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Democratic Front, with the aim to fight for the honourable return and rehabilitation of Pandits in the valley and constitution of a development board for them in Jammu," its acting coordinator AK Dewani said.

Now, if those guys are smart, have some committed members, and have a good strategos in place, the best way for them to win back their lands, property and claims is to wage a non-violent struggle against militancy. If they can do it, then the Kashmiri militants will be caught between a rock and a hard place. They really cannot go against a determined non-violent struggle as that will violate the pure idea of Kashmiriat. Also see here, here, or here.

Yes, many Hindu's will be killed, but nobody said self determination was easy. And here is an idea, read up on Edward Said, read up on the variety of Palestinian works, their supporters. Those guys have made being a refugee a work of art. And they will succeed as well, against Israel that is. Learn how the Palestinians have managed to turn the tables. But the KP's have one advantage which they have not used, and that is that their enemy has Islamist terrorists in their middle. Too bad they have not utilised that angle, but hey, better late than never.

Now that would be really ironical and poetic justice. Best of luck to them.

What an amazingly polite way to go about asking for self-determination, only in the United Kingdom!

Today the Scottish Government released a white paper on Scottish Independence. In effect, it is asking for a national debate on three options.

1. Retention of the devolution scheme defined by the Scotland Act 1998, with the possibility of further evolution in powers, extending these individually as occasion arises.
   
2. Redesigning devolution by adopting a specific range of extensions to the current powers of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government, possibly involving fiscal autonomy, but short of progress to full independence.
   
3. Extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to the point of independence.

The current Scottish government prefers the third option. Now there is a gigantic amount of political history behind this, and an even greater mind-numbingly boring amount of economic history behind this desire for economic history. I will be reviewing this paper in greater detail (some of the proposals are extremely cute and smart, very very cute indeed), but thought of bringing this to your attention with some initial comments.

1. Its only in the United Kingdom that you can actually have debates over independence based upon some bureaucratic method!, lol, i was laughing my guts out when I look around the world where people are fighting for self determination and independence using terrorism, revolutions, blood, riots, etc. And what do we do? we write a paper!

2. All the TV channels are full of this white paper, and the main element of debate? Are there furious debates about the historical record? or the atrocities carried out by the English? or digging out old history and pointing fingers? oh! no, I am afraid the debate is stultifying boring and concentrating on what will be the impact on public finances in Scotland if/when it becomes independent. PUBLIC FINANCES? YAWN!

3. Most of the people wont be bothered, and frankly, if you ask me, this is a classic elitist or a small segment of population driver. But I would be curious to learn how they plan to explain this level of public opinion. 31% FOR, a drop of 20% in just 6 months?

4. I would like to draw your attention to another essay which I wrote before. When parties which demand self determination and independence get into government, then the scales drop from people's eyes. Before independence or governing, they are all about just 1 thing, the protest vote, the reform vote, the distancing vote, the independence vote, call it what you may. But when they get into power, they have to deal with the same things, sewers, hospitals, bridges, subsidies, transport, and all the angst which was on the previous government seamlessly transfers over to the new government. Well, the drop in support clearly shows that the populace has got over its conniptions / hissy fits and has managed to see the light.

But fascinating reading! :)

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!