tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891219455710567582024-03-13T18:21:26.026-05:00Springtime of NationsAn irreverent, informative blog about separatism, autonomy, indigenous rights, interethnic conflict, balkanization, and micronationalism—with maps & flags in every article!Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.comBlogger370125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-51048247536871328442016-03-25T09:08:00.003-05:002016-03-25T09:08:37.412-05:00Separatist Update for March 16-24, 2016: Syrian Kurds Declare Autonomy (Again); Savchenko Sentenced; Seborga Coup; Romanian King Retires; Lezgin Leader Assassinated; Biafra-Cola; Kiwis Reject New Flag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><u>TOP STORY:</u></b><br />
<b><u>KURDS IN SYRIA DECLARE AUTONOMOUS “ROJAVA–NORTHERN SYRIA”;</u></b><br />
<b><u>IRAQI KURDISH PRESIDENT PROMISES REFERENDUM BY OCTOBER</u></b><br />
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Members of <b>Kurdish</b> and other ethnic groups in the northern border region of <b>Syria</b> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-federalism-idUSKCN0WJ1EP" target="_blank">made another stab at a declaration of autonomy</a> on March 17th with a vote to unify three different Kurdish-controlled “cantons” in a “federal democratic system of <b>Rojava–Northern Syria</b>,” <i>rojava</i> being the Kurdish term for “the west.” (It is in the western part of the Kurdish region, which also includes parts of <b>Turkey</b>, <b>Iraq</b>, <b>Iran</b>, and <b>Azerbaijan</b>.) The agreement was reached at Rmeilan, in northeastern Syria. The announcement also referred to preparations for elections and the establishment of a 31-member organizaing committee over the next six months. The Turkish, Syrian, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/19032016" target="_blank">and Iranian</a> governments quickly denounced the declaration, as did the <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> (<b>K.R.G.</b>) in northern Iraq, which <a href="https://horseedmedia.net/2016/03/16/somalia-govt-denies-backing-al-shabaab-militants/" target="_blank">closed its territory’s border</a> with northern Syria, <a href="http://aranews.net/2016/03/kurdish-national-council-syria-condemns-federalism-declaration-kurdish-rival/" target="_blank">as well as a Kurdish organization aligned with moderate rebels</a> in ongoing peace talks, the <b>Kurdish National Council</b> (<b>K.N.C.</b>). But the transnational <b>National Congress of Kurdistan</b> <a href="http://rbth.com/news/2016/03/18/national-congress-of-kurdistan-supports-declaration-of-federation-in-syria_576927" target="_blank">has offered its support</a>. The large group involved in the process <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/kurdish-federalization-reminiscent-of-kerrys-plan-b-brzezinski-nato-plan-a/5515136" target="_blank">includes not only Kurds</a>, but also <b>Arabs</b>, <b>Chechens</b>, <b>Assyrians</b>, <b>Turkmens</b>, and others.<br />
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<b><u>Kurdish President Vows to Resign upon Independence, Sees Referendum within Months.</u></b> The president of northern <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> (<b>K.R.G.</b>), <b>Massoud Barzani</b>, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/230320161" target="_blank">said</a> in an interview on March 22nd that he plans to resign from office on the day that <b>Kurdistan</b> declares its independence. That he thinks will be soon, since he also <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5980" target="_blank">claims that a referendum could be held before October</a>. This comes amid a debate as to whether Barzani’s presidential term should be given yet another extension, something the ruling <b>Kurdistan Democratic Party</b> (<b>K.D.P.</b>), which Barzani leads, supports. He has been president since 2005. He also addressed <b>Turkey</b>’s recent wariness toward the K.R.G.’s aspirations to independence because of worries that it would inspire separatism in Turkey and <b>Syria</b> as well. “In the beginning,” Barzani said, “Turkey was against the federalism of Kurdistan, and look at our relations today. As long as the referendum is only for Iraqi Kurdistan, it has nothing to do with the Kurds in Turkey. So we do hope that Turkey understands and comprehends what Kurdistan is asking for.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpYvElsyhG6Ki6bwNp4zAW2V2s0E_BbgFkiBPFQgzV8hGuKqsIEGg35uMzJgopLlnm9Z1tbs4-l6ImsAlltpZ757FWCcJB1RQrhjX6Mw7wTAIp5-5yTgTcuwmHi1n4kNFAii7E2qUXYN7/s1600/barzani+iraq.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpYvElsyhG6Ki6bwNp4zAW2V2s0E_BbgFkiBPFQgzV8hGuKqsIEGg35uMzJgopLlnm9Z1tbs4-l6ImsAlltpZ757FWCcJB1RQrhjX6Mw7wTAIp5-5yTgTcuwmHi1n4kNFAii7E2qUXYN7/s320/barzani+iraq.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Massoud Barzani</td></tr>
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<b><u>OTHER UPDATES FROM KURDISTAN</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Kurdish Freedom Falcons Claim Ankara Bombing While War on Kurds Continues.</u> A few days after the deadly car-bombing in Ankara, <b>Turkey</b>, on March 13th that killed 37 people, a small rogue militia called the <b>Kurdish Freedom Falcons</b> (<b>TAK</b>) <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/world/ankara-blast/index.html" target="_blank">claimed responsibility for the attack</a>. The statement, printed on the TAK website, <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/18-Mar-2016/ankara-attack-was-retaliation-for-massacre-in-kurdistan-group-says" target="_blank">said it was retaliation for the Turkish military’s war against its <b>Kurdish</b> minority in the southeast</a>, saying, “Those who live in Turkey should know that until the fascist dictatorship has been razed to the ground, human life is not safe.” The statement also named the female suicide bomber who led the attack, <b>Seher Cagla Demir</b>. The Turkish government claims Demir trained in <b>Syria</b> with the Kurdish <b>People’s Protection Units</b> (<b>Y.P.G.</b>), which are allied with the main Kurdish insurgent army in Turkey, the <b>Kurdistan Workers’ Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>). But the interior ministry <a href="http://www.wcvb.com/national/suicide-bomber-hits-central-istanbul-at-least-4-killed/38594944" target="_blank">blamed</a> a March 19th suicide attack in a crowded part of downtown Istanbul on a Turkish citizen from Gaziantep (in the Kurdish region) who is linked to the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>). Five people died in that attack and 36 were injured. Three of the dead and 11 of the wounded <a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/75318" target="_blank">were from <b>Israel</b></a>. Turkish officials said on March 22nd that the fighting over the previous 24 hours <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160322/1036753301/turkey-pkk-terrorism.html" target="_blank">had resulted in the killings of 23 P.K.K. rebels</a> in southeastern Turkey. The statement said that eight had been killed in <b>Şırnak</b> province, three in <b>Mardin</b>, and 12 in <b>Hakkâri</b>. Police also <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160320/1036616253/kurds-arrest-riots.html" target="_blank">arrested 19 members</a> of the Kurdish<b> Democratic Union Party</b> (<b>P.Y.D.</b>) on March 20th in the western city of Izmir. They were accused of planning riots for the upcoming Kurdish new year Nowruz the next day. Dozens <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/kurdish-marred-clashes-police-istanbul-185454888.html" target="_blank">were arrested in Istanbul</a> the next day during a banned Nowruz celebration, with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowds.<br />
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<b><u>ISIS Shelling of Joint Iraqi–Kurdish Base Kills American Soldier.</u></b> In northern <b>Iraq</b>’s autonomous <b>Kurdistan Region</b>, shelling by <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) militants of an Iraqi military base <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/190320166" target="_blank">resulted in the death</a> of one <b>United States</b> soldier on March 19th. The American was training Iraqi and Peshmega (Kuridsh military) forces in preparation for an assault on Mosul. A Peshmerga spokesman emphasized that the fatality occurred in the Iraqi, not Kurdish, portion of the camp. It is only the second U.S. fatality in the war against ISIS, which is almost entirely an air operation. The same day, at least six ISIS fighters <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/200320162" target="_blank">died in an air attack by the U.S.-led coalition</a> in Gayara, south of Mosul.<br />
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<b><u>EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">New Catalan President Asserts Right to Unilateral Secession from Spain.</u> The newly elected president of <b>Catalonia</b> said in an interview published March 17th that his autonomous region <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f37ef1a4-ec4b-11e5-bb79-2303682345c8.html#axzz43HS1i4Zs" target="_blank">has the right to unilateral secession</a> from the <b>Kingdom of Spain</b>. The president, <b>Carles Puigdemont</b>, who was elected in January, prefers a negotiated break, but said that “If Madrid does not want an accord and the majority of Catalans want an independent state, how can you avoid that?” Puigdemont added, in an interview with the <i>Financial Times,</i> that he rejects Madrid’s constitutional arguments: “In a mature democracy, what is legal is decided by parliament” (and here he means Catalonia’s, not Spain’s); “Our process is legitimised by parliament and by the ballot box.”<br />
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<b><u>Cornish Nationalists Decry Merlin Carving on Cliff Face as “Disneyfication” of Heritage.</u></b> The Cornish nationalist party <b>Mebyon Kernow</b> <a href="http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Cornish-party-hit-Engish-Heritage-Merlin-carving/story-28958724-detail/story.html" target="_blank">is complaining to the government</a> conservation trust <b>English Heritage</b> about a commissioned carving at the entrance to <b>Cornwall</b>’s legendary “<b>Merlin</b>’s Cave” inlet that they condemn as a “disneyfication” of Cornish heritage. The carving of the mythical wizard’s face on the cliff face is by <b>Peter Graham</b>, a local artist. “We have always had our doubts,” said a local politician, <b>Andrew Long</b>, “that English Heritage understand or care about Cornwall’s past and this example of vandalism is just another sign that the time for this organisation to be removed from looking afterour assets has now arrived.” In legend—or at least in retellings of it by <b>Alfred, Lord Tennyson</b>—the cave was where Merlin took the infant <b>Arthur</b>, future king of the <b>Britons</b>, to safety. The adjacent Tintagel Castle site is also connected to the Arthurian legends, and English Heritage calls it “the legendary birthplace of King Arthur.”<br />
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<b><u>Sicilian Separatists Form “Federative Pact,” Plan Provisional Assembly, Election.</u></b> Italian media reported in March on a “federative pact” between two groups pushing for <b>Sicily</b>’s independence from <b>Italy</b>. <b>Gaetano Armao</b> and <b>Rino Piscitello</b> of <b>Sicilian Nation</b> (<i><b>Sicilia Nazione</b></i>) and <b>Francesco Perspicace</b> of the <b>Sicilian National Front</b> (<i><b>Fronte Nazionale Siciliano</b></i>) <a href="http://www.si24.it/2016/03/18/difendiamo-i-diritti-della-nazione-siciliana-gli-autonomisti-dellisola-lanciano-la-sfida/215978/" target="_blank">signed an agreement of cooperation</a> and called on other Sicilian separatist parties to likewise set aside their differences and join them. The new coalition group is to be named <b>United for Sicily</b> (<i><b>Uniti per la Sicilia</b></i>) and is planning to convene on May 15th a <b>Sicilian National Assembly</b> to choose a provisional president.<br />
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<b><u>Prince of Seborga Fires Envoy to France after Apparent Cyber–<i>Coup d’État.</i></u></b> The elected prince of the diplomatically unrecognized city-state of <b>Seborga</b>, within northwestern <b>Italy</b>’s territory, <a href="http://www.riviera24.it/2016/03/seborga-colpo-di-stato-in-atto-marcel-mentil-complottava-contro-il-marcello-i-218717/" target="_blank">suspended his official diplomatic representative</a> in <b>France</b> on March 20th following what was being called an attempted non-violent <i>coup d’état.</i> The offending incident was the creation of <a href="http://www.principautedeseborga.com/" target="_blank">a phony website</a> purporting to be the official site of the <b>Principality of Seborga</b>. The site, which lists different cabinet ministers from the official ones, and links to a different constitution, was traced to <b>Victorien Mentil</b>, son of <b>Marcel Mentil</b>, who was named by <b>Prince Marcello I</b> in 2007 as the Seborgan liaison to France’s separatist <b>Alsace</b> region and was made the Seborgan diplomatic representative to the French Republic last year. Mentil has also been in charge of Seborga’s television station and football team. The crisis emerged shortly after <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/prince-of-italy-s-seborga-region-visits-ghaziabad-116031701218_1.html" target="_blank">an official visit by Prince Marcello and nine of his ministers to Ghaziabad</a>, a suburb of New Delhi, <b>India</b>, to drum up interest in Indian tourism to Seborga.<br />
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<b><u>Prince Michael of Romania Retires from Public Life at 94, Designates Daughter as Regent.</u></b> The titular king of <b>Romania</b>, <b>Prince Michael</b>, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/romania-king-michael-ww2-era-monarch-exits-limelight/27623319.html" target="_blank">has announced that he is retiring from public life</a>. The prince suffers from leukemia and from epidermoid carcinoma. “In recent weeks,” <a href="http://royalcentral.co.uk/other/king-michael-of-romania-stepping-down-from-public-duties-after-cancer-diagnosis-57952" target="_blank">read a statement issued by His Royal Highness’s office</a> on March 1st, “we have received news of a serious medical diagnosis. This situation comes in the year when family and country are celebrating 150 years since the founding of the dynasty and the modern Romanian state. My daughter <b>Margareta</b>, the Custodian of the Crown, I am sure will find the wisdom and the strength to represent me and to carry out my public duties. I have asked the Royal Council to continue its mission and provide advise to the Custodian of the Crown.” Michael, who is 94 years old, reigned as King Michael I until 1947, when he was forced out of power by the Communists in Romania. He continues to insist that his abdication, because forced, is legally invalid. The monarch is a great-grandson of <b>Queen Victoria</b> of <b>Great Britain</b>, a cousin to five heads of state, including <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b>, and a member of the <b>House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen</b>, the deposed imperial house of <b>Germany</b>. His new regent, Crown Princess Margareta, is 66 years old. According to the Salic laws of succession in force during Michael’s reign, his heir would be the 63-year-old <b>Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern</b>, head of the former German imperial house, but a dynastic feud caused Michael to sever ties with his German cousins, rename his house the <b>House of Romania</b>, and designate Margareta his heiress, in accordance with more gender-blind rules in use in monarchies like <b>Spain</b> and the <b>United Kingdom</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince Michael of Romania (left)</td></tr>
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<b><u>Hague Tribunal Grant Šešelj Medical Reprieve from Attending War Crimes Verdict.</u></b> The <b>International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia</b> (<b>I.C.T.Y.</b>) on March 16th <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/war-crimes-court-hague-excuses-serbian-seselj-attending-verdict/27618176.html" target="_blank">relented and granted</a> the ultranationalist <b>Bosnian Serb</b> warlord and <b>Serbian Radical Party</b> founder <b>Vojislav Šešelj</b> a medical reprieve from attending his own sentencing in the Hague, in the <b>Netherlands</b>, on war crimes and charges of crimes against humanity. Šešelj had earlier (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-update-for-march-1-15-2016.html" target="_blank">as reported last month in this blog</a>) publicly refused to cooperate with the court and said he would not attend. Šešelj was released in 2014 to undergo cancer treatment in his native <b>Serbia</b>, where he now lives.<br />
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<b><u>Republika Srpska Said to Cook Bosnian Census Numbers, Concealing Bosniak Majority.</u></b> A demographic expert in <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b> on March 16th <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/rs-changing-bosnian-demographic-picture-experts-claim-03-16-2016" target="_blank">accused</a> the ethnic-<b>Serb</b>-run half of the country, the <b>Republika Srpska</b> (<b>R.S.</b>), of distorting the census numbers to make it seem as though Serbs have a larger share of the Bosnian population than they do. “The R.S. authorities,” said the expert, <b>Tanja Topić</b>, of Banja Luka, “are preventing some 300,000 to 400,000 mainly <b>Bosniak</b> [Slavic-speaking Muslim] residents from being registered as residents.” The situation is complicated by the fact that no objective, honest ethnic census has been carried out in Bosnia for decades—an awkward situation in a country where only a fragile truce among three carefully balanced populations keeps the country together. “If Bosniaks succeed in proving that they make up more than 50 per cent of the total population,” Topić said, “this will probably lead to them questioning the current legitimacy of the Dayton deal”—a reference to the <b>United States</b>–brokered 1995 agreement which handed Serbs half the country, including areas where they had successfully expelled or exterminated local Bosniak and <b>Croat</b> populations.<br />
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<b><u>Kosovo Premier Admits Brother, Other Relatives Sought E.U. Asylum Last Year.</u></b> The prime minister of <b>Kosovo</b>, <b>Isa Mustafa</b>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/21/brother-of-kosovos-pm-sought-asylum-in-eu" target="_blank">admitted in late March</a> that members of his close family, including his brother and nephews and nieces tried to enter the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) last year as refugees. They were among perhaps tens of thousands of Kosovars to flee poverty and violence in 2015 to try to establish residence in E.U. countries. They included Mustafa’s brother, <b>Ragip Mustafa</b>, who <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35856938" target="_blank">sought refuge</a> in <b>Germany</b> partly so that he could seek treatment for a medical condition. Also in Kosovo, on March 17th, rioters <a href="http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3167015-kosovo-police-arrest-men-suspected-of-financing-islamic-state-fighters/" target="_blank">damaged or set fire to to five government vehicles</a> and four <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) ones in protests against Kosovar concessions to Serbia on the question of autonomy for majority-Serb municipalities. The torchings occurred in five different towns across Kosovo.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visiting Kosovo this month</td></tr>
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<b><u>Macedonia Frees Kosovo Bureaucrat, Former Rebel after Arrest for War Crimes.</u></b> A Kosovar bureaucrat and former fighter with the <b>Kosovo Liberation Army</b> (<b>K.L.A.</b>) <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/former-kla-fighter-said-serbia-s-allegations-are-untrue-03-21-2016" target="_blank">was released from jail</a> on March 19th by officials in the <b>Republic of Macedonia</b>, where he had been held on war crimes charges brought by the Serbian government. The guerrilla, <b>Gafurr Dugolli</b>, said two days later that the case against him was “built based on defamations. I was a soldier who fought against soldiers,” not a war criminal. Dugolli, a director of protocol for <b>Kosovo</b>’s minister for security forces, was arrested by Macedonian police at the border with Kosovo on March 11th because of an <b>Interpol</b> warrant issued by Serbia. Problems ensued, because Kosovo is not a member of Interpol (not for lack of trying) and because Macedonia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence. The warrant said Dugolli participated in abusing and killing <b>Serbs</b> in prison camps in 1998 during Kosovo’s war for independence.<br />
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<b><u>Russian Court Finds Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko Guilty, Gives Her 22 Years.</u></b> Russian authorities <a href="http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160321/1036648762/ukraine-savchenko-pilot-verdict.html" target="_blank">moved</a> the captured Ukrainian air-force officer <b>Nadezhda Savchenko</b> from Rostov-on-Don, in southwestern <b>Russia</b>, to the capital of eastern <b>Ukraine</b>’s self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>) and March 21st <a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article67282867.html" target="_blank">found her guilty in the Donetsk municipal court of accessory to murder and illegal border-crossing</a>. Savchenko’s attorney, <b>Mark Feygin</b>, said his client planned to go on a liquid-free hunger strike in within 10 days unless she is extradited to Ukraine. Within days, she <a href="http://www.whio.com/ap/ap/international/russian-judge-reads-verdict-in-trial-of-ukrainian-/nqqMS/" target="_blank">was given a 22-year prison sentence</a>, despite loud objections from the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), the <b>United States</b>, and many world leaders and rights organizations.<br />
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<b><u>Donetsk People’s Republic Begins Issuing Passports; 6 Ukrainian Troops Killed.</u></b> The <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>), one of two pro-Russian rebel governments in <b>Ukraine</b>’s southeast, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-donetsk-passports-zakharchenko/27618716.html" target="_blank">began issuing passports to its “citizens”</a> on March 16th. <b>Aleksandr Zakharchenko</b>, the republic’s prime minister, was issued the first passport. He said that the passports will be required for voting in upcoming elections in the republic and can also be used as a visa to enter <b>Russia</b>. The D.P.R. was declared in May 2014 but is not recognized by any other recognized nation. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military <a href="http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/331044.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on May 16th that six Ukrainian troops had been wounded in the previous 24 hours in fighting in the village of Novotroyitske, in Donetsk oblast. On March 18th, the D.P.R.’s defense ministry reported that three Ukrainian troops died and four were injured near Avdeyevka, near Donetsk, while <a href="http://tass.ru/en/world/863417" target="_blank">trying to arm a drone with explosive devices</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Donetsk “Citizen” Arrested in Kharkiv for Stabbing Death of Ukrainian Soldier.</u></b> Ukrainian authorities in Kharkiv, a government-controlled city in eastern <b>Ukraine</b>, <a href="http://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-crime/1985886-donetsk-region-suspect-held-in-kharkiv-for-deadly-stabbing-of-serviceman.html" target="_blank">arrested</a> on March 21st a citizen of eastern Ukraine’s rebel capital Donetsk for stabbing a Ukrainian soldier to death and seriously injuring a second in a brawl in a café. The dead victim, aged 30, was a scout from the ministry of defense’s 92nd Brigade and died instantly on the scene. A murder conviction could bring up to 15 years in prison.<br />
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<b><u>Insiders Say Kadyrov Will Stay On in Chechnya.</u></b> The independent English-language <i>Moscow Times</i> newspaper on March 16th <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kadyrov-to-get-another-term-say-kremlin-sources-exclusive/562640.html" target="_blank">cited an unnamed source close to the Kremlin</a> as saying that <b>Russia</b>’s government had two weeks previously reassured <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b> that he would be able to keep his job as president of the <b>Chechen Republic</b> after his term expires this month and that “There are no doubts that Kadyrov will be reappointed.” The article also stated that President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> had been making Kadyrov nervous by ceasing contact with him for some time. “Kadyrov never intended to go,” the source is quoted as saying, “and certainly would know if a real plan to replace him existed.”<br />
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<b><u>Masked Men Beat Human-Rights Chief in Chechnya as Regime Crows Approval.</u></b> The Russian head of an international human-rights organization <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/news/article/critique-of-chechnya-provokes-attack-on-chief-of-russian-anti-torture-ngo/562896.html" target="_blank">was beaten and pelted with eggs by masked men</a> in the middle of the <b>Chechen Republic</b>’s capital on March 16th, less than a week after a bus carrying members of the group was ambushed in a mass beating by similar armed men near the border with another Russian republic, <b>Ingushetia</b>. <b>Igor Kalyapin</b>, chairman of the <b>Committee against Torture</b> (<b>CAT</b>), was attacked at the entrance to a hotel in downtown Grozny by about 15 people in black masks, not long after being evicted from the hotel for criticizing Chechnya’s authoritarian president, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, and the republic’s heavy-handed police. “We could have protected him from attacks,” said, <b>Nurdi Nukhazhiyev</b>, the republic’s human-rights ombudsman; “We could have sat down and talked, held the event that he wanted to hold, shown him around”—but “Kalyapin must understand that if he constantly slings mud at the Chechen Republic, the young people here will not give him a warm welcome.” The central government of the <b>Russian Federation</b>, to which Kadyrov is only nominally loyal, the following day called the incident “absolute hooliganism” and directed the federal ministry of the interior to assert control if necessary.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chechnya tells Igor Kalyapin what it thinks about decadent, unpatriotic Western concepts like human rights.</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Lezgin Separatist Leader Found Murdered in Dagestan.</u> The head of the <b>Lezgin</b> (a.k.a. <b>Lezgian</b>) ethnic minority’s main organization in the <b>Republican of Dagestan</b> in southwestern <b>Russia</b>’s North Caucasus region <a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Leader-of-Lezgin-national-movement-Sadval-killed.html" target="_blank">was murdered</a> in his home, media reported on March 21st. The victim, <b>Nazim Hajiyev </b>(also spelled <b>Gadzhiyev</b>), was found dead of multiple stab wounds <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/840218/lezgian-%E2%80%9Csadval%E2%80%9D-movement-leader-nazim-hajiyev-killed.html" target="_blank">in his home in Makhachkala</a>, the Dagestani capital. He headed the organization <b>Sadval</b> (“<b>Unity</b>”), which has advocated an independent <b>Lezginistan</b> in the Lezgin homeland straddling the border between Dagestan and <b>Azerbaijan</b>. Another Sadval activist, <b>Ruslan Magomedragimov</b>, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/daghestan-ethnic-lezgin-leader-killed-gadzhiyev/27626030.html" target="_blank">was killed almost exactly a year earlier</a>, also in Dagestan, on March 24, 2015. That murder has never been solved.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSpYALvYdU0Rsl7T9U0RLVRk6EQ5dpD5PL7D0UA6X24H0lyQwo1ED8cC_d16QNR3tv1tn8mXCaW3s2zk_ysGTYPTy9Nug1S30DuwFOjnql9gUeB-0HXB2pPJFd0ecToIkkxeqSgDkuJsW/s1600/Lezgin+leader+found+dead+dagestan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSpYALvYdU0Rsl7T9U0RLVRk6EQ5dpD5PL7D0UA6X24H0lyQwo1ED8cC_d16QNR3tv1tn8mXCaW3s2zk_ysGTYPTy9Nug1S30DuwFOjnql9gUeB-0HXB2pPJFd0ecToIkkxeqSgDkuJsW/s400/Lezgin+leader+found+dead+dagestan.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Assassinated: Lezgin separatist Nazim Hajiyev</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrSZ85j9zNruzhUOHG9yJO5PYZMhw6Fe4PSYXMWI2VbfdPF1YSaFWaLFLNY1zFWuFfEoA_vNk2BAnaFqwA21c6NhtJj6FVY3qLRFraxSQdScWxZy-ZB33f5_3rqS_2epTwLxi8rqZd1X0/s1600/Dagestan+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrSZ85j9zNruzhUOHG9yJO5PYZMhw6Fe4PSYXMWI2VbfdPF1YSaFWaLFLNY1zFWuFfEoA_vNk2BAnaFqwA21c6NhtJj6FVY3qLRFraxSQdScWxZy-ZB33f5_3rqS_2epTwLxi8rqZd1X0/s200/Dagestan+flag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>3 Rounded Up in Dagestan for Islamic State Ties.</u></b> The National Antiterrorist Committee in <b>Russia</b> announced on March 17th that <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-islamic-state-militants-daghestan/27618955.html" target="_blank">three men had been arrested</a> in the <b>Republic of Dagestan</b>, in the North Caucasus, for ties to the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>). The suspects reportedly confessed and led security forces to a hidden cache of explosives. The three were arrested in the Khasavyurt district, near the border with the <b>Chechen Republic</b>, to the west.<br />
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<b><u>BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE PART OF EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Azerbaijan Blacklists Flemish Nationalists for Nagorno-Karabakh Visit.</u> The foreign ministry of <b>Azerbaijan</b> has <a href="http://news.az/articles/karabakh/105916" target="_blank">added the names</a> of two <b>Flemish</b> nationalist politicians from <b>Belgium</b> who (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-update-for-march-1-15-2016.html" target="_blank">as reported last month in this blog</a>) visited the unrecognized <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> last month to its “blacklist” of those no longer welcome in Azerbaijan. The visit was organized by the <b>European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy</b>. “By visiting the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia,” a ministry spokesman, <b>Hikmat Hajiyev</b>, said, “these people support the unrecognized regime created on the occupied territories as a result of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan and the bloody ethnic cleansing.” Meanwhile, the N.K.R.’s defense ministry said that two of its soldiers <a href="http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/karabakh/17267/" target="_blank">were killed</a> on March 17th—along the tense border between the N.K.R. and Azerbaijan proper.<br />
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<b><u>Georgia Considers Issuing Passports to Abkhazia, South Ossetia Residents.</u></b> A <b>Republic of Georgia</b> official charged with the longer-term project of reclaiming the breakaway territories of <b>Abkhazia</b> and <b>South Ossetia</b> said on March 18th that his government <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/3323/Georgia-to-Issue-Abkhaz-and-Ossetians-Passports,-Granting-Visa-Free-Travel-to-EU" target="_blank">was considering issuing Georgian passports to all residents in the two <i>de facto</i> independent territories</a>, which are essentially puppet states of <b>Russia</b>. The official, <b>Ketevan Tsikhelashvili</b>, deputy minister for reconciliation and civil equality, pointed out that Georgian passports offer more freedom of movement in western Europe than Russian ones do, to say nothing of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian passports, which almost no states recognize.<br />
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<b><u>Turkish Official’s North Cyprus Passport Stamp Disrupts Refugee Deal on Greek Isle.</u></b> The new agreement between the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) and the <b>Republic of Turkey</b> on stemming the flow of Middle Eastern refugees into Europe <a href="http://neurope.eu/article/provokation-or-mistake-turkey-sends-to-greece-senior-official-with-northern-cyprus-stamp-on-passport/" target="_blank">hit an unexpected technical hitch</a> on March 21st with the arrival of 25 Turkish interior-ministry liaisons in various refugee-swamped locales in <b>Greece</b>’s Aegean Sea islands. One Turkish official, arriving on the island of Chios, turned out to have a stamp in his passport from the <b>Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus</b> (<b>T.R.N.C.</b>). Northern Cyprus is a Turkish puppet state, unrecognized by any other country, formed when Turkey invaded the mostly-ethnic-Greek-populated island of <b>Cyprus</b> in 1974. Greek law regards any passport with a T.R.N.C. stamp as invalid. The situation was smoothed over when Greek authorities hurriedly issued a “<i>laisse passé</i>” passport to the official.<br />
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<b><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Widow of Palestinian Escapee Who Died in Bulgaria Cries Foul.</u> The widow of <b>Omar Nayef</b>, a 51-year-old escaped <b>Palestinian</b> convict who was (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-updates-for-february-16-29.html" target="_blank">as reported in this blog at the time</a>) assassinated on the grounds of <b>Israel</b>’s embassy in <b>Bulgaria</b> in February on March 16th, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/widow-says-kept-dark-over-palestinians-mystery-death-175006208.html" target="_blank">accused <b>Israel</b>’s government of not keeping her in the loop on the investigation</a>. The widow and her two children held a protest outside the court of justice in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. “The authorities have not given us any details about the medical examination or released my husband’s body so I can bury him,” she said to a reporter, and she threatened to bring the matter before the <b>European Court of Justice</b>. She personally feels her husband was assassinated by the Israeli government. On March 21st, Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor, <b>Sotir Tsatsarov</b>, <a href="https://www.enca.com/world/death-palestinian-wanted-israel-not-murder-bulgarian-prosecutor" target="_blank">said that he did not belief Nayef died from foul play</a>, but the investigation is ongoing, he said.<br />
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<b><u>3 Palestinians Killed as Wave of Knife Attacks against Israelis Continues.</u></b> Two <b>Palestinians</b>, ages 19 and 20, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.709527" target="_blank">were shot and killed by Israeli security forces</a> on March 17th after stabbing and wounding a female soldier as she got off a bus near the illegal <b>West Bank</b> settlement Ariel. The <b>Israeli</b> military responded by putting their home village, Beit Fajjar, in lockdown. The following day, at Gush Etzion, just south of <b>Jerusalem</b>, a Palestinian <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Armed-Palestinian-killed-two-arrested-in-foiled-attacks-in-West-Bank-448407" target="_blank">was shot to death by an Israeli soldier during an attempted stabbing of him and another soldier</a>. This came shortly after the arrest of two Palestinian teenagers armed with knives in the occupied West Bank. On the same day, a Palestinian woman <a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/75319" target="_blank">was shot and killed by unidentified attackers</a> who fired on her home in al-Yamoun, near Jenin, in the West Bank. Meanwhile, polls indicate that the portion of Palestinians in support of the wave of knife attacks <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-palestinian-support-for-knife-attacks-waning/" target="_blank">has dropped from 57% to 44%</a> in the West Bank. In the <b>Gaza Strip</b>, which is ruled separately by the <b>Hamas</b> terrorist group, that figure dropped only from 85% to 82%.<br />
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<b><u>AFRICA</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Morocco Pulls out of U.N. Peacekeeping in Protest over Ban’s Western Sahara Remarks.</u></b> The <b>Kingdom of Morocco</b> <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160316/morocco-cutting-support-for-un-western-sahara-force" target="_blank">announced</a> on March 15th that it was reducing its contribution to the <b>United Nations</b> peacekeeping operation in <b>Western Sahara</b>, the former Spanish colony which Morocco now illegally occupies. The cuts would be in personnel and in monetary contributions, and the kingdom also threatened to pull all 2,300 of its troops currently serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations around the world. This follows a wave of official Moroccan anger over comments made by the U.N. secretary general, <b>Ban Ki-moon</b>, last month, during a visit to a <b>Sahrawi</b> refugee camp just over the border in <b>Algeria</b>. Ban expressed sympathy for the Sahrawi refugees and those living under illegal occupation in Western Sahara and also met with the president of the <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>), which controls only a sliver of Western Sahara territory.<br />
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<b><u>Toubou, Tuareg Delegates to Libyan Constitution Panel Demand Language, Other Rights.</u></b> In <b>Oman</b>, delegates to <b>Libya</b>’s Constitutional Drafting Assembly (C.D.A.) from the southern <b>Toubou</b> and <b>Tuareg</b> ethnic groups said on March 20th that they <a href="https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/03/22/tebus-and-tuareg-demand-language-rights-and-seats-in-cabinet-and-parliament/" target="_blank">would suspend their boycott of the proceedings if their communities were offered certain constitutional concessions</a>. The delegates are asking for official status for the Toubou and Tuareg languages. Tuareg is closely related to the <b>Berber</b>, or <b>Amazigh</b>, language, spoken by many in northwestern Libya. They would also like guaranteed legislative and cabinet seats and the designation of Libya in the constitution as a “North African” country rather than an “<b>Arab</b>” one. Actually, few Arabs live in Libya: most of the country’s Arabic-speaking majority are ethnically Berber, often called “<b>Arabized Berbers</b>,” though a more generous definition of “Arab” is anyone who speaks Arabic. But all such niceties are mostly academic at this point while Libya’s territory is divided among two rival governments, plus large areas ruled by the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>).<br />
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<b><u>South Sudan Foreign Minister Sacked after Calling Abyei “Sudanese.”</u></b> The ministry of foreign affairs for the <b>Republic of South Sudan</b> <a href="https://radiotamazuj.org/en/article/foreign-affairs-ministry-walks-back-claim-luka-biong-not-south-sudanese" target="_blank">was forced on March 22nd to retract statements</a> made that implied that residents of the disputed oil-rich <b>Abyei</b> district, on the border with the <b>Republic of Sudan</b>, were not South Sudanese. Days later, he <a href="http://aa.com.tr/en/world/south-sudan-president-kiir-fires-foreign-minister-/543016" target="_blank">was fired</a> by President <b>Salva Kiir</b>. A statement signed by the foreign minister <b>Barnaba Marial Benjamin</b> had said, in response to criticism of South Sudan’s human-rights record, that the Abyei resident <b>Luka Biong</b>, whom the South Sudanese government was persecuting for his criticism of a planned redrawing of South Sudanese internal boundaries, was a “foreign” Sudanese. Abyei has a mixed <b>Arab</b> and <b>Dinka</b> ethnic population, and it has never been permanently settled whether the square-shaped territory would be part of Sudan proper or of South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2012. Sudan now administers the territory. “The statement was issued by the government of South Sudan, not the ministry of foreign affairs,” said <b>Mawein Makol</b>, a foreign-ministry spokesperson. “There was a mistake in the statement and the minister of foreign affairs signed the cover of the statement without realizing the mistake but it has been corrected now.” The minister <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article58386=" target="_blank">clarified</a> that the official South Sudanese position is that Abyei is under “joint sovereignty” and that its population is “South Sudanese.”<br />
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<b><u>Puntland Troops Kill Scores of Shabaab Militants; Mogadishu Rejects Blame for Influx.</u></b> The armed forces of <b>Somalia</b>’s <i>de facto</i> independent <b>Puntland State</b> <a href="https://horseedmedia.net/2016/03/17/puntland-forces-continue-crushing-militants-northern-somalia-coastal-province/" target="_blank">killed scores of jihadist militants</a> on March 16th and 17th in their new offensive against the <b>al-Qaeda</b>-affiliated terrorist group <b>al-Shabaab</b> in their territory, according to government sources. Al-Shabaab <a href="http://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/puntland/somalia-al-shabaab-claims-attack-on-checkpoint-as-puntland-intensifies-ops" target="_blank">retaliated</a> over the night of March 18th and 19th with a raid on a security checkpoint in Bossaso, Puntland’s main port city, killing one and wounding a security officer and a civilian. Around the same time, in the village of Suuj, four militants were killed and four captured in fighting reported by Puntland authorities. On March 20th the military <a href="http://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/puntland/somalia-puntland-forces-kill-42-al-shabaab-fighters-state-tv" target="_blank">reported the deaths of 42 al-Shabaab fighters</a>, and by the next day, in Mogadishu, Puntland’s information minister, <b>Mohamud Hassan Soadde</b>, <a href="http://www.360nobs.com/2016/03/70-al-shabaab-militants-killed-30-others-arrested-somalia/" target="_blank">was tallying 70 dead jihadists and 30 captured ones</a>. Many of the captured were taken in Garacad, a town in Puntland liberated from the militants. But this all came amid <a href="https://horseedmedia.net/2016/03/16/somalia-govt-denies-backing-al-shabaab-militants/" target="_blank">accusations by Puntland officials</a> that the internationally recognized <b>Federal Government of Somalia</b> (<b>F.G.S.</b>) in Mogadishu is behind the flow of al-Shabaab militants northward into Puntland. On the first day of fighting, <b>Kenya</b>’s government <a href="http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=75819" target="_blank">reported that Puntland forces had killed 30 militants</a>. Puntland’s president, <b>Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas</b>, said that these successes <a href="https://horseedmedia.net/2016/03/17/somalia-puntland-can-defeat-al-shabaab-without-amisom-troops-leader/" target="_blank">demonstrated that his statelet could contain al-Shabaab</a> without the assistance of the <b>African Union Mission in Somalia</b> (<b>Amisom</b>), led by Kenya and <b>Ethiopia</b> in cooperation with the F.G.S. Nonetheless, Amisom troops were reported to be on their way. The deputy prime minister of the F.G.S., <b>Mohamed Omar Arte</b>, said that al-Shabaab’s move into Puntland <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201603170407.html" target="_blank">was in the first instance a sign of desperation</a>, affirming Somalia’s success in ousting them from Somalia proper. After the accusations on March 16th about Mogadishu being responsible for al-Shabaab being in Puntland in the first place, Arte said the Puntland government’s comments were inaccurate and “unfortunate.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GkOXoiQBGY39i0cFcaRqnOVonbVt_BvBWeC0EVbBT2J_5QnQjtJJwY0v9liFfEHVP8Rng_iXGvr1Vn7Qxs0LKhbwEpKaaz-ntpHm0kn93ZcX6hAGqIw57FMv9LohTWkeU8Ul9pYvcOen/s1600/captured+shabaab+militants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GkOXoiQBGY39i0cFcaRqnOVonbVt_BvBWeC0EVbBT2J_5QnQjtJJwY0v9liFfEHVP8Rng_iXGvr1Vn7Qxs0LKhbwEpKaaz-ntpHm0kn93ZcX6hAGqIw57FMv9LohTWkeU8Ul9pYvcOen/s1600/captured+shabaab+militants.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captured al-Shabaab militants in Garacad</td></tr>
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<b><u>Djibouti Accepts Blame for Naval Skirmish That Killed Somaliland Patrolman.</u></b> The <b>Republic of Djibouti</b> <a href="http://www.somalilandpress.com/somalilanddjibouti-officially-apologizes-over-naval-incident-nearly-one-week-after/" target="_blank">apologized</a> on March 19th to a lethal exchange of gunfire on March 14th between the Djiboutian coast guard and that of the <i>de facto</i> independent but unrecognized <b>Republic of Somaliland</b>. Djibouti’s minister of fisheries, <b>Mohamed Somali</b>, and Somaliland’s naval commander, <b>Abdurrahman Shir</b>, addressed a joint press conference in which the Djiboutian offered apologies on behalf of his government and offered compensation, acknowledging that it was Djiboutian vessels that had inadvertently strayed into Somaliland territorial waters. Although Djibouti does not formally recognize Somaliland, in most respects it treats it as a state independent of the internationally recognized <b>Federal Republic of Somalia</b> and its capital in Mogadishu. In the incident, one Somaliland coast guard <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/one-killed-as-djibouti-somaliland-coastguards-clash-over-illegal-fishing/" target="_blank">was killed and two were injured</a> when they moved in to rescue two fishing vessels taken into custody by the Djiboutian patrol. The incident occurred off the coast of the town of Zeila, in Somaliland’s Awdal state. Djibouti quietly runs a puppet state, the <b>Saylac and Lughaye State of Somalia</b>—nominally a pro-Mogadishu unionist entity—that controls some territory in Awdal.<br />
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<b><u>Nigerian Army Chief Says Abia Massacre Being Probed, Claims Constitutional Immunity.</u></b> A top military official in <b>Nigeria</b> said on March 17th that the army <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/03/17/we-are-investigating-alleged-killing-of-pro-biafra-agitators-chief-of-army-staff-buratai/" target="_blank">was investigating an alleged massacre of civilians</a> in <b>Abia State</b> during February 9th protests (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/separatist-updates-for-february-1-15.html" target="_blank">reported at the time in this blog</a>) demanding independence for <b>Biafra</b>. Speaking in Enugu, the notional Biafran capital, Lt.-Gen. <b>Tukur Buratai</b>, the Chief of Army Staff, said that whenever there was loss of life there would be an investigation. But he added, with chilling candor, that if anyone breaks the law, “there will be need for use of fire; in that regards, the issue of human rights does not apply. So, if you apply all the rules of engagement and you have course to open fire, you are protected by the constitution.” The group <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), for its part, on March 18th <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/03/19/biafra-ipob-rejects-buratais-committee-probing-killing-of-its-members/" target="_blank">rejected the Buratai investigation</a>, saying it “is fundamentally riddled with conflict of interest and lacks the moral compass to conduct quality investigation in a case of this magnitude.” It <a href="http://ynaija.com/biafra-army-chief-soldiers/" target="_blank">referred to the army’s actions</a> in Abia as “genocidal.”<br />
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<b><u>Kanu and Co-Defendants Challenge Detention, Citing “Strange Procedure.”</u></b> In the midst of his treason trial in Abuja, the Biafran independence leader <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> and two co-defendants <a href="https://www.naij.com/770963-biafra-agitation-federal-government-moves-kanus-plea-freedom.html" target="_blank">challenged their dentention</a> at <b>Nigeria</b>’s court of appeal, calling it a “strange procedure.” The federal government urged the court to throw the appeal out. The two others are <b>David Nwawusi</b> and <b>Benjamin Madubugwu</b>. Their regular trial has been suspended pending an appeals-court decision. In other developments, <b>Asari Dokubo</b>, a former militant from the <b>Niger Delta</b>, called on Nigeria’s president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, to free Kanu, who heads the organization <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>).<br />
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<b><u>Former U.S. Congressman, Biafra Mercy-Flight Pilot Backs Vote on Biafran Independence.</u></b> A prominent American ally of the Biafran cause <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nigeria-former-us-congressman-biafra-relief-flights-pilot-robert-dornan-backs-referendum-1551011" target="_blank">explicitly called</a> in March for an internationally guaranteed referendum on <b>Biafra</b>’s independence from <b>Nigeria</b>. <b>Robert K. Dornan</b>, a former <b>United States</b> congressman who represented <b>Orange County</b>, <b>California</b>, for the <b>Republican Party</b>, flew food-relief missions to Biafra during 1967-70 Biafra War, when he was in the Air Force reserve. “I was there piloting a dozen mercy flights to help feed starving Biafran children,” Dornan said in a recent statement submitted to the <b>Organization of Emerging African States</b> (<b>O.E.A.S.</b>). “It was an experience that stayed with me always.” He added, “No one wants to see another Biafran war. ... The timid leadership in the United States and the <b>European Union</b> has sadly neglected and sidestepped the Biafra issue. ... The Biafrans have known suffering and death and as a responsible witness to that holocaust, and as a Christian man of honor I add my voice to those calling for an internationally recognized referendum on the future of Biafra.” <br />
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<b><u>Coca-Cola Denies Responsibility for Cans Sporting Biafra Independence Messages.</u></b> The circulation on social media of Coke cans bearing the customized word <i>Biafrans</i> and the name of the jailed independence leader <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> has prompted <b>Coca-Cola</b> to <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/biafra-coca-cola-cans-soft-drink-company-denies-support-political-causes-1550123" target="_blank">explain to media that it was making sure that no unauthorized customized cans were being produced</a>—which still leaves unexplained the extent to which Coke or its factories might be involved in the labels. Biafran media have jumped on the story, claiming it points to the corporation’s support the cause of independence from <b>Nigeria</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Biafra Youth Leader Claims Fulani Herders Who Attack Igbos Linked to Boko Haram.</u></b> The deputy president of the <b>Biafra Nations Youth League</b> (<b>B.N.Y.L.</b>) said on March 18th <a href="http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/biafra-youth-allege-boko-haram-herdsmen-links-20160319" target="_blank">warned herders</a> from <b>Nigeria</b>’s northern and predominantly-Muslim <b>Fulani</b> ethnic group to halt their attacks on <b>Igbos</b>. The ancient enmities are involved are over grazing lands, but the B.N.Y.L. leader, <b>Ebuta Takon</b>, linked the Fulani to <b>Boko Haram</b>, the jihadist terrorist group which operates in northeastern Nigeria. “Boko Haram,” Takon said, “are now using the Fulani herdsmen to unleash attacks on our own people in our own soil. We know they are behind some of the gas explosions in most part of South East and South-South. It is evidence in what happened in Owerri sometime last year where a cripple [<i>sic</i>] was seen trying to set a fuel tanker that fell close to the Catholic Church ablaze, and the government has refused to link this attack to the Islamist expansionists. We understand their game and we will make sure that they don’t succeed.” He added: “Only an independent Biafran State will end these provocative attacks by Fulani herdsmen.” Meanwhile, the organization <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>) <a href="http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/nigeria-stop-eating-fulani-cows-ipob-urges-igbo.192457/" target="_blank">urged Igbo people to boycott Fulani cattle products</a> and rely more on the Igbo-based cattle industry.<br />
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<b><u>Nigerian Chiefs Cite Rapes, Beatings, Detentions amid “Annexations” by Cameroon.</u></b> More details are emerging about the bizarre developments in <b>Nigeria</b>’s <b>Akwa Ibom</b> state, just across the Cross River (Oyono River) estuary from southwestern Cameroon, where the chiefs of 16 villages on mangrove islands in the Mbo local government area signed papers ceding their communities to the <b>Republic of Cameroon</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-update-for-march-1-15-2016.html" target="_blank">as reported recently in this blog</a>). Now it seems, according to a <b>Nigerian National Boundary Commission</b> (<b>N.B.C.</b>) fact-finding mission to Mbo, the Nigerian chiefs in question <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/rising-tension-cameroon-annexes16-nigerian-communities/" target="_blank">also accepted Cameroonian citizenship and are being used in a tax-collection (extortion) scheme</a>. “The Cameroon gendarmes have placed taxes on all the communities,” said Chief <b>Nyong Etim Efa</b>, of the village of Abana. “In Abana, we are required to pay N500,000 per month. The last time they came to collect the money and found out that I didn’t convene a meeting to raise the tax, they raped my wife, beat me up, and later detained me in their cell. For our youths who tried to resist them, they cut their fishing nets into pieces and seized their outboard engines. We are traumatised by repeated molestations from the Cameroon gendarmes. We are seriously considering taking up citizenship in Cameroon since our Nigerian government cannot protect us.” It remains unclear to what extent these “annexations” are being orchestrated by the Cameroonian central government in Yaoundé. Other affected villages include Akpakanya, Akwa Ine Nsikak, Atabong, Ine Akpak, Ine Atayo, Ine Ebighi Edu, Ine Ekea, Ine Etakisib, Ine Inua Abasi, Ibekwe Ine Odiong, Ine Okobedi, Ine Usuk, Inua Mba, and Itung Ibekwe.<br />
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<b><u>Phony “Human Rights Group” Exonerates Nigerian Army of Ogoni Massacre.</u></b> A group called <b>Citizen Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights</b> (<b>CASER</b>), referred to in <b>Nigeria</b>’s compliant media as “a human rights group,” <a href="http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/03/rights-group-absolves-nigerian-army-of-ogoni-killings/" target="_blank">held a press conference in Abuja, the capital</a>, on March 21st to announce that after an investigation it has concluded that the federal military’s incursion into <b>Ogoni</b> territory in south-central Nigeria a month earlier, in which (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-updates-for-february-16-29.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time in this blog</a>) dozens were reported killed, was not what it seemed and that the Nigerian military had done nothing wrong. The only problem with this “finding” by a “human rights group” is that it is very difficult to find evidence for the existence of “CASER” other than this one press conference—the main thrust of which was to exonerate the Nigerian military. “We have called this press conference to denounce certain notions that are inimical to national interest,” said “CASER’’’s “executive director,” one <b>Frank Tietie</b>, namely “the notion that the Nigerian military causes problem [<i>sic</i>], kills and maims innocent Nigerians, which is so untrue.” Rather, Tietie said, “We found out that what happened on Feb. 22 in an Ogoni community called Yeghe was actually an encounter between certain cultists, who were followers of one <b>Solomon Ndigbara</b>, who actually engaged the army in a shootout”—referring to the former <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>) rebel leader known by his nickname <b>“General Osama Bin Laden,”</b> whom the military manhunt had unsuccessfully targeted. Tietie said the video evidence showed that only three people died in the conflict, not 45 at the military’s hands, as claimed by others. This kind of “oversight” is what counts as justice and checks and balances in <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>’s Nigeria.<br />
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<b><u>Cabinda Separatists Claim to Have Killed 30 Angolan Soldiers in March So Far.</u></b> Militants fighting for the oil-rich coastal exclave of <b>Cabinda</b> to secede from the <b>Republic of Angola</b> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3506687/Angolan-rebels-claim-killed-30-troops.html" target="_blank">have killed about 30 Angolan soldiers so far this month</a>, according to rebel reports. The claims, by the <b>Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda</b> (<b>FLEC</b>), could not be verified. The death toll takes into account a March 13th attack which killed more than 10 and one on March 16th in Buco-Zau that killed 20. FLEC has been fighting for independence since the colonial ruler, <b>Portugal</b>, abandoned Angola to civil war in 1975.<br />
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<b><u>Chagossians in Seychelles Plan to Sue British Government over Expulsions.</u></b> Members of the <b>British Indian Ocean Territory</b>’s native <b>Chagossian</b> nation living in exile in the <b>Seychelles</b> <a href="http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/4796/Chagos+island+people+in+Seychelles+to+file+proceedings+against+UK+govt" target="_blank">announced</a> on March 16th plans to bring legal proceedings against the <b>United Kingdom</b> for their expulsion from the <b>Chagos Islands</b> in the 1960s and ’70s to make way for what is now a United States and NATO military base in Diego Garcia, the largest island. <b>Pierre Prosper</b>, chairman of the local Seychellois Chagossian diaspora group, told the <b>Seychelles News Agency</b> that his community would be holding meetings to decide how to proceed. Of the 2,000 or so Chagossians dispersed worldwide, about half live in <b>England</b>, many are in <b>Mauritius</b> (which claims the archipelago), and the Seychelles are home to about 250 deportees and their descendants.<br />
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<b><u>ASIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Balochistan Puts Bounty on Heads of 99 Separatist Fighters.</u> The provincial government in <b>Balochistan</b>, in southwestern <b>Pakistan</b>, announced on March 17th that it <a href="http://nation.com.pk/national/18-Mar-2016/balochistan-places-bounties-on-heads-of-99-terrorists" target="_blank">was putting a bounty on the heads of 99 wanted criminals</a> from five different “terrorist” organizations. All five are insurgent groups fighting for independence from Pakistan. The wanted men include Dr. <b>Allah Nazar Baloch</b>, alleged leader of the <b>Balochistan Liberation Front</b> (<b>B.L.F.</b>), whom the government said last year that it had killed in an anti-terrorist operation. Other men on the list belong to the <b>Baloch Republican Army</b> (<b>B.R.A.</b>), <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>), <b>Baloch Republican Guards</b>, and <b>Lashkar-e-Balochistan</b>. The B.L.F. leader’s bounty is for 5 million rupees, the highest amount offered. Then, on March 23rd, Balochistan’s chief minister, Sanaullah Zehri, <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1071589/flag-hoisting-zehri-asks-baloch-separatists-to-return-to-pakistan/" target="_blank">asked publicly for Baloch separatist leaders living abroad to return home and join mainstream politics</a>. “The people, the government and the defense forces have won the war,” he said, “and those who wanted to impose their views through use of force are defeated and isolated” (oops, but see below).<br />
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<b><u>Baloch Separatists Claim Government “Raids” on “Militants” Actually Target Civilians.</u></b> In Pakistan’s Balochistan province, rights groups are disputing government accounts of raids against separatists and claiming they are actually part of an ongoing pattern of attacks on Baloch civilians. Pakistani officials say two different raids by Pakistani security forces on March 18th <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1069147/4-militants-killed-in-naseerabad-gun-battle/" target="_blank">killed four Baloch separatist fighters and arrested a separatist commander</a>. The four were killed in a shootout in Balochistan province’s Naseerabad district, which also resulted in 13 arrests and the wounding of the rebel unit’s commander. A raid in Panjgur resulted in the arrest of a rebel commander. On the same day, in Turbat, five Baloch suspects were rounded up and “arms and ammunition were also seized.” The Frontier Corps would not say which Baloch separatist group or groups were represented in the incidents. And on March 21st, 12 <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) militants, including two commanders, <a href="http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/328586-12-terrorists-killed-in-clash-with-security-forces" target="_blank">were killed in a confrontation</a> with the <b>Frontier Corps</b> in Kohlu district, according to officials. Baloch rights groups <a href="http://balochwarna.com/2016/03/21/balochistan-19-baloch-killed-in-pakistani-military-attacks-several-abducted-in-past-three-days/" target="_blank">also report that government helicopter gunships were used against civilian populations</a> during the Kohlu raids and that the 12 “militants’ killed were actually civilians killed in aerial attacks. The day before the March 21st raid, Baloch sources say, the military killed three Baloch civilians, including a 9-year-old girl in Kech district. The military said the two adults that died in that attack where members of the Baloch National Movement (B.N.M.), which the B.N.M. denies. The B.N.M. also reported the abduction of a civilian cousin of Karima Baloch, chair of the Baloch Student Organisation (B.S.O.). Other military abductions throughout Balochistan were reported as well.<br />
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<b><u>Sindhi Separatists Call Shutdown Strike over Justice Delay in Killing of Party Leader.</u></b> The separatist party <b>Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz</b> (<b>J.S.Q.M.</b>) <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1070175/demanding-justice-jsqm-observes-shutter-down-strike/" target="_blank">ordered a shutdown strike in the city of Hyderabad</a>, in <b>Pakistan</b>’s <b>Sindh</b> province, on March 21st, to protest delays in the prosecution of a J.S.Q.M. figure’s killers. <b>Masood Qureshi</b>, the head of J.S.Q.M., which seeks the province’s secession from Pakistan as an independent <b>Sindhu Desh</b>, died on March 21, 2014, in a mysterious automobile fire. The authorities, J.S.Q.M. claims, have been impeding and delaying a proper investigation into what activists say was an assassination.<br />
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<b><u>Britain Removes Sikh Separatist Youth Organization from Terrorism List.</u></b> Both houses of the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s parliament <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/uk-lifts-ban-on-sikh-separatist-outfit/article8375859.ece" target="_blank">voted</a> in March to remove the <b>International Sikh Youth Federation</b> (<b>I.S.Y.F.</b>) from its list of banned organizations. The I.S.Y.F., which supports the creation of an independent state called <b>Khalistan</b> in <b>Sikh</b>-majority areas of western <b>India</b>, was added to the U.K.’s list terrorist organizations in 2001. The British minister of state for home affairs, <b>Lord Bates</b>, said, “ there is now not sufficient evidence to support a reasonable belief that the ISYF is currently concerned in terrorism as defined by Section 3(5) of the Terrorism Act 2000.” The chair of the I.S.Y.F.’s umbrella group, the <b>Sikh Federation (U.K.)</b>, <b>Bhai Amrik Singh</b>, said the I.S.Y.F. “has never been involved in terrorism. There is absolutely nothing wrong with peacefully campaigning for an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan.”<br />
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<b><u>Aide to Kashmir Separatist Leader Charged in Murder of Counter-Insurgency Officer.</u></b> A close aide to the secretary of <b>Kashmir</b>’s largest separatist outfit <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/masarat-s-aide-among-six-booked-for-murder-of-top-counter-insurgency-cop/210690.html" target="_blank">was among six men charged</a> on March 17th with involvement in the murder last year of counter-insurgency officer, <b>Altaf Ahmed</b>. The aide, <b>Showkat Hakeem</b>, a <b>Muslim League</b> leader, works closely with the <b>All-Parties Hurriyat Conference</b>’s secretary, <b>Masarat Alam Bhat</b>. The Muslim League is one of many separatist groups under the umbrella of the Hurriyat Conference, which seeks independence from <b>India</b>. The charges were filed in Bandipora, in northwestern <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b>. Members of the jihadist militia <b>Lashkar-e-Taiba</b> were also charged.<br />
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<b><u>Indian Troops in Assam Arrests Separatist Bodo Militant Trained in Burma.</u></b> In <b>India</b>’s <b>Assam</b> state, local police and the military <a href="http://narinjara.com/burma-trained-indian-militant-arrested/" target="_blank">arrested a <b>Bodo</b> militant in a joint operation</a> on March 18th. The rebel, <b>Daithun Boro</b>, belongs to the Songbijit faction of the <b>National Democratic Front of Bodoland</b> (<b>N.D.F.B.</b>), a banned organization. Weapons were recovered, and Boro, who had been trained in <b>Myanmar</b> (<b>Burma</b>), was charged with extortion and arms smuggling. The N.D.F.B. aims to separate the <b>Bodoland</b> region from India as a sovereign state. Bodos make up 5% of Assam’s population.<br />
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<b><u>Gambia Resumes Ties with China, Leaving Only 3 African States That Recognize Taiwan.</u></b> The <b>Republic of the Gambia</b>, a tiny sliver of a nation in West Africa, on March 17th <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3496830/With-Gambia-China-ends-diplomatic-truce-Taiwan.html" target="_blank">resumed diplomatic relations</a> with the <b>People’s Republic of China</b>, two and a half years after withdrawing its diplomatic recognition of the <b>Republic of China</b> (<b>R.O.C.</b>, a.k.a. <b>Taiwan</b>). “China and Gambia’s relations have turned over a new leaf,” said <b>Wang Yi</b>, China’s foreign minister, in a meeting with Gambia’s foreign minister, <b>Neneh Macdouall-Gaye</b>. And Macdouall-Gaye went so far as to call for “the national reunification, peaceful reunification” between Taiwan and mainland China. Taiwan’s president elect, <b>Tsai Ing-wen</b>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-china-gambia-idUSKCN0WK0FH" target="_blank">responded to the development</a> by saying that she hoped “the establishment of ties with Gambia is not a targeted move. At present, Taiwan’s diplomatic situation is not optimistic, and needs everyone to unite together to face up to it, to consistently protect our international space.” Gambia initially, in 1974, recognized the P.R.C. and then switched its recognition to Taiwan in 1995 before dropping Taiwan again in 2013. Next in Beijing’s sights is <b>São Tomé and Príncipe</b>, a minuscule former <b>Portuguese</b> colony off the West African coast, which is one of only three remaining African countries that recognize the R.O.C. instead of the P.R.C. The other two are hardly major powers: the <b>Kingdom of</b> <b>Swaziland</b> and the <b>Republic of</b> <b>Burkina Faso</b>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj1BghetjP7Yj4dTmqCdQjp9vxn14e7vPnFSjvPr9ei_1bPsDm2y9rnVuVwkqaV7o_a8n76CsFm2iUzY5VNgpAHoqmXPljqPtVmlGTEWzSQKmtmOg6V1krx4EoVd3BPpWndXXMMQ_I_dF/s1600/Taiwan+diplomatic+partners+2016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgj1BghetjP7Yj4dTmqCdQjp9vxn14e7vPnFSjvPr9ei_1bPsDm2y9rnVuVwkqaV7o_a8n76CsFm2iUzY5VNgpAHoqmXPljqPtVmlGTEWzSQKmtmOg6V1krx4EoVd3BPpWndXXMMQ_I_dF/s640/Taiwan+diplomatic+partners+2016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">States that recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) are shown in green. States in blue have officials ties with Taiwan that fall short of diplomatic recognition. States in grey recognize the People’s Republic of China instead of the R.O.C.</td></tr>
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<b><u>73% of Taiwan’s People Call Themselves Only “Taiwanese,” Not “Chinese” at All.</u></b> A new opinion survey in the <b>Republic of China</b> (<b>Taiwan</b>) revealed in March that 73% of residents of the island—and 85% of people aged 20 to 29—consider themselves Taiwanese only. Only 10% said they considered themselves both Taiwanese and <b>Chinese</b>. Eleven percent listed themselves as simply Chinese. The same question 20 years ago, according to the <i>United Daily News,</i> found less than half—44%—of Taiwan’s people calling themselves Taiwanese only and a whopping 30% opting for Chinese only. Another survey, from last year, found a lower rate of Taiwanese-only self-identification: 61%, still a large majority.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">University of Hong Kong Student Newspaper Publishes Independence Manifesto.</u> The student newspaper at the <b>University of Hong Kong</b> <a href="http://time.com/4260624/hong-kong-university-students-independence-localism-separatists-undergrad/" target="_blank">ran an editorial in mid-March calling for independence</a> from the <b>People’s Republic of China</b>. The publication, the <i>Undergrad,</i> published a special issue with an unusual 60-page manifesto that calls for the secession of the <b>Hong Kong Special Administrative Region</b> after 2047, the year when China is no longer bound by its 1997 agreement with the <b>United Kingdom</b> guaranteeing democracy and basic freedoms for the territory. “People have lost all their confidence in ‘one country, two systems,’” said the paper’s editor, <b>Marcus Lau</b>. “They want a genuine democracy. People don’t see themselves as Chinese. They see themselves as Hong Kongese. They don’t have much connection with China and they don’t share a sense of nationalist sentiment with China.”<br />
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<b><u>Court Lets Hong Kong Autonomy Leader Attend Conference Hosted by Dalai Lama.</u></b> The “localist” pro-autonomy hero of the February 8th “Fishball Revolution” uprising against <b>China</b>’s rule in <b>Hong Kong</b> <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1928758/hong-kong-indigenous-convenor-ray-wong-allowed-travel-india" target="_blank">had his bail extended</a> on March 22nd so that he can address a human-rights conference in <b>India</b>. <b>Ray Wong Toi-yeung</b>, who leads the organization <b>Hong Kong Indigenous</b>, is due for his next court appearance, on charges of incitement of violence, on May 10th, but he has been awarded by the court special permission to travel abroad from April 26th to May 5th so that he can go to the conference, which is held at the residence of the <b>14th Dalai Lama</b> in Dharamsala, home of <b>Tibet</b>’s government-in-exile. The special deal involves an extra HK$50,000 in cash. During the hearing, crowds outside the court <a href="http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news.php?id=72753" target="_blank">demonstrated in favor of harsh sentencing for Wong</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Exposed as Chinese Front, Anti-Tibet Group Allied with “Negative” Deity Closes Doors.</u></b> After being exposed by the <b>Reuters</b> news service as a front for the <b>Communist Party of China</b>, an anti-Tibetan organization called <b>International Shugden Community</b> (<b>I.S.C.</b>) <a href="http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/outlook/interviews-and-recap/4939-anti-dalai-lama-group-disbands-chinese-exposed" target="_blank">halted its organized demonstrations</a> against the <b>14th Dalai Lama</b> and shut down all operations as of March 16th, including even its web site. Nominally, the group was part of a sect that worships the Tibetan deity <b>Dorje Shugden</b>, an entity that the Dalai Lama now calls “very negative, very harmful.” The Dalai Lama told a Reuters reporter after learning of the I.S.C. shutdown, “Your article was something complete, holistic sort of presentation, it was very helpful.”<br />
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<b><u>China Releases 2 Tibetan Political Prisoners; Another Dies of Torture-Related Wounds.</u> </b>A Tibetan political prisoner was released in western <b>China</b>’s <b>Sichuan</b> province on March 20th after serving an eight-year prison term for pulling down a Chinese flag. But the prisoner, <b>Ngoega</b> (his full name), aged 61, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/injury-03232016155608.html" target="_blank">remains bedridden with injuries to his back from torture suffered in prison</a>. The next day, another prisoner, <b>Joleb Jigme</b>, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/released-03222016163655.html" target="_blank">was released by authorities</a> in Sichuan after a seven-year prison term and returned to Ngaba (Aba) County, in one of Sichuan’s “Tibetan autonomous prefectures.” Jigme, a former monk was sentenced in 2009 for allegedly “revealing state secrets.” On the same day, in Serchen County, in the <b>Tibet “Autonomous” Region</b>, another former political prisoner, <b>Gyaye Phuntsok</b>, <a href="http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=37286&t=1" target="_blank">died at the age of 85</a>. According to the <i>Tibet Times,</i> a dissident expatriate newspaper, Phuntsok had suffered from injuries sustained during years of torture in Chinese prisons.<br />
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<b><u>Uyghurs among Dead in Indonesian Anti-Jihadist Manhunt on Sulawesi.</u></b> In an anti-terrorism operation on the island of <b>Sulawesi</b>, in <b>Indonesia</b>, on March 15th, security forces <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/militant-03162016225929.html" target="_blank">killed</a> two members of northwestern <b>China</b>’s <b>Uyghur</b> ethnic group during a hunt for jihadist militants, said Indonesian officials the following day. The two, along with three other Uyghurs who survived, were members of the <b>Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen</b> (<b>M.I.T.</b>) militia, headed by <b>Santoso</b> (his full name), who is Indonesia’s most wanted man. The M.I.T. pledged loyalty to the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group in 2014. Still, the <b>World Uyghur Congress</b> (<b>W.U.C.</b>) tried to put an anti-Beijing spin on the developments, with a spokesman, <b>Dilxat Raxit</b>, saying, “Uyghurs cannot bear Chinese persecution, and are therefore forced to flee their homes to go all over the world. If there are individuals who have been involved in extreme behavior, Beijing should bear direct political responsibility.” The M.I.T. is believed to have a total of 30 members left.<br />
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<b><u>OCEANIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">West Papuan Rebels Attack Road Construction Crew, Kill 4.</u> The <b>West Papua National Liberation Army</b> (<b>W.P.N.L.A.</b>) <a href="http://www.newsfultoncounty.com/politics/news/1829864-indonesia-stresses-papua-development-despite-attacks" target="_blank">claimed responsibility</a> on March 18th for an attack three days earlier on a road-building crew that killed four construction workers in Indonesia’s easternmost territory. <b>Sebby Sambom</b>, a spokesman for the W.P.N.L.A., which is the armed wing of the <b>Free Papua Movement</b> (<b>O.P.M.</b>), said, “We hope that with this action the Indonesian government can open up channels of dialogue to discuss the independence of <b>Papua</b>. If officials and citizens become victims, it is the fault of the government that does not give us freedom.” Indonesia’s president, <b>Joko Widodo</b>, said that the road project would continue. He aims to build road links among all of the districts in the Indonesian-ruled western half of the island of New Guinea by 2018.<br />
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<b><u>Kiwis Vote Narrowly to Keep Flag with Union Jack, Reject Silver Fern Design.</u></b> Voters in <b>New Zealand</b>, according to preliminary results tallied on March 24th, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/24/471689489/the-people-have-spoken-no-new-flag-for-new-zealand" target="_blank">decided narrowly to keep their current national flag</a>, with the Union Jack and the Southern Cross constellation, over a snazzy new black, white, and blue design with a silver fern. The preliminary number was 56.6% opting to keep the traditional flag. The prime minister, <b>John Key</b>, a supporter of junking the old flag as colonialist and outdated, said, “Naturally, I’m a little bit disappointed. I always knew it was going to be a very tough thing to get more than 50 percent of people to vote for change.” The vote, however, was narrower than had been predicted: polls had shown as many as two-thirds of New Zealanders wanting to stick with the Union Jack design.<br />
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<b><u>Tokelauans Ask for Seat at Table in New Zealand Climate Talks with Tuvalu, Kiribati.</u></b> Officials from <b>Tokelau</b>, a self-governing territory of <b>New Zealand</b>, <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/299198/tokelau-calls-on-nz-for-more-help-in-climate-change-fight" target="_blank">called on the Wellington government in March</a> to do more to include Tokelauans in discussions on the urgent issue of climate change as it affects low-lying nations. Tokelau officials met with New Zealand’s opposition <b>Labour Party</b> in advance of a Labour delegation to the fully independent atoll nations of <b>Tuvalu</b> and <b>Kiribati</b>. “Why weren’t we the first that New Zealand looks to, especially when it wants to protect the Pacific from climate change?” asked <b>Paula Faiva</b>, a climate change manager who works for the Tokelau government. “Even putting New Zealand’s constitutional responsibility to Tokelau aside, we are on the front-line and just as vulnerable to the effects and impacts of climate change as Kiribati and Tuvalu.”<br />
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<b><u>Indigenous New Caledonians to Outnumber Settlers by 2018 Referendum Deadline.</u></b> A legal scholar’s demographic projections this month <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/299740/kanaks-a-majority-on-new-caledonia-roll-projection" target="_blank">indicate</a> that the <b>Kanaks</b>—indigenous people of <b>New Caledonia</b>—will outnumber Europeans and other non-Kanaks in the Pacific territory by 2018, the end of which year is the deadline for holding a referendum on independence from <b>France</b>. The deadline was set in 1998 in the Nouméa Accord, which ended a separatist insurgency in the archipelago. The population projection, by <b>Mathias Chauchat</b>, estimates that by 2018 New Caledonia will have 84,000 Kanaks and only 71,000 non-indigenous people—mostly French and other Europeans, plus some <b>Polynesians</b> and other Pacific islanders.<br />
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<b><u>Native Hawai‘an Panel Decides Not to Ratify New Indigenous Constitution.</u></b> The state-funded <b>Native Hawai‘an</b> organization <b>Na‘i Aupuni</b> <a href="http://mauinow.com/2016/03/17/na%CA%BBi-aupuni-seeks-broader-group-to-ratify-native-hawaiian-constitution/" target="_blank">backed away</a> on March 16th from plans to vote on ratifying an indigenous constitution finalized in a conclave on February 27th (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-updates-for-february-16-29.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time on this blog</a>). “Na‘i Aupuni believes that it is the participants, those who prepared and voted on the document, that are best able to lead efforts in effectively sharing the proposed constitution with the community and ultimately arranging for a ratification process,” said <b>Kuhio Asam</b>, N‘ai Aupuni’s president. “The participants have evidenced a remarkable willingness and ability to identify leadership, build critical teams and respectfully support the voices of many divergent opinions. It is for these reasons that we are deferring to the ‘aha participants to further advance their work.”<br />
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Visiting Le Pen Meets P.Q. Youth as Péladeau, Other Quebec Politicians Shun Her.</u> In <b>Canada</b>, the chairman of the separatist <b>Parti Québécois</b> (<b>P.Q.</b>), <b>Pierre Karl Péladeau</b>, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/marine-le-pen-visit-quebec-montreal-1.3499340" target="_blank">hastened to distance his party</a> on March 19th from reports that <b>Marine Le Pen</b>, who heads <b>France</b>’s neo-fascist opposition <b>National Front</b> (<i><b>Front national</b>,</i> or <b>F.N.</b>) party, had met with youth identifying themselves as P.Q. “I was shocked,” Péladeau wrote in English on his <b>Facebook</b> page, “when informed ... today that people [appearing] as ‘Youth of the parti quebecois’ but Representative only of themselves and with no function in the party, met with the president of a political party French in visit to <b>Quebec</b>. On behalf of the Parti québécois, I would like to dissociate formally our training policy and its bodies of any activity or encounter, outcome of personal initiative, with representatives of this party whose history, doctrine and proposals are diametrically opposed to the values of the party Quebec.” Le Pen, in turn, emphasized in an interview that Péladeau does not speak for the whole P.Q. “The P.Q. is diverse and vast,” she said. “It’s not monolithic. There are some that have contact with us.” All party leadership in Quebec are refusing to meet with Le Pen. She used her time in Canada to <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/03/20/right-wing-french-politician-criticizes-canadas-immigration-policy-during-quebec-city-visit.html" target="_blank">speak out against Canada’s liberal immigration policy</a>, its willingness to take in refugees from <b>Syria</b>’s civil war, the supposed decline of the French language in Quebec, and “multiculturalism” generally. “These issues scare Quebec’s political class,” she <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/frances-marine-le-pen-blasts-quebec-canadian-politics/article29322218/" target="_blank">said</a>, “even the so-called defenders of Quebec independence and culture. So be it.”<br />
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<b><u>Two Parti Québécois Aides Swept Up in Anti-Corruption Dragnet.</u></b> A wave of arrests by an anti-corruption agency in <b>Quebec</b> on March 17th <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-anti-corruption-police-arrest-top-former-liberals/article29271177/">included in its dragnet two aides</a> for the <b>Parti Québécois</b> (<b>P.Q.</b>), an opposition party promoting independence from <b>Canada</b>. The two arrested—<b>Ernest Murray</b> and Gaspé’s former mayor, <b>François Roussy</b>—are among seven politicians charged with improper relations with <b>Roche</b>, a Quebec City engineering firm (now known as <b>Norda Stelo</b>) which used “straw men” to make illegal campaign contributions. Murray is accused of illegally soliciting contributions from Roche while he was a member of the former premier <b>Pauline Maurois</b>’s staff, and Roussy is accused of accepting a trip to <b>France</b> in exchange for acting as a go-between in contract bids while serving as an attaché for <b>Gaétan Lelièvre</b>, a member of Quebec’s National Assembly. They will appear in court April 20th in Quebec City.<br />
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<b><u>Cliven Bundy Denied Bail; 2 Sons to Face Trial in Oregon Before Extradition to Nevada.</u></b> A federal court in <b>Nevada</b> on March 17th <a href="http://fusion.net/story/282342/nevada-rancher-federal-court/" target="_blank">denied bail to the racist Mormon rancher and anti-government militant</a> <b>Cliven Bundy</b> as he awaits trial on conspiracy charges stemming from an armed standoff he led against <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>) officers in 2014 at his ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada. On the same day, in Portland, <b>Oregon</b>, Bundy’s sons <b>Ammon</b> and <b>Ryan Bundy</b> were told by a judge that they and another defendant, <b>Ryan Payne</b>, <a href="http://www.waaytv.com/ap/domestic/the-latest-judge-s-order-keeps-ammon-bundy-in-oregon/article_e6f8e353-f470-5356-9280-87eff489c67d.html" target="_blank">would not be moved to Nevada to face trial for their roles in the Bunkerville standoff</a> until after they have faced justice in Oregon for a 41-day armed standoff at a wildlife refuge in that state earlier this year. The argument is that their extradition to Nevada would violate their right to a speedy trial in Oregon.<br />
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<b><u>Wildlife Refuge Occupier Arrested in Oregon after Threats to Shoot Police.</u></b> Meanwhile, another participant in the <b>Bundy</b> family’s occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in <b>Oregon</b> earlier this year <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/another-bundy-militant-arrested-after-threatening-to-start-shooting-federal-law-enforcement/" target="_blank">was arrested on March 16th in Mount Vernon, Oregon</a>. The militant, <b>Scott Willingham</b>, of <b>Colorado</b>, who is 49, was nabbed at a motel armed with a semi-automatic rifle after threatening to “start shooting federal law enforcement officers.” He was arraigned the following day and held on $35,000 bail. Press photos during the occupation show him wearing the insignia of the <b>Three Percenters</b>, a radical militant anti-government group.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Cdz19BTCVrl_amhVJ17e9INNOsnp-Mrs0YFkbmyeFIHxHJ_xz-VhUUVdy7GylP7MjMUYf93tZrYrPeVbPywUbj44_eeBa4AFPcrtI5H8-vc-0twMZFjreiJaMv6l7fyWoM_Ijr853vVm/s1600/bundy+militant+scott+willingham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Cdz19BTCVrl_amhVJ17e9INNOsnp-Mrs0YFkbmyeFIHxHJ_xz-VhUUVdy7GylP7MjMUYf93tZrYrPeVbPywUbj44_eeBa4AFPcrtI5H8-vc-0twMZFjreiJaMv6l7fyWoM_Ijr853vVm/s400/bundy+militant+scott+willingham.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arrested: anti-government militant Scott Willingham</td></tr>
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<b><u>Trump Names Militant under Indictment for Armed Nevada Standoff as Delegate.</u></b> The race-baiting, neo-fascist <b>Republican Party</b> presidential front-runner <b>Donald Trump</b>’s campaign is apparently not bothered by the arrest on March 3rd (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-update-for-march-1-15-2016.html" target="_blank">reported last month in this blog</a>) of <b>Jerry DeLemus</b>, a co-chair of <b>Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire</b>, for his role in the 2014 armed standoff with federal agents by the militant racist Mormon rancher <b>Cliven Bundy</b> in southern <b>Nevada</b>. The Trump campaign <a href="http://www.insidesources.com/trump-appoints-alleged-bundy-conspirator-as-alternate-convention-delegate/" target="_blank">named DeLemus late in March as an alternate delegate</a> for the upcoming Republican convention. So this week’s decision to <a href="http://www.wmur.com/news/jerry-delemus-to-be-extradited-to-nevada/38665700" target="_blank">extradite him to Nevada for trial</a> will probably not change things either. DeLemus is married to a <b>New Hampshire</b> state legislator, Rep. <b>Susan DeLemus</b>. Federal charges against him include assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice, extortion, and conspiracy against the <b>United States</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Texas Nationalists, Citing FEMA Conspiracy Theories, Preempt Federal Flood Relief.</u></b> Usually, when a town of 1,000 out in the middle of nowhere gets inundated with several feet of water in a massive flood, it’s the occasion for relief when the president declares your community part of a disaster area, qualifying it for relief from the <b>Federal Emergency Management Authority</b> (<b>FEMA</b>). But not in Nederland, <b>Texas</b>, where flooding in late March prompted the <b>Texas Nationalist Movement</b> (<b>T.N.M.</b>), which advocates independence from the <b>United States</b>, to <a href="http://www.panews.com/2016/03/21/hugs-for-the-flood-victims-nederland-woman-helping-her-hometown-of-deweyville/" target="_blank">organize clean-up crews</a>. The idea, acccording to one volunteer relief organizer, <b>Brooklyn Callahan</b> of Deweyville, is that local volunteers “<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.5px;">want to get started before FEMA moves in because it will be harder for them to do so after that</span>.” According to ignorant Tea Party folklore prevalent in the Lone Star State, FEMA does not simply organize disaster relief efforts: it is also a front used by the diabolical United Nations and the Muslim president <b>Barack Obama</b> to build concentration camps to house rounded-up Christian patriots. The T.N.M. in Deweyville is also organizing a silent auction and a benefit concert to raise money.<br />
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<b><u>North Carolina High-School Students Arrested over “White Power” Flag Incident.</u></b> In <b>North Carolina</b>, three high school students <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/16/high-schoolers-criminally-charged-after-confederat/" target="_blank">were charged with “disorderly conduct” for displaying a <b>Confederate</b> flag on the school campus</a> and shouting, “White power!” A spokeswoman for the school district, <b>Brunswick County Schools</b>, confirmed that the students hung the flag on display and that one of them then wore it as a cape. According to accounts accompanying a video of the incident which went viral, first on <b>Facebook</b>, “When another student took it [the flag] down the boy wore it on his back and walked in the cafeteria. He walked back out to the outside eating area and screamed ‘white power’ several times. This same group of students have been seen stepping on chocolate milk cartons saying ‘white power’ repeatedly.”<br />
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<b><u>CARIBBEAN</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Separatist Ex-Premier of Curaçao Appeals Bribery Conviction, Claims Political Persecution.</u></b> A member of parliament and former separatist prime minister in <b>Curaçao</b>, a Dutch territory in the Caribbean, <a href="http://news.sys-con.com/node/3728540" target="_blank">filed an appeal</a> March 15th of <a href="http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/03/11/ex-curacao-pm-gerrit-schotte-guilty-of-bribery-sentenced-to-three-years/" target="_blank">his conviction on bribery charges a week earlier</a> and his three-year prison sentence. <b>Gerrit Schotte</b> was found guilty of accepting money from a casino tycoon in another Dutch Caribbean territory, <b>Sint Maarten</b>, in exchange for legislative help during his 2010-12 term in office. Schotte is head of the pro-independence political party <b>Movement for the Future of Curaçao</b> (called, in the local creole language Papiamentu, <i><b>Movementu Futuro Kòrsou</b>,</i> or <b>M.F.K.</b>). His girlfriend and business partner <b>Cicely van der Dijs</b> was given 18 months. Schotte claims the entire trial was an attempted by the government of the <b>Netherlands</b> to influence the upcoming elections, noting that a condition of his sentence is being barred from running for public office for five years. Schotte’s attorney, <b>E. F. Sulvaran</b>, says “the motivation of the persecution” of his client “is to eliminate him from the political arena.” A parliamentarian for the ruling pro-independence party <b>Pueblo Soberano</b> (<b>P.S.</b>), <b>Elmer Wisloe</b>, said that in his opinion Schotte <a href="http://curacaochronicle.com/politics/ps-schotte-shouldnt-resign-just-stay-away-from-parliament/" target="_blank">does not need to resign</a>, “but he must distance himself ... from parliament.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aXYJlPSSE_72W1A6QNVJ5YGIsTB5-pcQD6RG7RPlLXuqzmvTDgOwJrTioWF7qilqL4w0bpKo89-0wN9LoZcHmz4j8-LPtWWxFRvBk4lP2Fzws-EvtTcHSGbo3NakvpZtvTI-WFebFJKE/s1600/tamil+eelam+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aXYJlPSSE_72W1A6QNVJ5YGIsTB5-pcQD6RG7RPlLXuqzmvTDgOwJrTioWF7qilqL4w0bpKo89-0wN9LoZcHmz4j8-LPtWWxFRvBk4lP2Fzws-EvtTcHSGbo3NakvpZtvTI-WFebFJKE/s200/tamil+eelam+flag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Tamil Eelam Footballers Defeat Roma 4-1, Qualify for 2018 ConIFA Finals.</u></b> A football (soccer) team representing <b>Tamil Eelam</b>, the homeland of <b>Sri Lanka</b>’s <b>Tamil</b> minority, <a href="http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=17459" target="_blank">qualified</a> in March for the 2018 <b>ConIFA</b> World Cup. ConIFA is the <b>Confederation of Independent Football Associations</b>, an international league for aspirant nations and stateless peoples—with a heavy dose of neo-fascist revanchist republics and neo-<b>Soviet</b> puppet states thrown in as well. The <b>Tamil Eelam Football Association</b> (<b>TEFA</b>) made the cut with a 4-to-1 win against the team representing the <b>Roma</b> (<b>Gypsy</b>) people in a match played in <b>Germany</b>. TEFA players hail mostly from the Tamil diaspora in <b>Canada</b>, <b>France</b>, Germany, <b>Italy</b>, and the <b>United Kingdom</b>. (For more on ConIFA, and on the controversy over their decision to allow the <b>Russian</b> puppet state of <b>Abkhazia</b> host their 2016 tournament, see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/09/why-does-abkhazia-get-to-host-2016.html" target="_blank">my recent article from this blog</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHA_uBJfsiNKCeoMVOaYBnbEwJWSRVeEiajJY_GnfL2ogoJHVIeHw4BFV9AaMwQ8s6cqUCQppWQwe-jCIgo0lsEM2318FPM7D1_sTEsobiWwnEABk7Vy5g26uniKp6UJfjc8KanjGqSWa/s1600/Tamil+Eelam+football+team.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHA_uBJfsiNKCeoMVOaYBnbEwJWSRVeEiajJY_GnfL2ogoJHVIeHw4BFV9AaMwQ8s6cqUCQppWQwe-jCIgo0lsEM2318FPM7D1_sTEsobiWwnEABk7Vy5g26uniKp6UJfjc8KanjGqSWa/s1600/Tamil+Eelam+football+team.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ConIFA qualifier: the Tamil and Roma teams display their flags</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read in detail about these and many other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-18469748732813327572016-03-16T12:38:00.001-05:002016-03-16T12:48:12.002-05:00Separatist Update for March 1-15, 2016: Russian Withdrawal May Set Stage for Syrian Partition; Princess of Sealand Dies; Savchenko Defiant; Western Togoland; St. Louis the 51st State?; Liberlandic Ale; Trump & Farrakhan; Balochistan, Biafra Updates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">TOP STORY:</span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">PUTIN SUDDENLY DECLARES DRAW-DOWN FROM SYRIAN CIVIL WAR</span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">AS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OPENLY CONTEMPLATES PARTITION;</span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">KURDS TILTING TOWARD RUSSIAN–ALAWITE AXIS, AWAY FROM WEST,</span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">WHILE TURKISH WAR ON KURDISH MINORITY INTENSIFIES</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <b>Russian Federation</b>, which entered the already complex civil war in <b>Syria</b> last year, announced abruptly on March 14th that it was withdrawing the greater part of its military presence there, stating that its main objectives had been achieved. As I’m writing this, analysts are still trying to make sense of the move. Some think it is a ploy, designed to test international opinion on Russia’s role in the conflict. Others think the draw-down will be not necessarily strategically substantive but instead a way to create a “mission accomplished” moment that can open the door to the important next phase: partitioning Syria, with the dictator <b>Bashar al-Assad</b>’s <b>Alawite</b> (<b>Shiite</b>) maintaining a rump state in the western part of the country, where Russia has its military bases. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(See my recent article from this blog, in which an Alawite State is no. 2 out of </span><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">) </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is still unclear is what role the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kurds</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> play in all this, as Kurdish strategy tilts ever more in the direction of aligning with Russia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even before the Russian announcement, the president of northern <b>Iraq</b>’s self-governing <b>Kurdistan Region</b>, <b>Massoud Barzani</b>, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/030320161" target="_blank">chimed in</a> on March 3rd in support of converting Syria to a federation of different ethnic and sectarian regions—as opposed to what many fellow Kurds in northern Syria prefer, which is a separate state, or something very close to it, called <b>Rojava</b>. “We ask the Kurdish groups in Syria,” a statement from Barzani’s office read, “to have one position and in a united political project demand a federal system in Syria.” Here it is important to note that Syrian and Iraqi Kurds are very far apart politically. Iraqi Kurds are strongly aligned with the <b>United States</b>, the West, <b>Israel</b>, and even to some extent with <b>Turkey</b>, while the Syrian-Kurdish <b>Democratic Union Party</b> (<b>P.Y.D.</b>) is closely linked to the armed <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>) insurgency currently waging war to the north against the Turkish state from within.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (See my recent article from this blog, in which Kurdistan is no. 1 out of </span><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A federal Syria could be divided into Kurdish, Alawite, <b>Sunni Arab</b>, and maybe <b>Christian</b> and <b>Druze</b> statelets, which is roughly the way it was subdivided when it was a colony of <b>France</b> between the world wars. Some kind of partition has become more likely since Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war last year in support of keeping Assad, an uneasy sometime ally of the Kurds, in power. The P.Y.D.’s umbrella group, <b>Tevdem</b>, also supports Syrian federalism. Meanwhile, in <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/09/its-time-to-seriously-consider-partitioning-syria/" target="_blank">an article this month for </a><i><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/09/its-time-to-seriously-consider-partitioning-syria/" target="_blank">Foreign Policy</a>,</i> <b>James Stavridis</b>, a former <b>North Atlantic Treaty Organization</b> (<b>NATO</b>) supreme commander for Europe, echoed hints dropped last month by the U.S. secretary of state, <b>John Kerry</b>, to the effect that a full partition of Syria <i>à la</i> <b>Yugoslavia</b> is probabl</span>y inevitable. Such a break-up, he wrote, “would probably include an Alawite region around Damascus, running to the sea, ruled by the Assad regime or its follow-on leaders. It would also have a central portion that hopefully over time would be run by a moderate Sunni regime, obviously after subduing the <b>Islamic State</b> and various <b>al Qaeda</b> factions. Finally, and most controversially, it might include a Kurdish enclave in the east. Obviously, the approach for a partition could range from a full break-up of the country (much as <b>Yugoslavia</b> broke up after the death of Marshal <b>Josip Tito</b>); to a very federated system like <b>Bosnia</b> after the Dayton Accords; to a weak but somewhat federated model like Iraq.” (Stavridis says “a Kurdish enclave in the east”; more accurately, Kurdish lands are a strip running nearly the whole length of the border with Turkey; clearly, Stavridis doesn’t want them to have a coastal foothold.)<br />
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In the days before the announcement of their draw-down, the Kremlin <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/335384-syria-ceasefire-federalization-partition/" target="_blank">condemned suggestions of a full partition in a forceful statement</a>, but this may be a rhetorical feint on Russia’s part, since Russian strategy on the ground since their entry into the war had been very much to expand Alawite territory at the expense of the <b>Free Syrian Army</b> (<b>F.S.A.</b>) and other moderate rebels supported by the United States and NATO. A separate <b>Alawite State</b> seemed to be what they were laying the groundwork for—and, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">as I pointed out in this blog at the end of last year</a>—this fit neatly into President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s primary interventionist strategy, which is to create quasi-independent, if diplomatically unrecognized, puppet states within otherwise hostile nations. Other examples are <b>Abkhazia</b> and <b>South Ossetia</b> within <b>Georgia</b>, <b>Nagorno-Karabakh</b> within <b>Azerbaijan</b>, <b>Transnistria</b> within <b>Moldova</b>, and the <b>Donetsk</b> and <b>Luhansk</b> “people’s republics” in eastern <b>Ukraine</b>. Could an <b>Alawite Republic</b>—perhaps nestled on the east end of an otherwise Western-aligned Sunni Arab state—be the newest member of this archipelago of Russian satellite statelets?<br />
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An Alawite State would serve another geopolitical function as well: it would preserve the arc of Shiite-dominated territories aligned with Russia stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean: <b>Iran</b>, Iraq (a majority-Shiite country which, after the U.S.’s removal of the Sunni Arab dictator <b>Saddam Hussein</b> in 2003, became (aside from its Kurdish north) Shiite-ruled—and has increasingly become allied with Russia’s ally Iran), Syria, and the <b>Hezbollah</b>-ruled parts of <b>Lebanon</b>. With a swath of land like that, Putin and Iran together could exert so much control over the energy that reaches Europe that they would be able to dictate political terms to the West—and, not incidentally, to Turkey and <b>Saudi Arabia</b> as well.<br />
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But there’s one problem with that arc of land: Shiite-ruled Iraq and the Alawite part of Syria are, for the moment at least, separated by parts of Syria ruled by not only Rojava Kurds but by the radical-Sunni-Arab <b>Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham</b> (<b>ISIS</b>), a.k.a. the <b>Islamic State</b> (which also includes adjacent areas of Iraq). Thus, over the past few weeks, Russia has been working more and more closely with Kurds in fighting ISIS. (Just this month, <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Peshmerga (Iraqi Kurdish military) sources reported that they had battled ISIS forces just west of Mosul, Iraq, on March 3rd, with coalition air support, and <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/040320161" target="_blank">killed more than 100 militants</a>. A Peshmerga commander, <b>Majid Sindi</b>, said the battle prevented I.S. from capturing “the territories of Talafar, Kaske and the Mosul dam.” Forces from the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga in league with <b>Nineveh</b> province’s <b>Shingal Protection Units</b> (<b>Y.B.S.) </b><a href="http://aranews.net/2016/03/kurdish-forces-free-31-yezidi-abductees-isis/" target="_blank">stormed an Islamic State prison camp</a> near the Syrian-Iraqi border on March 4th and freed 31 Yezidis that had been captured more than a year ago.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Just south of Kirkuk, on March 12th, Peshmerga forces </span><a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/12032016" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">managed to foil an ISIS suicide attack</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, according to a Peshmerga commander. Six suicide bombers died in the attempt.)</span><br />
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Partly, this new pro-Kurdish strategy of Russia’s is because Moscow has already succeeded in consolidating Assad’s control of western Syria, including its whole coast. And partly it is a way of creating fresh memories of Russia battling ISIS at the end of its involvement in Syria, hoping the international community will forget that 80% of its resources were committed to fighting moderate Sunnis on behalf of Assad. (There are few strategic areas where Assad-held territory abuts ISIS-held territory; mostly, it is Kurds on the front lines against ISIS.) But partly Russia’s new relationship with the Kurds can be laid to a Russian desire to take advantage of the fact that Syrian Kurds are isolated and shunned by Turkey, by the Iraqi Kurds, and by the West. The Kurdish survival strategy has always been: take any ally you can. And it is notable that in the long Syrian civil war Kurds and Alawites have rarely fought each other directly. Kurds were first able to consolidate control over Rojava because Assad, back in 2012 and 2013, was withdrawing from the Kurdish areas in the north and allowing Kurds to set up their statelet; this provided Assad with a buffer zone between himself and his enemy Turkey, and it enabled him to buy some loyalty from the Kurds that could be used later in a battle for survival against Syria’s Sunni Arab majority. (Kurds are not Arabs. They are mostly moderate Sunni Muslims, but some are Shiites, especially in Turkey and Iran—not so much in Syria and Iraq.)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Assad’s foreign minister even on March 12th <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/13032016" target="_blank">lauded the vigilance of the country’s Kurdish population in combatting “the common threat”</a> of ISIS</span>. “Kurds are citizens of Syria,” said the minister, <b>Walid Muaalim </b>(conveniently forgetting that, until the Arab Spring, Assad had denied them citizenship rights), “and we are in the same ditch together against ISIS as we try to rebuild the country.” There are also signs of this new realignment in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Russian ambassador met with Barzani on March 13th, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/140320161" target="_blank">with offers of military aid to the Peshmerga</a> in the fight against ISIS. In another indication of this dynamic, Barzani’s <b>Kurdistan Regional Government </b>(<b>K.R.G.</b>) recently <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160314/1036238434/turkey-kurds-operation-genocide.html" target="_blank">described the actions</a> of Turkey’s military to the north in its civil war as “genocide” against Kurds—a shift toward Russian-style Turcophobic talking-points and away from a years-long, but recently fraying, <i>détente</i> between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey (mostly over shared energy interests). That <i>détente</i> notable began unraveling as the Kurdish cease-fire within Turkey broke down in July 2015.<br />
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So: could Putin be contemplating a pro-Kremlin Syrian Kurdish puppet state as well? It would have some logic to it: during the Cold War, the P.K.K. was explicitly Communist (it isn’t so much anymore) and backed by the <b>Soviet Union</b>—in order to undermine both Turkey, a NATO member, and Iran, which during most of the Cold War was, under the Shahs, aligned with the West. This would create a painful and possibly explosive situation of two independent or autonomous Kurdistans side by side on different sides of the deepest modern geopolitical division, between Russia and the West.<br />
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The emergence of a strongly pro-Russian Kurdish entity within Syria would have two devastating effects on Kurdish aspirations elsewhere. First, it could seriously, or even permanently, delay Iraqi Kurdistan’s aspirations for independence—especially if Russia continues to cajole, bribe, and bully Barzani toward the pro-Kremlin camp (see above). Secondly, a stable, pro-Russian Rojava statelet would make Turkey even more paranoid about its own Kurds and would provide the pretext for a renewed assault on the Kurdish population. Sadly, this would be something the West would not complain about very much on human-rights grounds: just this month, Turkey signed an important protocol with the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), promising to restrict the flow of refugees from the Syrian (and <b>Libyan</b> and <b>Yemeni</b>) through its territory toward Europe, in exchange for a host of political favors from the E.U.—explicitly including putting Turkey back in the queue for E.U. membership (don’t worry; they’ll never qualify; this is mainly a trophy that President <b>Recep Tayyip Erdoğan</b> can display for internal political purposes), and implicitly including the E.U. and NATO turning a blind eye to Turkish human-rights violations, which are nearly as bad as Syria’s, to be honest.<br />
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In fact, since the refugee crisis has made Turkey so politically valuable to the survival of E.U. governments, individually and collectively, it is even possible that Turkey could point to, or manufacture, some sort of cross-border provocation by Syrian Kurds to invoke the NATO charter’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one member-state is an attack on all (last invoked following September 11, 2001). That could create a full-blown regional war with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and NATO on one side and Russia, Iran, Rojava, Alawite Syria, and Shiite Iraq on the other—and ISIS taking advantage of everyone else’s distraction to re-expand.<br />
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But these are all speculations. For now, we can be distressed enough that in the perhaps inevitable process of partitioning Syria, Vladimir Putin will have a seat at the table. In addition to a pro-Russian Alawite rump state right on the Mediterranean, with permanent Russian naval and air bases—a geopolitical prize that centuries of Czars could only have dreamt of—we may also see the emergence of a Kurdish nation seduced by the Kremlin and divided against itself.<br />
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<b><u>OTHER UPDATES FROM SYRIA</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">ISIS’s Notorious “Omar the Chechen” Dies from Injuries in U.S. Airstrike.</u> The <b>Syrian Observatory for Human Rights</b> (<b>S.O.H.R.</b>) reported on March 15th that </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">one of </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Syria</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s top </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Islamic State</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (a.k.a. </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">ISIS</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">) commanders, known as “</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Omar the Chechen</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">,” <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/03/15/senior-chechen-isis-leader-killed/#S46KU3wX2qqn" target="_blank">had died from injuries</a> sustained in a <b>United States</b> airstrike on March 4th. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The strike, which <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-leader-omar-chechen-believed-dead-airstrike-u-s-defense-n534366" target="_blank">was on </a></span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-leader-omar-chechen-believed-dead-airstrike-u-s-defense-n534366" target="_blank">a training camp near Shaddadi</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, Syria, was targeting the commander, whose real name was <b>Omar al-Shishani</b>. Initially, on March 10th, the S.O.H.R. <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/isis-ginger-general-omar-chechen-still-alive-after-air-strike-435385" target="_blank">said</a></span><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/isis-ginger-general-omar-chechen-still-alive-after-air-strike-435385" target="_blank"> that Omar had survived the attack</a> and been transferred to nearby Raqqa<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the </span><i style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">de facto </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">capital</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of ISIS-occupied Syria, for medical treatment. In an update on the 13th, the S.O.H.R. </span><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/group-commander-shishani-clinically-dead-monitor-151614032.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">said Omar was “not able to breathe on his own and is using machines</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. He has been clinically dead for several days.” Shishani</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> was born in the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Republic of Georgia</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s Pankisi Gorge region as an ethnic </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kist</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Chechen</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">) with the name </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, and had served as ISIS minister of war—a recognizable figure because of his distinctive red beard.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omar the Chechen—presumably enjoying his 72 virgins in Paradise right now</td></tr>
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<b><u>OTHER UPDATES FROM IRAQI KURDISTAN</u></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBa-lj0Ilb1e5RXThU2FDsoUNTA1cA5W-4u0LYxuaoihk8VIUqoUUFXnvIe9OC8UD9Br9jZC3OqCcorrPebhx1iQf8WorkqL04zbw3rUddl1sT3Y75jjrLDCiuJbl6XjcV5nrpVdQU5zE6/s1600/*Kurdish%2BNational%2Bflag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBa-lj0Ilb1e5RXThU2FDsoUNTA1cA5W-4u0LYxuaoihk8VIUqoUUFXnvIe9OC8UD9Br9jZC3OqCcorrPebhx1iQf8WorkqL04zbw3rUddl1sT3Y75jjrLDCiuJbl6XjcV5nrpVdQU5zE6/s200/*Kurdish%2BNational%2Bflag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><u>Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Openly Backs Independence for Iraqi Kurdistan.</u></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Israeli ambassador to the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">United States</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://me-confidential.com/12056-iraq-israel-supports-kurdish-independence-struggle-israeli-envoy.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">came out strongly in favor of independence</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Iraq</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s northern <b>Kurdistan</b></span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> Region</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, according to comments by him leaked to the media on March 4th. The ambassador, </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Ron Dermer</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, compared the Kurdish independence struggle to </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Israel</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s, saying, “Israel is backing the Kurds in their struggle for independence and praising their efforst in the war against <b>ISIS</b></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. ... We feel there are strong relations between </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Jews</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and Kurds and between Israel and Kurdistan.”</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2quvSfXVJCWyRUb59k2R2RwqBPOfC8gQrgRDewpkRKvuGzXHez8b7DoymtC_63Ot1x-5NmjYJ0mscC_uwC7tIJC0aApjJHEDw2lEEfGYRQS0u-dgfp54bsJbzhpJxDTD2_5IfRR_TRqa/s1600/Tu%25CC%2588rkmeneli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2quvSfXVJCWyRUb59k2R2RwqBPOfC8gQrgRDewpkRKvuGzXHez8b7DoymtC_63Ot1x-5NmjYJ0mscC_uwC7tIJC0aApjJHEDw2lEEfGYRQS0u-dgfp54bsJbzhpJxDTD2_5IfRR_TRqa/s200/Tu%25CC%2588rkmeneli.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Iraqi Turkmens Return to the Center of Battle, with Chemical Weapons in Play.</u></b> On March 5th, security forces from northern <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> (<b>K.R.G.</b>) <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/050320165" target="_blank">moved into Tuz Khurmato</a>, a mixed-population town in historical Kurdistan which lies outside the official <b>Kurdistan Region</b>, to try to quell conflict between Kurds and a <b>Shiite Arab</b> militia called <b>Hashd al-Shaabi</b>. The town, in <b>Saladin</b> province, has often been suggested as the center of an autonomous region for Iraq’s <b>Turkmen</b> minority, who are mostly Shiite but are not Arabs. The Iraqi central government said this month that official investigators <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/130320161" target="_blank">had found evidence of mustard gas</a>, a banned chemical, having been used by the <b>Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham</b> (<b>ISIS</b>, a.k.a. <b>Islamic State</b>) in Taza, a town in <b>Kirkuk</b> province dominated by Turkmens. A reported 600 civilians have been wounded in the associated attacks in Taza recently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Vatican Envoy Asks Barzani to Focus Peshmerga on Liberating Christian Villages.</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> The</span><b style="text-decoration: underline;"> Kurdistan</b> <b>Region</b>’s president, <b>Massoud Barzani</b>, <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5699" target="_blank">met with</a> <b>Vatican City</b>’s ambassador to <b>Iraq</b> in Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, on March 5th, and vowed to liberate all Kurdish areas currently under the control of the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>). The ambassador, <b>Alberto Ortega Martín</b>, made a special appeal for the Kurdish military, the Peshmerga, to liberate <b>Christian</b> villages under ISIS control—many of which are in areas defined as Kurdistan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Advocates for Iraq Assyrian Paramilitaries Register to Lobby in Washington.</u></b> An <b>Illinois</b>-based diaspora advocacy group for <b>Assyrians</b> from <b>Iraq</b> <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/272102-new-iraqi-militia-registers-to-lobby" target="_blank">has registered as an official lobbying organization</a> in Washington, D.C. The organization, called the <b>Nineveh Plain Defense Fund</b>, represents the <b>Assyrian Democratic Movement</b> political party and the paramilitary <b>Nineveh Plain Protection Units</b>. The Nineveh Plain, in Iraq’s <b>Nineveh</b> province, has often been cited as a spot for a likely eventual Assyrian autonomous region within Iraq—or within an independent <b>Kurdistan</b>, depending on where its border</span>s end up being drawn. The purpose of the group is to support “policies that would provide financial, logistical, humanitarian, and economic development support directly to the indigenous ethnoreligious minorities of the Nineveh Plains of Iraq and their non-governmental organizations.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkp0gFY7wjNRNsp7oFinEMV1okSp6LbUSzy97rBB__r1RYcBJyYAlpWQOuj69mcvU8nlq1Bw5Ter77vpopMZZUqd9qLvctVFQT3gXWGsYhKPXvwLN1iMftloXODXEA3KfJMZrc02-u_e3/s1600/nineveh+plain+protection+unit.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkp0gFY7wjNRNsp7oFinEMV1okSp6LbUSzy97rBB__r1RYcBJyYAlpWQOuj69mcvU8nlq1Bw5Ter77vpopMZZUqd9qLvctVFQT3gXWGsYhKPXvwLN1iMftloXODXEA3KfJMZrc02-u_e3/s400/nineveh+plain+protection+unit.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nineveh Plain Protection Units: now they have a voice on K Street</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><u>British Judge Refuses to Extradite Kurdish Jihadists to Italy for Terrorism Trial.</u></b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> In London, a judge </span><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3477093/Three-Kurdish-terror-suspects-not-extradited-Britain-mistreated-Italian-jail.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">rejected a request</a><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> from </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Italy</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> to extradite three </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kurdish</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> terrorism suspects on the grounds that they could be mistreated in Italian jails. The three men, all in their thirties, were arrested in November 2015 in a crackdown on </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Rawti-Shax</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">, a Kurdish jihadist group which, according to Italian authorities, planned to ally themselves with the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Islamic State</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> terrorist group, overthrow northern </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Iraq</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">’s </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kurdistan Regional Government</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> (</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">K.R.G.</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">), and rule the territory as an Islamic caliphate. The group was led, from a prison in </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Norway</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">, by </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Mullah Krekar</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">. The three men are to remain for the time being in the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">United Kingdom</b><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<b><u>OTHER UPDATES FROM TURKISH KURDISTAN</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Hundreds Die in Turkey’s Kurdish Civil War amid 3rd Car-Bombing in Ankara.</u></b> Fighting continued between <b>Turkey</b>’s military and the southeastern <b>Kurdish</b> minority this month, with the third car-bomb in five months <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2016/0313/Car-bomb-in-Turkish-capital-kills-dozens" target="_blank">killing at least 37 people in Ankara</a>, the Turkish capital, on March 13th, an attack Turkey blames on the banned militant <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>). The car-bomb <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/death-toll-ankara-bombing-raises-37-37625256" target="_blank">was adjacent to a city park and crowded bus stops</a>, indicating it was not an act of the mainstream P.K.K., which mainly focuses on military and police targets. Eleven suspects have been arrested, according to the Turkish government, which <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/14/world/ankara-blast/index.html" target="_blank">also named the female suicide bomber who supposedly carried out the mission</a>. Despite the ambiguities, Ankara used the attack as a pretext for renewed bombing raids on P.K.K. positions over the border in northern <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Region</b> the next day and for <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/turkey-prepares-controversial-military-siege-of-two-kurdish-cities/a-19114114" target="_blank">imposing 24-hour curfews on two Kurdish border towns</a>—Yuksekova, near <b>Iran</b>’s border, and Nusaybin, near <b>Syria</b>’s—in apparent preparation for a full assault. (</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Already, on March 12th, the Turkish government had </span><a href="http://aina.org/news/20160312140752.htm" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">said it had bombarded P.K.K. positions in northern Iraq over previous days</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, killing 67 rebels.)</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> In other developments in the civil war, the Turkish military <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/national_5-pkk-terrorists-killed-3-soldiers-wounded-in-se_413741.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on March 1st that five P.K.K. fighters had been killed the previous day in battles in <b>Şırnak</b> province’s İdil district and the Sur district of <b>Diyarbakır</b>. Three Turkish officers were injured in the İdil fighting. On March 2nd, the curfew in Cizre, in Şırnak, was formally revoked for daylight hours but remained in force during nights. Residents <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/residents-return-to-turkish-town-of-cizre-find-it-destroyed-1.2188162" target="_blank">returned to find the city virtually demolished</a>. In Istanbul on March 3rd, two females <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.in/istanbul-2-female-militants-killed-attack-police-station-669239" target="_blank">arrived by taxi to attack a police station with grenades and firearms</a>. Police pursued the retreating women, surrounded them inside a building, and killed them. Two police were injured in the incident. No group claimed responsibility. Russian and Kurdish media reported on March 3rd that P.K.K. fighters <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/334377-turkish-helicopter-downed-kurdistan/" target="_blank">had shot down a Turkish military helicopter</a> over Iraqi Kurdistan during a Turkish bombing sortie. A car bomb at a police station in Nusaybin, in southeast Turkey’s <b>Mardin</b> province, <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/03/04/453715/Turkey-bomb-attack-Nusaybin-PKK" target="_blank">killed two police officers and wounded 35 people</a> on March 4th. Turkey blamed the P.K.K. for that bombing. On March 7th, the Turkish military <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/clashes-in-turkey-s-mainl/2581164.html" target="_blank">said 13 P.K.K. fighters had been killed over the course of a two-day-long firefight</a> during a firefight in </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">İdil. One Turkish soldier was killed in </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">İdil and another in Sur, where <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160307/1035920067/turkey-pkk-clashes-staff.html" target="_blank">10 P.K.K. fighters also died</a>. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A spokesman for the </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kurdish People’s Democratic Party</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160305/1035821644/kurds-killed-turkish-forces.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">said that Turkish forces had killed 137 Kurds</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in Cizre during the first week of March. On March 10th, <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/turkey-seven-kurdish-militants-killed-southeast-815646" target="_blank">seven P.K.K. militants were reported killed</a> in </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sur during clashes with the military.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kurds returning after the lifting of a curfew to find their homes destroyed</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><u>UPDATES FROM IRANIAN KURDISTAN</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Shiite Mob Vandalizes Yarsan Holy Site in Iranian Kurdistan.</u></b> A holy site of the <b>Yarsani</b> (a.k.a. <b>Ahl-e-Haqq</b>) religious minority in <b>Iran</b>’s <b>Kurdish</b>-dominated Kermanshah province <a href="http://unpo.org/article/18991" target="_blank">was attacked by a mob</a> on March 6th, after the government denied a Yarsani group a permit for a peaceful protest. The attackers were over 100 Iranians claiming to be followers of <b>Ali Khamenei</b>, Iran’s supreme ruler, and they proceeded to vandalize the temple, which is in the town of Shah Abad. There are over 1 million followers of Yarsanism in Iran, most of them Kurds, but the <b>Shiite</b> theocracy has labeled them a “false cult.” There are also Yarsanis in <b>Iraq</b> and <b>Turkey</b>. The Shah Abad attack was condemned by leaders of the Kurdish minority, who are more numerous in Kermanshah and who accuse the government of being behind the violence.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">EUROPE</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">New “RISE” Coalition’s Harder Line on Independence Challenges Scottish National Party.</u> A new far-left political party in <b>Scotland</b> has <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14324332.RISE_makes_second_referendum_its_first_Holyrood_priority/" target="_blank">vowed to make a second independence referendum its priority</a>. The coalition—called the <b>RISE–Scotland’s Left Alliance</b> (<i>RISE</i> stands for “<b>Respect, Independence, Socialism, and Environmentalism</b>”)—was formed this year and is designed to break the grip of Scotland’s ruling <b>Scottish National Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cat Boyd (shown here with raised fist and Cuban flag) ...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It wants to assert Scotland’s right to call another binding referendum without the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s permission. (The narrowly defeated 2014 independence plebiscite was held with the U.K.’s permission.) The S.N.P. has recently avoided, in its platform, committing to a referendum date any earlier than 2021. As RISE puts it, “The independence movement must again wield the political party to force Westminster to surrender its legal authority to the Scottish Parliament.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... is the young, hip, edgy face of the RISE–Scotland’s Left Alliance.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">As June Vote Nears, Isle of Man Mulls Scenarios for Staying in E.U. Post-“Brexit.”</u> The government of the <b>Isle of Man</b>, a fully self-governing Crown Dependency of the <b>United Kingdom</b> which uses <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b> as its head of state (the British crown conferring with it the title Lord of Mann), <a href="http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/isle-of-man-government-draws-up-enforced-eu-manxit-strategy-1-7769791" target="_blank">is trying to come to grips with its own stake in the referendum</a> scheduled for this June on whether the U.K. will leave the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>). The Manx chief minister, <b>Allan Bell</b>, addressed the House of Keys, the lower house of the Manx <i>Tynwald,</i> or parliament, this month, pointing out some fine wrinkles that could complicate the status of Man in case of “Brexit.” An E.U. statute called Protocol 3 defines Manx membership in the <b>E.U. Customs Union</b>, along with six other non-E.U. states: the British Crown Dependencies of <b>Jersey</b> and <b>Guernsey</b>, <b>Turkey</b>, <b>Andorra</b>, <b>Monaco</b>, and <b>San Marino</b>. These states enjoy free trade but not other benefits like the right to relocate and work. If the U.K. withdrew from the E.U., Man would have to renegotiate its membership in the Customs Union. <b>Kate Beecroft</b>, who heads Man’s pro-autonomy <b>Liberal Vannin Party</b>, raised the question of whether Manx should hold their own referendum on whether to seek separate membership in the E.U.—which might or might not involve seceding from the U.K. Bell refused to countenance the question, emphasizing that Man would try to be part of any post-Brexit attempts to negotiate free-trade unions with the E.U., but he also admitted that no one quite knew what a Brexit would mean for the island.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Joan, Dowager Princess of Sealand, Dies in England at Age 86.</u></b> Mrs. <b>Joan Bates</b>, who was known within her minuscule <b>Principality of Sealand</b> and around the world as Her Royal Highness <b>Princess Joan</b>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3493073/The-Princess-Sealand-kingdom-North-Sea-platform-dies-aged-86.html" target="_blank">died this month at a nursing home in Leigh-on-Sea</a>se, Essex, <b>England</b>, at the age of 86. Technically, she was dowager princess, her husband, <b>Roy Bates</b>, a.k.a. <b>Prince Roy</b>, having died in 2012 at the age of 91. Sealand began as the <i>H. M. Fort Roughs,</i> an abandoned Second World War floating pontoon fort in the North Sea off the coast of Essex, which became a pirate radio station in the 1960s. Being a built structure, it does not qualify under international law as territory, and thus cannot be a state, but after British Marines intervened in a power struggle at the small pirate radio station in 1967, a <b>United Kingdom</b> court declared that it was outside of territorial waters and therefore not in U.K. jurisdiction. This gave the Bateses the idea of declaring it a principality, on September 2, 1967, Joan’s birthday, and on that day they became prince and princess.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1987, the U.K. extended its marine boundary to 10, rather than three, miles from shore, so Sealand now <i>is</i> in British waters, but the U.K. government has left it alone. Sealand issues postage stamps and currency and hosts computer servers, and its thousands of citizens, some with purchased titles of nobility, live around the world, but none of them actually <i>on</i> Sealand. Sealand has no diplomatic recognition, except from other “micronations”—a concept that Roy and Joan Bates can take most of the credit for introducing to the 20th century. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The current reigning prince is Roy and Joan’s son <b>Prince Michael</b>, </span>age 63, who remembered the late dowager princess this way: “My mother was a natural beauty who devoted her life to her husband. A former carnival queen and model, Joan led quite a high profile life alongside my father. She became engulfed by the offshore pirate radio phenomena, helping to establish <b>Radio Essex</b>. She did a lot for charity throughout her life, particularly the <b>R.N.L.I.</b> [<b>Royal National Lifeboat Institution</b>]. ... My mother was a stunning woman.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The face that launched a thousand micronations</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Basque Prisoner Arnaldo Otegi Released to Cheering Crowds, Vows Independence.</u></b> A <b>Basque</b> independence advocate <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/basque-separatist-leader-released-spanish-jail-101820283.html" target="_blank">greeted 200 joyous well-wishers upon his release from a Spanish prison</a> in Logroño, in northern <b>Spain</b>, on March 1st after serving a six-year sentence. The separatist, 57-year-old <b>Arnaldo Otegi</b>, had been convicted of trying to restart the banned political party <b>Batasuna</b>, considered the political wing of the separatist militia <b>Basque Homeland and Freedom</b> (<i><b>Euskadi Ta Askatasuna</b>,</i> or <b>ETA</b>). At his release, he spoke of his commitment to non-violence, while crowds chanted, “Independence! Independence!” “Some say there are no political prisoners in the Spanish state,” he said, “but there would not be so many media here today if it wasn’t for the fact that today a political prisoner left a Spanish jail. Peace is the path to follow and it is what I propose to do with you.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Four days after his release, he <a href="http://spanishnewstoday.com/basque-separatist-leader-welcomed-as-a-hero-at-san-sebastian-rally_67869-a.html?subject=&category=" target="_blank">electrified a crowd of over 10,000 at the velodrome in San Sebastián</a>, telling them that the Basque Country would become independent from Spain and that Catalonia was leading the way. In 2013, while in prison, Otegi was made secretary general of the legal, mainstream pro-independence party <b>Sortu</b>, and he says he intends to lead the <b>Basque Country</b> eventually, though the terms of his conviction <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spain-pro-independence-basque-leader-released-jail-37301727" target="_blank">ban him from public office until 2021</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>French Activists Petition to Rename Amalgamated Administrative Region “Occitania.”</u></b> So far over 14,000 <a href="https://www.change.org/p/caroledelga-changez-le-nom-de-votre-r%C3%A9gion-d%C3%AEtes-oui-%C3%A0-l-occitanie" target="_blank">have signed a petition</a> to attach the name <i><b>Occitanie</b></i> (<b>Occitania</b>) to a new <i>région</i> (administrative region) of <b>France</b> that came into being on January 1st of this year along with the reorganization of several of France’s <i>région </i>names and boundaries. For the moment, the <i>région, </i>which resulted from the merger of <b>Languedoc-Rousillon</b> and <b>Midi-Pyrénées</b>, is being provisionally referred </span>to as <b>Languedoc-Roussillon–Midi-Pyrénées</b>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Italian Court Strikes Down Lombard “Anti-Mosque” Law Backed by Lega Nord.</u></b> A constitutional court in <b>Italy</b> <a href="http://evangelicalfocus.com/cities/1436/Lombardia_law_to_restrict_worship_places_stopped_by_Italian_Constitutional_Court_" target="_blank">has struck down, with near unanimity, a regional law</a> backed by the separatist <b>Northern League</b> (<b><i>Lega Nord</i></b>) that has been called an “anti-mosque” law. The legislation, in <b>Lombardy</b>, a northwestern region that is a stronghold of Lega Nord’s anti-southern chauvinism and xenophobia, would have put onerous restrictions on construction of new places of worship. The idea was that in Italy, a country where the indigenous devout worship in buildings often many centuries old, only expanding—i.e., mostly immigrant—religions like Islam would be affected. But the <b>Italian Evangelical Alliance</b> (<b>A.E.I.</b>) also praised the high court’s decision because it would have created hardship for them as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Son of Northern League Founder Gets 18 Months for Embezzling from Party.</u></b> One of the sons of <b>Umberto Bossi</b>, founder of the right-wing extremist separatist <b>Northern League</b> (<i><b>Lega Nord</b></i>) party in <b>Italy</b>, <a href="http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/son-of-founder-of-italys-far-right-party-convicted-of-embezzlement_443837.html" target="_blank">was found guilty</a> on March 14th of embezzling party funds for personal purposes and given a suspended 18-month prison term. <b>Riccardo Bossi</b>, who is 36, embezzled about</span> €1<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">58,000, according to the charges. His attorney, <b>Francesco Maiello</b>, called the sentence “really too harsh” and promised an appeal. (Riccardo is a brother to <b>Renzo Bossi</b>, who was profiled in an article on this blog listing <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/04/worlds-21-sexiest-separatists.html" target="_blank">“The World’s 21 Sexiest Separatists.”</a>)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riccardo Bossi. Funny, he looks so upstanding.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Hungary to Place Austro-Hungarian Imperial Successor’s Bequest in Buda Castle.</u></b> The bequest of the late titular emperor of <b>Austria</b>, <b>Archduke</b> <b>Otto von Habsburg</b>, <a href="http://hungarytoday.hu/news/crown-prince-otto-von-habsburgs-bequest-stored-buda-castle-51857" target="_blank">will be placed in Buda Castle, in Budapest</a>, <b>Hungary</b>, according to an announcement this month by the Hungarian government. Archduke Otto, who died in 2011 at the age of 98, was the son of <b>Emperor</b> <b>Karl I</b>, last regnant sovereign of the <b>Austro-Hungarian Empire</b>, who “renounced participation” in affairs of state when the <b>League of Nations</b> dissolved the Empire in 1919 after its defeat in the First World War but never formally abdicated. It was not until 1921 that the <b>Republic of Hungary</b> formally dissolved Karl’s subsidiary title of King of Hungary, but he still claimed that crown. Later, he became a leading advocate for European union.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Archduke Otto von Habsburg in happier, regnant times</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Neo-Fascists Surge in Slovak Vote, Riding on Hatred of Roma, Immigrants, Hungarians.</u></b> Neo-fascist parties <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/world/europe/ruling-party-in-slovakia-loses-majority-in-elections.html" target="_blank">took one-fifth</a> of the <b>Slovak Republic</b>’s votes in parliamentary elections on March 5th, thanks in part to the ongoing European refugee crisis and a continent-wide xenophobic backlash. Prime Minister <b>Robert Fico</b>’s ruling <b>Direction–Social De</b></span><b>mocracy</b> (<i><b>Smer–sociálna demokracia</b>,</i> or <b>SME</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>R–S.D.</b>) party clung to power, but barely, its share of seats in the National Council dropping from ju</span>st over 55% to just under a third as it took in only 28% of the vote. Two right-wing extremist parties, the <b>Slovak National Party</b> (<i><b>Slovenská národná strana</b>,</i> or <b>S.N.S.</b>) and <b>Kotleba–People’s Party–Our Slovakia</b> (<i><b>Kotleba–Ľudová strana–Naše Slovensko</b>,</i> or <b>Ľ.S.N.S.</b>), went from zero to 15 and 14 seats, respectively, and <a href="http://www.nationalia.info/new/10732/far-right-wins-seats-in-slovak-national-council-hungarian-minority-parties-lose-ground" target="_blank">are now the fourth- and fifth-largest parties</a>. Both parties are known for their loud bigotry toward the ethnic-<b>Hungarian</b> and <b>Roma</b> (<b>Gypsy</b>) minorities, which are 8.5% and 2% of the country, respectively, and both are openly nostalgic for the <b>First Slovak Republic</b>, the <b>Axis</b> puppet state that <b>Adolf Hitler</b> established in Slovakia in the 1930s and ’40s. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marian Kotleba of People’s Party–Our Slovakia</td></tr>
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The official platform of the Ľ.S.N.S., the more odious of the two newly rising parties, refers to Roma as “parasites” and calls for a Slovak exit from the <b>Euro Zone</b> and the <b>North Atlantic Treaty Organization</b> (<b>NATO</b>)—which, echoing <b>Russia</b>’s president, <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, it calls “terroristic.” Ľ.S.N.S. also calls the <b>Nazi</b>-era Slovak president <b>Jozef Tiso</b>, a Roman Catholic priest who oversaw the deportation of <b>Slovak Jews</b> to Hitler’s death camps, “a national hero.” <b>Marian Kotleba</b>, the party’s founder, can often be seen wearing a black uniform with the Slovak flag’s cross-like insignia on his arm. and marching with similarly dressed party goons carrying torches. Nor can those promoting tolerance take solace in SMER–S.D.’s first-place showing. Prime Minister Fico himself has railed against minorities, who he says have “hijacked” a country that should be “for Slovakians.” There is talk now that he may begin his coalition-building by joining with the S.N.S. <b>Most–Híd</b>, a party advocating for more autonomy for ethnic-Hungarian communities, lost two seats but still has 11.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slovak fascists on parade</td></tr>
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<b><u>Transylvanian Magyars Submit Linguistic-Rights Petition During Freedom March.</u></b> Tens of thousands of <b>Szeklers</b>—ethnic <b>Magyars</b> (<b>Hungarians</b>) whose homeland is western <b>Romania</b>’s <b>Transylvania</b> region—<a href="http://hungarytoday.hu/news/ten-thousands-demonstrated-szekely-autonomy-39575" target="_blank">marched and rallied</a> on March 10th in Marosvásárhely (called Târgu-Mureș in Romanian) to demand autonomy for what they call <b>Székely Land</b>. Speakers included <b>László Tőkés</b>, chairman of the <b>Szekler National Council</b>, who is also a member of the <b>European Parliament</b>. It submitted a formal petition charging the Romanian government with not living up to its obligations toward minorities as a signatory to the <b>Council of Europe</b>’s Charter of Minorities and Regional Spoken Languages. The rally was held on the “Day of Székely Freedom,” marking the execution of Magyar alleged conspirators in 1854. There was also <a href="http://hungarytoday.hu/news/demonstration-autonomy-szekely-land-washington-d-c-12801" target="_blank">a smaller Szekler demonstration, of about 30 people</a>, in front of the White House in Washington, D.C.<br />
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<b><u>Liberland Registers Its First Business—a Czech Brewery—but Citizenships Still on Hold.</u></b> The <b>Free Republic of Liberland</b>, a micronation on the Serbian–Croatian border, <a href="http://www.praguepost.com/economy/52223-liberland-attracts-ale-maker-as-first-registered-business" target="_blank">announced this month that it has registered its first business</a>: a brewery. Liberland was inaugurated by a Czech libertarian politician named <b>Vít Jedlička</b> last April on a disputed plot of land along the Danube River on the border between <b>Serbia</b> and <b>Croatia</b>. But so far Croatian and Serbian authorities have prevented President Jedlička and his cabinet—to say nothing of the tens of thousands who have applied for citizenship—from doing more on the seven square miles of territory than stage a few quick flag-raisings and other photo-ops. The country’s first registered business is <b>Liberal Ale</b>, which brews its Czech-style 13.6-degree ale in Český Brod, in the <b>Czech Republic</b>. Liberal Ale—whose slogan is “Taste True Freedom”—has agreed to pay the voluntary tax Liberland asks but does not require, according to the Liberlandic finance minister, <b>Jan Purkrábek</b>. (Note to American readers: in Europe, the English word <i>liberal</i> is as likely to refer to classical liberalism—roughly equivalent to libertarianism—as it is to economic leftism or social democracy, which is the most common American use of the term.) About one-third of Liberland’s citizenship applications are from nationals of the Middle East—provoking accusations that it exploits Middle Eastern refugees flooding the Balkan region by convincing them Liberland is a real country and bilking them for the steep application fees. The minister of the interior, <b>Ondřej Příhonský</b>, says that no citizenships will be granted until the territory is secured—which, of course, will never happen. Now at least, while they wait for their paperwork to be processed, the refugees will be able to “taste freedom” by getting drunk on Liberty Ale.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Šešelj Vows to Defy Extradition to Hague for War-Crimes Verdict.</u></b> The <b>Serb</b>-nationalist war criminal <b>Voj</b></span><b>islav Šešelj</b> said in a news conference in <b>Serbia</b>’s capital on March 3rd that he <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/vojislav-seselj-hague-extradition-process-03-03-2016" target="_blank">would use “passive resistance” against any attempt to extradite him</a> to the <b>Netherlands</b> for a verdict from the <b>International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia</b>, scheduled for March 31st. “They’ll have to carry me to the airport,” said Šešelj, a former deputy prime minister and founder of the <b>Serb Radical Party</b>; “I will not fight with the police, and if the police beat me I’ll find a way to let you know.” On March 10th, the day that Šešelj staged a demonstration on the steps of a justice-ministry building in Belgrade in which he burned <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) and <b>North Atlantic Treaty Organization</b> (<b>NATO</b>) flags (see photos below), an extradition hearing in his case <a href="http://inserbia.info/today/2016/03/seselj-burned-eu-and-nato-flags/" target="_blank">was postponed indefinitely</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKpSW60ZOqmP56hVns0UU-JLm0lbpQFLXMyMuvDka5ql9Rn1s4IXJaFDrGElxibnamTYca_tLViG6MPZ67vrMIzfscUIIU-XWlip7dBfBFV4QLGz0-NKDyIfMk5hGbPp5rmPmGQ9q4_-J/s1600/seselj+burning+flags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKpSW60ZOqmP56hVns0UU-JLm0lbpQFLXMyMuvDka5ql9Rn1s4IXJaFDrGElxibnamTYca_tLViG6MPZ67vrMIzfscUIIU-XWlip7dBfBFV4QLGz0-NKDyIfMk5hGbPp5rmPmGQ9q4_-J/s320/seselj+burning+flags.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Fascist war criminal Vojislav Šešelj bu<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">rning NATO ...</span></td></tr>
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Šešelj’s trial has been hampered by delays and by the 61-year-old Serb leader’s deterioration from cancer. He is awaiting a verdict on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes against non-Serbs in <b>Croatia</b>, <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b>, <b>Vojvodina</b>, and elsewhere, during the period of a secessionist <b>Republika Srpska</b> in Bosnia.<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (See my recent article from this blog, in which Republika Srpska is one of </span><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and E.U. flags</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Kosovo Opposition Leaders Bring Irregularities in Thaçi Election to High Court.</u></b> Members of <b>Kosovo</b>’s political opposition <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-03-04/kosovo-opposition-contest-election-of-new-president" target="_blank">submitted a formal complaint</a> on March 4th with the country’s high court, objecting to irregularities in the parliamentary vote that (as reported last month in this blog) elevated <b>Hashim Thaçi</b> to the presidency on February 26th while the capital’s streets were filled with protestors. The papers were submitted by representatives of three different opposition parties. Meanwhile, Kosovo’s lead negotiator with <b>Serbia</b>, <b>Edita Tahiri</b>, <a href="http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2016&mm=03&dd=07&nav_id=97280" target="_blank">said that she would “introduce the issue of war reparations”</a> from Serbia to Kosovo “into the dialogue.” Tahiri, who is charged with negotiating the creation of an autonomous <b>Community of Serb Municipalities</b> within Kosovo—something the ongoing protest movement objects to—seems to be adding hard conditions to the Kosovar position in order to appease the political opposition. Opposition legislators <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/kosovo-opposition-disrupts-parliament-session-tear-gas-105057596.html" target="_blank">again released tear gas in the Kosovar parliament</a> on March 10th, amid <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/11/kosovo-parliament-buys-scanners-to-stop-mps-bringing-teargas-to-work" target="_blank">plans to introduce body scanners</a> to prevent legislators bringing tear gas and other weaponry into the chamber. Later, on March 12th, unidentified masked individuals <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/12/kosovo-president-office-attacked-with-molotov-cocktail.html" target="_blank">threw Molotov cocktails at the presidential offices in Pristina</a>, doing some damage.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Serbian truck in Kosovo after an attack by Vetevendosjë thugs</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Serb Ban on Kosovar Textbooks Prompts Vetevendosjë to Sabotage Imports.</u></b> About 100,000 <b>Albanian</b>-language textbooks intended for schools in the ethnic-<b>Albanian</b>-dominated <b>Preševo</b> valley in southern <b>Serbia</b> <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-returns-kosovo-books-back-to-the-border-03-02-2016" target="_blank">were returned</a> to <b>Kosovo</b> on March 1st after having been impounded at customs for six months. Serbian authorities said it was because the books were politically biased. In retaliation, activists in Kosovo from the Albanian-unification party <b><i>Vetevendosjë</i></b> <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-s-truck-rolled-over-as-response-to-refused-school-books-03-03-2016" target="_blank">attacked and overturned a Serbian cargo truck crossing the border</a> into Kosovo at the village of Lupç on March 3rd. They stated that such actions would continue in an attempt to shut down the flow of Serbian imports to Kosovo. Saboteurs <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/vetevendosje-activists-overturn-second-serbian-truck-03-11-2016" target="_blank">followed this up with an attack on another Serbian cargo truck</a> on March 11th; no one was hurt. Last month (as reported at the time in this blog), Preševo residents staged a rally demanding the textbooks be released from impound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Moldovan Defense Chief Wants U.N. Troops to Replace Russian Ones in Transnistria.</u></b> The defense minister of <b>Moldova</b>, <b>Anatol Salaru</b>, <a href="http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160303/1035688177/replacing-russian-peacekeepers-transnistria.html" target="_blank">proposed</a> on March 1st that Russian “peacekeepers” occupying the rebel region of <b>Transnistria</b> in eastern Moldova should be replaced by <b>United Nations</b> forces. The next day, <b>Russia</b>’s foreign ministry reacted angrily, saying that Salaru’s ideas were “very dangerous” and out of step with Moldova’s otherwise conciliatory stance toward Russia. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (See my recent article from this blog, in which Transnistria is one of </span><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gratuitous photo of Transnistria’s first lady<br />
and former foreign minister, Nina Shtanski</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Golden Dawn Thugs Disrupt European Parliament with Anti-Turk Slurs, Threats.</u></b> A sitting of the <b>European Parliament</b> in Strasbourg, <b>France</b>, <a href="http://www.nationalia.info/new/10730/golden-dawn-meps-raid-european-parliament-event-on-turkish-minority-in-greece" target="_blank">was disrupted</a> on March 2nd by two members from <b>Greece</b>’s neo-fascist party <b>Golden Dawn</b> because they objected to a discussion of Greece’s <b>Turkish</b> minority. The <b>Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization</b> (<b>U.N.P.O.</b>) and the <b>Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe</b> (<b>A.B.T.T.F.</b>) were in the chamber to organize a discussion of how to guarantee the minority the protections provided for by the <b>European Court of Human Rights</b>. All this talk of human rights for Turks was too much for the Golden Dawn M.E.P.s, <b>Lampros Fountoulis</b> and <b>Eleftherios Synadinos</b>, who, accompanied by three unidentified thugs who were not M.E.P.s, shouted that there was no such thing as a Turkish minority in Greece and that anyone in Greece who identifies as Turkish should “go back” to <b>Turkey</b>. The moderator for the discussion, <b>Csaba Sógor</b>, faced down the Golden Dawn members and argued with them until they left the chamber. Sógor is an M.E.P. from <b>U.D.M.R.</b> (<i><b>Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România</b>,</i> or <b>Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania</b>), which advocates autonomy for the ethnic-<b>Magyar</b>-dominated <b>Szeklerland</b> region in <b>Transylvania</b>. When Golden Dawn posted a video of the confrontation on its website, Sógor was described there as an “agent” for <b>Macedonia</b> and Turkey (the phrase “Republic of Macedonia” being, in Golden Dawn jargon, a synonym for “Beelzebub”).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Members of Greece’s Golden Dawn claim that swastika-like symbol<br />
is derived from the labyrinth in the Minotaur story. Right.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Captured Ukrainian Pilot, in Donetsk Rebel “Court,” Begins Hunger Strike.</u></b> A Ukrainian air-force officer and pilot being held in <b>Russia</b> <a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/news/nation-world/world/article63980512.html" target="_blank">said at a court hearing</a> on March 3rd that she would go on hunger strike until she was allowed to return to <b>Ukraine</b>. She had earlier gone on an 80-day hunger strike, with water only, which severely damaged her health. The officer, <b>Nadezhda Savchenko</b>, who in the West is now being called “the Ukrainian <b>Joan of Arc</b>,” was captured in 2014 while fighting pro-Russian forces with a volunteer battalion in the self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>) in southeastern Ukraine. She is charged with acting as a “spotter” in a mortar attack that killed several civilians, including two journalists from Russia—even though she was captured an hour before that attack. She announced the hunger strike after being denied the opportunity to make a final argument in her defense. On March 9th, at the conclusion of her trial—which has been moved to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, near the Black Sea—after several days already without food or water, she <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/hunger-striking-ukrainian-pilot-could-die-russia-sentences-114903854.html" target="_blank">made her position clear by jumping on a bench in her caged corner of the courtroom, giving the three judges the middle finger, and singing the Ukrainian national anthem</a>. (You go, girl!) “</span>I don’t accept my guilt or recognise the sentence of a Russian court,” she said. Because of her behavior in court, she <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/335066-savchenko-ukraine-trial-lavrov/" target="_blank">is being denied access to Ukrainian doctors until sentencing</a> on March 21st.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nadezhda Savchenko, the “Ukrainian Joan of Arc” ...</td></tr>
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The Russian foreign minister, <b>Sergei Lavrov</b>, said, justifying the decision, “Savchenko feels fine. She exercises. She is under constant surveillance by Russian doctors.” The Russian parliament’s ultranationalist firebrand <b>Vladimir Zhirinovsky</b> <a href="http://tass.ru/en/politics/861148" target="_blank">went a step further</a>, saying her hunger strike was “a flagrant lie. ... Where do you see a hunger strike? She is literally blooming! Full-blooded and buxom.” But the next day Savchenko”s attorney <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/ukrainian-pilot-ends-hunger-strike/3228739.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on <b>Twitter</b> that the prisoner had ceased the liquid part of her strike (amid reports that the Russians had tricked her into thinking that the Ukrainian government requested this of her). On March 10th, <b>Federica Mogherini</b>, the <b>European Union</b>’s high commissioner for foreign affairs, <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/mogherini-calls-on-russia-to-free-ukrainian-pilot-607595.html" target="_blank">demanded Savchenko’s immediate release</a>. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Savchenko awaits sentencing, prosecutors are asking for a 23-year sentence, and most doubt claims by the Kremlin that the case is entirely in the hands of the rebels rather than Moscow. On March 6th, </span><a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/freesavchenko-worldwide-action-day-to-take-place-on-march-9-rally-in-kyiv-on-march-6-409444.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">a rally was held in Kyiv calling attention to Savchenko’s plight</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Some among the estimated 1,000 demonstrators hanged <b>Vladimir Putin</b> in effigy, </span><a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/freesavchenko-rally-gathers-hundreds-russia-embassy-in-kyiv-vandalized-409468.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">threw eggs, smoke-bombs, and flares at the Russian embassy</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (this appeared to be the doing of members of the <b>Radical Party</b>), and vandalized nearby cars. There were also rallies in Odessa, Kharkiv, and Ternopil.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... has a terse message for Vladimir Putin and his cronies.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Paris Talks on Ukraine Conflict Founder over Franco-German Polling Proposal.</u></b> Foreign ministers from <b>France</b>, <b>Germany</b>, <b>Ukraine</b>, and <b>Russia</b> met in Paris on March 3rd and 4th to discuss possible solutions to the civil war in southeastern Ukraine, but Ukraine and Russia <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fresh-french-german-push-ukraine-rebel-polls-flounders-171953289.html" target="_blank">rejected a Franco-German proposal to set up internationally sanctioned voting sanctions in the Russian-backed rebel republics</a>. In particular, Ukraine’s foreign minister, <b>Pavlo Klimkin</b>, said, talks foundered over Russia’s unwillingness to admit that it was backing the separatists. “It was a very difficult meeting,” Klimkin told reporters afterward, and Germany’s foreign minister, <b>Frank-Walter Steinmeier</b>, grumped that he was “not satisfied by the way in which Kyiv and Moscow have been leading these negotiations.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>10 Killed in Eastern Ukraine Fighting; Putin Gives Puppy to Little Girl.</u></b> In other news from the civil-war-torn areas of eastern <b>Ukraine</b>, 10 people were killed and 11 injured in two weeks of fighting between the Ukrainian military and separatist rebels backed by <b>Russia</b>. Three Ukrainian soldiers died and two were injured <a href="https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Mar-01/339980-three-ukrainian-soldiers-killed-in-separatist-east-kiev.ashx" target="_blank">when their vehicle hit a landmine</a> in the self-proclaimed <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b> (<b>L.P.R.</b>) in eastern Ukraine on March 1st. Around the same time, according to the Ukrainian government, three soldiers were hurt in firefights in different parts of the Luhansk and <b>Donetsk</b> “people’s republics.” This follows the deaths of two civilians on February 27th after they set off a trip wire in the so-called L.P.R. On March 3rd, the Ukrainian military <a href="http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/328883.html" target="_blank">reported that one of their soldiers had been killed by a rebel sniper</a> in an L.P.R. zone. And a Ukrainian military spokesman reported on March 5th that two Ukrainian troops <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-army-two-soldiers-killed/27591114.html" target="_blank">had been killed in a battle near Mariupol</a>, a port city in Donetsk oblast which is under central-government control. Five more had been wounded over the previous 24 hours, the spokesman said. In an announcement on March 12th, the Ukrainian military said two Ukrainian soldiers <a href="https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Mar-12/341894-two-ukrainian-soldiers-killed-in-separatist-east-kiev.ashx" target="_blank">had been killed within the previous 24 hours</a>, both in the vicinity of Donetsk. A third was injured. But it is not as though President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> is refusing to take any action to alleviate the suffering in southeastern Ukraine: on March 4th, Putin responded to a letter from an 11-year-old refugee of the civil war, now living in the illegally-Russian-occupied <b>Crimea</b>, by <a href="http://www.laprensasa.com/309_america-in-english/3667311_putin-gives-chihuahua-to-refugee-girl-from-donetsk.html" target="_blank">granting her wish for a chihuahua puppy</a>. The girl, <b>Aline</b>, whose family is from Dobropole, in Donetsk oblast, received the dog personally from the Russian deputy governor of occupied <b>Sevastopol</b>, Crimea, <b>Yevgeny Dubrovnik</b>. Alina had written the letter after her parents told her that they could not give her a puppy but Putin could.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little girl has her puppy, and all is well in Ukraine.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Russian Regime in Crimea Prosecuting Tatar Council for “Extremism.”</u></b> The supreme court in <b>Russia</b>’s illegally annexed <b>Republic of Crimea</b> <a href="http://tass.ru/en/politics/860362" target="_blank">is examining a legal case</a> against the <b>Mejlis</b> (council) of the <b>Crimean Tatar People</b>, accused by the Kremlin of extremism and terrorism. The suit, filed March 2nd by Crimea’s public prosecutor, the international sex symbol <b>Natalia Poklonskaya</b>, beloved of millions of <b>Japanese</b> <i>anime</i> fans, runs to 500 pages and accuses the Mejlis of everything from inciting riots to causing the electricity blackouts which have been used by pro-Ukrainian insurgents to isolate the peninsula, which Russia invaded and annexed from <b>Ukraine</b> in 2014. Poklonskaya told the news agency <b>TASS</b> that her criminal suit also singles out the Mejlis’s chairman, <b>Refat Chubarov</b>, as well as the spiritual leader of the Tatars, <b>Mustafa Dzhemilev</b>; both live in exile in mainland Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president, <b>Petro Poroshenko</b>, on March 9th <a href="http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/170287/turkey-urged-to-recognize-crimean-tatar-genocide" target="_blank">urged the Turkish parliament</a> to recognize the <b>Soviet Union</b>’s 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar population as “genocide”—apparently unaware that <b>Turkey</b> is not exactly big on recognizing genocides.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She put the “cute” in “prosecutor”: Crimean public prosecutor and Internet sex symbol<br />
Natalia Poklonskaya is preparing to criminalize the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Chechens Wail in Grief over Loss of Kadyrov amid Rumors of Reappointment.</u></b> Speculation is rife amid what on the face of it resembles <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/chechnya-leader-ramzan-kadyrov-step-down-instagram" target="_blank">a public outcry against the decision</a> of the <b>Chechen Republic</b>’s president, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, to retire from politics. A group called the <b>Civic Forum of the Chechen Republic</b> stated that “society sees no alternative” to Kadyrov “and there can be no talk of successors,” and when that quotation appeared on Kadyrov’s office’s official website, it created the impression that Kadyrov was preparing to revoke his announcement late last month that he would resign when his term runs out next month. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kadyrov said on March 2nd that he would abide by any decision on his future that President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> might decide to make, and by the next day Moscow’s compliant <b>R.B.K.</b> news service</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2406949&CategoryId=12395" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">was claiming leaks from federal officials to the effect that Putin was planning to appoint him</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">to rule Chechnya for another five-year term.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Meanwhile, on </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Instagram</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, Kadyrov’s favored medium and the political “public square” in the republic, in southwestern </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Russia</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s North Caucasus region, photographic memes abound of children crying over the prospect of a Kadyrovless Chechnya and squads of citizens holding signs reading, “Ramzan, don’t go!”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Ramzan, don’t go!”</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Masked Mob Beats Rights Team at Chechen–Ingush Border, Sparking Outcry.</u></b> Meanwhile, business proceeds as usual in the Russian Caucasus: on March 9th, a minibus ferrying Russian and Scandinavian journalists and human-rights investigators from the <b>Republic of Ingushetia</b> back into the <b>Chechen Republic</b> after a day trip <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/10/journalists-beaten-and-bus-torched-on-chechnya-tour-say-activists" target="_blank">was surrounded and assaulted by a mob of about 20 unidentified masked attackers</a>. All eight people aboard were injured in the attack, which occurred just on the Ingush side of the border, and five ended up in the hospital. (Later reports said six were injured and four hospitalized.) The vehicle was set on fire. The investigators were from the international <b>Committee against Torture</b> (<b>CAT</b>), one of the few groups still allowed to investigate rights abuses in <b>Russia</b>’s North Caucasus. An attorney for the committee, <b>Dmitry Utukin</b>, said the attackers “said, ‘There is nothing for you to do in Chechnya. You aren’t human rights defenders but supporters of terrorists.’” One of the victims, <b>Öystein Windstad</b>, a reporter from <b>Norway</b>, said, “It was awful. I thought I was going to die. They tried to pull us out of the bus, hitting us with batons and sharp objects, and I fought as hard as I </span>could. I thought if they got us out of the bus, I’d be dead.” Winstad <a href="http://www.heraldonline.com/news/nation-world/world/article65152417.html" target="_blank">escaped the bus through a window</a>, then “ran toward a dark field and a few seconds after I jumped out of the car, the whole bus exploded. It was completely in flames just five seconds after I jumped out.” The following day, while victims were still recovering in the hospital, five vehicles converged on CAT’s offices in Karabulak, Ingushetia, and <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/article/6744337/2016/03/10/rights-group-attacked-russias-caucasus-after-assault-journalists">disgorged armed men in camouflage who stormed into the building and vandalized it</a>. But local police <a href="http://tass.ru/en/society/861391">say no break-in occurred</a>, despite the fact that video of it was posted online. <b>Tanya Cooper</b>, who investigates Russia for <b>Human Rights Watch</b>, said, “These brazen attacks on journalists and human rights defenders show how dangerous it is to report on human rights abuses in the North Caucasus. The authorities have made no meaningful attempt to prevent or investigate the repeated attacks in the North Caucasus on people who criticise the government.” That view was echoed by the <b>Committee to Protect Journalists</b>, which pointed out that the incident <a href="http://www.heraldonline.com/news/nation-world/world/article65152417.html" target="_blank">followed “a burst of menacing comments on social media and in the press</a> ... by government officials in Chechnya” and that it “was enabled by the government’s inaction in the face of overt hostility to the press.” A spokesman from President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s office <a href="http://tass.ru/en/politics/861389" target="_blank">called the incident “absolutely unacceptable” “hooliganism,”</a> but added that it expected local authorities to take the lead in finding and prosecuting the attackers. Ingush republican investigators, including the interior minister, <b>Alexander Trofimov</b>, <a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Ingush-authorities-take-control-of-attack-journalists.html" target="_blank">were soon visiting the scene of the crime</a>. Eventually, Putin <a href="http://tass.ru/en/politics/861432" target="_blank">ordered the federal interior ministry to take a hand in the matter as well</a>. Chechnya’s “human-rights ombudsman,” <b>Nurdi Nukhazhiyev</b>, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/12032016" target="_blank">said the whole incident was a publicity stunt planned by the human-rights activists themselves</a> and that there was no actual attack. Later, on March 11th, in the Ingush city of Nazran, a car bomb <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/injured-blast-mosque-russias-ingushetia-37572750" target="_blank">exploded adjacent to a mosque</a> run by an imam whom the Chechen president <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b> had targeted with harsh rhetoric for his jihadist and anti-Sufist views. Five people <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/335230-blast-mosque-russia-ingushetia/" target="_blank">were injured</a>, <a href="http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4689201&Itemid=1" target="_blank">including the radical imam</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov.<br />
Boy, Putin’s Russia is just all about puppies and kittens, isn’t it?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>ISIS Declares North Caucasus Caliphate, Urges Russian Muslims to Kill Apostates.</u></b> In southwestern <b>Russia</b>’s North Caucasus region, the “<b>Caucasus Province</b>” chapter of the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/ISIS-branch-calls-on-Muslims-to-kill-Russian-apostates-vows-to-attack-Putin-447009" target="_blank">consolidated its position as successor</a> to the largely dispersed <b>Caucasus Emirate</b> movement with a new video released on March 5th calling on Russian Muslims to “kill apostates,” oppose President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, and implement <i>shari’a</i> (Islamic law). The video, titled “Profitable Trading,” asserts, “The Caliphate is already here,” and it claims that a Caucasus Province militant, <b>Abu Abdurahman</b>, was the one who carried out a car bomb in Dzhemikent, in the <b>Republic of Dagestan</b>, on February 15th that killed two Russian police officers. One militant in the video tells the camera, “Thanks to <b>Allah</b>, we have many brave brothers here with us and millions of Muslims in Russia. Let’s get together, my brothers, seize a territory, and expand it. It is not difficult to find weapons in Russia.” The video <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/new-isis-video-shows-execution-alleged-russian-spy-threatens-attack-vladimir-putin-2330969" target="_blank">ends with what is claimed to be the execution of a Russian spy</a>.</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE PART OF EUROPE</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Kazakhstan Takes Steps to Prevent Crimea-Style “Stealth Annexation” by Russia.</u> The authoritarian president of <b>Kazakhstan</b>, <b>Nursultan Nazarbayev</b>, whose lock-step loyalty to President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> faltered two years ago when <b>Russia</b> invaded and annexed <b>Crimea</b>, has begun exploring how to prevent Kazakh citizens from acquiring phony or ill-gotten Russian passports, <b>Reuters</b> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-russia-idUSKCN0W51MY" target="_blank">reported this month</a>. The phenomenon of the fifth of the population who are ethnic Russian seeking closer ties to the Motherland is a sensitive one in Kazakhstan, since Russia has often distributed passports to ethnic Russians as a kind of proxy invasion in places like Crimea, southeastern <b>Ukraine</b>, <b>Transnistria</b>, and <b>Abkhazia</b>, as part of a Putin-innovated strategy some call “stealth annexation.” Nazarbayev’s administration is also encouraging ethnic Kazakhs to settle in heavily ethnic-Russian regions, like its far north, which abuts Russia’s <b>Siberian</b> steppes and is home to a large <b>Cossack</b> host.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Georgia, Two Breakaway Republics Exchange 17 Prisoners.</u></b> The <b>Republic of Georgia</b> <a href="http://agenda.ge/news/53761/eng" target="_blank">concluded a prisoner exchange</a> with two of its <i>de facto</i> independent secessionist regions, <b>Abkhazia</b> and <b>South Ossetia</b>, on March 10th, on a bridge spanning the Republic of Abkhazia’s eastern border. The 13 Georgians released had been imprisoned for six to seven years, for border-crossing violations. They were exchanged for four South Ossetians who had been held for a terrorist attack in Gori, <b>Josef Stalin</b>’s South Ossetian home town, in 2005. Meanwhile, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">a landmine left over from the 2008 South Ossetia War between <b>Russia</b> and Georgia </span><a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Two-hunters-blown-up-by-a-mine-in-South-Ossetia.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">engulfed two hunters in an explosion</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in South Ossetia, it was reported on March 6th. One of the hunters was said to be in critical condition. The incident occurred in the forest near the village of Zar, according to the republic’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Azerbaijan, Armenia Blame Each Other for Border Skirmishes That Kill up to 18.</u></b> The war between <b>Armenia</b> and <b>Azerbaijan</b> over <b>Nagorno-Karabakh</b> flared into violence again this month, leaving three dead—or 18, depending on whom you believe. According to the defense ministry of Armenia’s unrecognized client state within Azerbaijan, the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>), Azerbaijani forces <a href="http://asbarez.com/147356/two-azeri-soldiers-killed-as-karabakh-couters-attacks/" target="_blank">attacked N.K.R. positions on the night of March 10th and 11th</a>, firing more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition. The N.K.R. called it a “commando raid” and said it was unsuccessful, with the Azerbaijani side suffering two fatalities and a number of in</span>juries. “It is remarkable,” the ministry said, “that ... the enemy used artillery fire not only against Armenian positions ... but also territories that are located at quite a distance from the line of contact. This is unprecedented since the signing of a ceasefire agreement in May 1994. One can draw one conclusion from this: the adversary has adopted a tactic aimed at destabilizing the situation in the conflict zone.” The Azerbaijani government <a href="http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3164844-heavy-shelling-rocks-fragile-ceasefire-in-nagorno-karabakh/" target="_blank">said that their attack had been meant “to prevent a subversive act”</a> by the Armenian military against Ağdam, an abandoned Azeri town within N.K.R.-controlled territory. Azerbaijan claims 15 Armenian troops were killed. The evening after the initial incident, on March 12th, an N.K.R. soldier <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/839086/soldier-killed-by-grenade-explosion-in-artsakh.html" target="_blank">was killed by a grenade along the border</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Georgia Recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh—No, Not That Georgia, the One in America.</u></b> The House of Representatives of the <b>State of Georgia</b>, in the <b>United States</b>, on March 2nd <a href="http://asbarez.com/146962/state-of-georgia-recognizes-independence-of-nagorno-karabakh-republic/" target="_blank">passed a resolution extending recognition</a> to the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>). Georgia is now the sixth state to recognize the N.K.R., although these are symbolic statements and only an establishment of ties at the federal level, by the U.S. Department of State, would count as diplomatic recognition. On March 4th, the U.S. ambassador in <b>Azerbaijan</b> <a href="http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/karabakh/2502967.html" target="_blank">reaffirmed the U.S. government’s non-recognition</a> of the N.K.R. In another victory for the Armenian-American lobby’s legislature-bullying tactics, the <b>Kentucky</b> legislature on March 7th <a href="http://asbarez.com/147127/kentucky-state-senate-withdraws-pro-azerbaijani-resolution/" target="_blank">defeated a resolution</a> supporting Azerbaijan’s position in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict after aggressive lobbying by the <b>Armenian National Committee of America</b> (<b>A.N.C.A.</b>). But in <b>Hawaii</b>, on March 11th, the state Senate <a href="http://en.apa.az/xeber_hawaii_state_senate_rejects_anti-azerbai_240632.html" target="_blank">defeated a resolution that would have recognized the N.K.R.</a>, mainly because of the intervention of the Azerbaijani consulate in Los Angeles, <b>California</b>, whose consular district includes Hawaii.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Flemish Nationalists Lead Belgian Delegation to Armenia, Artsakh.</u></b> Two <b>Flemish</b> nationalist politicians from <b>Belgium</b> arrived in the unrecognized <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>) (a.k.a. <b>Artsakh Republic</b>) on March 13th as part of <a href="https://www.armradio.am/en/2016/03/15/artsakh-the-stronghold-of-armenia-and-europe-flemish-mp-says/" target="_blank">a seven-member delegation’s visit to the N.K.R. and to its sponsor nation</a>, the <b>Republic of Armenia</b>.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> One of the delegates, <b>Karim Van Overmeire</b>, a member of </span>the Flemish Parliament for the conservative <b>New Flemish Alliance</b> (<i><b>Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie</b>,</i> or <b>N.-V.A.</b>) party, said outright, “Artsakh is not only the stronghold of Armenia, but also of Europe” (which is slightly odd, since, being part of the South Caucasus, is in Asia).<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> N.K.R.’s claimed territory is regarded by nearly the entire world as part of <b>Azerbaijan</b> which was illegally seized by Armenia after the fall of Communism and established as a puppet state. The N.K.R. is also a client state of the <b>Russian Federation</b>—President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s muscular ultranationalism being beloved by far-right politicians in Belgium and elsewhere in western Europe and North America.</span> The other Flemish Parliament member, <b>Karl Vanlouwe</b>, of the center-right <b>Christian Democratic and Flemish</b> (<i><b>Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams</b>,</i> or <b>C.D.&V.</b>) party, was more circumspect, acknowledged the differe<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">nces between t</span>he Artsakh and Flemish struggles for self-determination, saying, “I cannot compare the Flemish peaceful struggle for identity with the complex situation created in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is hard to imagine that such a meeting would be organized around thirty years ago only because there was a war going on in here.” Overmeire is a former member of the separatist and far-right extremist <b>Flemish Interest</b> (<i><b>Vlaams Belang</b></i>) party.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Greek Foreign Minister Snubs Turkish Counterpart During Cyprus Visit.</u></b> Talks on reunifying the island of <b>Cyprus</b> proceed apace, but when <b>Turkey</b>’s foreign m</span>inister, <b>Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu</b>, offered t<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">o drink coffee on the island with <b>Greece</b>’s foreign minister, <b>Nikos Kotsias</b>, the latter <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_greek-foreign-minister-refuses-to-drink-coffee-with-turkish-counterpart-in-cyprus_413899.html" target="_blank">demurred saying, “I’m not ready for that.”</a> The offer involved a trip together to the southern part of the island ruled as the <b>Republic of Cyprus</b>, lunch at the Green Line separating the two halves, and then an after-lunch coffee in the <b>Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus</b>, a puppet state of Turkey. </span>Çavuşoğlu later said that what Kotsias probably meant was that members of the Greek, Cypriot, and Turkish publics—not all of whom support reunification—are not ready for it.<br />
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<b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Navigation App Misleads Israeli Soldiers into Deadly Refugee-Camp Mêlée.</u></b> Two disoriented <b>Israeli</b> soldiers, misled by a global positioning service (G.P.S.), <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-killed-10-wounded-israeli-gunfire-camp-medics-053858125.html" target="_blank">drove their jeep into a <b>Palestinian</b> refugee camp</a> in the <b>West Bank</b> over the night of February 29th to March 1st, were pelted with rocks and Molotov cocktails, and ended up shooting one person dead. Other Israeli troops needed to go in and rescue them, which they did, but not without further casualties. The soldiers unharmed, but 10 people were also injured, in addition to the dead man, a 22-year-old student. They were using “Waze,” a G.P.S. service owned by <b>Google</b>; they had apparently turned off the “avoid dangerous areas” feature of the application.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>13 Dead in Ongoing Palestinian Violence, Including Stabbing Attacks.</u></b> Violence between <b>Palestinians</b> and <b>Israelis</b> in the occupied territories continued unabated in the first half of March, notably with a continuing wave of Palestinian knife attacks, including one that killed a <b>Jewish</b> citizen of the <b>United States</b>. Two Palestinian 17-year-olds with a knife and two wooden sticks <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Initial-report-Stabbing-attempt-near-Eli-446607" target="_blank">were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers</a> on March 2nd after they fought their way into a home in an illegal Jewish settlement on the <b>West Bank</b>, were ejected, concealed themselves in a ritual bath, and then tried to stab the soldiers. The father of the family under attack was wounded in the head. On the same day, two Palestinians <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/03/02/breaking-2-idf-soldiers-wounded-in-palestinian-stabbing-attack-in-west-bank-assailants-on-loose-with-victims-weapons/" target="_blank">injured two Israeli soldiers in a stabbing attack near Nablus</a>. And in Hebron, a young schoolteacher crossing the picket line to work during a strike <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Hamas-and-Fatah-play-the-blame-game-following-acid-attack-on-Palestinian-teacher-446662" target="_blank">was splashed in the face with acid</a>. The <b>Palestinian Authority</b> has blamed <b>Hamas</b> for the attack. The next morning, in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl <a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/03/03/4-israelis-wounded-in-latest-series-of-palestinian-terror-attacks/#" target="_blank">stabbed and wounded an Israeli policeman who was directing traffic</a>. A Palestinian woman <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0W60HH" target="_blank">was shot dead by Israeli soldiers</a> in the West Bank on March 4th as she tried to ram them with her car. One of the soldiers was wounded. Also on March 4th, a Palestinian man <a href="http://nanonews.org/palestinian-tries-to-stab-israeli-soldier-in-west-bank-shot/" target="_blank">stabbed two policemen</a> near <b>Jerusalem</b>’s Old City and was subsequently shot and killed by police. <b>Al Jazeera</b> aired a video clip showing the officers shooting the man repeatedly while he was already on the ground. On March 8th, just as the U.S. vice-president, <b>Joe Biden</b>, was arriving in the country for a two-day visit, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israel-palestinian-woman-stab-officers-killed-37483085" target="_blank">a spate of stabbing attacks took place</a>, including, in Jaffa, a fatal stabbing of an American by a Palestinian. The American was <b>Taylor Force</b>, a 28-year-old graduate student in business at <b>Vanderbilt University</b> in <b>Tennessee</b> <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vice-president-joe-biden-in-israel-amid-deadly-palestinian-attacks/" target="_blank">who was also a veteran</a> of the <b>Iraq</b> and <b>Afghanistan</b> wars. On the same day, a Palestinian shot at police, near Jerusalem’s Old City, wounded one, and fled, injuring another officer, before being shot and killed. And in other almost simultaneous incidents a Palestinian was shot and killed after stabbing a Jewish man in the neck in Petah Tikvah, and a Palestinian woman in her fifties was shot and killed near the Old City after trying to stab Israeli soldiers. On March 11th, a 19-year-old Palestinian man <a href="http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2016/3/11/emt0i9yqi2evjyze6hosn902bqf4u4#.VuWk6JMrLEY=" target="_blank">stabbed and injured a 29-year-old yeshivah student in the Old City</a> before being arrested. The same evening, in Beit Horon, an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank, a Palestinian <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israeli-motorist-shot-by-alleged-Palestinian-terrorist-on-Highway-443-447643" target="_blank">shot two Israeli soldiers in a drive-by shooting</a>, injuring both, and then escaped. On March 12th, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy and his six-year-old sister in northern <b>Gaza Strip</b> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-gaza-airstrike-20160312-story.html" target="_blank">were killed by shrapnel during an Israeli airstrike</a> on suspected Hamas training camps, which were being targeted in retaliation for missile attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On March 14th, three Palestinians who attacked Israeli troops with car-ramming and gunfire attacks, one near Hebron, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Initial-report-Attempted-car-ramming-attack-at-Kiryat-Arba-entrance-447827" target="_blank">were shot dead by return fire</a>. One soldier was slightly wounded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>New French Foreign Minister Backpedals from Fabius Vow on Palestine Recognition.</u></b> The new foreign minister of <b>France</b>, <b>Jean-Marc Ayrault</b>, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/france-denies-automatic-recognition-palestinian-state-154036080.html" target="_blank">clarified</a> on March 9th his government’s position on Palestinian recognition. He said that, while he aimed to revive talks on a two-state solution between <b>Israel</b> and the <b>Palestinian Authority</b>, France would not “automatically” grant diplomatic recognition of the <b>State of Palestine</b> in the case of a failure of the talks. However, Ayrault, who was on a visit to Cairo, <b>Egypt</b>, when he made the comments, did not rule out recognition of Palestine altogether. In January (as reported at the time in this blog), Ayrault’s predecessor, <b>Laurent Fabius</b>, had caused controversy by speaking more unambiguously about French intentions for recognition</span>. “There is never anything automatic,” Ayrault said. “France will present its initiative to its partners. It will be the first step, there is no pre-requisite.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>U.S. Publisher Pulps Thousands of Textbooks after Outcry over “Anti-Israel” Maps.</u></b> In the <b>United States</b>, <b>McGraw-Hill Education</b>, a major publisher of textbooks, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/mcgraw-hill-destroys-textbook-placate-pro-israel-bloggers" target="_blank">is recalling and destroying thousands of copies of <i>Global Politics: Engaging in a Complex World</i></a> after complaints over its coverage of the Middle East. The reception of the book had been fine since its publication in 2012 until a blogger known only as <b>“Elder of Ziyon”</b> this month whipped up a tempest online over what he called the “anti-<b>Israel</b>” maps. “</span>A mix of diplomatic and military actions and expanded <b>Jewish</b> settlements since the founding of modern Israel,” reads the book on page 123 (see above), “has led to a gradual decline in <b>Palestinian</b>-held territory—which explains why the territory remains one of the central sticking points in the long-standing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.” Accurate so far. Also accurate are four accompanying maps, labeled 1946, 1947, 1946-67, and 2000, showing the shrinkage of Palestinian-controlled territories over that period, to today’s tiny handful of communities. Are the <i>maps</i> “anti-Israel,” or is it just the reality and the facts that make Israel look bad? Now thousands of students won’t even have the chance to ask that question.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Iran Foils Terror Plot in Restive Majority-Arab Region Near Iraq Border.</u></b> Officials in <b>Iran</b> reported on March 7th that a terrorist plot <a href="http://en.trend.az/iran/politics/2504003.html" target="_blank">was foiled</a> in the sometimes restive region of <b>Khuzestan</b>, the only majority-<b>Arab</b> part of the country. Details were scarce, but the interior ministry said that the previous night, in a battle with security forces, a terrorist cell had been wiped out, capping an extended campaign against the group. The ministry also said that several terror plots had also been prevented through similar operations over the previous months, including an operation in Sumar, near the border with <b>Iraq</b>, in February, and two thwarted terror plots during the February 26th elections. Officials categorized the perpetrators as “Takfiri terrorists,” a term which tends to mean <b>Sunni</b> extremists, including the <b>Islamic State</b>, <b>al-Qaeda</b>, etc.</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">AFRICA</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">ISIS Launches Cross-Border Raid into Tunisia from Smaller Libyan Stronghold.</u> The <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) used its <i>de facto</i> independent city-state in and around <b>Sabratha</b>, in northwestern <b>Libya</b>, as a staging ground for <a href="http://www.criticalthreats.org/libya/estelle-desknote-isiss-tunisian-attack-cell-libya-march-7-2016" target="_blank">its first significant cross-border attack</a> into <b>Tunisia</b> on March 7th. The attackers were apparently Tunisian nationals who had joined ISIS, and experts say that the Sabratha statelet does not take orders from the larger ISIS pseudo-state which covers about 150 miles of coastline centered on <b>Sirte</b>, to the east. Among the dead in the attack, which focused on the town of Ben Guerdane, were a local official from <i><b>Nidaa Tounes</b></i> (“<b>Call of Tunisia</b>”), the country’s governing political party, <a href="http://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/libyan-foreign-minister-sirte-judge-killed-tunisia%E2%80%99s-ben-gardane" target="_blank">as well as, on the other side, the lead ISIS judge in Sirte</a>, <b>Abu Mouad al-Tunisi</b>, who is a Tunisian national. The following day, the internationally recognized Libyan air force <a href="http://www.tunisia-live.net/2016/03/08/72296/" target="_blank">launched a series of bombing sorties</a> on Sirte. Casualties included three children, whose mother was also wounded. On March 9th, ISIS forces <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-idUSKCN0WB2GV" target="_blank">attacked a military checkpoint just south of Misrata</a>, near Tripoli, killing three.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Ban Ki-Moon, at Refugee Camp, Sympathizes with Sahrawi Plight, Angering Morocco.</u></b> The <b>United Nations</b> secretary general, <b>Ban Ki-moon</b>, <a href="http://www.spsrasd.info/en/content/ban-ki-moon-solution-allowing-sahrawi-people-exercise-self-determination-right" target="_blank">visited a <b>Sahrawi</b> refugee camp</a> in <b>Algeria</b> on March 5th and spoke forcefully in favor of self-determination for the Sahrawi people, most of whose homeland, the former <b>Spanish Sahara</b>, is illegally occupied by <b>Morocco</b>. He was received by <b>Mohamed Abdelaziz</b>, who is president of the partially recognized <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>) and heads the <b>Polisario Front</b> rebel group. “This visit enabled me to see with my own eyes the sufferings of the Sahrawi refugees,” Ban said. (At one point, unknown persons <a href="http://sahara-news.org/1280-ban-ki-moon-welcomed-with-stone-throwing-in-tindouf-camps.html" target="_blank">threw stones at Ban’s motorcade</a>.) On March 8th, the Moroccan government <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/morocco-slams-uns-ban-ki-moon-west-sahara-074354099.html" target="_blank">reacted angrily to Ban’s comments, calling them “verbal outpourings ... and unjustified gestures of </a></span><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/morocco-slams-uns-ban-ki-moon-west-sahara-074354099.html" target="_blank">deference”</a> and adding, “Far from achieving the stated goal of his visit to relaunch political dialogue, the secretary general's comments could jeopardise the process.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ban Ki-moon at a Sahrawi refugee camp this month</td></tr>
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<b><u>Suriname Withdraws Recognition of Sahrawi Republic, Leaving Only 47.</u></b> The foreign ministry of the <b>Republic of Suriname</b> <a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/03/181727/suriname-withdraws-its-recognition-of-polisarios-self-proclaimed-sadr/" target="_blank">announced</a> on March 9th that it was withdrawing its recognition of the independence of the <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>), with which it has had diplomatic relations since 1982. The ministry cited a desire to be neutral in the process of negotiating an end to the Sahrawi conflict with <b>Morocco</b>, which is illegally occupying the majority of the Sahrawi homeland, the former <b>Spanish Sahara</b>. This leaves 47 states recognizing the S.A.D.R., down from a one-time high of 84.<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Sahrawi Prime Minister Hosts Delegation from Basque Provisional Government.</u></b> The prime minister of the partially recognized <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>) <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201603011917.html" target="_blank">formally received a delegation</a> from a provisional <b>Basque</b> government on February 29th. The premier, <b>Abdelkader Taleb Omar</b>, who operates from a provisional capital at Chahid El-Hafed because most of his country is illegally occupied by <b>Morocco</b>, hosted <b>Maria Angeles Elorza Zubiria</b>, the Basque “secretary of foreign action,” and <b>Paul Ortega Etcheverry</b>, director of the Basque “Agency for Development Cooperation,” among other officials. The dignitaries took part in a celebration, in Dakhla, of the 40th anniversary of the declaration of S.A.D.R. independence. Basque separatists are particularly aggressive in forming diplomatic-style ties with other aspirant nations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Ethiopian Students March against Oromo Crackdown; Western Journalists Arrested.</u></b> Dozens of students from <b>Addis Ababa University</b> marched through <b>Ethiopia</b>’s capital on March 8th to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-protests-idUSKCN0WA1RZ" target="_blank">demand an end to the police crackdown</a> on the <b>Oromo</b> ethnic group that has been unrelenting since anti-government demonstrations began in November. As many as 200 Oromos may have been killed, according to non-governmental sources. Some demonstrators held signs reading, “We Are Not Terrorists—Stop Killing Oromo People.” The march’s endpoint was the <b>United States</b> embassy, since the U.S. is a major aid donor to Ethiopia. Earlier, on March 3rd, Ethiopian authorities <a href="http://nazret.com/blog/index.php/2016/03/07/ethiopia-detains-journalists-covering-protests" target="_blank">detained two journalists and a translator without charge</a> while they were attempting to cover ongoing Oromo protests. They were held for 24 hours, according to the <b>Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa</b> (<b>F.C.A.E.A.</b>). The journalists are <b>William Davidson</b>, a correspondent for <b>Bloomberg News</b>, and <b>Jacey Fortin</b>, a freelancer. On March 10th, Ethiopia’s president, <b>Hailemariam Desalegn</b>, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/oromo-protests-ethiopia-hailemariam-desalegn-435584" target="_blank">took the unusual step of apologizing before parliament</a> for deaths caused by the police crackdown, but he still lay the ultimate blame with what he called “anti-peace forces” in Oromia—likely meant to refer partly to <b>Eritrea</b>, whose government Desalegn has blamed for inciting the Oromo uprising. Originally, in November, the protests were about the expansion of Addis Ababa’s boundaries into the vast <b>Oromiya</b> region, but they have since become protests demanding self-rule.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Trial of Jihadist Militant Begins in Hague for Destroying Sacred Artifacts in Mali.</u> An unprecedented criminal proceeding began in the <b>International Criminal Court</b> (<b>I.C.C.</b>) in the Hague, in the <b>Netherlands</b>, on March 1st as an Islamist militant <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2016/03/01/international-criminal-court-mali-al-qaeda-in-the-maghreb-timbuktu-mosques-war-crimes-tuareg-islamic-state-palmyra-international-criminal-court-mali-al-qaeda-in-the-maghreb-timbuktu-mosqu/" target="_blank">faced charges of destroying priceless cultural artifacts</a> in 2012 in northern <b>Mali</b>. The defendant, <b>Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi</b>, is believed to be a member of the <b>al</b>-<b>Qaeda</b>-linked militia <b>Ansar ad-Dine</b>, which took advantage of a <b>Tuareg</b> separatist uprising in late 2011 to establish control over the northern two-thirds of Mali as a self-declared “<b>Independent State of Azawad</b>” before a defeat by <b>France</b>’s armed forces in 2013. In conjunction with another jihadist group, the <b>Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa</b> (<i><b>Mouvement pour l’unicité et le jihad en Afrique de l’Ouest</b>,</i> or <b>MUJAO</b>), destroyed and looted an unknown number of tombs, libraries, and other ancient structures in and around Timbuktu. “These were sites dedicated to religion and historic monuments,” the prosecutor, <b>Fatou Bensouda</b>, said, “and did not constitute military objectives. Many of the demolished sites are associated with local forms of Sufism, a form of Islam that salafists such as Ansar ad-Dine and MUJAO consider heretical. Al-Mahdi was not a fighter for Ansar ad-Dine but a teacher and scholar, whose job involved the “Islamic Tribunal” set up in northern Mali to enforce their strict brand of Islamic law. He is one of the few surviving Ansar ad-Dine leaders that it has been possible to prosecute. Meanwhile, Tuareg clan leaders <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-security-idUSKCN0WC2IW" target="_blank">signed a <b>United Nations</b>–brokered cease-fire</a> near Gao, in northern Mali, according to t</span>he <b>United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali</b> (<b>Munisma</b>)—a pr<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">erequisite to bringing peace to the region.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Members of Ansar al-Dine breaking open a Sufi shrine<br />
in Mali before destroying it, in 2012.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>10 Killed as Galmudug Forces Repel al-Shabaab from 2 Villages.</u></b> The ministry of information of <b>Somalia</b>’s <i>de facto</i> independent <b>Galmudug State</b> <a href="http://diplomat.so/2016/03/01/somalia-galmudug-forces-attacked-al-shabaab-base/" target="_blank">reported</a> March 1st that its armed forces had pushed the <b>al</b>-<b>Qaeda</b>-linked jihadist militia <b>al-Shabaab</b> into retreat from two villages, Ad and Eel-Abdi. At least 10 people <a href="http://diplomat.so/2016/03/01/somalia-at-least-10-people-killed-in-fierce-fighting-between-galmudug-and-al-shabaab/" target="_blank">were killed in the fighting</a>. The information minister, <b>Mohamud Aden Osman</b>, said that the rout should restore public confidence in Galmudug’s ability to keep jihadist terrorists at bay. The next day, it was being reported that, over the course of the previous night, <b>Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamea</b>, an anti-jihadist Sufi militia, <a href="http://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/somalia-moderate-islamists-retain-control-of-central-town" target="_blank">had taken control of the town of Dhusamareb</a> from national Somalian military units in league with Galmudug.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Some Ogonis Resent Rivers State Governor for Politicizing Military Manhunt.</u></b> In Bori, the notional capital of the <b>Ogoni</b> ethnic group’s homeland in southern <b>Nigeria</b>, <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/youths-protest-in-bori-ogoni-over-killings/" target="_blank">thousands of young demonstrators rallied against the governor</a> of <b>Rivers State</b>, who they feel overstepped his bounds by criticizing Nigerian military incursions to root out militants in <b>Ogoniland</b>. The govern</span>or, <b>Nyesom Ezenwo Wike</b>, defi<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ed the central government angrily last month (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/03/separatist-updates-for-february-16-29.html" target="_blank">as reported in this blog</a>) after a reckless army manhunt for a wanted Ogoni former rebel leader on February 22nd and 23rd left possibly as many as 18 dead. <b>Oji Ngofa</b>, deputy national secretary of the <b>All Progressives Congress</b> (<b>A.P.C.</b>), spoke in support of the military crackdown. Most demonstrators seemed less concerned with applauding the dragnet against Ogoni activists and more worried that Wike’s politicization of the controversy will spread the conflict into Rivers State’s partisan divides. The <b>Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People</b> (<b>MOSOP</b>), on the other hand, <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/03/03/ogoni-mosop-petitions-buhari-nass-over-military-attack/" target="_blank">sent a petition of protest to Nigeria’s president</a>, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, titled, “Protest against the Unprovoked Military Invasion of Ogoni Communities Occasioning Wanton Killings of Innocent Citizens and Residents.” In an ongoing Senate probe into last month’s violence, a representative of the Nigerian army <a href="http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/why-we-invaded-ogoniland-army-20160311" target="_blank">tried to justify the incursion</a>, testifying that one of its security informants was buried alive by a Rivers State cult leader, among other atrocities that demanded intervention. (On the morning of March 7th, <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/03/07/heavy-gun-battle-in-buguma-rivers-state/" target="_blank">there was a gun battle in Buguma</a>, the <b>Kalabari Kingdom</b>’s capital, in Rivers State, with one boy or young man being shot to death and then burned; details on that incident are scarce.) Meanwhile, in London on March 2nd, a court <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/02/shell-nigeria-court-oil-spills-pollution-niger-delta" target="_blank">gave the go-ahead for a lawsuit</a> against <b>Royal Dutch Shell</b> and its Nigerian subsidiary by representatives of Ogoni plaintiffs citing environmental destruction. The city of Bori, which has been the focus of the military operations, <a href="https://www.naij.com/754983-pandemonium-in-rivers-as-protesters-shutdown-bori.html" target="_blank">was virtually shut down during the weekend</a> of March 5th and 6th due to residents demonstrating in the streets to protest the military incursions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Biafran Icon Nnamdi Kanu Refuses to Appear in Court, Citing Threats to Life.</u></b> The Biafra independence leader <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/biafra-nnamdi-kanu-will-not-come-court-says-lawyer-434719" target="_blank">appeared in court</a> on March 7th, and the trial was adjourned till the 9th, to allow time for a screen to be erected to protect witnesses who wanted to testify without fear of retaliation, but the next day his lawyer told the court that he had advised his client not to appear in court, over fears for his life. The attorney, <b>Ifeanyi Ejiofor</b>, told the media that on the first trial day his life had been threatened by a member of <b>Nigeria</b>’s dreaded State Security Service after Ejiofor challenged their decision to bar members of Kanu’s family from the courtroom. It was also reported on March 9th that Kanu, who heads the organization <b>Indigenous Poeple of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/buhari-i-regret-my-utterances-nnamdi-kanu-apologises-to-president-id4783095.html" target="_blank">had issued an apology to Nigeria’s president</a>, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, an avowed enemy of the Biafran cause since the 1960s, for broadcasts on <b>Radio Biafra</b> in which he referred to the president “as a terrorist, evil, and a paedophile.” He also apologized for earlier comments critical of the former president, <b>Goodluck Jonathan</b>, “because it is un-African to be rude or insolent to elders.” (See my recent article from this blog, in which Biafra is one of <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Ohanaeze Ndigbo Challenges Nnamdi Kanu’s Role as Figurehead of Biafra Movement.</b> In <b>Nigeria</b>, the president of the <b>Biafran</b> separatist youth group the <b>Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council </b>(<b>O.Y.C.</b>), after the imprisoned activist <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> rejected its help in securing his release last month (as reported at the time in this blog), <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/ohanaeze-youths-deny-working-with-usa-group-to-undermine-nnamdi-kanu/" target="_blank">has come forth denying rumors</a> that his group has worked with an unnamed anti-Biafran group from the <b>United States</b> “to undermine the Biafran cause.” However, a Nigerian newspaper <a href="http://www.punchng.com/ohanaeze-meets-pro-biafra-groups-compiles-demands/" target="_blank">cited unnamed sources</a> on March 6th in stating that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s “<b>Biafra Agitations Committee on Awareness</b>” had organized a summit with six other pro-independence groups—the <b>Human Rights Initiative</b>, the <b>Igbo Youths Cultural Association</b>, the <b>Lower Niger Congress</b>, the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra </b>(<b>MASSOB</b>), the <b>United Eastern Congress</b>, and Kanu’s own <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>)—with the intention of harmonizing their political demands. Meanwhile, Chief <b>Emeka Anyaoku</b>, who was secretary general of the British <b>Commonwealth of Nations</b> throughout the 1990s, <a href="http://www.punchng.com/biafra-anyaoku-rejects-ipobs-appointment/" target="_blank">was mentioned by IPoB</a> on March 9th as a “credible Igbo elder” whom it would ask to represent the Biafran cause in high-level negotiations, but Anyaoku told the media that, although he had not yet been approached, he would not accept such a position. </span><br />
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<u style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">MASSOB Entreats Norway Not to Deport Biafran Activists to Nigeria.</u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">MASSOB</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">) </span><a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/massob-condemns-plan-by-norwegian-govt-to-deport-okolie-other-biafra-agitators/" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">is sounding the alarm over high-level negotations</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> between the governments of </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Norway</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Nigeria</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to deport home two pro-</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Biafra</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> activists, one of whom is married to a Norwegian woman. </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Uchenna Madu</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of MASSOB pleaded with the Norwegian government in a statement, reading, in part, “Do not deport Biafrans to Nigeria, Nigeria is doomed with [President </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Muhammadu</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">] </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Buhari</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s support to </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Palestine</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.” Madu referred to plans to fly the two men—</span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Lotachukwu Okolie</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Onyedikachi Ani</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">—from Belgium to Lagos on March 9th as Norway’s “wickedly aligning with Nigeria to eliminate innocent Biafrans.” Okolie has <a href="https://www.naij.com/758789-im-scared-return-nigeria-man-started-biafra-kanu-cries.html" target="_blank">said specifically that he fears for his life</a> if he is forced to return to his homeland and threatened suicide in an interview with a reporter. Meanwhile, in London, a presentation at Chatham House by the governor of Nigeria’s <b>Imo</b> state <a href="http://ynaija.com/okorocha-po-biafran-chatham-house/" target="_blank">was interrupted</a> on March 9th by an IPoB member wielding a Biafran flag, who cited the deaths of his relatives in the Biafra War and called the governor, <b>Rochas Okorocha</b>, a murderer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Biafra Separatists Call Fulani Herders “Secret Army,” Tell Them to Go Back North.</u></b> A joint statement by two groups working for independence for <b>Biafra</b> on March 6th <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/03/07/massob-calls-buhari-frustrated-man-warns-fulani-herdsmen-to-leave-igboland/" target="_blank">gave notice</a> to all <b>Fulani</b> herdsmen in what it called <b>Igbo</b> territories to return to northern <b>Nigeria</b> because it could not guarantee their safety. The statement was released in Enugu by the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>) and <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>). It states, “We can no longer tolerate the systematic killing of our people and invasion of our land in the name of cattle grazing. Seventy percent of Fulani herdsmen in the eastern region are Northern-trained secret army assigned for devastation and secret killing of Biafrans.” It also referred to them as an “<b>Arewa</b> secret army in disguise as Fulani herdsmen,” using a Fulani term for “north”—<i>arewa</i>—which has sometimes been proposed as the name for a northern Muslim republic.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victor Umeh</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Anambra Politician Arrested for Supporting Biafra Independence Movement.</u></b> Nigerian secret police on March 3rd <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/biafra-dss-arrests-ex-apga-chairman-for-sponsoring-massob-ipob-id4760024.html" target="_blank">arrested</a> Chief (a.k.a. “Sir”) <b>Victor Umeh</b> in <b>Anambra State</b> on charges that he actively sponsors the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>) and <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>). Umeh is running for office on the ticket of a tiny party, the <b>All Progressives Grand Alliance</b> (<b>AGPA</b>), whose leadership <a href="http://leadership.ng/news/506863/umehs-arrest-orchestrated-opponents-says-apga" target="_blank">claims the arrest was orchestrated by their enemies</a>, possibly including President <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b> himself. <b>Emma Powerful</b>, an IPoB spokeswoman, <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/biafra-victor-umeh-not-sponsoring-us-ipob-says-id4762077.html" target="_blank">said the rumors were intended to discredit Umeh and spoil his campaign</a>. Later, on March 14th, MASSOB and another group, the <b>Biafra Independence Movement</b> (<b>B.I.M.</b>), <a href="http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/biafra-how-nigeria-police-secretly-killed-20-of-our-members-%E2%80%93-massob.189626/" target="_blank">accused Anambra’s police of ordering the secret killings of 20 members of the two groups</a>. And in Aba, capital of <b>Abia</b> state, on the same day, members of the military <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/soldiers-confiscate-newspapers-aba/" target="_blank">systematically confiscated newspapers</a> from vendors that carried any stories on the Biafra conflict.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u><br />Pope Condemns Nigerian Crackdown; Buhari Calls Biafra Agitators “Jokers.”</u></b> The separatist organization <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>) released on March 1st <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/biafra-pope-francis-urges-dialogue-negotiation/" target="_blank">the text of <b>Pope Francis</b>’s comments to an IPoB delegation</a> that demonstrated in St. Peter’s Square in <b>Vatican City</b> two days earlier. The pope pleaded for peace and told Biafrans to be patient, but also had harsh words for the murderous regime in <b>Nigeria</b>, saying, “It is never too late to convert an oppressor to change from his evil activities, including murderous activities, but it is urgent, it is now, let them begin today to change from their oppression and killing of innocent people through all sorts of violent means, including the jackboot of the military.” Meanwhile, Nigeria’s president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, spoke more forcefully than ever before against Biafran separatism during a state visit to <b>Qatar</b>. He <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2016/03/05/video-biafra-will-not-be-tolerated-again-buhari" target="_blank">reminded the public that 2 million people had died in the Biafra War</a> (neglecting to mention that the military in which he then served as an officer—serving a Muslim <i>junta</i> whose illegal seizure of power he helped orchestrate—did most of the killing), and he called the current Biafran movement a bunch of “jokers.” His interviewer, from the <b>Al Jazeera</b> network, asked the president to comment on a video clip he had with him showing Nigerian troops firing on unarmed pro-Biafra demonstrators. Buhari refused to watch the clip, but said he would not relent in putting down the movement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Cameroon Swindles Akwa Ibom Chiefs into Ceding Nigerian Territory.</u></b> There were reports this month that the government of <b>Cameroon</b> <a href="http://www.thewhistler.ng/story/cameroon-takes-over-akwa-ibom-communities-hoist-flag" target="_blank">has illegally seized</a> parts of <b>Nigeria</b>’s <b>Akwa Ibom</b> state. The state is near, but not adjacent to, the formerly disputed <b>Bakassi Peninsula</b>, which Nigeria ceded to Cameroon in 2006 after an <b>International Court of Justice</b> (<b>I.C.J.</b>) ruling in Cameroon’s favor, and Cameroon now administers, though some <b>Efik</b> and other ethnic groups on the Nigerian side still covet it. Members of the Effiat ethnic group in Akwa Ibom’s Mbo L.G.A. (local government area) say that Cameroonian officials lured village heads of 16 villages on mangrove islands into taking Cameroonian citizenship in exchange for “documenting” their positions of traditional authority. Not insigificantly, the territory in question includes 350 oil wells. A final demarcation of the Nigerian–Cameroonian border is ongoing, but the Akwa Ibom coast is not among the disputed areas. It is still unclear to what extent Cameroon’s central government is involved in the annexations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Ashanti King in Ghana Vows to Stand by Subjects in Land Dispute with Fulani.</u></b> In <b>Ghana</b>, His Royal Majesty <b>Otumfuo Osei Tutu II</b>, the Asantahene, or King of the <b>Ashanti</b>, <a href="http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/I-won-t-allow-my-subjects-to-be-maltreated-Otumfuo-421883" target="_blank">reassured his subjects that he would not allow them to be bullied</a> by <b>Fulani</b> interlopers. The monarch made the comments at an <b>Ashanti Professionals Club</b> (<b>A.P.C.</b>) function, not long after arriving from a trip to <b>South Africa</b> to find youths in the Ashanti communities of Tafo and Agogo holding demonstrations pleading with him to help them resolve conflicts over land and resources with the more northerly and predominantly-Muslim Fulani pe</span>ople. “ Upon my return,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu said, “I saw my people at the airport holding placards with inscriptions about what is happening in Tafo and Agogo. I want to assure them that I will continue to protect them, I won’t sit down for anyone to take the lands of my people away from them.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II</td></tr>
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<b><u>Ewe Group in Ghana Seeks Independence for Formerly German “Western Togoland.”</u></b> A newly formed organization in <b>Ghana</b> called the <b>Homeland Study Group Foundation</b> (<b>H.S.G.F.</b>) has emerged this spring with the aim of creating a sovereign entity called <b>Western Togoland</b> out of the parts of <b>Germany</b>’s former African colony, <b>Togoland</b>, which was transferred to British rule after the First World War. In a 1956 plebiscite in the narrow strip of land, a <b>United Nations</b> trust territory known then as <b>Trans-Volta Togoland</b> (<b>T.V.T.</b>) confirmed its cession to Ghana (the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s <b>Gold Coast Colony</b>), on the eve of its independence, by a 58% majority, and the rest of the former <b>German Togoland</b> became today’s <b>Togolese Republic</b>. But southern parts of the T.V.T., homeland of the <b>Ewe</b> ethnic group, voted mostly against the cession, and Ghana’s first president, <b>Kwame Nkrumah</b>, put down Ewe insurrections in 1957 led by the <b>Togoland Congress</b>—around the same time that some <b>Ashante</b> and northern peoples were also calling for a separate state. The H.S.G.F. issued a declaration on February 8th of this year of its intention to secede from Ghana. “This is the beginning of the united effort of exerting final pressure to extricate ourselves from over 50 years ... of un-established union with Ghana which has not yielded any benefits—social, economic and financial security to the common people of the land,” the chairman of the H.S.G.F., <b>Charles Kormi Kudjordjie</b>, told a reporter during a congress a the <b>Volta Regional House of Chiefs</b> in Ho, in Ghaniaian <b>Eweland</b>. “Our wise men and women are again ready to strategise for the formula for coming out of the serfdom sooner than later. This congress is the launch pad for the missile attack at all fronts for independence. Whether it is here now, today, tomorrow is matter of choice that must not be delayed, but pursued vigorously.” But <b>Papa Hogbedetor</b>, an H.S.G.F. spokesman, interviewed on Ghanaian radio on February 10th, backpedalled, saying, “The Homeland Study Group Foundation is not calling for Western Togoland to break away, it’s not even a secession.” Rather, he said, his group wants a Western Togoland state “in union with Ghana.” The H.S.G.F. argues that, since Western Togoland voted for “union” with Ghana several weeks before Ghana existed, the subsequent establishment, in the Ghanaian constitution, of a unitary state violates the spirit of the free choice offered in the plebiscite. An expert in Ewe history, Dr. <b>Kwame Botwe-Asamoah</b>, disputes this reasoning and <a href="http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/A-Home-Grown-Latent-Terrorist-Group-422493" target="_blank">calls the new group “terrorists”</a> and points out that members of the <b>Akan</b> and <b>Guan</b> ethnic groups, whose ancestors voted for the union with Ghana, also live in the H.S.G.F.’s proposed “Western Togoland.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two green areas became modern Ghana.<br />
The light green area, originally part of “Togo” when it was a German colony,<br />
is what some Ewes would like to see become a distinct homeland.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kenya Police Tighten Dragnet on Mombasa Republicans, Citing Recruitment Push.</u></b> Local authorities in <b>Kenya</b>’s predominantly-Muslim south-coastal region <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201603100148.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on March 9th the imposition of tighter security in the area after reports emerged of a new recruitment drive by the <b>Mombasa Republican Council</b> (<b>M.R.C.</b>). “We are trying to establish the driving force behind the fresh recruitment, particularly in Katsangani and Meticharaka,” said <b>Mike Kimoko</b>, deputy police commissioner for Tana Delta sub-county in <b>Coast Province</b>. “We have beefed up intelligence gathering and surveillance.” Ten M.R.C. were arrested for unlawful assembly in Kilifi County.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Boeremag Attempted-<i>Coup</i> Leader Beaten in Prison by Notorious Murderer-Rapist.</u></b> The leader of <b>South Africa</b>’s white-supremacist <b>Boeremag</b> militia, <b>Tom Vorster</b>, <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/modimolle-monster-accused-of-inmates-assault-1992839" target="_blank">claims he was assaulted in prison</a> on March 1st by a prison warder and by a fellow inmate, <b>Johan Kotze</b>, dubbed “the Modimolle Monster.” Vorster said he was attacked during a stabbing rampage by members of a prison gang in Zonderwater Prison, in Gauteng province. Kotze is serving a life term for murdering his nephew and orchestrating the gang-rape and torture of his ex-wife. Vor</span>ster was sentenced to 35 years in 2013 for plotting with members of the Boeremag, an <b>Afrikaner</b> (<b>Dutch</b> South African) militia, to assassinate President (as he then was) <b>Nelson Mandela</b>, take over the reins of state, and reinstitute <i>apartheid</i> in a Boer republic.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">21 Die as Pakistan Battles Baloch Rebels; More “Disappearances” of Civilians Reported.</u> The first half of the month saw over 20 reported killings of <b>Baloch</b> separatist rebels by <b>Pakistan</b>’s military, but Baloch rights groups are continuing to report the government’s abduction and killing of Baloch civilians, including women and children. A commander in the <b>Baloch Republican Army</b> (<b>B.R.A.</b>) <a href="http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/International/2016-03-02/Three-BRA-militants-gunned-down-in-Balochistan/210972" target="_blank">was among three militants shot and killed</a> by Pakistan’s security forces in southwest <b>Balochistan</b> province on March 2nd. A military spokesman said that weapons were recovered and that the militants had been guilty of killing laborers. Later in the day, in Kech district, four other B.R.A. militants <a href="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/03/03/national/bra-commander-among-7-militants-killed-in-balochistan/" target="_blank">were killed and two wounded in a raid</a> by the Frontier Constabulary. But the B.R.A. <a href="http://balochwarna.com/2016/03/04/balochistan-bullet-ridden-dead-bodies-of-six-baloch-found-in-two-days-another-four-abducted/" target="_blank">claims that some bodies presented to the hospital in the city of Turbat as victims of the battle were in fact the corpses of innocent Baloch people</a>—one of them a 15-year-old last seen in September—who had been abducted previously through the Pakistani government’s notorious practice of “disappearing” dissidents. Then, on March 9th, a shootout between security forces and the <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) in Balochistan’s Sibi district <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/10-Mar-2016/bla-commander-among-eight-killed-in-sibi" target="_blank">left eight insurgents dead along with two Pakistani soldiers</a>. Among the B.L.A.’s dead was their commander, <b>Aslam Achou</b> (a.k.a. <b>Merick Baloch</b>), who was a high-ranking B.L.A. spokesman. Meanwhile, according to the <b>Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization</b> (<b>U.N.P.O.</b>), Pakistani forces on March 5th <a href="http://unpo.org/article/18985" target="_blank">raided the community of Mach, in Bolan district</a>, and abducted four Baloch people: a man, a woman, and two children, a two-year-old and a two-month-old. Two others had recently been abducted in Turbat—all locations in Balochistan. In both cases, homes were looted and some set on fire. Then, five B.L.A. rebels <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1065257/five-baloch-militants-killed-in-dera-bugti/" target="_blank">were reported killed in Dera Bugti</a>, according a Frontier Corps spokesman. And government sources told the media on March 3rd that attempts <a href="http://nation.com.pk/national/04-Mar-2016/plans-afoot-to-bring-baloch-rebel-leaders-back" target="_blank">were underway to find a way to bring two prominent Baloch separatists back to Pakistan for trial</a>. The two are <b>Brahamdagh Bugti</b>, head of the B.R.A., who was recently (as reported at the time in this blog) denied political asylum in <b>Switzerland</b>, and <b>Harbiyar Marri</b>, who leads the <b>Balochistan Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) from self-imposed exile in London.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baloch victims of a government raid this month</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Kashmiris from Pakistan Side of Border Accuse Islamabad of Coddling Terrorists.</u></b> Exiled separatists from the western part of <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b>, which is controlled by <b>Pakistan</b>, <a href="http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india-pakistan-providing-safe-haven-to-terrorists-claim-pok-and-gilgit-baltistan-leaders-318855" target="_blank">have come out accusing the Pakistani government of working against peace in the region by supporting terrorism elsewhere i</a></span><a href="http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india-pakistan-providing-safe-haven-to-terrorists-claim-pok-and-gilgit-baltistan-leaders-318855" target="_blank">n Pakistan</a>. “On the one side, Pakistan says it is fighting a war against terrorism,” said <b>Shaukat Ali Kashmiri</b>, secretary general of the <b>United Kashmir People’s National Party</b> (<b>U.K.P.N.</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>P.</b>), during a <b>United Nations</b> event in Geneva, <b>Switzerland</b>,</span> “but on other side, <b>LeT</b> [<b>Lashkar-e-Taiba</b>] terrorists are roaming freely and extremists are rallying every day, the <b>Jaish-e-Mohammad</b> is operating, and the <b>Jihad Council</b>, the outfit which has claimed the Pathankot attack, these are all benefitted by the state.” He included the <b>Taliban</b> in the list, as well, adding, “So, this is not the right way to fight against terrorism that you adopt the policy of pick and choose. In PoK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir], the terrorist infrastructure is still intact and we always say that this region has been used as a launching pad for terrorist activities. I firmly believe that terrorists will not make Kashmir free.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Milkman Held in Trampling Death, Burning of Queen of Chhatarpur and Princess.</u></b> Two men <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/bhopal/mp-milkman-among-two-held-for-murder-of-ex-queen-princess/story-jdVzjUHtpGODg78hxeMj7N.html" target="_blank">are being held and accused of killing two members of the royal family of a former princely state</a> on February 19th in <b>India</b>’s state of <b>Madhya Pradesh</b>. The victims were <b>Queen Yuvrani</b>, age 80, and her 40-year-old daughter <b>Baby Raja</b>, whose bodies were found badly burned in their palace. Yuvrani’s late husband, who died in 2006, was <b>Rai Vijay Bahadur Singh</b>, who had been rajah (king) of <b>Chhatapur State</b>, also called the <b>Neguan</b> dynasty, until its dissolution at Indian independence in 1947. Police say the two suspects in the double murder are <b>Nandi Rajput</b>, age 45, who supplied milk to the royal family, and his accomplice <b>Harisingh Yadav</b>. At the root of the murder was Rajput’s claim that the princess owed him sharecropping dues and that two years earlier she had falsely, he claims, implicated his brother in a jewelry theft. The two killers allegedly waited until the queen’s son, <b>Raj Bahadur</b>, had left town to attend a wedding. Police say that the men killed the two women by trampling them to death and then trying to create the impression that they had died in an electrical fire. (Yes, the princely state’s flag is the same as <b>Bavaria</b>’s, only upside-down.)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chhatarpur police present to the media the suspects in the murder of two members of the royal family.<br />
And no, I have no idea what the plates of plantains have to do with anything.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Separatist Extortionists Suspected in Kidnapping, Torture of Manipur Filmmaker.</u></b> A filmmaker of the <b>Meitei</b> ethnic group <a href="http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/03/04/ppfa-demands-action-against-separatist-militants/" target="_blank">was abducted from his home in Imphal</a>, capital of eastern <b>India</b>’s <b>Manipur</b> state, tortured, and left to be found the next morning in critical condition. He was immediately taken to the hospital. The <b>Patriotic People’s Front of Assam</b> (<b>P.P.F.A.</b>) has denounced the crime, distancing themselves from more radical separatist fighters assumed to be behind the kidnapping. According to police, the filmmaker, <b>M. Raghumani</b>, was targeted because he was not paying protection money to an unnamed rebel group, which the P.P.F.A. says runs a parallel government in Manipur.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Telangana Activist, Paralyzed in Police Crackdown in 2011, Commits Suicide.</u></b> From <b>India</b>’s newest state, <b>Telangana</b>, comes a sad coda to the decades-long struggle by the <b>Telugu</b> people to create the state out of the northern third of <b>Andhra Pradesh</b>. Telangana finally became a state in 2014, but one pro-statehood activist who was severely injured and permanently disabled during a police crackdown <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/Ignored-by-Government-Depressed-Telangana-Separatist-Ends-Life/2016/03/11/article3321333.ece" target="_blank">ended his life this month by hurling himself in front of a train</a> near the Telangana town of Bhongir. The man, 40-year-old <b>Jakkula Yakaswamy</b>, of Turkalashapur, had vowed not to marry until statehood was achieved. But during the <b>Telangana Joint Action Committee</b>’s Arab Spring–style “Million March” in Hyderabad on March 10, 2011, police beat Yakaswamy with a baton, using police tactics condemned by international human-rights groups, and was paralyzed with a spinal injury. He was never unable to receive government assistance, fell into a depression, and took his life on the fifth anniversary of his injury.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jakkula Yakaswamy, the Telangana statehood movement’s last martyr</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Hardline Kashmiri Separatist Icon Geelani, 86, in Hospital after Heart Attack.</u></b> The political and spiritual leader of the separatist movement in <b>India</b>’s <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b> state, <b>Syed Ali Shah Geelani</b>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/jk-separatist-leader-syed-ali-shah-geelani-hospitalised/article8336584.ece" target="_blank">suffered a minor heart attack in New Delhi</a> on March 10th and has been placed in intensive care in a hospital there. Within a couple days, Hurriyat spokespeople <a href="https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Mar-12/341894-two-ukrainian-soldiers-killed-in-separatist-east-kiev.ashx" target="_blank">were saying Geelani was recovering quickly</a>. Geelani, who is 86 years old, has been living in the national capital for health reasons; doctors had advised avoiding the cold weather and high elevations of Kashmir. Geelani leads the <b>All-Parties Hurriyat Conference</b>, an umbrella group for hard-line separatist organizations in the majority-Muslim state.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Separatist Hizbul Mujahideen Militant Killed in House Siege in Kashmir.</u></b> A separatist fighter <a href="http://www.thequint.com/hot-wire/2016/03/06/hizbul-mujahideen-militant-killed-in-kulgam-encounter" target="_blank">was killed during a battle with security forces</a> in India’s disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir on March 6th. Troops were closing in on a house in the village of Buchroo that they had been tipped off housed two militants. The occupants of the house shot at the security forces, and one militant, Dawood Sheikh, of the Hizbul Mujahideen (H.M.) Islamist separatist militia, was killed. One member of the security forces was wounded. Later, on March 9th, two militants <a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/two-militants-killed-in-pulwama-gunfight-police/211456.html" target="_blank">were killed in a gun battle with government troops</a></span><a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/two-militants-killed-in-pulwama-gunfight-police/211456.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in a botanical nursery i</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">n the southern Kashmiri village of Wandakhpora</span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Thai Police Accused of Beating Detained Uyghur Migrants.</u></b> The <b>World Uyghur Congress</b> (<b>W.U.C.</b>), an organization based in <b>Germany</b> which represents the mostly-Muslim <b>Uyghur</b> ethnic group in northwestern <b>China</b>, on March 4th <a href="http://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/thai-uyghurs-03072016133823.html" target="_blank">accused the government</a> of <b>Thailand</b> of “badly beating” six Uyghur men and denying them medical treatment. The Thai government issued a denial of the accusation three days later. According to the W.U.C., the six men were mistreated on February 29th by police at a detention facility for undocumented immigrants in Bangkok. The conflict apparently arose when the prisoners complained about police watching pornography in their presence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Arrested Hong Kong Autonomist Leader Hints at Beijing-Orchestrated Kidnap Plots.</u></b> The <b>Hong Kong</b> autonomist leader charged with rioting <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/03/02/man-who-did-not-speak-cantonese-threatened-to-kidnap-me-says-localist-group-leader-ray-wong/" target="_blank">told the press</a> on March 1st that someone with “powerful backing” had earlier threatened to kidnap him, pointedly mentioning the five dissident booksellers from the territory widely believed to have been “disappeared” by the <b>Chinese</b> central government. The activist, <b>Ray Wong Toi-yeung</b> said the man—who did “not speak Cantonese,” meaning he was not from Hong Kong and possibly not even from the south—warned him that “they” “will find me and catch me.” After the February 8th, unrest, Wong said, “there were different people trying to reach my family and I [<i>sic</i>] through different methods. ... There were elements of threats and bribes,” but “we did not accept any invitations nor make a response.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Wong Toi-yeung during his perp walk last month</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Missing Hong Kong Booksellers Appear on Chinese TV, Confessing to Minor Offenses.</u></b> Four of the five dissident <b>Hong Kong</b> booksellers feared “disappeared” by <b>China</b>’s central government <a href="http://stateofthestateks.com/2016/03/04/in-interviews-hong-kong-publishers-confess/" target="_blank">appeared on Chinese television</a> on March 6th saying in taped interviews that they were detained by Chinese authorities for “illegal book trading”—not, ostensibly, for the content of the books but for the ways in which they got around some customs rules. <b>Lee Bo</b>, the bookseller, whose case raised the most concern because it appeared that Chinese agents had abducted him on Hong Kong territory, said that he was renouncing his dual <b>United Kingdom</b> citizenship to avoid “complications.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Monk in Sichuan, Teen in India End 6-Month Lull in Tibetan Self-Immolations.</u></b> A six-month lull in a gruesome form of Tibetan protest ended on February 29th, with the self-immolations of a 16-year-old boy in northern <b>India</b>, followed shortly by a monk in <b>Sichuan</b> province. The Tibetan diaspora organization <b>Free Tibet</b> reported on March 2nd that three days earlier <b>Dorjee Tsering</b>, age 16, <a href="http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/exile/4907-tibetan-schoolboy-self-immolates-calling-for-tibets-independence" target="_blank">had doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside his grandfather’s assisted-living facility in Dehradun</a>, in India’s <b>Uttarkhand</b> state, demanding Tibetan independence. He was hospitalized in Delhi with burns over 95% of his body, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Teen-who-set-himself-on-fire-for-Tibet-in-Dehradun-dies/articleshow/51260811.cms" target="_blank">and died in hospital</a> on March 3rd. “I did discuss my intentions with my parents earlier,” he said after arriving the hospital, “who told me they would kill themselves if I did this.” On the same day as Tsering’s protest, a monk in <b>China</b>, in Sichuan’s <b>Kardze Tibetan “Autonomous” Prefecture</b>, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burns-03012016164905.html" target="_blank">immolated himself near his monastery</a>. While burning, the monk, <b>Kalsang Wangdu</b>, “called out for Tibet’s complete independence,” according to <b>Radio Free Asia</b>. Bystanders intervened and tried to get Wangdu to a hospital, but he died on the way to the capital, Chengdu.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dorjee Tsering, a 16-year-old martyr for Tibetan freedom</td></tr>
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<b><u>Tibetan Monk’s Move from Chinese Prison to Hospital Raises Worries over Torture.</u></b> Sources in touch with <b>Radio Free Asia</b> are reporting that <b>Jigme Gyatso</b> (a.k.a. <b>Jigme Goril</b>), a <b>Tibetan</b> monk given a five-year prison sentence in 2011 for supposed separatist incitement, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/hospital-03092016124449.html" target="_blank">was moved to a hospital in Lanzhou</a>, in <b>China</b>’s <b>Gansu</b> province, in anticipation of his release in six months. This has led some rights activists to fear that he has been tortured in prison, since there had been no indication of any underlying health concerns. “In Tibet, detainees are still beaten and subjected to conditions that amount to torture,” according to the <b>Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy</b> (<b>T.C.H.R.D.</b>), based in <b>India</b>, “including the denial of medical care, starvation diets, and freezing cells. Prisoners who are about to die are released on ‘medical parole’ so that their death does not occur in a detention facility—even though it was caused by their treatment during detention.” Among the offenses for which Gyatso is imprisoned is testifying, in a 2009 video clip that became famous on the Internet, to his torture while in detention. The T.C.H.R.D. said on March 8th that Gyatso’s family had last seen him on January 25th. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, in Ngawa County, in a Tibetan-majority “autonomous” prefecture in <b>Sichuan</b>, a 33-year-old mother </span><a href="http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/4911-china-arrests-a-tibetan-mother-for-peaceful-protest-in-tibet" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">was arrested within minutes on March 1st when she walked down the street carrying a photograph</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of the <b>14th Dalai Lama</b>. Her whereabouts are unknown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Pamiris See Hints Tajikistan Planning to Rescind Badakhshan Autonomy.</u></b> Activists in <b>Gorno-Badakhshan</b>, a sometimes-secessionist region of the former <b>Soviet</b> republic of <b>Tajikistan</b>, <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/03/11/when-is-an-autonomous-territory-not-autonomous-when-tajik-state-media-says-so/" target="_blank">are raising increasingly vocal concerns</a> over the authoritarian Tajikistani government’s increasing tendency to refer to their large territory as simply “<b>Badakhshan</b> province” and not the formal name <b>Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast</b> (<b>G.B.A.O.</b>). Badakhshanis, who are mostly of the <b>Pamiri</b> ethnic group, which also extends into <b>Afghanistan</b>, are fearing that this presages a possible move by the central government to rescind the G.B.A.O.’s autonomy as a constitutional referendum nears in May during which voters will be asked whether to allow the authoritarian president, <b>Emomali Rakhmon</b>, to seek additional terms of office and ease the age restrictions for a possible succession by his son, <b>Rustam Emo</b></span><b>mali</b>. “Friends,” said one G.B.A.O. activist on Facebook, “there is an opinion that a referendum on the cancellation of Badakhshan autonomous status will take place in March this year.” Nor is it encouraging that Emomali last month renamed a Badakhshani village “Rakhmonobod.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Armed Raid on Hospital Complicates Thai Talks with Muslims Rebels.</u></b> The government of <b>Thailand</b> is blaming a series of apparently coordinated attacks on March 13th on the <b>Patani Malayu National Revolutionary Front</b> (known by its Malay acronym <b>B.R.N.</b>, for <i><b>Barisan Revolusi Nasional</b></i>), which seeks independence for the country’s far-southern Muslim provinces. More than 10 armed rebels <a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1457934628&section=12&typecate=06" target="_blank">took over a hospital</a> in <b>Narathiwat</b> province on March 13th, then used it as a base from which to fire upon an adjacent ranger outpost. The rangers did not return fire, out of concern for the hospital occupants’s safety. After about an hour-long barrage with assault rifles, the militants retreated into the bush and have not been located. The same day, unidentified gunmen fired at security officers in a train station in Cho Airong, and a bomb went off on a bridge near Yaning. No injuries were reported in any of the three incidents. The attacks came three days after the</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> government’s chief negotiator <a href="http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/gen-aksara-peace-talks-with-southern-separatists-are-progressing/134609/" target="_blank">said that talks with separatist rebels were progressing satisfactorily</a>. Thailand, he said, had set forth its preconditions for talks, and </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Mara Patani</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the umbrella group representing six separatist outfits (not including the anti-talks B.R.N.), is examining and contemplating those conditions. Right now both sides are awaiting word from </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Malaysia</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s government, as mediator in the talks, on when the first next round will begin. One issue in play right now is whether and where to set up a cease-fire zone in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, along the Malaysian border, where the insurgency is focused. The latest attacks make such a solution a bit less likely.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFAR-QMPB4-6BH_tPzyr8uhDtpJII47X5pDYSN0v_jvM_76rjwLkr-mGsx1h2YB-X0T4XgozYVpNGgQ5oEvcSZp5s-AEJhbTyk5VkPltjmZbRO7ub7ltivQoFRokcSmIx5r0W3wUKj_qv/s1600/pattani+attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFAR-QMPB4-6BH_tPzyr8uhDtpJII47X5pDYSN0v_jvM_76rjwLkr-mGsx1h2YB-X0T4XgozYVpNGgQ5oEvcSZp5s-AEJhbTyk5VkPltjmZbRO7ub7ltivQoFRokcSmIx5r0W3wUKj_qv/s400/pattani+attack.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pattani rebels on the attack in 2012</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Southern Philippine Rebels Warn Failure of Autonomy Process Opens Door for ISIS.</u></b> The head of the southern Philippines’ most visible Muslim separatist outfit <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/philippine-muslim-rebels-warn-seeks-foothold-south-052644837.html" target="_blank">warned the government</a> on March 7th that the recent decision by the country’s legislature not to move forward on launching a new autonomous region for the Moro people could backfire. Murad Ebrahim, who chairs the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is doctrinally moderate in its Islam, told media in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that the MILF now fears that the Islamic State terrorist group (a.k.a. ISIS) “can capitalize on this, because the sentiment of the people in the area is now very strong. The frustrations after the non-passage of the law—they can capitalize on that.” Murad says the MILF is pleading with ISIS-allied groups in the region to desist from violence in the region. But the Philippine government <a href="http://neurope.eu/article/palace-declares-no-threat-philippines/" target="_blank">continues to insist that there is no evidence of any ISIS presence in the country</a>.</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">OCEANIA</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Papuans Protest Catholic Priest’s Arrest over Separatist Ties.</u> In Manokwari, capital of <b>Indonesia</b>’s <b>West Papua</b> province, <a href="http://unpo.org/article/18983" target="_blank">dozens of Catholic Papuans marched</a> on March 2nd to protest the arrest and interrogation of Father <b>John Djonga</b>. The head of the <b>Catholic Youth</b>’s local provincial chapter, <b>Thomas Jefferson Baru</b>, demanded the police “stop criminalizing” Djonga, who was arrested on February 19th (as reported last month in this blog) after leading a prayer service at whic</span>h a <b>United Liberation Movement of West Papua</b> (<b>U.M.L.W.P.</b>) b<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">anner was displayed. A police spokesman said that at the moment Djonga was only a witness, not a suspect.</span><br />
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<u style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif; font-weight: bold;">New Zealanders Begin Voting on Whether to Swap Union Jack for Silver Fern.</u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The first New Zealanders </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/new-zealand-flag-change-final-voting-begins-on-historic-choice" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">started receiving ballots</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> March 3rd for a second round of voting on whether to keep </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">New Zealand</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s current flag, with the Union Jack canton and Southern Cross constellation, or switch to a snazzier one with a silver fern running diagonally across it. The Silver Fern Flag edged out four competing flags last year in the first round of voting, garnering 50.58% of votes cast. Now the vote is on whether a switch will be made at all. Voting ends on March 24th, and the final result is to be announced March 30th. Recent polls show two-thirds of the public prefers the current flag to the proposed one. But New Zealand’s Olympic yachting team <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/77625884/New-Zealand-sailors-to-use-alternative-flag-in-testing-for-Rio-Olympics" target="_blank">will be practicing with both flags</a> so that they are prepared for whichever of the two flags they end up needing to take to Rio de Janeiro, <b>Brazil</b>, for this year’s Summer Olympics. Emotions are running high over the flag in some quarters. On March 6th, an unidentified man <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11601273" target="_blank">hoisted down a Silver Fern flag flying alone on a pole outside the city hall</a>, wrapped it in a bag, and left it on the mayor’s doorstep. He later told the local newspaper that for the city government to fly the flag by itself was a “total manipulation” of the referendum process. On March 9th, the electoral commission <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/298496/flag-voting-paper-theft-investigated" target="_blank">was investigating claims that a man in Auckland made</a> on <b>Facebook</b> to the effect that he had stolen 300 mailed ballots from neighbors of his who he claimed “couldn’t care less.” “He had ticked the new flag option on all of them,” New Zealand media reported, “but it was not known if the papers have been cast.” Meanwhile, the Australian actor <b>Hugh Jackman</b> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3486885/Hugh-Jackman-weighs-New-Zealand-flag-debate-says-s-time-rid-Union-Jack-Australia-ditch-well.html" target="_blank">came out in support of the Silver Fern Flag</a>, saying that both <b>Australia</b> and New Zealand need to switch to new flags without the Union Jack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Stuart Beck, New York TV Exec Who Helped Palau to Independence, Dies at 69.</u></b> A television executive from Bronxville, <b>New York</b>, who became the unlikely midwife for <b>Palau</b>’s independence from the <b>United States</b>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/world/asia/stuart-j-beck-american-who-helped-guide-palau-into-nationhood-dies-at-69.html" target="_blank">died</a> February 29th at the age of 69. <b>Stuart J. Beck</b> first visited the tiny Micronesian atoll of 20,000 or so people in 1976 to do an environmental-impact assessment of a petroleum port project, but he was recruited by locals to help usher the country—which had been part of the <b>United States Pacific Trust Territory</b> since the Second World War—to independence. He called the experience like being in “<b>Athens</b> in the time of <b>Pericles</b>.” Palau became its own sovereign state in 1994, but with strong apron strings still tying it to the U.S., which still provides its currency and its national defense, among other services. As a state in “free association,” it was not obvious that it should have its own seat at the <b>United Nations</b>. Beck thought otherwise and later says he told the Palauans, in effect</span>, “Look, you don’t produce anything, you don’t manufacture anything, nobody’s after your labor pool, you don’t have anything that anyone wants, the U.S. already has defense and basing rights, so the only thing of value you have is your U.N. vote.” From 2003 to 2013 he served as the Palauan ambassador to the U.N., where he made Palau the closest lock-step ally of the U.S. in U.N. votes, even when it came to resolutions on <b>Israel</b> and <b>Palestine</b>—an issue on which the U.S. and Israel usually stand completely alone.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Pro-Independence Party Falls Short of Signatures Needed for Hawaiian Elections.</u> The <b>Aloha Aina Party</b>, which supports independence for <b>Hawai‘i</b>, <a href="http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/aloha-aina-party-attempt-fails" target="_blank">failed in its attempt to secure enough signatures to participate as a political party in elections</a>, the <i>Hawaii Tribune-Herald</i> reported on March 1st. 707 signatures were required. But one party leader, <b>Pua Ishibashi</b>, said, “I think if anything we are more focused and even more committed. And to make sure that this moves forward in 2018, we’ll do everything we need to do.” He emphasized the need for education, adding, “I think a lot of these guys really don’t understand the queen, and all her patriots, they were all fighting for the vote.”</span><br />
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Founder of North Ontario Separatist Party Retires; Upstart Holliday May Take Helm.</u> The founder of the <b>Northern Ontario Heritage Party</b> (N.O.H.P.), which sought to split off the vast, sparsely populated but resource-rich north of <b>Ontario</b> as a separate province within <b>Canada</b>, <a href="http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/384479/Northern_Ontario_Heritage_Party_founder_retires_at_84" target="_blank">announced this month that he is retiring from politics</a>, but a new leader is already eager to take up the mantle. <b>Ed Deibel</b>, who is 84 years old, founded the party in the mid-1970s and it never won a single seat in the provincial parliament. The party folded in 1985, and then Deibel rebooted it 25 years later with more modest goals of a fairer distribution of the north’s resource wealth. In 2014, Deibel ran for a seat in the Thunder Bay–Atikokan riding but got only 0.5% of the popular vote. He openly acknowledges that <b>Trevor Holliday</b>, a politically aggressive 33-year-old bus drive from North Bay, is the future of <b>North Ontario</b> separatism. “In the last election,” Deibel said, “we had three candidates including myself and we got under 1,000 votes so something’s wrong when we’ve got a guy in North Bay who started an online petition and he’s got thousands of signatures.” Holliday has already submitted a formal bid to replace Deibel at the party’s helm. <b>Gino Chitaroni</b>, the president of the party, is also resigning, and <b>Paul Sloan</b>, who ran and lost for a seat representing the Thunder Bay–Superior North riding in 2014, wants to replace him. One of Sloan’s priorities is enlarging the membership of the party, which currently stands at 26.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Missouri Democrat Proposes Making St. Louis the 51st State.</u> A lawmaker in <b>Missouri</b> <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/the-state-of-st-louis/article_67586270-989d-57bc-ab1d-019efd451252.html" target="_blank">proposed legislation</a> on March 1st to make the city of <b>St. Louis</b> a separate state. The two bills provide for a statewide referendum on the question, as well as a formal request to the <b>United States</b> Congress and President <b>Barack Obama</b> to consider the matter. Only the U.S. Congress can finalize the admission of new states. The lawmaker, Rep. <b>Mike Colona</b>, is a member of the <b>Democratic Party</b> and said his primary aim was to “bring attention to the divide in this state,” which, like much of the U.S., is split between mostly Democratic urban areas and mostly <b>Republican</b> hinterlands. Missouri, despite the presence of St. Louis and <b>Kansas City</b>, has vast rural areas and usually votes Republican in statewide and federal elections. In 2012, there was briefly a movement to create a 51st state out of both the Missourian and the Kansan halfs of Kansas City.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fgj3VxwLrcMBkjcvuiJ5v9q_ICLWx5Yik7p1EdCmvVJnuka7EQ7MJRqWAIpcwJvn_4xIHC0Ag2PCxVFPRJ5o2_lz99yr4mj05sJU6Snf46S13ddUTIT_HSWrH1Tv-orcc3WFGJUnWADI/s1600/images-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fgj3VxwLrcMBkjcvuiJ5v9q_ICLWx5Yik7p1EdCmvVJnuka7EQ7MJRqWAIpcwJvn_4xIHC0Ag2PCxVFPRJ5o2_lz99yr4mj05sJU6Snf46S13ddUTIT_HSWrH1Tv-orcc3WFGJUnWADI/s400/images-5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If St. Louis seceded, Missouri would have nothing to put on its souvenir mugs and T-shirts.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Cliven Bundy Refuses to Enter Plea; 14 Other Nevada Standoff Veterans Face Trial.</u></b> The racist Mormon rancher turned anti-government militant who defied <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> grazing-fee collectors two years ago with a posse of armed thugs at his ranch in southern <b>Nevada</b> <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/03/cliven_bundy_makes_initial_cou.html" target="_blank">returned to federal court</a> on March 4th to begin his trial for conspiracy, assault, and other offenses. But when it came time for his plea, on March 10th, he <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rancher-cliven-bundy-refuses-enter-plea-protesters-rally-support-n536206" target="_blank">refused to enter one</a>. A judge entered one for him: not guilty. Last month (as reported at the time in this blog), the defendant, <b>Cliven Bundy</b>, was arrested at the Portland airport as an armed protest occupation of a wildlife refuge led by two of his sons wound down. Meanwhile, on March 3rd, federal authorities <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/us/cliven-bundy-standoff-more-charges/" target="_blank">arrested 14 people in several different states</a> in connection with the Nevada standoff, including two more of Bundy’s 11 sons and, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/donald-trump-cliven-bundy-government-standoff-nevada" target="_blank">in New Hampshire</a>, one <b>Jerry DeLemus</b>, a Tea Party radical and Marine veteran involved in both the 2014 Nevada standoff and the Oregon one who <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/Granite-States-libertarian-streak-fuels-support-for-Jerry-DeLemus" target="_blank">is a key local activist</a> in <b>Donald Trump</b>’s race-baiting presidential campaign, as co-chair of <b>Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire</b>. DeLemus <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/03/husband-of-new-hampshire-state-represent" target="_blank">is married to a New Hampshire state legislator</a>, Rep. <b>Susan DeLemus</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Donald with the DeLemuses (or is it DeLemi?)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>North Dakota Hamlet Demolishes House Once Meant to Anchor All-White Enclave.</u></b> The tiny town of Antler, <b>North Dakota</b>, <a href="http://www.crookstontimes.com/article/20160301/NEWS/160309973" target="_blank">came together to witness the ceremonial demolition of a home</a> that the white-supremacist <b>Craig Cobb</b> bought with an intention to replicate his failed attempt to found a <b>“Pioneer Little Europe”</b> white separatist enclave in nearby Leith in 2013. Cobb, who is associated with the neo-fascist <b>Creativity Movement</b> but also consorts with like-minded <b>American Nazis</b>, <b>Ku Klux Klansmen</b>, and members of <b>Aryan Nations</b>, planned to make the building into a church. Antler’s mayor, <b>Bruce Hanson</b>, said during the burning, on February 29th, “We’re hoping to close this chapter” in the town’s history. Antler citizens and officials foiled Cobb’s plan by buying up property, which left the town still in debt but glad they avoided Leith’s fate. Cobb lives in nearby Sherwood, serving four years’ probation on terrorism charges for his threatening behavior in Leith. Cobb <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/an-extremely-partial-list-of-white-supremacists-who-support-donald-trump/" target="_blank">said recently</a> that he supports the <b>Republican Party</b>’s presidential front-runner <b>Donald Trump</b> and would like to name Antler after him. (Leith had been renamed by him “Cobbsville.”)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Lawsuit Claims Mississippi Flag with Confederate Emblem Incites Racial Violence.</u></b> A <b>United States</b> federal court <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/mississippi-state-flag-lawsuit-filed-remove-confederate-emblem-claming-it-incites-2327767" target="_blank">is considering a lawsuit</a>, filed February 29th, against <b>Phil Bryant</b>, the <b>Republican</b> governor of Mississippi, claiming that the state flag, which incorporates the <b>Confederate</b> battle flag, incites racial violence against <b>African-Americans</b> and thus violates their 14th-Amendment rights. The suit was filed by <b>Carlos Moore</b>, an attorney from Grenada, Mississippi, who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/09/mississippi-black-lawyer-death-threats-confederate-emblem-state-flag" target="_blank">has had to hire a security detail after the lawsuit’s announcement led to repeated racist-tinged death threats against him</a>. The state attorney general, <b>Jim Hood</b>, a member of the <b>Democratic Party</b>, <a href="http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2016/03/02/us-confederate-flag-mississippi.html" target="_blank">says the state will defend itself against the suit even though he himself opposes the flag</a>. Bryant calls the suit “frivolous.” An opinion poll conducted on March 7th showed 61% of Mississippi’s Republicans—which means, essentially, 61% of its white people—<a href="http://msbusiness.com/2016/03/poll-huge-margin-of-mississippis-gop-voters-support-state-flag/" target="_blank">want the state flag to stay unchanged</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Meanwhile, the board of supervisors in Jackson County, on Mississippi’s coast, defied a plea (reported on at the time in this blog) from the <b>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</b> (<b>N.A.A.C.P.</b>) and <a href="http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/30da425613884f9bb336bbc80e3485e7/MS--Confederate-Flag-Jackson-Co" target="_blank">decided in a 4-1 vote on March 7th to keep the state flag flying at county facilities</a>. The sole opposing vote was that of the board’s president, Melton Harris, who is African-American.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (See my recent article from this blog, in which American neo-Confederates are one of </span><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Other Rebel-Flag News: Flag Vendor Pistol-Whipped in Bayou; Citadel Vandal Nabbed.</u></b> In other <b>Confederate</b>-flag news, <b>Virgil Rayford</b>, a 52-year-old <b>African-American</b> landowner in Angie, <b>Louisiana</b>, <a href="http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/northshore-landowner-arrested-after-altercation-with-confederate-flag-vendor/38286688" target="_blank">was arrested after an altercation</a> with a man illegally selling <b>Confederate</b> flags and other white-supremacist paraphernalia on his (Rayford’s) property. The illegal vendor claims Rayford pistol-whipped him. Rayford <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/confederate-flag-dispute-arrest_us_56d2fcc3e4b03260bf772549" target="_blank">was charged</a> on March 4th with aggravated assault with a firearm. The altercation occurred very near the spot where one of the parish’s first African-American sheriff’s deputies was shot to death, probably by the <b>Ku Klux Klan</b>, in 1965. In <b>South Carolina</b>, at the <b>Citadel</b>, a federally-run military academy, an African-American man <a href="http://www.fitsnews.com/2016/03/07/man-arrested-for-tearing-down-confederate-flag-at-the-citadel/" target="_blank">was arrested on March 4th after he tore down a Confederate battle flag on display in the institution’s chapel</a>. The culprit, <b>Torrence Dwyle Forney</b>, age 44, <a href="http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2016/03/08/suspect-calling-for-removal-of-confederate-flag-allegedly-leads-campus-chase" target="_blank">led campus police on a chase before he was apprehended</a>, and reports say he appeared to be intoxicated. The Citadel’s board decided, in a 9-3 vote, to remove the flag last year, but they are legally unable to unless South Carolina’s legislature amends laws which protect “historical displays and monuments.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Farrakhan Praises Trump for Running Campaign without “Jewish Money.”</u></b> Last month, <b>Donald Trump</b>, the front-runner for the <b>Republican Party</b>’s nomination for president, came under heavy criticism for dissembling and prevaricating when called upon to condemn his endorsement by <b>David Duke</b> of the <b>Ku Klux Klan</b>. So it was a surprise when the Black-nationalist firebrand mullah <b>Louis Farrakhan</b> of the anti-Semitic <b>Nation of Islam</b> (<b>N.O.I.</b>) hate group <a href="http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/nation-islams-louis-farrakhan-joins-kkk-praise-donald-trump-i-what-im-looking" target="_blank">told a crowd assembled in Chicago for the N.O.I. holiday Saviors’ Day that he admired Trump</a> as the only politician running “who has stood in front of the <b>Jewish</b> community and said, ‘I don’t want your money.’” Farrakhan claimed that Jews “control the politics of America,” and added, “Not that I’m for Mr. Trump, but I like what I’m looking at.” Presumably, Farrakhan’s enthusiasm for distribution of wealth and for prosecution of Wall Street white-collar criminals will not translate into an endorsement of Senator <b>Bernie Sanders</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Farrakhan and Trump: bigots of different feathers stick together.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Trump Continues to Rack Up Endorsements from Nazis, Klan, Other Hate Groups.</u></b> For the record, Donald Trump <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/an-extremely-partial-list-of-white-supremacists-who-support-donald-trump/" target="_blank">has also been endorsed by hate groups</a> that include the <b>Council of Conservative Citizens</b>, the <b>American Freedom Party</b>, <b>Occidental Dissent</b>, the <b>National Policy Institute</b>, and the <b>American Nazi Party</b>, among others. Nor is this support merely abstract. At a Trump rally in Louisville, <b>Kentucky</b>, during the March 1st “Super Tuesday” primaries, <b>African-American</b> protestors, some from the <b>Black Lives Matter</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>) movement, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/03/02/white-nationalists-involved-physical-altercation-protesters-trump-rally" target="_blank">were shoved and insulted by members of the white-nationalist component of the crowd</a>. The offenders included <b>Matthew Heimbach</b>, founder of the neo-Nazi <b>Traditionalist Worker Party</b> and a training director for the white-supremacist <b>League of the South</b>. Heimbach later said, “The entire point of the B.L.M.’s tactics is to push people until they push back. They’ve actually convinced themselves that these rank-and-file Trump supporters and even Trump himself are synonymous with the <b>Klan</b>, or at least with outright nationalists like myself.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White supremacist Matthew Heimbach, a self-appointed crowd-control specialist<br />
at Trump hate rallies, is also, not surprisingly, a Vladimir Putin fan.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Activist Says Sanders, Trump Candidacies Stoking Interest in Vermont Independence.</u></b> A founder of the <b>Second Vermont Republic</b> (<b>S.V.R.</b>) independence movement <a href="http://www.wcax.com/story/31466544/vermont-based-rebellion-gains-traction-during-presidential-campaigns" target="_blank">said this month that his cause has been buoyed by this unusual presidential primary season</a>—not only because the maverick socialist <b>Bernie Sanders</b>, a Vermonter himself, is using the rhetoric of grass-roots progressive rebellion, but because many liberal northeasterns, among many others, are wondering whether continuing to be part of the <b>United States</b> will be such a good idea if <b>Donald Trump</b> becomes president. “I think Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are reinvigorating the conversation about Vermont independence in some pretty interesting ways,” Williams said. “There’s a real, I think, fear right now that the United States is moving in directions that we don’t want to participate in,” Williams said, noting that <b>George W. Bush</b>’s presidence was also a period of high interest in Vermont secession, but “the election of <b>Barack Obama</b>”—who is highly popular in the state—“in 2008 really sucked the oxygen out of the room.” Williams split with the economist Thomas <b>Naylor</b>, another co-founder of S.V.R., over Naylor’s cosying up to unsavory fellow separatists like the racist <b>League of the South</b> hate group.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj54p4yPmth6r7E8MWCQlgkZ7c1PMnZJ2Z0KV9THsb0Aws_VsZZuK3Fo2CEMmOBuD74woRAykP91kH7KxIQ75gzPQ2ajvNlpGWT5r2cwYStJzcY0NMOu5rUJiQQyUb9AnU0VApXR6doT9ye/s1600/Moorish+American+National+Govt+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj54p4yPmth6r7E8MWCQlgkZ7c1PMnZJ2Z0KV9THsb0Aws_VsZZuK3Fo2CEMmOBuD74woRAykP91kH7KxIQ75gzPQ2ajvNlpGWT5r2cwYStJzcY0NMOu5rUJiQQyUb9AnU0VApXR6doT9ye/s200/Moorish+American+National+Govt+flag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>“Moorish National” Squatter Convicted, Sentenced in North Carolina.</u></b> A self-identified member of a “<b>Moorish National American Government</b>” <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article63552212.html" target="_blank">was convicted of trespassing</a> on March 1st in Charlotte, <b>North Carolina</b>, for illegally squatting in a large vacant foreclosed house for three months last summer and fall. The defendant, <b>Ninti El Bey</b>, got 45 days in jail, which can be waived if she chooses probation and community service. She and perhaps as many as eight fellow “Moorish” squatters were repeatedly evicted and El Bey was arrested twice and threatened police. Though a bank owns the house, she told authorities it was owned by an “International Indigenous Trust,” though the name she gave in connection with the trust was that of a <b>Hungarian</b> pornography star. El Bey <a href="http://www.twcnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2016/03/2/woman-found-guilty-of-squatting-in-charlotte-home-to-appeal-verdict-.html" target="_blank">says she will appeal the decision</a>. Meanwhile, <b>Brother D. A. Siggers-Bey</b>, a <b>Moorish Science Temple of America</b> grand mufti told media that El Bey’s squatting is against Moorish teachings and went on to doubt that she is a true member of the nation. The “<b>Moorish Science Temple</b>” movement and its splinter groups believe that <b>Black Africans</b> are the true indigenous people of the Americas.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE13xAQRZAqUVn-Z8uESkjJY9D1tBuVUP2PV14M788boOq2vhKrdI_Grx89iuGlGSMyqXgZrhUFvL_6J2QqWtEqANNl5DacPviz9q_blCYWk5zuHSThrOYKO4qiOPUcpgnqSu2TencHzzg/s1600/Moorish+Ninti+El+Bey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE13xAQRZAqUVn-Z8uESkjJY9D1tBuVUP2PV14M788boOq2vhKrdI_Grx89iuGlGSMyqXgZrhUFvL_6J2QqWtEqANNl5DacPviz9q_blCYWk5zuHSThrOYKO4qiOPUcpgnqSu2TencHzzg/s1600/Moorish+Ninti+El+Bey.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moor in the dock: Ninti El Bey</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTG3E71vGTb3kRv5_JSWkov2fITMORZEk0uXnKHs1sS-KSnUBH1-KDs29IGTPlvMovPHgz6Rd2doY5VKpkYlbGSY1WJ3FIMeDnhsjA5SELMHhcvJIhK-DW6pv0T5l4U-EaCV4EY7rCBUS/s1600/Washitaw+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTG3E71vGTb3kRv5_JSWkov2fITMORZEk0uXnKHs1sS-KSnUBH1-KDs29IGTPlvMovPHgz6Rd2doY5VKpkYlbGSY1WJ3FIMeDnhsjA5SELMHhcvJIhK-DW6pv0T5l4U-EaCV4EY7rCBUS/s200/Washitaw+flag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Manifesto by “Washitaw Moorish” Squatters Cites Atlantis, “Louisiana Republic.”</u></b> In New Orleans, the <i>Times-Picayune</i> <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/03/read_the_washitah_nation_manif.html" target="_blank">has released to the public the legal manifesto of sorts wielded by four squatters</a> from the <b>Moorish Science Temple</b> movement’s “<b>Moorish Washitaw</b>” splinter group who were last month (as reported at the time in this blog) expelled from a house they had illegally taken over in New Orleans and now face felony burglary charges. On the letterhead of “the <b>Mu’ur National Republic</b>, Mu’ur Divine and National Movement of the World: Mu’ur Americans, Aboriginal and Indigenous Natural Peoples of Northwest <b>Amexem</b>, Northwest Africa/North America/‘The North Gate,’” in “New Orleans, <b>Louisiana Republic</b>,” the wildly inventive and profoundly juridically incoherent legal document bombards the reader with realistic-looking legal jargon but then veers sharply into talk of the Pharaohs of <b>Egypt</b>, the sunken continent of <b>Atlantis</b>, and the <b>Lost Tribes of Israel</b>. The group’s links to the “sovereign citizen” movement become apparent in references to one of the plaintiffs’ calling herself <b>Yanamaria Latasha Bey</b>, being a member of “her sovereign tribe, <b>Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah</b>, Mu’ur (Mu’ur), which is a native tribe of the <b>Republic of the united</b> [<i>sic</i>] <b>States of America</b>, in which, the Washitaw enjoy Diversity of Citizenship Jurisdiction. Because they are a nation within a nation.”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The referred-to Republic of (or, sometimes, “for”) the united (yes, in lowercase) States of America (<b>RuSA</b>) is a sovereign-citizens concept which holds that the current federal government is a non-sovereign corporation and that a dormant sovereignty rests in the states, ready to be revived by vigilantes running police, courts, and other government services.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Ironically, many RuSA “organic constitutionalists” believe that <b>African-Americans</b> are not citizens because their emancipation was secured only through an amendment to the constitution, not through the main text and thus they are citizens only of the (non-existent) federal government, not of the truly-sovereign states. The document also cites President </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Dwight D. Eisenhower</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">’s recognition of the newly independent </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Kingdom of Morocco</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in 1956 and an “International Proclamation” that Bey and another “Free Mu’ur National,” one </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Yahmel Yaffu Ali Bey</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, sent to President </span><b style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Barack Obama</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in 2011—all of this in a lengthy attempt to prove their right to occupy the house (which they did not, in fact, own).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiaE8rAZNczeoBiQ8Y2n5JGs2XVUDPQe3Dm5GVDS2jeg2Fz9itJ9f8otae5rgctoEn5_VHn9BEojts9f1j1t59nrN2aRs5FxX9AawWt66PnrHovgS5PYgYXwxLG8TLfdILKBCZHNV2wNV/s1600/moorish+map.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiaE8rAZNczeoBiQ8Y2n5JGs2XVUDPQe3Dm5GVDS2jeg2Fz9itJ9f8otae5rgctoEn5_VHn9BEojts9f1j1t59nrN2aRs5FxX9AawWt66PnrHovgS5PYgYXwxLG8TLfdILKBCZHNV2wNV/s400/moorish+map.GIF" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map from the Washitaw Moorish website.</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">CARIBBEAN</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Curaçao Police Question Separatist Party Leader over Predecessor’s Assassination.</u> The head of <b>Curaçao</b>’s main pro-independence party, <i><b>Pueblo Soberano</b></i> (<b>P.S.</b>), <a href="http://curacaochronicle.com/politics/political-leader-called-in-for-questioning-in-murder-case-helmin-wiels/" target="_blank">was questioned by police</a> on March 4th in connection with the 2013 assassinatio</span>n of <b>Helmin Magno Wiels</b>, wh<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">o was at the time P.S.’s chairman. <b>Jaime Córdoba</b> said after his questioning that he had been interviewed only as a witness, not a suspect, and that he believes that the island’s National Investigation Team (N.I.T.) was on the right track in its investigation. Later, he <a href="http://curacaochronicle.com/politics/cordoba-i-know-who-killed-wiels/" target="_blank">lambasted the press for its insinuations about the police’s interest in him</a>, and he stated, “I know who committed this act” (referring to the assassination); “in the coming month, everything will be revealed.” He added, “It’s an abuse what has been done to this country by killing and assassinating a man for speaking the truth. Now they think the party will fall—never. Voters will return.” P.S.’s goal is to secure complete independence from the <b>Kingdom of the Netherlands</b>, of which Curaçao is currently a “constituent country.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helmo Magno Wiels’s assassination in 2013 is still under investigation.</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">PRACTICALLY BLOODY ANTARCTICA</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u><br />Argentine Governor Delivers Falkland Isles Soil to Pope Francis.</u></b> A delegation from the government of <b>Argentina</b>, including President <b>Mauricio Macri</b>, that visited <b>Vatican City</b> on February 28th <a href="http://en.mercopress.com/2016/03/02/falklands-soil-and-pebbles-were-received-by-the-pope-from-argentine-governor" target="_blank">presented</a> <b>Pope Francis</b> with soil from the <b>Falkland Islands</b>. <b>Rosana Bertone</b>, governor of Argentina’s <b>Tierra del Fuego</b> province, said on March 2nd, after the visit, “Francis received all the letters sent from my constituency and also soil and pebbles from the <b>Malvinas Islands</b>, which were delivered by our marathon runner <b>Daniela Brada</b>.” Tierra del Fuego province includes not only the eponymous archipelago at Cape Horn but—symbolically—the <b>British</b>-ruled territories of the Falkland (“Malvinas”) and <b>South Georgia</b> islands, and Argentina’s vast, and internationally unrecognized <b>Antarctic</b> claim, stretching all the way to the South Pole. Francis has said repeatedly that he believes that the Falklands belong Argentina—which has never had a permanent settlement there—based on an 1820 claim by a naval mercenary from <b>Connecticut</b> in the name of the <b>United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata</b>. His Holiness also believes that virgins can get pregnant and that he has the power to turn wine into blood.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_vGlIOyfIpazeJBIKVB9pM2Pia9aqPUnsHhmxEUKRBzY2VfodA-ESYHBDBl9Lsn_Osgb2aVMuqmTr5_0S-d_tGwye5GF5W4cFJ7S5vbi9Sq-zU5dBm4CJxZvKoD5puaVSt3ScGdMCMDA/s1600/Argentina_-_Tierra_del_Fuego_Province_and_its_territorial_claims.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_vGlIOyfIpazeJBIKVB9pM2Pia9aqPUnsHhmxEUKRBzY2VfodA-ESYHBDBl9Lsn_Osgb2aVMuqmTr5_0S-d_tGwye5GF5W4cFJ7S5vbi9Sq-zU5dBm4CJxZvKoD5puaVSt3ScGdMCMDA/s640/Argentina_-_Tierra_del_Fuego_Province_and_its_territorial_claims.svg.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Argentina’s vast Tierra del Fuego province—on paper, at least.<br />
In reality, Argentina only governs the tiny little triangle of mainland at the upper left.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>ACTUALLY BLOODY ANTARCTICA</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Grand Duke of Flandrensis Names Cabinet, Including Anarctic Environment Portfolio.</u></b> A micronation based in <b>Belgium</b> whose territorial claim consists of five islands off the coast of <b>Antarctica</b> named its cabinet this month, including ministers for multimedia, culture, and Antarctic affairs. <b>Niels Vermeesch</b>, who has been Grand Duke of <b>Flandrensis</b> since 2008, appointed the following ministers: </span><b>Hein of Giddis</b>, of Belgium, as Prime Minister for Internal Affairs and National Safety; <b>Gwendolien de Loungville</b>, of Belgium, as Minister of Finances and Economy; <b>Jürgen of Bryggia</b>, of Belgium, as Minister of Multimedia; <b>George De Feyter</b>, of <b>France</b>, as Minister of Antarctic Environment; <b>Cezary Ostrowski</b>, of <b>Poland</b>, as Secretary of Heraldry; <b>Lander Hasaert</b>, of Belgium, as Minister of Social Welfare and Integration; <b>Gabriel Ritchie</b>, of <b>Scotland</b>, as Minister of Media and Communication; <b>Omar Cisneros</b>, of the <b>United States</b>, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for western Europe, Oceania, and the Americas; <b>Bekhruzbek Ochilov</b>, of <b>Uzbekistan</b>, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa; and <b>Dieter Delmotte</b>, of Belgium, as Minister of Culture.<br />
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The Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, which is committed to raising awareness of threats to the Antarctic ecology, and of environmental concerns generally, is believed to be the only national government that does not want any humans to visit or settle in its territory.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks to Russ Grabczyk and Marko Puljic for alerting me to some of the news developments covered in this article.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read in detail about these and many other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-18567770897402416372016-03-01T13:17:00.002-06:002016-03-02T15:02:14.763-06:00Separatist Updates for February 16-29, 2016: Fishball Revolt Leader Arrested; Ogoniland Invaded; White Separatists for Trump; Brexit Vote Deepens Scottish Rift; New Kosovo President; the Falklands and the “Barbie Bandit”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><u>TOP STORY:</u></b><br />
<b><u>HONG KONG INDEPENDENCE BACKER POLLS STRONGLY IN LOCAL VOTE;</u></b><br />
<b><u>“FISHBALL REVOLUTION” ORGANIZER ARRESTED; COPS SAY BOMBS FOUND</u></b><br />
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“‘Radical’?” asked <b>Edward Leung Tin-kei</b> when asked about the <b>Chinese Communist Party</b>’s criticism of the protest movement to which he belongs. “Yes. ‘Separatist’? I have no objection to either [term].” <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2016/02/20/china-labels-protesters-radical-separatists-and-they-agree/g6x7jsT1EtVWBYI1lg8p4N/story.html" target="_blank">Those words</a>, if uttered by a <b>Tibetan</b> or <b>Uyghur</b> or <b>Inner Mongolian</b> activist in the <b>People’s Republic of China</b>, would mean a one-way ticket a “reeducation” camp, or worse. But Leung (pictured above) belongs to <b>Hong Kong Indigenous</b>, which carefully uses the term “localist” to describe its cause of home rule for the <b>Hong Kong Special Administrative Region</b>, which the <b>United Kingdom</b> transferred to the P.R.C. in 1997 with a Chinese commitment to maintaining “one country, two systems.” That phrase means Hong Kong gets to keep the freedom of expression and religion and conscience, and its approximation of democracy, that it enjoyed as part of the U.K., while mainland China—the most murderous regime in world history, responsible for the massacre of 70 million people since it took power in 1949—keeps its “system” that consists of a pitiless totalitarianism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgFpleMqaSNfsryVRXBRvr1nb_NJ9MQVch5aXGvVNMVqPLLxspyHKctO2yvLh2993s_MiYMayV7-T_Pxz5kKNBO6Lc7LfITpBITcZZj_p0pkOngE2FQc_LPAXFYrqrTUGFgW-qS4fGItt/s1600/Hong+Kong+Fishball+Revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgFpleMqaSNfsryVRXBRvr1nb_NJ9MQVch5aXGvVNMVqPLLxspyHKctO2yvLh2993s_MiYMayV7-T_Pxz5kKNBO6Lc7LfITpBITcZZj_p0pkOngE2FQc_LPAXFYrqrTUGFgW-qS4fGItt/s640/Hong+Kong+Fishball+Revolution.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The February 9th Fishball Revolution</td></tr>
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Leung is part of a new trend in Hong Kong, which is openly calling itself separatist and testing how much dissent Beijing will tolerate in the autonomous quasi-colony. What’s worrying to the Chinese government is that he is not a marginal figure. In a February 27-28 election to Hong Kong’s <b>Legislative Council</b>, <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/world/article/Hong-Kong-radical-candidate-makes-strong-showing-6859906.php#photo-9474486" target="_blank">Leung came in third</a>, with 15% of votes cast—despite the fact that he is one of <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/02/26/another-arrest-in-connection-with-mong-kok-unrest/" target="_blank">scores of peaceful citizens facing charges of incitement to riot</a> for a February 9th New Year celebration in Hong Kong’s working-class Mong Kong district which turned violent. That riot was dubbed the “Fishball Revolution” (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/separatist-updates-for-february-1-15.html" target="_blank">reported on recently in this blog</a>) because the grievance that sparked it had been municipal restrictions on street-food vendors. (<b>Alvin Yeung</b>, by the way, a more mainstream pro-democracy candidate, won the contested seat, with 37% of the vote. <b>Holden Chow</b>, who is pro-Beijing, came in second.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DV8jxsOXLX34ecS99fsB3SsNu7O9t2C9YpK4Mb8uMhsO8rujx5ZWYIltsx4M86_6bAvtY1jkk2Yjt9IQcym-e-ijfbL7tsg3hX_b5ygNYM_9TqPwjidVfxunE4Xr52gTlDOBWTbwNnXV/s1600/Hong+Kong+Ray+Wong+on+truck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DV8jxsOXLX34ecS99fsB3SsNu7O9t2C9YpK4Mb8uMhsO8rujx5ZWYIltsx4M86_6bAvtY1jkk2Yjt9IQcym-e-ijfbL7tsg3hX_b5ygNYM_9TqPwjidVfxunE4Xr52gTlDOBWTbwNnXV/s640/Hong+Kong+Ray+Wong+on+truck.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Wong (on truck, with megaphone) is defying the most brutal and repressive government in the world.<br />
And no one’s sure where it will lead.</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, the head of Hong Kong Indigenous, Ray Wong Toi-yeung, <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/02/21/hong-kong-indigenous-leader-ray-wong-arrested-following-mong-kok-unrest/" target="_blank">was arrested</a> by <b>Hong Kong</b> police on February 21st. He had been in hiding since the unrest, with his last public statement having been this proverb posted online on February 18th: “Rather be a shattered vessel of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery.” Police <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/02/22/police-find-explosive-material-weapons-ray-wong-arrested/" target="_blank">claimed that upon his arrest they found bomb-making chemicals</a>, batons, <b>Guy Fawkes</b> masks, and Viagra—showing that even police who plant evidence have a sense of humor. Wong, who is 22 years old, <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/02/23/leader-of-localist-group-hk-indigenous-charged-with-rioting-may-face-10-years-in-prison/" target="_blank">was charged with rioting by a magistrate a few days later and ordered held on $100,000 bail</a>. He could get a 10-year sentence if convicted. Police <a href="http://en.apdnews.com/asia-pacific/macau-taiwan/342850.html" target="_blank">say they are searching for 100 other suspects</a> who played an “active role” in the riots.<br />
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<b><u>OTHER HONG KONG UPDATES</u></b><br />
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<b><u>“Father” of Hong Kong Autonomy Movement Set to Lose Academic Job.</u></b> A professor at <b>Hong Kong</b>’s <b>Lingnan University</b> who is considered the father of the idea of the city-state’s independence from the <b>People’s Republic of China</b> <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1916048/hong-kongs-godfather-localism-horace-chin-set" target="_blank">has been told by the university’s Chinese Department that there would be no recommendation to renew his contract</a>, which ends in August. The professor, <b>Horace Chin Wan-kan</b> (a.k.a. <b>Chin Wan</b>), on February 23rd blamed political pressure from Beijing for the development. Chin’s 2007 book, <i>On the Hong Kong City-State,</i> is said to have inspired the modern pro-autonomy movement known euphemistically as “localism” so as not to run afoul of Chinese laws forbidding discussion of separatism. Chin has a Ph.D. in ethnology from <b>Germany</b>’s <b>University of Göttingen</b>.<br />
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<b style="text-decoration: underline;">China Bans Broadcast of Hong Kong Film Awards over Anti-Communist Dystopia. </b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> The <b>Chinese</b></span><b> Communist Party</b> <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1915635/beijing-slaps-ban-hong-kong-and-taiwan-film-awards-amid-rising" target="_blank">imposed broadcast bans</a> on one, maybe two, major film-awards ceremonies, one in <b>Hong Kong</b> and one in <b>Taiwan</b>. The Hong Kong Film Awards, slated for April 3rd, was a source of tension with Beijing because of one of the leading entries, <i>Ten Years,</i> which depicts Hong Kong in the year 2025, with direct totalitarian rule having replaced the current (threatened) “one country, two systems” regime. For Beijing, it dovetails a bit too neatly with this year’s Fishball Revolt (see above). The awards association said it would accept the ban rather than pull <i>Ten Years</i> from the program. There are also indications that Taipei’s Golden Horse Film Awards, which are typically held in November, may get the same treatment.<br />
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<b><u>Taiwanese Denied Entry to Hong Kong for “Republic of Taiwan” Stickers on Passports.</u></b> Two citizens of <b>Taiwan</b> <a href="http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201602280005.aspx" target="_blank">were denied permission to enter</a> mainland <b>China</b>’s <b>Hong Kong Special Administrative Region</b> on February 27th because they had stickers on their passports which covered the words “<b>Republic of China</b>”—Taiwan’s official name—and replaced them with the words <b>“Republic of Taiwan”</b>—the name that many separatists on the island would like their country to adopt.<br />
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<b><u>EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Sturgeon Vows 2nd Independence Push in Case of Brexit; E.U. Vote Set for June.</u> The <b>United Kingdom</b>’s prime minister, <b>David Cameron</b>, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-britain-european-union-referendum-20160220-story.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 20th that the promised U.K.-wide poll on whether or not to stay in the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) will take place on June 23rd. Despite saying, “I do not love Brussels, I love Britain,” Cameron reiterated that he thinks Britain is “safer and stronger” in the E.U. and hopes voters reject the idea of a “Brexit,” as the idea of a U.K. withdrawal is called. <b>Scotland</b>’s first minister, and head of the separatist <b>Scottish National Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>), <b>Nicola Sturgeon</b>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-scotland-idUSKCN0VT0EZ" target="_blank">responded by sharpening her stance on the subject</a>. She reminded the public that the great majority of Scots want to stay in the E.U.—a larger and firmer majority than in England—and as good as promised that in the event of a Brexit, Scotland would seek a second referendum on independence. <b>England</b>, whose population is 84% of the U.K., could pass a Brexit vote no matter what Scotland, <b>Wales</b>, and <b>Northern Ireland</b> say. “If we get into the situation,” Sturgeon said, “where Scotland votes to stay in, the rest of the U.K. votes to come out, then people in Scotland will have big questions they will want to look at again about whether Scotland should be independent.” Unlike the situation before the narrowly defeated independence plebiscite in 2014, polls show a second vote could easily pass. Meanwhile, <b>London</b>’s flamboyant, mercurial, tousle-haired mayor, <b>Boris Johnson</b>, who has in the past argued for London’s secession from the U.K., <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/world/europe/london-mayor-joins-chorus-demanding-exit-from-eu.html" target="_blank">came out</a> on February 21st in favor of a Brexit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOcqNN4iyC_aanYQ9eNo4DwBW-i2nobpvhr8LRFC94pRQspJfY2dIl4d-eOjvOVKetuX90ouJsWwL9k-PblakPnf0svqXxueLpcWF7rf7M7UBTwFJZ6GRtBVuS01W6Dgpinq6us0F2wUF/s1600/Britain+euroskeptic+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOcqNN4iyC_aanYQ9eNo4DwBW-i2nobpvhr8LRFC94pRQspJfY2dIl4d-eOjvOVKetuX90ouJsWwL9k-PblakPnf0svqXxueLpcWF7rf7M7UBTwFJZ6GRtBVuS01W6Dgpinq6us0F2wUF/s1600/Britain+euroskeptic+map.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scotland and Wales stand out like sore thumbs<br />
in this map of the most and least Euroskeptic parts of Great Britain</td></tr>
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<b><u>Welsh Voters, Wooed by UKIP, Tilt against Brussels; Ulster Remains Pro-E.U.</u></b> In <b>Wales</b>, unlike <b>Scotland</b> (see above), opinion <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2aa5a1fa-d64e-11e5-829b-8564e7528e54.html#axzz40pKyb4ML" target="_blank">has shifted sharply</a> in the direction of favoring the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s withdrawal from the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>). A mid-February opinion poll indicated 45% of Welsh favoring leaving a “Brexit,” and only 37% sure that they want to stay in the E.U. Analysts attribute the shift to the rise in popularity of the <b>United Kingdom Independence Party</b> (<b>UKIP</b>). In <b>Northern Ireland</b>, by contrast, 55% say they favor staying in the E.U.—the position of <b>Sinn Fein</b>—while only 13% want to quit it. The 13% minority, however, includes the new First Minister in Belfast, <b>Arlene Foster</b>, of the <b>Democratic Unionist Party</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Pan-Celticists Want to Fly Tricolor Near Glasgow on Centenary of 1916 Irish Revolt.</u></b> A flag kerfuffle is brewing in a council area (county) just east of Glasgow. A Celtic nationalist group called <i><b>Cairde Na hÉireann</b></i> (“<b>Friends of Ireland</b>” in Scots Gaelic), which calls itself “the national structure for republicans in <b>Scotland</b>,” <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/news/2016/02/16/news/scottish-council-could-fly-tricolour-to-commemorate-1916-418518/" target="_blank">has applied for permission to fly the Irish tricolor</a> from North Lanarkshire Council facilities in Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, and the council-area seat, Motherwell. It would be flown on April 24th, which is the hundredth anniversary of <b>Ireland</b>’s 1916 Rising. The council voted narrowly to allow the flag to be flown, but a final decision will not be made until late March.<br />
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<b><u>Founder of Isle of Skye’s Pictish Free State Revealed as Leo DiCaprio’s Godfather.</u></b> A bearded eccentric living on <b>Scotland</b>’s Isle of Skye and self-appointed leader of the <b>Picts</b> (though they are no longer a distinct people) <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/regions/inverness-highlands-islands/robbie-the-pict-is-godfather-of-leonardo-dicaprio-1-4035325" target="_blank">was revealed in February to be the godfather</a> to the <b>American</b> film actor <b>Leonardo DiCaprio</b>, according to the newspaper the <i>Scotsman.</i> The revalation came mere days before DiCaprio received an Academy Award for his portrayal of the crazed Scotch-Irish-American frontiersman <b>Hugh Glass</b> in <i>The Revenant.</i> “<b>Robbie the Pict</b>,” as DiCaprio’s godfather is legally known (he changed his name from <b>Brian Robertson</b> when he renounced his <b>United Kingdom</b> citizenship in 1984), heads a micronation called the <b>Pictish Free State</b>, over one thousand acres on Skye which <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/940800" target="_blank">began as a single-acre plot in 1977</a>. Robbie—who supports Scottish independence, at least for the parts of Scotland outside his island fief—has had run-ins with the law stemming from using his own Pictish license plates, among other causes. He spent part of the 1990s seeking political asylum in <b>Estonia</b>, and in 1999 he won 0.57% of the vote in a bid for a seat in the Scottish parliament. He met DiCaprio’s father, the Italian-American underground comic-book writer <b>George DiCaprio</b>, in <b>California</b> in the 1970s. “ Much as George was proud of his <b>Italian</b> connections,” the Pictish leader says, “he thought it would be an interesting break from that tradition to have a Scottish godfather.” The elder DiCaprio confirms Robbie the Pict’s account, saying, “Robbie used to come down here to Los Angeles and spend time with me, Leo and the family. He is a very colourful character.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes, it seems, you <i>can</i> Pict your relatives: Leo (left) and godfather Robbie.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Flemish, Scottish M.E.P.s Scold Madrid for Mistreatment of Catalonia.</u></b> Several members of the <b>European Parliament</b> who know something about independence movements <a href="http://www.catalannewsagency.com/politics/item/suspending-the-catalan-ministry-for-foreign-affairs-is-counterproductive-say-foreign-meps" target="_blank">warned the government of <b>Spain</b></a> in late February that Spanish plans to forcefully disband <b>Catalonia</b>’s new “Ministry for Foreign Affairs” would be “counterproductive” and would only stiffen the resolve of Catalans to take their autonomous region out of Spain. Some M.E.P.s advised Madrid that renaming a Catalan regional ministry as a foreign-affairs ministry was merely semantic, and <b>Algirdas Saudargas</b>, an M.E.P. who was once foreign minister for <b>Lithuania</b>—a state which owes its very existence to an “illegal” unilateral declaration of independence in 1991—said that if Catalans feel themselves to be “a nation and want to do more things and decide more things for themselves, they will do that sooner or later.” <b>Ian Hudghton</b>, M.E.P., who is president of the <b>Scottish National Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>), said his country was “fortunate” not to have “been treated in the way that Madrid seeks to treat Catalonia.” And <b>Mark Demesmaeker</b>, M.E.P., of <b>Belgium</b>’s separatist <b>New Flemish Alliance</b>, chided Madrid for using “their courts to do their dirty work for them, to take a political decision,” in delegating its assault on Catalonia’s foreign ministry to the judiciary.<br />
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<b><u>Vaudois Politician Parleys with Sardinians Pushing for Swiss Annexation.</u></b> The mayor of Avenches, in French-speaking western <b>Switzerland</b>, was in Cagliari, the capital of <b>Sardinia</b>, on February 25th <a href="http://notizie.cagliarioggi.it/n?id=103340" target="_blank">for a meeting with</a> the <b>Sardinian Association for the Maritime Canton</b> (<b><i>Associazione Sardegna Canton Marittimo</i></b>), a movement which aims to make Sardinia, an autonomous region within Italy, the 27th Swiss canton (described before in this blog). The mayor, <b>Daniel Trolliet</b>, who is also a legislator for Avenches’ canton, Vaud, gave a presentation on Switzerland’s economic and political systems and the possibilities for cooperation. Trolliet <a href="http://www.mattinonline.ch/sardegna-canton-marittimo-svizzera/" target="_blank">agrees with A.S.C.M.’s founders</a>, <b>Andrea Caruso</b> and <b>Enrico Napoleone</b>, that <a href="http://www.sardiniapost.it/cronaca/549702/" target="_blank">trade and scientific ties are a necessary first step in the annexation process</a>. Perhaps the reason an Aventine politician was chosen for the event has something to do with historical connections: not only are Sardinian and Vaud both territories formerly ruled by the House of Savoy, but Avenches’s coat-of-arms (on the left, below) and Sardinia’s flag (on the right) both feature the heraldic “<b>Moor</b>’s head” device.<br />
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<b><u>Bosnian Serb President Said to “Incite Racial Hatred” for Calling Bosniaks “Turks.”</u></b> The ultranationalist and separatist-minded president of the half of <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b> called the <b>Republika Srpska</b> <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnian-serb-president-criticized-for-inciting-hatred--02-17-2016" target="_blank">is the target of a criminal complaint</a> filed February 16th for inciting racial hatred. The complaint, filed by the organization <b>Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation</b>, singles out President <b>Milorad Dodik</b>’s reference to <b>Bosniaks</b>—Slavic-speaking European Muslims who are one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia—as “<b>Turks</b>.” “This is primitivism,” said the organization’s president, <b>Sinan Alić</b>, angry that criminal charges weren’t brought automatically, “and I find it unbelievable that the prosecutions didn’t act on their own accord, but if they don’t want to work, we have filed a complaint.” (The case is interesting because, although on the face of it the law is intended to promote tolerance, these charges imply that there is something wrong with being a Turk.) Meanwhile, the president of a <b>Serb</b>-victims awareness group, <b>Milan Mandić</b>, <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnian-serb-victims-representative-charged-with-inciting-hatred--02-29-2016" target="_blank">was also charged with inciting racial hatred</a> for what is defined as genocide denial in Bosnia: he described the Serb-run Srebrenica massacre of 1995 as “God’s justice.” Mandić heads the <b>Serb Association of the Missing of the Sarajevo Region</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Thousands Rally against Government on Kosovo National Day; Thaçi New President.</u></b> On <b>Kosovo</b>’s national day on February 17th, marking the 8th anniversary of its declaration of independence from <b>Serbia</b>, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-opposition-rally-government-step-36996672" target="_blank">thousands of opposition demonstrators thronged the streets of the capital</a>, Pristina, demanding the resignation of the government, accusing it of capitulation to power-sharing demands by Serbia and border concessions to <b>Montenegro</b>. Nearly all the flags waved in the crowd were flags of <b>Albania</b>, rather than Kosovo. <b>Visar Ymeri</b>, who heads the <b>Self-Determination Movement</b> (<i><b>Vetevendosjë</b></i>), the main opposition party, which favors unification with Albania, gave the administration until February 27th to step down and promised protests would not cease till it did. Police estimated the crowd at 15,000, but organizers said over 100,000 participated. Two days later, in the Kosovar parliament, opposition legislators <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-opposition-lawmakers-block-parliament-tear-gas-37049126" target="_blank">resorted to a common tactic in the chamber</a>: lobbing tear-gas canisters as a way of expressing disagreement with matters under discussion. After three tear-gas attacks, the parliamentary speaker, <b>Kadri Veseli</b>, wearing a gas mask, tried in vain to prevent lawmakers from fleeing the chamber. As of February 23rd, <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/hundreds-of-kosovars-camp-in-central-pristina-to-demand-new-elections/3204359.html" target="_blank">there were still hundreds of Kosovars encamped in Pristina’s main square</a> demanding new elections. “We will stay here until the government goes home,” Ymeri said at the protest camp. Over the night of February 23-24, a car belonging to the wife of <b>Memli Krasniqi</b>, Kosovo’s minister of agriculture, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/24/kosovo-government-anarchists-burnt-minister-car.html" target="_blank">was burned</a>, and authorities blamed the crime on “paramilitary terrorists” linked to the protest movement. On February 26th, opposition lawmakers <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-elects-president-opposition-protests-37214444" target="_blank">opened tear gas again in parliament during a debate</a> on whether to make the foreign minister and former prime minister <b>Hashim Thaçi</b> the new president. Despite the disruptions, Thaçi won easily and will be the new president.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anti-government protestors in Pristina</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTHnISxwFVz75e8iZB_PlFZUGtrw0A0NET8rs5OgxCE37jfT2eWz6ouxeUYMWMuoe0miRZrjTQIOi1dCasxCGo3vhV1bFREgZ6DZ6H8X8JaVkPc0wAzDyj2RXgtUoyUoZeqbeQwOPg0nQ/s1600/albania+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTHnISxwFVz75e8iZB_PlFZUGtrw0A0NET8rs5OgxCE37jfT2eWz6ouxeUYMWMuoe0miRZrjTQIOi1dCasxCGo3vhV1bFREgZ6DZ6H8X8JaVkPc0wAzDyj2RXgtUoyUoZeqbeQwOPg0nQ/s200/albania+flag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Albanians in Preševo Protest Impoundment of Textbooks by Serbian Customs.</u></b> In Preševo, an ethnic-<b>Albanian</b>-dominated town in <b>Serbia</b>, <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-kosovo-textbooks-war-sparks-more-protests-02-18-2016" target="_blank">residents rallied</a> on February 18th to complain about Albanian-language textbooks being impounded, for no legitimate reason, in a customs terminal in the town for six months. Finally, the Serbian foreign minister, <b>Ivica Dačić</b>, gave a reason: that the textbooks were unacceptable, since they refer to <b>Kosovo</b> as independent and laud <b>Kosovo Liberation Army</b> (<b>K.L.A.</b>) fighters as national heroes. This open confession sparked the latest protests. The impoundment of the books violates a September 2015 agreement by which the Kosovar government supplied textbooks to Albanian-speaking schools in Serbia and the Serbian government would be allowed to do the same for Serbian-speaking schools in Kosovo. (For more on Preševo, see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/03/serbias-albanians-turn-kosovocrimea.html" target="_blank">my blog article</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Location of the Preševo Va<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">lley</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Zl1zKMBcz7esmvA_wvDPRkBAP1MV67WDX3ocMfMLDhqY7u13OaU-MszlITpaparMjW8QsYvtm8-xkDjDNY7f57y4g_aseOli5ph1JLlEwDxJSR3Cy9I7G8s-D8kueBbmXU8YaVto9Rsx/s1600/transnistria+flag+official.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Zl1zKMBcz7esmvA_wvDPRkBAP1MV67WDX3ocMfMLDhqY7u13OaU-MszlITpaparMjW8QsYvtm8-xkDjDNY7f57y4g_aseOli5ph1JLlEwDxJSR3Cy9I7G8s-D8kueBbmXU8YaVto9Rsx/s200/transnistria+flag+official.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Transnistria Agrees to Talks Only If 2006 Independence Vote Respected.</u></b> In rebel-controlled eastern <b>Moldova</b>, the government of the unrecognized <b>Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic</b> (a.k.a. <b>Transnistria</b>) <a href="http://tass.ru/en/world/857950" target="_blank">agreed</a> on February 19th to participate in international talks on the territory’s status, but only on the condition that the negotiations take into account a 2006 referendum in which (if you believe the figures) 98% of Transnistrians supported independence and eventual annexation by the <b>Russian Federation</b>. The chairman of the republic’s supreme soviet, <b>Vadim Krasnoselsky</b>, announced the conditions after a meeting with Russian senators. The proposed talks are called “5 + 2” talks and would include Moldova and Transnistria, in addition to three outside mediators—Russia, <b>Ukraine</b>, and the <b>Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe</b> (<b>O.S.C.E.</b>)—and two observers, the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) and the <b>United States</b>. Meanwhile, the <b>European Court of Human Rights</b> (<b>E.C.H.R.</b>) in Strasbourg, <b>France</b>, on February 23rd <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/echr-russia-transdniester-violations/27569760.html" target="_blank">levied a €29,000 ($32,000) fine</a> against the Russian government for violating the rights a Moldovan man who was arrested in Transnistria in 2008 and has been maltreated in prison since then.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVhyphenhyphen6xQ3b92m_iLbf_eW3B8eB_4HylxELqqTRN9kaCkRwrSeRvzYXzO1M303nb1pTnENphWi4BXQpFqKi11d8RXGbhHInnjVsFyp7kSXsjp2r2iQIsag6jI7rC1wRGfOxIOdWFM0Igoy0/s1600/Crimea+Autonomous+Republic+with+borders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVhyphenhyphen6xQ3b92m_iLbf_eW3B8eB_4HylxELqqTRN9kaCkRwrSeRvzYXzO1M303nb1pTnENphWi4BXQpFqKi11d8RXGbhHInnjVsFyp7kSXsjp2r2iQIsag6jI7rC1wRGfOxIOdWFM0Igoy0/s200/Crimea+Autonomous+Republic+with+borders.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Poroshenko Unveils Strategy to Retake Crimea, with Crimean Tatars’ Help.</u></b> The president of <b>Ukraine</b>, <b>Petro Poroshenko</b>, <a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/node/77576" target="_blank">defied the conventional wisdom in the international community</a> that his country has, though it is loath to admit it, written off <b>Crimea</b> as a lost cause. On the contrary, Poroshenko says, the Ukrainian military is making a pivot toward the Black Sea, with the ultimate goal of retaking the Crimean Peninsula. Marking the second anniversary on February 26th of the <b>Russian Federation</b>’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, Poroshenko said, “Crimea was, is, and will be an integral part of the Ukraine state,” adding, “I am confident that we will certainly return these two administrative territories under Ukrainian sovereignty. This extremely complex and promising process has already begun.” The two territories referred to are the <b>Autonomous Republic of Crimea</b> and the province-level <b>City of Sevastopol</b>, which together make up the peninsula. The new initiative will be centered on building up naval and infantry capabilities on the mainland coast of Ukraine facing Crimea, especially in <b>Kherson Oblast</b> (province). Ukraine’s minister of the interior, <b>Arsen Avakov</b>, also said in late February that the recapture of Crimea will involve <b>Crimean Tatar</b> political leaders as well as separate Tatar military divisions.<br />
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<b><u>Ukraine’s Eurovision Song about Crimean Tatar Deportations Tests Contest Rules.</u></b> In Stockholm, <b>Sweden</b>, a spokesman for <b>Eurovision</b> said on February 23rd that <b>Ukraine</b>’s entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, an angry ballad about <b>Josef Stalin</b>’s deportation of <b>Crimean Tatars</b> in the 1940s, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/eurovision-evaluate-ukraines-contentious-song-crimea-183316511.html" target="_blank">will have to be evaluated to make sure it complies with contest rules</a> barring “lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature.” <b>Paul Jordan</b>, the spokesman, said that the <b>European Broadcoast Union</b> (<b>E.B.U.</b>) will as a matter of course also be vetting all of the songs by the same criteria. The song in question, “1944,” is by <b>Susana Jamaladinova</b>, a 32-year-old jazz singer of Tatar ancestry who uses the stage name <b>Jamala</b>. The lyrics, in English and Tatar, include lines like, “When strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all / And say, we’re not guilty, not guilty.” (Gee, I can’t wait; my toe’s tapping already.) Jamala’s great-grandmother and her five children were among the 240,000 Crimean Tatars, nearly the entire nation’s population, moved from the Crimean Peninsula to points farther east, including <b>Siberia</b> and the Central Asian republics, in May 1944, 72 years before this year’s contest, in Stockholm. Russian politicians have complained loudly about the Ukrainian entry, calling it retaliation (though if so, one must admit rather meek retaliation) for <b>Russia</b>’s invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s <b>Autonomous Republic of Crimea</b> in 2014. All songs will be evaluated after March 14th, the deadline for entries.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Crimean Tatar singer Jamala</td></tr>
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<b><u>Amnesty Report Accuses Pro-Russia “Self-Defence Force” of Repressing Crimea Tatars.</u></b> The misnamed <b>“Crimean Self-Defense Force”</b> in Russian-occupied <b>Crimea</b> is a pro-Kremlin paramilitary which actively violates the rights of the peninsula’s indigenous <b>Crimean Tatars</b>, <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/amnesty-international-pro-russian-paramilitaries-involved-in-repression-against-crimean-tatars-597809.html" target="_blank">according to an annual report </a>published February 24th by <b>Amnesty International</b>. In particular, the report cites failure to investigate six cases of Tatar activists being “disappeared” and the abduction, torture, and murder of another, despite overwhelming evidence of the involvement of the “Self-Defense Force.” During 2015, Tatars’ “public events were regularly banned, Crimean Tatar–language media outlets were forced to close down and their leaders were subjected to regular house searches and faced criminal prosecution and detention on politically motivated charges.” The elected parliament of the Tatars, the <b>Crimean Tatar Mejlis</b>, is also on the brink of being criminalized as an “extremist” group. The Amnesty report, titled <i>The State of the World’s Human Rights,</i> <a href="http://uatoday.tv/crime/russia-commits-war-crimes-in-syria-amnesty-international-596470.html" target="_blank">also condemns</a> Russia for war crimes committed in <b>Syria</b>, including the intentional bombing of civilian targets such as schools, homes, and hospitals.</div>
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<b><u>Luhansk Rebels Launch Kids’ Magazine Featuring Fascist Uncle Sam, “Papa” Putin.</u></b> In the self-declared, pro-Kremlin <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b>, in southeastern <b>Ukraine</b>, a new magazine for children <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-separatists-magazine-kids-fascists-propaganda/27560436.html" target="_blank">was unveiled</a> on February 17th, full of anti-Western propaganda. The magazine is called <i>Polite Little People,</i> the term used in <b>Russia</b>, apparently with a straight face, to describe the shock troops that invaded and annexed Ukraine’s <b>Autonomous Republic of Crimea</b> to Russia in 2014. The colorful magazine features a villainess named Gnuland (a thinly veiled <b>Victoria Nuland</b>, a <b>United States</b> assistant secretary of state), a bogeyman called Fashiston who resembles the American “Uncle Sam,” a benevolent father figure named “Papa” who is a dead ringer for President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, and Ukraine’s president, <b>Petro Poroshenko</b>, wearing the head of a pig. The magazine’s editor, <b>Sergei Kolesnikov</b>, says the publication is intended to foster children’s “spiritual-patriotic education.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Russian children’s story even creepier than Baba Yaga</td></tr>
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<b><u>15 Reported Dead as Ukraine, Rebels Clash Near Donetsk; Village Mayor Murdered.</u></b> At least 14 people were reported killed in late February in skirmishes in rebel-controlled areas of eastern <b>Ukraine</b>. The Ukrainian military <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-casualties-idUSKCN0VP1D1" target="_blank">reported</a> on February 16th that three of their soldiers had been killed and seven others injured during the previous 24 hours. That made it the most deadly day in the civil war since mid-November. Most of the new fighting took place in Zaitseve, in the self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>) in what the world officially regards as southeastern <b>Ukraine</b>. Later, two Ukrainian soldiers <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/two-ukrainian-soldiers-have-been-injured-597957.html" target="_blank">were wounded amidst shelling near Avdiyivka</a>. Then, on the 26th, the Ukrainian government <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/ukrainian-soldier-killed-in-fresh-clashes-in-rebel-east-116022601180_1.html" target="_blank">announced the death of another of its soldiers</a>, near Granitne, in Donetsk Oblast. The same day, the D.P.R. <a href="http://tass.ru/en/world/859304" target="_blank">announced</a> that in the previous week 11 people—two civilians and nine D.P.R. fighters—had been killed in shelling by Ukraine’s military. Police in Starobilsk, a Ukrainian-controlled city in the area claimed as the <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b>, reported on February 23rd that the city’s mayor <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/23/451888/Ukraine-Tetyana-Pogukai-Volodymyr-Zhyvaga-Starobilsk-Russia" target="_blank">had been killed</a>. The mayor, 44-year-old <b>Volodymyr Zhyvaga</b>, was found unconscious outside the town council building with severe head and neck wounds. He died before he could be brought to a hospital. Police so far do not have suspects or a motive. The murder may or may not be connected with <a href="http://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-defense/1971146-moscow-dispatches-fsb-hitmen-to-donetsk-city-to-eliminate-some-separatist-leaders-intelligence.html" target="_blank">a recent claim by Ukraine’s ministry of defense</a> that <b>Russia</b> had dispatched a large team of secret police hitmen to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions “in order to kill some commanders of illegal armed formations uncontrolled by the command of the Russian occupation troops.” According to Kyiv, these include <b>F.S.B.</b> agents that have already arrived in Donetsk city.<br />
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<b style="text-decoration: underline;">Chechen Strongman’s Retirement Baffles Experts Even After Kremlin Ties Fray.</b> The flamboyantly macho authoritarian president of <b>Russia</b>’s quasi-autonomous <b>Chechen Republic</b>, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, stunned political observers by announcing his intention to retire from politics next month. This came after a week of tension during which an opposition leader in Moscow denounced him as a threat to Russia’s national security and Kadyrov quickly scuttled a plan to impose a system of Islamic “spiritual passports” after a Kremlin warning. But is the retirement Kadyrov’s own idea, or <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s, or are local Islamist radicals edging him out? or is he even really retiring? And who inherits his powerful, ruthless private army? See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/end-of-era-ramzan-kadyrovs-decision-to.html" target="_blank">my full blog article</a> for a detailed discussion of these developments.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqewzmzPjNsNGZB1uK2ngOIgpq86yn-Wam3d0liqIud2lteiU1-UK8arSYQk6Cjf4NR4aRdSz3zs0Q58VHKZN_OwjTlShsmcJELUiz75r3b1EO_eiFHs8WNK9yvwHdKdlmn30W4A1HoPt2/s1600/kadyrov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqewzmzPjNsNGZB1uK2ngOIgpq86yn-Wam3d0liqIud2lteiU1-UK8arSYQk6Cjf4NR4aRdSz3zs0Q58VHKZN_OwjTlShsmcJELUiz75r3b1EO_eiFHs8WNK9yvwHdKdlmn30W4A1HoPt2/s400/kadyrov.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ramzan Kadyrov</td></tr>
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<b><u>BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE PART OF EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia’s Chechens, Ingush, Kists Mark Solemn Anniversary of Soviet Deportations.</u> Just over the border from <b>Chechnya</b>, members of the <b>Republic of Georgia</b>’s <b>Vainakh</b> minority <a href="http://dfwatch.net/georgias-vainakh-community-commemorates-victims-of-stalins-deportations-40388" target="_blank">came together in Tbilisi</a>, the capital, on February 23rd to commemorate <b>Josef Stalin</b>’s deportation of their people to <b>Siberia</b> and Central Asia in 1944. The term <i>Vainakh</i>—for the <b>Chechen</b>, <b>Ingush</b>, and <b>Kist</b> ethnic groups—is used far less on the northern, Russian side of the Caucasus ridge, where doctrinal and political differences have accentuated the differences between the Cechen and Ingush and made them into effectively separate national identities. During the <b>Soviet</b>-era deportations, about a third of all Vainakh died as a result of the deportations and their aftermath, including executions and being intentionally worked to death in concentration camps. “The Chechen population of Georgia was spared this tragedy,” said <b>Meka Khangoshvili</b>, a Chechen diaspora leader, “because Georgian authorities insisted that Kists were peaceful citizens of Georgia. These 10,000 people today faithfully guard the territory of Georgia from Pankisi Gorge.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO2iVR4WA7HOXzWhTTiT8tbspGjlguaIOmfv_TQtjwWhTgYGXGz3RXaViGROh5drs_Dfxk2yswidz5PZoeUZLTnY90kVTeqYM6GbP0f3-kIJDj2TTuMe-68K73_ixzpded-wdcmOtijSvX/s1600/Nona+%2526+Meka+Khangoshvili+Vainakh+in+Georgia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO2iVR4WA7HOXzWhTTiT8tbspGjlguaIOmfv_TQtjwWhTgYGXGz3RXaViGROh5drs_Dfxk2yswidz5PZoeUZLTnY90kVTeqYM6GbP0f3-kIJDj2TTuMe-68K73_ixzpded-wdcmOtijSvX/s400/Nona+%2526+Meka+Khangoshvili+Vainakh+in+Georgia.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nona and Meka Khangoshvili marked the anniversary of the Chechen deportations,<br />
with flags of the Ingush and Chechen republics behind them.</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">South Ossetian President Calls for Referendum on Joining Russia.</u> The president of the <b>Republic of South Ossetia</b>, a <i>de facto</i> independent puppet state of <b>Russia</b> which nearly the whole rest of the world regards as part of the <b>Republic of Georgia</b>, <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/333069-south-ossetia-russia-referendum/" target="_blank">says he is planning a referendum on unification</a> with the Russian Federation. President <b>Leonid Tibilov</b>, in addressing the South Ossetian parliament February 19th, referred to South Ossetians’ “ancient dream” to unite with their ethnic kindred in the adjacent <b>Republic of North Ossetia–Alania</b>, which is part of Russia. Tibilov said he wants the details for a roadmap to a referendum to be worked out within the coming year. He also asked parliament to “request to prepare and initiate hearings in the State Duma of Russia to recognize the genocide of the South Ossetian people committed by Georgia in 1920, 1989-1991 and 2008.” In <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s Russia, the term <i>genocide</i> refers to any real or rumored act of violence, no matter how obscure or minuscule, that is against Kremlin interests. Tibilov also called for renaming the republic <i><b>Alania</b>.</i> Meanwhile, North Ossetia’s president, <b>Tamerlan Aguzarov</b>, <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/3035/Head-of-North-Ossetia-Tamerlan-Aguzarov-Dies-Aged-53" target="_blank">died of pneumonia</a> on February 19th at the age of 53 in a Moscow hospital. The government chairman, <b>Vyacheslav Bitarov</b>, has assumed the role of acting president.<br />
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<b><u>Abkhazia Planning Visa-Free Regimes for Russian Puppet States, Sponsors.</u></b> The government of the <b>Republic of Abkhazia</b> told <b>Russia</b>’s state-controlled news media on February 23rd that it <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/3061/Abkhazia-Plans-Visa-Free-Regime-for-Transnistria-and-Karabakh" target="_blank">planned to put in place a visa-free regime</a> embracing, to start with, three unrecognized or barely-recognized states: <b>Abkhazia</b>, <b>Transnistria</b>, and the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>). This follows an earlier announcement of plans for a visa-free regime for countries that recognize Abkhazia as independent—a small club which currently consists of Russia, <b>Nicaragua</b>, <b>Venezuela</b>, and the world’s third-smallest state, the Pacific island of <b>Nauru</b>—plus five diplomatically isolated Russian puppet states: the <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> and <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b> in southeastern Ukraine, the N.K.R., the <b>Republic of South Ossetia</b>, and Transnistria.<br />
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<b><u>Adjara’s Civic Leaders Get Their Panties in a Bunch over “Gay” Beachfront Sculpture.</u></b> In the predominantly-Muslim, formerly secessionist <b>Republic of Adjara</b>, in southwestern <b>Georgia</b>, political leaders <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/3135/Rally-Demanding-Removal-of-Gay-Sculpture-Held-in-Batumi" target="_blank">are getting all hot and bothered over an abstract sculpture that they suspect depicts homosexuality</a>. <b>Niaz Bolkvadze</b>, who chairs the pro-Russian <b>Ancestral Patriotic Union of Adjara</b>, invited several art “experts” to assess whether a well known sculpture along the Black Sea beachfront in Batumi, the Adjar capital, shows two men in love. The figures in the sculpture (see photo below) are shown only in outline, one is down on one knee, and a heart is poised between them as they hold hands. No gender is visible anywhere, though it is true that neither figure is clearly wearing a dress or skirt. “When the City Council wrote to me saying that it is a depiction of Romeo and Juliet,” Bolkvadze said, “I decided to invite a group of experts—artists, sculptors, architects. All 11 of them confirmed my suspicion that both figures are men. Another member of Bolkvadze’s group, <b>Malkhaz Tsenteradze</b>, said, “This is a sculpture of a couple of gays,” adding, “We’ll take care of this. We’re giving them a week. If they do nothing, then I’ll break this so-called monument myself and they’ll have to arrest me if they can.” One proposal is to modify the design so that one of the figures looks more female.<br />
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<b><u>Armenians with Artsakh Flags Disrupt Azeri Rally in Stockholm.</u></b> Members of the South Caucasus diaspora in <b>Sweden</b> waged a peaceful battle with flags in front of <b>Armenia</b>’s embassy in Stockholm on February 22nd. The <b>Swedish Azerbaijani Congress</b> <a href="http://asbarez.com/146372/armenians-counter-azerbaijani-protest-in-sweden/" target="_blank">rallied there in honor of the 24th anniversary of an Armenian-led massacre</a> of <b>Azeris</b> during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in Agdam, a city which is recognized by the world as <b>Azerbaijan</b>’s territory but which is administered by the unrecognized <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (a.k.a. <b>Artsakh Republic</b>). Their protest was disrupted by members of the Armenian-Swedish community carrying Artsakh flags. Meanwhile, in the on-again-off-again Nagorno-Karabakh War, two ethnic-Armenian soldiers in the N.K.R. armed forces <a href="https://www.armradio.am/en/2016/02/18/soldier-killed-in-nagorno-karabakh/" target="_blank">were killed in unspecified circumstances</a> on February 18th, <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/836591/2-armenian-soldiers-were-shot-to-death-in-artsakh.html" target="_blank">according to military reports</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dueling flags in Stockholm</td></tr>
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<b><u>Talysh Activist Calls for Independence and for Dissolution of Azerbaijan.</u></b> Not only should independence be the ultimate goal for <b>Azerbaijan</b>’s <b>Talysh</b> ethnic minority, said a Talysh political scientist at a conference in <b>Armenia</b>’s capital on February 27th, but <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/837568/talysh-people-are-interested-in-seeing-a-regional-map-without-azerbaijan-republic.html" target="_blank">perhaps Azerbaijan should not even exist</a>. “The best option for the Talysh people will be gaining independence,” said <b>Fahraddin Aboszoda</b> at a round-table discussion in Yerevan titled “Ethnic People of Azerbaijan Republic: Reality and Prospects,” adding, “Of course, there are many Talyshes that do not embrace this goal, and I feel regret about it. The majority of our intellectuals accept this idea. Our ideas go in line with the opinion of our Armenian friends. We are interested in seeing a regional map without Azerbaijan Republic. I am convinced that this will happen in the future.” The panel was organized by the Institute of Native Peoples of Caucasus-Caspian Region. (For more on the Talysh people, see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/09/talysh-rebel-leader-former-political.html" target="_blank">my article from this blog</a>.)<br />
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<b><u>Lezgins March to Nagorno-Karabakh, Complaining of Abuses under Azeri Rule.</u></b> About 25 members of the <b>Lezgin</b> (a.k.a. <b>Lezgian</b>) ethnic minority in <b>Azerbaijan</b> <a href="http://asbarez.com/146709/azerbaijans-lezgians-attempt-to-cross-artsakh-border-with-white-flag/" target="_blank">marched across an active civil-war frontline</a> into the self-proclaimed <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>), it was reported on February 29th, carrying white flags. Lezgin territory straddles Azerbaijan’s border with southwest <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Republic of Dagestan</b>, but the N.K.R., a puppet state backed by <b>Armenia</b>, is considerably to the south. The Lezgins, from the tiny village of Ketuklu in the Qəbələ district, marched toward Ağdam, an Azeri city now a ghost town because of the Nagorno-Karabakh War. They were immediately arrested by N.K.R. police, and one Lezgin, <b>Ramin Ismayilov</b>, said they were protesting the harsh rule of the <b>Nabiyev</b> extended family back in Ketuklu. “The Nabiyevs slandered and illegally arrested our children,” Ismayilov said, adding that these Azeris “have taken our region under their control. They do not let us live. They throw drugs into the villagers’ houses and cars, and then order to arrest innocent people. We are sick and tired of that, that is why we attempted to pass to the Armenian side.” They demanded an audience with a representative of the Azerbaijani presidency. Reportedly, this is only the latest in a series of individual Lezgin incursions into the N.K.R. Since the fall of Communism, Lezgins have complained of harsher treatment in Azerbaijan than in Russia (an ally of Armenia). In 1990, there was a movement to establish an independent <b>Lezginistan</b>, cobbled together from pieces of Azerbaijan and Dagestan, and in 1993 a massive protest by some 70,000 Azerbaijani Lezgins ended up with six demonstrators shot dead by riot police. Lezgin organizations are banned in Azerbaijan, though not in Russia.<br />
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<b><u>Zhirinovsky Wants Armenians, Kurds, Others to Dismantle Turkish State.</u></b> The <b>Republic of Turkey</b>, along with nearly the whole rest of the world, refuses to recognize <b>Russia</b>’s 2014 annexation of <b>Crimea</b>, so this month the Russian parliament’s most unhinged ultranationalist firebrand, <b>Vladimir Zhirinovsky</b>, <a href="http://times.am/?p=158383&l=en" target="_blank">proposed a response to Ankara</a>. Zhirinovsky, who heads Russia’s grossly misnamed <b>Liberal Democratic Party</b>, is offering to submit to the Turkish government a territorial claim on behalf of the <b>Republic of Armenia</b>, a Russian satellite state, for “<b>Western Armenia</b>,” the historically Armenian-dominated region seized by the fledgling Turkish republic in the 1920s. But that’s not all. “I think that we, in response, must recognize <b>Turkish Kurdistan</b>,” Zhirinovsky said, “and <b>Bulgarians</b> and <b>Greeks</b> can submit their claims, and at that point nothing will remain of Turkey.”<br />
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<b><u>Bombing Near Turkish Parliament Kills 28; Kurds in Iraq Bombed in Response.</u></b> A massive explosion near <b>Turkey</b>’s parliament complex in Ankara on February 17th <a href="http://gantdaily.com/2016/02/18/turkey-launches-strikes-hours-after-ankara-blast-prime-minister-names-suspect/" target="_blank">killed 28 people, including at least 60 military members, and injured another 61</a>. The prime minister, <b>Ahmet Davutoğlu</b>, with unusual specificity, quickly blamed the attack on the insurgent <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>) and specifically on one <b>Saleh Najar</b>, a Kurd from northern <b>Syria</b> with links to the <b>People’s Protection Units</b> (<i><b>Yekîneyên Parastina Gel</b>,</i> or <b>Y.P.G.</b>), which is allied with the P.K.K. Kurdish authorities in Syria <a href="http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/28893/24/" target="_blank">later claimed they could find no evidence of the existence of such a person</a>. The interior ministry said 14 suspects had been rounded up across Turkey in connection with the incident. In retaliation for the bombing, the Turkish military launched a series of airstrikes across the border into northern <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Region</b> the following day. Soon, a small group called the <b>Kurdistan Freedom Falcons </b>(<i><b>Teyrênbazê Azadiya Kurdistan</b>,</i> or <b>T.A.K.</b>), often called a P.K.K. offshoot, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kurdistan-freedom-falcons-claims-responsibility-for-terror-suicide-bomb-attack-in-ankara-turkey/" target="_blank">claimed responsibility for the Ankara bombing</a>. The T.A.K. statement <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/19/middleeast/turkey-ankara-attack/" target="_blank">called the attack</a> a “revenge suicide mission” for the “massacre of wounded civilians in basements in Cizre,” in Turkey’s <b>Şırnak</b> province, and said its aim was to devastate Turkey’s tourism industry. Also on February 18th, six soldiers were killed and a seventh wounded in southeastern Turkey’s <b>Diyarbakır</b> province when their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb. An oil pipeline running through Turkey along the Syrian border from Adana, Turkey, to Kirkuk, in Iraq, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/240220163" target="_blank">was sabotaged</a> on February 16th, with an explosion near Cizre. The P.K.K.-allied <b>Group of Communities in Kurdistan</b> (<b>K.C.K.</b>) denied claims that it was behind the attack, but reiterated its opposition to pipelines that carry energy resources out of Iraqi Kurdistan into Turkey. On February 23rd, a police station near Izmir, in western Turkey, <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/02/23/Rocket-attack-in-Turkey-s-aegean-region-no-casualties-.html" target="_blank">came under rocket attack</a>, but with no injuries. The same day, a Turkish army sergeant <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/national_specialized-sergeant-killed-during-operations-against-pkk-in-sur_413050.html" target="_blank">was killed in a fight with the P.K.K.</a> in Sur, in Diyarbakır province. Turkish army helicopters <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-military-helicopters-kill-9-strikes-pkk-targets-093128788.html" target="_blank">killed 12 P.K.K. fighters</a> on February 24th in Şırnak province, the military reported. The following day, in Diyarbakır province, a Turkish sergeant <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/national_sergeant-killed-2-injured-in-pkk-attack-in-southeastern-turkey_413255.html" target="_blank">was killed and another two servicemen wounded</a> in a battle with the P.K.K.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The February 17th bombing in Ankara</td></tr>
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<b><u>Brussels Says Keep P.K.K. on Terrorism List, Despite M.E.P.s’ Petition.</u></b> Over 100 member of the <b>European Parliament</b> <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5410" target="_blank">have signed a petition</a> asking for <b>Turkey</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>) to be removed from the <b>European Union</b>’s official list of terrorist organizations. The petition has 102 signatures so far, according to <b>Barbara Spinelli</b>, a Green-leaning M.E.P. from <b>Italy</b>, who passed the information to media in <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Region</b>. But on February 23rd, the E.U.’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, <b>Federica Mogherini</b>, also an Italian, <a href="http://aa.com.tr/en/turkey/eu-against-kurdish-separatist-agenda-mogherini/526089" target="_blank">clarified the bloc’s position before the parliament in Brussels</a>, stating, “The European Union condemns in any possible way any terrorist act and considers the P.K.K. as a terrorist organization.” The E.U. also, she added, “does not support any separatist agenda for the Kurds—being it in Turkey, being it in Iraq, being it in <b>Syria</b>.”<br />
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<b><u>Turkish Security Forces Detain Scottish M.P. for Recording Sound of Bombs.</u></b> Security forces in <b>Turkey</b> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/25/scottish-mp-natalie-mcgarry-arrested-by-turkish-security-forces" target="_blank">seized, then interrogated and released</a>, a member of <b>Scotland</b>’s Parliament on February 25th because she was making sound recordings of falling bombs with her cellphone. The detention occurred near Diyarbakır, which is currently at the center of <b>Turkey</b>’s war against its <b>Kurdish</b> minority. Once officers ascertained that the lawmaker, <b>Natalie McGarry</b>, who represents Glasgow East for the <b>Scottish National Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>), was on a fact-finding mission organized by the <b>National Union of General and Municipal Workers</b> (<b>G.M.B.</b>) she was released. She alerted the public via <b>Twitter</b> that she was “safe and absolutely fine.”<br />
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<b><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Peshmerga Rescues Swedish Teen from ISIS Captors Near Mosul.</u></b> On February 17th, forces from <b>Iraqi Kurdistan</b>’s military, the <b>Peshmerga</b>, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/kurdish-special-forces-rescue-swedish-girl-isis-iraq-429439" target="_blank">rescued a 16-year-old Swedish girl from <b>ISIS</b> captors near Mosul</a>. The girl, <b>Marlin Stivani Nivarlain</b>, was returned to her family in <b>Sweden</b>. Swedish media report that the girl was pregnant when she ran away from home in Borås, in southern Sweden, to join ISIS (also called the <b>Islamic State</b>) in <b>Syria</b> with her boyfriend last year. She was captured in Aleppo, and her boyfriend was killed in a <b>Russian</b> airstrike near Ramadi. Meanwhile, the leader of the <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/220220161" target="_blank">ordered 36 prisoners executed</a> in Mosul just before more than 100 ISIS fighters fled the city on February 21st in expectation of a joint Iraqi–<b>Kurdish</b> offensive intended to liberate the city. Meanwhile, the <b>Peshmerga</b>, Iraqi Kurdistan’s military, reported in late February that seven ISIS fighters <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/220220162" target="_blank">had been captured by their forces on the Kirkuk front</a> over the preceding two weeks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Marlin Stivani Nivarlain got knocked up—<br />
then she <i>really</i> got into some trouble.</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Ultra-Orthodox Soldier Gets 9 Months for Electric Torture of Palestinian Suspects.</u> A military court in <b>Israel</b> on February 16th <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-soldier-gets-9-months-for-torturing-palestinian-detainee/" target="_blank">handed down a nine-month prison term</a> to an ultra-Orthodox <b>Jewish</b> member of the <b>Israeli Defence Forces</b> (<b>I.D.F.</b>) for administering electric-shock torture to Palestinian arrestees last year. In both cases under consideration, Palestinian suspects were tied to chairs, handcuffed, and given electric shocks to the neck. Two other soldiers were also charged, one of whom apparently filmed the torture with his cellphone.<br />
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<b><u>Israel Frees Palestinian Reporter, Ending his 90-Day Hunger Strike.</u></b> A 33-year-old <b>Palestinian</b> journalist <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/middleeast/palestinian-hunger-strike.html?_r=0" target="_blank">ended a hunger strike in its 91st day</a> on February 26th after the Israeli government agreed to free him by May. The reporter, <b>Mohammad al-Qeeq</b>, who is 33, was arrested in November for unstated reasons, though he had been an outspoken sympathizer with violent Palestinian response to occupation. He was held under Israeli rules which allow six months’ detention without charge. <b>Israel</b>’s domestic intelligence agency, <b>Shin Bet</b>, links him to <b>Hamas</b> and says that he is an “extremist.” Qeeq was not force-fed, mainly because the <b>Israeli Medical Association</b> defines that practice as torture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mohammad al-Qeeq</td></tr>
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<b><u>Mossad Suspected of Assassinating Palestinian Refugee in Embassy in Bulgaria.</u></b> A Palestinian refugee <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Bulgaria-says-no-gunshot-wounds-found-on-body-of-dead-Palestinian-fugitive-446255" target="_blank">died just outside the Palestinian embassy</a> in <b>Bulgaria</b> on February 25th, and authorities are still trying to figure out who, if anyone, killed him and why. The dead man, <b>Omar Nayef Zayed</b>, age 52, had been convicted of killing a yeshiva student in <b>Jerusalem</b> in 1986, but escaped from prison in 1990 when he was being transferred to a prison hospital as the result of a hunger strike, and had been on the run ever since. In late December 2015, an extradition deal between <b>Israel</b> and Bulgaria gave Zayed 72 hours to turn himself in or face arrest. He had been living at the embassy, according to Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor, <b>Sotir Tsatsarov</b>. The initial call to the police said that Zayed, who was found lying in the embassy’s backyard, had “died as a result of violence,” while other reports said he was alive when found but died on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. Examination of the body failed to find any bullet wounds or any other signs of violence. One possibility is that he fell—or was pushed—from an upper storey. <b>Mahmoud Abbas</b>, president of the <b>Palestinian National Authority</b> (<b>P.A.</b>) in Ramallah, called the death an assassination. The dead man’s brother, Hamzeh, apparently told the P.A. that the Palestinian mission in Sofia had told the family that an “unknown group” had killed Zayed during a raid on the embassy building. “The Palestinian ambassador is complicit in the killing of my brother,” said <b>Hamzeh Zayed</b>. “From the first day that he sought asylum inside the embassy, the ambassador and the staff had been trying to expel him. The security personnel at the embassy did not provide him with protection.” The truth may never be told, but Israel’s international secret police, <b>Mossad</b>, is well known for carrying out impromptu executions rather than wait for pesky nuisances like due process or the rule of law. That is certainly the opinion of <b>Yaffa Pinhasi</b>, sister of the student Zayed killed in 1986. “Whoever did this,” she said, “deserves praise.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Killed by Mossad in Bulgaria?—Omar Zayed</td></tr>
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<b><u>5 Palestinians, 2 Israelis Dead as West Bank Knife Attacks, Other Violence Continue.</u></b> At least seven people died in <b>Israeli</b>-<b>Palestinian</b> violence during the second half of February, mostly as part of an ongoing string of individual knife attacks in the <b>West Bank</b> and <b>Jerusalem</b>. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-minor-indicted-for-thwarted-stabbing-in-jerusalem/" target="_blank">was indicted</a> on February 17th for attempted murder in a knife attack on a border policeman eight days earlier. An off-duty Israeli soldier was killed in a supermarket in the settlement of Sha’ar Binyamin in the West Bank on February 18th when he <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/third-palestinian-detained-for-fatal-supermarket-stabbing/" target="_blank">was attacked by two knife-wielding Palestinian teenagers</a>. Police shot but did not kill the two assailants, both aged 14, and took them into custody. On February 19th, a Palestinian man <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0VS0SH" target="_blank">attacked two policemen with a knife</a> in Jerusalem, and in response the police shot him to death. Another Palestinian was shot to death a few hours later in the West Bank as he tried to ram his car into a group of Israeli soldiers. The same day, Palestinian men <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-dies-of-wounds-from-west-bank-clash-with-idf/" target="_blank">opened fire on Israeli soldiers</a> in the West Bank, according to the military, prompting the soldiers to return fire. One of the Palestinians, age 21, later died of his wounds. Along the border with the <b>Gaza Strip</b> on the same day, Israeli forces <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.704348" target="_blank">clashed with Palestinians</a>, seven of whom were injured by smoke inhalation and rubber bullets. A Palestinian who tried to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank <a href="http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/e561798d49e8436fb31bbb8b741d75e2/ML--Israel-Palestinians" target="_blank">was shot dead by other troops</a> on February 21st, while a 14-year-old Palestinian boy <a href="http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/388836/Soldiers-Arrest-Palestinian-Terrorist-In-Attempted-Stabbing-Attack-Near-Kiryat-Arba.html" target="_blank">was arrested in another stabbing attack</a>, on a group of patrolling soldiers near Banai Naim. A 17-year-old girl <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-woman-arrested-with-knife-in-west-bank/" target="_blank">was arrested with a knife</a> near the West Bank town of Ariel in the midst of a planned attack, police say. The Israeli military <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israeli-military-demolishes-homes-palestinian-attackers-37127311" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 23rd that it had demolished the homes of two Palestinians who carried out knife and gun attacks in November 2015. An Israeli soldier accidentally <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-violence-idUSKCN0VX1H0" target="_blank">shot dead an air-force officer</a> near an illegal Jewish settlement on the West Bank on February 24th as he was trying to halt a knife attack. The Palestinian attacker was also hurt. On February 26th, a Palestinian man wielding an axe and a knife <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/police-israeli-wounded-palestinian-attack-west-bank-37214174" target="_blank">inflicted serious injury on an Israeli man at an illegal Jewish settlement</a>, and a few hours later, near Ramallah, an Israeli soldier shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian (who <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/28/palestinian-attacker-held-u-s-citizenship.html" target="_blank">was also a <b>United States</b> citizen</a>) who was attempting to stab other soldiers. And on February 28th the Israeli army seriously wounded two Palestinians by shooting them in the chest during a clash in a village near Bethlehem. Locals said that the incident when the Israeli soldiers <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/israeli-forces-shoot-and-critically-injure-two-palestinians-bethlehem-810962" target="_blank">raided the village and opened fire on civilians</a>. One of the victims was a middle-aged dentist who was sitting in his car when he was shot.<br />
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<b><u>Al-Qaeda May Be Rebuilding “Emirate of Waqar” Statelet in Southern Yemen.</u></b> A security analyst who is an expert on <b>al-Qaeda</b> claims that <b>al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula</b> (<b>A.Q.A.P.</b>), which operates in <b>Yemen</b> in the midst of its devastating civil war, may be taking and holding enough territory to rebuild an Islamic “emirate” it established in 2011 and 2012 in the south of the country. The expert, <b>Katherine Zimmerman</b>, of the <b>American Enterprise Institute</b>, wrote in <a href="http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/zimmerman-aqap-expanding-behind-yemens-frontlines-february-17-2016" target="_blank">an article published on February 17th</a> that A.Q.A.P. has retaken <b>Jaar</b> and <b>Zinjibar</b>, which are near the major port city of Aden and which formed the original self-proclaimed “<b>Emirate of Waqar</b>” five years ago. They have also captured Hawta in the south, al-Mukalla and al-Shihr in the far east, and, more recently, the towns of Ahwar, Azzan, Habban, al-Mahfad, and Shaqra—ultimately covering a large area. These major towns cut straight across what used to be the separate country of <b>South Yemen</b>.<br />
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<b><u>AFRICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Libyan Leader Orders Army to Dislodge ISIS from Sirte; U.S. Hangs Back.</u> The acting prime minister of Libya’s <b>General National Congress</b> <a href="http://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/libyas-salvation-government-gives-instructions-liberate-sirte-isis" target="_blank">gave orders</a> on February 18th for the entire armed forces to converge on <b>Sirte</b> and dislodge the <b>Islamic State</b> (<b>I.S.</b>) terrorist group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) from their rule there. The prime minister, <b>Khalifa al-Ghawi</b>, whose administration is based in Tripoli and who heads the Libya Dawn coalition that lost the 2014 national elections, made the statements at events marking the 5th anniversary of the overthrow of the late dictator <b>Moammar al-Qaddafi</b> during the <b>Arab</b> Spring revolutions. The following day, 50 people were killed in a United States air strike on an I.S. training camp near Sabratha, another I.S. stronghold in the far northwest of Libya. At least six Libya Dawn guerrillas <a href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2406291&CategoryId=12395" target="_blank">were killed fighting the Islamic State</a> on February 22nd in <b>Derna</b>, another I.S.-controlled city, in <b>Cyrenaica</b> near the legitimate Libyan government’s capital at Tobruk. And on February 25th three Libyan troops <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-idUSKCN0VY19C" target="_blank">died fighting I.S. in Sabratha</a>, and the Sabratha’s I.S. “emir,” <b>Mohamed Saad al-Tajuri</b> (<i>nom de guerre</i>: <b>Abu Sleiman</b>), <a href="https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/02/24/rada-claims-capture-of-new-is-sabratha-leader/" target="_blank">was captured in that battle</a>. Most dramatically, an entire I.S. convoy <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/02/29/world/mystery-airstrike-apparently-obliterates-islamic-state-convoy-outside-sirte/#.VtWMNZMrLEZ" target="_blank">was destroyed by an airstrike near Sirte</a> on February 28th, but the Tripoli government denied that their air force was responsible for it. Meanwhile, in the <b>United States</b>, President <b>Barack Obama</b> <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/18/exclusive-obama-refuses-to-hit-isis-s-libyan-capital.html" target="_blank">gave a thumbs-down to his military and foreign-policy advisors’ recommendations</a> for a full-on bombing campaign against ISIS in Libya. One White House official told the media, “There’s nothing close to happening in terms of a major military operation. It will continue to be strikes like the kind we saw in November against <b>Abu Nabil</b>.”<br />
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<b><u>Morocco Suspends E.U. Ties after Court Kills Trade Pact over Western Sahara Question.</u></b> The <b>Kingdom of Morocco</b> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-reaches-morocco-country-suspends-contact-37220780" target="_blank">took the unusual step of suspending contacts</a> with the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) on February 25th in anger over a <b>European Court of Justice</b> ruling on a Moroccan–E.U. pact on fisheries and agriculture. The court, based in Kirchberg, <b>Luxembourg</b>, <a href="http://www.wort.lu/en/business/western-sahara-dispute-eu-appeals-luxembourg-court-ruling-against-morocco-trade-deal-56d067ab1bea9dff8fa738af" target="_blank">had rejected the deal</a> because it includes as Moroccan territory the former <b>Spanish Sahara</b> (a.k.a. <b>Western Sahara</b>), which is illegally occupied by Morocco but claimed as the partially recognized <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>). Morocco called the court decision “highly political.” The E.U. is now scrambling to reestablish diplomatic normalcy.<br />
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<b><u>Exiled Berber Leader Courts Moroccan King, Distances Kabylia from Sahrawi Cause.</u></b> During a visit to Paris, the Algerian <b>Berber</b> folk singer and independence leader <b>Ferhat Mehni</b> <a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/02/180257/algerian-separatist-group-seeks-support-from-morocco/" target="_blank">emphasized the strengthening of ties</a> between his organization, the <b>Provisional Government of Kabylia</b> (<b>G.P.K.</b>), and the <b>Kingdom of Morocco</b>. He praised <b>King Mohammed VI</b>’s enhancement of the cultural and linguistic rights of the Berber (also called <b>Amazigh</b>) people in Morocco and said the G.P.K. is committed to “weaving strong relations with Morocco in the event of independence.” Mehni, who lives in exile in <b>France</b>, made his remarks during a meeting with Dr. <b>Khalid Cherkaoui Samouni</b>, who is secretary general of the <b>International Organization for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights</b>. Mehni also reiterated that the G.P.K. does <i>not </i>recognize the <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>), the government which claims the former <b>Spanish Sahara</b>, now illegally occupied by the Moroccan military. Most <b>Arab</b> countries recognize the S.A.D.R., and Algeria is the most prominent sponsor of the Sahrawi independence struggle.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ferhat Mehni</td></tr>
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<b><u>Jihadists Kill Malian Soldier as French Premier Visits Troops in Azawad.</u></b> A soldier <a href="http://www.deccanchronicle.com/world/africa/190216/malian-soldier-killed-in-jihadist-attack-during-french-pm-visit.html" target="_blank">was killed in an attack on a remote army post</a> in the <b>Azawad</b> region of northern <b>Mali</b> on February 19th, mere hours before a visit by <b>France</b>’s prime minister, <b>Manuel Valls</b>, to the northern city of Gao to meet with French troops. The attack took place in Menaka and also left another soldier injured. The French defense minister, <b>Jean-Yves Le Drian</b>, accompanied the prime minister and referred to the battle against jihadists as “a battle against barbarity.” On February 23rd, officials told <b>Agence France Presse</b> that the previous week had seen <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Ten-dead-in-Mali-tribal-violence-Officials/articleshow/51114804.cms" target="_blank">10 deaths from violence</a> in <b>Tuareg</b> communities in Azawad in the aftermath of the killing of a tribal elder a week earlier.<br />
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<b><u>Ethiopia Blames Eritrea for Oromo “Rampage” That Killed 7 Soldiers.</u></b> In <b>Ethiopia</b>’s largest ethnic state, <b>Oromia</b>, populated by the marginalized <b>Oromo</b> people, seven federal security police <a href="http://mgafrica.com/article/2016-02-16-seven-ethiopian-security-forces-killed-state-buildings-damaged-in-restive-oromia-region-minister/" target="_blank">were killed</a> on February 15th in a still unexplained incident, according to Ethiopia’s communications minister. “The information we have,” said <b>Getachew Reda</b>, the minister, “is they were ambushed by people carrying guns, apparently on a rampage.” Government buildings were also reported damaged in the unrest, which occurred in Arsi, a district just southwest of <b>Addis Ababa</b>, the capital. Ethiopia’s prime minister, <b>Hailemariam Desalegn</b>, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/hailemariam-desalegn-oromia-protests-429859" target="_blank">weighed in on the unrest</a> on February 24th, saying that “destructive forces” in Oromia with separatist aims would not be tolerated, and, as per the usual government line, neighboring <b>Eritrea</b> was blamed for backing Oromo violence. The killing of the police followed an incident three days earlier in which Ethiopian soldiers fired on a bus which was carrying wedding guests, according to activists. <b>Human Rights Watch</b> (<b>H.R.W.</b>) <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/21/ethiopia-no-let-crackdown-protests" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 21st that “killings and arbitrary arrests” have been reported to them on an almost daily basis since the beginning of 2016. Some of the 60 Oromo protestors interviewed by H.R.W. “said that security forces have shot randomly into crowds, summarily killed people during arrests, carried out mass roundups, and tortured detainees.”<br />
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<b><u>Ijaw Rebel Tompolo Appears in Court, Denies Threatening Pipeline Bombings.</u></b> The <b>Ijaw</b> ex-rebel leader <b>Government Ekpemupolo</b>, who uses the <i>nom de guerre</i> <b>Tompolo</b>, <a href="http://www.360nobs.com/2016/02/finally-tompolo-heads-court-denies-ordering-buhari-withdraw-soldiers/" target="_blank">appeared in a federal court</a> on February 22nd, more than a month after an order for his arrest prompted (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/separatist-updates-for-january-16-31.html" target="_blank">as reported in this blog</a>) a wave of bombings of oil facilities by his supporters in the <b>Niger Delta</b> region. His attorney opened with a blanket denial of one charge against Tompolo—that he <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/02/20/obinna-akukwe-tompolo-boys-defy-buhari-vow-to-set-nigeria-ablaze/" target="_blank">had issued an ultimatum</a> to President <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, threatening to blow up oil pipelines if the military were not withdrawn from his native <b>Gbaramatu Kingdom</b>, in <b>Bayelsa State</b>. The statement said that that published ultimatum “is not from Tompolo, rather it is the work of those that have sworn to kill him by all means.” So far, Tompolo’s lawyer has not addressed charges of theft and money-laundering against him and nine co-defendants. Earlier, on February 19th, a federal judge in Lagos <a href="http://www.tv360nigeria.com/court-grants-efccs-request-to-seize-tompolos-properties/" target="_blank">had ordered the seizure of all of Tompolo’s assets</a>. Tompolo is a former commander in the <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>).<br />
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<b><u>Nigerian Military Massacres Ogonis Searching for Former Rebel “Osama Bin Laden.”</u></b> As many as <a href="https://www.naij.com/742804-controversy-panic-in-rivers-as-death-toll-rises-to-18-in-gokana.html" target="_blank">18 people may have died</a> on February 23rd in a raid by <b>Nigeria</b>’s military on Gokana, in the Yeghe district of <b>Rivers State</b>, during an unsuccessful hunt for the <b>Ogoni</b> former rebel fighter <b>Solomon “Solo” Ndigbara</b>, known by his nickname <b>“General Osama Bin Laden.”</b> The military denied the following day that anyone had been killed, sharply conflicting with numerous eyewitness reports. Reports said that Ndigbara’s home was destroyed by a bulldozer. During the extensive gun battle and other unrest precipitated by the raid, Ndigbara supporters torched a senator’s campaign office in nearby Bori. Gunfights the following day had also reportedly spread to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. The violence <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/02/25/ogoni-killings-wike-visits-yeghe-and-bori-vows-that-perpetrators-will-be-brought-to-justice/" target="_blank">prompted an unusual angry rebuke to the federal government from the Rivers State governor</a>, <b>Nyesom Ezenwo Wike</b>, who vowed to bring the military killers to justice, adding, “The Rivers State government will take up this unfortunate incident with the appropriate authorities. The military must subject itself to civil authority. I am the chief security officer of this state. Before any deployment of soldiers, I should be informed, but in this case I was not aware. I will always support the security agencies in the fight against criminals and criminality, but I will never support the killing of innocent persons. ... I have seen for myself the destruction in Yeghe and the killings that took place. I went to the mortuaries to see the corpses and the relatives of the deceased confirmed they were killed in the operation.” Ndigbara is a former rebel fighter from the <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>). As this article goes to press, the hereditary Ogoni monarch of the Bua-Yeghe district, Chief <b>Barinada Theophilus</b>, <a href="https://www.naij.com/747179-paramount-ruler-ogoniland-raises-alarm-another-invasion-army.html" target="_blank">was warning that another Nigerian military invasion of Ogoniland was imminent</a>, even within a few hours. Thousands of residents were fleeing their homes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-w8LZltsySxIwMqWf2qPbclW5U4Ckw0O6BlX870_m8LxB8PaOx6Ze6IjcfdWOIpZr3UYreOECyHXIuwuXXV-6C7YIHBh083_G34vK7PECK1gJnOUVzXm6O0y4ZlZ4cjlegVEXw0A3bwy/s1600/Ogoni_2-620x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-w8LZltsySxIwMqWf2qPbclW5U4Ckw0O6BlX870_m8LxB8PaOx6Ze6IjcfdWOIpZr3UYreOECyHXIuwuXXV-6C7YIHBh083_G34vK7PECK1gJnOUVzXm6O0y4ZlZ4cjlegVEXw0A3bwy/s1600/Ogoni_2-620x330.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ogonis fleeing the incursion by Nigeria’s military in their territory</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kanu Trial Adjourned Till March 7; Rights Group Outraged over Igbo Mass Grave.</u></b> A federal judge in Abuja, <b>Nigeria</b>’s capital, on February 19th <a href="http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/biafra-court-refuses-secret-trial-for-kanu/134487.html" target="_blank">denied a request to conduct the trial</a> of the <b>Igbo</b> independence leader <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> in secret. Justice <b>James Tsoho</b> justified the decision on grounds that the charges against Kanu are not terrorism-related. The trial, whose other two defendants are <b>Benjamin Madubugwu</b> and <b>David Nwawusi</b>, has been adjourned until March 7th. A mainstream Igbo civic organization, <b>Ohanaeze Ndigbo</b>, <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/ohaneze-end-biafra-struggle-with-creation-of-south-east-commission-group-demands-id4737912.html" target="_blank">said</a> that the creation of a “South-East Development Commission” to address Igbo grievances would halt the ongoing <b>Biafra</b> uprising, in an apparent attempt to open negotiations for Kanu’s release, but spokespeople in the <b>United Kingdom</b> for Kanu’s organization, <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/biafra-ill-rather-die-in-prison-than-for-ohanaeze-to-claim-credit-for-my-release-kanu-2/" target="_blank">evinced the endemic squabbling among Igbo factions by warning Ohanaeze Ndigbo not to attempt to speak for the Biafra movement</a>. They quoted Kanu himself as saying, “I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release.” Meanwhile, human-rights organizations are <a href="http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/13-corpses-linked-to-biafra-discovered-in-pit-in-aba-20160221" target="_blank">renewing their condemnation of a massacre of pro-Biafra demonstrators in Abia</a> on February 9th after the recent discovery of a pit containing the corpses of 13 of the murdered. Acid was poured over some of the bodies to obscure their facial features. Twenty-two members of IPoB were killed in the Abia incident and 30 wounded. The northern Nigerian umbrella group the <b>Arewa Consultative Forum</b> (<b>A.C.F.</b>) and <b>Ohanaeze Ndigbo</b>, an <b>Igbo</b> group, <a href="https://www.naij.com/738506-biafra-arewa-ohaneze-send-strong-message-buhari.html" target="_blank">joined the chorus of organizations calling for Kanu’s release</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Advocates of independence for Biafra <a href="https://www.naij.com/747194-photos-pope-francis-greets-biafrans-vatican-city.html" target="_blank">took their cause to St. Peter’s Square</a> in <b>Vatican City</b> on February 28th<br />
and even met with <b>Pope Francis</b>.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Pro-Biafra Hijackers Release 5 Tanker Crewmen Held since January.</u></b> The Russian foreign ministry <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/article/6738220/2016/02/25/foreign-sailors-seized-nigeria-freed" target="_blank">confirmed</a> that self-identified pro-Biafra rebels on February 21st freed the five hostages (from <b>Russia</b>, <b>Georgia</b>, and the <b>Philippines</b>) that had been held since (as reported at the time in this blog here and here) they seized a <b>Greek</b> chemical tanker off the Nigerian–<b>Cameroonian</b> coast in January. “The kidnappers,” said a <b>Danish</b> maritime security expert, <b>Dirk Steffen</b>, “were from the southern <b>Niger Delta</b>. They were not Biafran separatists as had been initially reported. The Nigerian military and intelligence services have absolved the Biafran agitators from any involvement shortly after the incident.”<br />
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<b><u>People’s Progressive Party Demands Nigeria-Wide Referendum on Biafra Independence.</u></b> The chairman of <b>Nigeria</b>’s marginal <b>People’s Progressive Party</b> (<b>P.P.P.</b>) said on February 22nd that the country’s legislature and executive <a href="https://www.naij.com/741487-push-biafra-gains-momentum-political-party-calls-referendum.html" target="_blank">should immediately begin to organize a referendum on the question of independence</a> for <b>Biafra</b>. The chairman, Dr. <b>Damian Uzoma Ogbonna</b>, cited the <b>United Nations</b> charter and added that a referendum “has become necessary in order to stem the tide of ongoing killings and bleedings in our country.”<br />
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<b><u>Biafra Youth Leader Admits Contacts with Ambazonian Separatists in Cameroon.</u></b> The head of the separatist <b>Biafra Nations Youth League</b> (<b>B.N.Y.L.</b>) confirmed in February that members of his group <a href="http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/biafra-youth-leader-meets-cameroon-delegates-20160223" target="_blank">had met officially with representatives of a group seeking independence</a> for southwestern <b>Cameroon</b>, which borders <b>Nigeria</b>’s Biafra region. The chairman, <b>Prince Chimezie Obuka</b>, said he could not disclose the identies of the B.N.Y.L.’s <b>Southern Cameroonian</b> contacts, out of concern for possible retaliation against them by their government. But he said they were from an organization called the <b>Liberation Governing Council of Former British Southern Cameroon</b>, “and not <b>Rufasca</b>, though with the influence of Rufasca.” (<i>Rufasca</i> stands for <b>Respect Unity for All Southern Cameroons Ambazonians</b>). “It’s only an independent Biafran State,” Obuka added, “that will force the artificial government out from <b>Ambazonia</b> including <b>Bakassi Peninsula</b>.” Later, <b>Ebenezer Akwanga</b>, president of the <b>Southern Cameroons Youth League</b>, who spent six months as a political prisoner in the late 1970s and early 1980s, <a href="https://www.naij.com/743868-read-biafra-may-achieve-independence-help-cameroon.html" target="_blank">confirmed that an Ambazonian–Biafran coalition is a possibility</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Mombasa Republican Councils, in U-Turn, Urges Coast Residents to Vote.</u></b> The head of <b>Kenya</b>’s largest Muslim separatist group <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/02/25/mrc-changes-tack-tells-people-to-vote_c1301128" target="_blank">has reversed policy</a> and is urging residents of <b>Coast Province</b> to register to vote, instead of shunning elections. <b>Hamza Randu</b>, secretary general of the <b>Mombasa Republican Council</b> (<b>M.R.C.</b>), made the comments in Mombasa on February 23rd. “Elections are all about democracy,” he said, “and we cannot tell people not to go for voters’ cards.” The area claimed by the M.R.C., centered on Kenya’s second largest city, Mombasa, was formerly part of the Sultanate of Zanzibar and includes virtually the entire coast of Kenya.<br />
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<b><u>New “Barotseland Liberation Army” Tells Northern Zambian Politicians to Keep Out.</u></b> Police in <b>Zambia</b> <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2016/02/24/police-warns-people-distributing/" target="_blank">are issuing warnings to whoever is distributing flyers</a> in the <b>Barotseland</b> region threatening to prevent any Zambian politicians from outside the region from holding campaign rallies in the <b>Bartose</b>-dominated <b>Western Province</b>. The flyers claim to be produced by the <b>Barotseland Liberation Army</b>, a previously unknown group. On February 27th, police <a href="http://www.times.co.zm/?p=80634" target="_blank">announced that they had arrested one member of the new group</a>, but revealed few details. Elections will be held across Zambia on August 11th of this year for the presidency and National Assembly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map showing greater Barotseland</td></tr>
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<b><u>Boer Terrorists in South African Prison Enjoy Special Privileges, Critics Say.</u></b> Advocates for the incarcerated in <b>South Africa</b> <a href="http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016/02/21/boeremag-pair-favoured-in-jail" target="_blank">are complaining about preferential treatment</a> for two dangerous white-supremacist terrorists serving decades-long sentences for treason at the Baviaanspoort Prison in Pretoria. The newspaper the <i>Sowetan</i> is reporting on leaked secret footage from January showing the two men, <b>Dirk Hanekom</b> and <b>Herman van Rooyen</b>, enjoying privileges like using cellphones, which are banned in all South African prisons. The anonymous group responsible for filming the men says the images “show how privileged they are and how management tolerates them more than everybody else. They use their phones without hiding them. They get more privileges than inmates of other races.” Hanekom and Van Rooyen were sentenced in 2013 for plotting with members of the <b>Boeremag</b>, an <b>Afrikaner</b> (<b>Dutch</b> South African) militia, to assassinate President (as he then was) <b>Nelson Mandela</b>, take over the reins of state, and reinstitute <i>apartheid</i> in a <b>Boer</b> republic.<br />
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<b><u>ASIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Russian Official Warns Yakutian Online Organizers Big Brother Is Watching.</u> An interior-ministry official in <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Sakha Republic</b>, in <b>Siberia</b>, <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/02/27/anti-extremism-police-in-yakutia-russia-say-they-have-ways-of-finding-you-on-whatsapp/" target="_blank">told a conference on interethnic relations that his bosses’ technological reach makes it impossible for “extremist” or separatist dissidents there to organize</a> using <b>WhatsApp</b>, a cellphone application that is a primary medium of communication in the republic. The comments were made by <b>Sergei Ponomarev</b>, who heads the Anti-Extremism Center’s branch in Sakha, which is also called <b>Yakutia</b>. “It would be pointless to ban the use of the messenger,” he said: “people will immediately start using substitutes. On the other hand, we can control the situation and find anonymous senders when needed. In fact, we found one quite recently and sent the case to the investigative committee, which decided to give him a chance based on his positive history and not initiate criminal proceedings.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEE5CrpAtX6Xz3KMVcMXkLaFS5FEcsgRYTK5e5TkJy9WIej2YwmfTlPfnNNYitXwnKBJkYnpkhHSWHmCXrX3-gfm2-30jHufe2s19xpTN1tugtRoLJsKvFWLbZW-8S7w-tEe1WWiYDPWzk/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEE5CrpAtX6Xz3KMVcMXkLaFS5FEcsgRYTK5e5TkJy9WIej2YwmfTlPfnNNYitXwnKBJkYnpkhHSWHmCXrX3-gfm2-30jHufe2s19xpTN1tugtRoLJsKvFWLbZW-8S7w-tEe1WWiYDPWzk/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russia’s Sakha Republic is larger than all but a handful of world’s countries,<br />
and is the largest political unit in the world that is not an independent state.</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">8 Dead in Indian Military Siege of Police Academy Held by Kashmiri Rebels.</u><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">In India<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, a two-day-long siege of a police training facility in </span>Jammu and Kashmir</span>’s capital captured by separatist militants <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35626989" target="_blank">ended</a> on February 22nd with eight people dead. It began<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>when</span> a group of pro-independence Kashmiri gunmen <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1051805/showdown-in-kashmir-leaves-up-to-7-dead/" target="_blank">attacked a bus full of policemen in Srinagar</a> and then stormed into the <b>Entrepreneurship Development Institute</b>, as the facility is called. About 100 people were safely evacuated, but two of the police reservists, one civilian, three members of the military, and one militant were killed in the first hours of the battle with security forces that followed. The other two of the three militants were dead by the end of the siege.<br />
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<b><u>Tibetan Rights Group Slams Chinese Communist Regime in Annual Report.</u></b> The <b>Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy</b> (<b>T.C.H.R.D.</b>) <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/shimla/Rights-group-releases-Tibet-report/articleshow/51099918.cms" target="_blank">released its annual report</a> on February 19th, with scathing criticisms of the one-party dictatorship in Beijing. “In 2015,” according to a summary by the organization’s director, <b>Tsering Tsomo</b>, “<b>China</b> passed laws on national security and counter-terrorism that appear to do little but provide China with a convenient pretext to continue violating human rights. Moreover, China failed to implement any measures that contribute positively to the degrading ecosystem which many experts say is ‘irreversible’ by pursuing a policy of prioritising rhetoric over substance.” The summary added, “Religious figures were targeted for disappearance, detention, and, sometimes, death. Local Chinese police also detained monks and laypeople, and in many cases, they used pretence to detain community leaders, who are frequently religious leaders.” (Read the report <a href="http://www.tchrd.org/annual-report-2015/" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Tibetan Dissident Writer Shokjang Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison.</u> A court in the <b>People’s Republic of China</b> (<b>P.R.C.</b>) on February 17th <a href="http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=37134&t=1" target="_blank">gave a three-year prison term</a> to the dissident <b>Tibetan</b> author and blogger <b>Druklo</b>, who uses the <i>nom de plume</i> <b>Shokjang</b>, for writings critical of the P.R.C. government, contact with separatist groups, and allegedly inciting a separatist riot in 2008. The sentencing, coming almost six years after his arrest, occurred in the <b>Huangnan</b> (a.k.a. <b>Malho</b>) <b>Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture</b> in <b>Qinghai</b> province. Shokjang’s book <i>The Courage of Path</i> is banned in the P.R.C. The same day, and also in Malho, a 47-year-old monk <a href="http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/4900-monk-jailed-for-sharing-photos-of-his-holiness-dalai-lama-online" target="_blank">was sentenced to two years in prison</a> because an image of the 14th Dalai Lama had been found on his cell phone. It was also revealed in late February that a 41-year-old Tibetan named <b>Jamyang Dorje</b> <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/protest-02262016140146.html" target="_blank">was arrested</a> in the <b>Sichuan</b> province’s <b>Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture</b> on February 14th for standing at a crossroads and shouting for the return of the Dalai Lama. He has not been heard from since. The <b>Tibet “Autonomous” Region</b> <a href="http://yubanet.com/world/Lockdown-of-Tibet-closure-to-foreigners-deepens-isolation.php#.VtGvFJMrLEY" target="_blank">was closed to outsiders</a> on February 25th and will remain so until March 10th, the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising which prompted its brutal invasion and annexation by the P.R.C.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shokjang: in the hands of the Thought Police now</td></tr>
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<b><u>2 Uyghurs Plead Not Guilty in Hindu-Shrine Bombing, Cite Coerced Confession.</u></b> Two <b>Uyghur</b> men from northwestern <b>China</b> <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/thailand-uyghur-02162016152331.html" target="_blank">pleaded not guilty in a military court</a> in <b>Thailand</b> on February 16th for an August 2015 terrorist bombing of a Hindu shrine in the capital, Bangkok. A lawyer for one of the two, <b>Adem Karadag</b>, a.k.a. <b>Bilal Mohammed</b>, age 31, <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20160216-lawyer-chinese-uyghur-man-tortured-into-owning-bangkok-blast/" target="_blank">says his client had been tortured—with attack dogs and waterboarding—into confessing to a role in the attack</a>, which killed 20 people and injured over 100. A second Uyghur, <b>Yusufu Mieraili</b>, age 28, is also charged in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility, and Karadag’s lawyer says Karadag was not even in the country on the date of the bombing. Both men are from Urumqi, capital of China’s <b>Xinjiang Uyghur “Autonomous” Region</b>. The head of the bomb squad which responded to the incident <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20160226-bangkok-shrine-bombers-targeted-chinese-tourists/" target="_blank">suggested in court</a> on February 26th that the defendants had been targeting Chinese tourists in the attack, in retaliation for Thailand’s deportation of more than 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015.<br />
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<b><u>Dozens Feared Dead as Islamists, Security Forces Clash in Mindanao.</u></b> In the <b>Philippines</b>, <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/thousands-flee-deadly-fighting-in-southern-philippines-1281627" target="_blank">renewed violence between security forces and southern Muslim rebels left six people dead</a> and 20,000 displaced, the government claimed on February 25th. The battles began on February 20th when rebels attacked a military post near Butig, on the island of <b>Mindanao</b>. The rebels involved were apparently from the <b>al</b>-<b>Qaeda</b>-linked group <b>Jemaah Islamiyah</b>, the same jihadist terrorist group responsible for a bombing in Bali, <b>Indonesia</b>, which killed hundreds in 2002. Jemaah Islamiyah’s aim is to create an Islamic caliphate embracing most of southeast Asia. Reports indicated that the <b>Moro Islamic Liberation Front</b> (<b>MILF</b>), the most prominent rebel group in the region, was not involved. Some sources said 61 rebels had been killed, but the government would only confirm the deaths of three rebels and three members of the security forces.<br />
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<b><u>OCEANIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Indonesia Investigates Opening of Papuan Rebel Chapter in Wamena.</u> Police in the Indonesian-administered western half of the island of <b>New Guinea</b> were on February 18th <a href="http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/103202/police-investigate-attempt-to-open-separatist-office-in-papua" target="_blank">investigating reports</a> that a branch of the <b>United Liberation Movement of West Papua</b> (<b>U.M.L.W.P.</b>), which seeks independence from <b>Indonesia</b>, is opening in Wamena. A nameplate on the building where the U.M.L.W.P. allegedly has its offices was confiscated by police. Initially, rumors had it that it was the <b>Free Papua Movement</b> (<b>O.P.M.</b>) which was opening an office in Wamena. Also in Wamena, Indonesian authorities are<a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/297348/indonesian-police-to-question-priest-on-papua-treason-charge" target="_blank"> reportedly considering slapping a treason charge on a Catholic priest</a> who led a prayer service at which a U.L.M.W.P. banner was displayed. The priest, Father <b>John Djonga</b>, has refused to cooperate with the investigation.<br />
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<b><u>Australia Begins Legislative Process of Absorbing Norfolk Island.</u></b> In Australia’s parliament on February 24th, the minister for territories, <b>Paul Fletcher</b>, <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30902436/norfolk-islanders-to-get-australian-laws/" target="_blank">introduced a bill</a> that would redefine the <b>Commonwealth of Australia</b> to include tiny <b>Norfolk Island</b>., situated in the open seas about halfway to <b>New Zealand</b>. This is the inauguration of a long, complicated bureaucratic process to revoke Norfolk’s decades-old autonomous status and make it just another council area within <b>New South Wales</b>—a violation of political rights that has Norfolkers up in arms. The process is to be complete by July 1st. Some Australian federal laws, such as the minimum wage, which is more $6.59 higher than Norfolk’s, will be introduced gradually.<br />
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<b><u>Queensland’s “Prince of Wy” Stays Aloof from Council-Boundary Fray.</u></b> One resident of Balmoral—a suburb of Brisbane, the capital of <b>Queensland</b>, <b>Australia</b>—<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/where-is-wy-and-where-does-it-stand-on-council-boundaries/news-story/f0cc6d3f46947cea4932200f142611dd" target="_blank">claims to be utterly unaffected by the contentious redrawing of council-area boundaries that is consuming local politics</a>. That is because <b>Paul Delprat</b>, who calls himself <b>Paul, Prince of Wy</b>, says his 700 square miles of Balmoral seceded from the Mosman Council in 2004 in the midst of a dispute over road access through the principality. Asked what would happen to the <b>Principality of Wy</b> if Mosman is amalgamated with a nearby council area, His Royal Highness said, “We were consulted and our view is that there should be more councils,” not fewer; “there should be a council in every street and a mayor on every street corner. Then councils would be truly local.” The potentate’s day job is as principal of the <b>Julian Ashton Art School</b> in Sydney, <b>New South Wales</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H.R.H. Prince Paul of Wy</td></tr>
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<b><u>Emperor of Atlantium Freezes Citizenship Rolls, Blaming Freeloaders.</u></b> The emperor of <b>Atlantium</b>, <b>George II</b>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/atlantium/" target="_blank">announced on the micronation’s <b>Facebook</b> page</a> on February 26th that he had stopped accepting new applications for citizenship. “The reason for this policy shift is simple,” said the statement: “almost all of the several thousands citizens that we’ve enrolled over the past twenty-something years have done absolutely <i>nothing</i> to support Atlantium—and it is a considerable drain on our resources to manage a burgeoning citizen database for no discernible benefit,” adding, “Citizenship is a privilege—not a right.” The emperor left it unclear when, or even if, the moratorium would end. The <b>Empire of Atlantium</b>, which consists of just over three-quarters of a square kilometer in <b>New South Wales</b>, <b>Australia</b>, has over 2,000 citizens, none of whom live in the territory.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H.I.M. Emperor George II of Atlantium</td></tr>
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<b><u>Native Hawai‘ian Constitutional Conclave Flouts Supreme Court, Passes Charter.</u></b> A conclave of <b>Native Hawai‘ans</b> <a href="http://www.hawaii247.com/2016/02/26/native-hawaiian-constitution-adopted/" target="_blank">put the finishing touches</a> on February 26th on a constitution for a government for <b>Hawai‘i</b>. The project, years in the making, became more of an abstract exercise after a <b>United States</b> Supreme Court decision in 2000 which held that no election in the U.S. could restrict eligibility to vote on the basis of race or ethnicity. The original plan, under the auspices of the <b>Office of Hawai‘an Affairs</b>, an indigenous subdivision of the state government of Hawaii, had been for a parallel legislature with its own constitution to come into force alongside the state government. The process that concluded this February was spearheaded by <b>Na‘i Aupuni</b>, an organization committed to Native Hawai‘an self-government. At the <i>’aha,</i> or gathering, held in Maunawili, on O‘ahu, to approve the constitution, the final document passed with a vote of 88-30, with one abstention. A group of Native Hawai‘ans called <b>Protest Na‘i Aupuni</b>, which is opposed to the <i>’aha</i> staged protests outside the closed meeting. One former constitutional delegate among the protestors, <b>Walter Ritte</b>, said, “The process is full of bad decisions and it's not a process that all of us understand. They didn’t take the time to explain, to educate, to unite in order to get this important thing into the place it should be.” He added that the new constitution was being “forced down Hawaiians’ throats”—even though there is little realistic expectation now that the constitution will be implemented in any way.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protestors were unhappy with how the new Hawai‘ian constitution was approved.</td></tr>
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Head of New Quebec-Sovereignty Think Tank Distances Himself from Péladeau, P.Q.</u> The appointed chairman of a new think tank supporting <b>Quebec</b>’s movement for independence from <b>Canada</b> <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/pq-leader-pierre-karl-peladeau-launches-sovereignty-think-tank-irai" target="_blank">said</a> on February 24th that his organization will not just be an extension of the opposition <b><i>Parti Québécois</i></b> (<b>P.Q.</b>). <b>Daniel Turp</b>, a former politician with both the P.Q. and the <b>Bloc Québécois</b>, will be both chairman and research director of the <b><i>Institut de recherche sur l’autodétermination des peuples et des indépendences nationales</i></b> (<b>IRAI</b>) (<b>Institute for Research on Self-Determination and National Independence</b>), which was established by the embattled P.Q. leader, <b>Pierre Karl Péladeau</b>. But, says Turp, “W will not be taking orders from anybody when it comes to the research. You have my word on that.” Meanwhile, Péladeau himself <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/mired-in-the-polls-peladeau-extends-olive-branch-to-other-sovereignty-parties" target="_blank">is trying to reach out to other pro-independence parties</a>, concerned that fragmentation is keeping them out of power. But at least one small-party leader, <b>André Fontecilla</b> of <i><b>Québec Solidaire</b>,</i> is wary. “We welcome the effort,” he said on February 27th, “but will need to know more.”<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">“Lawless and Violent” Cliven Bundy Denied Bail, Sent Home to Nevada for Trial.</u> A federal court in Portland, <b>Oregon</b>, <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/02/16/feds-win-bid-to-keep-cliven-bundy-in-jail.htm" target="_blank">ruled</a> on February 16th that <b>Cliven Bundy</b>, the militant racist <b>Mormon</b> patriarch arrested February 10th on his way to cheer on his sons’ followers’ occupation of a wildlife refuge, will stay behind bars while he awaits trial for his central role in an armed confrontation with federal officers at his <b>Nevada</b> ranch in 2014. In arguing for the refusal of bail, a prosecutor, <b>Steven W. Myhre</b>, called Bundy a “lawless and violent man.” Referring to the <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>) officers who faced off in April 2014 against over 400 armed thugs Bundy had recruited from 10 states, Myhre said, “Almost to a person, every federal law enforcement officer there thought they were going to die that day.” Two days later, a judge <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cliven-bundy-ordered-nevada-son-decries-federal-overreach-n521281" target="_blank">ordered Bundy to be returned to Nevada</a> to await trial there behind bars. Upon his arrival, a federal grand jury in Nevada on the 17th <a href="http://greaterpatchoguenews.com/2016/02/cliven-bundy-4-others-face-federal-indictment-in-nevada/" target="_blank">indicted</a> Bundy and four participants in the occupation, including his sons Ammon and Ryan, on a wide range of charges including weapons charges, conspiracy, assault, and extortion. Ammon Bundy and 9 other defendants <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/ammon-bundy-plea-not-guilty-standoff/2016/02/25/id/716058/" target="_blank">pleaded not guilty</a> in a federal court in Portland on February 24th.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlotte Rodrique chairs the Burns Paiute tribal council in Oregon.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Refuge Occupiers Desecrated Sacred Indian Sites; Lawsuit Cites “Devil’s Works.”</u></b> Meanwhile, on February 16th, a <b>United States</b> attorney <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/02/17/its-so-disgusting-malheur-militia-dug-latrine-trenches-among-sacred-artifacts-163454" target="_blank">released a report</a> on the condition of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after the end of the occupation. The report says two large latrine trenches, at least one containing human feces, were dug through an area containing artifacts sacred to the <b>Burns Paiute</b> tribe. <b>Jarvis Kennedy</b>, of the Burns Paiutes’ tribal council said, “This is their mindset—not really caring about anything. For them to do that in that area is so disgusting.” Kennedy added that he knows that the occupiers were informed it was a sacred site. One of the former wildlife-refuge occupiers, <b>Shawn Cox</b>, <a href="http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/293868-171307-refuge-occupier-blasts-works-of-the-devil-wants-666-billion-in-counterclaim" target="_blank">filed a federal complaint</a> on February 15th, larded with legalistic gibberish characteristic of the “sovereign citizens” movement and claiming that she and her comrades in the action were being “maliciously prosecuted” because of what they know about U.S. government misdeeds. In the eight-page filing, Cox also asked for $666,666,666,666.66 in compensation for “damages from the works of the <b>devil</b>.”<br />
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<b><u>Cruz Woos Nevada Bundy-ites with Land Reform Vow; Trump Wins Caucus Anyway.</u></b> In <b>Nevada</b>, meanwhile, in the run-up to the caucuses for the <b>Republican Party</b> nomination for president on February 23rd, <b>Ted Cruz</b> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/18/cruz-hits-nevada-airwaves-with-a-libertarian-land-rights-pitch/" target="_blank">released a new television spot in the state</a> in which he pledged to give the <b>State of Nevada</b> “full control” of the lands currently managed by the federal government—a transfer that his rival <b>Donald Trump</b> had gone on record as opposing. Trump still <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-nevada-gop-caucus_us_56ccb909e4b0928f5a6d7ac8" target="_blank">won Nevada by a healthy margin</a>, taking 45.9% of the vote, compared to <b>Marco Rubio</b>’s 23.9% and Cruz’s 21.4%. But meanwhile the <b>United States</b> House of Representatives is considering bills—vanishingly unlikely ever to pass a Senate vote—that would ease the transfer of federal lands to the states.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Members of Donald Trump’s “base” turned out<br />
to support him in Las Vegas.</td></tr>
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<b><u>New Orleans Police Flush “Moorish” Squatters from Vacation Home.</u></b> In <b>Louisiana</b>, police on February 16th <a href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/14896436-93/four-squatters-reportedly-tied-to-black-separatist-group-arrested-for-criminal-trespassing-at-bywate" target="_blank">entered a house in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood and arrested four squatters</a> from a “<b>Moorish</b>” nationalist group who had been occupying the house illegally for a week. Three were arrested in the house, and one was arrested in the street nearby. Among the two were 24-year-old <b>Devin Garner</b> and 18-year-old <b>Danamaria Thornton</b>. The house was owned by <b>Fredrick Hines</b>, a resident of Inglewood, <b>California</b>, who uses the property, which he has owned since before Hurricane Katrina, as a vacation home.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhJTyJqKlP88uDo25l51A7KGdQHN5MPROiBf9lXVLu22osTwz9n6osNXgj4U8p_59eSlvuSHSuqFo1JWHuxWj5AmuHV_clGVwdCyWGr_8_yi23rthNlJHBi0jjou48_mEgMtui28IqmZr/s1600/washitaw-nation-squattersjpg-185c67c92d096ca4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhJTyJqKlP88uDo25l51A7KGdQHN5MPROiBf9lXVLu22osTwz9n6osNXgj4U8p_59eSlvuSHSuqFo1JWHuxWj5AmuHV_clGVwdCyWGr_8_yi23rthNlJHBi0jjou48_mEgMtui28IqmZr/s400/washitaw-nation-squattersjpg-185c67c92d096ca4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Washitaw Moorish squatters, now evicted</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, in <b>New Jersey</b>, the ex-wife of another “<b>Moorish</b>” nationalist, <b>Don Finney</b>, who uses the name <b>Fevor Ador El</b> and has links to the “sovereign citizens” movement, <a href="http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20160216/wife-of-trenton-sovereign-citizen-testifies-she-was-beaten-raped-by-husband" target="_blank">testified in detail</a> on February 16th that her ex-husband had beaten, choked, and raped her, threatened her life, and held her hostage in their Trenton home for three days. Because of the nature of the case, the woman’s name was not revealed to the press. Finny is fighting 14 criminal charges, including kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hB6JbjIBGkBYUMmF9rgaV3va6QigIrbEInqmorca7iB1uUzuQrIGSBy6qNizB8YFeVypzUG4bdHCFgE2y8hSgJFBRyMeyRuqRaXMZhJRwHxT1GjYX-0-ZPcdU1ELixYkhqt1LfJ8K201/s1600/Moorish+philadelphia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hB6JbjIBGkBYUMmF9rgaV3va6QigIrbEInqmorca7iB1uUzuQrIGSBy6qNizB8YFeVypzUG4bdHCFgE2y8hSgJFBRyMeyRuqRaXMZhJRwHxT1GjYX-0-ZPcdU1ELixYkhqt1LfJ8K201/s400/Moorish+philadelphia.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Members of the Moorish community in Philadelphia</td></tr>
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<b><u>Philadelphian Tries to Dodge Fines by Claiming “Moorish American” Citizenship.</u></b> In a suburb of Philadelphia, a 47-year-old man <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/MP/20160225/NEWS/160229788" target="_blank">found his giant pile of unpaid traffic fines and other violations were made into a bigger problem for him</a> when he told a policeman in Limerick, <b>Pennsylvania</b>, that he didn’t have to pay anything because he was not a <b>United States</b> citizen. He claimed that instead he was a member of the <b>“Moorish American National Government.”</b> So now a Montgomery County court has added giving false information to a police officer and presenting false documents to his charges. The man, <b>Rodney Logan</b>, is a resident of Philadelphia, one of the centers of the “<b>Moorish Science Temple</b>” movement and its offshoots (see above).<br />
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<b><u>Cruz Makes Rebel Flag Wedge Issue as Trump Sews Up South Carolina Bigot Vote.</u></b> According to a poll conducted in <b>South Carolina</b> before the February 20th <b>Republican Party</b> primary there, 70% of those planning on voting for <b>Donald Trump</b> <a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/donald_trumps_supporters_wish.html" target="_blank">believed that the <b>Confederate</b> battle flag should still be flying over the state capitol building in Columbia</a>. Only 20% were happy it was down. 62% of <b>Ted Cruz</b> supporters agreed it should be raised again, as did, surprisingly, 33% of backers of <b>Ben Carson</b>, who is <b>African-American</b>. But Trump himself had earlier approved of the removal of the flag from the South Carolina statehouse—a fact which Cruz <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/02/19/467427120/pro-cruz-superpac-slams-trump-for-supporting-removal-of-confederate-flag" target="_blank">exploited in robocall ads</a> which grumbled, “Trump talks about <i>our flag</i> like it’s a social disease” (emphasis added). Thirty-eight percent of Trump voters said they wish the <b>Southern</b> states had won the Civil War, with only 24% saying the <b>Northern</b> victory was a good thing, while another 38% were “not sure.” Almost one in five pro-Trump South Carolinians <a href="https://www.romper.com/p/nearly-20-percent-of-trumps-south-carolina-supporters-disagreed-with-freeing-slaves-6128" target="_blank">think the slaves should not have been freed</a>. For <i>Cruzadistas,</i> pro-Confederates were 35%, while only 28% of <b>Jeb Bush</b> backers and 12% of Carson fans pined for an independent <b>Dixie</b>. A full 30% of South Carolina <b>Republicans</b> wish they lived in a <b>Confederate States of America</b>. Meanwhile, Trump <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/trump-racist-newsletter-south-carolina" target="_blank">won the endorsement</a> of the <i>Conservative Action Report,</i> a neo-Confederate racist newsletter which claims <b>Barack Obama</b> is a Muslim. In <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/primaries/SC" target="_blank">the primary itself</a>, Trump won 33% of the vote, <b>Marco Rubio</b> 23%, Cruz 22%, and Carson 7%. Meanwhile, the neo-Nazi <b>David Duke</b>, former Grand Wizard of the <b>Ku Klux Klan</b>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/david-duke-comes-out-support-donald-trump" target="_blank">endorsed Trump</a>, telling his radio listeners, “Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.”<br />
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<b><u>2 White Kentucky Teens Use Confederate Flag, Pole in Assault on Biracial Girl. </u></b> In <b>Kentucky</b>, <a href="http://rollingout.com/2016/02/20/white-teens-assault-black-student-with-confederate-flag-pole/" target="_blank">controversy continued to rage over a racial assault</a> near a high school in the town of Mt. Washington. In the February 12th incident, two white teenagers, <b>Hayleigh Blevins</b> and <b>Nicholas Chapman</b>, shoved a 17-year-old biracial girl, used the “N”-word on her, and then attacked her car with a <b>Confederate</b> flag on a pole, causing $1,000 in damage. <b>Eric Farris</b>, of the Bullitt County school board, later told media, “Based upon information we have gathered, and information provided by the Mt. Washington Police Department, there is no evidence of a ‘hate crime.’” Meanwhile, three white students at <b>San Jose State University</b> in <b>California</b> <a href="http://thesource.com/2016/02/25/3-white-students-escape-hate-crime-charges-after-clamping-lock-on-black-roommates-neck/" target="_blank">were found guilty of battery for calling an <b>African-American</b> student the “N” word, taunting him with a Confederate flag, and putting a bicycle lock around his neck</a>, but those acts also apparently did not qualify the incident as a “hate crime.” One wonders what <i>does</i> count as a hate crime nowadays.<br />
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<b><u>Ku Klux Klansmen Stab 3 Counter-Protestors for Disrupting California Rally.</u></b> Anaheim, the city near Los Angeles in Southern <b>California</b> which is home to <b>Disneyland</b>, was hardly the happiest place on Earth when a <b>Ku Klux Klan</b> (<b>K.K.K.</b>) rally in a city park <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-klan-rally-in-anaheim-erupts-in-violence-one-man-stabbed-20160227-story.html" target="_blank">turned violent</a> on February 27th. As far as it’s possible to tell from eyewitness reports, when a sport utility vehicle disgorged black-suited thugs with <b>Confederate</b>-flag patches, counter-protestors attacked them, some with two-by-fours, and some were stabbed in retaliation. In total, three people were stabbed, at least one badly, and 13 people were arrested. The Klan had a city permit to hold a rally, but there was, according to some observers, insufficient police presence. At one point a flagpole was used as a weapon by Klansmen. Among those arrested was <b>William Quigg</b>, of Anaheim, who had organized the rally. <b>Brian Levin</b>, who directs the <b>Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism</b> at <b>California State University, San Bernardino</b>, was in the midst of the scuffle and later told reporters on the scene, “There were no police officers here when this started happening. It was the longest few minutes between when the S.U.V. was attacked and when the police responded in droves. I think the police response saved their [the Klansmen’s] lives. They would have been torn limb from limb.” Police are still searching for one of the K.K.K. perpetrators.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Klansmen and counterdemonstrators scuffling in Anaheim</td></tr>
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<b><u>Mississippi House Speaker Says Only a Referendum Should Alter State Flag.</u></b> The speaker of <b>Mississippi</b>’s House of Representatives, <b>Philip Gunn</b>, said on February 22nd that any redesigns of the state flag <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/22/gunn-let-state-voters-decide-confederate-emblem/80786124/" target="_blank">should be put to a statewide referendum first</a>. Gunn was among the first <b>Republicans</b> last year to call for his state to remove the <b>Confederate</b> “stars and bars” from the canton (upper left corner) of its flag. In a referendum on the subject in 2001, Mississippians voted to keep the flag. In other rebel-flag news, a volunteer fire department in Spotsylvania County, <b>Virginia</b>, <a href="http://www.firechief.com/2016/02/17/va-fire-dept-reverses-decision-on-confederate-flag-patch/" target="_blank">voted again</a> on February 15th, reversing an earlier decision to keep the Confederate flag in their official patch. The vote was overwhelming among the 60 or so members who voted, with only three or four wanting to keep the Stars and Bars. The vote a month earlier was 21-14 in favor of keeping it.<br />
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<b><u>Separatist Assembly Candidate Says 41% of Californians Want to Secede from U.S.</u></b> The San Diego politician pushing for an independent <b>California</b> estimated on February 22nd that <a href="http://www.cknw.com/2016/02/22/california-dreaming-political-party-has-big-plans-for-independence/" target="_blank">41% of Californians would like the state to become a separate country</a>. <b>Louis Marinelli</b>, who heads the <b>National California Party</b> (<b>N.C.P.</b>) and (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/separatist-updates-for-january-16-31.html" target="_blank">as reported recently in this blog</a>) is running for a seat in California’s legislature, told a Vancouver, <b>British Columbia</b>, radio interviewer that he wants to see a California that keeps the tax revenue it raises and can offer its citizens free health care and a good education and free them from the political and financial entanglements of the <b>United States</b>’ military adventurism. “We disagree with what’s going on in the world,” Marinelli said, “with the United States as a leader in the world; we don’t want to be a part of America’s imperialism.” As for the 41% figure, what he said was, “There hasn’t been any official polling on the issue yet, but we did commission a poll, about nine thousand Californians, we got 41% saying yes to independence, that was about two weeks ago.” Marinelli’s “Yes California” campaign, with its goal of an independence referendum by 2020, <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/yes-scotland-logo-adopted-by-california-independence-movement-1-4037382" target="_blank">uses a logo</a> explicitly based on that of the “Yes <b>Scotland</b>” campaign from 2014.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim Draper and his map of Six Californias—or “supercounties”</td></tr>
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<b><u>Father of “6 Californias” Partition Movement Unveils Plan for “6 Supercounties.”</u></b> The venture capitalist and television comedy actor <b>Timothy Draper</b>, whose “<b>Six Californias</b>” partition proposal ran aground in 2014 (discussed in this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/state-of-jefferson-backers-remain.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/02/study-finds-silicon-valleys-6-way.html" target="_blank">here</a>), <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/state-705912-county-conference.html" target="_blank">now wants to divide <b>California</b> into six “supercounties,” he said</a> on February 25th at a conference on alternative politics. The conference, held at <b>Chapman University</b>, a private evangelical institution in ultra-conservative <b>Orange County</b>, was titled “Reimagining Local Government.” Participants ranged from the ultra-liberal former mayor of Portland, <b>Oregon</b>, <b>Sam Adams</b>, to familiar Orange County politicians. Draper’s “supercounties” plan is not yet fully formulated but would presumably mean that, instead of adding five new stars to the <b>United States</b> flag, he would like to see greater powers invested in a smaller number of counties. Currently, California has 58 counties. The “Six Californias” plan, which did not gather enough signatures to make this year’s ballot, would have divided the Golden State into (see map in photo above): <b>South California</b>, <b>West California</b>, <b>Central California</b>, <b>Silicon Valley</b>, <b>North California</b>, and a far-northern <b>State of Jefferson</b>. Draper also lauded <b>Estonia</b>, whose president, <b>Toomas Hendrik Ilves</b>, is a friend of his who used to live in Silicon Valley. Estonia, Draper says, “has a virtual government. ... Communication is so good now, borders almost don’t matter. This is the beginning of a new way of governing.”<br />
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<b><u>CARIBBEAN</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Puerto Rican Activists Rally in Times Square for Release of Political Prisoner.</u> About two dozen Puerto Rican activists <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/times-square-rally-free-puerto-rican-political-prisoner-article-1.2546768" target="_blank">demonstrated</a> in <b>New York</b> City’s Times Square on February 28th to urge President <b>Barack Obama</b> to pardon and release an independence agitator who has been in prison for 34 years. The prisoner, <b>Oscar López Rivera</b>, who is now 73, was given a 55-year sentence in 1981 for “seditious conspiracy.” He was a member of the violent <i><b>Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional</b></i> (<b>F.A.L.N.</b>, or <b>Armed Forces of National Liberation</b>), responsible for a string of bombings in opposition to <b>United States</b> colonialism in <b>Puerto Rico</b>, but López himself had never been convicted of a violent act. One protestor, 62-year-old <b>Rosario Vera</b>, said, “What they’ve done to him is wrong. ... It’s basically putting a muzzle on the independence movement in Puerto Rico. His life was basically cut short.”<br />
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<b><u>Survey Shows Satisfaction with Status Quo on Dutch Caribbean Islands.</u></b> Preliminary data from the latest opinion polls in <b>Curaçao</b> and <b>Aruba</b>, two self-governing Caribbean island nations, <a href="http://www.todaysxm.com/curacao-arube-island-survey-minority-support-for-independence-dissatisfaction-with-current-status/" target="_blank">show only weak support for full independence</a>. Only 14% of Arubans and 30% of Curaçaoans want to sever all ties with the <b>Kingdom of the Netherlands</b>, of which they are currently “constituent countries.” Moreover, in Curaçao, less than 40% wanted to keep the status quo—still the most popular choice—while 32% wanted the island merged back into the <b>Netherlands Antilles</b>. In Aruba, those figures were 70% and 7%. A further option, of becoming ordinary Dutch municipalities alongside other subdivisions of the Dutch homeland—in the manner of <b>France</b>’s “overseas <i>départements</i>” and of the Dutch Caribbean possessions of <b>Saba</b>, <b>Statia</b>, and <b>Bonaire</b>—got hardly any support at all. The survey was conducted from September to November 2015 by the <b>Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies</b>. Survey data from <b>St. Maarten</b> were discarded because of forged questionnaires by the seven freelance field interviewers.<br />
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<b><u>SOUTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Wikileaks Documents Expose U.S. Backing for Rightist Separatism in Eastern Bolivia.</u> A <b>Norwegian</b> political researcher <a href="http://sputniknews.com/latam/20160219/1035028066/bolivia-wikileaks-us-funding-separatists.html" target="_blank">revealed to Bolivian media</a> on February 18th that documents from the late 2000s declassified by the anti-secrecy group <b>Wikileaks</b> show the <b>United States</b> government supported separatism in eastern <b>Bolivia</b> and sat on information about planned attacks in the country by militant rightists. <b>Eirik Vold</b> reported that the <b>United States Agency for International Development</b> (<b>USAID</b>) funnelled $4 million to a right-wing secessionist movement in the eastern Bolivian departments of <b>Beni</b>, <b>Pando</b>, <b>Santa Cruz</b>, and <b>Tarija</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Chilean Mapuches Rally to Make Mapudungun Official Language in Araucanía.</u></b> Thousands of members of the <b>Mapuche</b> indigenous nation in <b>Chile</b> <a href="http://www.nationalia.info/new/10721/demonstrators-demand-official-status-for-mapudungun-in-araucania-region" target="_blank">marched through the town of Temuco</a> on February 19th in support of giving their language, Mapudungun, official status in the <b>Araucanía</b> administrative region. The protest was organized by the <b>Movement for Mapudungun Official Status</b>. A new legal decision as of November 2015 permits regions to take that step so long as it did not infringe on the right to use Spanish. The crowd was estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 people.<br />
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<b><u>PRACTICALLY BLOODY ANTARCTICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Argentine Cops Jail, Torture British “Barbie Bandit” after Falklands Comments.</u> The abusive behavior of <b>Argentina</b>’s police—and its relatedness to aggressive Argentine colonialism—were <a href="http://www.windsorexpress.co.uk/News/Areas/Sunningdale/FEATURE-Barbie-bandit-wrongly-locked-up-in-Argentinian-jail-tells-of-her-ordeal-19022016.htm" target="_blank">brought once again to global attention with the recent case of a woman tabloids have dubbed “the Barbie Bandit.”</a> A 26-year-old nursery-school teacher from Wiltshire, <b>England</b>, named <b>Georgia Wawman</b> was in her home in Buenos Aires on January 14th with her two-year-old son <b>Milo</b>, when police “in black suits with guns” kicked down her door at 5:30 in the morning and ransacked the house. They were looking for her former boyfriend <b>José Mino</b>, the boy’s father, whom they believed to be the head of a noted armed gang. “They didn’t even know who I was,” Wawman said later. “They were making sarcastic comments about the <b>Falkland Islands</b> and asked me who they belong to.” Wawman responded—correctly—that the islands are a territory of the <b>United Kingdom</b>, “but I realised it was a mistake straight away.” The police <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6867183/Blonde-British-woman-dubbed-Barbie-bandit-arrested-for-burgling-luxury-homes-in-Argentina.html" target="_blank">took her to the station</a>, called her a “whore,” handcuffed her in a cell for 12 hours without water, forced her to stand for hours with her nose against the wall, and ignored her pleas referring to her heart condition. Only the intervention of the U.K. embassy enabled her to get a cup of water. “When I told people about it in England,” she said, “they said it was so terrible. But people in Argentina said, ‘Don’t worry about it, at least you’re alive.’” Wawman and Mino <a href="http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/14285825._It_s_all_lies___says_woman_accused_as_being_a__Barbie_Bandit_/" target="_blank">have so far not been linked to any of the robberies</a>, which the Argentine police have been slow to admit. Wawman’s father is the ethnographic documentary filmmaker <b>Richard Wawman</b>, whose most recent film, about a tribal group in <b>New Guinea</b>, is <i>Only Rich Men Get Girls with Great Breasts. </i>She has returned to England with her son and is in the process of suing the Argentine police department involved.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read in detail about these and many other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-50222172468324784522016-02-29T20:19:00.002-06:002016-02-29T20:19:11.432-06:00End of an Era: Ramzan Kadyrov’s Decision to Step Aside Leaves a Power Vacuum, and Raises Questions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don’t think I was alone in assuming that the <b>Chechen Republic</b>’s bigger-than-life, flamboyant, authoritarian president, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, would stay in office as long as he possibly could, whether by hook or by crook. He is just the type we would expect to bend every rule to try to keep himself in power past his constitutional expiration date, just like (to take two examples in the news this week) <b>Uganda</b>’s <b>Yoweri Museveni</b> or <b>Bolivia</b>’s <b>Evo Morales</b>—or, indeed, like Kadyrov’s sponsor, protector, and ally, <b>Russia</b>’s President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>.<br />
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But I was wrong, and the rest of the world was surprised too when Kadyrov <a href="https://www.rt.com/politics/333863-kadyrov-resignation-chechen-republic/" target="_blank">told the media on February 27th that when his term of office ends in April he will step aside and retire from politics</a>. “My time is past,” he said. “Every human has a limit. I believe Kadyrov has passed his peak.” (Like his pet attack-dog Tarzan’s namesake, Kadyrov likes to refer to himself in the third person.) “Family, personal life, Islamic studies,” is how he summed up his plans for retirement. The following day he pleaded with the public to cancel planned rallies to get him to change his mind.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuomFJ2B4XC1ituRyskONcK1eypK2YeD1HkEx3bRbGkiTr3_xxD-43iZAm3RGescNG8qdp1zmZmSWW6_NODOPeY4wwD2U4X7dqkRBWJIhGTV0IcoWY6GI_6TEOtYw3ZPj1LjiZy2_EQzd2/s1600/Chechnya+Ramzan+Kadyrov+tarzan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuomFJ2B4XC1ituRyskONcK1eypK2YeD1HkEx3bRbGkiTr3_xxD-43iZAm3RGescNG8qdp1zmZmSWW6_NODOPeY4wwD2U4X7dqkRBWJIhGTV0IcoWY6GI_6TEOtYw3ZPj1LjiZy2_EQzd2/s1600/Chechnya+Ramzan+Kadyrov+tarzan.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kadyrov and Tarzan</td></tr>
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But why is he stepping aside, instead of, say, grooming a close advisor as a successor and continuing things from a nominally secondary position—the way Putin did when he got around term limits by switching places with his prime minister <b>Dmitri Medvedev</b> for a term? In the Russian and Chechen political world, no one would have so much as blinked an eye.<br />
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Perhaps it had something to do with the report released four days earlier by a leader in Russia’s political opposition (such as it is), <b>Ilya Yashin</b>, who runs a protest group called <b><i>Solidardost</i></b> (its name, meaning “solidarity,” inspired by Poland’s anti-Soviet mass movement from the 1980s, <b><i>Solidarność</i></b>). That document described Kadyrov—utterly accurately—as a virtual dictator of a regime that is in most concrete ways a <i>de facto</i> autonomous state (<i>de jure,</i> it is a republic within the Russian Federation, one which does significant damage to Russia’s international reputation (such as it is), and threatens to do worse. Yashin referred to Kadyrov’s Islamist autocracy and his much-flaunted lavish lifestyle enabled by corruption and embezzlement. He wondered aloud how smart Putin was to allow Kadyrov to run his own separate military, answerable only to himself, which fights as a separate state military in conflicts such as the civil war in <b>Syria</b>, where Putin and Kadyrov back the embattled <b>Shi’a Arab</b> dictator, <b>Bashar al-Assad</b>. Could this private army one day turn on Russia itself, as it did in the Chechen Wars?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kadyrov’s Instagram account is one of the strangest places on the Internet.</td></tr>
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Yashin also asserted what most aware people not blinded by Putinist propaganda already believe: that there is “no doubt” that armed thugs under Kadyrov’s personal direction assassinated the dissident leader <b>Boris Nemtsov</b> in Moscow last year. Kadyrov responded to Yashin’s report on his favored channel of communication, <b>Instagram</b>, dismissing the accusations as “blather.” But maybe he noticed that the Kremlin did not exactly leap to his defense when the report hit the public. (Compare this to the case of the anti-Putin dissident <b>Andrei Piontkovsky</b>, who <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/radio-liberty-russian-analyst-flees-country-fearing-persecution-595389.html" target="_blank">fled the country</a> this month after his criticism of the Putin–Kadyrov political friendship prompted Putinists in parliament to brand his inquiries “an incitement to separatism and extremism.”)<br />
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There are good reasons why Putin might not be all that happy with Kadyrov lately. First and foremost perhaps is Kadyrov’s <a href="http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Chechen-Oil-Takeover-May-Be-The-Start-Of-Russian-Power-Devolution.html" target="_blank">quiet takeover this month of the oil firm</a> <b>Chechenneftekhimprom</b>, detaching it from its Russian parent company <b>Rosneft</b> and putting it under direct Chechen Republic control. This effectively meant Kadyrov would own it after the transfer is completed in March. Chechenneftekhimprom oversees nearly all of Chechnya’s energy industry. Chechen operations constitute only 0.23% of Rosneft’s total oil extraction, and lower prices of Siberian oil have made them less profitable, but for tiny Chechnya, local control of the resource makes <i>de facto </i>independence more viable. Control of oil resources was a major struggle in the Chechen wars for independence in the 1990s. It does seem odd that Kadyrov would execute such an economic coup just weeks before he leaves the picture entirely. It’s not too far-fetched to think that when the takeover was planned he hadn’t yet decided to step aside. Did the oil grab finally push Putin to the point where he decided that Kadyrov had to go?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaOenrxiTZv8Vqttv8vrzKT6hbgmlzIPLrbOE2l9mjnnHFlPXLrJOivCCvurnRi9XwzxHFonQu3N799FKE3XlaLQx9o2GmrzFTAC1heqN0tYfOIR71cms9LaE90LX-AqfFZHmNPOrNqw4/s1600/Kadyrov+and+snake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaOenrxiTZv8Vqttv8vrzKT6hbgmlzIPLrbOE2l9mjnnHFlPXLrJOivCCvurnRi9XwzxHFonQu3N799FKE3XlaLQx9o2GmrzFTAC1heqN0tYfOIR71cms9LaE90LX-AqfFZHmNPOrNqw4/s400/Kadyrov+and+snake.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a viral video he created, Kadyrov, on prayer mat,<br />faces down—and later grapples with—a serpent representing radical Islam.</td></tr>
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Or perhaps the Moscow–Grozny axis had simply become weighed down by too many historical, political, and ideological contradictions. In fact, it is still baffling that the alliance ever existed. To understand why, a quick history lesson.<br />
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<b>Chechnya and the Kadyrovs: a short history lesson</b><br />
The Chechen people, like other peoples of the North Caucasus region, are mostly Muslim, and they came under Moscow’s control only in the 1870s, when they were wrested from the <b>Ottoman Empire</b>’s sphere of influence as part of the general Czarist push to dominate the Black Sea at <b>Turkey</b>’s expense. (Warm-water ports have always been a constant overriding preoccupation in Russian foreign policy. It’s hard being an empire or a superpower when the only harbors you can set sail from, other than the Black Sea—whose exit is controlled by Turkey—are St. Petersburg (which is at the mercy of the <b>Swedish</b> and <b>Danish</b> waters that have to be passed through on the way to the open sea) and ice-bound Vladivostok in <b>Siberia</b>.) The Czars held onto the North Caucasus brutally and with difficulty. Most of the dirty work was delegated to <b>Cossacks</b>. It is very arguable that the tactics Russia used in this era against the Chechens and their neighbors amounted to genocide.<br />
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During the civil war that followed the Russian Revolution of 1917, the North Caucasus peoples rebelled and tried to establish a rival <b>Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus</b> in alliance with the Ottomans. It was even diplomatically recognized by <b>Germany</b>, the Ottoman Empire, and two other newly declared states, <b>Georgia</b> and <b>Azerbaijan</b>. The ruling <b>Bolsheviks</b> in Moscow promised the Mountain Republic that they could keep their autonomy if they helped defeat the <b>Mensheviks</b>. Chechens dutifully helped defeat the Mensheviks, but then the Bolsheviks reneged on their promise. Chechnya became a mere “autonomous” <i>okrug</i> (district) within the <b>Mountain “Autonomous” Soviet Socialist Republic</b> within the <b>Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic</b> within the <b>Union of Soviet Socialist Republics</b>. What this meant is that, like the rest of the U.S.S.R. it was ruled directly by the party dictatorship in Moscow.<br />
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After the Second World War, Chechens were accused of having sided with the <b>Nazis</b>. (Indeed, some did; mostly, they were just trying to survive.) Along with other groups like the <b>Crimean Tatars</b> and <b>Meskhetian Turks</b>, they were forcibly removed by <b>Josef Stalin</b> to points east, in Siberia and the Central Asian republics. During this ordeal, somewhere between a third and a half of the Chechen and <b>Ingush</b> nations died from executions, starvation, and cruelty in the work camps. (It was during the Chechen diaspora in the <b>Kyrgyz S.S.R.</b> that the <b>Tsarnaev</b> family nursed a resentment toward Russians and Christians; generations later, in 2013, two of their grandchildren in the <b>United States</b> would carry out a bombing attack on the Boston Marathon.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZ0J46ezHDGNTK_iRy3srXiTFniJ91du6K8kZTXHBvEfofFxcJw5S9vi4HzKPoiHtI9dC4qCpGu4uhRb4HWoS9l14DPdYnzi2eZWBNBzG_nlh_l0emrIVcQfBrS6X-SxrILJUSyEYtCgp/s1600/chechen+deportations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZ0J46ezHDGNTK_iRy3srXiTFniJ91du6K8kZTXHBvEfofFxcJw5S9vi4HzKPoiHtI9dC4qCpGu4uhRb4HWoS9l14DPdYnzi2eZWBNBzG_nlh_l0emrIVcQfBrS6X-SxrILJUSyEYtCgp/s400/chechen+deportations.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hundreds of thousands of Chechens were deported by Stalin in 1944;<br />almost half did not survive the ordeal.</td></tr>
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<b>Nikita Khrushchev</b>, in the 1950s, reversed many of Stalin’s more repressive policies toward minorities and allowed Chechens to move home. Chechnya was part of the <b>Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic</b>, within Russia, until 1991. As the fully separate republics of the U.S.S.R., like Georgia, <b>Armenia</b>, and Azerbaijan won independence, the new Russian president, <b>Boris Yeltsin</b>, told republics to “take as much autonomy as you can stand,” and even seemed to be contemplating letting the two most independent-minded republics, Chechnya (which had separated itself from its Ingush half) and <b>Tatarstan</b>, to secede as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dzhokar Dudayev, independent Chechnya’s first leader</td></tr>
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A young soon-to-be-ex <b>K.G.B.</b> agent in Yeltsin’s cabinet named Vladimir Putin had other ideas, though. First as chief of staff and then as a minister responsible for minorities (the same job Stalin had held before becoming party secretary), Putin urged harsh dealing with the independent <b>Chechen Republic of Ichkeria</b> that declared itself in 1991. The proud and eager Chechen rebels fought the underpaid, half-hearted post-Soviet army to a standstill, and by 1994 Chechnya had agreed to join the newly minted <b>Russian Federation</b> but in reality ran itself as a <i>de facto</i> independent state under the rebel leader <b>Dzhokar Dudayev</b>, who dissolved the local parliament and anointed himself dictator. Dudayev was fiercely Russophobic and steeped in paranoid superstitions; he believed that earthquakes in the Caucasus were caused by diabolical “earthquake machines” in the Kremlin. Most of his time was spent fighting the rival Chechens who kept trying to overthrow him. In 1994, Yeltsin had had enough and let Putin try to retake Chechnya, which he did by leveling the capital, Grozny, in a pitiless carpet-bombing campaign that killed tens of thousands. Dudayev was killed in 1996.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvxRD1l4-zaqEjEOLEOOS_EsuxwdYQA0ZOql5dieEAKmxfuTnQS1e9uJbX18hBG12mcXVBsMnjaTmXX1rT_bECU-sdLhdEblw6blZo6M96bNGLT2xx6QMY2Sjrwqt0PpODviyzC45fygl/s1600/Grozny+1995.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvxRD1l4-zaqEjEOLEOOS_EsuxwdYQA0ZOql5dieEAKmxfuTnQS1e9uJbX18hBG12mcXVBsMnjaTmXX1rT_bECU-sdLhdEblw6blZo6M96bNGLT2xx6QMY2Sjrwqt0PpODviyzC45fygl/s640/Grozny+1995.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grozny, the Chechen capital, in 1995, courtesy of Vladimir Putin</td></tr>
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There was peace for a while, until 1999, when some of the many foreign Islamic fighters that had flooded into Chechnya in 1994 to fight the Russian infidels needed a new crusade and crossed over the mountain passes into the Russian republic of <b>Dagestan</b> to declare an <b>Islamic State of Dagestan</b>. It was one thing for Chechnya to be a tiny Islamic-run republic that minded its own business, but Putin, who succeeded Yeltsin as president the following year, would not stand for Islamic radicalism spreading within Russia. He soundly defeated the Chechens in what came to be known as the Second Chechen War. His “Gulf of Tonkin”–type pretext was the terrorist demolition of four Moscow apartment buildings in late 1999. He blamed Chechens, but there is strong evidence that the K.G.B., under Putin’s orders, blew up the buildings to provide a rationale for war. The new president who took over in 2003, <b>Akhmed Kadyrov</b> (father of Ramzan), was, like Dudayev, under whom he had been chief imam, and like most Chechens, very moderate, even mystical in his Islam. Most Chechens are traditionally <b>Sufis</b>, with not much use for the doctrinally rigid salafism or Wahhabism emanating from places like <b>Saudi Arabia</b> and <b>Taliban</b>-run <b>Afghanistan</b>. But by now the Second Chechen War, unlike the first, became a jihad, fought to a great extent by battle-hardened salafists flooding in from all over the Islamic world.<br />
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A turning point in the war came early on, when Kadyrov switched sides and brought his vast extended family of militiamen into the pro-Russian camp. It may never be clear in what order things happened here. Perhaps it was Putin who initially convinced Kadyrov that if he betrayed the more Islamist fighters (like the radical separatist Chechens who carried out the Beslan school siege in late 2004), then he would allow Chechnya to be his personal fief as long as it had a Russian flag flying over it too. Or perhaps the deal was made with his son Ramzan after the elder Kadyrov’s assassination (by whom?) in early 2004.<br />
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Anyway, in the end that is what happened: from 2007 until now, Ramzan Kadyrov has been allowed to run Chechnya any way he pleases. He imposes a form of <i>shari’a</i> law which tolerates polygamy and honor killings, he loots the treasury so that he can live like a medieval king, and in return Putin has rebuilt Grozny with massive projects like Europe’s largest mosque and Kadyrov makes sure to fix local elections in Putin’s favor, such as the national vote in 2012 when an absurd 99.89% of Chechens supposedly voted for Putin—the man who practically bombed their country off the map only a few years earlier. But most of all, Kadyrov’s personal army has served as a crack battalion much like the old-style Cossacks (who still exist also), doing battle wherever the Czar—I mean, Putin—feels Russian interests are at stake.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUnFAGR1FJJu9-Rk0o7-XIuZhMZoEU4EUQlDg2DS4mashjlXG0bwUx7Uyq0OMCmi2KTf6EgvjtTw5Uk-z6a-sdgmia1zotN6nUQlrrfWQUv0PjRAYyO1nLlKdGDO1w97ZlM0edWitZBa1H/s1600/Kadyrov+Sr.+assassination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUnFAGR1FJJu9-Rk0o7-XIuZhMZoEU4EUQlDg2DS4mashjlXG0bwUx7Uyq0OMCmi2KTf6EgvjtTw5Uk-z6a-sdgmia1zotN6nUQlrrfWQUv0PjRAYyO1nLlKdGDO1w97ZlM0edWitZBa1H/s400/Kadyrov+Sr.+assassination.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kadyrov’s father’s assassination, at a military parade in 2004,<br />was captured on Russian television.</td></tr>
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This means that Kadyrov’s fighters have, over the years, aligned themselves with the Armenians against the Azeris in <b>Nagorno-Karabakh</b>; with the <b>Serbs</b> against the <b>Bosniaks</b> and <b>Croats</b> in <b>Bosnia </b>and against the<b> Albanians </b>in<b> Kosovo</b>; with the Russians against the <b>Ukrainians</b> and Tatars in <b>Crimea</b>; and, most recently, with the <b>Alawites</b> (and, increasingly, <b>Kurds</b>) against the <b>Sunni Arabs</b> in Syria. Yes, that means that Kadyrov has been sending the youth of the Chechen nation to kill Muslims in the service of Russian Orthodox Christian colonialism and Islamophobia. Did that begin to weigh on his conscience? Or was there an Islamist insurgency preparing itself in Chechnya? or perhaps only the fear of one?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmAc5l6rF96KDU7aPQdstEg1UuYH_fjx6p7-6Lb31OCAmEoLMfFOB8SLdTuCGGYXbiGq6mIF7ob8vqnAaxXLh8R3ZiU-DdUc-2Acr-dCZeCHHpH8dCJezcOoBYdKhkEdx8PDfTYDtKmlk/s1600/Chechen+mercenaries+in+Donetsk.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmAc5l6rF96KDU7aPQdstEg1UuYH_fjx6p7-6Lb31OCAmEoLMfFOB8SLdTuCGGYXbiGq6mIF7ob8vqnAaxXLh8R3ZiU-DdUc-2Acr-dCZeCHHpH8dCJezcOoBYdKhkEdx8PDfTYDtKmlk/s400/Chechen+mercenaries+in+Donetsk.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chechen mercenaries go wherever Russian—not Chechen—interests are threatened.</td></tr>
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A clue may lie in a bizarre episode that occurred only eight days before Kadyrov’s announcement, when he was obliged to <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/caucasus-report-chechnya-kadyrov-uturn-spritual-passports/27567128.html" target="_blank">publicly deny reports the previous day that he had instituted a plan for all young men to obtain “spiritual-moral passports”</a> documenting their Islamic commitments. The news had appeared on the website of the Chechen parliament and in official government news agencies and had described the initiative as Kadyrov’s own. The new passports, to be issued to all men aged 14 through 35, would have listed each man’s name, nationality, patrilineal ancestry, clan, denomination (of Islam, of course), and, for Sufis, the individual order (<i>vird</i>) to which he belongs, as well as the names of senior male relatives “responsible” for the holder’s moral behavior.<br />
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In his denial, Kadyrov called all talk of such passports “fantasies,” adding, “There is only one passport in our country—citizen of Russia!” I would guess that Kadyrov was quickly forced to backtrack after a warning from the Kremlin that such a passport requirement would be baldly unconstitutional. But why this, and why now, when Chechnya is already run under virtual <i>shari’a</i>? Were the spiritual passports an attempt to mollify anti-Kadyrov sentiment among the more radical sectors of Chechnya? Or was Kadyrov communicating to Putin that, despite their relationship, he is still a Muslim first? We may never know.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a7uskKyodCIb3XM3SXsEjpFQaoV_rhyphenhyphentXj-Xf4A7InhtEEsfygbAXQPhasvBwjK_j2-xvWG-fo1L_kkAL-xN2ViZedjq9NJKgA04QYKpS7oFwmyrheQqyf8qXsyy9Ek38vo-bf-rXW2y/s1600/Kadyrov+cronies+national+costume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a7uskKyodCIb3XM3SXsEjpFQaoV_rhyphenhyphentXj-Xf4A7InhtEEsfygbAXQPhasvBwjK_j2-xvWG-fo1L_kkAL-xN2ViZedjq9NJKgA04QYKpS7oFwmyrheQqyf8qXsyy9Ek38vo-bf-rXW2y/s1600/Kadyrov+cronies+national+costume.jpg" /></a></div>
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In any case it is ironic that not long before Kadyrov’s announcement, <b>Akhmed Zakayev</b>, the moderate prime-minister-in-exile of the old self-declared Chechen Republic of Iskerria—the anti-Russian separatist entity with which the Kadyrovs <i>used </i>to be aligned—<a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-chechnya-zakayev-kadyrov/27561879.html" target="_blank">told <b>Radio Free Europe</b></a> in February that Kadyrov is “here to stay.” According to Zakayev, who lives in London, this was because of Chechnya’s fiercely loyal private armed forces: “Any attempt to remove Kadyrov by decree or to appoint another leader of the republic would spark uproar in Kadyrov’s ranks. In order to remove him, security forces would need to conduct operational measures within his close circle. If they don’t, the reaction will be very negative and Putin won’t be able to get rid of him with a simple decree or a stroke of the pen.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGFjN4Az0a34JMQAyEmQs50AlX1lqr8Ts2e5qds4-j1LXdxQi3Jc_AYfQSc3Qe1IC04LnuIouJR5YL_1oQ1FMCTsFVj9_56IPe_3kJV73Prv9ZD6yCiclszYiaqW9F3iW2_jlaRx5O3Zp_/s1600/Kadyrov+with+chicken+and+rabbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGFjN4Az0a34JMQAyEmQs50AlX1lqr8Ts2e5qds4-j1LXdxQi3Jc_AYfQSc3Qe1IC04LnuIouJR5YL_1oQ1FMCTsFVj9_56IPe_3kJV73Prv9ZD6yCiclszYiaqW9F3iW2_jlaRx5O3Zp_/s400/Kadyrov+with+chicken+and+rabbit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eventually, Kadyrov will have to get friends wherever he can find them.</td></tr>
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Another reason Zakayev thought Kadyrov would cling to power is that, if he ever fell out of political favor—and he has lots of enemies, many of them radical Islamists—where would he go? “Three, four, five months ago,” Zakayev said, “there were still places he could leave for: Turkey, Sunni states, Saudi Arabia, the <b>United Arab Emirates</b>. He has now lost these possibilities because he supported the conflict in Syria together with Putin and backed and sided with the Shi’a to defend Bashar al-Assad. By doing this, he has blocked the escape routes that he had spent several years preparing.”<br />
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That, of course, was all said <i>before</i> Kadyrov said he would leave politics. Now, though, the questions are many. Who will replace Kadyrov? Will his successor be a more conventional republican president, or will Chechnya still be an autonomous Islamic statelet? Will Putin appoint a president of the republic, as he does in the case of the more volatile nationalities? To whom will Kadyrov’s army be loyal? Will <i>they</i> in reality be the ones who choose Kadyrov’s replacement? Or is Kadyrov’s talk of leaving politics a ruse? Will he really run things from behind the scenes? Or will there be a manufactured crisis between now and April to justify extending his term or instituting emergency powers?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc3QmIs0VJs-c4LZBhILQ7qumgmZtGLXIy_9o-7kwEHsn3GUOtuKKSeKB_hnxsOnVVFASw2g_YbumkRK1P_DNX2nfNXejFzzmFJMG4AuUiMeA-grYVPz6xfZ01i1An6OzRi0Qt-88jURj/s1600/Kadyrov+throwing+money.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc3QmIs0VJs-c4LZBhILQ7qumgmZtGLXIy_9o-7kwEHsn3GUOtuKKSeKB_hnxsOnVVFASw2g_YbumkRK1P_DNX2nfNXejFzzmFJMG4AuUiMeA-grYVPz6xfZ01i1An6OzRi0Qt-88jURj/s400/Kadyrov+throwing+money.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, they’re throwing money at him. Like he needs it.</td></tr>
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Perhaps Kadyrov tipped his hand a bit when he made his announcement the other day, saying, “Family, personal life, Islamic studies—that’s where I see myself. If there is a need for me to take in hands a shovel, an assault rifle or a backpack—I can do that.” Wait, did he say “assault rifle”?? Something tells me it may be a while before we’ve seen the last of Ramzan Kadyrov.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read in detail about Chechnya and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-27339682113631943242016-02-16T08:50:00.000-06:002016-02-21T06:47:16.566-06:00Separatist Updates for February 1-15, 2016: Oregon Standoff Ends; Hong Kong's Fishball Revolt; Biker Druids vs. Facebook; Moorish Squatters; Basque Terrorist Puppets?; King of Kookis Roughed Up; Libertarians Colonize Chile, New Hampshire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><u>TOP STORY</u></b><br />
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<b><u>LAST HOLDOUT AT OREGON WILDLIFE REFUGE SURRENDERS;</u></b><br />
<b><u>PATRIARCH CLIVEN BUNDY ARRESTED OVER 2014 NEVADA SIEGE;</u></b><br />
<b><u>FOLLOWERS VOW TO CARRY ON FIGHT OVER FEDERAL LAND POLICY</u></b><br />
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The last of the armed extremist opponents of federal land ownership occupying a wildlife refuge in <b>Oregon</b> threw in the towel peacefully on February 11th, ending an ordeal lasting nearly six weeks. With shouts of, “All I needed was marijuana! You guys wouldn’t even let me have marijuana!”, 27-year-old <b>David Lee Fry</b> of <b>Ohio</b> agreed to “one more cookie, one more cigarette,” and then came out with his hands up, even though less than an hour earlier he had had a gun to his head and was ready to pull the trigger. The occupation, which began with the takeover by a not entirely determinable number of right-wing militants, possibly dozens, on January 2nd (see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/01/captain-moroni-and-yall-qaeda-why-armed.html" target="_blank">my blog post on the subject</a>), had by early February dwindled to a cast of only four, the rest having either surrendered or been arrested during forays out of the compound. By February 4th, 16 of the occupiers, including the previously arrested brothers <b>Ammon</b> and <b>Ryan Bundy</b> as well as—<i>in absentia</i>—the four still inside the refuge, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/nation/world/20889019-95/grand-jury-indicts-16-people-in-oregon" target="_blank">were indicted by a federal grand jury</a> in Oregon for preventing “federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats and intimidation.” The Bundys’ father, the virulently racist Mormon rancher <b>Cliven Bundy</b>, age 74, who scared off armed <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>) agents after he refused to pay years of derelict grazing fees, had recently been bragging that he was <i>de facto</i> immune from prosecution because federal authorities were permanently intimidated, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/11/cliven-bundy-patriarch-of-armed-resistance-over-land-use-is-arrested-in-portland/" target="_blank">he too was arrested</a>, on February 10th, as he arrived at Portland International Airport, on his way to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to show support to the, at that point, last four holdouts. He is now housed in the same jail as his two sons, on weapons-related charges as well as charges of conspiracy to impede federal officers back during his 2014 standoff.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM_yoRxhL6DkQYKUMeTWW6mW5gzqcAM1-x0ppb5QgAq5zvsl3iCUKfPbQYq2LvQIAPynCjKdDviykmTDciz94w7BHA7doGy6gmsvbndf-7uG4WaKje6sfDlt80Cj0RCAizvX8dgJ9I0s4/s1600/bundy+press+conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM_yoRxhL6DkQYKUMeTWW6mW5gzqcAM1-x0ppb5QgAq5zvsl3iCUKfPbQYq2LvQIAPynCjKdDviykmTDciz94w7BHA7doGy6gmsvbndf-7uG4WaKje6sfDlt80Cj0RCAizvX8dgJ9I0s4/s1600/bundy+press+conference.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cliven Bundy in 2014 during the Nevada standoff</td></tr>
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By the end, the long occupation had become a kind of three-ring circus of right-wing nuttery. In the closing hours, <b>Michele Fiore</b>, a <b>Republican</b> state legislator from <b>Nevada </b>who had been a public supporter of the occupation, talked him down over patched-in radio conversations from Portland while thousands listened for more than an hour on live streaming. Fiore is a certified gun-toting nutcase herself, unembarrased about her self-produced, ahem, indie film <i>Siren,</i> starring herself ...<br />
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... or her family’s most recent Christmas card, which became viral on the Internet a few months ago:<br />
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She is noted for calling <b>African-Americans</b> “colored” and believing that cancer is a fungus which can be removed with baking soda. Her ledge-psychology patter in the end spoke of supporters of the occupiers’ cause—opposition to federal ownership of land in the West—as “we,” while Fry ranted about flying saucers, <b>Trayvon Martin</b>, drone strikes, and abortion, saying, at various points, “Look how stupid the American people are—U.F.O.s are real, those little spaceships flying around,” and saying that “the government needs to stop chemically mutating people.” The Rev. <b>Franklin Graham</b> (son of <b>Billy Graham</b>)—another head case who believes President <b>Barack Obama</b> is a foreign-born Muslim and that the <b>Muslim Brotherhood</b> has has infiltrated the <b>United States</b> government—also arrived at the scene to help end the standoff, telling the militants he was “proud of you and love you.” Another of the occupiers was <b>Pete Santilli</b>, a real-estate-swindler who claims falsely to be a <b>Yale University</b> law graduate and Marine veteran and is a renowned conspiracy-theorist on right-wing talk radio—notorious for <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/radio-host-frequented-gun-activists-calls-shooting-bush-family-obama-sexual-violence-against" target="_blank">once saying on the air</a> that <b>Hillary Rodham Clinton</b> should be “tried, convicted, and shot in the vagina” for supposedly faking <b>Osama bin Laden</b>’s death. Santilli is now under arrest as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LaVoy Finicum’s final moments, captured by an F.B.I. helicopter camera</td></tr>
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Bundy, Sr., is likely to remain a rallying figure for disaffected rural whites who use tortured legal arguments—mixed with half-baked Mormon prophecies and militia-stoked conspiracy theories—to question the role or legitimacy of the federal government. And 54-year-old <b>Robert “LaVoy” Finicum</b>, the one fatality in the occupation, who was shot by Oregon state troopers when he reached for his weapon upon his arrest on January 26th, is likely to become the cause’s martyr. At Finicum’s funeral in Kanab, <b>Utah</b>, on February 5th, Bundy rallied the troops, <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/home/3507655-155/after-finicum-funeral-cliven-bundy-encourages" target="_blank">calling on fellow ranchers to tear up their grazing permits</a> and take possession of the land they use (using, ironically, the same use-equals-possession arguments against absentee landlords employed by socialist land-reform movements in Latin America).<br />
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<b><u>EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Spain Acts to Shut Down Catalonia’s “Foreign Ministry.”</u> The government of <b>Spain</b> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/02/05/world/europe/ap-eu-spain-catalonia-independence.html" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 5th that it was prepared to act to prevent the autonomous region of <b>Catalonia</b> from creating its own ministry of foreign affairs. The government plans to ask the Constitutional Court to order the entity shut down. A spokeswoman for the Catalan government, <b>Neus Monte</b>, dismissed Madrid’s threat, saying, “This shows us the death throes of a government in a freefall and at its lowest point.”<br />
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<b><u>Madrid Judge Orders Arrest of Puppeteers for Promoting Basque Terrorism.</u></b> The British tabloid <i>Express </i>called it “Punch and Jihadi,” but a court in Madrid was in no joking mood when it <a href="https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/641796/ETA-Basque-separatist-group-puppet-show-puppeteer-Madrid-held-terrorism&ct=ga&cd=CAEYAyoUMTcxODUyMDI0MzA0MTU4NTM5MjYyGmI2N2MwNDFiOWRiMjM1MmY6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNEEri1UPvrgoW4rq1C_4J-QzC1n_g" target="_blank">ordered the arrest and detention of two puppeteers for advocating terrorism in a children’s puppet show</a> that was part of the city’s Carnival (Mardi Gras) celebration. The judge, <b>Ismael Moreno</b>, showing a paranoia about sedition more often associated with <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s <b>Russia</b>, said that the puppet show, <i>The Witch and Don Cristóbal,</i> staged by <b>Alfonso Lazaro de la Fuente</b> and <b>Raúl Garcia Pérez</b>, of the puppet troupe <i><b>Títeres desde Abajo</b></i> (“<b>Puppets from Below</b>”), depicted “the hanging in effigy of a judge, the stabbing of a nun with a crucifix, and several police beatings,” as well as a puppet holding a sign reading, “Up with <b>ETA</b>”.” This stands for <i><b>Euskadi Ta Askatasuna</b>,</i> or <b>Basque Homeland and Freedom</b>, an armed group which has used violence in its pursuit of independence for the <b>Basque Country</b>. Praising terrorism is a crime in <b>Spain</b>. But, <a href="http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/opiniao/43166/analise+lei+da+mordaca+na+espanha+e+marionetes+em+madri.shtml" target="_blank">as explained by one journalist</a>, the sign held by the puppet said “GORA ALKA-ETA,” using a form of the Basque verb “to live” (<i>gora</i>; “<i>Gora ETA</i>” means “Long Live ETA”) and a pun on the similarity of the acronym <i>ETA</i> to the last two syllables in <i><b>al-Qaeda</b></i> and depicted a character who was set up by the police by having the sign planted on her—an irony which I am sure was not lost on the puppeteers. A public group that supports terrorism victims filed a complaint against Madrid’s mayor, <b>Manuela Carmena</b>, and Spain’s ruling <b>People’s Party</b> (<b>P.P.</b>) even called on the Madrid region’s culture minister, a member of the left-wing <b>Podemos</b> party, to resign—part of what some observers see as a P.P. strategy of linking Podemos to terrorists whenever possible. After a public outcry, the puppeteers were released. On February 10th, after a public outcry, including complaints from <b>Amnesty International</b>, the puppeteers were released. Meanwhile, Spanish authorities <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/angela-davis-stopped-visiting-separatist-spain-jail-36772136" target="_blank">forbade a planned visit by a delegation of rights activists</a> from the <b>United States</b> to Logroño prison in north-central <b>Spain</b> to visit <b>Arnaldo Otegi</b> of the Basque separatist party <b>Batasuna</b>. The delegation included the <b>African-American</b> former <b>Black Panther</b> and writer <b>Angela Davis</b>, the Spanish rocker <b>Fermín Muguruza</b>, and <b>Amaio Izko</b>, a Basque politician.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Thanks to a reader, Raphael Tsavkko Garcia, for helping sort out the details in this news story.]</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The seditious puppet show in question</td></tr>
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<b><u>Mebyon Kernow Urges Redistricting Panel Not to Blur Devon–Cornwall Boundary.</u></b> The head of the Cornish nationalist political party <b>Mebyon Kernow</b> (“<b>Party for Cornwall</b>”) responded to a <b>Conservative Party</b> announcement of a looming revision of parliamentary constituency boundaries by <a href="http://www.okehampton-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=412010&headline=Mebyon%20Kernow%20leader%20challenges%20MPs%20to%20detail%20attempts%20to%20create%20%27Devonwall%27%20seat&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2016" target="_blank">challenging the six members of Parliament on the committee</a> to ignore the boundary between <b>Cornwall</b> and its neighboring <b>English</b> county <b>Devon</b> (<b>Devonshire</b>). “The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act, if enacted, would inevitably lead to the creation of a cross-Tamar ‘Devonwall’ seat,” said the party leader, <b>Dick Cole</b>, referring to the Tamar River which separates the two counties, “but Cornwall’s M.P.s are in a position to challenge the leadership of their own party on this matter. ... [T]he territorial integrity of Cornwall—a historic Celtic nation—must be protected and that our future M.P.s must serve constituencies that lie entirely within the boundaries of Cornwall (and the <b>Isles of Scilly</b>). The Cornish people have been recognised as a ‘national minority’ and it would be inconsistent to treat the historic border of Cornwall differently from those of <b>Scotland</b> and <b>Wales</b>, which the Government intends to respect when it comes to the delineation of new constituencies.” (The Isles of Scilly, which are part of the <b>Duchy of Cornwall</b> (under <b>Prince Charles, Duke of Cornwall</b>), but not Cornwall the county, are also claimed by Cornish nationalists.)<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></u><br />
<u style="font-weight: bold;">Plaid Cymru Parliamentarian Advocates Separate Welsh Banknotes.</u> A Welsh lawmaker <a href="http://www.nationalia.info/new/10705/wales-should-have-own-banknotes-plaid-cymru-says" target="_blank">argued</a> on the floor of the British parliament on February 1st that <b>Wales</b> should have its own separate designs of pound notes, just as <b>Scotland</b> does. <b>Jonathan Edwards</b>, M.P., who is from the nationalist <b>Plaid Cymru</b> party, said the move would affirm Wales’s status “as an equal nation” within the <b>United Kingdom</b>. No Welsh currency has been printed since 1908, when the <b>North and South Wales Bank</b> closed. Edwards also suggested renaming the <b>Bank of England</b> the “Sterling Central Bank.” The proposal has started <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/who-would-you-put-face-10813601" target="_blank">a national conversation about which prominent Welsh people would merit appearing on a banknote</a>. One cultural historian, <b>Peter Stead</b> of Swansea, suggested the boxer <b>Jimmy Wilde</b>; <b>Owain Glyndwr</b> (a.k.a. <b>Owen Glendower</b>), the last Prince of Wales who was actually Welsh (the current one is a German); the biologist <b>Alfred Russel Wallace</b>; Prime Minister <b>David Lloyd George</b>; the poet <b>Dylan Thomas</b>; the novelist <b>Richard Llewellyn</b>; and <b>Betsi Cadwaladr</b>, a Crimean War nurse known as “the Welsh <b>Florence Nightingale</b>.” Others have proposed the crooners <b>Tom Jones</b> and <b>Shirley Bassey</b> and the comedian <b>Terry Jones</b> of <b>Monty Python</b>. (Of course, the <b>House of Tudor</b> was Welsh, but that’s a bit of a sore point.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just the right mood for a ten-pound note</td></tr>
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<b><u>Witan of Mercia Backs Staffordshire M.P.’s Plan for England-Only Parliament.</u></b> In response to a legislative proposal for a separate parliament just for <b>England</b>—along the lines of <b>Scotland</b>’s and <b>Wales</b>’s subnational parliaments within the <b>United Kingdom</b>—the “Acting Witan of <b>Mercia</b>,” <b>Jeff Kent</b>, <a href="http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Big-Issue-English-parliament/story-28683802-detail/story.html" target="_blank">said that that plan would be “just tinkering with the system,”</a> but he added that Mercia supports “any move towards devolving power.” Kent, who is 62, lives in Cotes Heath, in <b>Staffordshire</b>. The idea was brought to the floor of the House of Commons by <b>Tristram Hunt</b>, M.P., of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.<br />
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<b><u><br /></u></b><b><u>Reincarnated King Arthur Battles Facebook, Rival Druids over Use of Name.</u></b> The social network <b>Facebook</b>’s rules against using false names in personal accounts <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3443780/Facebook-delete-account-ex-biker-claims-King-Arthur-reincarnated.html" target="_blank">is being used as a weapon in a factional fight in a druidic organization</a>, according to the Rev. <b>Arthur Uther Pendragon</b>, a 61-year-old ex-biker who lives in Salisbury, <b>England</b>, near Stonehenge. Born as <b>Johnny Rothwell</b>, Pendragon believes that he is the reincarnation of <b>King Arthur</b>—yes, <i>the</i> King Arthur—and in 1986 had his name legally changed, as reflected on all his <b>U.K.</b> legal documents. But Facebook declares the facsimiles of his passport and driving license fakes and keeps shutting down his account. Pendragon thinks that’s really because his rivals within his druidical organization, the <b>Loyal Arthurian Warband</b>, keep filing complaints. Apparently, Pendragon’s objection to <b>English Heritage</b>’s alcohol bans at the Stonehenge summer-solstice celebration are among the controversies in which he is embroiled. For now he is “back up and running” on Facebook as “<b>Arthur Rex</b>” “for as long as it takes the ‘idiot druids’ and the idiot Facebook to pull me down again.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Arthur Rex”</td></tr>
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<b><u>Lega Nord Lawmakers Want Bilingual Schools, Signage in Italian and “Lombard.”</u></b> Members of northern <b>Italy</b>’s separatist <b>Northern League</b> (<b><i>Lega Nord</i></b>), in collaboration with the <b>Lombard League</b>, <a href="http://abruzzo.tv/news/2016/02/10/soldi-alle-scuole-che-insegnano-la-lingua-lombarda-la/" target="_blank">put forth legislation</a> in <b>Lombardy</b>’s regional parliament on February 10th to divert funds toward schools that teach the Lombard dialect of Italian as a separate language and to institute “bilingual” street signs and place names, in Italian and Lombard. The legislation as written refers to the “<i>continuum Gallo-Romanzo-Cisalpino,</i>” under which northern Italian dialects like Lombard are classed not only with the Arpitan dialects of the cross-border <b>Savoy</b>/<b>Val d’Aosta</b>/<b>Geneva</b> region where Italy, <b>France</b>, and <b>Switzerland</b> meet but also with mainstream French, and not with standard Italian.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, this town name doesn’t mean “Big Bust”—neither in Italian nor in Lombard.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Latvians Unnerved by BBC Program Warning of Russian Expansionism into Baltics.</u></b> Latvians, who are understandably sensitive and jittery on the question of <b>Russia</b> and colonialism, did not appreciate a speculative mockumentary broadcast this month by the <b>British Broadcasting Corporation</b> (<b>B.B.C.</b>) titled <i>World War Three: Inside the War Room,</i> which posited <b>Latvia</b>’s northeastern <b>Latgalia</b> region as the pretext—<i>à la</i> <b>Crimea</b> or <b>South Ossetia</b>—for an invasion by Russia and an escalating confrontation between President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> and the <b>North Atlantic Treaty Organization</b> (<b>NATO</b>). Latgalia, of Latvia’s four constituent historic regions, is the most distinctive culturally and linguistically, and it is today home to most of Latvia’s ethnic <b>Russians</b>. Russians, who are 27% of the country’s population, are the majority in the Latgalian capital, Dagauvpils. In 2012, when ethnic Russians in Latvia tried and failed to push through a referendum making Russian an official national language alongside Latvian, they allied themselves with Latgalian autonomists (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/02/language-referendum-pits-latvians.html" target="_blank">as discussed at the time in this blog</a>). The B.B.C. program also envisioned unrest among <b>Estonia</b>’s ethnic Russians (who make up a quarter of that country’s population) leading to Russian military intervention in the Baltics. Some Latvians <a href="http://www.neweasterneurope.eu/articles-and-commentary/1883-inside-the-war-room-vs-reality" target="_blank">object to the overheated depiction</a>, which showed pro-Kremlin goons wearing arm insignia with the Latgalian griffin on it:<br />
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“I feel Latgalian,” explained one native of Rēzekne, “and Latgalians, in turn, as a rule feel Latvian, not in the least bit Russian. The only kind of people who believe that ethnic Latgalians would favour being part of the Russian Federation are those who either never bothered to speak with any ethnic Latgalians, or who are unable to distinguish Latgalians from Baltic Russians.” And maps leaked from the Kremlin in 2012 (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/donetsk-rebels-novorossiya-fits-russian.html" target="_blank">as reported on at the time in this blog</a>) showed a changed Europe in 2035 where eastern Estonia and eastern Latvia have been absorbed into the Russian Federation as, respectively, <b>Narvski District</b> (Narva is a 94% Russian-speaking town in Estonia) and <b>Dvinskaya Oblast</b> (<i>Dvinsk</i> being the Russian name for Dagauvpils). I still maintain that Russians in the Baltics are one of <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016,”</a> as I insisted in a section in <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">my blog article of that title</a>, under the heading “ Russians in the Baltic States: Could the Kremlin Pull Another Crimea Right under the NATO Umbrella?”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neo-Czarist heraldry is put into place in the Baltics<br />
in another scene from <i>World War Three: Inside the War Room</i></td></tr>
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<b><u>Republika Srpska President Indefinitely Postpones Controversial Referendum.</u></b> The president of the <b>Republika Srpska</b> within <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b> announced February 8th that he <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnian-serb-leader-puts-controversial-referendum-on-hold--02-09-2016" target="_blank">was postponing a divisive and controversial referendum</a> on the question of whether federal Bosnian courts were to have jurisdiction over his republic. At a press conference in Banja Luka, the republic’s capital, President <b>Milorad Dodik</b> said he would set aside referendum plans until such time as there was more agreement among different stakeholders within Republika Srpska on whether it should be held. “We will not go into the referendum without a consensus,” he said. Meanwhile, on February 11th, federal Bosnian authorities <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/bosnian-bank-owner-three-others-arrested-over-loan-to-srpska-president/27546595.html" target="_blank">arrested</a> <b>Slobodan Pavlović</b>, a bank owner, and three other financial officials in connection with “crimes of abuse of office or authority and money laundering” related to loans made to Dodik.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milorad Dodik kissing the Serbian flag</td></tr>
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<b><u>Karadžić Advisor Nabbed on War Crimes Charges; Srebrenica Participant Dies in Prison.</u> </b>An advisor to the <b>Bosnian Serb</b> war criminal <b>Radovan Karadžić</b> <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/former-radovan-karadzic-advisor-arrested-02-09-2016" target="_blank">was arrested trying to cross</a> from <b>Serbia</b> into <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b> on February 8th and is being held under the terms of an arrested warrant issued in 1999. He is being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in and around Vogošća, a suburb of Sarajevo, during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. The defendant, <b>Jovan Tintor</b>, was a senior official in the <b>Serb Democratic Party</b> (<b>S.D.S.</b>) during the war. The following day, another Bosnian Serb separatist described as “the right-hand man” of the notorious <b>Republika Srpska</b> war criminal <b>Ratko Mladić</b> <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/331909-general-zdravko-tolimir-dies/" target="_blank">died</a> in a <b>United Nations</b> prison in the Hague. The prisoner, 67-year-old <b>Zdravko Tolimir</b>, was serving a life sentence for his role in the Srebrenica massacre. Just in the past week, a court in Pejë (Peć), in Kosovo, <a href="http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes.php?yyyy=2016&mm=02&dd=15&nav_id=97044" target="_blank">issued war-crimes indictments</a> against 14 Serbs for their roles in atrocities in Kosovo in 1999. Meanwhile, the government of the <b>Republic of Serbia</b> is<a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/hague-court-pressure-angers-serbia-02-11-2016" target="_blank"> bristling at the insistence</a> of the <b>International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia</b> (<b>I.C.T.Y.</b>), in the Hague, that Serbia round up and turn over three members of the <b>Serbian Radical Party</b> who are accused of threatening witnesses during the trial of the party’s leader, the war criminal <b>Vojislav Šešelj</b>.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">European Parliament Urges E.U.’s 5 Holdouts to Recognize Kosovo.</u> The <b>European Parliament</b> in <b>Strasbourg</b>, France, on February 4th <a href="https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2486048&language=en" target="_blank">passed a resolution praising the progress made in normalization of relations</a> between <b>Kosovo</b> and <b>Serbia</b>. The resolution, which passed 403-130, also stressed that it would be helpful to the process if all <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) member states extended diplomatic recognition to Kosovo. Out of the 28 members, <b>Spain</b> (fearful of its own separatist movement in <b>Catalonia</b>) along with <b>Cyprus</b> and three Balkan neighbors of Kosovo’s—<b>Greece</b>, <b>Romania</b>, and <b>Slovakia</b>—have still not recognized Kosovo.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Kosovo Police Arrest 4 “Armed Islamists” Near Serb Cemetery.</u> Four armed Kosovars <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/terror-incidents-distress-kosovo-mosques-and-monasteries-02-01-2016" target="_blank">were arrested near a <b>Serb</b> cemetery</a> in the town of Deçan, in western <b>Kosovo</b>. The police had been following them and, after the arrest, weapons that included an assault rifle were confiscated from their vehicle. Orthodox church officials and Serb media, however, called the four suspects “armed Islamists” and criticized the authorites for not treating the incident as terrorism-related. A few days later, on February 4th, a car belonging to a public prosecutor for Gračanica <a href="http://inserbia.info/today/2016/02/kosovo-car-owned-by-gracanica-municipal-lawyer-torched/" target="_blank">was set on fire</a>. About 85% of the population of Gračanica, in central Kosovo, belong to Kosovo’s Serb ethnic minority.<br />
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<b><u>Ruritania Announces Death of Foreign Minister; Grand Duchess Sworn In as Interim.</u></b> The <b>Kingdom of Ruritania</b>, a manifestation of the fictional Central European nation in <b>Anthony Hope</b>’s 1894 novel <i>The Prisoner of Zenda,</i> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Kingdom-of-Ruritania-The-Micronation-10150093924725174/?fref=nf" target="_blank">announced this month the death of its minister for foreign affairs</a>, <b>Count Georg von Strofzia</b>. He was reportedly found dead on the morning of February 14th “at his home in Strelsau” (the Ruritanian capital in Hope’s novels). “H.S.H. <b>Grand Duchess Lydia von Elphberg</b> (known to most as <b>Cathy</b>) has been nominated to act as Interim Minister of Foreign Affairs,” an official statement read, “until a new one is selected by Our Queen, H.R.M. <b>Anastasia</b>.” Ruritania, which calls itself “not a game, model, or secessionist state” but “an actual nation ... with the right of self-determination,” theoretically claims territories straddling the border between <b>Germany</b> and the <b>Czech Republic</b> but, more concretely, operates out of an “embassy” in Stone Mountain, <b>Georgia</b>, in the <b>United States</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Ukrainian Soldier Killed by Rebels in Donetsk Republic; Landmine Kills 4.</u></b> A military spokesman in <b>Ukraine</b> said on February 5th that a Ukrainian soldier <a href="https://www.enca.com/world/mortar-kills-ukraine-soldier-attacks-intensify" target="_blank">had been killed within the previous 24 hours</a> in combat with Russian-backed rebels in the unrecognized <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>). The fatality occurred in a rebel assault on the village of Zaitseve, 35 miles from Donetsk. The following day, Ukrainian sources <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/kyiv-post-plus/at-least-11-ukrainian-soldiers-wounded-in-donbas-as-fighting-intensifies-407491.html" target="_blank">said 11 soldiers had been injured</a> in recent fighting. Also in the D.P.R., <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/four-killed-as-minibus-hits-landmine-in-donbas-407757.html" target="_blank">four civilians were killed</a> on February 10th when a minibus ran over a landmine near a Ukrainian checkpoint when it veered offroad, ignoring warning signs. One passenger survived. Meanwhile, in <b>Moldova</b>, a public prosecutor <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-mercenaries-fighting-in-ukraine-sentenced/27549194.html" target="_blank">announced in a press conference</a> on February 11th that his office had indicted 10 Moldovans for fighting as mercenaries on the side of separatists loyal to <b>Russia</b> in southeastern Ukraine. Two so far have been given three-year prison sentences. Most of the remaining eight facing trial are Russian-speakers from the south of Moldova.<br />
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<b><u>Pro-Russian Forces Blamed for Bombing of Crimean Tatar Council in Ukraine.</u></b> The embattled and persecuted <b>Mejlis</b> (national council) <b>of the Crimean Tatar</b> people in Kherson, on the Ukrainian mainland, <a href="http://uatoday.tv/crime/pro-russian-forces-launch-hand-grenade-at-crimean-tatar-mejilis-586315.html" target="_blank">was damaged</a> on February 7th when a bomb exploded in its main building. No one was injured. The Mejlis blamed “pro-Russian forces.” Many <b>Crimean Tatars</b>, who are indigenous to the Crimean Peninsula, were displaced by <b>Russia</b>’s invasion and annexation of <b>Ukraine</b>’s <b>Autonomous Republic of Crimea</b> in 2014, and their institutions, including the Mejlis, have come under legal and political assault.<br />
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<b><u>Despite Shared Anti-Islamist Cause, Chechnya, Ingushetia Won’t Merge, Kadyrov Says.</u></b> The president of <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Chechen Republic</b>, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, <a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Kadyrov-opposes-unification-of-Chechnya-and-Ingushetia.html" target="_blank">clarified on his <b>Instagram</b> page</a> early this month that he was opposed to any suggestions that his republic merge with the neighboring <b>Republic of Ingushetia</b>. This responded to speculation that followed a meeting between Kadyrov and his Ingush counterpart, <b>Yunus-Bek Yevkurov</b>, which highlighted their shared antipathy toward Wahhabism and jihadism in their territories. Chechnya and Ingushetia, now separate majority-Muslim republics within the <b>Russian Federation</b>, were in the <b>Soviet</b> era united as the <b>Chechen-Ingush Soviet Socialist Republic</b>. Chechens and Ingush at times regarded themselves as one nationality, the <b>Vainakh</b>, but went their separate ways due to doctrinal differences.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdJLERpGknJWvErGUxiyrzU_9aI9U7-k6SrcpTqnZ1kMKwaKiDW4hfmnkfT4sGP1XATQzPnAoaYhG4q4MQq5FXzsOxwOsrOG0Ta7a0qe4SM0-P4eMYWbnjyjPY1xbOibKZZCHMxDIknnst/s1600/kadyrov+ramzan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdJLERpGknJWvErGUxiyrzU_9aI9U7-k6SrcpTqnZ1kMKwaKiDW4hfmnkfT4sGP1XATQzPnAoaYhG4q4MQq5FXzsOxwOsrOG0Ta7a0qe4SM0-P4eMYWbnjyjPY1xbOibKZZCHMxDIknnst/s400/kadyrov+ramzan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ramzan Kadyrov (center)</td></tr>
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<b><u>BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE IN EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Abkhazia Bans Abortion, Citing Concerns for Low Population.</u> Tearing a page from the playbook of <b>Romania</b>’s <b>Nicolae Ceaușescu</b>, the president of the <b>Russian</b> puppet state the <b>Republic of</b> <b>Abkhazia</b>, recognized as independent by only a handful of countries, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-abkhazia-outlaws-abortions/27543685.html" target="_blank">signed into law</a> on February 8th a ban on abortions passed by its parliament last month. Though “pro-life” language pervaded the debate, one of the authors of the bill, <b>Said Kharazia</b>, cited concerns that “abortion artificially reduces the number of the already small population of Abkhazia.” Abkhazia’s official population is just under a quarter-million, and a reported 11,900 abortions have been performed since 1993. Abortion remains legal in the country most of the world regards Abkhazia as part of, the <b>Republic of Georgia</b>. In Abkhazia, the ban, which is effective immediately, begins at conception. One Russian news source <a href="http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=12739" target="_blank">pointed out that only two other European states</a> ban abortion—<b>Malta</b> and <b>Vatican City</b>—forgetting that Abkhazia, being on the south side of the Caucasus ridge, is in Asia.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Russian Prosecutor Sees Bias in International Court’s South Ossetia War Probe.</u> The director of <b>Russia</b>’s federal Investigative Committee—the equivalent of attorney general—<a href="http://sputniknews.com/world/20160202/1034106986/bastrykin-icc-ossetia-probe.html" target="_blank">complained</a> on February 3rd about the ongoing probe by the <b>International Criminal Court</b> (<b>I.C.C.</b>) into the <b>South Ossetia</b> War of 2008. The director, <b>Alexander Bastrykin</b>, said that the probe so far has ignored what he characterized as torture and mass killings of <b>Ossetians</b> by the government of <b>Georgia</b>, as well as the forced relocation of 16,000.<br />
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<b><u>Nagorno-Karabakh Soldier, Armenian Shepherd Killed at Azerbaijani Border.</u></b> A soldier in the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b>’s army <a href="http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/karabakh/16862/" target="_blank">was shot and killed</a> early on the morning of February 5th at the border with the government-controlled part of <b>Azerbaijan</b>. The incident happened amid what for years have been regular exchanges of gunfire across the cease-fire line in what is for the most part a frozen conflict between <b>Armenia</b> and Azerbaijan. Later, on February 12th, the <b>N.K.R.</b> ministry of defense <a href="http://asbarez.com/145953/armenian-shepherd-killed-in-azeri-firing/" target="_blank">reported that an Armenian shepherd had been killed</a> by ammunition fired from the Azerbaijani side of the border. Azerbaijan denied the report. Meanwhile, in Russia, an ethnic Armenian businessmen named <b>Samvel Karapetyan</b>, <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/834785/famous-businessman-to-grant-$5-thousand-for-every-4th-baby-born-in-an-artsakh-family.html" target="_blank">has announced that he will give $5,000</a> to every fourth baby born to a family in the N.K.R. A spokesman for the N.K.R.’s President <b>Bako Sahakyan</b> pointed out that this provides an incentive for Armenian couples that already have three children to relocate to the N.K.R.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Cypriot Reunification Talks on Track, Say Presidents; Land, Troops at Issue.</u> Negotiations <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_cypriot-leaders-negotiating-on-tough-issues-as-talks-progress-reports-indicate_411184.html" target="_blank">are proceeding</a> between the presidents of the <b>Republic of Cyprus</b> and the <b>Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus</b> (<b>K.K.T.C.</b>) on reunification of the island, Cypriot media reported on February 2nd. Front and center are territorial questions, with the (southern) Cypriot president, <b>Nicos Anastasiades</b>, asking the K.K.T.C. president, <b>Mustafa Akıncı</b>, for the return of the towns of Güzelyurt and the withdrawal of 20,000 troops from the <b>Republic of Turkey</b> from the self-declared K.K.T.C.<br />
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<b><u>Ankara Announces End to Anti-Kurdish Military Operation in Şırnak.</u></b> A military operation against the <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>) in Cizre, in southeastern <b>Turkey</b>’s <b>Şırnak</b> province, <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/110220161" target="_blank">has come to an end</a>, according to a statement from authorities on February 11th. But curfews are to remain in place. Fighting is ongoing in Sur, in <b>Diyarbakır</b> province. Earlier, it had been reported that two government officers <a href="http://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/car-bomb-kills-two-people-in-southeastern-turkey-2407081" target="_blank">were killed and another wounded</a> when a state-owned vehicle was destroyed in a bomb blast in Şırnak on February 2nd. Two of the casualties in the vehicle were employees of a state-run hospital. The Turkish military <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/national_military-more-than-600-terrorists-killed-in-southeastern-cizre_412167.html" target="_blank">claims</a> more than 600 P.K.K. fighters have been killed in Cizre since the operations began in mid-December. Meanwhile, on February 10th, five people in masks <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/02/11/Suspected-PKK-militants-attack-Turkey-pro-govt-dailies-.html" target="_blank">threw Molotov cocktails at the offices of a pro-government newspaper</a> in Istanbul, then opened fire with rifles. Another newspaper office was attacked an hour later. The government blamed the P.K.K.<br />
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<b><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Barzani Calls for “Immediate” Referendum on Kurdish Independence from Iraq.</u> </b>The president of <b>Iraq</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Region</b>, <b>Massoud Barzani</b>, <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_final_breakup_of_iraq_barzani_calls_for_kurdistan_referendum_20160203" target="_blank">called on February 2nd for an immediate referendum</a> on Kurdish independence from Iraq. “It is clear to all that this region and Kurdistan in particular was divided without regard to the will of its indigenous people which in turn led to hundred years of troubles, war, denial, and instability,” Barzani said, adding, “Kurdistan has every geographic, historic, and human factor just as <b>Scotland</b>, <b>Catalonia</b>, <b>Quebec</b>, and others do. The same way people in those places have the right to decide their future, the Kurds too have that right and this is not open to argument.” The central government in Baghdad condemned the statement, emphasizing the inviability of a referendum, while also saying that it could not offer any financial assistance to the economically troubled region. A spokesman for <b>Turkey</b>’s ruling <b>Justice and Development Party</b> <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_ak-party-says-krg-independence-bid-to-further-complicate-region_411588.html" target="_blank">responded</a> to Barzani’s comments on February 4th, saying that an independence push in Iraqi Kurdistan would only “complicate the picture.” Within <b>Kurdistan Region</b> politics, the referendum idea is<a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/13022016" target="_blank"> backed</a> by the <b>Patriotic Union of Kurdistan</b> (<b>P.U.K.</b>), the <b>Kurdistan Islamic Union</b> (<b>K.I.U.</b>), and <b>Kurdistan Democratic Party</b> (<b>K.D.P.</b>). Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article58970703.html" target="_blank">three police were injured</a> in Erbil on February 7th when violence erupted among hundreds of Iraqi Kurds protesting against Turkey’s government outside a <b>United Nations</b> compound.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Massoud Barzani</td></tr>
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<b><u>Syrian Kurdish Parties Announce Founding of Umbrella Group.</u></b> In <b>Syria</b>, <b>Kurdish</b> groups <a href="http://aranews.net/2016/02/syrian-kurds-form-new-political-alliance-call-for-federalism-as-solution-to-ongoing-civil-war/" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 13th the founding of a new umbrella group called the <b>Kurdish National Alliance in Syria</b>. A coalition of five different parties, the <b>K.N.A.S.</b> plans to use a federal approach to build on what it called “Auto-Administration,” the <i>de facto</i> autonomy achieved by several different Kurdish “cantons” in the northern Syrian region Kurds call “<b>Rojava</b>.” As a spokesman, <b>Mustafa Mashayikh</b>, told the media, “Rojava has given a good example for the maintenance of civil peace, and we believe by establishing a federal state in Syria we could avoid any future clashes between the different social components as every group would be fairly represented in a federal system.” Meanwhile (see below), Rojava seems to be drifting more and more into <b>Russia</b>’s diplomatic orbit, as evidenced by the <a href="http://neurope.eu/article/syrian-kurds-open-missions-in-moscow-donetsk/" target="_blank">recent announcement</a> of the opening of Syrian Kurdish “embassies” in not only Moscow but in Russia’s <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> puppet state in eastern <b>Ukraine</b>.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Kurds Retake Land—from ISIS in Iraq with U.S. Help, and from Moderates in Syria with Russian Help.</u> The stateless nation of <b>Kurdistan</b> straddles the border between <b>Iraq</b> and <b>Syria</b>, but Kurds are playing a dangerous game of playing opposing parties in both those multi-sided civil wars against one another. In Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and <b>Arab</b> tribal militias <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/010220161" target="_blank">retook the village of Karmrdi</a>, near Makhmour on February 1st by ejecting forces from the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>), with <b>United </b>States warplanes providing backup. Within days, Peshmerga sources <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/030220163" target="_blank">announced the recapture</a> of Kudila, another nearby village from ISIS, Kudila. Meanwhile, in Syria, however, where Kurds allied with <b>Turkey</b>’s <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> are allied with <b>Russia</b>, an air force base near the Turkish border <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-kurdish-forces-said-capture-most-rebel-held-070724049.html" target="_blank">has been abandoned by anti-government rebels</a> under fire from Kurdish forces backed by Russian bombers, according to a February 11th report by the <b>Syrian Observatory for Human Rights</b>. The Kurdish “<b>People’s Protection Units</b>” (<i><b>Yekîneyên Parastina Gel</b>,</i> or <b>Y.P.G.</b>) took the Menagh air base from moderate <b>Sunni Arab</b> rebels from the <b>Levant Front</b>, after 30 bombing sorties by Russian warplanes. Starting on February 13th, the Turkish air force <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35571663" target="_blank">began a bombing campaign</a> against Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, including the Menagh air base <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5358" target="_blank">as well as areas around Azaz</a>, while the Turkish foreign minister talked openly of a ground invasion of Syria. In other news, an aid-worker <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/02/13/3025891/" target="_blank">reported</a> on February 11th that ISIS was using chemical munitions on Peshmerga forces near Sinjar, Iraq, and 19 people, including 14 <b>Filipino</b> citizens, <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/02/05/Hotel-fire-in-Iraq-s-Kurdistan-kills-17-officials.html" target="_blank">were killed in a hotel fire</a> on February 5th in Erbil, <b>Iraqi Kurdistan</b>’s capital. The cause is believed to have been “an electrical problem in a sauna.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An excellent, up-to-date map of Syria from the blog <i><a href="https://pietervanostaeyen.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Pietervanostaeyen</a>.</i></td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">British Foreign Minister Accuses Russia of Planning Alawite Statelet in Syria.</u> The <b>United Kingdom</b>’s foreign minister <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.701033" target="_blank">accused the Russian government</a> on February 2nd of concentrating its military in <b>Syria</b> against moderate opponents of the dictator <b>Bashar al-Assad</b> rather than against <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>), with the aim of eventually carving out a mini-state for Assad’s fellow <b>Alawite Shiite Arabs</b>. “Is <b>Russia</b> really committed to a peace process,” the minister, <b>Philip Hammond</b>, asked during a meeting with journalists in Rome, “or is it using the peace process as a fig leaf to try to deliver some kind of military victory for Assad that creates an Alawite mini-state in the northwest of Syria?”<br />
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<b><u>Netanyahu Ally Says Palestinian Nationhood Fake Because Arabic Lacks “P.”</u></b> Even her colleagues in Prime Minister <b>Benjamin Netanyahu</b>’s right-wing <b>Likud</b> party thought it was going too far on February 10th when she <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/netanyahu-ally-says-palestinian-statehood-doesnt-exist-arabs-cant-say-p-425362" target="_blank">told the Knesset</a> (parliament) that the nation of <b>Palestine</b> did not really exist because the Arabic alphabet lacks the letter <i>P.</i> “I want to go back to history,” said <b>Anat Berko</b> during a parliamentary debate on the “two-state solution”; “what is our place here, about <b>Jerusalem</b>, about Palestine, when like we said, Arabic doesn’t even have <i>P,</i> so this loan-word also merits scrutiny.” While it is true that the name <i>Palestine</i> is borrowed from the Latin name <i>Palestina,</i> dating to the days of the <b>Roman Empire</b>, Arabic-speakers have been referring to Palestine as <i>Falastin</i> for centuries, if not millennia. <b>Tamar Zandberg</b> of the <b>Meretz</b> party spoke for most of Berko’s Knesset colleagues by responding, “What? Did everyone hear this? Are you an idiot?” At least one Arab member of the Knesset walked out of the chamber in protest.<br />
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<b><u>12 Palestinians, 1 Israeli Dead as Spate of Knife Attacks Continues in West Bank.</u></b> Two weeks of unrest in Israeli-occupied parts of <b>Palestine</b> left 11 Palestinians dead, many of them killed in the course of knife attacks on Israeli Jews, in what is an increasing pattern in <b>West Bank</b> violence. A kitchen-knife-wielding 15-year-old Palestinian boy <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Palestinian-boy-15-indicted-for-attempted-murder-in-thwarted-Old-City-stabbing-444152" target="_blank">was arrested in an attempt to stab a Jewish man near the Damascus Gate</a> on February 2nd. There was no injury. On February 7th he was remanded on charges including attempted murder. An Israeli security officer <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-police-kill-palestinians-near-jerusalem-old-city/" target="_blank">was killed</a> on February 3rd by a group of three heavily armed Palestinians who were then all shot and killed by nearby police. The Palestinians were also wired with explosive devices, which were defused before they could go off. The following day, Israeli authorities <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/israel-blockades-west-bank-village-jerusalem-attack-074132720.html" target="_blank">sealed off the entire home village</a> of the three attackers, Qabatiya, near Jenin. That incident inspired two 14-year-old Palestinian girls from the town of Ramle, to <a href="https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/Feb-11/336770-israel-charges-palestinian-schoolgirls-for-stabbing-security-guard.ashx" target="_blank">stab a Jewish security guard at a shopping mall</a> on February 4th. The guard was only lightly injured; the two girls were apprehended and later charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. A court in <b>Israel</b> on February 4th <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/world/middleeast/2-israelis-sentenced-for-2014-murder-of-palestinian-teenager.html" target="_blank">sentenced two young Jewish men to long prison terms</a> for the brutal random murder of a Palestinian 16-year-old in 2014. One of the men received a life term and the other 21 years. On February 5th, a Palestinian teenager <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0VE1S9" target="_blank">was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers</a> when he was about to throw a Molotov cocktail at a busy highway in the West Bank, the military reported. A 24-year-old Palestinian man died on February 8th because he was performing maintenance on a supply tunnel between <b>Egypt</b> and the <b>Gaza Strip</b> when <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/08/449234/Palestinian-Gaza-Egypt-Israel-Cairo-Tel-Aviv-Sisi-Morsi" target="_blank">the tunnel collapsed</a>. On the same day, police <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-police-arrest-palestinian-woman-armed-with-knife/" target="_blank">arrested a 42-year-old Palestinian woman</a> near the Damascus Gate who was armed with a large knife. On February 9th, two teenaged Palestinian girls, one only 13, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Initial-report-One-wounded-in-suspected-Gush-Etzion-terror-stabbing-444360" target="_blank">were arrested in the West Bank</a> in connection with the stabbing of a 28-year-old Israeli man while he was jogging. A Jewish Israeli man <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/settler-allegedly-attack-palestinians-car-with-an-ax/" target="_blank">attacked a Palestinian’s truck with an axe</a> near an illegal West Bank settlement on February 10th. The man was arrested and implicated himself in the incident. Also on February 10th, a 16-year-old Palestinian <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/10/449572/Israel-Palestinian-West-Bank-AlArroub-alKhalil" target="_blank">was shot in the chest and killed</a> when soldiers spotted him and other boys throwing stones at vehicles near a refugee camp in the West Bank. The same day, a court in <b>Jerusalem</b> <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/2-palestinian-teens-indicted-for-old-city-stabbing/" target="_blank">indicted two Palestinian teenagers</a>, ages 14 and 16, for stabbing an Israeli teenager in the city in January. Police on February 11th <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/israeli-extremist-detained-death-threats-against-palestinian-mk-804514" target="_blank">arrested a right-wing Jewish extremist for death threats</a> against a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, <b>Ayman Odeh</b>. This was in response to the suspension three days earlier of three Palestinian parliamentarians from Odeh’s party, the <b>Joint List</b>, for visiting the families of Palestinian civilians who were killed while attacking Israelis. On February 13th, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/israeli-forces-kill-young-palestinian-woman-hebron-160213113005302.html" target="_blank">was shot to death after attempting to stab an Israeli soldier</a> near a mosque in Hebron. On February 14th, in four separate incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/group-1800-housing-starts-west-bank-settlements-2015-36928339" target="_blank">five Palestinians were killed and another injured during attempts to attack Israelis</a>. The incidents included: a machine-gun attack on Israeli forces near the Damascus Gate, resulting in the deaths of the two Arab gunmen; two 15-year-old Palestinians killed by security forces after throwing rocks at vehicles and then opening fire; a 17-year-old Palestinian from near Bethlehem shot dead by a paramilitary border guard whom he attacked with a knife; and a 21-year-old Palestinian woman critically wounded after attacking a police officer at a checkpoint in Hebron. No Jewish Israelis were harmed in those incidents, but in the last incident, in Hebron, video footage of an Israeli policeman, well after the would-be stabber was apprehended, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/israeli-officer-filmed-pushing-disabled-palestinian-out-wheelchair-426630" target="_blank">dumping a Palestinian man out of his wheelchair and into the street</a> went viral on social media (see below).<br />
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<b><u>AFRICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Pro-Biafra Militants Sail Hijacked Tanker to Benin, Escape with 5 Captive Crewmen.</u> The pro-<b>Biafra</b> militants who hijacked a 9,000-ton chemical tanker on January 29th (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/02/separatist-updates-for-january-16-31.html" target="_blank">as reported earlier this month in this blog</a>) <a href="https://www.informationng.com/2016/02/vessel-hijacked-by-pro-biafra-militants-released-navy.html" target="_blank">released the ship</a> on February 2nd into the hands of the Beninois navy. But the hijackers themselves <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/world/africa/nigeria-separatist-groups-deny-any-role-in-ships-hijacking.html" target="_blank">absconded with five crew members</a>—one <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/ship-hijack-update-5-crew-members-held-hostage-1-seriously-injured-id4638637.html" target="_blank">allegedly injured</a>—who include citizens of <b>Russia</b>, <b>Georgia</b>, and the <b>Philippines</b>. Their whereabouts are unknown. The vessel, the <i>M.T. Leon Dias,</i> which is registered in <b>Liberia</b> but owned by an outfit based in <b>Greece</b>, was hijacked on January 29th in the Gulf of Guinea 100 miles off the coast of the disputed <b>Bakassi Peninsula</b>, in <b>Cameroon</b>, near the border with <b>Nigeria</b>. The hijackers demanded the release within 31 days of <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b>, the imprisoned leader of the Nigerian separatist group <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), which seeks independence for Biafra, a region in southeastern Nigeria which by some reckonings includes the Bakassi Peninsula. Within a few days, the <i>Leon Dias</i> had arrived in the territorial waters of the <b>Republic of Benin</b>. The hijackers’ spokesman identified himself as <b>“General Ben.”</b> IPoB <a href="http://www.tv360nigeria.com/biafra-massob-denies-involvement-in-seizure-of-ship-and-crew/" target="_blank">denied any involvement in the hijacking</a>, citing its commitment to nonviolence, and a leader from the other major Biafran separatist group, the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>), said that “Captain Ben” was not an actual Biafran separatist but just “some <b>Niger Delta</b> militant who has shown interest in working with us.” <b>Dirk Steffen</b>, a maritime security expert in <b>Denmark</b>, <a href="http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/02/hijacked-oil-vessel-now-guarded-by-benin-navy/" target="_blank">gave the opinion</a> that the Biafran separatist cause was adopted by the hijackers to veil their actual motive, which was likely to hold the crew for ransom. IPoB’s spokesman, <b>Emma Powerful</b>, <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/biafra-linking-us-with-ship-hijack-plot-to-detain-kanu-indefinitely-ipob/" target="_blank">accused the federal government of falsely linking them to the hijacking</a> in order to justify keeping Kanu in prison.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <i>Leon Dias,</i> the hijacked tanker</td></tr>
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<b><u>10 IPoB Protestors Killed by Police, Dozens Injured; Buhari Besieged in London Riot.</u></b> While <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b> awaits trial, security forces <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/10-dead-20-injured-in-pro-biafra-protest/" target="_blank">mowed down peaceful protestors</a> in <b>Abia State</b> on February 9th, killing 10 and injuring at least 20 and possibly over 30. The demonstration was organized by the group Kanu founded, <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>). Some reports said that after the killings an IPoB mob <a href="http://ynaija.com/ipob-members-attack-school-after-clash-with-army-4-wounded/" target="_blank">attacked a nearby school</a>, accusing those inside of causing the killings by acting as informers to the authorities. While <a href="https://www.naij.com/726930-biafra-agitation-1000-ipob-members-killed-group-laments-attacks-apc.html" target="_blank">the official IPoB statement the following day</a>, referring to over 1,000 IPoB protestors killed by security forces since Kanu’s arrest, was a wild exaggeration, nonetheless protests pressing for the release of Kanu have become a global phenomenon. While the <i>Leon Dias</i> crisis dragged on, bodyguards <a href="http://www.thewhistler.ng/story/buhari-smuggled-out-of-london-hotel-over-biafra-protestors" target="_blank">had to sneak</a> <b>Nigeria</b>’s president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, out of his London hotel via the basement because of <b>Biafran</b> demonstrators that had surrounded much of the building. Police refused to disperse the protestors, as Buhari’s aides had requested, explaining that in the <b>United Kingdom</b> there is such a thing as the right to free expression (unlike in Nigeria; see below). Buhari was in London to address members of the U.K.’s Nigerian community. Kanu is a dual citizen of Nigeria and the U.K.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Buhari being led into a London police van for his protection<br />
from pro-Biafra demonstrators</td></tr>
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<b><u>MASSOB to Make Nigeria “Ungovernable” If Igbo Denied Independence Vote.</u></b> Meanwhile, <b>MASSOB</b> <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/massob-group-threatens-to-make-nigeria-ungovernable-id4649222.html" target="_blank">issued a statement</a> during the hijacking crisis to the effect that if the Nigerian government did not permit Igbo people to vote on whether or not to be part of <b>Nigeria</b> then “MASSOB and other pro-<b>Biafra</b> agitators will make Nigeria ungovernable. We shall use everything at our disposal to fight the Nigerian government, especially through civil disobedience. We are going to call for ‘sit at home’ in all Biafran land and Lagos.” The statement is, perhaps deliberately, vague as to whether violent tactics would be used. Nor is it clear if the MASSOB “National Director of Information,” <b>Samuel Edeson</b>, meant, by “other pro-Biafra agitators,” <b>IPoB</b> as well. In January, another MASSOB “National Director of Information,” <b>Sunny Okereafor</b>, <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/biafra-massob-mosop-partner-to-boost-struggle-id4556139.html" target="_blank">met in Rivers State</a> with <b>Goodluck Freeman</b>, a leader from the <b>Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People</b> (<b>MoSOP</b>), and agreed to work together toward the goal of an independent Biafra. In his statement, Edeson <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/massob-group-plans-to-drag-obj-to-international-criminal-court-id4649211.html" target="_blank">also revealed plans</a> to bring the former Nigerian president <b>Olusegun Obasanjo</b> before the <b>International Criminal Court</b> (<b>I.C.C.</b>) for war crimes committed during the Biafra War in the late 1960s. Nigeria’s Director of Defense Information, Brig. Gen. <b>Rabe Abubakar</b>, <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/biafra-dhq-warns-secessionist-groups-militants-against-plans-to-breach-the-peace-id4652490.html" target="_blank">responded</a> on February 4th, warning in an official statement that the military and security services would not tolerate unrest. He also, apparently without irony, warned against pro-Biafra activists who “hide under” the constitution’s free-speech provisions “to stir up trouble and insecurity.” (Translation: you have free speech, as long as you don’t use it to challenge the status quo.)<br />
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<b><u>Nigeria Arrests Alleged Mastermind of Niger Delta Oil Pipeline Bombings.</u></b> The government of <b>Nigeria</b> revealed on February 11th that it <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201602111217.html" target="_blank">had arrested an alleged mastermind of the oil-facility bombings</a> in the <b>Niger Delta</b> region last month shortly after the incidents occurred. The suspect, <b>Prince Alvin Cockman Oygun</b>, a.k.a. <b>Commander Abula</b>, is allegedly specifically behind bombings of a pipeline belonging to the <b>Italian</b> oil multinational <b>Eni</b>’s subsidiary <b>Agip</b>, which operates in <b>Bayelsa State</b>. Abula was captured by Nigerian Joint Forces in Idema, Bayelsa, after a manhunt, and he is presumably linked to the formerly active ethnic insurgency in the region under the banner of the <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>).<br />
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<b><u>Bodyguard Shot, Dowager Queen Dies at 104 as Yoruba Feud with Benin Rages.</u></b> A member of the personal security detail of <b>Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi</b>, <b>Ojaja II</b>, the Ọọ̀ni of <b>Ilé-Ifẹ̀</b>, and one of <b>Nigeria</b>’s highest ranking <b>Yoruba</b> monarchs, <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/oonis-guard-shot-dead/" target="_blank">was shot and killed by alleged armed robbers</a> on February 8th. Three suspects have been arrested. The following day, further tragedy struck the royal house when Ojaja II’s paternal grandmother, the dowager <b>Queen Mariani Adeyemi Ogunwusi</b>, <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/oonis-grandmother-dies-at-104/231501/" target="_blank">died at the age of 104</a>. On that same day, Ojaja II <a href="https://www.naij.com/725729-royal-fathers-supremacy-battle-rages-ooni-replies-benin-palace.html" target="_blank">continued his war of words</a> with the Oba of <b>Benin</b> (a kingdom in Nigeria’s <b>Edo State</b>, not to be confused with the <b>Republic of Benin</b>) by insisting that Edo is in Yoruba territory. This follows complaints from the Beninese royal palace disputing Ojaja II’s earlier statement ranking the Oba of Benin as only third among southwestern Nigerian kings, behind himself and the Alaafin of <b>Oyo</b>. The <b>Oodua People’s Congress</b> (<b>O.P.C.</b>), which wants a separate Yoruba republic, <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/198358-yoruba-group-opc-lambasts-benin-chiefs-comment-oduduwa-history.html" target="_blank">also chimed in</a>, criticizing what it called the Beninese distortion of history.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWGtH2r41cppmouMNxrCJeYSWeaahR9y4Vv_ewgdWBXSRghlmcIvHnkMqkxPOk-YpLn3tVctpVoQZkxFk7pQJKsdq9kDHgioBM-UgsWXrHpF4NTVp-Y7lu9W1IQ7krvjJm2zYCP6Th8Wif/s1600/PhototasticCollage-2016-02-10-17-01-02-300x201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWGtH2r41cppmouMNxrCJeYSWeaahR9y4Vv_ewgdWBXSRghlmcIvHnkMqkxPOk-YpLn3tVctpVoQZkxFk7pQJKsdq9kDHgioBM-UgsWXrHpF4NTVp-Y7lu9W1IQ7krvjJm2zYCP6Th8Wif/s400/PhototasticCollage-2016-02-10-17-01-02-300x201.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">The monarch Ojaja II of Ilé-Ifẹ̀ (ri<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">ght) and the la</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">te Queen Mariani Adeyemi Ogunwusi.</span></td></tr>
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<b><u>Kookis Fume over Arrest of Monarch Who Rammed Ugandan V.P.’s Convoy.</u></b> Tensions between the disestablished <b>Kooki</b> monarchy and the central government in <b>Uganda</b> erupted into the open this month when <b>Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli II</b> was arrested on February 2nd for <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201602030496.html" target="_blank">nearly crashing into the convoy</a> of the Ugandan vice-president, <b>Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi</b>, after he refused to yield to it. Kabumbuli II is the Kooki nation’s <i>Kamuswaga,</i> a monarchal title variously translated as “chief,” “prince,” “cultural leader,” or even “king.” Kabumbuli was driving his own vehicle when the near crash occurred, and Ssekandi’s security detail descended on him with weapons drawn. The monarch drew his own gun and the situation devolved into scuffling. The guards overpowered him, ripped his clothing, took off his shoes, and removed him from the scene in a police truck. Such indignities, when heaped upon royalty, are not taken lightly in Kooki culture. Though the monarch was released without charge in short order, he <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201602091522.html" target="_blank">publicly demanded</a> two days later—in a statement given at Entebbe airport as he prepared to depart for <b>Germany</b> for medical treatment—that the federal police prosecute the guards who “unlawfully and unjustifiably tortured” him. “Your officers’ acts,” a lawyer’s statement read, “were not only intended to torture our client but to humiliate him.” The palace declared a 10-day period of mourning throughout the Kooki nation to mourn the disrespect shown the <i>Kamuswaga.</i> The chief of police <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201602082166.html" target="_blank">apologized</a> officially, but as late as February 9th Kookis were still angry. Over 300 <a href="http://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/kooki-loyalists-demonstrate-over-brutality-against-kamuswaga" target="_blank">demonstrated in front of the royal palace</a> in Rakai district, many dressed in mourning. In July 2015 (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/08/uganda-fragmenting-kooki-chieftainship.html" target="_blank">as reported on in this blog</a>), the Kooki chieftainship declared a secession from the <b>Buganda Kingdom</b>, the monarchy that is sometimes considered coextensive with the Ugandan state itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No way to treat a <i>Kamuswaga</i></td></tr>
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<b><u>Campaigning Ugandan President Promises East African “Superstate.”</u></b> Nine days before <b>Uganda</b>’s general election, the country’s president, <b>Yoweri Museveni</b>, who plans to run for another term, told a radio interview on February 9th <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/ugandas-museveni-wants-create-east-african-superstate-424975" target="_blank">said that his primary goal for the remainder of his tenure is the creation of a union of central African states</a> that would include <b>Burundi</b>, <b>Kenya</b>, <b>Rwanda</b>, <b>Tanzania</b>, and Uganda. These five are already members of the <b>East African Community</b> (<b>E.A.C.</b>), which has a sort of common market and even plans to introduce a single currency by 2024. Museveni says the Rwandan and Kenyan governments are on board with the idea, though “we have been having some issues with Tanzanians.” With 157 million people, any “<b>East African Federation</b>” would still be less populous than <b>Nigeria</b>, which has 177 million.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Ethiopia Accused of “Ethnic Cleansing” of Anuaks in Gambela Region.</u> A coalition of minority and opposition parties in <b>Ethiopia</b> <a href="http://gadaa.com/oduu/31499/2016/02/03/pafd-strongly-condemns-the-ethnic-cleansing-in-gambella-region/" target="_blank">sounded the alarm</a> on February 3rd over what it called ethnic cleansing of tribal people in the Gambela region, on the border with <b>South Sudan</b>. According to the <b>Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy</b> (<b>P.A.F.D.</b>), special police attached to the <b>Gambela People’s Region</b> in southwestern Ethiopia, and presumably under the direction of the federal government, cracked down on the <b>Anuak</b> ethnic minority beginning January 27th, killing at least four. In a statement released on February 3rd, the P.A.F.D. said the massacres were ongoing. The Anuak are a tribal people from the <b>Nilotic</b> ethnolinguistic grouping, related to the ethnic groups that make up a majority in South Sudan. Many Anuak are affiliated with the <b>Gambella People’s Liberation Front</b> (<b>G.P.L.F.</b>), which is a constituent member of the P.A.F.D., along with the <b>Oromo Liberation Front</b> (<b>O.L.F.</b>), the <b>Ogaden National Liberation Front</b> (<b>O.N.L.F.</b>), the <b>Sidama National Liberation Front</b> (<b>S.N.L.F.</b>), and the <b>Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement</b> (<b>B.P.L.M.</b>). The ethnic tensions are being attributed to interethnic warfare spilling over from South Sudan.<br />
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<b><u>Tuareg Separatists Blame Jihadists for Attack on U.N. in Mali That Killed 5.</u></b> Separatists in northern <b>Mali</b> from the <b>Tuareg</b> minority <a href="http://www.dailysabah.com/africa/2016/02/12/5-un-peacekeepers-killed-30-injured-by-truck-bomb-mortar-fire-in-mali" target="_blank">are blaming a recent attack</a> on a <b>United Nations</b> compound on jihadist extremists and have distanced themselves from the incident. In Kidal, a truck bomb and an attack with mortars and firearms on February 12th killed five peacekeepers with the <b>U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali</b> (<b>Minusma</b>). Three of the dead were from <b>Guinea</b>, and the wounded numbered at least 30. But <b>Radouane Ag Mohamed Aly</b>, a spokesman for the <b>Coordination of Azawad Movements</b> (<b>C.M.A.</b>), a separatist umbrella group, denied responsibility. On the same day, three members of Mali’s military died and three were injured in an ambush near Timbuktu, also in the north. For most of 2012, the northern two-thirds of Mali were in the hands of a coalition of jihadist groups affiliated with <b>al-Qaeda</b> and more secular Tuareg separatists, including some displaced by the civil war in <b>Libya</b>. The region, called <b>Azawad</b>, was liberated by <b>French</b> forces and reintegrated into Mali, but an insurgency still rages.</div>
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<b><u>ISIS Valentine’s Day Massacre in Libya Ends in Public Display of Bullet-Riddled Corpses.</u></b> In Sirte, the hometown of <b>Libya</b>’s late dictator <b>Moammar al-Qaddafi</b>, the <b>Islamic State</b> terror group (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>), which runs the city as a <i>de facto</i> city-state outside of Libyan control, <a href="https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/02/14/is-murders-five-more-in-sirte/" target="_blank">carried out a series of revenge killings</a> over a 48-hour period ending on St. Valentine’s Day, with at least five people shot execution-style in the back of the head and then strung up in public. Four of the victims, including two brothers, were accused of “apostasy,” though it has been suggested that the real motivation was the same as that stated as the official reason for the fifth execution: as retaliation for partaking in a clan-based uprising against the ISIS administration in August 2015. Under ISIS’s rules, their bodies, hung from public structures with photos posted on social media, must remain on display for three days.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful downtown Sirte. ISIS, I just love what you’ve done with the place!</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Kenya Releases Mombasa Republican Council Chairman on Bail.</u> The chairman of the separatist <b>Mombasa Republican Council (M.R.C</b>.), <b>Omar Mwamnuadzi</b>, <a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000190215/mrc-leader-omar-mwamnuadzi-released-on-sh200-000-bond" target="_blank">was released on bond</a> on February 1st, amounting to 200,000 Kenyan shillings (just under $2,000 US). The bond was granted partly so that he could seek medical attention. The M.R.C. has been fighting for years for the secession of the predominantly-Muslim <b>Coast</b> (or <b>Pwani</b>) <b>Province</b>, including Mombasa, from Kenya, which is mostly Christian. (There is also a large Muslim population, mostly <b>Somalis</b>, along the border with <b>Somalia</b>.) Before the British colonial period, Mombasa and its environs were part of the <b>Sultanate of Zanzibar</b>.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Two Rioters Killed in Puntland; Prominent Businessman Assassinated.</u> Two people <a href="http://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/puntland/somalia-deaths-reported-in-violent-bossaso-protests" target="_blank">died in rioting</a> in the <b>Puntland State of Somalia</b> on February 1st. The demonstrators, in Bossaso, were protesting the continued imprisonment of <b>Farah Haji Saed</b>, who had been arrested the day before for inciting demonstrations against the Puntland government. Five people were also injured in the violence. The following day, also in Bossaso, unidentified men <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/well-known-famous-businessman-shot-dead-in-bosaso-town/" target="_blank">shot dead a prominent local businessman</a>, Hersi Aden (a.k.a. Hersi Adunyo).<br />
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<b><u>Puntland, Somaliland Ask for International Relief from Drought, Famine.</u></b> From both the <b>Republic of Somaliland</b> and the <b>Puntland State of Somalia</b> came pleas this month to the international community to help ameliorate famine in their territories caused by drought. The president of Puntland, <b>Abdiweli Mohamed Ali</b>, <a href="https://horseedmedia.net/2016/02/06/somalia-puntland-president-declares-state-famine/" target="_blank">announced</a> on February 5th that his statelet was officially in a state of famine and he pleaded with international aid organizations to help the estimated hundreds of thousands of Puntlanders in acute need of food. He said the hardest hit provinces were Bari, Sanag, Karkaar, Gardafu, and Sool. Sanag and Sool are in disputed territory, also claimed, and partially governed, by Somaliland. Shortly afterward, the governor of Gabiley province, in western Somaliland, <b>Mustafa Abdi Essa</b> (“<b>Mustafe Chine</b>”), <a href="http://www.somalilandpress.com/somalilandregional-administrator-for-emergency-assistance-to-residents-of-drought-hit-regions/" target="_blank">called specifically</a> on the <b>United Nations</b> and on the (internationally unrecognized) Somaliland national government.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Ali Khalif Galaydh, the Khaatumo State warlord</td></tr>
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<b><u>Ex–Khaatumo Warlord in Somaliland Cabinet Condemns His Successor’s Killing Spree.</u></b> In the disputed borderlands between the unrecognized <b>Republic of Somaliland</b> and <b>Somalia</b>’s autonomous republic of <b>Puntland</b>, a third entity, the territorially shifting <b>Khaatumo State</b>, <a href="http://www.somalilandpress.com/somalilandhaglatosiye-accuse-dr-ali-khalif-galaydh-of-orchestrating-ara-wayn-massacre/" target="_blank">fulfilled its threats to kill pro-Somaliland nomads</a> by killing one and wounding two on February 12th. The killings happened in the Buhoodle region, near the border with <b>Ethiopia</b>. Somaliland’s minister of health and labor, Dr. <b>Suleiman Ahmed Issa Kara</b>, a.k.a “<b>Hagaltosie</b>,” condemned the murders, saying authorities needed to “act now on these terrorists rather than later. Dr. <b>Ali Khalif Galaydh</b>,” he added, referring to Khaatumo’s warlord, “has openly vowed to wage Jihad against Somaliland, threaten to send suicide bombers, attack bridges and transportation system, but worse of all to massacre innocent civilians at will.” “Hagaltosie” is in a good position to judge in this matter: he himself was Khaatumo’s warlord until 2012, when a peace-deal between Khaatumo and Somaliland (now shattered) included his being given a cabinet position in Somaliland.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">8 Dead in Suspected Baloch Bicycle-Bombing; Pakistani Forces Kill 10 Separatists.</u> Separatists in <b>Pakistan</b> fighting for an independent <b>Balochistan</b> <a href="http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20160206/API/302069864/Suicide-bomber-targeting-security-forces-kills-8-in-Pakistan" target="_blank">are suspected in a bicycle-borne suicide-bombing</a> in Quetta, the provincial capital, which <a href="http://www.haveeru.com.mv/south_asia/66225" target="_blank">killed nine people</a> on February 6th and injured more than 35. The cyclist blew up himself as he neared a vehicle of the paramilitary <b>Frontier Corps</b>. The eight dead included seven civilians in addition to two <b>F.C.</b> members. On February 9th, police in Lasi Goth, Pakistan, <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/97258-BLA-member-held-for-shrine-attack" target="_blank">arrested a suspected member</a> of the <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) for a role in an attack on a shrine last year. The suspect, <b>Chuthal Magsi</b>, reportedly admitted under interrogation that he was among other B.L.A. members who attacked the Zinda Pir Astana in Mehran on September 18th. He named other co-conspirators. Later, February 10th, a truck carrying marble to Karachi <a href="http://balochwarna.com/2016/02/12/balochistan-saindak-project-truck-attacked-in-noshki/" target="_blank">was attacked by gunmen and damaged</a> and the driver briefly “arrested.” The B.L.A. claimed responsibility for that incident, saying that it was retaliation for natural resources being taken out of Baloch territory. And authorities reported on February 13th that a paramilitary operation in Kohlu district, in northeaster Balochistan, had <a href="http://www.manilatimes.net/10-separatist-insurgents-killed-in-swpakistan/244902/" target="_blank">resulted in the deaths of 10 B.L.A. separatists</a>, the arrest of 12, and the <a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/pakistan/ten-separatist-insurgents-killed-in-sw-pakistan-officials-1.1672260" target="_blank">destruction of three training camps</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aftermath of the bicycle suicide-bombing on February 6th in Balochistan</td></tr>
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<b><u>Indian Security Forces Kill 2 Kashmiri Civilians During Protest over Militant’s Death.</u></b> In <b>India</b>’s disputed state of <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b>, one militant <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Kashmir-Tense-After-2-Civilians-Including-Girl-Killed-in-Security-Forces-Firing/2016/02/14/article3277311.ece" target="_blank">was killed as separatists clashed with security forces</a> near Kakapora, leading to protests in the nearby village of Lelhara. During those demonstrations, security forces opened fire on civilians, killing two students, ages 19 and 22. The 22-year-old, a graduate student named <b>Shaista Hameed</b>, was not even demonstrating; she was standing on the verandah of her home when she was shot in the neck and head. Another civilian has life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the <b>Hurriyat Conference</b>, the leading Muslim separatist outfit in Kashmir, announced on February 13th that it <a href="http://www.ptinews.com/news/7096169_Hurriyat-claims-threat-from-gangster.html" target="_blank">had received a death threat the previous day</a> from the prominent organized-crime figure <b>Ravi Pujari</b> against the Hurriyat leader, <b>Syed Ali Shah Geelani</b>. The spokesperson said Pujari had “used unparliamentary language” in demanding Geelani “desist from what he called ... provocative speeches.” The Hurriyat Conference’s position is that if anything happens to Geelani it will be the fault of India’s government, currently led by the Hindu-nationalist and often Islamophobic <b>Bharatiya Janata Party</b> (<b>B.J.P.</b>).<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Madhesi Separatists Say Protests over Nepalese Constitution to Continue.</u> A <b>Madhesi</b> separatist leader in <b>Nepal</b> <a href="http://www.siasat.com/news/madhesis-nepal-continue-protests-till-next-election-says-separatist-leader-911025/" target="_blank">said</a> on February 2nd that protests will continue until the next national election. <b>C. K. Raut</b>, who heads the <b>Alliance for Independent Madhesh</b> (<b>A.I.M.</b>), said “the steam has gone out of” the mainstream Madhesi parties, making room for “radicalised” Madhesis to press for full independence. “They are no more going to be satisfied just by the demarcation or proportional representation,” he said. The Madhesi region, a thin strip of lowlands along the entirety of the Indian-Nepali border, is populated by speakers of the Maithili language, who have closer cultural ties to India than to Nepali highlanders.<br />
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<b><u>Beijing Blames “Radical Separatists” for “Fishball Revolt” in Hong Kong.</u></b> The <b>People’s Republic of China</b>’s foreign ministry <a href="http://atimes.com/2016/02/hong-kong-mong-kok-protesters-this-is-the-first-time-but-wont-be-the-last/" target="_blank">has taken the unprecedented step</a> of declaring rioting that broke out in <b>Hong Kong</b> during Chinese New Year festivities the work of “radical separatists.” The unrest on February 9th, which was focused in Hong Kong’s working class Mong Kok district and has been dubbed on social media the “Fishball Revolution” or “Fishball Revolt,” <a href="http://atimes.com/2016/02/hong-kong-mong-kok-protesters-this-is-the-first-time-but-wont-be-the-last/" target="_blank">was officially declared a “riot” by Hong Kong’s Beijing-leaning chief executive</a>, <b>Leung Chun-ying</b>. This is the first time this powerful legal designation has been used since the <b>United Kingdom</b> handed Hong Kong back to the <b>P.R.C.</b> in 1997.<br />
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The police commissioner, <b>Lu Wei-cong</b>, claimed protestors planned to torch police cars and throw bricks, but this could not be verified—nor could claims that some protestors should slogans promoting full independence for Hong Kong. As far as anyone can tell, the violence began with demonstrations against a city crackdown on street-food vendors. It is probably the fact that these protests were led by <b>Liu Xiao-li</b>, a leader in the failed anti-government “Umbrella Revolution” of 2014, that alarmed the authorities.<br />
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By February 9th, another group prominent in the Umbrella Revolution, <b>Hong Kong Indigenous</b>, was taking part as well. Authorities claim that 89 police were injured but made no mention of civilian casualties, even though witnesses report police firing into unarmed crowds. At least <a href="http://time.com/4218899/hong-kong-mong-kok-riot-beijing/" target="_blank">64 people were arrested</a>, including five members of Hong Kong Indigenous.<br />
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<b><u>Sichuan Shopkeepers Ordered to Take Down Dalai Lama Portraits; Tibetan Tortured to Death in Chinese Prison.</u></b> Authorities in <b>China</b>’s <b>Sichuan</b> province <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/02/03/dalai-lama-likened-to-saddam-hussein-paintings-confiscated-in-china-report/" target="_blank">mandated that shopkeepers take down any portraits</a> of the <b>14th Dalai Lama</b> and hand them in to the authorities, according to reports on February 3rd from state-run media. Meanwhile, <b>Radio Free Asia</b> reported this month that a man arrested in 2014 for refusing to fly the Chinese flag <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/tibetan-man-who-refused-to-fly-chinese-flag-dies-02082016154201.html" target="_blank">has died in prison from the effects of torture</a>. The man, whose full name was <b>Trigyal</b>, was sentenced to 13 years in prison along with two other men (who got 10 years each) in Driru county, in the <b>Tibet Autonomous Region</b>, when they refused to participate in a government campaign to get Tibetans to fly the Chinese flag. Over 1,000 people in the village of Mukhyim also participated in the protest, and some threw Chinese flags into a river. This invited a crackdown by security forces, including firing into crowds of unarmed protestors. Also, on February 11th, the <b>Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy</b> reported that two prominent monks from Drango County in Sichuan’s Tibetan autonomous area <a href="http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=37107" target="_blank">were arrested after holding a prayer service</a> for the health of the Dalai Lama, who is currently undergoing prostate surgery in the <b>United States</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Akong Tulku Rinpoche (right)</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Beijing Sentences Murderers of Tibeto-British Monk to Death.</u> The <b>People’s Republic of China</b> <a href="http://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/02/01/china-to-execute-two-for-killing-tibetan-religious-leader" target="_blank">has handed down death sentences</a> to two men for the murder of a British monk who founded the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Europe. <b>Akong Tulku Rinpoche</b>, who in 1967 founded the Samye Ling monastery in <b>Scotland</b>, was stabbed to death at his home in Chengdu in 2013 in a dispute over money. The <b>United Kingdom</b>’s government responded by reiterating to Beijing its opposition to capital punishment. The monk, born in eastern <b>Tibet</b> in 1939 fled to <b>India</b> in 1959 and was later naturalized as a U.K. citizen.<br />
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<u><b>China Cuts Prison Terms for Uyghur “Terrorists”; Activist Kept out of Taiwan.</b></u> Prison terms <a href="http://www.startribune.com/china-reduces-sentences-for-11-uighurs-including-canadian/367466941/" target="_blank">were reduced</a> for 11 members of the <b>Uyghur</b> minority convicted of terrorism and related crimes, sources said on February 1st, including <b>Huseyin Celil</b>, a citizen of <b>Canada</b> who fled <b>China</b> as a refugee in 2000 but was later extradited there from <b>Uzbekistan</b> and given a life sentence. He had been accused of involvement with the <b>East Turkestan Islamic Movement</b> (<b>ETIM</b>). The <b>World Uyghur Congress</b> (<b>W.U.C.</b>), an exile group based in <b>Germany</b>, calls the commutations a “political propaganda tool” intended to draw attention away from what is going on in China’s <b>Xinjiang Uyghur “Autonomous” Region</b>. Meanwhile, W.U.C.’s executive director, <b>Dolkun Isa</b>, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/taiwan-blocks-leader-of-uyghur-organization-from-attending-conference-02122016151040.html" target="_blank">has been denied permission</a> by <b>Taiwan</b>’s government to attend a human-rights conference in that country, the W.U.C. announced on February 12th. “It is a true shame,” the W.U.C. statement said, “that a democratic country such as Taiwan should be so influenced by the will of the [mainland] Chinese government.”<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Taiwan Parliament Speaker Sworn In; Madonna Stirs Uproar with KMT Flag.</u> In <b>Taiwan</b>, the pro-independence <b>Democratic Progressive Party</b> (<b>D.P.P.</b>), which swept into power in elections in January, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/02/01/world/asia/ap-as-taiwan-politics-.html?_r=0" target="_blank">appointed</a> <b>Su Jia-chyuan</b> as the first “president” (equivalent to speaker) of parliament who is not from the now ousted <b>Kuomintang</b> (<b>KMT</b>) party. The D.P.P. now controls 89 out of 113 seats in the chamber. Su, who is 59 years old, was minister of the interior and later of agriculture the last time the D.P.P. held power. Meanwhile, the American singer <b>Madonna</b> <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35502837" target="_blank">caused an online stir among Beijing loyalists just before her first concert appearance</a> in Taiwan on February 4th by posting a photo of herself on <b>Facebook</b> and <b>Instagram</b> framed by a blue-star design that is a symbol of the KMT).<br />
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<b><u>Rights Group Accuses Thai Security Forces of Torturing Muslim Separatist Suspects.</u></b> The national anti-terrorist agency in <b>Thailand</b> <a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1454761704&section=12&typecate=06" target="_blank">is accused of torturing confessions out of Muslim separatist suspects</a> in the far south in 2015, in a report released on February 2nd by the Muslim<b> Attorney Center Foundation</b>. The report is based on the testimony of 33 different victims, covering all three insurgence-plagued provinces, <b>Pattani</b>, <b>Yala</b>, and <b>Narathiwat</b>. A spokesman for the <b>Internal Security Operation Command</b> (<b>ISOC</b>) rejected the accusations, saying that they were “an attempt to discredit Thailand.” Later, authorities reported that security forces <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/860604/large-well-provisioned-insurgent-base-captured" target="_blank">had raided a secret separatist insurgent camp in the mangrove forests</a> of Pattani province on February 10th, where weapons and bomb-making equipment were seized. A clash with the camp’s occupants led to no injuries and only one arrest.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A terrorist nest in the Thai jungle</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Philippine Congress Refuses to Green-Light Bangsomoro Autonomous Region.</u> The <b>Philippine</b> legislature <a href="http://www.theworldweekly.com/reader/view/newswire/2016-02-03/philippines-congress-stalls-mindanao-peace-settlement/6562" target="_blank">declined</a> on February 3rd to consider a law that would formally grant autonomy to the <b>Bangsomoro</b> region based on the southern, majority-Muslim island of <b>Mindanao</b>, despite a 2014 deal between government and rebels to make the autonomous region possible. The Congress’s session ended on the 3rd, with the matter of Bangsomoro deliberately set aside. President <b>Benigno S. Aquino</b> had pushed hard for the autonomous region, but after a massacre of 44 police by the <b>Moro Islamic Liberation Front</b> (<b>MILF</b>) in January 2015, Congressional support for the deal began to waver. Now, with Aquino’s term to end in June, it is not clear if the autonomous region will be created or if civil war on Mindanao will resume.<br />
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<b><u>OCEANIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">10 Papuan Rebels Seek Amnesty from Indonesia.</u> Intelligence officials in <b>Papua New Guinea</b> <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/02/02/10-former-papuan-separatists-request-amnesty.html" target="_blank">confirmed this month</a> that ten former rebels from the <b>Free Papua Movement</b> (<b>O.P.M.</b>) have asked the government for amnesty. The ten include <b>Teranus Enumbi</b>, a former platoon commander. They are also asking for living assistance in exchange for putting down their arms. The western half of the island of New Guinea was promised independence by its colonial rulers, the <b>Netherlands</b>, after the Second World War, but the <b>United States</b> and the <b>United Nations</b> helped Indonesia annex it instead, after a rigged plebiscite on the territory’s status. Indigenous people there have been fighting a separatist insurgency ever since.<br />
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<b><u>Australia’s Norfolk Island Bristles at Broadcast Rules, Revocation of Autonomy.</u></b> Residents of <b>Norfolk Island</b>, an Australian possession in the South Pacific, <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201787769/claims-of-censorship-on-norfolk-after-loss-of-autonomy" target="_blank">are upset after new restrictions</a> <b>Australia</b> imposed this month, as the government ordered Norfolk’s radio station to avoid political broadcasts. Later, the executive director of the Norfolk Island Administration, which represents Canberra on the island, clarified that it was not censorship because <b>Radio Norfolk</b> is a government radio station and thus requires a balance of views. Last year, Norfolk Island was unilaterally demoted from a separate territory within the Commonwealth of Australia to a regional council within the state of <b>New South Wales</b>—which is about 1,500 miles away. Norfolk has a population of about 2,300 people living on 14 square miles. It was settled in 1856 by a splinter group from the <b>Pitcairn Island</b> colony. A group called <b>Norfolk Island People for Democracy</b> plans to take the matter of the island’s status to the <b>United Nations</b> and have Norfolk added to its list of “non-self-governing territories.”<br />
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Petition for Separate North Ontario Province Unnerves Former Secessionist Party.</u> The <b>Northern Ontario Heritage Party</b> (<b>N.O.H.P.</b>), known for its past advocacy of provincial status for <b>Ontario</b>’s vast, sparsely populated north, <a href="http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/380633/Northern_Ontario_Heritage_Party_contends_with_separatist_petition" target="_blank">is trying to distance itself from a new petition</a> pushing for a separate “<b>Province of Northern Ontario</b>” within <b>Canada</b>. After only a month, the provincehood petition, brought by a 33-year-old North Bay bus driver named <b>Trevor Holliday</b>, had, by February 6th, 3,500 signatures. Holliday is a member of the N.O.H.P. but began parting ways with the more moderate mainstream of the party, which has largely abandoned the secession idea. “There are still some in the party who don’t think it can happen at all,” said <b>Paul Sloan</b>, who finished last in his 2014 N.O.H.P. bid for the Thunder Bay–Superior North riding in the provincial legislature, “and there are some who see it as a gradual process. It’s not going to happen immediately. ... When <b>Nunavut</b> decided to become a territory, it took about nine years to get it into operation.” But Holliday, who came to secessionism through a friendship with the N.O.H.P.’s erstwhile leader, <b>Ed Deibel</b>, pointed out, “In comparison to size, both <b>New Brunswick</b> and <b>Newfoundland</b> fit into ours. They do a fine job of it. I’m not saying everything’s going to be riches and everybody’s going to have streets of gold but yes, money can be made in raw materials.”<br />
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<b><u>“Free State Project” Meets Goal: 20,000 Libertarians Pledge to Move to New Hampshire.</u></b> The <b>Free State Project</b> (<b>F.S.P.</b>) announced on February 3rd that it <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20160203/NEWS/160209706/101099/NEWS" target="_blank">had reached its goal of 20,000 signers</a> of a pledge to move to <b>New Hampshire</b> and help to electorally shape it into an experimental Libertarian state. Signing constitutes a pledge to move to the state within five years and to “exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals’ rights to life, liberty and property.” F.S.P. spokespeople say about 10% of signers have already moved there, and a whopping 40 have at various times been elected to statewide public office. Their policy initiatives have focused on easing licensing restrictions, marijuana decriminalization, and the ever-present tyranny of parking meters in downtown Keene. The F.S.P. chose New Hampshire in 2003 as its target state because of its low population. <b>Vermont</b> and <b>Wyoming</b> were also considered, but Vermont is far too leftist, and nobody wanted to move to friggin’ Wyoming.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Among the New Hampshire Free State Project’s “early movers” is <b>Robert Mathias</b> (far right), a blogger, radio host, and proponent of polyamory, who moved to Manchester from Chicago in 2014. His fiancée, the “pot and poly activist” <b>Anne Leverette</b>, a.k.a. the <b>Rebel Mistress</b>, is the third woman from the left. </td></tr>
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<b><u>Western Pennsylvania Secessionist Gets 6 New Hampshire Votes in White House Bid.</u></b> Among the also-rans in this month’s primaries in <b>New Hampshire</b> was <b>Matt Drozd</b>, a 71-year-old former county councilman from Ross, in the Pittsburgh suburbs of <b>Allegheny County</b>, <b>Pennsylvania</b>, who <a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/9954930-74/campaign-south-hampshire" target="_blank">received only six votes</a> (or maybe even five, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2738458/why-do-voters-pick-longshot-presidential-candidates/" target="_blank">according to one source</a>) in <a href="http://triblive.com/opinion/ericheyl/9886429-74/drozd-hampshire-lesser" target="_blank">his bid to be the <b>Republican Party</b>’s nominee for president</a> of the <b>United States</b>. Followers of 51st-state movements will remember Drozd for his 2013 proposal for western Pennsylvania to split off as the <b>State of Western Pennsylvania</b>—free of the political influence of Philadelphia’s supposed tax-and-spend liberals to the east. At least one Pittsburgh newspaper columnist <a href="http://triblive.com/opinion/ericheyl/5263139-74/state-westania-drozd" target="_blank">recommended at the time</a> the more catchy name <i><b>Westania</b></i> (though <b><i>Pittsylvania</i></b> should definitely be considered, in my opinion). Drozd found a secessionist ally in <b>Bill Robinson</b>, a Democrat, but the bill was voted down 13 to 2 (and would anyway have needed the backing of the U.S. Congress in order to create a new state). Pennsylvanian partition is not a plank in Drozd’s platform this year, though. Like most of his colleagues, he’s more focused on overhauling Obamacare and keeping immigrants out. He told one journalist before the New Hampshire voting, “I know I’m going to get blown away. But I still think I’m more qualified than most of the candidates to be president.” After his poor showing, he told a reporter that he would keep his website up but does not have the resources to continue campaigning.<br />
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<b><u>White-Supremacist-Linked Plan to Raise Battle Flag Near Alabama Campus Stalls.</u></b> A pro-<b>Confederate</b> group began raising money to install a 50-foot Confederate battle flag on private property facing <b>Alabama State University</b> (<b>A.S.U.</b>), whose student body is predominantly <b>African-American</b>. The group, <b>First Capitol Flaggers</b> (F.C.F.), based in Tallassee, <b>Alabama</b>, and its partner, the local chapter of <b>Sons of Confederate Veterans</b> (<b>S.C.V.</b>), were halfway toward their funding goal of $3,000 when city inspectors <a href="http://hellobeautiful.com/2016/02/06/a-confederate-flag-will-not-be-placed-across-from-alabama-hbcu/" target="_blank">deemed the plot of donated land unsuitable for a flagpole</a> “due to power line proximity.” A co-founder of F.C.F., <b>Dana Jones</b>, <a href="http://www.tallasseetribune.com/2016/02/10/alleged-hate-group-joins-in-confederate-flag-saga/" target="_blank">has admitted to media that she is also a member</a> of the <b>League of the South</b>, a <b>Southern</b> pro-independence group which the <b>Southern Poverty Law Center</b> (<b>S.P.L.C.</b>), a nonprofit which tracks hate groups, classifies as a white-supremacist organization and which its own paramilitary wing, known as the <b>Indomitables</b>. The League’s president, <b>Mike Hill</b>, said on February 4th that his group was not directly involved in the flag-raising plans but sought to become involved.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A recent League of the South demonstration</td></tr>
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<b><u>NAACP Asks Mississippi Counties to Take Down State Flag.</u></b> In other Confederate-flag-related news, the <b>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</b> (<b>N.A.A.C.P.</b>) <a href="http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/2016/02/02/naacp-seeks-removal-state-flag-coast-counties/79719928/" target="_blank">asked officials in two coastal counties</a> of <b>Mississippi</b> on February 1st to take the state flag of Mississippi down from public facilities because it includes the battle flag of the <b>Confederate States of America</b>. “The history of this state is that it is a racist state,” explained <b>Curley Clark</b>, who heads <b>Jackson County</b>’s N.A.A.C.P. chapter, “and it has been symbolized by the leadership wanting to hold on to the Civil War and what the Confederacy represented. That flag perpetuates slavery and white supremacy and it is very insulting, demeaning, and something we want to try to put in our past. We want to feel equal. However, it is very hard to do that with symbols in our face that infer we are inferior and that we do not belong.” Pascagoula is the seat of Jackson County. The other county is <b>Harrison</b>, which includes Gulfport and Biloxi. Also, the rules committee in <b>Florida</b>’s senate <a href="http://www.wftv.com/news/local/new-florida-senate-seal-limited-us-and-florida-fla/52614771" target="_blank">approved a new design for the state seal</a> from which the Confederate flag has been removed. Pro-Confederate Mississippians <a href="http://www.myfoxboston.com/news/rally-calls-for-keeping-confederate-emblem-on-state-flag/27820839" target="_blank">responded</a> on February 9th with a “keep the flag” rally in Jackson. Said one participant, <b>Chuck McMichael</b>, former head of <b>Sons of Confederate Veterans</b>, “This is not about what happened in the 1860s. This is not about what happened in the 1960s. What this is really about is what the leftist, progressive agenda wants this country to look like in 2060.” Meanwhile, an <b>African-American</b> state senator from Charleston, <b>South Carolina</b>—<b>Marlon Kimpson</b>, of the <b>Democratic Party</b>—<a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160209/PC1603/160209346" target="_blank">put forth a bill</a> on February 9th ordering the removal of the Confederate flag from a chapel at the <b>Citadel</b>, a military college in the state.<br />
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<b><u>“Washitah” Moorish Black Nationalists Take Over House in New Orleans.</u></b> In <b>Louisiana</b>, a group of what appear to be Black-nationalist squatters <a href="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/02/black_nationalist_washitah_nat.html" target="_blank">have taken over a house in New Orleans’ central Bywater neighborhood</a>, near the French Quarter, changed the locks, and claimed it for what they call the “<b>Washitah Mu’ur Nation</b>.” The house is up for sale, and its owner, <b>Fredrick Hines</b>, called the police this month after the squatters had been there about a week. Their name indicates that they may be affiliated with the late <b>Verdiacee Hampton-Goston</b>, a.k.a. <b>Verdiacee Washington-Turner Goston El-Bey</b>, “Empress” of the “<b>Official Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah</b>,” who died in 2014 at the age of 87 (see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/05/washitaw-empress-of-oklahoma-dies-in.html" target="_blank">my obituary of her from this blog</a>), or, much less likely, her self-proclaimed successor, a middle-aged Trenton, <b>New Jersey</b>, neighborhood eccentric who calls himself <b>Crown Prince Emperor El Bey Bigbay Bagby</b>, but apparently born as <b>William McRae</b> and has at times called himself a <b>Native American</b> tribal leader (see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/emperor-of-black-nationalist-washitaw.html" target="_blank">my report on him from this blog</a>). These groups are offshoots of the vaguely Islamic and Masonic “<b>Moorish Science Temple</b>” movement founded in the early 20th century by <b>Noble Drew Ali</b> and subscribe to the “Paleo-Negroid” hypothesis, which holds that <b>African-Americans</b> are the true indigenous people of the Americas because <b>Black Africans</b> were there before the so-called <b>American Indians</b>. (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/06/philadelphia-apartment-building-claimed.html" target="_blank">a report from this blog on a similar “Moorish” squatter action in Philadelphia last year</a>.) But they have also in recent years entangled themselves with the anarcho-libertarian ideology of the “sovereign citizens” movement. “Empress” Verdiacee, who lived in a small town in <b>Oklahoma</b>, claimed the entire territory of the <b>Louisiana Purchase</b>, both through her Afro-“Washitaw” pedigree and through her alleged descent from the uncrowned <b>King Louis XVII</b>, the “Lost Dauphin” of the <b>French</b> monarchy, who historians believe died in prison in 1795 at age ten during the French revolutionary “Reign of Terror.” As for the Bywater squatters, they apparently showed paperwork that convinced police to refuse to get involved. “It’s frustrating,” said Hines, the landlord; “the police told me this is, like, the third house they’ve broken into.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGgFOOTufpNzINCQv1hBuJqdMAsiai0rdE0P2o0tEjHbeyfPHq2zO0OipnKeYZsBgQ9cepjh0TWtlcR9D3m-emVYo01-kkThxVJrBj2DiF_HXEddZWY7RfjDGT-vXFxSWFl2nV6c5vxSn/s1600/washitaw-nation-squattersjpg-185c67c92d096ca4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGgFOOTufpNzINCQv1hBuJqdMAsiai0rdE0P2o0tEjHbeyfPHq2zO0OipnKeYZsBgQ9cepjh0TWtlcR9D3m-emVYo01-kkThxVJrBj2DiF_HXEddZWY7RfjDGT-vXFxSWFl2nV6c5vxSn/s640/washitaw-nation-squattersjpg-185c67c92d096ca4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The “Washitah” squatters in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1d84uQQYf_jkuJ9r2n25WJAZCR7GEdQ08OSOjAGB6cTjM7f93MmjEDKmZsCCpCi701g9fZjiyRnhTkWGRrBI8oPvKmgToOvUcepumw1k18tfQ8txrALBz0t4dgIjblMdLOx_txZxUdpuE/s1600/Aryan+Nations+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1d84uQQYf_jkuJ9r2n25WJAZCR7GEdQ08OSOjAGB6cTjM7f93MmjEDKmZsCCpCi701g9fZjiyRnhTkWGRrBI8oPvKmgToOvUcepumw1k18tfQ8txrALBz0t4dgIjblMdLOx_txZxUdpuE/s200/Aryan+Nations+flag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Hate Groups from California to Croatia Band Together as “United Aryan Front.”</u></b> The <b>Southern Poverty Law Center</b> (<b>S.P.L.C.</b>), an <b>Alabama</b>-based nonprofit which monitors hate groups, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/02/11/american-and-international-racists-create-united-aryan-front-coalition" target="_blank">warned this month about the recent formation</a> of “pan-<b>Aryan</b>” and nascently international coalition of white-nationalist groups under the name <b>United Aryan Front</b> (<b>U.A.F.</b>). This umbrella group, formed just a few months ago in late 2015, seems to exist only online so far, but it may well represent a new phase in broad coordination between racist militias. Its members include the <b>Klan Militant Knights of the Ku Klux Klan</b>, based in <b>Ohio</b>; <i><b>Die Auserwahlten</b>,</i> a.k.a. <b>Crew 41</b>, based in <b>Louisiana</b>; the <b>Noble Breed Kindred</b>, based in <b>California</b>; <b>Endangerd</b> [<i>sic</i>] <b>Souls</b>, a.k.a. <b>Crew 519</b>, a motorcycle gang; the <b>Aryan Renaissance Society</b> (the largest of the member groups) and its <b>Texas</b>-based offshot <b>White Lives Matter</b>; <b>Werwolf 88</b>, a neo-Nazi outfit; <b>Divine Truth Ministries</b>, a “Christian Identity” group; the <b>Croatian National Front</b> (<i><b>Hrvatski Nacionalni Front</b>,</i> or <b>H.N.F.</b>); and, at least initially, <b>Right Wing Resistance</b> and the <b>International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan</b>.<br />
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<b><u>CARIBBEAN</u></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDonmGiwv-WVIHmixMC0Rq87HgvbY9jYcHITc_IWWpN-8b1RJq9Vkc_IEtSVWeXbLniV9scM6EubIUcasngPnPT-seh23KsMyxKCX5mLnI9Vg431Q8AstN_ogTJI4trJUAJa_lDYM04mto/s1600/*Puerto%2BRico%2Bflag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDonmGiwv-WVIHmixMC0Rq87HgvbY9jYcHITc_IWWpN-8b1RJq9Vkc_IEtSVWeXbLniV9scM6EubIUcasngPnPT-seh23KsMyxKCX5mLnI9Vg431Q8AstN_ogTJI4trJUAJa_lDYM04mto/s200/*Puerto%2BRico%2Bflag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Rebel Army Cries “Colonialism” as Puerto Rican Assembly Debates Statehood.</u> The financial crisis in <b>Puerto Rico</b> <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Puerto-Rican-Independence-Group-Rejects-Referendum-on-Statehood-20160207-0037.html" target="_blank">is revitalizing calls on the island protectorate for a referendum on full statehood</a> within the <b>United States</b>. The president of the state bank said on February 5th that statehood would grant Puerto Rico powers to restructure its debt which it currently lacks, and the idea was taken up in the island’s legislature. But at least one Puerto Rican pro-independence group, the shadowy <b>Boricua Popular Army</b>, a.k.a. <b>E.P.B.–Macheteros</b>, issued a statement February 7th condemning the mainstream <b>Puerto Rican Statehood Movement</b> as colonialist, adding, “In this moment, which could be decisive for our history, we don’t see the protests, nor the struggle that an organized independence movement should be building and coordinating.”<br />
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<b><u>Arkansan Posing as Conch Republic “Ambassador” Unveils New Stun-Gun Invention.</u></b> A man in <b>Arkansas</b> claiming to be an ambassador for southern <b>Florida</b>’s tongue-in-cheek <b>Conch Republic</b> now <a href="http://pbcommercial.com/news/police-and-fire/self-styled-ambassador-says-he-s-created-personal-protection-product" target="_blank">says that he has invented a new type of stun gun that will revolutionize policing</a>. The Arkansan, <b>Nimrod Sterling</b>, calls it “the Red” and says it is “two times stronger than police tazers [and] 10 times stronger than most stun guns.” He finalized the design while serving a 57-month federal prison sentence in <b>Texas</b> for impersonating a diplomat to evade parking tickets. He is also awaiting trial for pointing a weapon at some teenagers in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 2014. Sterling, who legally changed his last name from Sanders, claims that he is awaiting a presidential pardon from <b>Barack Obama</b>. The actual Conch Republic says that he has no connection with their statelet.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His <i>soi-disant</i> Excellency Nimrod Sterling</td></tr>
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<b><u>SOUTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<b><u>“Fort Galt” Libertarian Commune Plans 2016 Launch in Chile, with Bitcoin as Currency.</u></b> A Canadian tech entrepreneur is among a mixed group of partners from <b>Canada</b> and the <b>United States</b> <a href="http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/02/01/fort-galt-triumph/" target="_blank">planning a libertarian community which they hope will become operational this year</a> in <b>Chile</b>. <b>Gabriel Scheare</b>, described as an “anarcho-capitalist,” originally wanted to locate his intentional community at <b>Galt’s Gulch Chile</b>, a libertarian experiment that ended up mired in recrimination and accusations of real-estate fraud. Now he is setting up what he calls “<b>Fort Galt</b>” near Valdivia, in southern Chile. Scheare, a long-time resident of Vancouver, <b>British Columbia</b>, was involved with an earlier experiment called <b>Exosphere</b> and in 2014 staked a claim at Galt’s Gulch. He plans to get Fort Galt rolling this year. Like Galt’s Gulch, it takes its name from John Galt, the enigmatic hero of the libertarian philosopher <b>Ayn Rand</b>’s 1957 novel <i>Atlas Shrugged,</i> which envisions the world’s top industrials “going on strike” because of the spread of socialism and founding a free-market commune hidden in the <b>Colorado</b> mountains. Scheare says Fort Galt’s currency will be <b>Bitcoin</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabriel Scheare (center) helps stake out the site of the future “Fort Galt” in Chile.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about these and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-36409444773460144962016-02-01T09:50:00.000-06:002016-02-02T09:33:01.107-06:00Separatist Updates for January 16-31, 2016: Taiwan’s New Pro-Independence Leader; France Ready to Recognize Palestine; Activist Biafra King Murdered<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81hSMlM7GiOKqsJC-5McCrAque49JNBAkAMQRgxOATExiKK3_E0IvMHJ5ZXF0KgQf_IX20KXoVDszF4_6HpGUkL6EmKW3_yyiGz1srUOwkGwkDL7Lkngt645YjHE26qRnC3mw7FDk8Q6x/s1600/Taiwan+Tsai+Ing-wen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81hSMlM7GiOKqsJC-5McCrAque49JNBAkAMQRgxOATExiKK3_E0IvMHJ5ZXF0KgQf_IX20KXoVDszF4_6HpGUkL6EmKW3_yyiGz1srUOwkGwkDL7Lkngt645YjHE26qRnC3mw7FDk8Q6x/s640/Taiwan+Tsai+Ing-wen.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>TSAI ING-WEN ELECTED TAIWAN PRESIDENT FOR PRO-INDEPENDENCE PARTY—FIRST FEMALE LEADER OF A CHINESE-SPEAKING COUNTRY</u></b><br />
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In <b>Taiwan</b>, <b>Tsai Ing-wen</b>, a 59-year-old legal scholar, was elected on January 16th to be president of the <b>Republic of China</b> (<b>R.O.C.</b>) and the first female chief executive in the Chinese-speaking world (which also includes mainland China, <b>Hong Kong</b>, <b>Macau</b>, and <b>Singapore</b>). With 56% of the popular vote, her <b>Democratic Progressive Party</b> (<b>D.P.P.</b>), which favors looser ties with—and even formal independence from—the <b>People’s Republic of China</b>, unseated <b>Ma Ying-jeo</b> of the long-ruling <b>Kuomintang</b> (<b>KMT</b>), the party that persists in the conceit that the R.O.C. is the merely temporarily sidelined true government of all of China. But President-Elect Tsai made clear that she does not intend to provoke Beijing with any kind of independence declaration, which would almost certainly precipitate war.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Teen Pop Star Publicly Shamed for Waving Taiwanese Flag on Korean TV.</u> In a bizarre sideline to the Taiwanese elections and the emotions it aroused, a 16-year-old K-pop singer from <b>Taiwan</b> named <b>Tzuyu</b> <a href="http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/266546/20160115/twice-tzuyu-taiwan-apology.htm" target="_blank">felt the need to apologize publicly</a> on <b>YouTube</b> after a furor over her waving a <b>Republic of China</b> flag in November in an online-only segment of a television variety show in <b>South Korea</b> called <i>My Little Television.</i> It was little noticed outside Korea at the time, but another Taiwan-born pop singer, <b>Huang An</b>, an apologist for <b>China</b>’s <b>Communist Party</b>, <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2016/01/16/16-year-old_k-pop_singer_tzuyu.php" target="_blank">complained about it</a> on mainland China’s heavily government-controlled social-network site <b>Weibo</b> in January, wondering aloud whether Tzuyu (whose full name is <b>Chou Tzuyu</b>) was in favor of Taiwanese independence. Tzuyu—noted for the song “Like Ooh-Ahh”—was also criticized for referring to herself as Taiwanese instead of Chinese. Tzuyu is a member of an all-girl band called <b>Twice</b>, which also includes three members from <b>Japan</b> and five South Koreans. Huang An’s exposé led to the cancellation of both an appearance by Twice on Chinese television and a cellphone endorsement deal for Tzuyu that had been in the works. “Tzuyu, only 16, has limited political experience and can hardly take a political stance,” read a formal statement from <b>JYP Entertainment</b>, which represents Twice. “But the rumor has damaged our image in China and jeopardized our relations with Chinese partners.” In Tzuyu’s apology video, she bows, apologizes for hurting Chinese national feeling, and asserts that there is and always will be only one China. (And she loves Big Brother.) Even President-Elect Tsai (see above) <a href="http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/266609/20160117/tsai-ing-wen-tzuyu.htm" target="_blank">chimed in on the controversy</a>, saying, “I believe everyone feels hurt and angry to see that Chou was forced to do what she was made to do. ... Everyone should unite to voice their belief to the world that no national of the Republic of China should be [attacked] for identifying with her country.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsMm9gKqeJzoo666VYSnMqU-Q194-M_Ixsurz_b8kAJHFTT00PeFwKwirepMYcEovU2AyQ7fdCKPN6pufzEA8Y3YEl_prLI8w99pjIF6qgZigXpqjvKEwRlGlN1hJhm7HindQJgYURX2t/s1600/Tzuyu+video.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsMm9gKqeJzoo666VYSnMqU-Q194-M_Ixsurz_b8kAJHFTT00PeFwKwirepMYcEovU2AyQ7fdCKPN6pufzEA8Y3YEl_prLI8w99pjIF6qgZigXpqjvKEwRlGlN1hJhm7HindQJgYURX2t/s640/Tzuyu+video.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Taiwanese pop singer Tzuyu (top left) in the offending<br />
K-pop video th<span style="font-size: x-small;">at caused the international furor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Clearly, these girls are hardened criminals who deserve to be</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">forcefully brought<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">into ideological line by guardians of socialist</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">propriety like Huang An.</span></td></tr>
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<b><u>EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">New Catalan President Seems to Rule Out Unilateral Independence Declaration.</u> The newly elected separatist president of <b>Catalonia</b> <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/world_catalan-leader-no-unilateral-declaration-of-independence_409728.html" target="_blank">clarified</a> this month that, despite his vow to achieve independence from <b>Spain</b> within 18 months, there would not be a unilateral declaration of independence. The president, <b>Carles Puigdemont</b>, asked a television interviewer rhetorically, “Do we have sufficient strength to declare independence for Catalonia with this parliament?”, then answered, “Still no.” Puigdemont took office on January 10th (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/01/separatist-updates-for-january-1-15.html" target="_blank">as reported recently in this blog</a>), with a promise to achieve independence within 18 months.<br />
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<b><u>Spain Reduces Sentences for 35 Basque Separatists in Plea Deal.</u></b> Thirty-five <b>Basque</b> separatists from north-central <b>Spain</b> <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/news/world/article/Spain-Basque-separatists-plead-guilty-to-ETA-6774329.php" target="_blank">were given relatively short prison terms</a> on January 21st after a plea deal in which they confessed to being members of the armed pro-independence group <b>Basque Homeland and Freedom</b> (<i><b>Euskadi Ta Askatasuna</b>,</i> or <b>ETA</b>) and promised to renounce violence. This reduced their to 18 to 24 months, from a possible 10 years. Officially at least, ETA laid down its arms in 2011.<br />
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<b><u>Blair Warns an E.U. “Brexit” Would Set Scottish Secession in Motion.</u></b> The <b>United Kingdom</b>’s former prime minister Tony Blair <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3417882/Tony-Blair-warns-Scotland-quit-UK-Britain-votes-leave-EU.html" target="_blank">warned the British public</a> on January 26th that if the U.K. voted to leave the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), it would almost certainly lead to <b>Scotland</b> voting to leave the U.K. Speaking about the upcoming vote this (probably) June on a British exit—a “Brexit,” as the idea is known—Blair said that, “If Scotland is taken out of the E.U. against its will, then obviously there will have been a fundamental breakdown in what should be a partnership of nations and it is highly likely that this would trigger an overwhelming demand for a second Scottish independence referendum.” Anti-E.U. sentiment is far higher in <b>England</b> and <b>Northern Ireland</b> than in Scotland and <b>Wales</b>—in fact, with Scotland’s 5 million people to England’s 53 million, Scotland has realistically no voice at all in the referendum—and Scotland only narrowly defeated an independence resolution in a 2014 referendum, with differing attitudes toward Brussels being very much in play. Even the <b>Scottish National Party</b>’s leader <b>Nicola Sturgeon</b>, First Minister of Scotland, says a second independence referendum in the event of a Brexit would be “unstoppable.” And a former S.N.P. leader, <b>Gordon Wilson</b>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3419038/Hold-Ex-nationalist-leader-says-Brexit-boost-Scottish-independence-hopes.html" target="_blank">said he was even considering</a>, like many fellow Scots, voting to ditch Brussels for the sole reason of making Scottish independence more likely. “I helped steer the S.N.P. towards [a pro-]European policy” in the 1970s, he pointed out, “but certain things have happened and ... I want to look at it from the Scottish viewpoint.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Blair, campaigning against Scottish independence two years ago</td></tr>
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<b><u>Mebyon Kernow Urges London to Make 2016 “Year of Cornish Recognition.”</u></b> The deputy leader of the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s <b>Party for Cornwall</b> (<i><b>Mebyon Kernow</b>,</i> or <b>M.K.</b>) <a href="http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/8203-Mebyon-Kernow-challenges-Westminster-make/story-28548469-detail/story.html" target="_blank">said at this year’s first party executive session</a> that the British Parliament needs to make 2016 the year of “Cornish recognition.” “It is almost two years,” said the deputy, <b>Loveday Jenkin</b>, “since the British government bowed to years of pressure and recognised that the framework covered the Cornish. But they have since failed to act on this important convention in terms of the political recognition of Cornwall, and the protection of its distinct territoriality. They have also failed to properly invest in Cornwall’s distinct culture and identity. Mebyon Kernow believes that 2016 must be the year that Cornish recognition—in terms of politics and governance, territoriality and culture—becomes a mainstream issue across the U.K.” The M.K. economics spokesman, <b>Andrew Long</b> added that London owes Cornwall recognition “as one of the historic nations of the United Kingdom,” as deserving of devolution as <b>Scotland</b> or <b>Wales</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Le Pen Breathes Xenophobic Fire in Milan as Padanian, Flemish Separatists Cheer.</u></b> Right-wing separatist, ultra-nationalist, and other delegates cheered on January 24th as <b>Marine Le Pen</b>, leader of <b>France</b>’s ascendant neo-fascist <b>National Front</b> (<i><b>Front national</b>,</i> or <b>F.N.</b>), <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/29/marine-le-pen-migrant-influx-will-impoverish-europe/" target="_blank">addressed a thousand or so delegates at a rally in Milan</a> for the <b>European Parliament</b>’s far-right, xenophobic <b>Europe of Nations and Freedom</b> (<b>E.N.F.</b>) caucus. In her remarks, she said that the current influx of Middle Eastern migrants to Europe would “impoverish European nations and kill their civility forever.” Among the other parties in attendance were the <b>United Kingdom Independence Party</b>, <b>Italy</b>’s <b>Northern League</b> (<i><b>Lega Nord</b></i>), and <b>Belgium</b>’s <b>Flemish Interest</b> (<i><b>Vlaams Belang</b></i>) party.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marine Le Pen, preaching hate with a smile in Milan, with a Flemish flag in the background</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPfK9bT7JoLsohB1_AXM-L76bpL9ataHJjH3e_6L6augfjobXzyNxS3l12g_m9BYBjJJObNR-VS6SPuhPW_aqQdYTAerOtCy21SrKzKcFmcn4dHd8kq0ONRsVl9EX2_DIq6JvEbHcbMuso/s1600/Corsica+flag+blindfolded+border.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPfK9bT7JoLsohB1_AXM-L76bpL9ataHJjH3e_6L6augfjobXzyNxS3l12g_m9BYBjJJObNR-VS6SPuhPW_aqQdYTAerOtCy21SrKzKcFmcn4dHd8kq0ONRsVl9EX2_DIq6JvEbHcbMuso/s200/Corsica+flag+blindfolded+border.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Corsican Leader Irks Paris, Calling France Allied Country, Not Parent Country.</u></b> The president of the <b>Corsican Assembly</b>, the regional legislature of the French-ruled island of <b>Corsica</b>, <a href="http://www.connexionfrance.com/Corsica-friendly-country-ally-France-Talamoni-Valls-view-article.html" target="_blank">ruffled French feathers this month</a> when he told a radio interviewer that he regarded <b>France</b> as a “<i>pays ami,</i>” i.e. a friendly country, or, translated more idiomatically, an allied state. It sounds friendly on the face of it, but the implication is that Corsica is not part of France. The Corsican leader, <b>Jean-Guy Talamoni</b>, who was in Paris for talks with Prime Minister <b>Manuel Valls</b> in preparation for new demands for Corsican autonomy to be written into the French constitution. Corsican separatists took control of the regional assembly in elections late last year.<br />
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<b><u>Aigues-Mortes to Host 2016 Summit of Francophone Micronations.</u></b> The <b>Principality of Aigues-Mortes</b>, a micronation surrounded by southern <b>France</b>’s Camargue region, announced this month that it would be hosting the first annual summit of the <b>Organization of MicroFrancophonie</b> (<i><b>Organisation de la MicroFrancophonie</b>,</i> or <b>O.M.F.</b>), an organization of French-speaking micronations, on September 23rd and 24th of this year. In addition to Aigues-Mortes, a Medieval walled city which mints its own quasi-currency, other O.M.F. members include the <b>Empire of Angyalistan</b> (whose territory is “the horizon”), the <b>Grand Duchy of Flandrensis</b> (headquartered in <b>Belgium</b>), the <b>Principality of Green Island</b> (<i><b>Principauté de l’Île Verte</b>,</i> off the coast of <b>Newfoundland</b>, <b>Canada</b>), the <b>Principality of Hélianthis</b>, the <b>Republic of Padrhom</b> (an acronym for <i><b>Pays des Droits de l’Homme</b>,</i> i.e. “<b>Country of Human Rights</b>”), the <b>State of Sandus</b> (co-extensive with the <b>State of Maryland</b> in the <b>United States</b>), and the <b>Republic of Valinois–Saint-Castin</b> (which seceded in 2014 from the <b>Federal Republic of St. Charlie</b>, within <b>Quebec</b>), as well as the <b>Republic of Jura</b>, an actual, concrete secessionist movement in northwestern <b>Switzerland</b>. The O.M.F.’s secretary general is <b>Her Serene Highness</b> <b>Olivia-Eugènie of Aigues-Mortes</b>. (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/07/micronations-sign-alcatraz-accords.html" target="_blank">a recent article in this blog</a> for more on Aigues-Mortes, Angyalistan, and Flandrensis.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Princess Olivia-Eugènie and <b>Prince Jean-Pierre IV</b>, center,<br />
flanked by the Emperor of Angyalistan, the Queen of <b>Ladonia</b>, and other dignitaries</td></tr>
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<b><u>Swedish Saami Say Planned Norwegian Soapstone Mine Threatens Reindeer Herds.</u></b> An indigenous <b>Saami</b> (<b>Lappish</b>) community in northern <b>Sweden</b> <a href="http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/planer-om-gruvedrift-skremmer-reinnaeringen-1.12761548" target="_blank">is bristling in opposition to plans to construct a soapstone mining operation</a> in highly valued reindeer grazing lands. The community, Sirga, consists of about 300 Saami people and over 15,000 reindeer. Sirga’s chief, <b>Jakob Nygård</b>, said, “We have had reindeer in this area for a long time. Noise from machines and equipment will disrupt our practices. All the mountains will be mined. We need to start examining what will happen. ... We will see what we can do.” Sirga is in the vicinity of Hamarøy, just over the border in <b>Norway</b>. A Norwegian firm, <b>Leonhard Nilsen & Sønner</b>, has bought the rights to the soapstone deposits, previously thought too costly to extract.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Saami community leader Jakob Nygård, pictured here with some of the threatened land in dispute</td></tr>
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<b><u>Bosniaks in Serbia Rally for Autonomy for Sandžak Region.</u></b> In Novi Pazar, in southwestern <b>Serbia</b>, local Muslim <b>Bosniaks</b> <a href="http://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/ex-yu/Protesti-u-Novom-Pazaru-Okupljeni-trazili-autonomiju-Sandzaka/348415" target="_blank">rallied</a> on January 17th demanding autonomy for the <b>Sandžak</b> region. <b>Sulejman Ugljanin</b>, president of the <b>Bosniak National Council</b> (<b>B.N.V.</b>) and the <b>Party of Democratic Action</b> (<b>S.D.A.</b>), said that self-rule for the Bosniak-dominated region along the border with <b>Montenegro</b> was the only way to protect local residents from the government in Belgrade, whose members “behave as if they were the owners of the lives of Sandžak’s citizens.” Referring to corruption and to violence against Bosniaks, Ugljanin added, “This savagery has reached its peak. We need to stop this evil.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Serbian Bosniaks rallying for autonomy in Novi Pazar</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kosovo Serb Gets 9 Years for War Crimes; K.L.A. Commando Starves Self in Prison.</u></b> A former commando in the <b>Kosovo Liberation Army</b> (<b>K.L.A.</b>) <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/sentenced-kla-commander-on-hunger-strike-01-18-2016" target="_blank">entered the fifth day of a hunger strike</a> on January 19th, in protest over the refusal of medical treatment. The prisoner, <b>Sami Lushtaku</b>, is being held in a prison in Podujevë, near Pristina. He began his 12-year prison sentence in May 2015 after being sentenced on war-crimes charges, including the murder of an <b>Albanian</b> civilian in 1998. Meanwhile, on January 21st, a Kosovar <b>Serb</b> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-serb-politician-sentenced-war-crimes-36417295" target="_blank">was sentenced to nine years in prison</a> by a <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) court for war crimes against ethnic Albanian Kosovars. The convict, Oliver Ivanović, committed the crimes in 1999 during the Kosovo War. <b>Serbia</b>’s president, <b>Aleksandar Vucić</b>, <a href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/2016/01/22/news/belgrade-slams-kosovo-serb-leader-s-political-conviction/" target="_blank">said</a> that the conviction “looks more like political force than law or justice.” In a separate trial, 11 Serbs being retried in an old case <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbian-fighters-deny-killing-albanian-civilians-01-25-2016" target="_blank">pleaded innocent to war-crimes charges</a> on January 25th for offenses committed during the Kosovo War, including looting, killing, and torturing ethnic Albanians in four villages in 1999, with the larger goal of ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, three opposition leaders in Kosovo <a href="http://inserbia.info/today/2016/01/kosovo-opposition-threatens-to-overthrow-government-on-february-17/" target="_blank">called on January 22nd for mass protests against the current government</a>, and even called for toppling the government by force, in anger over government accommodations with Serbia and <b>Montenegro</b> over the status of the ethnic-Serb minority in the country. The statement said that unless the current administration cancelled the agreements by February 17th—the eighth anniversary of Kosovo’s declaration of independence—then citizens would overthrow the government. The three parties are the <b>Kosovo Self-Determination Party</b>, the <b>Alliance for the Future of Kosovo</b>, and <b>Initiative for Kosovo</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sultan Murad I</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kosovars Torn over Proposal to Name Community Center for Ottoman Conqueror.</u></b> In the town of Obiliq, in <b>Kosovo</b> (spelled Obilić in Serbian), a <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/tribute-to-ottoman-sultan-divides-kosovo-town-01-18-2016" target="_blank">dispute has been raging</a> over what to name a new community center. The government of <b>Turkey</b>, through its local embassy, had offered to build the center in exchanged for naming it after <b>Sultan Murad I</b>, who was killed by a Serbian knight at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, in the midst of the <b>Ottoman Empire</b>’s expansion into the Balkans. Fortunately or unfortunately, that Serbian knight, <b>Miloš Obilić</b>, is the man for whom the town was named, back when it used to be more <b>Serb</b> than <b>Albanian</b>. The mayor of Obilić, <b>Xhaferr Gashi</b>, felt constrained to refuse the Turkish proposal. Why, though, if an enemy of the Serbs is to be celebrated? After all, the <b>Republic of Kosovo</b> is struggling for legitimacy after seceding bloodily from the <b>Republic of Serbia</b> in 1999; Serbia still claims it. As it turns out, ethnic Albanians, who make up the majority in Obilić and in Kosovo, are not necessarily pro-Ottoman. They tend to be proud of the fact that a mixed army of Serbs and Albanians resisted Ottoman conquest over the centuries. One city councillor, <b>Teuta Berisha</b>, from the <b>Alliance for the Future of Kosovo</b> party, put it this way: “We do not want a sultan in our municipality because our people have had too many invaders already.”<br />
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<b><u>Moldova Tightens Cordon around Transnistria as Public Decries New Premier.</u></b> The foreign ministry of <b>Transnistria</b> said on January 27th that <b>Moldova</b>’s border authorities <a href="http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160127/1033802062/moldova-transnistria-residents-deportations.html" target="_blank">have been tightening the border</a> between the self-declared republic and Moldova proper, with a new policy of deporting any Transnistrians <b>Ukrainian</b> and Russian passports that try to cross into Moldova. Transnistria says the new strictures “exceed the boundaries set by [bilateral] agreements,” which include guarantees of free movement within reason. The tensions came only a week after ongoing anti-government protests in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, became violent with hundreds (some sources, less plausibly, said “tens of thousands”) of people <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/01/26/26-jan-16-world-view-mass-protests-force-moldova-to-choose-between-europe-and-russia/" target="_blank">storming the parliament in anger</a> on January 20th after the body chose <b>Pavel Filip</b> as prime minister. The protestors, some chanting in Russian, focused their anger on financial misdeeds that have bankrupted the country, though others emphasized Filip’s unexpectedly pro–<b>European Union</b> stance. Some shouted that Moldova must choose between being in the E.U.’s orbit or in <b>Russia</b>’s.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unrest in Chisinau (pictured here) is reverberating in Transnistria as well.</td></tr>
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<b><u>At Least 5 Killed in Intermittent Fighting in Rebel-Held Eastern Ukraine.</u></b> Despite a supposed cease-fire, ongoing intermittent shelling in the civil war in southeastern <b>Ukraine</b>’s <b>Donbas</b> region <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/one-killed-one-wounded-in-donbas-as-armed-fighters-used-prohibited-weaponry-406527.html" target="_blank">claimed a victim</a> on January 23rd, with one Ukrainian soldier killed and another injured after an attack by pro-<b>Russian</b> rebels near Bulavynske, in the self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>). Some rebel attacks have used missile launchers and other weapons banned under the Minsk accords. Two days later, the D.P.R. <a href="http://tass.ru/en/world/851930" target="_blank">announced</a> that shelling by Ukrainian troops had killed two people—one a civilian—and wounded four others (two of them civilians). Ten homes were also destroyed, the D.P.R. said. And on January 31st the Ukrainian government <a href="http://uatoday.tv/news/two-ukrainian-servicemen-killed-four-wounded-in-donetsk-region-581858.html" target="_blank">announced</a> that within the Donetsk oblast two Ukrainian soldiers had been killed—one in combat and one in a booby-trap, with three injured.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Igor Girkin, a.k.a. Igor Strelkov, a fan of Stalin-style vigilante courts and executions</td></tr>
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<b><u>Russian Rebel Commander Admits to Stalin-Style Executions in Southeast Ukraine.</u></b> A colonel in <b>Russia</b>’s <b>F.S.B.</b> who was also commander of pro-Kremlin separatists in southeastern <b>Ukraine</b> <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-girkin-strelkov-executions-stalin-era/27497491.html" target="_blank">appeared on Russian radio this month</a> admitting to executing civilians. The fighter, <b>Igor Girkin</b>, a.k.a. <b>Igor Strelkov</b>, was asked on <b>Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda</b> how he dealt with looters in Slovyansk, in the so-called <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b>, and he said, “With executions”—executions carried out via a vigilante court modeled on 1941 military laws implemented under <b>Josef Stalin</b>. He referred to four executions in Slovyansk, one of a supporter of the <b>Right Sector</b>. Girkin also spoke of his dream of absorbing all of Ukraine and <b>Belarus</b> into an enlarged <b>Russian Federation</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Kremlin May Be Planning to Replace Donetsk Rebel Leader with Yanukovych Crony.</u></b> The Kremlin puppet-masters in Moscow who control the self-styled <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> (<b>D.P.R.</b>) and <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b> (<b>L.P.R.</b>) in eastern <b>Ukraine</b> are preparing to oust the D.P.R.’s current leader, <b>Oleksandr Zakharchenko</b>, <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/ukraine-s-former-pm-could-be-appointed-new-leader-of-donetsk-people-s-republic-578564.html" target="_blank">according to a pro-Ukrainian group</a>, the <b>Information Resistance Group</b> (<b>I.R.G.</b>). Among the replacements being considered, according to the I.R.G., are two former cabinet members of the pro-Kremlin former president of Ukraine, <b>Viktor Yanukovych</b>, whose impeachment in 2013 accelerated the current conflict. The two are Yanukovych’s former prime minister, <b>Mykola Azarov</b>, and his former first deputy prime minister, <b>Serhiy Arbuzov</b>. Meanwhile, on January 25th, Zakharchenko <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-zakharchenko-razing-village-good-soviet-ideology/27515228.html" target="_blank">blithely told a <b>Youth Socio-Political Forum</b> this month</a> about how he oversaw the obliteration of the village of Kozhevnya in July 2014. “It was our first offensive,” he said. “Unfortunately, in the course of fighting we practically destroyed this village. By burning down houses, we saved our lives and the lives of our people.”<br />
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<b><u>Czech Communist Parliamentarians under Fire for Visit to Donetsk Republic.</u></b> Two communist members of the <b>Czech Republic</b>’s parliament <a href="http://www.praguemonitor.com/2016/01/18/communist-mps-visit-donetsk-behind-czech-diplomacys-back" target="_blank">visited</a> the self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> for three days this month, causing a furor because they did it behind the backs of the Czech parliament and foreign ministry. The two M.P.s, <b>Zdeněk Ondráček</b> and <b>Stanislav Mackovik</b>, are members of the <b>Communist Party of the Czech Republic</b> (<b>K.S.C.M.</b>), and Ondráček is on a list of people banned from entering <b>Ukraine</b>, and in December was hustled onto a plane by Ukrainian authorities and sent home to the Prague. The government in Kyiv called the two Czechs’ entry into Ukraine illegal.<br />
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<b><u>Donetsk Rebels Say “California Flu” Leaked by Secret American Lab Killed 20 Troops.</u></b> The <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b>’s propagandists <a href="http://fabiusmaximus.com/2016/01/26/us-biological-attack-on-ukraine-93425/" target="_blank">betrayed their amateurism</a> this month as press releases quoted <b>Eduard Basurin</b>, Vice-Commander of the republic’s army, in saying that the virus which recently killed 20 soldiers and hospitalized another 200 is something called the “<b>California</b> flu” and was intentionally released from a U.S. military facility near Kharkiv, in non-rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. Of course, there is no such thing as a “California flu,” and the D.P.R. paranoiacs fail to explain how releasing biological agents into the general population could be expected benefit one side over the other a close-fought, street-by-street civil war like the one in the <b>Donbas</b>. Of course this doesn’t mean that most of D.P.R.’s Russian-speakers, their brains addled by Putinist propaganda, won’t fall for it hook, line, and sinker.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eduard Basurin accuses Washington of covert bio-terrorism in Ukraine.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Tatar Leader Vows Blockade Will Continue Until Ukraine Reclaims Crimea.</u></b> A <b>Crimean Tatar</b> activist and former deputy prime minister of the <b>Autonomous Republic of Crimea</b> before Russia’s annexation <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-crimea-blockade-tatar-leader-vosw-continue/27497515.html" target="_blank">vowed</a> on January 19th that Tatar civilians’ blockade of the Crimean peninsula will continue until <b>Russia</b>, which invaded and annexed Crimea two years ago, withdraws and allows reunification with <b>Ukraine</b>. The activist, <b>Lenur Islyamov</b>, said, “We showed the Tatars in Crimea, Ukrainians, and all pro-Ukrainian people that there is a genuine movement under way to free Crimea.” He added, “Crimea is the land of the Crimean Tatars. It is our land. “Therefore, when we organize an economic blockade, or an energy blockade, we are completely within our rights. We are Crimean Tatars. Crimea is our land.” Meanwhile, Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister of Russia under <b>Vladimir Putin</b> (2000-04) who now heads the anti-Putin <b>People’s Freedom Party</b>, <a href="http://www.unpo.org/article/18877" target="_blank">met with</a> <b>Mustafa Dzhemilev</b>, the exiled Crimean Tatar leader, in Strasbourg, <b>France</b>, during a <b>Council of Europe</b> event and told him, “Accept my reassurances that Crimea will eventually be freed and returned to Ukraine.”<br />
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<b><u>Puppet Tatar Forum in Crimea Condemns Pro-Ukrainian Muslims.</u></b> A pro-Kremlin conclave of <b>Crimean Tatars</b> on January 16th <a href="http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=12665" target="_blank">condemned</a> the main organization of Crimean Tatars, now based in Kyiv, <b>Ukraine</b>’s capital, as a “clone” organization tarred with the brush of radical Islam. The conference, held in Simferopol, capital of the <b>Republic of Crimea</b>, which <b>Russia</b> illegally annexed two years ago, was called “New Challenges to the Unity of the Crimean Islamic Ummah” and included 450 delegates. It praised the <b>Department of Crimean Muslims</b>, a pro-Moscow puppet organization, and and said that any Tatars opposition to that body “are condemned by <b>Allah</b> as a grave sin.” It referred to Crimean Tatars allied with the Ukrainian government, which is recognized by most of the world as having sovereignty over Crimea, as being engaged in a “pseudo-jihad” which endangers the safety of those Tatars left in the peninsula. Meanwhile, a Russian court in Simferopol, Crimea’s capital, <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/halya-coynash-court-in-russian-occupied-crimea-orders-arrest-of-mustafa-dzhemiliev-406340.html" target="_blank">ordered the arrest</a> of <b>Mustafa Dzhemiliev</b>, the most prominent Crimean Tatar leader, who was exiled from his peninsula homeland two years ago as Russia invaded.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ramzan Kadyrov and his dog Tarzan</td></tr>
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<b><u>Chechen President Parades Attack Dog, Vows Vengeance on Putin Critics.</u></b> The Kremlin-appointed president of <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Chechen Republic</b>, <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-kadyrov-rant-opposition-jackals-izvestia-putin/27497321.html" target="_blank">amped up his rhetoric</a> against any and all who oppose President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> on January 19th when he published an article in <i>Izvestia</i> channeling <b>Soviet</b>-era rhetoric in blaming “Western lackeys ... this pack of jackals” in the media and in the Russian diaspora who hate Russia and sling mud at her. “The politics of these warriors for injustice,” he writes in the article, titled “The Jackals Will Be Punished under Russian Law,” “is an anti-people one that represents their own personal interests. When they criticize all and sundry without grounds, using vile words and spraying spittle, they think that we will remain silent. And when they get a tough response with mass support, they run to their defenders howling and tucking in their jackal’s tails. If these dogs have their protectors in our country, then the main protector of the Russian people is the president of our country, Vladimir Putin, and I am prepared to carry out his orders, no matter how difficult.” The article appeared two days after an ally of Kadyrov’s, <b>Magomed Daudov</b>, who is speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/chechnya-kadyrov-instagram-threats-attack-dog-russian-opposition/27494978.html" target="_blank">posted</a> on Instagram a photo (shown above) of Kadyrov with his pet dog <b>Tarzan</b>, a Caucasian shepherd, along with threatening comments. “This is our old friend, Tarzan,” Daudov wrote. “Tarzan just hates dogs of foreign stripes—especially <b>American</b> ones.” He said that Tarzan’s “fangs were itching” to sink into the flesh of “traitors” against Putin. A few days later, on January 22nd, a (possibly government-orchestrated) rally in support of Kadyrov <a href="https://www.rt.com/politics/329791-kadyrov-rally-grozny-chechnya/" target="_blank">was held in Grozny</a>, the Chechen capital, drawing reportedly 700,000 people—half of Chechnya’s population. Analysts are divided as to whether Putin approves of Kadyrov’s rhetoric and is using him as a lightning rod or if Kadyrov is overstepping his bounds, perhaps dangerously so, trying to outflank Putin on the right.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Alexander Zadolstanov</b> of the pro-Kremlin “<b>Night Wolves</b>” motorcycle gang speaking at the pro-Kadyrov rally in Grozny</td></tr>
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<b><u>BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE PART OF EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Cypriot Leader Offers to Make Turkish Official E.U. Language upon Reunification.</u> The president of the <b>Republic of Cyprus</b> <a href="http://www.dailysabah.com/eu-affairs/2016/01/19/turkish-could-become-an-official-eu-language" target="_blank">said</a> on January 19th amid ongoing trilateral unification talks with the unrecognized <b>Turkish</b> puppet state the <b>Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus</b> that Turkish could be made the <b>European Union</b>’s 25th official language as part of a final agreement. President <b>Nicos Anastasiades</b> and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, President <b>Mustafa Akıncı</b>, hope to produce a plan by the end of the year that will merge their two states into a federal union of two autonomous entities, similar to <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Nagorno-Karabakh Friendship Group in French Parliament Grows to 48.</u></b> In <b>France</b>, eight members of parliament <a href="http://armenpress.am/eng/news/832931/new-french-parliamentarians-join-france-nagorno-karabakh-friendship-group.html" target="_blank">have joined</a> the <b>Franco–Nagorno-Karabakh Friendship Group</b>, bringing to 48 the number of French legislators who have thrown their support behind the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> (<b>N.K.R.</b>), an ethnic-<b>Armenian</b>-populated Russian puppet state carved bloodily out of the western flank of the <b>Republic of Azerbaijan</b> in an Armenian ethnic-cleansing campaign after the fall of Communism. No <b>United Nations</b> member state recognizes the N.K.R., not even its sponsors, <b>Armenia</b> and <b>Russia</b>. The new members are <b>Bruno Le Roux</b>, the <b>Socialist</b> leader in the parliament; six other Socialists, and <b>Emmanuel Mando</b>, head of the Rhône–Alpes region’s “<b>Union of Democrats and Independents</b>” coalition. Estimates of the number of Armenians in France range as high as 750,000 (the French government is constrained by law from compiling ethnic census data)—easily the highest in western Europe.<br />
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<b><u>Slovene Lawmakers: Killing 613 Azeris Is “Genocide,” Killing 1.5 Million Armenians Isn’t.</u></b> The National Council in <b>Slovenia</b>, one of the houses of its bicameral parliament, <a href="http://en.apa.az/xeber_slovenian_national_council_recognizes_kh_238234.html" target="_blank">passed a resolution</a> on January 20th recognizing the Armenian massacre of 613 people in Khojaly, <b>Azerbaijan</b>, in 1992 as “genocide.” That event was part of the <b>Nagorno-Karabakh</b> War between the newly independent Azerbaijan and <b>Armenia</b> after the fall of Communism. However, Slovenia, unlike most major western European countries, has so far refused to recognize the massacre of possibly one and a half million Armenians by the <b>Republic of Turkey</b> as a genocide. The Khojaly massacre <a href="http://azertag.az/en/xeber/Slovenian_National_Council_adopts_resolution_on_Nagorno_Karabakh_conflict-920917" target="_blank">is also considered a “genocide”</a> by the governments of <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b>, <b>Colombia</b>, the <b>Czech Republic</b>, <b>Guatemala</b>, <b>Honduras</b>, <b>Mexico</b>, <b>Pakistan</b>, <b>Panama</b>, <b>Peru</b>, <b>Romania</b>, and <b>Sudan</b>. (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/04/armenian-genocide-debate-turkey-nagorno.html" target="_blank">my blog article on the politics of genocide recognition in the South Caucasus</a>.)<br />
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<u><b>Israeli Justice Minister Wants Independent Kurdistan as Buffer between Iran, Turkey.</b></u> The Israeli minister of justice joined her boss, Prime Minister <b>Benjamin Netanyahu</b>, in supporting the idea of an independent <b>Kurdistan</b>, according to news released on January 20th. <b>Israel</b>’s justice minister, <b>Ayelet Shaked</b>, <a href="http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/99847-160120-israel-s-justice-minister-calls-for-independent-kurdistan-time-to-help-them" target="_blank">told the annual meeting</a> of the <b>Institute for National Security Studies</b> (<b>I.N.S.S.</b>) in Tel Aviv that the Israeli government “must openly call for the establishment of a Kurdish state that separates <b>Iran</b> from <b>Turkey</b>, one which will be friendly towards Israel. The Kurdish people are a partner for the Israeli people,” she said, adding that “the Kurds are an ancient, democratic, peace-loving people that have never attacked any country.” Meanwhile, the president of the <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> in northern Iraq, <b>Massoud Barzani</b>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/22/kurdish-independence-closer-than-ever-says-massoud-barzani" target="_blank">told the <i>Guardian</i> newspaper</a> in <b>England</b> that the Middle East’s borders will need to be redrawn because the old Sykes–Picot agreement had dramatically failed. He added that world leaders realized this, but, “as you know, diplomats are conservatives and they give their assessment in the late stages of things. And sometimes they can’t even keep up with developments.” On January 26th, Barzani <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/260120164" target="_blank">added</a> that, ideally, a referendum on independence should be held “before the <b>U.S.</b> presidential election” in November.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Turkey Arrests 27 Signatories of “Peace Declaration” Critical of War on Kurds.</u> In <b>Turkey</b>, security forces on January 15th <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-kurds-idUSKCN0UT0RF" target="_blank">arrested</a>, then released, 27 academicians who were among more than a thousand signatories to a “peace declaration” condemning <b>Turkey</b>’s war on its <b>Kurdish</b> minority and demanding an end to curfews. President <b>Recep Tayyip Erdoğan</b>, who earlier in the month had compared his government favorably with <b>Nazi Germany</b>’s, referred to the signatories—an international array including the <b>American</b> linguist and peace activist <b>Noam Chomsky</b>—as “dark, nefarious, and brutal” and equated them with the <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>). The arrests took place in and around Kocaeli province, near Istanbul. “The right to life, liberty, and security,” the peace declaration read, in part, “and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated. We demand that the state abandon its deliberate massacre.”<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Scores Die in Ongoing Civil War between Turks and Kurds.</u> Meanwhile, scores—if not hundreds—died in two weeks of ongoing fighting between <b>Turkey</b>’s military and security forces and the <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>), which is fighting for an autonomous or independent homeland in southeastern Turkey. A skirmish between the military and the P.K.K. in Diyarbakir province on January 15th <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/turkish-tanks-pound-kurdish-positions-572644.html" target="_blank">killed 16 P.K.K. fighters</a> and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-soldier-dies-clashes-kurdish-militants-102116350.html" target="_blank">injured</a> eight soldiers, one of whom died of his wounds the next day. On January 16th, Turkish tanks attacked the town of Cizre, causing dozens to flee the destruction. The military <a href="http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2483141&language=en" target="_blank">reported</a> on January 19th that a skirmish in Sur, in Diyarbakir province, killed one Turkish soldier when a group of P.K.K. fighters opened fire on some troops. On January 21st, the Turkish army <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/turkey%E2%80%99s-anti-pkk-operations-amount-%E2%80%98collective-punishment%E2%80%99-amnesty-796206" target="_blank">announced</a> that it had killed 33 P.K.K. fighters the day before (two civilians were also killed, Kurdish sources said), bringing the P.K.K. death toll to 641 for the previous five weeks, according to the military. Kurdish sources said two civilians were also killed in the January 20th operations, including a city councillor in Cizre who was trying to clear wounded people out of the streets when he was shot. The violence there <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=4959" target="_blank">continued into the following day</a>. On January 23rd, the P.K.K. claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a police station and nearby housing in Cinar the previous week, in which six people were killed, including three children. Two soldiers <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/two-soldiers-wounded-in-pkk-attack-in-diyarbakirs-sur.aspx?pageID=238&nID=94205&NewsCatID=341" target="_blank">were injured</a> on January 22nd when they came under attack by P.K.K. fighters in Sur. On January 22nd, a bomb <a href="http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/five-students-injured-in-turkey-school-blast-blamed-on-kurdistan-workers-pa" target="_blank">was tossed into a schoolyard</a> in Diyarbakir province, injuring five children. The Turkish government blamed the P.K.K. for that attack. On January 27th, three soldiers <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/27/hundreds-flee-turkish-city-diyarbakir-kurdish-militants" target="_blank">were killed in fighting</a> in Sur district, in Diyarbakir province, while thousands fled the area. On January 31st, in Sirnak and Diyarbakir provinces, security forces <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/310120161" target="_blank">reportedly killed</a> 17 P.K.K. fighters. In incidents not directly related to the fighting, at least 28 Kurdish refugees fleeing Turkey <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=4975" target="_blank">died when their ship capsized</a> in the Aegean Sea; a total of 65 were killed. Other reports <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/23012016" target="_blank">said</a> 70 Kurds drowned in the accident. Twenty Kurdish bodies <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/27012016" target="_blank">later washed up</a> on the Greek island Kalymnos, some from Iraqi Kurdistan. The following week, a boat with 65 refugees, mostly Iraqi Kurds but with an <b>Afghan</b> skipper, <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5088" target="_blank">capsized near Samos</a>, and at least 24 Kurds were believed dead. <b>Amnesty International</b> <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/turkey%E2%80%99s-anti-pkk-operations-amount-%E2%80%98collective-punishment%E2%80%99-amnesty-796206" target="_blank">issued a report</a> on January 21st condemning Turkey’s crackdown, calling it “collective punishment.” Meanwhile, any softening of the <b>United States</b>’ position on the conflict seemed farther than ever as Vice-President <b>Joseph Biden</b> met with the Turkish prime minister, <b>Ahmet Davutoğlu</b>, on January 23rd and <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/biden-labels-kurdistan-workers-party-terrorists-after-meeting-turkeys-davutoglu-talk-2277498" target="_blank">declared</a> the P.K.K. a “terror group, plain and simple.”<br />
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<b><u>Russia Says ISIS Runs Training Camp in Chechen Enclave of Georgia.</u></b> The foreign minister of <b>Russia</b>, <b>Sergey Lavrov</b>, <a href="http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/world/Russia-ISIL-training-base-located-in-Georgia-s-Pankisi-410798" target="_blank">told reporters at his annual press conference</a> on January 26th that the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) was operating a training camp in the <b>Republic of Georgia</b>, in the Pankisi Gorge region. The government in Tbilisi immediately denied the claim. Lavrov also spoke of a willingness to restore diplomatic ties with Georgia, which were cut in 2008 after the <b>South Ossetia</b> War. Lavrov said ISIS uses the supposed Pankisi Gorge base “to train, rest, and replenish their supplies.” The Pankisi Gorge is home to a Muslim minority called the <b>Kist</b>, who are part of the <b>Chechen</b> ethnic group. Islamist radicals have in the past called for the creation there of an Islamic emirate called <b>Pankisi Jamaat</b>.<br />
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<b><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Amnesty Report on Ethnic Cleansing by Kurds Disputed by Arab “Victims.”</u> A report by <b>Amnesty International</b> on January 20th <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/01/northern-iraq-satellite-images-back-up-evidence-of-deliberate-mass-destruction-in-peshmerga-controlled-arab-villages/" target="_blank">said satellite data and field interviews with more than 100 eyewitnesses back up accusations</a> that Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern <b>Iraq</b> are not just fighting the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) but also deliberately destroying <b>Arab</b> villages. Sometimes, the report said, they worked in concert with <b>Yezidi</b> militias or with Kurdish fighters from <b>Turkey</b> and <b>Syria</b>, and bulldozing, detonations, and arson were all used to destroy communities. <b>Donatella Rovera</b>, Amnesty’s senior crisis response advisor, who conducted the investigation, says the actions “may amount to war crimes.” The <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> (<b>K.R.G.</b>) <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/20/446656/KRG-Iraq-Peshmerga-Daesh-Dindar-Zebari-Amnesty-Internationl/" target="_blank">reacted swiftly</a>, denying the accusations and saying that the incidents it was aware of were examples of Peshmerga using self-defense. Later, on January 26th, Arab community leaders in Makhmour <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/260120162" target="_blank">disputed the Amnesty report</a>, saying that some villages were relocated, but for their safety, and that it was the Peshmerga that was protecting Arab civilians and communities from ISIS.<br />
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<b><u>Budget Crisis Leads to Road Blockades in Iraqi Kurdistan; Crucial Pipeline Bombed.</u></b> Inability to pay public servants became a more concrete crisis for the <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b> (<b>K.R.G.</b>) in northern <b>Iraq</b> on January 17th as residents of the town of Darbandikhan and surrounding areas, in <b>Sulaimaniyah</b> province, <a href="http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=4957" target="_blank">blocked major transport roads</a>, preventing tanker trucks from passing through. The protestors demanded better jobs and more prompt disbursements of pay. Some government employees have not been paid since September 2015—largely the result of budget cuts from the central government in Baghdad. Then, on January 29th, an explosion the interior ministry blamed on “terrorists” <a href="http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Terrorists-Blow-Up-Kurdish-Pipeline.html" target="_blank">destroyed a gas pipeline</a> responsible for about half of the <b>Kurdistan Region</b>’s electricity supply.<br />
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<b><u>Kurds Find Yezidi Mass Grave in Iraqi Town Liberated by ISIS.</u></b> In <b>Iraq</b>, Kurdish Peshmerga forces <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/18012016" target="_blank">found a mass grave</a> near the town of Shingal on January 17th. The fifteen to 20 bodies within are believe to be those of <b>Yezidi</b> men killed by the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) before November, before Shingal was liberated from ISIS control by the Peshmerga. The <b>United Nations</b>, in a report released on January 19th, <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/01/19/UN-Islamic-State-holds-3500-slaves-in-Iraq-mostly-Yazidi-women-and-children/2511453204241/" target="_blank">estimated</a> that about 3,500 people, mostly Yezidis—and most of them being women and children—are being held in slavery by Islamic State.<br />
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<b><u>France Vows to Recognize Palestine If Talks on “Two State” Solution Founder.</u></b> The French government raised the stakes considerably as it prepared to host a several-weeks-long summit to push for a two-state solution in <b>Israel</b> and <b>Palestine</b>: it <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-palestinians-idUSKCN0V727T" target="_blank">threatened to diplomatically recognize Palestine if no progress is made</a>. “<b>France</b> will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference,” said <b>Laurent Fabius</b>, the foreign minister, “bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, <b>Arab</b>, notably to preserve and make happen the two-state solution.” But, he said, if attempts to solve the decades-old conflict hit a wall, then “we need to face our responsibilities by recognizing the Palestinian state.” So far, the only western European countries to recognize Palestine are <b>Iceland</b>, <b>Malta</b>, <b>Sweden</b>, and <b>Vatican City</b>. Meanwhile, the president of <b>China</b>, <b>Xi Jinping</b>, said during a visit to <b>Egypt</b> on January 21st that he <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/chinese-leader-calls-for-palestinian-state-with-east-jerusalem-capital/" target="_blank">supports the establishment</a> of a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He made the comments while addressing a session of the <b>Arab League</b> in Cairo. Xi also mentioned $15 billion in aid China plans to offer in special loans to develop Middle Eastern industry.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, with <b>Mahmoud Abbas</b>, president of the Palestinian Authority</td></tr>
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<b><u>String of Palestinian Knife Attacks Leave 6 Dead, 4 Injured amid Ongoing Violence.</u></b> Sporadic violence between <b>Israeli Jews</b> and <b>Palestinian Arabs</b> in the <b>West Bank</b> and elsewhere continued in the second half of January, with the public being especially alarmed by a string of apparently unconnected stabbing attacks, mostly involving minors. In those attacks, six died, four were injured, and three arrested. It began January 17th as Israeli troops <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.697885" target="_blank">shot and killed</a> a Palestinian in the West Bank after he attempted to stab a soldier. That same day, in Hebron, a Palestinian <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/israeli-settler-stabbed-killed-palestinian-hebron-794196" target="_blank">broke into an Israeli settler home</a> and stabbed a woman to death in front of her family. The following evening, a 16-year-old male suspected in that killing <a href="http://www.thetower.org/2834-israeli-authorities-arrest-palestinian-killer-of-mother-of-six/" target="_blank">was arrested</a>. On January 18th, a Palestinian teenager <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/world/middleeast/palestinian-israel-settlement-attack.html" target="_blank">stabbed a pregnant Jewish woman</a>, though not fatally, in a thrift store in the illegal West Bank settlement of Tekoa. On January 23rd, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/palestinian-girl-13-shot-dead-in-west-bank.html" target="_blank">ran with a knife at an Israeli security guard</a> near the entrance to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank, and he responded by shooting and killing her. According to police, she had set out that morning, after a family argument, to become a martyr. On January 25th, two Palestinian males, aged 22 and 16, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/world/middleeast/palestinian-assailants-are-killed-after-knife-attack-on-2-israeli-women.html" target="_blank">were shot and killed after stabbing two Jewish women</a> in a grocery store in the illegal West Bank settlement Beit Horon. Of the two women, a 23-year-old and a 58-year-old, the younger later died of her wounds. Three explosive devices were also found nearby. On January 27th, a 17-year-old Palestinian male stabbed and injured a 50-year-old Israeli man near a gas station in Givat Zeev, in the West Bank. Two Arab children <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israeli-lightly-wounded-in-stabbing-attack-by-Palestinian-in-Jerusalem-443291" target="_blank">stabbed a 17-year-old Jewish boy in the back</a> in <b>Jerusalem</b>, near the Damascus Gate, on January 30th. He was rushed to the hospital, where it was determined his wounds were not life-threatening. Later, the stabber was arrested along with his companion, who was also carrying a knife. In other violence over the same period, an Israeli soldier <a href="http://www.startribune.com/israel-suspected-palestinian-gunman-lightly-wounds-soldier/365874881/" target="_blank">was wounded</a> on January 20th by what was believed to be a Palestinian gunman near Tulkarem in the West Bank. On January 22nd, Israeli soldiers <a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/74695" target="_blank">stormed into Bethlehem</a>, shot and wounded a young Palestinian, and beat and abducted him and two others. A fourth Palestinian suffered tear-gas inhalation as a result of the incident. On January 26th, heavy rains <a href="http://www.startribune.com/hamas-says-militants-missing-in-gaza-tunnel-collapse/366748811/" target="_blank">caused the collapse of a tunnel</a> used by Hamas for attacks on Israel from the northern <b>Gaza Strip</b>. Seven Palestinians were inside the tunnel at the time. Their deaths bring to 10 the total number of people killed in Gaza tunnel collapses in January. Also, on January 28th, an unidentified attacker <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Jan-28/334391-unknown-attacker-kills-palestinian-official-in-beirut-camp.ashx" target="_blank">shot and killed</a> the security chief of a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut, <b>Lebanon</b>. And a 34-year-old Palestinian policeman <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/31/israel-palestinians/79601332/" target="_blank">was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint</a> near the illegal Jewish settlement of Beit El after he jumped out of his car and opened fire, wounding three people.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A victim of the January 25th stabbing in a Beit Horon grocery is brought to the hospital.</td></tr>
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<b><u>AFRICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">North African al-Qaeda Chapter Calls for Reconquest of Two Spanish Enclaves.</u> A video from <b>al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb</b> (<b>A.Q.I.M.</b>) posted on <b>YouTube</b> on January 15th <a href="http://euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/news/on-euro-weekly-news/spain-news-in-english/136405-militant-group-channels-daesh-in-bid-to-threaten-spain-s-north-african-enclaves" target="_blank">calls on Islamist militants</a> to take back <b>Ceuta</b> and <b>Melilla</b>, two communities on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa, surrounded by <b>Morocco</b>, which are part of the <b>Kingdom of Spain</b>. The video, narrated by <b>Abu Obeida Yusuf al-Annabi</b>, A.Q.I.M.’s leader, refers to Spain with its old Arabic name “<b>al-Andalus</b>.”<br />
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<b><u>Sweden Decides against Recognizing Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.</u></b> The government of <b>Sweden</b> <a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/01/177594/moroccan-politician-swedens-decision-comforts-morocco-repairs-broken-ties/" target="_blank">announced</a> on January 15th that it had decided against granting diplomatic recognition to the <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>)—a decision greeted with delight by the <b>Kingdom of Morocco</b>, which illegally occupies <b>Western Sahara</b>, and with disappointment by human-rights activists. The Swedish foreign minister, <b>Margot Wallström</b>, gave a curt explanation, saying the current administration’s position was “consistent with the assessment of previous governments in this regard,” i.e. that “the criteria required under international law to recognize Western Sahara are not fulfilled.” <b>M’hammed Grine</b>, of Morocco’s <b>Party of Progress and Socialism</b> (<b>P.P.S.</b>), said that Sweden’s entertainment of the idea of recognition had been “a source of a great crisis” between the two countries, praising Sweden for “not embrac[ing] a separatist utopia, supported by <b>Algerian</b> hegemonic temptation completely outdated in a precarious regional geostrategic context carrying enormous risks.” Meanwhile, in the <b>Canary Islands</b>, an autonomous region of the <b>Kingdom of Spain</b> off the coast of Africa, President <b>Fernando Clavijo</b> met with a representative of the <b>Polisario Front</b> and <a href="http://www.cp-africa.com/2016/01/18/canary-islands-renews-support-to-saharawi-people-right-for-freedom-and-self-determination/" target="_blank">renewed his territory’s commitment to freedom and self-determination</a> for the <b>Sahrawi</b> people.<br />
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<b><u>2 Berbers Dead after Clashes with Sahrawis in Moroccan Campus Unrest.</u></b> University students from the separate <b>Berber</b> and <b>Sahrawi</b> ethnic groups <a href="http://ww4report.com/node/14604" target="_blank">came into violent conflict on campuses in Marrakesh and Agadir</a> in <b>Morocco</b> on January 23rd, leaving two Berbers dead. Rival protests over the question of Morocco’s illegal control of most of the territory of <b>Western Sahara</b> was at issue, with Berbers of the <b>Amazigh Cultural Movement</b> (<b>A.C.M.</b>) opposing recognition of the <b>Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</b> (<b>S.A.D.R.</b>) because of what it called the <b>Polisario</b> rebel group’s mistreatment of Berbers in S.A.D.R. territory it controls. One Berber student, <b>Omar El Khaleq</b>, <a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/01/178517/moroccan-activists-criticize-benkiranes-silence-on-fatal-beating-of-amazigh-activist/" target="_blank">was beaten to death by pro-Polisario rioters</a> during the protests, and another succumbed to his wounds four days later. The A.C.M. blames Polisario directly for the deaths.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omar El Khaleq, the Berber student recently killed in campus unrest</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Oil Facilities Bombed in Niger Delta after Rebel Leader’s Arrest Ordered.</u> Several oil facilities in <b>Nigeria</b>’s Delta State, in the ethnically volatile <b>Niger Delta</b> region, <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/tompolo-armed-youths-blow-up-pipeline-oil-facilities/" target="_blank">were damaged</a> on the night of January 15th-16th by bombs set by militants, according to Nigerian media. The affected facilities included important pipelines. The blasts occurred shortly after a federal court in Lagos ordered the arrest of a former rebel leader named <b>Government Ekpemupolo</b>, a.k.a. <b>Tompolo</b>, former leader of the <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>). Corporations targeted in the bombings included the <b>Nigerian Gas Company</b>, <b>Chevron</b>, and <b>NECONDE</b>, and government sources <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/nigeria-gas-idUSL8N1554NF" target="_blank">said</a> the damage was costing those companies nearly two and a half million dollars per day. Tompolo is now a wealthy oil tycoon charged with corruption. Most of the explosions occurred in the territory of Tompolo’s native <b>Gbaramatu Kingdom</b>. Tompolo claims no link to the attacks—a position <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/21/%E2%80%98ex-militants-not-responsible-bombing-oil-and-gas-facilities-delta%E2%80%99-ex-mend-leaders" target="_blank">echoed a few days later</a> by other former members of the MEND leadership, though one MEND veteran, <b>Africanus Ukparasia</b> , a.k.a. <b>General Africa</b>, <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/26/ex-militant-leader-fingers-tompolo-and-shoot-sight-bombing-delta-state-pipelines" target="_blank">claims Tompolo planned the attacks</a> with another MEND militant named <b>General Shoot at Sight</b>. Military forces <a href="http://dailytimes.com.ng/pipelines-bombing-soldiers-invade-tompolos-hometown-jtf-warns-community-leaders/" target="_blank">entered</a> Okpelama, Tompolo’s home community, on the 16th looking for militants. At least two local monarchs <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/stop-bombing-pipelines-warri-okpe-monarchs-tell-youths/" target="_blank">have condemned the bombings</a>: <b>Ogiame Ikenwoli</b>, the <i>Olu</i> of the <b>Warri Kingdom</b>, and <b>Orhue I</b>, the <i>Orodje</i> of the <b>Okpe Kingdom</b>. Meanwhile, another former MEND member, <b>Excel Toriomo</b>, a.k.a. <b>General Monday</b>, <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/22/former-militant-leader-bayelsa-state-says-governor-dickson-wants-him-dead" target="_blank">said on January 21st</a> that the governor of <b>Bayelsa</b> <b>State</b>, <b>Seriake Dickson</b>, has tried to have him assassinated, apparently in anger over Toriomo’s switching party membership from the <b>People’s Democratic Party</b> (<b>P.D.P.</b>) to the <b>All-Progressives Congress</b> (<b>A.P.C.</b>). Another group, the <b>Arogbo Ijaw National Front</b>, <a href="http://leadership.ng/news/494883/group-raises-alarm-ethnic-hostilities-ondo" target="_blank">complained</a> this month about rampant ethnic violence and crime in <b>Ondo State</b>. The <b>Ijaw</b> group blamed the current situation on the military having shut down “a local anti-vices outfit” called <b>Gallery Security Services</b>, which is run by Chief <b>Bibopre Ajube</b>, a former frontline commander for MEND.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Government Ekpemupolo (“Tompolo”), in the garb<br />
of the sect to which he now belongs, the Brotherhood of the Cross and Sword</td></tr>
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<b><u>Biafran Political Prisoner, Denied Bail, Writes Open Letter to European Parliament.</u></b> In Abuja, <b>Nigeria</b>, a federal court <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/biafra-nnamdi-kanu-denied-bail-nigerian-court-421042" target="_blank">denied bail</a> to the <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b>, the jailed leader of the organization <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), on January 29th. His case has been adjourned until February 9th. He was arrested in October 2015 on charges of sedition and “ethnic incitement” for operating the pirate media network <b>Radio Biafra</b>, among other activities. The same day, a judge in Port Harcourt, in <b>Rivers State</b>, <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/01/29/court-grants-bail-to-20-pro-biafra-protesters-in-rivers-state/" target="_blank">granted bail</a> to 20 Biafra activists also held since October. (Earlier, also in Port Harcourt, a judge <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/01/21/court-remands-two-pro-biafra-suspects-accused-of-chanting-war-songs/" target="_blank">remanded</a> two <b>Igbo</b> men to prison on conspiracy charges on January 21st for a demonstration six days previously at which, the judge said, they conspired to declare war on Nigeria.) On January 27th, Kanu <a href="https://www.naij.com/712702-tortured-abused-buharis-dss-kanu-writes-open-letter-eu.html" target="_blank">released an open letter</a> to the <b>European Parliament</b> in Strasbourg, <b>France</b>, in advance of a scheduled appearance before that body by Nigeria’s president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>. In the letter, Kanu writes, “I am that Biafran locked up in Buhari’s <b>DSS</b> [<b>Department of Security Services</b>, Nigeria’s secret police] dungeon for 98 days without trial, given inhuman treatments, tortured and abused. ... “I am that Biafran his 7 years old child was shot to death in Aba, that Biafran his brothers and sisters were massacred in Onitsha. I am that Biafran his people were again massacred in Aba, that Biafran his people are being kidnapped, extra-judiciary killed and illegally imprisoned by Buhari. I am that Biafran who Buhari illegally ordered soldiers of Gowon to invade my land and slaughter my children, sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers in their millions in 1967. ... The treatment of Kanu represents how Biafrans are treated in Nigeria, we are Biafrans, condemned by Nigerian government and deprived of right to live, speech, belong, freedom and thrive.” (Read <a href="http://www.thebiafraherald.co/2016/01/open-letter-to-eu-parliament-i-am.html" target="_blank">the full text here</a>.) Meanwhile, at least <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nigerian-separatists-claim-police-kill-biafra-protest-36359804" target="_blank">eight people were reported killed by police</a> during a rally for Biafran independence in Aba on January 18th. Police claim there were no deaths or injuries. The same day saw protests were held in six different southern states, all protesting Kanu’s continued detention. As this article is being written, reports are emerging that a ship hijacked off the coast of the disputed <b>Bakassi Peninsula</b>, in far-southeastern Nigeria, on January 29th <a href="http://newsday.com.ng/militants-threaten-to-blow-up-seized-vessel-if-kanu-is-not-released/" target="_blank">is now being held captive by militants</a>, who say that they will blow up the ship with its foreign crew unless Kanu is released immediately.<br />
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<b><u>Pro-Independence Igbo King Found Murdered; Separatists Suspect Foul Play.</u></b> A traditional <b>Igbo</b> monarch known for his activism in pursuit of a <b>Republic of Biafra</b> was founded murdered by a roadside on January 20th. The 52-year-old <b>Agbogidi Akaeze Edward Ofulue III</b>, the <i>Obi</i> (King, or Prince) of <b>Ubulu-Uku</b>, in <b>Nigeria</b>’s <b>Delta State</b>, <a href="https://www.naij.com/705722-vigilante-speaks-finding-battered-body-delta-king.html" target="_blank">was abducted from his vehicle on a bandit-infested road</a> on January 5th and then found dead in the bushes 15 days later alongside the badly decomposed body of an unidentified <b>Hausa</b> man. A <b>Fulani</b> herdsmen <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/how-fulani-herdsmen-abducted-killed-delta-monarch/" target="_blank">was arrested</a> on January 19th in connection with the murder. But an anonymous former Biafran intelligence agent from the late 1960s <a href="https://www.naij.com/713411-ipob-splits-milk-reveals-delta-monarch-gave-biafra-international-recognition-photos.html" target="_blank">told <i>The Biafra Times</i></a> that the Ubulu-Uku king had in fact been assassinated by <b>Nigeria</b>’s government for his pro-independence activities. Giving only his <i>nom de guerre,</i> <b>“Holy-Eyes,”</b> the agent said the king had been involved with the <b>Biafra Restoration Committee</b> and had pressed the Biafran cause with the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) and <b>United Kingdom</b>, among a life of pro-independence activism. “Nigerian government was very late in the day in killing him,” “Holy-Eyes” said. “If they had killed him a year ago, it would have somehow affected the struggle negatively. But they were as clumsy as ever, and the man was able to evade and outsmart them at every turn on the assignment, until it was completed. ... You see our worldwide demonstrations? That was part of the work his committee did. You see how smooth and effective the protests have been, then you will know that our brother was a genius.” The monarch, also an evangelical minister, had ruled the community of Ubulu-Uku since 2006. Meanwhile, within the formally organized Biafran movement, one faction of the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>) <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/massob-accuses-uwazuruike-plot-attack-secretariat/" target="_blank">accused</a> the head of another faction, <b>Ralph Uwazuruike</b>, of plotting against the secretariat of the first group, in <b>Imo State</b>. The claim was made by the faction led by <b>Uchenna Madu</b>, which refers to Uwazuruike as MASSOB’s former leader.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The assassinated <i>Obi</i> of Ubulu-Uku, shown here in red during a ceremony</td></tr>
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<b><u>Northern Nigerian Ex-Senator Says Let Biafra Go If It Wants.</u></b> Also this month, a former Nigerian legislator <a href="https://www.naij.com/699149-biafra-agitation-read-senators-verdict-biafra.html" target="_blank">said that in his opinion</a> if <b>Biafra</b> want to secede, it should be allowed to. The senator, <b>Salisu Ibrahim Musa Matori</b>, who served as senator from 1999 to 2003, “If the people of Biafra want to go, let them go. Let this administration not make the mistake of forcing people to live where they don’t want to live.” As an example, he cited the successful secession of the <b>Republic of South Sudan</b>. Matori’s constituency was in <b>Bauchi State</b>, in northeastern <b>Nigeria</b>, which is now a war zone due to a sometimes-separatist insurgency by Boko Haram. Meanwhile, a former head of the <b>Niger Delta Vigilante</b> (<b>N.D.V.</b>) militia, Chief <b>Ateke Tom</b>, <a href="https://www.naij.com/698495-biafra-ex-militant-makes-u-turn-14-day-ultimatum-buhari-read-now-saying.html" target="_blank">found it necessary this month to deny publicly reports</a> that he had given <b>Nigeria</b>’s president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, a two-week deadline to establish a <b>Republic of Biafra</b>, on threat of the resumption of armed rebellion. He also denied links with <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>) and other Biafran separatist groups. A spokesperson quoted Tom, saying, “Nigerians should be patient with the Buhari-led government and support him. Buhari is a good man; he is a peace-loving man.”<br />
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<b><u>Shooting of Ogadeni, Fears of Oromo “Cannibal” Raise Tensions in Somaliland.</u></b> The <b>Ogaden National Liberation Front</b> (<b>O.N.L.F.</b>), a rebel group aiming for a separate state in the border region straddling eastern <b>Ethiopia</b>’s <b>Somali Region</b> and <b>Somalia</b> itself, <a href="http://www.somalicurrent.com/2016/01/19/man-mysteriously-killed-in-hargeysa-onlf-blame-somaliland/" target="_blank">blamed the government</a> of the unrecognized <b>Republic of Somaliland</b> for the death of an Ogadeni man who was shot to death January 18th in Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital. Local police called the death a targeted killing and said they have begun to round up suspects. The next day, police in Hargeisa <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/somaliland-police-rounded-after-oromo-cannibalist-arrested/" target="_blank">rounded up several members</a> of the ethnic-<b>Oromo</b> community—who are also from Ethiopia—after an Oromo man supposedly killed and ate an ethnic Somali toddler.<br />
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The president of <b>Khatumo State</b>—a warlord fief with shifting territory in the disputed borderlands between the unrecognized <b>Republic of Somaliland</b> and the self-governing <b>Puntland State of Somalia</b>—<a href="http://www.mareeg.com/somalilandkhatumo/" target="_blank">rattled sabers at Somaliland</a> on January 31st, claiming that the republic is illegally occupying Khatumo territory in what the outside world regards, technically, as the <b>Federal Republic of Somalia</b>’s <b>Sool</b> province. “This time ’round we saying enough is enough,” said the president, <b>Ali Khalif Galeyr</b>, “and we shall be waging war against them soon so that we recapture our land, and as well show them who we are.”<br />
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<b><u>Azawadi Separatists among Suspects Rounded Up after Burkina Faso Attack.</u></b> Approximately 15 members of the <b>National Movement for the Liberation for Azawad</b> (<b>M.N.L.A.</b>), a northern Malian rebel group, <a href="http://www.siasat.com/news/arrests-burkina-faso-attack-probe-905140/" target="_blank">were rounded up for interrogation</a> by police in <b>Burkina Faso</b> in the wake of the January 15th terrorist attack on the Hotel Splendid in Ouagadougou, the capital, which killed 30 people. Police also arrested refugees from <b>Mali</b> in a refugee camp in Burkina Faso. Also detained were four citizens of <b>Niger</b>, including <b>Adal Rhoubed</b>, an ethnic-<b>Tuareg</b> physician who is running for president of Niger. Meanwhile, in Mali itself, the killing of three police officers in <b>Mopti</b> province on January 20th <a href="http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/20/446544/Mali-Mopti-Taureg-Dioura-Azawad-/" target="_blank">focused suspicions</a> on Tuareg rebels. The three were killed in an ambush by “terrorists,” according to police. This follows the January 15th killings, also in Mopti, of two soldiers guarding a relief aid convoy and a security guard who died when a market in the village of Dioura came under attack by militants. Then, on January 28th, one Malian soldier <a href="http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?fromval=1&cid=21&frid=21&eid=252448" target="_blank">was killed in an ambush just outside Timbuktu</a>, deep in the <b>Azawad</b> region, and near Gao, elsewhere in Azawad, three other Malian soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No longer so splendid after jihadists got through with it</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kenyan Police Arrest Chairman of Mombasa Republican Council.</u></b> The chairman of the <b>Mombasa Republican Council</b> (<b>M.R.C.</b>) <a href="https://citizentv.co.ke/news/mrc-leader-mwamnuadzi-charged-with-propagating-secessionist-ideologies-112677/" target="_blank">was arrested at his home</a> in coastal <b>Kenya</b> on January 24th and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-25/kenyan-separatist-leader-charged-with-heading-banned-group" target="_blank">was arraigned the next day</a> on charges that include membership in, and fundraising for, a banned organization. The chairman, <b>Omar Mwamnuadzi</b>, was also charged with possession of an “article bearing the words ‘<i>Pwani si Kenya</i>’”—Swahili for “Coast [province] Is Not [part of] Kenya”—a slogan which the prosecutor claims is in itself an incitement to violence. Mwamnuadzi denies all charges. A day before Mwamnuadzi’s arrest, police <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201601280965.html" target="_blank">arrested three alleged M.R.C. members</a> in a raid on a mosque in Diani, near Kwale, where they received a tip a secret meeting was being held. About 30 people eluded arrest in the raid.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omar Mwamnuadzi of the Mombasa Republican Council</td></tr>
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<b><u>Matabeleland Separatists Join Furor over Non-Ndebele-Speaking Teachers in Zimbabwe.</u></b> The <b>Mthwakazi Republic Party</b> (<b>M.R.P.</b>), which wants to secede from <b>Zimbabwe</b>, <a href="http://www.radiovop.com/index.php/national-news/13120-mthwakazi-furore-over-non-ndebele-school-head.html" target="_blank">joined protests this month</a> sparked by the central government’s appointment of teacher who don’t speak the <b>Ndebele</b> (<b>Matabele</b>) language to schools in <b>Matabeleland North</b> province. The M.R.P. is echoing complaints from local communities that the dictator <b>Robert Mugabe</b>’s secret police force, the <b>Central Intelligence Organisation</b> (<b>C.I.O.</b>), has been targeting Ndebeles who are vocal on the issue. <b>Mbonisi Gumbo</b>, an M.R.P. spokesman, said, “C.I.O.s are going around Lupane in the Gumede and Masenyane areas intimidating people over their resolution to sign a petition against” one of the teachers. Mugabe is a member of the more northerly <b>Shona</b> ethnic group.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Switzerland Denies Political Asylum to Baloch Rebel Leader from Pakistan.</u> The government of <b>Switzerland</b> on January 15th <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/16-Jan-2016/switzerland-rejects-brahamdagh-bugti-s-asylum-plea" target="_blank">turned down a request for political asylum</a> by <b>Brahamdagh Khan Bugti</b>, the exiled leader of the <b>Baloch Republican Party</b> (<b>B.R.P.</b>), an organization which is banned in <b>Pakistan</b> and seeks independence for the <b>Balochistan</b> region. A few days later, the former Pakistani military dictator <b>Pervez Musharraf</b> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-court-acquits-musharraf-rebel-leaders-killing-081504801.html" target="_blank">was officially acquitted</a> in the elder Bugti’s killing. Bugti fled Pakistan in 2006 after his grandfather <b>Nawar Akbar Bugti</b> was killed by the Pakistani military, fearing his own assassination would be next, and lived in <b>Afghanistan</b> until moving himself and his family to Switzerland in 2010. The Pakistani government quickly praised the Swiss decision. Two days later, separatist sources <a href="http://nation.com.pk/national/18-Jan-2016/brahamdagh-mulls-new-destination-after-swiss-snub" target="_blank">told media</a> that, although Bugti intended to file an appeal of the decision, he is now considering moving to a country with no extradition agreement with Pakistan. Candidates included <b>Bahrain</b>, <b>France</b>, <b>Germany</b>, <b>Kenya</b>, <b>Norway</b>, <b>Oman</b>, <b>Qatar</b>, <b>South Africa</b>, <b>Tunisia</b>, and the <b>United Kingdom</b>. Musharraf’s acquittal, on January 18th, came after his indictment last year for various crimes committed during his tenure, including the 2007 assassination of <b>Benazir Bhutto</b>. There is yet to be a ruling on the Bhutto murder. Musharraf currently lives under house arrest in Karachi while his cases move through the courts.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Baloch Liberation Army Claims Credit for Killing 6 Soldiers, Assassinating Poet’s Son.</u> On the outskirts of the city of Quetta, in <b>Pakistan</b>’s <b>Balochistan</b> province, an army vehicle <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/18/446310/Pakistan-Balochistan--Quetta-IED--/" target="_blank">hit a roadside bomb</a> on January 18th, resulting in an explosion in which six paramilitary soldiers were killed. The <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) claimed responsibility for the incident. The previous day, according to the <b>Baloch National Movement</b> (<b>B.N.M.</b>), Pakistani troops <a href="http://balochwarna.com/2016/01/18/balochistan-3-bullet-ridden-bodies-found-several-abducted-during-turbat-and-gwadar-operations/" target="_blank">abducted young Baloch people</a> out of several communities, and three bodies riddled with bullets found in the area around Turbat were identified as those of three “freedom fighters” abducted by the military on January 13th. Then, on January 20th, members of Pakistan’s <b>Frontier Corps</b> <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1031080/balochistan-militancy-fc-kills-5-bla-militants-in-barkhan-raid/" target="_blank">killed five B.L.A. fighters</a>, including a commander, in Barkhan district. Three B.L.A. fighters were captured. Baloch insurgents <a href="http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/319954-Quetta-police-hit-again-as-three-personnel-gunned-" target="_blank">are also suspected</a> in an attack on soldiers in a gas station in Quetta’s snooty Satellite Town suburb. Four police were killed in the attack. The B.L.A. <a href="http://balochwarna.com/2016/01/29/balochistan-son-of-prominent-baloch-poet-shot-dead-in-konshkalat/" target="_blank">took responsibility for the assassination</a> of the 27-year-old son of <b>Bashir Bedar</b>, a prominent Baloch author and poet. The son, <b>Fazul Bashir</b>, was shot by unknown assailants in the town of Tump on January 28th as he returned from mosque. The B.L.A. statement said the younger Bashir was a spy for the government.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Balochistani home minister, announcing Abdul Manan’s death</td></tr>
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<b><u>Baloch Liberation Front Leader Killed by Security Forces in Pakistan.</u></b> The home minister of <b>Pakistan</b>’s <b>Balochistan</b> province, <b>Sarfraz Bugti</b>, <a href="http://www.thenewstribe.com/2016/01/30/blf-head-killed-in-mastung-operation/" target="_blank">told a press conference</a> on January 30th that government security forces had killed the head of the <b>Baloch Liberation Front</b> (<b>B.L.F.</b>) (not to be confused with the <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b>; see above) the previous day in Mastung. The leader, <b>Abdul Manan</b>, was killed as part of an operation in which eight Baloch militants were killed.<br />
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<b><u>3 Separatist Guerrillas Killed in Military Operations in Indian Kashmir.</u></b> Two Kashmiri militants <a href="http://www.thestatesman.com/news/india/two-separatist-militants-gunned-down-in-kashmir/117743.html" target="_blank">were killed in a battle with Indian troops</a> in Naina, in <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b>, in northern <b>India</b>, on January 20th, after the troops converged on the village on a tip that Kashmiri separatists were hiding out there. One home was destroyed, with the body of a third militant suspected to be beneath the rubble, and an explosion, possibly the accidental detonation of a grenade wounded two villagers, one of whom died later. The events <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/news/world/article/Clashes-erupt-in-Kashmir-after-Indian-troops-kill-6770895.php" target="_blank">led to spontaneous anti-government protests</a> in Naina and in a neighboring village, Batpora, in which an armored vehicle was set aflame and riot police responded by shooting one man to death and injuring two others. Indian security forces <a href="http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/separatist-guerrilla-killed-in-gunbattle-in-kashmir_1850532.html" target="_blank">“launched an operation against militants,”</a> sources said, in Kashmir’s Kupwara district on January 29th, and the fighting lasted into the next day, with at least one separatist guerrilla killed.<br />
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<b><u>Hindu Nationalists Call Muslim Riots in West Bengal Ploy to Create Indian “Kosovo.”</u></b> Indians are steeling reeling from an outburst of sectarian violence on January 3rd in <b>West Bengal</b> state, when a Muslim rally boiled over in anger over remarks by a Hindu politician in <b>Uttar Pradesh</b> who supposedly who called the prophet <b>Muhammud</b> the “world’s first homosexual.” This has prompted some Hindu observers to raise the spectre of Muslim separatism. A police station and other government buildings and vehicles were set on fire in Kaliachak, in West Bengal’s Malda district, where Muslims are almost as numerous as Hindus, and 30 police were injured. <b>India</b>’s ruling party, the radically Hindu-nationalist <b>Bharatiya Janata Party</b> (<b>B.J.P.</b>), is using the riot to whip up Islamophobia in the country, though some analysts say the events had less to do with religion than with criminal conflict related to counterfeit currency rings and poppy-growing syndicates that are in conflict with the police. One Islamophobic political analyst, <b>Jay Bhattacharjee</b>, <a href="http://swarajyamag.com/politics/west-bengal-may-be-headed-for-a-kosovo-like-situation-with-the-rise-of-islamism/" target="_blank">wrote in <i>Swarajya</i> magazine</a> that West Bengal had parallels with <b>Kosovo</b> and blamed the state’s ruling <b>Trinamool Congress</b> (<b>TMC</b>) party for allowing Malda and other West Bengali districts near Bangladesh to tip toward a Muslim majority. The violence has given a boost to the B.J.P., which hopes to secure control of West Bengal in upcoming elections.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muslims and Hindus in West Bengal’s Malda district don’t always get along.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Graffiti in Thailand Province May Herald Muslim Rebels’ Spread to New Areas.</u></b> Authorities in <b>Thailand</b> <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/832240/military-probes-street-graffiti" target="_blank">have become concerned</a> in mid-January over the appearance on roads in <b>Surat Thani</b> province of graffiti touting the <b>Runda Kumpulan Kecil</b> (<b>R.K.K.</b>) rebel group, since that province is considerably farther north than the R.K.K.’s usual area of activity. One of the graffiti, which are in Arabic and Burmese scripts, reads, “Welcome, R.K.K. Fighters.” Another says, “Death Route—Watch Out.” And on January 28th, authorities <a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Security-tightened-after-rocket-like-devices-found-30278213.html" target="_blank">discovered rockets and other weaponry</a> in <b>Pattani</b> province bearing the legend “<b>Nampra Army</b>”—referring to a faction of the <b>Patani United Liberation Organisation</b> (<b>PULO</b>), an older organization, dating to the 1960s, which shares the R.K.K.’s goals. The R.K.K. has been fighting an insurgency for 14 years to try to get all or parts of the far-southern provinces near <b>Malaysia</b>—Pattani, <b>Narathiwat</b>, and <b>Yala</b>—to secede as a separate Muslim-dominated state. <br />
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<b><u>Karen Rebels Say Burmese Soldiers Burned Down 10 Homes after Firefight.</u></b> Rebels from the <b>Karen</b> ethnic group <a href="http://www.irrawaddy.com/burma/dkba-splinter-group-govt-army-and-allied-bgf-clash-in-karen-state.html" target="_blank">battled <b>Burma</b>’s military</a> from January 23rd to 26th, with a Karen splinter group, the <b>Democratic Karen Benevolent Army</b> (<b>D.K.B.A.</b>), claiming the Burmese burned down 10 homes, in retaliation for the wounding of two men from the government-aligned <b>Karen Border Guard Force</b>. The government denies the accusations. The D.K.B.A. is a reincarnation of sorts of the former <b>Democratic Karen Buddhist Army</b> in a more secular guise. The fighting occurred near Kawkareik, in <b>Karen State</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Missing Hong Kong Publisher Confesses on Mainland TV, Raising New Questions.</u></b> One of the five booksellers missing from <b>Hong Kong</b> and feared “disappeared” by the mainland Chinese government for their dissident publishing and other activities (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/01/separatist-updates-for-january-1-15.html" target="_blank">discussed recently in this blog</a>) <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/world/asia/missing-man-back-in-china-confessing-to-fatal-crime.html" target="_blank">appeared suddenly on Chinese television</a> on January 17th, confessing through tears that he had turned himself in to Chinese authorities over a fatal drunk-driving accident 11 years ago. The publisher, <b>Gui Minhai</b>, who is also a naturalized citizen of <b>Sweden</b>, says he killed a young woman while driving drunk in Ningbo, in Zhejiang province, in 2003 and was given a suspended sentence but skipped the country in violation of his probation the following year. Now, he says, he is returning to <b>China</b>. He had last been seen at his condominium in <b>Thailand</b> in October 2015. Gui and the other four missing men are employees of <b>Mighty Current Media</b>, which publishes and sells books about the sex scandals and corruption of mainland Chinese officials—the kind of activity that would would be a one-way ticket to a reeducation camp on the mainland but is tolerated in Hong Kong because of the “one country, two systems” guarantees under which the <b>United Kingdom</b> surrendered Hong Kong to the <b>People’s Republic of China</b> in 1997. Most Hong Kongers believe there is more to the story than Gui’s televised version of events and that he is being held against his will. <b>Amnesty International</b> says Gui’s “confession” “has no validity from a legal standpoint.” Another of the five, <b>Lee Bo</b>, a dual citizen of China and the U.K. last seen in Hong Kong on December 30th, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-bookseller-idUSKCN0V803C" target="_blank">is apparently being held on the mainland</a>. His wife says she visited him there in late January at a “guesthouse” in an unspecified location, where she says he was a “witness” in an ongoing investigation. The <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) has called the illegal Chinese detention of E.U. citizens “unacceptable.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gui Minhai’s tearful televised “confession”</td></tr>
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<b><u>Police Round Up Inner Mongolian Herders after Protests Hit Social Media.</u></b> Hundreds of ethnic <b>Mongolian</b> herders in the <b>People’s Republic of China</b>’s “autonomous” region of <b>Inner Mongolia</b> <a href="http://unpo.org/article/18874" target="_blank">held public protests in front of government buildings</a> on January 20th over the withholding of herders’ subsidies in compensation for grazing bans. Some herders then distributed on social media video clips of the protests in the community of Darhan-Muumingan Banner, and some were interviewed by human-rights activists and foreign journalists. Beijing responded quickly: local police abducted at least a dozen herders on January 25th and interrogated them aggressively about “engaging in national separatism” before releasing them. Others received threatening phone calls. In 2008, the central government banned livestock grazing in the area but offered monetary compensation. Those payments stopped abruptly six months ago without explanation, causing extreme economic hardship for the Mongolians, who are a minority in their own “autonomous” region—which Mongolian nationalist call “<b>South Mongolia</b>.” “Now our very survival is threatened,” one herder told the <b>Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inner Mongolia is one of China’s largest subdivisions</td></tr>
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Courageously defying strict bans on such expression, over one thousand people in <b>China</b>’s <b>Tibet “Autonomous” Region</b> <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/health-01272016133213.html" target="_blank">gathered at a Buddhist monastery</a> in Kardze, a “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” in <b>Sichuan</b> province to pray publicly for the health of the <b>14th Dalai Lama</b>. “This is an annual prayer gathering which usually begins on January 13 and ends on January 25,” an exiled Tibetan official told <b>Radio Free Asia</b>, “but following a notice sent out on January 20 by the <b>Central Tibetan Administration</b> [the Tibetan government-in-exile, in <b>India</b>] requesting prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama while he undergoes a health check at the <b>Mayo Clinic</b> in the <b>U.S.</b>, the Tibetans extended their praying for two extra days.” A gigantic portrait of the Dalai Lama was incorporated into the open-air prayer sessions. Chinese authorities, miraculously, stayed away.<br />
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<b><u>OCEANIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Polynesian Separatist Opposition Leader to Run for President ... of France.</u> The opposition leader in <b>French Polynesia</b>, <b>Oscar Temaru</b>, who supports independence for the territory, <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201785983/french-polynesia's-temaru-wants-to-run-for-french-presidency" target="_blank">announced this month that he intended to run for president</a> of the <b>French Republic</b>, of which French Polynesia is a constituent “overseas collectivity.” But he told an interviewer that his real intention was to win the French election “here in <b>Maohi Nui</b>, not in France” (using a native Polynesian term for the territory, which includes the archipelago of <b>Tahiti</b>). Temaru is of mixed Tahitian, French, and <b>Māori</b> (indigenous <b>New Zealander</b>) ancestry.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oscar Temaru</td></tr>
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<b><u>Australian Monarchists Propose Making Queen Elizabeth Their “President.”</u></b> Monarchists in <b>Australia</b>—those who want the country to retain its status as a member of the <b>Commonwealth of Nations</b>, with <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b> as its head of state—<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/01/25/monarchists-graciously-offer-compromise-where-queen-president" target="_blank">responded</a> to a rise in activity by the <b>Australian Republic Movement</b> (<b>A.R.M.</b>) this week by proposing a compromise that involved Her Majesty being given the lesser title of President of Australia, but with the position still being hereditary. The suggestion was made by <b>David Flint</b>, who heads the organization <b>Australians for Constitutional Monarchy</b>. In reply, <b>Peter FitzSimmons</b>, who chairs the A.R.M., said, “We’re so chuffed that monarchists are really starting to warm to the idea of a true Australian republic,” adding, “If pleasing everybody means having Her Majesty the Queen as President of Australia, so be it. Australians are reasonable people.” Among other voices in support of the proposal was <b>Tony Abbott</b>, the recently ousted ultra-conservative prime minister, who said, “This is the kind of thing Australia needs.” It is unclear in what sense a state with a hereditary head of state, even one called “president,” would be a republic.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Following a well-established tradition of monarchist Australian prime ministers<br />
displaying an utter ignorance of royal protocol, <b>Tony Abbott</b> put his hand<br />
on H.R.H. <b>Prince William</b>, Duke of Cambridge, during a royal visit to Canberra</td></tr>
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Parti Québécois Leader to Stay On Despite Tax Inquiry, Marital Problems.</u> In <b>Canada</b>, the leader of <b>Quebec</b>’s pro-independence <b>Parti Québécois</b> (<b>P.Q.</b>), <b>Pierre Karl Péladeau</b>, <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/embattled-pkp-denounces-cabinet-shuffle-says-hell-absolutely-remain-as-pq-leader" target="_blank">attempted</a> on January 28th to lay to rest talk that he might step down. “Don’t worry—I’ll be there,” he said, in response to speculation that he might not lead the P.Q. into the next provincial election, in October 2018. Péladeau’s separation from his wife was recently made public, support for the party is slipping in the polls, and the media have been inquiring into whether the francophone media conglomerate he runs, <b>Quebecor</b>, is paying all its taxes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pierre Karl Péladeau</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Tsimshians, Lawmakers Vow to Save British Columbian Island from Gas Project.</u> An <a href="https://intercontinentalcry.org/first-nations-mlas-and-mp-sign-declaration-for-permanent-protection-of-lelu-island-from-petronas-lng-project/" target="_blank">agreement was struck</a>, in Prince Rupert, <b>British Columbia</b>, <b>Canada</b>, on January 24th to end a long-standing occupation (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/10/tsimshian-protest-camp-on-tiny-canadian.html" target="_blank">as detailed recently in this blog</a>) by members of the <b>Tsimshian</b> nation of an island whose salmon-based ecology is threatened by a multinational corporations billion-dollar plans for a liquid natural gas plant. The “Lelu Island Declaration” was signed by Tsimshian hereditary chiefs from the <b>Nine Allied Tribes of the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation</b>, Grand Chief <b>Stewart Phillip</b> of the <b>Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs</b>, and four provincial and federal parliamentarians from the <b>New Democratic Party</b> (<b>N.D.P.</b>). <b>Nathan Cullen</b>, who represents the Bulkley Valley constituency in Ottawa, said, “This project isn’t going to happen. This project can’t happen.” Leaders from the <b>Git<u>x</u>san</b>, <b>Wet’suwet’en</b>, <b>Lake Babine</b>, and <b>Haisla</b> nations also signed the accord. But cold water was poured on the agreement the following day by the “chiefs”—not actual hereditary chiefs, but government-salaried, locally-elected administrators—of five Tsimshian communities. Their declaration states that the Lelu Island protection agreement was without their “consultation or support.” None of the five communities—<b>Kitkatla</b>, <b>Metlakatla</b>, <b>Kitsumkalum</b> and <b>Kitselas</b> (near Terrace, B.C.), and <b>Gitga’at</b> (Hartley Bay, B.C.)—has ownership rights on Lelu Island.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebratory signatories to the Lelu Island Declaration</td></tr>
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<b><u>Sidelining of Pipeline Deals under Trudeau Reawakens Alberta Separatism.</u></b> The <i>Calgary Herald</i> in <b>Alberta</b>, <b>Canada</b>, <a href="http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/braid-alberta-separatism-stirs-anew-as-pipeline-debate-turns-ugly" target="_blank">reported this week</a> that <b>Justin Trudeau</b>’s ascent to the prime-ministership in Ottawa last year is stoking a resurgence of separatist feeling in the province, which seems to wax and wane according to how far left or right politics in the federal capital are leaning. Following Trudeau’s promises this month that his <b>Liberal Party</b> would not just be a “cheerleader” for pipeline projects, in the way that his <b>Conservative Party</b> predecessor, <b>Stephen Harper</b> was, ordinary Albertans, fearful of the effects on their economy, are voicing more skepticism about the whole idea of Canada. Over 13,000 people have “liked” the <b>Republic of Western Canada</b>” <b>Facebook</b> page founded a few short months ago. The <i>Herald</i> quoted one poster to that forum opining, “It would be nice if the <b>Quebec</b> sponges would return the money we have donated to their pathetic welfare state.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Militant nutcases at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon</td></tr>
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<b><u>Oregon Refuge Standoff Drags On Despite Killing of 1 Militant, Arrests of Many Others.</u></b> The armed standoff by extremist anti-government militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/us/oregon-armed-group-arrest-bundy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news" target="_blank">entered a violent phase</a> on January 26th, with one militant dead and several under arrest. <b>Ammon Bundy</b>, the <i>de facto</i> leader, and at least five others were en route to a community meeting in the town of John Day, about 70 miles away, when they were arrested by <b>Oregon State Police</b> on a state highway. During the arrest, <b>LaVoy Finicum</b>, a spokesman for the militants, was shot and killed. In addition to Bundy, son of the racist Mormon patriarch and anti-government militant <b>Cliven Bundy</b>, of <b>Nevada</b>, those arrested included another of the 14 Bundy siblings, <b>Ryan Bundy</b>; <b>Shawna Cox</b>, of <b>Utah</b>; <b>Ryan W. Payne</b>, of <b>Montana</b>; and <b>Brian Cavalier</b>, a former bodyguard of Cliven Bundy’s from Nevada who used the <i>nom de guerre</i> <b>“Fluffy Unicorn”</b> (don’t ask). Two others, <b>Peter Santilli</b>, of <b>Ohio</b>, and <b>Joseph D. O’Shaughnessy</b>, of <b>Arizona</b>, were arrested shortly afterward in Burns, Oregon, and <b>Jon Eric Ritzheimer</b>, the 32-year-old member of the group with the strongest ties to white-supremacist hate groups, turned himself in to police in Arizona. Earlier, <b>Kenneth Medenbach</b>, age 62, <a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/protester-oregon-refuge-arrested-driving-government-truck" target="_blank">had been arrested while driving off-site to the grocery store</a> on January 15th in a (stolen) Fish and Wildlife Service truck, and two days later a former Cliven Bundy bodyguard, <b>Schuyler Pyatte Barbeau</b>, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/12/08/former-bundy-bodyguard-arrested-firearms-charge" target="_blank">had been arrested</a> near Springdale, <b>Washington</b>, for illegal possession of semi-automatic weaponry that he was hoarding in preparation for “shoot-outs with law enforcement.” Barbeau had already been on the F.B.I.’s radar for loudly talking about plans to “lynch” a California judge who had sentenced him on an earlier weapons charge. One of the militants remaining at the wildlife refuge, <b>Jason Patrick</b>, of <b>Georgia</b>, said that the mood there was “prepared but calm.” He added, “They said ‘peaceful resolution,’ but now there is a dead cowboy.” On January 27th, however, Patrick <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-oregon-refuge-roadblocks-20160127-story.html" target="_blank">was one of three arrested as he voluntarily left the compound</a>, out of a total of eight who left that day; another was <b>Dylan Anderson</b>, of Utah, who used the <i>nom de guerre</i> <b>“Captain Moroni.”</b> Although the <b>Federal Bureau of Investigation</b> (<b>F.B.I.</b>) in very short order took the unusual step of releasing a video clearly showing Finicum reaching for his gun before being shot in the arrest, the occupiers and their supporters continue to call it a “cold-blooded” murder. The day after his arrest, Ammon Bundy <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/us/oregon-wildlife-refuge-siege-arrests/index.html" target="_blank">released a statement through his attorney in which he begged the remaining militants to end the occupation</a>. “Let us take this fight from here,” the statement said, addressing those still within the compound. “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is ours for now in the courts. Please go home.” But Cliven Bundy himself, interviewed in Nevada on January 28th, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/defying-his-own-son-cliven-bundy-rallies-oregon-militants-to-fight-to-the-end/" target="_blank">disagreed and urged the remaining militants to “battle on,”</a> saying, “I’ll tell you one thing, we’re dang sure going to have to fight his battle over and over if we just give up right today.” The events began on January 2nd, when the Bundys and a group of other militant extremists took over the refuge in protest over the sentencing of local ranchers for arson on public lands, though their demands focused on the larger issue of libertarian objections to the vast scale of federal ownership of land in the rural West—the same issue that animated the elder Cliven Bundy’s standoff in 2014. As of this writing, the standoff continues, with possibly only four or five militants left inside the compound. (For more on the Oregon standoff, see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/01/captain-moroni-and-yall-qaeda-why-armed.html" target="_blank">a recent article from this blog</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon Ritzheimer, a true-blue patriotic American, shown here in happier times</td></tr>
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<b><u>San Diegan Running for California Assembly on Platform of Independence from U.S.</u></b> Among the candidates for elections to <b>California</b>’s legislature this year is <b>Louis J. Marinelli</b>, of San Diego, who <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-0122-abcarian-california-independence-20160122-column.html" target="_blank">told media this week</a> that his ultimate aim is the state’s secession from the <b>United States</b>. Though he has little chance against the Democratic incumbent, he hopes in the long term to get Californian independence on a referendum ballot. “There are two kinds of people in California,” he said to a <i>Los Angeles Times</i> reporter: “people who identify themselves as Californians and Americans who are occupying California.” Marinelli, a 29-year-old E.S.L. teacher with a <b>Russian</b> wife, was born in Buffalo, <b>New York</b>. Formerly, he was a vocal activist against same-sex marriage and organized a campaign called “Summer for Marriage 2010” but in 2011 <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/13/anti-gay-marriage-crusader-louis-marinelli-on-his-conversion.html" target="_blank">had a dramatic change of heart</a> to become an opponent of the anti-same-sex-marriage movement, though he still said he supports “traditional marriage.”*<br />
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<b><u>2 More California Counties Drop out of State of Jefferson Movement.</u></b> In northern <b>California</b>, the executive officer of <b>Nevada County</b> <a href="http://www.theunion.com/news/20169215-113/nevada-county-board-of-supervisors-clarifies-state-of#" target="_blank">clarified for the public</a> on January 15th that his county was not part of the movement to secede and form a 51st state called the <b>State of Jefferson</b>. <b>Rick Haffey</b>, the executive officer, said his office had been flooded with inquiries after media quoted Jefferson activists at a rally a few days earlier as saying they were submitting secession declarations on behalf of 21 northern counties, including Nevada County. Haffey said, “The County of Nevada has not taken any action on this issue and has no plans to take action. It is not something the Board of Supervisors is considering.” This follows <a href="http://www.plumasnews.com/story/2016/01/20/news/supervisors-rescind-jefferson-action/734.html" target="_blank">a unanimous vote</a> by <b>Plumas County</b>’s board of supervisors three days earlier to rescind its previous decision to put secession from California on the ballot in November 2016. Perhaps this is why <b>Mark Baird</b>, head of the <b>Jefferson Declaration Committee</b>, may be turning his freedom-loving attention to other noble causes. At a public meeting on wolf-management policy in Yreka, in <b>Siskiyou County</b>, on January 21st, he <a href="http://www.redding.com/news/local/Siskiyou-County-residents-express-worry-over-wolves-366161771.html" target="_blank">said that he believes that it is no accident</a> that the canine predators, for whom environmentalists express so much concern, are killing ranchers’ livestock and that in fact wolves are being “trucked into” northern California. He has no evidence, but he is looking for it. Neither <b>Nancy Pelosi</b> nor the <b>Knights Templar</b> were mentioned as suspects, but it’s too early to rule anything out.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjqvTdk2eA92KuWL4g24wI2zFkQiZo3J6Gx4738wuzTnSaFywcK1qXGi7nGKl49FNdwZ1PzcP4AwogYARkdhAcPZ0HQMR_mgKzq7P7Q4MWkfinlNpRhf5NbnMDvqy6M-1w4JSbi65XvR5/s1600/*CSA%2BArmy%2Bbattle%2Bflag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjqvTdk2eA92KuWL4g24wI2zFkQiZo3J6Gx4738wuzTnSaFywcK1qXGi7nGKl49FNdwZ1PzcP4AwogYARkdhAcPZ0HQMR_mgKzq7P7Q4MWkfinlNpRhf5NbnMDvqy6M-1w4JSbi65XvR5/s200/*CSA%2BArmy%2Bbattle%2Bflag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia Legislator Likens “Confederate Cleansing” to ISIS, Moves to Protect Symbols.</u> A member of <b>Georgia</b>’s legislature <a href="http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2016-01-28/georgia-legislator-introduces-pro-confederate-bills-combat-cultural" target="_blank">introduced legislation</a> on January 28th to reverse the trend of what he called “<b>Confederate</b> cleansing”—the erasure of the state and region’s Confederate history, as evidenced by a broad movement to remove Confederate flags and other symbols from public spaces. His proposals include making Confederate Memorial Day and <b>Robert E. Lee</b>’s Birthday into state holidays, creating special protections for the pro-Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain, and designating April “Confederate Heritage Month” (appropriate, I suppose, since it includes April Fool’s Day). The lawmaker, Rep. <b>Tommy Benton</b>, of the <b>Republican Party</b>, who is a retired history teacher, explained the proposals by saying, “I’m tired of the anti-Confederate rhetoric toward Stone Mountain and any other Confederate monument that’s out there. We’re entitled to our heritage just like other people are entitled to theirs, and there seems to be an attempt to do Confederate cleansing. I refer to that as more cultural terrorism than anything. They’re attacking us for no reason at all. We’ve not done anything to provoke them or anything else.” (Yes, he really said that—a <i>history</i> teacher.) “They’re very similar to what’s going on in the Middle East with <b>ISIS</b> that’s destroying all those mosques and temples and everything because they don’t agree with that history over there, so they’re just destroying it and doing away with it.” He also made statements minimizing the racism and dangerousness of the <b>Ku Klux Klan</b>, which he says was a positive vigilante group which “made a lot of people straighten up.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJv5bOfwjJm_Fc0IhVEKcSOxCkubswNVvMf6OWWouhvct1IrGHh-QmTunBSICPiq2EbB0LvpYY8FaGXicERi2D92t5kDRwBoDuECykD12gaNxiHDhEqmOmneBOHQOfC5FXaEksvzdpPN30/s1600/Lynching.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJv5bOfwjJm_Fc0IhVEKcSOxCkubswNVvMf6OWWouhvct1IrGHh-QmTunBSICPiq2EbB0LvpYY8FaGXicERi2D92t5kDRwBoDuECykD12gaNxiHDhEqmOmneBOHQOfC5FXaEksvzdpPN30/s640/Lynching.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rep. Tommy Benton’s idea of “being straightened up”</td></tr>
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<b><u>LATIN AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Second Party Joins PIP in Calling for Puerto Rican Independence.</u></b> A second party has joined the <b>Puerto Rico Independence Party</b> (<b>PIP</b>) in demanding that the United States government hold a referendum on Puerto Rico’s political status. The smaller party, the <b>Hostosiano National Independence Movement</b> (<b>M.I.N.H.</b>), <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2016/01/18/pro-independence-party-joins-call-for-vote-on-puerto-rico-status/" target="_blank">made the announcement</a> on January 18th. “The PIP proposal should be backed by all independence movements,” the statement read, in part, “and, even more, by all the Puerto Rican people.”<br />
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<b><u>PRACTICALLY BLOODY ANTARCTICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">British Labour Party Leader under Fire for Seeking “Dialogue” on Falklands.</u> The divisive new leader of the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s incredible shrinking <b>Labour Party</b>, <b>Jeremy Corbyn</b>, <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6867215/Corbyn-calls-for-deal-with-Argentina-over-ridiculous-Falkland-Islands-situation.html" target="_blank">revived controversy</a> by calling for dialogue with <b>Argentina</b>, which was defeated by the U.K. in a short war in 1982 after it invaded and attempted to annex the Falkland Islands, a British territory. “It seems to me ridiculous that in the 21st century we would be getting into some enormous conflict with Argentina about some islands just off it. Yes, of course the islanders have an enormous say in it but let’s bring about some sensible dialogue.” The U.K.’s prime minister, <b>David Cameron</b>, lambasted Corbyn and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/12112771/David-Cameron-tells-new-Argentinian-President-Absolutely-clear-Falkland-Islands-want-to-remain-British.html" target="_blank">told Argentina’s new president</a>, <b>Mauricio Macri</b>, in his first meeting with any Argentine president, that the Falklands would remain British so long as that was what Falklanders preferred. Shortly afterwards, the outgoing Argentine ambassador to the U.K., <b>Alicia Castro</b>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/12117755/Jeremy-Corbyn-wants-a-Northern-Ireland-style-power-sharing-deal-for-the-Falklands.html" target="_blank">revealed</a> to media that Corbyn had told her that he would like to see a “power-sharing” agreement in the Falklands, along the lines of that in <b>Northern Ireland</b>. The Falklands have no indigenous people, and Argentina has never had a permanent settlement there; its claim stems from an 1820 flag-planting by a naval mercenary from <b>Connecticut</b> in the name of the <b>Spanish</b> crown. In a 2013 referendum, Falklanders voted 1,513 to 3 in favor of remaining a fully British territory, without any sharing of sovereignty with Argentina. It is not clear, then, what Corbyn thinks there is to talk about, or why he is interested in becoming prime minister of a democracy (the U.K.) if he doesn’t think people have the right to choose who governs them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">H.R.H. </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Anne</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">, the Princess Royal, during a visit</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">to the Falklands amidst the Jeremy Corbyn kerfuffle</span></td></tr>
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<b><u>SPORT</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Saami Athletes to Defy Warnings against Visiting Abkhazia for Alternative World Cup.</u></b> The governments of <b>Norway</b> and <b>Georgia</b> are warning footballers against attending an unofficial tournament for aspirant nations this year in the Russian puppet state of <b>Abkhazia</b>. Norway’s department of state has long warned citizens against visiting Abkhazia, which most of the world other than <b>Russia</b> and a handful of countries regards as part of Georgia. And the Georgian government <a href="http://www.nrk.no/finnmark/georgia-truer-med-a-straffeforfolge-samiske-fotballspillere-1.12756503" target="_blank">has given notice</a> that entering Abkhazia—a Russian client state which has been <i>de facto</i> self-governing since 1994—from anywhere but Georgian territory is a violation of its law. “At the moment they [athletes] cross the border into Abkhazia in the north [the Russian side], we will raise criminal cases,” the Georgian embassy in Norway announced. Members of the <b>Saami</b> (or <b>Lappish</b>) nation—an indigenous people whose homeland stretches across parts of Norway, <b>Sweden</b>, <b>Finland</b>, and Russia—have a team, called <b>F.A. Sápmi</b>, which is one of 12 slated to play in the tournament, which is being organized by the <b>Confederation of Independent Football Associations</b> (<b>ConIFA</b>). The vice-president of ConIFA (in wording implying that he himself is Abkhazian), <a href="http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/conifas-visepresident_-_-det-er-bare-a-reise-til-abkhasia-til-tross-for-alle-advarsler-1.12763000" target="_blank">tried to reassure</a> the Saami footballers, saying, “We have nothing to do with the Georgian Embassy, because Abkhazia is independent. There has been war between Abkhazia and Georgia in 1992-1993. Therefore we still have a political problem with our neighboring country.” ConIFA’s president, <b>Per-Anders Blind</b>, is an ethnic Saami. The F.A. Sápmi coach, <b>Håkon Kuorak</b>, <a href="http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/deltar-i-conifa-world-cup-til-tross-for-advarsel-1.12746364" target="_blank">said that his team would be traveling to Abkhazia no matter what</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1_MW29VoRW-5VSANN7qQBGACgNCyxRE6zDUl5X2iN9hTVikHiDyrkXoOkM6PMntWMVuttM1ATps1D8kOECFiOAwzQVqwl5lQuTU3JTMZtVkhfMkDylolfN4EkE237lL4KDtaFAH8xLzt/s1600/Sapmi+flag+football+ConIFA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1_MW29VoRW-5VSANN7qQBGACgNCyxRE6zDUl5X2iN9hTVikHiDyrkXoOkM6PMntWMVuttM1ATps1D8kOECFiOAwzQVqwl5lQuTU3JTMZtVkhfMkDylolfN4EkE237lL4KDtaFAH8xLzt/s640/Sapmi+flag+football+ConIFA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">* </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks to Louis Marinelli himself for writing to me and clarifying his position on this point—and apologies to him for an earlier version of this article which misrepresented him.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about these and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-90608578334519364692016-01-15T12:55:00.000-06:002016-01-15T13:09:17.629-06:00Separatist Updates for January 1-15, 2016: New Catalan President, Oregon Militia Standoff, Civil War in Turkey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswmlUaOtDCB2nGqSlU_8gBdziUqbeES4yBVh0z057jbsfH_x2T6VkuC9XzZcC8EqpxF0geoHR2RDRlWDjvnrlgLgLq2PFfcjJKGfZ5DBLpU0vPw1qjGQKxdNFbj_KgZQ6gPX1BC_tX9Rc/s1600/Catalonia+Puigdemont.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswmlUaOtDCB2nGqSlU_8gBdziUqbeES4yBVh0z057jbsfH_x2T6VkuC9XzZcC8EqpxF0geoHR2RDRlWDjvnrlgLgLq2PFfcjJKGfZ5DBLpU0vPw1qjGQKxdNFbj_KgZQ6gPX1BC_tX9Rc/s640/Catalonia+Puigdemont.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>TOP STORY</u></b><br />
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<b><u><br /></u></b><u style="font-weight: bold;">After Coalition Deal, New Catalan President Vows Independence within 18 Months.</u> President <b>Artur Mas</b> of <b>Catalonia</b> lost his chance to form a fragile coalition government for his autonomous region on January 3rd when the small, left-wing <b>Popular Unity Candidacy</b> (<i><b>Candidatura d’Unitat Popular</b>,</i> or <b>C.U.P.</b>) party <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/catalonia-heads-to-new-election-in-march-spain-independence/" target="_blank">refused to back him</a>. On January 9th, Mas <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/catalan-president-artur-mas-to-step-aside-1452361731" target="_blank">announced</a> he was stepping aside as party leader and as president. Late the following night, just before a midnight deadline, Mas’s party and the C.U.P. <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/catalonia-elects-new-separatist-president-1452461944" target="_blank">reached a deal</a> and elected, in a 70-63 vote, <b>Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó</b> as the new president of Catalonia. Puigdemont, age 53, was mayor of the town of Girona and a former journalist. In his acceptance speech, he echoed a famous quote from a Catalan martyr of the Spanish Civil War, saying, “The invaders will be expelled from Catalonia.” He promised independence from <b>Spain</b> within 18 months. (Catalonia is listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<b><u>EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Serbian Premier, Bosnian Serb President Defy Bosnian Court on “Republic Day.”</u></b> The unspoken agreement by which leaders in the <b>Republic of Serbia</b> keep at political arm’s length their more virulently nationalist ethnic kindred in the separatist <b>Republika Srpska</b> in neighboring <b>Bosnia & Herzegovina</b> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/bosnian-serbs-defy-top-court-ruling-celebrating-statehood-160236231.html" target="_blank">deteriorated significantly</a> on January 9th as Serbia’s prime minister, <b>Aleksandar Vučić</b>, attended celebrations in the Srpska capital, Banja Luka, for “Republic Day,” marking the republic’s declaration of independence in 1992 from Bosnia amidst the chaos of the Wars of Yugoslav Succession. Moderates in Serbia railed against this symbolic return to revanchist nationalism. In addition, Republika Srpska’s president, <b>Milorad Dodik</b>, attended in defiance of a Bosnian federal court ruling that the celebration day was discriminatory against Muslim <b>Bosniak</b> and Catholic <b>Croat</b> fellow citizens because it falls on a holy day in the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox faith, which most Serbs follow. Dodik has frequently spoken in favor of his republic’s secession from Bosnia and reunification with Serbia and has even suggested a referendum be held by April. (Republika Srpska is listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><b>Serbian Patriarch Irinej</b> joined Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaders<br />
Aleksandar Vučić and Milorad Dudik in Banja Luka on Republic Day.</td></tr>
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<u><b>Bosnians Divided over Arrests of Bosniaks Accused of Anti-Serb War Crimes.</b></u> In <b>Bosnia and Herzegovina</b>, federal police on January 4th <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/mixed-reaction-to-bosniaks-arrest-for-srebrenica-crimes-01-05-2016" target="_blank">arrested</a> three <b>Bosniaks</b> (Muslim Slavs) accused of war crimes against <b>Serbs</b> during the Bosnian War. The alleged attack occurred in 1992 in Zalazje, not far from Srebrenica, site of the infamous massacre of Bosniaks by Serbs that same year. The Serb mayor of Srebrenica, <b>Miloš Milovanović</b>, praised the arrests but pointed out that far too few Bosniaks have been arrested for war crimes and none have been punished. But pro-Bosniak organizations like the <b>Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa Enclaves</b> criticized the arrests, saying that “these arrests will be used by politicians to minimise and justify the genocide committed in Srebrenica.”<br />
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<b><u>Kosovars Riot over Government Concessions to Serbia, Montenegro.</u></b> Rioting <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-police-tear-gas-disperse-opposition-protesters-36186426" target="_blank">broke out</a> in Pristina, the capital of the partially-recognized <b>Republic of Kosovo</b>, on January 9th. A fire was started in a government building, and police used tear gas and water cannons against protestors hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails. Among 8,000 or so protestors, dozens (police said two), as well as two journalists and 10 police, were injured. The demonstrators were demanding that the Kosovar government step down on the argument that its recent deals with <b>Serbia</b> and <b>Montenegro</b> were unconstitutional. (Serbia still regards Kosovo as a rebel province.) One ethnic-Serb legislator in Kosovo <a href="http://www.tol.org/client/article/25434-kosovo-serbia-protest-eu-vetevendosje.html" target="_blank">said, after the rioting, that police had done nothing</a> while protestors urinated in an Orthodox church. Among the parties organizing the demonstration was <b>Vetevendosjë</b>, a nationalist party which wants to merge Kosovo into a “<b>Greater Albania</b>.” That party <a href="http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/kosovo-opposition-to-protest-deal-for-more-ethnic-serb-autonomy_432460.html" target="_blank">particularly objected</a> to agreements which grant more local autonomy to majority-Serb municipalities in <b>North Kosovo</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rioting in Pristina this month</td></tr>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Alsatians Sidelined, Normans Reunified as Redrawn French Regions Take Effect.</u> As of January 1st, <b>France</b>’s 22 <i>régions</i> (administrative regions) <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/a6796026.html" target="_blank">have been reduced</a> to 13 in a wholesale streamlining that reveals some of the country’s anxieties over regional identities. Though the French government is more centralized than those of other <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) states, and though the smaller <i>départements</i> (all 101 of them, including overseas ones) are a much more powerful level of local government, the <i>régions</i> still have symbolic significance, not least because some of the local nationalism that challenge French nationalism, such as those in <b>Brittany</b>, <b>Corsica</b>, <b>Alsace</b>, <b>Occitania</b>, <b>Savoy</b>, <b>Normandy</b>, and <b>French Catalonia</b>, have a strong stake in how <i>régions</i> are demarcated. Some of the new changes please regionalists, such as the merger of <b>Upper Normandy</b> and <b>Lower Normandy</b> into <b>Normandy</b>. Their very bifurcation was a vestige of the time when France worried that the Nordic-derived <b>Norman French</b> were susceptible to <b>Nazi Germany</b>’s “<b>Aryan</b>” ideology. (The fears were mostly unfounded.) Alsace and its German-speaking population, which are also a source of strong regional feeling, are now merged with <b>Champagne–Ardennes</b>. Meanwhile, the far less regional-minded residents of <b>Picardy</b> and <b>Franch-Comté</b> found their entities absorbed into mergers with <b>Nord–Pas-de-Calais</b> and <b>Burgundy</b>, respectively. Two <i>régions</i> with long histories of resistance to French rule were able to keep their borders: <b>Brittany</b>, with its often nationalistic Celtic population, and the large Mediterranean island of <b>Corsica</b>. Here, the central government seems to gamble that dividing or subsuming those entities would stoke, rather than tamp down, regionalist sentiment. In Corsica, at least, it seems to have made no difference: separatists took power there in a recent election in which most of the rest of the south of France tilted heavily toward the neo-fascist <b>National Front</b> party.<br />
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<b><u>ISIS Takes Credit for Dagestan Fortress Attack on Russian Agents.</u></b> The <b>Islamic State</b> terrorist group (also known as <b>ISIS</b>, for <b>Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham</b>) <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/01/01/islamic-state-claims-credit-shooting-russian-tourist-attraction/" target="_blank">claimed responsibility</a> early this month for a December 29th, 2015, attack in Derbent, in southwestern <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Republic of Dagestan</b>. The attack, on the ancient Naryn-Kala fortress that is a busy tourist attraction and a <b>UNESCO</b> World Heritage Site, killed an officer in Russia’s <b>Federal Security Service</b> (<b>F.S.B.</b>) (successor to the feared <b>K.G.B.</b>) and wounded eleven other people. Sources in Russia identify the three attackers as headed by one <b>Abutdin Khanmagomedov</b> of the <b>Yuzhnaya gang</b>, which has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. In recent months, the Islamic State has been recruiting heavily in the predominantly-Muslim North Caucasus region, which includes <b>Chechnya</b> and the mostly lawless Dagestan republic, edging out another jihadist “caliphate” group, the <b>Caucasus Emirate</b>. ISIS <a href="http://thevillagessuntimes.com/2016/01/02/isis-claim-shooting-in-dagestan-citadel/" target="_blank">has even claimed</a> that it has “annexed” Dagestan.<br />
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<b><u>BITS OF ASIA THAT LIKE TO PRETEND THEY’RE IN EUROPE</u></b><br />
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<b><u><br /></u></b><u style="font-weight: bold;">Turkey’s War with Kurds Kills Hundreds; Erdo</u><b>ğ</b><u style="font-weight: bold;">an Praises Hitler, Vows Devastation.</u> The situation in <b>Turkey</b>’s vast <b>Kurdish</b> region tipped more and more into open wide-scale civil war this month, with hundreds killed in fighting between government and <b>Kurdish</b> forces. On January 1st, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-kurds-idUSKBN0UF1RW20160102" target="_blank">army reported</a> that two police, one soldier, and 12 militants from the armed <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b> (<b>P.K.K.</b>) had died in fighting in Cizre district over the previous 48 hours. That incident began when police dismantling a P.K.K. roadblock were attacked by rockets. On January 2nd, Turkey’s military <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/327742-turkey-kurds-killed-pkk/" target="_blank">announced</a> that 179 P.K.K. militants in Cizre, 27 in the Silopi district, and 55 <b>Diyarbakir</b> province’s Sur district—nearly 300 in all—had been killed in recent fighting, and that a school supposedly being used as a rebel training center was destroyed. At least <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/civilians-security-forces-killed-in-turkish-army-action-against-kurdish-rebels-20160104-glz94t.html" target="_blank">one civilian was killed</a> and another wounded in a Turkish mortar attack on a home in Diyarkbakir on January 3rd, while on the same day a civilian was shot outside his home, and a soldier was killed by a P.K.K. bomb. On January 10th, according to Turkish sources, 12 P.K.K. rebels <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/100120162" target="_blank">were killed in a raid</a> in <b>Van</b> province, but the <b>Firat News Agency</b> (<b>A.N.F.</b>), which is pro-Kurdish, said it was a raid on a civilian home and that the 12 dead were massacred civilians. One police officer was killed in the operation. Authorities said a total of 32 P.K.K. fighters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-kurds-idUSKCN0UO0A720160110" target="_blank">were killed</a> over that weekend. A January 13th P.K.K. attack on a police station near Diyarbakir with bombs and long-range missiles <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkeys-kurdish-rebels-attack-police-complex-leaving-at-least-six-dead-1452768325" target="_blank">killed six</a>. On January 5th, the military reported that 14 militants <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/01/05/Turkish-army-kills-14-Kurdish-militants-one-security-officer-dead" target="_blank">had been killed the day before</a> in and around Sur, Cizre, and Silopi. The statement added that 296 rebels had been killed since December 14th, when major operations began. Over 100,000 people have been displaced. Turkey’s president, <b>Recep Tayyip Erdoğan</b>, who praised <b>Nazi Germany</b> in a speech this month, describes the ongoing operation in scorched-earth terms: “You will be annihilated in those houses, those buildings, those ditches which you have dug,” he said. “Our security forces will continue this fight until it has been completely cleansed and a peaceful atmosphere established.” Russia has criticized Turkish military actions in Kurdistan, prompting <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/02012016" target="_blank">this reply</a> from the Turkish foreign ministry: “For a country whose record on democracy, the rule of law, and human rights is very well known by everyone, which has caused indignation with its acts in neighboring countries such as Ukraine and Georgia and by violating international law, which has provided political and military support to crimes against humanity by the bloody-handed dictator in Syria, and which actively launched campaigns leading to the death of hundreds of civilians, giving a human rights lecture to others is only an example of dark humour.” (Kurdistan is listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<b><u>Turkey Releases Iraqi <i>Vice</i> Reporter Held on Terrorism Charges.</u></b> On January 5th, <i>Vice</i> magazine reported that a journalist in its employ, 25-year-old <b>Mohammed Rasool</b>, had<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mohammed-rasool-released-turkey-prison_568bf5a4e4b014efe0dbc5a7?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics&section=politics" target="_blank"> been released from prison</a> in <b>Turkey</b> after 131 days. Rasool, who has also worked for the <b>Associated Press</b> and <b>Al Jazeera</b>, had been arrested in Diyarbakir, the notional capital of <b>Turkish Kurdistan</b>, and charged with “aiding a terrorist organization,” which Rasool, a citizen of <b>Iraq</b>, denies. He is awaiting trial and may not leave the country.<br />
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<b><u>Abkhazia Joins Russian Sanctions against Turkey.</u></b> The <b>Republic of Abkhazia</b> <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/2634/De-facto-Abkhazia-Joins-Russia%E2%80%99s-Sanctions-Against-Turkey" target="_blank">announced</a> this month that it would be joining <b>Russia</b> in its program of economic and political sanctions against <b>Turkey</b>. Abkhazia, which seceded from <b>Georgia</b> after the end of Communism, is recognized as independent only by Russia, its sponsor, and a handful of other countries. Most of the world regards it as part of Georgia’s territory.<br />
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<b><u>Ethnic Armenians, Angry over Turkish Base, Threaten Javakhk Secession from Georgia.</u></b> An association of diaspora <b>Armenians</b> from <b>Georgia</b> <a href="http://asbarez.com/144230/turkish-military-deployment-will-result-in-secession-of-javakhk/" target="_blank">issued a formal statement</a> this month, with strong pro-Kremlin overtones, calling on the Georgian government to block a plans by <b>Turkey</b> to establish a military base in Georgian territory. The statement, from the <b>Javakhk Diaspora of Russia</b>, added that if the base goes ahead, ethnic Armenians in Georgia should gather signatures for a petition to allow Javakhk—an ethnic-Armenian district in Georgia abutting Turkey and <b>Armenia</b>—to secede from Georgia. Armenia in recent years has become a close ally of <b>Russia</b>, while Georgia and Turkey remain aligned with the West.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some Armenians’ vision of a “Greater Armenia”</td></tr>
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<b><u>South Ossetia Prosecutor-General Killed by Drunk Driver.</u></b> The prosecutor-general of the <b>Republic of South Ossetia</b> <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/south-osseta-prosecutor-killed-by-car/27479064.html" target="_blank">was killed in the street</a> in Tskhinvali, the capital, police said on January 9th. <b>Merab Chigoyev</b> died instantly when he was struck down by a drunk driver. It is being ruled an accident.<br />
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<b><u>MIDDLE EAST</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Saudi Execution of Shiite Cleric Raises Sectarian Tensions throughout Middle East.</u> Tensions between <b>Shi’a</b> and <b>Sunni Muslims</b> across the Middle East flared after the government in <b>Saudi Arabia</b> <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/02/444147/Saudi-Arabia-terrorism-execution-justice/" target="_blank">executed a revered Shiite cleric</a>, <b>Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr</b>, on January 2nd. Nimr was a focus for Saudi Arabia’s restive Shiite minority, who are a majority in his native <b>Eastern Province</b>, the country’s largest. He was arrested in 2012 after being shot in a Shiite uprising against the <b>House of Saud</b>’s brutally repressive regime, which adheres to, and imposes on all, an archaic, extremist form of Sunni Islam. After years of torture, hunger strike, and a death sentence, Nimr was executed along with 46 others for crimes such as “disobedience” and inciting foreign meddling (presumably by <b>Iran</b>). International response was swift, with Iran cutting off diplomatic relations and officially inciting a mob to storm the Saudi embassy in Teheran (a crude tool of Iranian foreign policy familiar to those who remember the hostage crisis of 1979-81). Already, Iran and Saudi Arabia are in fierce competition as local superpowers in a Middle East being remade in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions, with <b>Yemen</b>, <b>Syria</b>, and <b>Iraq</b> being torn by Shi’a-vs.-Sunni sectarian fighting and other areas, such as <b>Bahrain</b>, <b>Lebanon</b>, eastern and southwestern Saudi Arabia, <b>Afghanistan</b>’s <b>Hazarajat</b> region, and Iran’s <b>Balochistan</b> region being perpetually in danger of boiling over. There is occasional talk of secession of Saudi Arabia’s majority-Shi’a Eastern Province, but since it accounts for the country’s entire Persian Gulf coast, the Sauds will do anything to prevent that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yemenis at the Saudi embassy in Sanaa protest the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Iraq Accuses Peshmerga of Using Trenches to Demarcate a Larger Kurdistan.</u></b> As a multi-sided war continues to rage in <b>Iraq</b> and <b>Syria</b> among <b>Kurds</b>, government forces, the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>), and foreign powers, the chairman of the defense committee in <b>Iraq</b>’s parliament <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/kurdish-trenches-draw-iraqi-ire/3134065.html" target="_blank">claimed</a> that trenches that the Kurdish <b>Peshmerga</b> are digging in northern Iraq are not just defenses against the <b>Islamic State</b> but are also being used as a flag-planting exercise to consolidate Kurdish sovereignty over coveted areas outside the relatively small <b>Kurdistan Autonomous Region</b>. “The Kurdistan region uses its defense against <b>I.S.</b> as a justification to dig the trenches,” said the chairman, <b>Saad Yosif al-Muttalibi</b>. “We don’t think this is to defend against I.S. We think this is to separate Kurdistan from Iraq and it’s an attempt by <b>Massoud Barzani</b> [the president of the <b>Kurdistan Regional Government</b>] to declare Kurdish independence.” Disputes over the trenches have at times flared up between Peshmerga and government-aligned <b>Arab Shiite</b> fighters near the town of Tuz Khurmatu. (Kurdistan is listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<b><u>AFRICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Ethiopia Scraps Capital Expansion Plans That Sparked December Oromo Uprising.</u> Activists from the marginalized <b>Oromo</b> ethnic group, <b>Ethiopia</b>’s largest, <a href="http://news.trust.org//item/20160113185033-5p6r4" target="_blank">won a victory</a> on January 13th when the central government announced it was scrapping plans for an expansion of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromo farming areas. In December, the expansion plans led to an eruption of protests and a government crackdown. The government claims between 75 and 80 Oromos were killed in the unrest, while human-rights advocates <a href="http://gadaa.com/oduu/30999/2016/01/03/diaspora-continues-to-bring-human-rights-violations-against-oromo-protesters-to-worlds-attention/" target="_blank">say it was closer to 122</a>, with “more than 4,500” put into “concentration camps” and 800 missing and unaccounted for. The <b>United States</b> and other Western governments <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article57558" target="_blank">are pressing</a> for Ethiopia to release Oromos arrested in the aftermath, including journalists.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the oppressed Oromo people seceded from Ethiopia, there wouldn’t be much left.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Islamic State Suicide Attack in Western Libya Kills 60.</u></b> At least 60 police were killed and as many as 200 others injured on January 7th when a suicide bomber driving a truck filled with explosives <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-01-08/an-islamic-state-affiliate-claims-credit-for-libya-attack" target="_blank">hit a police facility</a> in Zliten, in western <b>Libya</b>. An affiliate of the <b>Islamic State</b> calling itself <b>I.S. Vilayat Barqa</b>, claimed responsibility. <i>Barqa</i> is the Arabic name for <b>Cyrenaica</b>, Libya’s eastern region, where I.S. forces are concentrated.<br />
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<b><u>Tuareg–Toubou Violence Erupts in Southern Libya.</u></b> Violence <a href="https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/01/10/fresh-fighting-in-obari-condemned-by-presidency-council/" target="_blank">erupted</a> in Obari, in southern <b>Libya</b>, on January 10th between members of the <b>Tuareg</b> and <b>Toubou</b> ethnic groups. Four were killed and five wounded in the fighting, said to have begun with a Toubou raid on the city, which is majority Tuareg. 300 people have been killed in violence between the two ethnic groups since September 2014.<br />
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<b><u>Thousands of Berbers Protest New Algerian Constitution’s Language Policy.</u></b> In <b>Algeria</b>, thousands of members of the <b>Berber</b> (a.k.a. <b>Amazigh</b>) minority <a href="http://ww4report.com/node/14575" target="_blank">marched in the streets of Tizi Ouzou</a>, the notional capital of their <b>Kabylia</b> region, on January 12th (the Berber new year) to protest changes to the constitution that they feel do not go far enough in making the Berber language, Tamazight, official. It has been upgraded from a “national language” to an “official language,” but a spokesman for the <b>Kabylia Self-Determination Movement</b> (<b>M.A.K.</b>) explained, “With this new constitution, they are planning to say that Tamazight, the language of North Africans, is an official language but Arabic is even more official.” More concretely, Berbers object to the constitution’s stipulation that only Arabic-speaking Muslims are eligible for public office.<br />
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<b><u>Somaliland Forces Attack Khatumo State Military Base</u></b>. Media in the self-declared but unrecognized <b>Republic of Somaliland</b> <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/somaliland-leader-order-attack-khatumo-state-army-base-near-sahdheer/" target="_blank">reported</a> on January 14th that Somaliland troops had attacked a military base in the nebulous, on-again-off-again <b>Khatumo State</b>, a rebel entity whose territory straddles the disputed border between Somaliland and the <i>de facto</i> self-governing <b>Puntland State of Somalia</b>. Somaliland’s military is trying to subdue the area so that voting can be held there for upcoming national (Somaliland) elections. The skirmish occurred near the town of Sahdheer, according to Khatumo’s deputy interior minister, <b>Abshir Abdulaziz</b>.<br />
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<b><u>MASSOB Leader Announces, Then Scraps, Plans for Biafra Elections.</u></b> In <b>Nigeria</b>, Chief <b>Ralph Uwazuruike</b>, a leader in the <b>Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>), <a href="https://www.naij.com/688116-biafra-plans-set-government.html" target="_blank">announced</a> in early January that an election will be held February 22nd—after a three-day period of fasting and prayer—to elect a government for the proposed <b>Republic of Biafra</b>. The polls were to be administered by the newly appointed chairman of the <b>Biafra Independence National Election Commission</b> (<b>B-INEC</b>), the Rev. Father <b>Samuel Aniebonam</b>, a Catholic priest. Uwazuruike said that all of the electoral officers would be “men and women of God” like Father Aniebonam. “Our election,” he said, “will not be like Nigeria’s election, it will be a transparent one. In Biafra, there won’t be electoral fraud. The tenure of the elected Regional Governor or Minister would be four years and nine months. There shall be no second tenure.” But only members of MASSOB or of its new parent organization, the <b>Biafra Independence Movement</b> (<b>B.I.M.</b>), <a href="http://www.news24.com.ng/Politics/News/biafra-elections-hold-february-22-20160106" target="_blank">will be allowed to vote</a> in the elections. Then, on January 11th, Uwazuruike <a href="http://dailypost.ng/2016/01/12/biafra-uwazuruike-announces-indefinite-postponement-of-fasting-prayer-election/" target="_blank">announced that the election would be postponed indefinitely</a>, to allow for more consultation. (Biafra is listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nnamdi and Uchechi Kanu, in happier times</td></tr>
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<b><u>Ailing and a New Father, Political Prisoner Kanu’s Fate Is Focus of Political Pressure.</u></b> The underground <b>Biafra Radio</b> news outlet reported on January 13th that an as-yet-anonymous pro-<b>Biafra</b> activist was bringing suit against <b>Nigeria</b>’s central government in <b>New York</b> the following day to press for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the imprisoned leader of the <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>) organization. Meanwhile, Kanu’s wife, <b>Uchechi Kanu</b>, <a href="http://www.360nobs.com/2016/01/wife-of-radio-biafra-director-nnamdi-kanu-gives-birth-to-baby-boy/" target="_blank">gave birth</a> on January 5th to a healthy baby boy, named <b>Mazi Nnamdi Kanu</b>. Mrs. Kanu calls her husband “a prisoner of conscience.” On January 6th, a group called <b>Campaign for Democracy South East Zone</b> <a href="http://www.360nobs.com/2016/01/biafra-group-gives-buhari-7-day-ultimatum-to-release-kanu-metuh-and-dasuki/" target="_blank">gave the Nigerian government seven days</a> to release Kanu, along with two other political prisoners: the former president <b>Goodluck Jonathan</b>’s national-security advisor, Col. <b>Sambo Dasuki</b>, and Chief <b>Olisah Metuh</b>. Meanwhile, Kanu’s brother, <b>Prince Kanu</b>, <a href="https://www.naij.com/690304-biafra-kanu-sick-denied-access-medical-care-brother.html" target="_blank">said</a> that the new father was sick and was being denied medical care.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the world’s newest Igbo freedom-fighter</td></tr>
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<b><u>Igbo Leader Claims Niger Delta Minorities Back Biafra Independence</u></b>. Amid growing friction in <b>Nigeria</b> between the large <b>Igbo</b> ethnic group, many of whom want an independent <b>Republic of Biafra</b>, and smaller peoples such as the <b>Ogoni</b> of the <b>Niger Delta</b> region, one Igbo leader says Niger Delta people are not Biafra’s enemies. Chief <b>Solomon Chukwu</b>, of the <b>Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>), told the <i>Vanguard</i> newspaper in <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/biafra-niger-delta-didnt-betray-ndigbo-massob-leader/" target="_blank">an interview published January 4th</a>, “During the war [he means the Biafra War of 1967-70], people said the Niger Delta denied Biafra. It is not true. ... People like <b>Ojukwu</b>’s second in command, Gen. <b>Philip Effiong</b>, fought for Biafra till the end. My father and many strong men of Niger Delta also fought for Biafra. ... Today, they still support Biafra. ... Everybody was saying Biafra is for Ndigbo and South East, but today the story has changed, the entire people of Niger Delta have realised the need to actualize Biafra. ... Today, people from all over the former Eastern region and Niger Delta now attend MASSOB meetings. Recently, we were in Warri, <b>Delta State</b>, where the people received us with a rousing welcome. They were jubilating that this time, there will be no dichotomy again. ... The former Eastern region and Niger Delta are working in unison to actualize an independent Biafra.”<br />
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<u><b>Ogoni Give Nigeria 30-Day Deadline on Environmental Cleanup.</b></u> A pro-autonomy group in southern <b>Nigeria</b>, the <b>Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People</b> (<b>MOSOP</b>), on January 4th <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/mosop-ogoni-group-gives-fg-30-day-ultimatum-id4521819.html" target="_blank">gave the Nigerian federal government a 30-day deadline</a> to clean up oil-industry-related pollution in their territory as mandated by the <b>United Nations Environment Programme</b> (<b>UNEP</b>). MOSOP’s president, <b>Legborsi Pyagbara</b>, said if the deadline passed without action, then “we will take up series of non-violent measures to press down our message.” Meanwhile, a federal court in Lagos on January 14th <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/former-niger-delta-militant-tompolo-summoned-lagos-court-181202660.html" target="_blank">summoned a former rebel leader</a> from the <b>Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</b> (<b>MEND</b>). The leader, named <b>Government</b> [<i>sic</i>] <b>Ekpemupolo</b>, a.k.a. <b>Tompolo</b>, was active in the 2000s. He is now a wealthy oil tycoon and is wanted on corruption charges. Meanwhile, a lawyer for the MEND activist <b>Charles Okah</b>, brother of MEND’s leader, <b>Henry Okah</b>, <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201601150018.html" target="_blank">says that his client is being held in solitary confinement</a> in Abuja’s Kuje prison because he blew the whistle on abuses within the prison. He is serving a sentence for a deadly 2010 bombing.<br />
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<b><u>Kabila Frees Jailed “Kongo Kingdom” Militants in Reconciliation Move.</u></b> President <b>Joseph Kabila</b> of the <b>Democratic Republic of the Congo</b> (<b>D.R.C.</b>) <a href="http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2016/01/congos-kabila-pardons-separatists-in-national-unity-bid/" target="_blank">marked the new year by commuting the life sentences</a> of nine militants from the group <b>Bundu Dia Kongo</b> (<b>B.D.K.</b>). The nine were arrested in 2009 after a battle with police whose death toll was officially 27 but, according to some, as high as 100. B.D.K., whose name means <b>Kingdom of Kongo</b>, wants to restore the monarchy that predated European colonists in an area that now includes parts of <b>Gabon</b>, <b>Angola</b>, and coastal areas of both the D.R.C. and the neighboring <b>Republic of the Congo</b>. Kabila said the announcement was part of a new project of “national unity” for the chronically war-torn country.<br />
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<u><b>Kenyan Police Recover Weapons Caches from Al-Shabaab, Mombasa Separatists.</b></u> Police in <b>Kenya</b> <a href="http://www.coastweek.com/3901-Kenyan-police-arrest-Al-Shabaab-suspect-recover-weapons.htm" target="_blank">announced</a> on January 5th that a series of arrests and raids on militant safe houses in the coastal region included the recovery of a rifle that was last seen being stripped from the body of a killed navy officer in February 2014 after an attack by the banned <b>Mombasa Republican Council</b> (<b>M.R.C.</b>), which seeks a separate state for the predominantly-Muslim areas of Kenya’s southern coast. The rifle was recovered in the town of Majengo, a suburb of Mombasa. Authorities are always keen to link the M.R.C. with <b>Al-Shabaab</b>, a <b>Somalia</b>-based Islamist terrorist network which also operates in Kenya, though the M.R.C. is far more moderate in its Islam. The same day, an M.R.C. suspect arrested for illegal fundraising along with 41 others <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/01/07/mrc-is-broke-so-we-raise-funds-member_c1270775" target="_blank">told a court</a> in nearby Kwale that the M.R.C. is nearly broke. Even the operational expenses of the group’s chairman, <b>Omar Mwamnuadzi</b>, he said, must be gotten through fundraising.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenyan police display seized weaponry</td></tr>
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<b><u>Uganda’s Ankole Royal House Dismisses New Claimant to Throne.</u></b> A claimant to the throne of <b>Uganda</b>’s disestablished <b>Ankole Kingdom</b> <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201601080671.html" target="_blank">is in a war of words</a> with the institution representing the deposed royal house. <b>William Katatumba</b>, the kingdom’s prime minister, referred to the claimant, <b>Umar Asiimwe</b>, as a “mere spoiler” who is hurting, not helping, the cause of Ankole restoration. “He is joking,” “Prince” Asiimwe responded hotly, “and he will not threaten me in my effort to reclaim my grandfather’s throne that was grabbed by selfish people who have never been in the kingdom lineage. If he thinks Prince Rwebishenge is the king, let him call the Ankole elders, we will perform cultural rituals in order to see the rightful king.” <b>Charles Aryaija Rwebishegye Notomi ya Rugazinda</b> was unofficially coronated as <i>Mugabe</i> (king) of the Ankole in 2011, after the death of his father, Prince <b>John Patrick Barigye</b> (1940-2011), who was King <b>Ntare VI</b>. Asiimwe claims to be the fourth grandson of Ntare VI.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZH2DajlexHXeovxPCOOqWEUlS_JsFAjMXOHRGHxl4mI2F6pTqfNXh8IYVX1GrjNxGvWN6yji882gJT32QdzFI18rI5Gvpsvbr5ovvZnixDWCWssjWfe2hG0jgT7_FMimR1BYmJ2Bok7j/s1600/ankole+umar+asiimwe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZH2DajlexHXeovxPCOOqWEUlS_JsFAjMXOHRGHxl4mI2F6pTqfNXh8IYVX1GrjNxGvWN6yji882gJT32QdzFI18rI5Gvpsvbr5ovvZnixDWCWssjWfe2hG0jgT7_FMimR1BYmJ2Bok7j/s320/ankole+umar+asiimwe.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The royal pretender: Prince Umar Asiimwe</td></tr>
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<b><u>Busongora Monarchy Denounces Foreign Minister’s Son Claiming to be New King.</u></b> In another of <b>Uganda</b>’s kingdoms, <b>Busongora</b>, ministers and members of the royal family <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201601080881.html" target="_blank">denounced</a> the royal pretense of <b>Dan Kashagama Bazira</b>, son of a former Busongora foreign minister, who declared himself king in November. <b>Apollo Bwebale</b>, son of the late king <b>Apollo Bwebale Kabumba V</b>, was crowned king early in 2015, but his long stretches of time out of the kingdom have inspired a movement to remove him. Kashagama also calls himself chairman of the kingdom’s governing council.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1Mvn1vTJMd3jzqQWdqIhOaVgKQnyryzIy3ZdDlenMVamOO_LTyCJ-fS1-d6lH1xe47beNTq58kByD1t5lrhJpez3UUkbFKMEp3JyznIYDNFo5OWDQeeMq25QeQYCq8G3am1imhL9T9gG/s1600/busongora+uganda+Dan+Kashagama+Bazira.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1Mvn1vTJMd3jzqQWdqIhOaVgKQnyryzIy3ZdDlenMVamOO_LTyCJ-fS1-d6lH1xe47beNTq58kByD1t5lrhJpez3UUkbFKMEp3JyznIYDNFo5OWDQeeMq25QeQYCq8G3am1imhL9T9gG/s400/busongora+uganda+Dan+Kashagama+Bazira.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another royal pretender: Dan Kashagama Bazira</td></tr>
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<b><u>ASIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">India Beefs Up Dalai Lama’s Security, Claiming Chinese Assassination Plot.</u> The <b>People’s Republic of China</b> <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/world/indian-police-framing-china-on-dalai-lama-assassination-china/story-HdVE14bL46BdeWqdGuAdtM.html" target="_blank">claimed</a> on January 4th that the government of <b>India</b> was trying to “frame” China by deploying extra security around the exiled <b>Dalai Lama</b> to defend against supposed “well-trained female agents” dispatched by Beijing to kill him. Indian media cited government sources in saying that “there have been several instances in the recent past when alleged Chinese spies with maps and documents containing secret information have been arrested around his residence” in Dharamsala, India. A Chinese government statement on the <b>Tibet Autonomous Region</b>’s official website noted, “Claims that China is sending spies to assassinate Dalai Lama are groundless as he has been snubbed by many countries and has lost his international influence.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkTXXldJ5DfgZ0041zg6EXF3VECMmO4JIJpeXbzCsHa30gXtwQvJ8LIwADna9FUekuRgRA-RHnCfwYrM5A7dn0XX2Q13MEjW4JKeiGau3PkUbSz4__3utziJrvlLn3Z9jzcgOPjrAtkWR/s1600/dalai+lama+leid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkTXXldJ5DfgZ0041zg6EXF3VECMmO4JIJpeXbzCsHa30gXtwQvJ8LIwADna9FUekuRgRA-RHnCfwYrM5A7dn0XX2Q13MEjW4JKeiGau3PkUbSz4__3utziJrvlLn3Z9jzcgOPjrAtkWR/s400/dalai+lama+leid.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Target of an assassination plot?</td></tr>
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<b><u>Beijing Shutters Tibetan Hotel That Caved to Employee Ire over Language Policy.</u></b> A hotel in a <b>Tibetan</b> autonomous prefecture in <b>China</b>’s <b>Qinghai</b> province <a href="http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/4866-hotel-shutdown-over-banning-tibetans-from-speaking-their-own-language" target="_blank">was shut down</a> this month by the authorities after ethnic-Tibetan employees protested hotel rules banning the Tibetan language. On January 7th, the Shangyon Hotel, in Rebkong County, eventually rescinded the policy and apologized to employees—prompting the shutdown, ordered from above. These developments leaked to the outside world via social media. Apparently as a result of the controversy over the hotel, Tibetan <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/equal-01132016145116.html" target="_blank">was given official-language status</a> alongside Chinese in Rebkong, which is part of Qinghai’s <b>Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaked photo of tortured political prisoner Kalsang Tsering</td></tr>
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<b><u>Situation Dire for Tortured Tibetan Political Prisoner Airlifted to Chengdu.</u></b> A former political prisoner in <b>China</b> <a href="http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=36999" target="_blank">has been airlifted</a> from Lhasa, the <b>Tibet Autonomous Region</b>’s capital, to Chengdu for medical treatment on January 12th, according to <b>Radio Free Asia</b>, to treat him for injuries resulting from torture while in prison. But R.F.A. adds that “there is little hope for his recovery” since his main injury, a large open wound in his back, “had failed to respond to treatment following his release, and his condition today remains critical.” The former prisoner, <b>Kalsang Tsering</b>, was arrested in 2008 during protests held to coincide with the Olympics in Beijing. 140 Tibetans were murdered by the “<b>People’s Liberation Army</b>” and other authorities in the crackdown that followed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ursula Gauthier (right)</td></tr>
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<b><u>Beijing Expels French Journalist Critical of Treatment of Uyghur Minority.</u></b> A journalist from <b>France</b> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/26/asia/china-journalist-expelled-gauthier-uyghur/" target="_blank">had to leave <b>China</b></a> this month after criticizing the government’s treatment of <b>Uyghurs</b>, a Muslim minority who are a majority in the far-western <b>Xinjiang Uyghur “Autonomous Region.”</b> The journalist, <b>Ursula Gauthier</b>, had been a correspondent in Beijing for the French magazine <i>L’Obs</i> (formerly <i>Le Nouvel Observateur</i>) since 2009. In November, after the Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris, she wrote that the <b>Chinese Communist Party</b>’s rhetoric of solidarity with France in the fight against terrorism was hypocritical, given what she called “the merciless crushing of the Muslim Uyghur minority.” Gauthier, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman lied, “overtly advocates for acts of terrorism and killings of innocent civilians,” and so, he said, “it is no longer appropriate for her to continue working in China.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsdkzC50-iaw01Vj4NQIb4G-g73Xt9EVn3K_i0lz4v5hyphenhyphenuZ_U3wHdFLUQb6jrfGxK3TpROKyEV40yywnukrLhVFMe-nKAwQrrkvpIlMyeawra4yE5wQhWxAdiBNdx6u_crWRq62V0gLlj/s1600/Hong+Kong+flag+trampler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsdkzC50-iaw01Vj4NQIb4G-g73Xt9EVn3K_i0lz4v5hyphenhyphenuZ_U3wHdFLUQb6jrfGxK3TpROKyEV40yywnukrLhVFMe-nKAwQrrkvpIlMyeawra4yE5wQhWxAdiBNdx6u_crWRq62V0gLlj/s400/Hong+Kong+flag+trampler.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police manhandle a Hong Kong protestor as she prepares to trample a P.R.C. flag.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi07HzfpYMvWdT4VEu6cFBxR5Wpv8_Ab8jX31FjOQtoqxicM0u_jMxYbh3OSSkW-iV4oSMmOTebmeKdoPsDmTYXAw-jQ3Afr41pJQf4X925rlamkNl7cAjIyIbKOg2wMngtON0TkYuJrXfR/s1600/hong+kong+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi07HzfpYMvWdT4VEu6cFBxR5Wpv8_Ab8jX31FjOQtoqxicM0u_jMxYbh3OSSkW-iV4oSMmOTebmeKdoPsDmTYXAw-jQ3Afr41pJQf4X925rlamkNl7cAjIyIbKOg2wMngtON0TkYuJrXfR/s200/hong+kong+flag.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Hong Kongers Protest “Disappearances” of 5 Booksellers Critical of Beijing.</u></b> Thousands of people <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hongkong-publisher-bookshops-idUKKCN0UO02D20160110" target="_blank">rallied in the streets</a> of <b>Hong Kong</b> on January 10th to protest the plight of five booksellers from a single bookshop who have been missing since late last year and are presumed to have been “disappeared” by <b>China</b>’s central government for selling books critical of China and its leadership. The practice of abducting people in the dead of night and whisking them away to reeducation camps or torture chambers for merely whispering any criticism of Beijing is the norm in mainland China but has largely been absent from Hong Kong, because of the “one country, two systems” principle underlying the deal by which the <b>United Kingdom</b> surrendered Hong Kong to China in 1984 (it was handed over in 1997); human rights are to be preserved in the <b>Hong Kong “Special Administrative Region.”</b> After the “Umbrella Revolution” of 2014, directed at Beijing’s refusal to allow direct democracy in the territory, an increase in “disappearances” could be what pushes Hong Kongers over the edge toward full-blown separatism.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This protestor spells out “Kidnapped!”</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguHcZchqYKAVYTzO08VVkZ5uXvh9DBXm4hk8sTfJyL_0pL0OXnp0HNMWMRwfKQoR-fnzHs4OszbB8hWx4RvjQKre_k3pINhIqVkDwsLQA3q4xiJPu0dSsKIeWk26v7e-R_7geaHPs7BSQh/s1600/Jammu+Kashmir+sep+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguHcZchqYKAVYTzO08VVkZ5uXvh9DBXm4hk8sTfJyL_0pL0OXnp0HNMWMRwfKQoR-fnzHs4OszbB8hWx4RvjQKre_k3pINhIqVkDwsLQA3q4xiJPu0dSsKIeWk26v7e-R_7geaHPs7BSQh/s200/Jammu+Kashmir+sep+flag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Kashmiri Separatists Distance Themselves from Islamists after Air Base Siege.</u> In <b>India</b>, <b>Asiya Andrabi</b> of <b>Dukhtaran-e-Milat</b> (“<b>Daughters of the Nation</b>”), which struggles for independence for <b>Kashmir</b>, <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/Kashmiri-Separatist-Denies-Links-to-Hyderabad-ISIS-Aspirants/2016/01/03/article3208496.ece" target="_blank">found herself pressed to deny that her group has any links</a> to the <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>) terror group after three cousins from Hyderabad were arrested in December trying to fly to Srinagar in order, they claimed, to meet with Andrabi, who they said was promising to help recruit them for ISIS. The three were nephews of <b>Syed Salahuddin</b>, the former head of the <b>Students Islamic Movement of India</b> (<b>SIMI</b>) who now heads the radical Islamist separatist militia the <b>United Jihad Council</b> (<b>U.J.C.</b>). Meanwhile, the revered <b>Syed Ali Shah Geelani</b>, who heads the secessionist but religiously moderate <b>Hurriyat Conference</b>, <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/is-anti-islamic-separatist-leader-syed-geelani-tells-kashmiri-youth/story-Mt8pRMbaAjTE7ELrd0d0dN.html" target="_blank">said</a> that ISIS was “anti-Islamic” and said young Kashmiris should not be waving its flags. “Those fighting for <b>Daesh</b>,” he said, using a derogatory term for ISIS, “are actually murderers who are spilling innocent blood and are not in any way representing Islam.” Kashmiri separatists are also believed to be behind a three-day-long siege that followed <a href="http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/kashmiri-separatist-group-ujc-claims-pathankot-attack" target="_blank">a January 2nd rebel attack on an Indian air force base</a> at Pathankot, just over the border from Kashmir in <b>Punjab</b> state, that left 14 people dead. The U.J.C., which wants an independent Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a brigade called the <b>National Highway Squad</b>, a previously unknown group. But the Indian government has been focusing its arrests and investigation on an allied separatist Islamist group, <b>Jaish-e-Mohammed</b> (<b>JeM</b>, or “<b>Army of Muhammad</b>”).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A minority of Kashmiri separatists have gone over to the dark side.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kashmir Rebel Warns Pakistan Not to Provoke India by Annexing Baltistan.</u></b> The head of <b>India</b>’s separatist <b>Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front</b> (<b>J.K.L.F.</b>), <b>Muhammad Yasin Malik</b>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3396316/Separatist-leader-begs-Pakistan-s-PM-stay-Gilgit-Baltistan.html" target="_blank">warned</a> <b>Pakistan</b>’s prime minister, <b>Nawaz Sharif</b>, on January 12th that any plans to integrate the autonomous region of <b>Gilgit-Baltistan</b> more closely into Pakistan would have repercussions in Kashmir. Gilgit-Baltistan, along with “<b>Free Jammu and Kashmir</b>,” is part of the Pakistani-controlled portion of the disputed state of <b>Jammu and Kashmir</b>. India’s portion is the Indian state called simply Jammu and Kashmir. “If Pakistan imposes its sovereign writ over Gilgit Baltistan,” Malik wrote in a letter, “India will then have a political and moral right to integrate Kashmir with it. With one stroke, Pakistan will be helping India to consolidate its writ on Kashmir.” Gilgit-Baltistan is largely self-governing, but its residents have been lobbying for a referendum giving them the right to choose whether to be part of India, <b>China</b>, or Pakistan or be an independent <b>Republic of Balawaristan</b>.<br />
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<b><u>Baloch Militants Claim Responsibility for Lethal Landmine in Pakistan.</u></b> Two members of <b>Pakistan</b>’s coast guard <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2016/01/09/Landmine-blast-kills-two-Pakistani-coastguards-near-Iran-border-.html" target="_blank">died</a>, and three were injured, when their vehicle hit a landmine on January 9th in the separatist province of <b>Balochistan</b>, near the border with <b>Iran</b>. The incident occurred in the town of Koldan. The <b>Baloch Liberation Army</b> (<b>B.L.A.</b>) claimed responsibility for the bomb, adding, “We will continue targeting Pakistani forces.”<br />
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<b><u>Maoist Ex-Premier of Nepal Blames India for Madheshi Autonomy Movement.</u></b> A Communist former prime minister in <b>Nepal</b> on January 5th <a href="http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/india-using-underground-outfits-to-bully-nepal-prachanda_1841981.html" target="_blank">accused political parties</a> pushing for autonomy for the southern <b>Madheshi</b> region as stooges of <b>India</b>’s government. <b>Pushpa Kamal Dahal</b>, a.k.a. <b>Prachanda</b>, who served as premier briefly in 2008 and 2009 after ten years as a Maoist rebel leader, is today chairman of the <b>Unified Communist Party of Nepal–Maoist</b> (<b>U.C.P.N.–M</b>). He says that leaders of the <b>Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party</b> are “working at the behest of India.” He said that <b>C. K. Raut</b>, a computer scientist and separatist currently under house arrest, and <b>Jai Krishna Goit</b>, founder of the separatist <b>Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha</b>, are the movement’s “military wing.” This comes after months of unrest following a Nepali constitution adopted in September which southerners feel denies them regional autonomy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the Madheshi people seceded from Nepal, they would have a very <i>very</i> skinny country.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Malaysia Arrests Acehnese Sorceress Calling Herself “Queen of Malay Archipelago.”</u></b> A woman from <b>Indonesia</b> <a href="https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/01/malaccas-self-styled-queen-mother-arrested-for-impersonation-despite-supernatural-powers/" target="_blank">was arrested</a> with her husband in <b>Malaysia</b>’s <b>Malacca</b> state on January 8th on charges of “impersonation,” after holding an “investiture ceremony” that she claimed legitimized her as royalty. Calling herself “Queen of the Malay Archipelago” (she also uses the title “Queen Mother”), the 37-year-old, who goes by the name <b>Her Majesty Bonda Ratu Kuasa Alam Kesumo Dinigratd Tun Saripah Muraini</b>, also claims to be the daughter of the “Queen of the South Sea” (<i>Ratu Laut Selatan</i>) (a folkloric ocean deity), and she bears a ceremonial dragon’s-head dagger which she said was bequeathed to her “from the skies.” She also claims supernatural powers, including the ability to control the weather. Police confiscated her passport, removed several weapons from her home, and began an investigation into her identity. She claims ancestry in both <b>Turkey</b> and in Indonesia’s westernmost and most conservatively Muslim region, <b>Aceh</b>, not far from Malaysia. Her 45-year-old husband, whom she says she married at age 14, is Malaysian. Two years ago, she <a href="http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/01/11/queen-of-malay-achipelago-held-cops-nab-husband-and-seize-passports-too/" target="_blank">formally applied</a> to the Malaysian government for the restoration of what she claims is her sultanate—though none of the titles or domains she refers to actually exist. The <b>Sultanate of Malacca</b>, whose territory included the arrestees’ current home, Sungai Rambai, was dissolved in the 16th century. But she told an interviewer at that time that she was not interested in that crown, since with her current royal status 184 sultans in the Malay Archipelago are under her patronage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her Royal Majesty displays her mystic dagger from Heaven</td></tr>
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<b><u>OCEANIA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Indonesian Police Kill Papua Rebel Involved in Deadly December Attack.</u> The national police force in Indonesia <a href="http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/police-operation-kills-separatist-allegedly-involved-sinak-attack/" target="_blank">announced</a> January 11th that they had launched an operation against separatist forces in the far-eastern Papua region, resulting in the death of one member of the <b>Free Papua Movement</b> (<i><b>Organisasi Papua Medeka</b>,</i> or <b>O.P.M.</b>). Police claimed the dead man had played a role in an attack on a police station on December 27th in which three police were killed. A second O.P.M. was said to be injured in the recent operation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don’t mess with the O.P.M.</td></tr>
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<b><u>Monarchist Separatists in Hawai‘i Seek Official Party Status.</u></b> In <b>Hawai‘i</b>, a pro-independence organization called the <b>Aloha Aina Party</b> <a href="http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/aloha-aina-group-hopes-become-recognized-political-party" target="_blank">has begun the process of establishing itself as a registered political party</a>. It will need 707 voter signatures by February 25th. The party was founded by three members of the <b>Royal Order of Kamehameha</b>, including <b>Pua Ishibashi</b>, land manager at the <b>Office of Hawai‘ian Affairs</b>. Their goals include secession from the <b>United States</b> and restoring the <b>Kingdom of Hawai‘i</b>.<br />
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<b><u>NORTH AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Right-Wing Militants Seize Oregon Federal Buildings to Protest Federal Land Policy.</u> Federal buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern <b>Oregon</b> are still under occupation by extremist right-wing militants after a January 2nd take-over. The occupiers, who are heavily armed—and some of whom have ties to white supremacists and other hate groups—seem to be led by three sons of <b>Cliven Bundy</b>, an openly racist anti-government rancher from southern <b>Nevada</b> who led an armed uprising in 2014 against federal agents trying to enforce his payment of grazing fees—and made the feds back down. That dynamic is in play now in Oregon, since police and state authorities are staying far away from the occupied buildings and claim they will not intervene, though they are letting food and supplies in. The events began as a protest against the imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers charged with arson on federal lands run by the <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>). The Bundys believe that there should not <i>be</i> such thing as federal land. Land, they and their followers claim, belongs to the people who work the land—ironically, for these ultra-conservatives, echoing the ideology of radical socialist land-reformers in places like Latin America. The Bundys’ conservative Mormonism may play a role in the ideological stew of white supremacism, anarcho-libertarianism, firearms fetishism, and good-ol’-boy frontier mentality that informs this mini-movement. One activist in the occupied building who spoke to the media identified himself only as “<b>Captain Moroni</b>, from <b>Utah</b>.” <a href="http://www.opb.org/news/article/explainer-the-bundy-militias-particular-brand-of-mormonism/" target="_blank">Some observers think</a> that this is designed to appeal to Mormons who will recognize the reference to the figure of the same name in the dog’s breakfast of 19th-century pseudo-scientific gobbledygook called the <i>Book of Mormon</i> who rallied the <b>Nephites</b> (a fictional ancient tribe) against a corrupt king under a “flag of liberty.” The Malheur occupiers <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/neo-nazi-cheers-on-oregon-militants-what-dylann-roof-did-was-a-hissy-fit-this-is-not/" target="_blank">found some support</a> from the novelist and neo-Nazi <b>Harold Covington</b>, founder of the <b>Northwest Front</b> organization, which aims to create an all-white <b>Northwest American Republic</b> that would include Oregon. “Looks like someone may have decided to start the revolution without us,” Covington wrote on January 4th, adding, in reference to the massacre at a <b>South Carolina</b> church last summer by a fan of the Northwest Front, “What <b>Dylann Roof</b> did was a hissy fit. This is not. There is in fact a worthy cause here, a legitimate <i>casus belli.</i>” In the most recent development, the militants are <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/01/13/antigovernment-extremists-oregon-now-plan-their-own-justice-system" target="_blank">threatening to set up vigilante “citizen’s grand juries”</a> to try <i>in absentia</i> public officials accused of violating (the militants’ reading of) the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the <b>Burns Paiute</b> tribe, whose homeland includes Harney County and the occupation site, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/us/paiute-indians-dispute-oregon-wildlife-refuge-protesters-standing.html" target="_blank">objected strongly</a> to the Bundys and their followers’ claim to be “defenders” of the land against the federal government. “Don’t tell me any of these ranchers came across the Bering Strait,” she said. “We were here first. We’d like the public to acknowledge that.” Paiutes “don’t need some clown coming in here to stand up for us,” added <b>Jarvis Kennedy</b>, of the tribal council: “We survived without them before.” (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2016/01/captain-moroni-and-yall-qaeda-why-armed.html" target="_blank">my recent blog article on the Oregon standoff</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bundy brothers—or at least two of them</td></tr>
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<b><u>California Counties File Secession Papers at “State of Jefferson” Rally at Capitol.</u></b> Proponents of creating a separate “<b>State of Jefferson</b>” in <b>California</b>’s far north <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article53355675.html" target="_blank">rallied</a> on January 6th in front of the state Capitol building in Sacramento. <b>Mark Baird</b>, a retired pilot from <b>Siskiyou County</b>, at the <b>Oregon</b> border, who is the most prominent Jeffersonian separatist, stood on the Capitol steps to tell about 200 supporters standing in the rain that it was Jefferson’s “Declaration Day.” Organizers said they had submitted to the legislature declarations from 15 of California’s 58 counties, requesting the right to secede and join Jefferson. This brings, they said, the total number of such county declarations formally submitted to 21. But the <b>Keep It California</b> political action committee (PAC) has poured cold water on those claims, pointing out that although voters in <b>Tehama County</b> and the boards of supervisors in <b>Siskiyou</b>, <b>Modoc</b>, <b>Glenn</b>, <b>Sutter</b>, and <b>Yuba</b> counties have approved the Jefferson proposal, voters in <b>Del Norte County</b> and boards in <b>Trinity</b>, <b>Shasta</b>, <b>Sierra</b>, <b>Lake</b>, <b>Alpine</b>, and—<a href="http://yubanet.com/regional/Plumas-County-Board-of-Supervisors-unaninously-adopt-a-resolution-declining-to-Join-the-State-of-Jefferson.php#.VpfQ1lMrLEY" target="_blank">as of January 12th</a>—<b>Plumas</b> counties have rejected the plans. Lassen County has plans to put the measure before voters. (On the eve of the rally, the county board in <b>Sierra County</b>, <a href="http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44720:state-of-jefferson-sierra-county-supervisors-decline-to-join-supporters-rally-in-sacramento&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197" target="_blank">voted 3-2 to opt out</a> of the State of Jefferson movement.) This all suggests that many county applications were filed by individual activists without any political mandate. At the rally, Baird waxed libertarian in railing against the environmental and other policies of the state government under Governor <b>Jerry Brown</b>, whom he compared to the <b>Soviet</b> dictator <b>Josef Stalin</b>. “The government,” Baird said, “was not instituted to keep you safe from bad baby carriages and raw milk. It was instituted to protect liberty.” The closest thing to an ally Jeffersonians have within the state legislature, however, is Assemblyman <b>James Gallagher</b>, a <b>Republican</b> from Yuba City, in Sutter County, but on the day of the rally he told a reporter, “I sympathize with their frustrations, but this is not part of my legislative package.”<br />
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<u><b>Charges Dropped against North Dakota Mayor for Burning White-Supremacist Buildings.</b></u> The mayor of Leith, <b>North Dakota</b>, the hamlet targeted in 2013 and 2014 by the white supremacist <b>Craig Cobb</b>, who wanted to turn-it into an all-white “<b>Pioneer Little Europe</b>” called <b>Cobbsville</b>, was<b> </b><a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Leith-mayor-set-for-trial-on-fire-charge-related-6740188.php" target="_blank">set to go on trial January 12th</a> in Carson, North Dakota, for failing to control or report a house fire, but on January 6th the <a href="http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/01/07/fire-charge-against-north-dakota-mayor-dropped/" target="_blank">charges against him were dropped</a> for want of evidence. The charges against the mayor, <b>Ryan Schock</b>, stemmed from an incident in 2014, after Cobb had been arrested on terrorism charges for menacing the community: the town government was burning down condemned homes formerly owned by Cobb which reverted to municipal ownership, but the blaze spread dangerously. Cobb, who is serving a four-year probation, lives in nearby Sherwood. Meanwhile, in Antler, North Dakota, where Cobb tried and failed to buy up property last year for a similar “<b>Aryan</b> enclave” project, a disused bank building which was among the properties the municipal government bought up to thwart the takeover will be ceremonially burned after Schock’s trial, but Schock does not plan to attend that event.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Cobbsville” during the height of the crisis</td></tr>
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<b><u>Gullah–Geechees Sue Georgia for Destruction of Language, Culture on Resort Island.</u></b> On Sapelo Island, a resort area off the coast of <b>Georgia</b>, local <b>African-Americans</b> who identify as <b>Gullah–Geechee</b> <a href="https://www.naij.com/690304-biafra-kanu-sick-denied-access-medical-care-brother.html" target="_blank">filed a federal lawsuit</a> against the State of Georgia this month, claiming that touristic development on the island is forcing them out and threatening their language and culture. “You’re looking at the deprivation of our human and civil rights through public corruption,” said one of the plaintiffs, <b>Reginald Hall</b>, adding, “The state is violating land ownership rights outside of what the Constitution of the <b>United States of America</b> has written.” There are an estimated 36 remaining Gullah–Geechees on the island, in a community called Hog Hummock. The suit singles out <b>R. J. Reynolds, Jr.</b>, the tobacco tycoon, for buying up most of the island and crowding the Gullah–Geechees into a small area.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Queen Quet</b> of the Gullah/Geechee Nation<br />
(though she is not a party to the current lawsuit)</td></tr>
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<b><u>War Criminal </u></b><b><u>Šešelj </u></b><b><u>Asks Serb-Americans to Vote for Trump; Neo-Nazis Agree.</u></b> Along with racists, xenophobes, gun nuts, homophobes, and people who believe the Earth is flat, <b>Donald Trump</b> <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-s-radical-party-chief-seselj-urges-support-for-donald-trump-01-04-2016" target="_blank">may be poised to win over yet another constituency</a> in his quest for the presidential nomination for the <b>Republican Party</b>: <b>Serbian-Americans</b>. <b>Vojislav Šešelj</b>, a legislator and founder of the <b>Serbian Radical Party</b>, is awaiting sentencing by an international court for crimes against humanity in the Bosnian War, and on January 3rd he announced on <b>Twitter</b>, “I call on brother Serbs who live in the <b>USA</b> to strongly support Republican Party candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential elections.” Šešelj, who believes that Serbia should invade and decimate the <b>Muslim</b> populations in <b>Bosnia</b> and <b>Kosovo</b>, is especially enamored of Trump’s plan to force Muslims to register with the government and for the borders to be closed to any Muslims wanting to come to the U.S. Also this month, the <b>Southern Poverty Law Center</b> (<b>S.P.L.C.</b>), which tracks hate groups, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/01/12/white-nationalists-continue-support-trump-through-robocalls" target="_blank">reported</a> that two prominent white supremacists, <b>Jared Taylor</b> of the <b>New Century Foundation</b> and <b>William Johnson</b> of the <b>American Freedom Party</b> (<b>A.F.P.</b>) lent their angry voices to robocalls directed at caucus voters in Iowa, asking people to vote for Trump. The A.F.P. also has its own presidential candidate, Bob Whitaker, whose campaign slogan is “Diversity Is a Code Word for White Genocide.” Trump also has the support of the <b>Ku Klux Klan</b> grand wizard <b>David Duke</b> and the <b>Council of Conservative Citizens</b> hate group.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlW5HAgcwzIilAOqL1vRCXW28l8rVbQHaAgVgLcXFAi_1KnXaeW6POrtbOR8i069cGzbKQMpbcHx8DOEZfDG8sfIM9RuQBnrFOOXyT38wGX3lJ2S2MgyL1MF5WO3xFS3S7HxR9BFJEZDr/s1600/seselj+war+criminal+butcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlW5HAgcwzIilAOqL1vRCXW28l8rVbQHaAgVgLcXFAi_1KnXaeW6POrtbOR8i069cGzbKQMpbcHx8DOEZfDG8sfIM9RuQBnrFOOXyT38wGX3lJ2S2MgyL1MF5WO3xFS3S7HxR9BFJEZDr/s400/seselj+war+criminal+butcher.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">“Would you like some Kosovar casserole with some sauer-Croat on the side?”<br />
War criminal Vojislav Šešelj posted this defiant photo on Twitter recently<br />
after someone called him a “butcher.”</td></tr>
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<b><u>Airborne South Carolina Neo-Confederates Buzz G.O.P. Debate Site with Treason Slogan.</u></b> In <b>South Carolina</b>, scene of last year’s white-supremacist massacre at an <b>African-American</b> church, a newly minted hate group called <b>Save Southern Heritage</b> <a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160114/PC16/160119608/1005&source=RSS" target="_blank">protested</a> Governor <b>Nikki Haley</b>’s order to remove the <b>Confederate</b> flag from the statehouse last year by flying over Charleston on January 14th with a plane trailing a banner that reads, “No Votes for Turncoats.” The occasion was the <b>Republican Party</b> presidential debate being held just below, where most candidates have distanced themselves from the suddenly widely stigmatized Confederate flag but in other respects were falling over themselves trying to see who could sound the most racist and xenophobic. A press release from Save Southern Heritage explained, “This is a message to Mrs. Haley and the other <b>G.O.P.</b> traitors who turned their back on the average S.C. voter by bringing down the Confederate Memorial flag at the Statehouse Confederate Memorial. We will not forget this treason!” (American neo-Confederates are listed in my article last month on <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">“Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016.”</a>)<br />
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<b><u>LATIN AMERICA</u></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfz8JrjXdwf9IkSmyLgQGCTL2lkPfX9pkZ_2AlX3I4NTNeoxyWTAZTw0VToFSg1uobcpa8K3ocZms7K8hDF-NV2snV7x11eTMwZnDqiTVYVA5lTAcIryTL7kwHG3Oy_-au2Gpo9eckQPSR/s1600/Baja+California+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfz8JrjXdwf9IkSmyLgQGCTL2lkPfX9pkZ_2AlX3I4NTNeoxyWTAZTw0VToFSg1uobcpa8K3ocZms7K8hDF-NV2snV7x11eTMwZnDqiTVYVA5lTAcIryTL7kwHG3Oy_-au2Gpo9eckQPSR/s200/Baja+California+flag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Tijuana Mayoral Candidate Backed by “Republic of Baja California” Movement.</u> One of the four candidates who declared this month their intention to run for mayor of Tijuana, a border city in northwestern <b>Mexico</b>, <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/jan/13/yonder-tijuanas-quest-independence/#" target="_blank">draws his support</a> from the movement for the surrounding state, <b>Baja California</b>, to secede from Mexico. The candidate, <b>Gastón Luken Garza</b>, formerly served as a legislator affiliated with the opposition <b>National Action Party</b> (<i><b>Partido Acción Nacional</b>,</i> or <b>PAN</b>) before recent constitutional changes allowing independent candidates. Luken’s platform includes mass-transit reform and anti-corruption efforts, but he is funded by the group <b>Republica de Baja California</b> (<b>R.B.C.</b>), which formed a few years ago to protest tax reforms that threatened the system of border-state <i>maquiladoras</i> on which much of Baja’s economy depends. One R.B.C. co-founder, <b>César Faz</b>, says, “We formed a team in which people like Gastón, ... myself, and others can work with themes of convergence, without the prior agendas controlled by the heads of political parties.”<br />
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<b><u>SPORTS</u></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h39WXLvwY6yZVgd7l1HCMZWQNn0E1mV48Op45jL8s2JQerakYeDY7fHNYfc64eS1Hqhm96TVEz2kLBe-0MBGLaSQDM5MDn5fh6eBbhaNISJPxmxeOjY4J2yqdrJXqwXsv7e69wBlkgKr/s1600/western+armenia+flag.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h39WXLvwY6yZVgd7l1HCMZWQNn0E1mV48Op45jL8s2JQerakYeDY7fHNYfc64eS1Hqhm96TVEz2kLBe-0MBGLaSQDM5MDn5fh6eBbhaNISJPxmxeOjY4J2yqdrJXqwXsv7e69wBlkgKr/s200/western+armenia+flag.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">New “Western Armenia” Football Club Loses to Marseille in First Friendly.</u> The <b>Football Federation of Western Armenia</b> <a href="http://asbarez.com/144116/football-federation-of-western-armenia-plays-first-game/" target="_blank">lost</a> in a 3-2 friendly against <b>Olympique de Marseille</b> on January 6th in what was its first match. The newly formed team became a member last June of the <b>Confederation of Independent Football Associations</b> (<b>ConIFA</b>), which aims to give athletic representation to stateless nations. “Western Armenia” is the name for the Armenian territories lost when the <b>Republic of Turkey</b> swallowed up planned <b>Kurdish</b> and <b>Armenian</b> homelands after the First World War, but the <b>F.F.W.A. </b>is said to, in <a href="http://asbarez.com/144116/football-federation-of-western-armenia-plays-first-game/" target="_blank">one journalist’s words</a>, aim “to unite all football players who make up the Armenia Diaspora with the sport of soccer.” The club includes footballers from Yerevan (<b>Armenia</b>’s capital), Istanbul, and elsewhere in the world. (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/09/why-does-abkhazia-get-to-host-2016.html" target="_blank">my recent blog article on some of ConIFA’s unsavory bedfellows</a>.)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about all these and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-81312767175577112052016-01-05T08:19:00.000-06:002016-01-05T09:21:47.404-06:00“Captain Moroni” and “Y’all-Qaeda”: Why the Armed Standoff in Oregon Is Being Mishandled—or, Rather, Not Handled at All<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in spring of 2014, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/05/cliven-bundy-standoff-may-be-harbinger.html" target="_blank">I wrote in this space</a> about the armed confrontation in southern <b>Nevada</b> led by the extremist <b>Mormon</b> rancher <b>Cliven Bundy</b>. He was in serious arrears for grazing fees on federal land and hit upon the idea that he didn’t have to pay them at all because his family had become owners of the land through “pre-emptive rights and beneficial use” (similar, ironically, to arguments used by radical leftists against absentee landlords in Latin American land-reform movements). Federal agents arrived to confiscate his cattle in accordance with the law, but he and hundreds of armed supporters, including snipers and wielders of automatic weapons, stood their ground until finally the feds backed off. Bundy never did have to pay those grazing fees. I warned at the time that this would embolden future libertarian and anti-government militants. And just last week I opined in <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-separatist-movements-to-watch-in.html" target="_blank">my annual round-up article “Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016”</a> that the rise of the <b>Republican Party</b>’s far-right extremist frontrunner for the presidential nomination, <b>Donald Trump</b>, would further inspire anti-government demonstrations and siege situations. I was not pessimistic enough to think that I would be proven correct so soon, but events in <b>Oregon</b> this week have brought not just anti-government militancy, but the Bundy family in particular, back into the news.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgDm22Ast_CtviTRGcIwUUhyhn7R6Ekcyk-avCgcMNpzPpOZvsoirGv9j2Y3Rb0S-JACKNs3uL1tZrUYd8s2Sk1h4G2avJy00bMy-lObiCDWWFMJAMAMusNdTsxv6E9iFrC5iLdLoUfL7/s1600/bundy+press+conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgDm22Ast_CtviTRGcIwUUhyhn7R6Ekcyk-avCgcMNpzPpOZvsoirGv9j2Y3Rb0S-JACKNs3uL1tZrUYd8s2Sk1h4G2avJy00bMy-lObiCDWWFMJAMAMusNdTsxv6E9iFrC5iLdLoUfL7/s1600/bundy+press+conference.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cliven Bundy in Nevada in 2014</td></tr>
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On January 2nd, a group of armed militiamen led by three of Bundy’s fourteen (!) children took over a complex of administrative buildings on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, near the town of Burns. The events began with the imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers, <b>Dwight</b> and <b>Steve Hammond</b>, charged with arson on federal lands that are administered by the <b>United States</b> federal government’s <b>Bureau of Land Management</b> (<b>B.L.M.</b>). The Hammonds and their supporters claimed to be managing invasive plants with the burns; others say they set fires to destroy evidence of their illegal poaching; but no one disputes that they broke the law, and, as laws go, arson is a serious one. The charges against them came under anti-terrorism provisions as well, since the Hammonds had repeatedly threatened authorities with violence.</div>
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The Bundy family took up the Hammonds’ cause and publicized it among the vast network of local right-wing extremist militias that have proliferated over the past several decades in rural America, but especially whenever <b>Democrats</b> are in the White House. Last month they organized a “<b>Committee of Safety</b>” (using language from the American Revolution), which they proclaimed as a “a governmental body established by the people in the absence of the ability of the existing government to provide for the needs and protection of civilized society.”</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_ArAKyn3aEbnGQXNN48lkvFs-pU4dnuq-Upu-Ao-YMkNkhXbFt3FysdtTAJzg1EuqslzYcyzsyAaZAdZigxoeGxCqFmcT7EnTcTQTc6sXPT6DKhyphenhyphenrMXr_spdU6tOWgeUU-xJQLj8sIhj/s1600/oath+keepers+snow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_ArAKyn3aEbnGQXNN48lkvFs-pU4dnuq-Upu-Ao-YMkNkhXbFt3FysdtTAJzg1EuqslzYcyzsyAaZAdZigxoeGxCqFmcT7EnTcTQTc6sXPT6DKhyphenhyphenrMXr_spdU6tOWgeUU-xJQLj8sIhj/s400/oath+keepers+snow.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some Three-Percenters with their flag (not a scene from this week’s standoff)</td></tr>
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<b>Ammon</b> and <b>Ryan Bundy</b>, accompanied by members of the anti-government “<b>Three-Percenters</b>” militia (including <b>Jon Ritzheimer</b>, a celebrity in the militia world who rails against <b>Muslims</b> and had been kicked out of the <b>Oath Keepers</b> hate group in <b>Arizona</b>), took over several buildings on the wildlife preserve and set up roadblocks. The occupiers of the buildings, calling themselves <b>Citizens for Constitutional Freedom</b>, claimed initially they numbered 150 people, later revised to 20 or 25, but that has not been confirmed. There are possibly “no more than a dozen” of them, according to one reporter.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ammon and Ryan Bundy</td></tr>
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It is also unclear what role the Bundy family’s conservative Mormonism may play in the ideological stew of white supremacism, anarcho-libertarianism, firearms fetishism, and good-ol’-boy frontier mentality that informs this mini-movement. One activist in the occupied building who spoke to the media identified himself only as “<b>Captain Moroni</b>, from <b>Utah</b>.” <a href="http://www.opb.org/news/article/explainer-the-bundy-militias-particular-brand-of-mormonism/" target="_blank">Some observers think</a> that this <i>nom de guerre</i> is a “dogwhistle” directed at Mormons who will recognize the reference to the figure of the same name in the <i>Book of Mormon</i> who rallied the <b>Nephites</b> (a fictional ancient tribe, supposedly a remnant of the <b>Lost Tribes of Israel</b> who migrated to the New World) against the corrupt King <b>Amalickiah</b> under a flag called the “Title of Liberty.” The <b>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints</b> has already issued a statement saying that “this armed occupation can in no way be justified on a scriptural basis.” But what else would they say? And even Cliven Bundy told media that the current occupation is “not exactly what I thought should happen.”</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABYxRrfEDsG895b7-yLplJYeqzFwHFkWZ80tsv2XdQ-ZA-zfTMdNDcJ2BEdOrn4Aqa5M_fenwMvQthJtaLAQ6cwkHN2McfC3iSdM6SgrrPZ8LHpVckG-wW-z2V4V-_I043w7FH1_zJkhg/s1600/Moroni+and+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABYxRrfEDsG895b7-yLplJYeqzFwHFkWZ80tsv2XdQ-ZA-zfTMdNDcJ2BEdOrn4Aqa5M_fenwMvQthJtaLAQ6cwkHN2McfC3iSdM6SgrrPZ8LHpVckG-wW-z2V4V-_I043w7FH1_zJkhg/s1600/Moroni+and+flag.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captain Moroni with the Title of Liberty flag, from an L.D.S. illustration</td></tr>
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The standoff is ongoing, and it is clearly about more than just the Hammonds (who began their sentence yesterday in a Los Angeles prison). Ammon Bundy says the protesters will not leave until “the federal government ... give[s] up its unconstitutional presence in this county.” They also point out that they are against the whole idea of federal wildlife refuges. In the words of <b>David M. Ward</b>, sheriff of <b>Harney County</b>, where the standoff is occurring, “These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1lvmzpYGGMjQFN3TBlOF0QacBVcRWDhk-5t6-ilH0ep0KKx6mwFZCaNnPacwMVgJSPwYDhY1jpsQNKQCvK3C0M_mgtzeu3ISi63IpeBkTbZ_rfCgKewWN6C3vSEpm-7HdNy-tCHzySem/s1600/AP_819522830319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1lvmzpYGGMjQFN3TBlOF0QacBVcRWDhk-5t6-ilH0ep0KKx6mwFZCaNnPacwMVgJSPwYDhY1jpsQNKQCvK3C0M_mgtzeu3ISi63IpeBkTbZ_rfCgKewWN6C3vSEpm-7HdNy-tCHzySem/s640/AP_819522830319.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A scene from the 2014 Nevada standoff. Note t-shirt with “baker’s apostrophe.”</td></tr>
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In fact, “standoff” is hardly an appropriate word for the situation, since there is no visible physical response by law enforcement to the occupation whatsoever. It is not clear who, if anyone, and at what level, is issuing “stand down” orders, but authorities are giving the occupied buildings a very wide berth, despite state police command centers far away in Burns and the <b>Federal Bureau of Investigation</b>’s claims that they are on the case.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A special Oregon version of the Gadsden (“Don’t Tread on Me”) flag<br />
on display in Harney County this week</td></tr>
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Given how heavily armed the occupiers are, this is quite astonishing, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/us/what-if-the-oregon-activists-were-black-or-muslim-debate-ensues.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news" target="_blank">more than one observer</a> has pointed out that if, say, radical Muslims or <b>Black</b> nationalists were occupying those buildings, all of Harney County would be a glowing crater by now. When the Black nationalist organization <b>MOVE</b> was involved in a similar standoff in Philadelphia in 1985, the city government bombed the neighborhood, destroying 65 homes and killing eleven people, including five children. When anti-government members of the <b>American Indian Movement</b> (<b>AIM</b>) set up an armed encampment at Wounded Knee, <b>South Dakota</b>, in 1973, President <b>Richard Nixon</b> sent in the army—the only time the U.S. military has been deployed against U.S. citizens on U.S. territory since the Civil War. Some also wonder why the media is so hesitant to call the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom (dubbed by social-media wags as “Y’all-Qaeda” or “Vanilla <b>ISIS</b>” and as “yee-haw-dists”) a terrorist group, and wonder if the term terrorist, as it is actually used, has more to do with people’s skin color or religion than with how armed and dangerous they are.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE36J7b04mNS4HXVQpKMi_Dy-ASuCGYc8rsl1MciRJRt9FJsYsDjFXNQ7NYjh23DX9bVAhMrq4CbCDZWl8ceNZm8hJeuAeRWMbPG5AbTipUqfmiMEgALKUiemXDrFmI8JeSeZOwYv36xe_/s1600/Move-bombing-history3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE36J7b04mNS4HXVQpKMi_Dy-ASuCGYc8rsl1MciRJRt9FJsYsDjFXNQ7NYjh23DX9bVAhMrq4CbCDZWl8ceNZm8hJeuAeRWMbPG5AbTipUqfmiMEgALKUiemXDrFmI8JeSeZOwYv36xe_/s400/Move-bombing-history3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philadelphia, 1985: what happens to armed protest encampments if you’re black</td></tr>
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The White House said yesterday that President <b>Barack Obama</b> was monitoring the situation and that “this is a local law enforcement matter.” In fact, that statement is not correct. Crimes committed on federal property are a federal matter, but the federal government has decided not to enforce the law itself—just as it declined to do a year and half ago at Bundy’s ranch in Nevada. As <b>Heidi Beirich</b> of the <b>Southern Poverty Law Center</b> (<b>S.P.L.C.</b>), an organization which monitors militias and hate groups, put it, the Bundys in 2014 “were emboldened by their ability to run federal officials off at the point of a gun. Now, a year and half later, there have been no prosecutions whatsoever. Pointing a gun at a federal officer is a crime.” Clearly, the Obama administration fears a confrontation that could spin out of control, like the ones at Ruby Ridge, <b>Idaho</b>, in 1993 (three dead) and at the <b>Branch Davidian</b> compound near Waco, <b>Texas</b>, in 1994 (86 dead, including children). Those events became recruiting bonanzas for the increasingly widespread and angry right-wing militia movement across the U.S.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in 1994</td></tr>
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Certainly, it is true that leaving the occupiers alone, not allowing anyone else in, and waiting for them to run out of food and surrender is among the more peaceful ways to end the conflict. If nothing else, there aren’t even any police visible to shoot at.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that a Nazi salute, or is he just showing people where the port-a-potties are?</td></tr>
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On the other hand, the message the authorities are sending militias is that they have more or less free rein to take over federal facilities without opposition. Believe me, they will take us up that invitation.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">[Thanks to Jeremy Appleton and Anna Reynolds for alerting me to sources consulted for this article.]</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about right-wing militias, the American Indian Movement, Black nationalists, and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-44677716942184857592015-12-22T15:53:00.000-06:002015-12-29T09:31:51.570-06:00Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A year ago in this space, I <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/12/10-separatist-movements-to-watch-in-2015.html" target="_blank">offered my predictions for which separatist movements would capture the world’s headlines in 2015</a>. Some of those, such as <b>East Turkestan</b> (in western <b>China</b>) (no. 8) and the Russian puppet states of <b>Abkhazia</b> and <b>South Ossetia</b> within <b>Georgia</b> (no. 4), are conflicts which continued to simmer during the past twelve months but did not boil over (and I am happy to have been wrong about that).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-m90CSOmPOLxovF0optuOM89PiXdl5-_ZIQ2xYnHY7fvp50o_lmX8zQ5msO3vVFM8EgIaKvzCGgEk59mmO2gn_SybvHlx76eONxFQGJyfyykNPGPuekqU1GBJMLIwGlP9tdfhOT4aK39/s1600/TheBearPokesBack_zps50461ac5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-m90CSOmPOLxovF0optuOM89PiXdl5-_ZIQ2xYnHY7fvp50o_lmX8zQ5msO3vVFM8EgIaKvzCGgEk59mmO2gn_SybvHlx76eONxFQGJyfyykNPGPuekqU1GBJMLIwGlP9tdfhOT4aK39/s400/TheBearPokesBack_zps50461ac5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abkhazia—still quasi-independent, but in a holding pattern</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Scotland</b>, which was no. 10 in this list a year ago, continued to build momentum for independence, but without too many significant developments other than the <b>United Kingdom</b>’s <b>Labour Party</b> betraying its utter ideological disarray in the face of defections to the <b>Scottish Nationalist Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>) by selecting a cantankerous, bearded paleo-Marxist, <b>Jeremy Corbin</b>—who disrespects <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b> and sympathizes with <b>Vladimir Putin</b>—as the official opposition leader in Parliament. This means that, to all intents and purposes, the S.N.P. <i>is</i> the opposition. The U.K. is still headed for break-up, but probably not for a few more years yet.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCOWiBDscquPvT8HZFiNXO5agL-3lvk6nawJNMNLqYZgM7tOv7zL0o3TJC0nOafTiVdq3TzK9W4bzvQY8Xc_-W5wWCX_TMJxG3ajrH1gLTQVdh0RIry9jOLUzZ2r6xZ9h2OjuA88W_9Hp/s1600/scotland+flags.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCOWiBDscquPvT8HZFiNXO5agL-3lvk6nawJNMNLqYZgM7tOv7zL0o3TJC0nOafTiVdq3TzK9W4bzvQY8Xc_-W5wWCX_TMJxG3ajrH1gLTQVdh0RIry9jOLUzZ2r6xZ9h2OjuA88W_9Hp/s400/scotland+flags.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scots have not put their flags away, but independence is on hold.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Other aspirant states, such as <b>South Yemen</b>, <b>Novorossiya</b> (eastern <b>Ukraine</b>), and <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. the <b>Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham</b>, or <b>ISIS</b>)—nos. 6, 5, and 2, respectively, last year—continued to be the focus of high-profile conflicts in 2015 and will probably continue to be in 2016, though they didn’t make this year’s list. <b>Catalonia</b> (no. 9 last year), <b>Republika Srpska</b> (no. 7 last year), <b>Transnistria</b> (no. 3 last year), and <b>Kurdistan</b> (no. 1 last year) remain on this year’s list. For better or for worse, they may get their moment in history in 2016. Here is the full list:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2MsfoPj6PI1ODQsh8HTa-EzIxNFGixmHAokstC1jFaZMS-_35DqG95BQCc1h2PEF8G2WSrqsNaB7nAYyp44mesClbhvLcSxfBAi3tyLVzsfEqufbLMgFdz5bV-l_21Y53sRKfUQAdl4Z/s1600/Donetsk+babes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2MsfoPj6PI1ODQsh8HTa-EzIxNFGixmHAokstC1jFaZMS-_35DqG95BQCc1h2PEF8G2WSrqsNaB7nAYyp44mesClbhvLcSxfBAi3tyLVzsfEqufbLMgFdz5bV-l_21Y53sRKfUQAdl4Z/s400/Donetsk+babes.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10. Biafra: A 1960s Cause Revitalized in the Face of Islamist Terror</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZDmIeIv7-TLeek_0owi7cytqxwXViOEP9jijZvF7PbewXUQPm19F2VvKwhTdzbyQHZqm439j0Htua3gF9NWmoFz-Yo_PeeuwpAra8yZfIBpftIwelUIBW734J5jkYP0kVpp4LTDJphjs/s1600/Biafra-Protest-Lagos3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZDmIeIv7-TLeek_0owi7cytqxwXViOEP9jijZvF7PbewXUQPm19F2VvKwhTdzbyQHZqm439j0Htua3gF9NWmoFz-Yo_PeeuwpAra8yZfIBpftIwelUIBW734J5jkYP0kVpp4LTDJphjs/s400/Biafra-Protest-Lagos3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Southeast <b>Nigeria</b>’s <b>Igbo</b> people were the first stateless nation to make a credible bid for independence after the mass European decolonization of Africa in the 1960s. <b>British</b> colonists had left the supposedly more pliable northern <b>Hausa–Fulani</b> Muslims in charge of the new nation, but after a series of <i>coups</i> and counter-<i>coups</i> among Nigeria’s main ethnic groups, Igbos declared a <b>Republic of Biafra</b> in 1967. The ensuing war killed millions, many through deliberate blockade and starvation by the British-backed Nigerian government. Since then, modifying Africa’s irrational, arbitrary colonial-era borders has become a taboo, and nowhere more so than in Nigeria, still traumatized by the Biafra catastrophe. But the emergence of the terrorist Islamist group <b>Boko Haram</b> in northern Nigeria has changed things. In a country about evenly divided between northern Muslims and southern Christians, national unity is less of a priority today to the south’s <b>Yorubas</b>, Igbos, and others as Islamist radicals rampage through the north with massacres, rapes, and pillage. The spectacle of Muslim terrorists targeting the predominantly-Christian Igbo population in the demographically mixed “Middle Belt” region has reopened the wounds of the north–south conflict that led to the Biafra War in the first place. Few noticed when the tiny <b>Biafra Zionist Movement</b> (<b>B.Z.M.</b>) declared independence in 2012, but the <b>Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra</b> (<b>MASSOB</b>) has been issuing Biafran currency and passports and hoisting the banned Biafran flag, and this year a new group, <b>Indigenous People of Biafra</b> (<b>IPoB</b>), launched a pirate station called <b>Radio Biafra</b>. This was the last straw for the newly elected president, <b>Muhammadu Buhari</b>, a northern Muslim who this year replaced <b>Goodluck Jonathan</b>, a southerner more popular with Igbos. Buhari had the IPoB leader, <b>Nnamdi Kanu</b>, arrested, and riots ensued, with several killed. Igbos claim that the government cannot protect them against Islamic terror or against trigger-happy federal police, and that a new Muslim-dominated government will marginalize the southeast politically and economically, as other administrations have done. If Buhari cannot convince them otherwise, the conflict will worsen. So far, he seems to be stoking conflict by meeting protests with disproportionate force. Add to these complications the fact that some smaller ethnic groups within the former Biafra are saying that Biafran nationalists do not speak for them and that they are willing to secede from any independent Biafra in order to stay <i>in</i> Nigeria, and there is a recipe for horrible conflict in 2016.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8w0bUoQ5B394mB0QQgtCYONKzg_b_3Ch3hJSmG0cITAwP4GYhfYbYhkyl95paqt7nvH7IX71shFk2zJz5F6wfoIIHntJsv_hoUWLCAbLf8-xsA5iH5gY7IN8ouCEwlJMOHYBM6PhiYpZ/s1600/Biafra.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8w0bUoQ5B394mB0QQgtCYONKzg_b_3Ch3hJSmG0cITAwP4GYhfYbYhkyl95paqt7nvH7IX71shFk2zJz5F6wfoIIHntJsv_hoUWLCAbLf8-xsA5iH5gY7IN8ouCEwlJMOHYBM6PhiYpZ/s1600/Biafra.png" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9. Cyrenaica: A Sufi Kingdom That Suddenly Looks Like a Good Idea Again</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_JfTQn1J6F4KjTZ5g4_qUk3n0GNoFuyWKtKzBSyI5t3KOKRiQ5FTnyLr1yHapYJIwMn3_qR2TvNvsUlzHWZ2r41bPpy89twKpsOSYl9grfzQYFwehry556A201jh1Bi_BKIVZA28pYCO/s1600/bc87bebf-9ded-4386-8c39-2da782567b93_16x9_788x442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_JfTQn1J6F4KjTZ5g4_qUk3n0GNoFuyWKtKzBSyI5t3KOKRiQ5FTnyLr1yHapYJIwMn3_qR2TvNvsUlzHWZ2r41bPpy89twKpsOSYl9grfzQYFwehry556A201jh1Bi_BKIVZA28pYCO/s1600/bc87bebf-9ded-4386-8c39-2da782567b93_16x9_788x442.jpg" /></a></div>
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Aside from <b>Syria</b> (see nos. 2 and 1 below), <b>Libya</b> is the most dynamically fractious country in the world today. When the Arab Spring revolutions reached Libya in 2011, the eastern third of the country, <b>Cyrenaica</b>, which was an independent moderate <b>Sufi</b> kingdom from 1949 to 1951, rose up first, and for a while its main city, Benghazi, was the “capital” of “Free Libya.” After <b>NATO</b> unseated and then offed the dictator <b>Moammar al-Qaddafi</b>, the scores of local Cyrenaican, Tripolitanian, <b>Toubou</b>, <b>Tuareg</b>, <b>Berber</b>, and Islamist warlords throughout the country did not want to give up the little fiefdoms they had established during the civil war, and they still haven’t. <b>Zubair al-Senussi</b>, a nephew of the deposed <b>King Idris</b>, declared Cyrenaica autonomous in 2013, but the influx of Islamist militants to Libya soon after that has made the situation more complex: last year, the newly elected Libyan national parliament had to decamp to Tobruk, in Cyrenaica’s far northeast, while <b>Libya Dawn</b>, the bloc that lost the election, has set up a rival parliament in the official capital Tripoli, in the western region of <b>Tripolitania</b> (see map below), and is dominated by the <b>Muslim Brotherhood</b>. Meanwhile, affiliates of <b>Islamic State</b> have utter control of an area around Sirte, Qaddafi’s birthplace, in eastern Tripolitania on the central coast. On December 17, 2015, the two rival parliaments officially formed a “national unity government” at a summit in <b>Morocco</b>, but no one knows if that will mean anything in practical terms. Real power in Libya lies in the ability to rally local militias, and those pushing for greater autonomy in Cyrenaica have a few things on their side: there is more unity among militias in the east, Tripolitania has more remnant Qaddafi loyalists and Berber unrest and is less friendly to foreign investment (despite the fact that the internationally-recognized Muslim Brotherhood government is temporarily located in the east), and Cyrenaica has nearly all the oil. Ah, yes, it may all come down to oil in the end. Unity government or not, 2016 may be the year Cyrenaica asks the world to give up on Libyan unity and back their secession.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfk3kOgoAzY-x29UYatm8iuVIKxyGMJ75vzEwmsMXzAcHWV8oSy5IE_1uJllzHp-8nPsAmaUQde_GV4aUZxhFtJcyS5D513lrJ8Tk7L8NcHj9X5bT80W9146aVrHsHQ909uJuXMfPMr0d/s1600/libya-control-map-civil-war_2015-08-21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfk3kOgoAzY-x29UYatm8iuVIKxyGMJ75vzEwmsMXzAcHWV8oSy5IE_1uJllzHp-8nPsAmaUQde_GV4aUZxhFtJcyS5D513lrJ8Tk7L8NcHj9X5bT80W9146aVrHsHQ909uJuXMfPMr0d/s400/libya-control-map-civil-war_2015-08-21.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Assam: Is China Contemplating Putin-Style Puppet States in Its Own Near Abroad?</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD9y4JokpZ8TlUPT3wPctJM4mQKN_edBu6IUEe28ArB55GbzfORB6Kymg7GLWq1bVgaf1Mft5mNa0Zk7MO8gwYhD3bERBnIm4MpuzT2z0KosSRV9PmL0PdNU4kpO7YkdK04gyLfs42b2u/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD9y4JokpZ8TlUPT3wPctJM4mQKN_edBu6IUEe28ArB55GbzfORB6Kymg7GLWq1bVgaf1Mft5mNa0Zk7MO8gwYhD3bERBnIm4MpuzT2z0KosSRV9PmL0PdNU4kpO7YkdK04gyLfs42b2u/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Assam</b>, the largest state in <b>India</b>’s eastern panhandle, is at first glance an obscure part of the world. Its decades-long conflict among warring separatist militias, spilling over into neighboring states that form with it the “Seven Sisters” region, tend to have little effect on wider politics. But that may be changing—and it’s all about <b>China</b>’s frustrated geopolitical ambitions. First, understand that the government in Beijing does not recognize the MacMahon Line which the <b>British</b> (who then ruled India) agreed upon with the then-autonomous government of <b>Tibet</b> in 1914; China regards the area just below it, governed today as India’s <b>Arunachal Pradesh</b> state, part of its <b>Tibet “Autonomous” Region</b>. Second, China has begun to flex its muscles beyond its borders in a way that it has not done for decades. The West is alarmed over Chinese construction and military-patrolling activities—both in violation of international law—on and around tiny disputed islands and pseudo-islands in the South China Sea. Surely, Beijing’s new boldness is partly due to China having seen <b>Russia</b> getting away with bald-faced expansionism in <b>Ukraine</b>, <b>Moldova</b>, <b>Georgia</b>, and elsewhere (see nos. 3 and 2 below). China has mostly only tacitly backed <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s irredentist empire-rebuilding, wary of being seen as a hypocrite on the subject of separatism. But now that Russia is happily clamping down on separatists at home while arming them abroad, with none of its fist-pumping pro-Putin masses seeming to notice the contradiction, China may feel a little freer to do the same. Despite brutal repression of any moves toward autonomy in Tibet, the <b>Xinjiang Uyghur “Autonomous” Region</b>, and even <b>Hong Kong</b>, China is very tentatively making ideological forays into neighboring regions. Separatists in <b>Japan</b>’s far-southern archipelago, <b>Okinawa</b>, which used to be a separate kingdom with feudal-style allegiance to China, have been getting support from Beijing in the form of statements to the effect that Japan’s historical claims on the islands are concocted. Okinawa, like the South China Sea islands, is part of a vast chain of Western-friendly territories—<b>South Korea</b>, Japan, <b>Taiwan</b>, the <b>Philippines</b>, <b>Guam</b>, etc.—which form an impermeable barrier preventing China from projecting power toward the Pacific. Keep in mind, also, that the recent elections in <b>Burma</b> (<b>Myanmar</b>) are the latest chapter in a Burmese liberalization and pivot toward the West, which threatens to rob China of some of its trade access to the Indian Ocean.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVv9OX3ttBrVU7PBe_0up8xBBoynnWI5iYKPztCvzDLAU2nI2bEisnf6C0xnBqZAAAba4CJp6Pu5-T__AcaiCSZe6D-EPPCoW4cwDeiuYi-OwdGAQMI4y7dXKlEYVBDOi8wR3JsjOybphH/s1600/tumblr_l7nkb1CeDv1qd65vgo1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVv9OX3ttBrVU7PBe_0up8xBBoynnWI5iYKPztCvzDLAU2nI2bEisnf6C0xnBqZAAAba4CJp6Pu5-T__AcaiCSZe6D-EPPCoW4cwDeiuYi-OwdGAQMI4y7dXKlEYVBDOi8wR3JsjOybphH/s400/tumblr_l7nkb1CeDv1qd65vgo1_500.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Indo-Chinese border is a mess of competing claims.<br />
If Beijing decides to aid Assamese rebels, it will get even messier.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So where does Assam come in? Well, just last month, <b>Paresh Baruah</b>, the leader of the armed <b>United Liberation Front of Asom</b> (<b>ULFA</b>) came out openly courting Beijing’s support. Using Communist doublespeak in referring to Arunachal Pradesh (which was part of Assam state until 1987) as “<b>South Tibet</b>,” he scolded New Delhi for hosting Tibet’s government-in-exile despite having in 2003 pledged recognition of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet (but not Arunachal Pradesh) in exchange for China backing off its claims on the formerly independent Himalayan kingdom of <b>Sikkim</b>. It would be a cinch for Beijing to back eastern Indian rebels of various kinds—as well as those in neighboring Burma—as a way to destabilize the enemy and creep inch by inch toward the Indian Ocean. Beijing seems poised to, ever slowly, “go Putin” on its neighbors. This is a stealth phenomenon, but <i>Springtime of Nations</i> will keep readers informed of it during 2016.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4mvHfQywSD1m9O6Hr5U7dPOajgsLasAmrJ9YHoVIWjDZrQFi2lmUqGMcTSFbf9YLbl1zT8z49wcHy_RUDS3UuDwgVsNTVG3ovPMWsiOjiBdnfpIIxPjhRfPYPdJ797JkjbVgR59MKf-K/s1600/NSCN1-655x360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4mvHfQywSD1m9O6Hr5U7dPOajgsLasAmrJ9YHoVIWjDZrQFi2lmUqGMcTSFbf9YLbl1zT8z49wcHy_RUDS3UuDwgVsNTVG3ovPMWsiOjiBdnfpIIxPjhRfPYPdJ797JkjbVgR59MKf-K/s400/NSCN1-655x360.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7. Catalonia: The Stars May Be Aligning for a Final Break with Spain</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Pclyy1OMPMF-kTuO7Lppsf_P3HH6vKPzWcYUGEB249gZDybdvhIu7slEwaS8uAzWGJPMD8QkTeTVZY1LZl_JiJ9wlsVhvixYu4Lt2AORpzWnosMbTIInIfKdzIFxuYDaiGjyVwPkH0sc/s1600/catalan+rally+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Pclyy1OMPMF-kTuO7Lppsf_P3HH6vKPzWcYUGEB249gZDybdvhIu7slEwaS8uAzWGJPMD8QkTeTVZY1LZl_JiJ9wlsVhvixYu4Lt2AORpzWnosMbTIInIfKdzIFxuYDaiGjyVwPkH0sc/s400/catalan+rally+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Catalonia</b>, a secessionist region of <b>Spain</b>, was no. 2 on last year’s list, being at that time fresh off of a non-binding referendum in which 81% of Catalans favoring independence but turnout was well below 50%—giving both sides, the unionist central government in Madrid and Catalonia’s ruling separatist <b>Convergence and Unity</b> (<i><b>Convergència i Unió</b>,</i> or <b>CiU</b>) coalition, reasons to dig in their heels. But in June, CiU split evenly into rival camps over the question of whether or not Catalonia should pursue independence unilaterally, even in the face of Madrid’s insistence that such moves are unconstitutional. In Catalan parliamentary elections in September of this year, the new pro-independence <b>Together for Yes</b> (<i><b>Junts pel Sí</b>,</i> or <b>JxSí</b>) coalition gained four seats and the more gradualist <b>Popular Unity Candidacy</b> (<i><b>Candidatura d’Unitat Popular</b>,</i> or <b>CUP</b>) seven, but the surprise surge was from the anti-independence <b><i>Ciutadans</i></b> (“<b>Citizens</b>”) party, which gained sixteen seats, leaving pro-independence parties as a whole with only 48% of the vote—weak, but enough to keep the separatist Catalan president, <b>Artur Mas</b>, clinging to power for the time being. Then came another blow—this month’s Spanish court ruling that any secession bid would indeed be unconstitutional, which prompted the usual defiance from President Mas. But just this week the game has changed: in elections to the Spanish parliament on December 20th, Prime Minister <b>Mariano Rajoy</b>’s <b>People’s Party</b> (<i><b>Partido Popular</b>,</i> or <b>P.P.</b>) lost 64 seats, plunging from 45% to 29%. No one did any better, though: the Socialists lost 20 seats, bringing them down to 22%, and the newly minted far-left <i><b>Podemos</b></i> (“<b>We Can</b>”) party came out of nowhere to take 69 seats. Podemos could well be the king-maker, and its young, hip, pony-tail-sporting leader, <b>Pablo Iglesias</b>, supports the idea of a Catalan independence referendum. Not surprisingly, Podemos did well in Catalonia in particular, and if a Catalan vote for Podemos counts as a vote for independence, it looks like these elections show separatism to be surging again. The coalition-building process may drag into the new year. Catalonia’s hopes for independence depend on the result. Either way, their fight is far from over.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Confederate States of America: Trump’s Rise and the “Browning” of America Lure Extremists out of the Shadows</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TJUWmXMG53oLlXaMbXXOwyUDwjIfuq4hriEHlxG5I5E86q2-kTxhKajmSnAWzBjTgtodyfUgst7-M8ywPK4MFEkY40pRbNdHIl7jMc8b4stOoflaW1mzejr785ZdAioO7C12imyVT2m5/s1600/_83815902_026994687-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TJUWmXMG53oLlXaMbXXOwyUDwjIfuq4hriEHlxG5I5E86q2-kTxhKajmSnAWzBjTgtodyfUgst7-M8ywPK4MFEkY40pRbNdHIl7jMc8b4stOoflaW1mzejr785ZdAioO7C12imyVT2m5/s1600/_83815902_026994687-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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All realistic dreams of independence for the “<b>Confederated States of America</b>” in the southern <b>United States</b> died in 1865 with the Unionist victory in the American Civil War. But Confederate nationalism never went away, and, since the war was mostly (among other things) about slavery, Confederate nostalgia has always had a central racial component. Federal enforcement of desegregation in the South in the 1960s reawakened the Southern white rhetoric of “states’ rights” that had dominated secessionist rhetoric in the 19th century, and the <b>Republican Party</b> repositioned itself atop a “base” of Southern white racists after <b>Democrats</b> like Presidents <b>John F. Kennedy</b> and <b>Lyndon B. Johnson</b> adopted Civil Rights as their cause. That explains why the 2000 electoral map that led to the months-long standoff between the candidates <b>Al Gore</b> and <b>George W. Bush</b> was essentially a map of old North-versus-South divisions—with of course a large extension of “red state” America into the Plains, where rural whites share many Southern “values.” That also explains why the election of <b>Barack Obama</b> in 2008 sparked an explosion of racially-tinged far-right militancy in the guise of the “<b>Tea Party</b>” and the re-booted “Patriot” militia movement and a recruitment bonanza for <b>Ku Klux Klan</b> and neo-<b>Nazi</b> groups. This year’s white-supremacist massacre at an <b>African-American</b> church in <b>South Carolina</b> sparked a broad public backlash against the Confederate flags, symbols, and toxic rhetoric that had warped the deranged young shooter via the Internet. So today right-wing Southern whites feel their “heritage” is under attack. And the ongoing tilting of American demographics toward a larger and more electorally mobilized dark-skinned (especially <b>Hispanic</b>) population has white conservatives in a panic as well—hence all the talk of “taking our country back” and hence the bizarre spectacle of the 2008 election, in which a protracted Republican primary season with unhinged xenophobes like <b>Rick Santorum</b>, <b>Rick Perry</b>, and <b>Michele Bachmann</b> ranting about the black and <b>Latino</b> menace demolished any hopes of denying Obama a second term (even though their eventual candidate was by comparison very moderate).<br />
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And now comes <b>Donald Trump</b>, a billionaire Republican front-runner seemingly uninterested in preparing the ground for his party’s victory next year and dropping all pretense and all code in openly stoking ultra-bigotry. Gone are the days of Republican nods and winks about “welfare mothers,” “voter fraud,” or—ahem, you know who I mean—“the inner city”: Trump calls illegal immigrants “murderers and rapists,” vows to erect a giant wall along the border with <b>Mexico</b>, contorts his arms on stage to mock the disabled, applauds when thugs beat and hurl the N-word at an African-American heckler at one of his hate rallies, and proposes that <b>Muslim Americans</b> be registered and monitored just as <b>German Jews</b> were in the 1930s and ’40s—an historical parallel he pointedly refuses to be offended by. Trump for months now has dominated American political news with what is very easily the most openly racist major presidential campaign since Reconstruction—a new low for America’s image around the world. <br />
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What does this mean for neo-Confederates? We had always been told that they were a minuscule political fringe, and perhaps they are, in one sense, but the following scenario still seems likely: Trump loses the nomination, but the aftersmell of his long, ugly campaign costs the Republicans any hope of the Hispanic and centrist (“undecided”) votes needed to win, meaning <b>Hillary Rodham Clinton</b> is headed unstoppably to the White House. That leaves the 38% of Republicans who today back Trump and the 15% who today back <b>Texas</b>’s equally deranged and intolerant <b>Ted Cruz</b> (who is equally incapable of securing a nomination), angry and feeling betrayed by their party, their tiny brains aboil with conspiracy theories and thoughts of revolution and race war. Mind you, we are talking here about somewhere between 10% and 20% of the population of the U.S.—tens of millions of people—and a solid majority of whites in much of the Deep South. If you think that’s an exaggeration, look again at Trump’s poll numbers and listen to the unprecedented levels of furious racism in his rhetoric.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gbQXC8yy5zZctm5ibDWqg_yLsuthrPMpkYjwVUTYj0EGK7FDi0MBMc9vqdqr4TZHvfwoieo7El4WtSEA8CCJJhcU9saXAsNheWt3FpClTH2lCSpDkJycqO8SPFnF2vWgyUS1pEfnnmuT/s1600/Leith+neo-Nazis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gbQXC8yy5zZctm5ibDWqg_yLsuthrPMpkYjwVUTYj0EGK7FDi0MBMc9vqdqr4TZHvfwoieo7El4WtSEA8CCJJhcU9saXAsNheWt3FpClTH2lCSpDkJycqO8SPFnF2vWgyUS1pEfnnmuT/s400/Leith+neo-Nazis.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White supremacists tried to take over Leith, North Dakota, last year. Where will they try next?</td></tr>
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These nuts won’t start a real revolution or a secession, but many may split away as a militant-rightist, mostly-Southern-based third party that could be a more durable feature in American politics than third-party runs by the likes of <b>John Anderson</b> (1980), <b>Ross Perot</b> (1992), or <b>Ralph Nader</b> (2000 and 2004) could ever have hoped to be—and perhaps Trump will even start his own party before the election; he can certainly afford to, and he hasn’t ruled it out. This would split the right just enough to keep the Republican base more or less permanently out of power nationally—and thus more and more paranoid and angry. What I predict for 2016 and 2017 is a boost in visibility for groups like the <b>League of the South</b> and the <b>Texas Nationalist Movement</b>, both of them far-right in their orientation and both with violent elements. (In 2014, the League <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/previously-all-talk-white-supremacist.html" target="_blank">launched its own paramilitary wing</a>, called the <b>Indomitables</b>.) More and more mainstream Republicans will also begin to adopt the doctrines of “nullification” and “state sovereignty” that are the underpinnings of secessionist Constitutional arguments. And we can expect a spike in violent incidents, such as race massacres like the one in South Carolina; hostage situations and sieges involving armed neo-Confederates; and attempts to establish all-white enclaves, like the “<b>Pioneer Little Europe</b>” attempted in <b>South Dakota</b> in 2014 by the white-supremacist <b>Craig Cobb</b> (see reports from this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/09/tales-of-two-racial-supremacistsone-of.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/12/north-dakota-neo-nazi-separatist-outed.html" target="_blank">here</a>) or his more recent follow-up attempts in <b>Nebraska</b>. America won’t split into two countries, but its people will be even more divided, and the ignorant conservative white masses who feel disenfranchised will rally more and more under their own disgraced Confederate flag.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtBN3cR_0kfk-WOO1GB2103jbOYnd0Jr_2RxIvd9zIDsPDhyOfEY1wwKKjZvbox7e_4IkZ75NceR17ZooVBv0nTQZsIRtbFjIKGMh0Qncv6CwgVGtS89FDRDYrPi7vnMDL3nr53lQ36rh/s1600/kkk-ku-klux-klan-rally-ole-miss-2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtBN3cR_0kfk-WOO1GB2103jbOYnd0Jr_2RxIvd9zIDsPDhyOfEY1wwKKjZvbox7e_4IkZ75NceR17ZooVBv0nTQZsIRtbFjIKGMh0Qncv6CwgVGtS89FDRDYrPi7vnMDL3nr53lQ36rh/s1600/kkk-ku-klux-klan-rally-ole-miss-2009.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to Dixie.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. Russians in the Baltic States: Could the Kremlin Pull Another Crimea Right under the NATO Umbrella?</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr-Oy1AcweqglArFuRhEU8FirrJkzpF6fJBeke5cPPKBqGimdkcDkIguI1Wty7-iIKbWNSvpGXWH7kgdnyCATcWeJDXNEEYxBrNYvDSCjPVanIcAJYVbsf-Sah69FyZ9K9g1_yROuAKCab/s1600/20140329_EUM944.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr-Oy1AcweqglArFuRhEU8FirrJkzpF6fJBeke5cPPKBqGimdkcDkIguI1Wty7-iIKbWNSvpGXWH7kgdnyCATcWeJDXNEEYxBrNYvDSCjPVanIcAJYVbsf-Sah69FyZ9K9g1_yROuAKCab/s320/20140329_EUM944.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When <b>Russia</b>’s president, <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, invaded and annexed <b>Ukraine</b>’s majority-ethnic-Russian <b>Republic of Crimea</b> in 2014, his triumphant speeches made clear what Russian expansionist ambitions were about. He addressed the “plight” of those Russians who went to sleep one night in 1991 as the dominant ethnic group in the <b>Soviet Union</b> and woke up as minorities in foreign lands such as Ukraine, <b>Moldova</b>, <b>Kazakhstan</b>, and, most of all, in the <b>Baltic States</b>. In <b>Lithuania</b>, 5% of the population consider themselves ethnic Russians (15% in the capital), in <b>Latvia</b> it is 28% (with nearly half of Riga and most of its second-largest city, Dagauvpils, speaking Russian), and in <b>Estonia</b> 24% (with 47% of the population of Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, being Russian-speakers). These high numbers are the result of an explicitly colonial policy of settling Russians in the Baltics which began soon after their illegal annexation by the Soviet Union during the Second World War. (The <b>United Nations</b> and most of the world refused to recognize the annexations, but no one did anything about it.) By the time the Baltics became independent again in 1989, the demographic damage could not be undone; large parts of the three countries had become Russified. Post-Soviet Latvia instituted harsh laws excluding newcomers and non-Latvian-speakers from public life, and so here Russophones’ resentment is sharpest. In 2012, a referendum on making Russian an official language alongside Latvian was doomed by numbers to fail (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/02/language-referendum-pits-latvians.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time in this blog</a>), but the emotionally-fought campaign put Russians in alliance with some <b>Latgalians</b>, a sort-of-separate ethnic group in the area around Dagauvpils which feels marginalized. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Balts became understandably jittery. All three are in <b>NATO</b>, so a full-on attack by Russia is unthinkable—it would put Putin on an instant war footing with three nuclear powers—but Putin favors “stealth annexations” anyway. In places like the Russian puppet states within <b>Georgia</b>, Moldova (see no. 3 below), and Ukraine, the Kremlin has distributed Russian passports to local Russian-speakers and used or threatened economic blockades. If Putin ever decides to pull a Crimea in the Baltics, he will start with strategies like this. Keep in mind, Putin violated NATO airspace one time too many this month, in <b>Turkey</b>, but he probably still feels that was worth it: he lost only one plane, but whipped up jingoism at home and destabilized an enemy state. Speculative maps leaked from the Kremlin in 2012 (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/donetsk-rebels-novorossiya-fits-russian.html" target="_blank">as reported on in this blog</a>) (see map below) showed eastern Estonia and eastern Latvia absorbed into Russia as, respectively, <b>Narvski District</b> (Narva is a 94% Russian-speaking town in Estonia) and <b>Dvinskaya Oblast</b> (<i>Dvinsk</i> being the Russian name for Dagauvpils). Sure, that sounds silly, but so did the phrases “<b>Donetsk Republic</b>” and “<b>Luhansk Republic</b>” a couple years ago. Already, Russian submarines troll Baltic harbors, and it is within the Kremlin’s means to stoke grievances in Russian-speaking parts of the Baltics (where they all watch Russian propaganda television anyway) and even run guns to rebels for a “liberation.” Annexation and old-style direct invasions are off the table, but severe destabilization would be the next best thing. 2016 may be the year Putin tries it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitLeeS9z7zj_Og1U3Zfjeu9CV6bmQWGec4x-pvNvzWFx0Nywhrz7F8sDXghvxtELtVGWQJsk6JFxM4KgXZDUBemM56DqfkhU-if7CBZuUkzeYGB19utPjqNfuHFfvEBNhFphra2sxz7xl1/s1600/2035+east.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitLeeS9z7zj_Og1U3Zfjeu9CV6bmQWGec4x-pvNvzWFx0Nywhrz7F8sDXghvxtELtVGWQJsk6JFxM4KgXZDUBemM56DqfkhU-if7CBZuUkzeYGB19utPjqNfuHFfvEBNhFphra2sxz7xl1/s640/2035+east.jpg" width="475" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modifications to the map of Europe in progress at the Kremlin</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Republika Srpska: Bosnia’s Serbs Haven’t Had a Good War in 20 Years or So ...</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHF70Ik6ur1WZxwQ1nqYK6qgWcC47CKte77WLqr_XmnB47lYWzSBrGA8g4iWf9G80IXa3RXdWuVLqOf-XbqAVZimeit0rZE7Oc0LFP4vcE2_XThl7kz6QRfseJyp8RhGuImv11FwVuQrYI/s1600/bosnia+division+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHF70Ik6ur1WZxwQ1nqYK6qgWcC47CKte77WLqr_XmnB47lYWzSBrGA8g4iWf9G80IXa3RXdWuVLqOf-XbqAVZimeit0rZE7Oc0LFP4vcE2_XThl7kz6QRfseJyp8RhGuImv11FwVuQrYI/s400/bosnia+division+map.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
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After the devastation of the Bosnian War, the 1995 Dayton Accords created a <b>Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina</b> divided into two quasi-independent and insanely gerrymandered halves, with only a veneer of national unity between them: the <b>Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina</b>, governed by <b>Croats</b> and <b>Bosniaks</b> (Muslims), and the <i><b>Republika Srpska</b>,</i> the “<b>Serb Republic</b>,” which is called by its Serbian name in English to avoid confusion with the fully independent <i><b>Republika Srbija</b></i> (<b>Republic of Serbia</b>) just to the east. It was a pyrrhic victory for the peacemakers: the fighting had stopped, but the new map rewarded “ethnic cleansing” (a term coined for this war) by carving into stone the territorial gains made through wholesale massacre. Both sides seemed content to simply pretend, for the sake of greater peace, to pretend that they were a single country. But then, in 2014, <b>Russia</b>’s president, <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, changed all of the ideological dynamics in the Slavic world by invading and annexing <b>Ukraine</b>’s <b>Republic of Crimea</b>. Russia had always been the diplomatically isolated Serbia’s one ally in the wider world, since Russian nationalists see in Serbia parallels to their own grievances: a feeling that <b>NATO</b> and the West are punitively whittling their empires away, a sense of historic humiliation, and a panic over Muslim insurgency (where Bosniaks and <b>Kosovars</b> are analogous to <b>Chechens</b> or <b>Crimean Tatars</b>—never mind that all of these are among the most politically and doctrinally moderate Muslims in the world). Russia’s new muscle-flexing and its eagerness to settle old scores have now rekindled the embers of the Republika Srpska’s dormant jingoism. Serbia itself, which hankers for <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) membership and is eager to shed its global image as a pack of bloody-fanged ultranationalists, wants nothing to do with Republika Srpska, even though in the bad old days reunification was the mutual goal. But Bosnian Serbs are now once again thinking about independence, or at least some way to cut their ties with Croats and Bosniaks. The republic’s president, <b>Milorad Dodik</b>, stated this year that a referendum on independence for Republika Srpska was the only way forward and that 99% of Bosnian Serbs would support it—surely an exaggeration, though such a referendum, if held, might well pass. Dodik’s own party, plus two far-right radical nationalist parties, hold nearly two-thirds of the seats in Republika Srpska’s parliament. Just in the past few months, Serb nationalists have upped the ante: they are planning a referendum on whether the republic is beholden to decisions by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Constitutional Court, and earlier this month the republic announced it was severing all ties to Bosnian state institutions. The provocations that led to these moves were mostly symbolic ones: the Court voted to abolish Republika Srpska’s own “national” holiday, Republic Day, and federal Bosnian authorities arrested several Srpska citizens on decades-old war-crimes charges (still a sore spot for Serbs). But the course Dodik is taking amounts to a virtual declaration of independence. He might climb down, but it’s also possible that with tensions running high a minor event could lead to the renewal of fighting. Putin has shown he would have no compunctions about sending in troops, regular or irregular, to help Serbs in any renewed civil war (if only to repay the Serb irregulars who flooded to Ukraine to fight for Putin last year). And Bosnia is not in NATO, so, if previous events in <b>Georgia</b> and Ukraine are any indication, the West would in such a case sit on their hands and watch in horror as the Balkans descend once again into open war.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlOGn209q4uEa1QYyd5kF5_UyN9Jx7rVKhJfT_fJcn1yagJbOr0ITElM3wd97-_a1y9xeZn0v2cHV92pKqR39tnOrPnUnD2YMLGA2dOSpWgJJFavi548k9YY0pOEQ0Mt2prH7g6dsUW3N/s1600/Republika-Srpska-President-Milorad-Dodik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlOGn209q4uEa1QYyd5kF5_UyN9Jx7rVKhJfT_fJcn1yagJbOr0ITElM3wd97-_a1y9xeZn0v2cHV92pKqR39tnOrPnUnD2YMLGA2dOSpWgJJFavi548k9YY0pOEQ0Mt2prH7g6dsUW3N/s1600/Republika-Srpska-President-Milorad-Dodik.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milorad Dodik wants to re-open the Bosnian can of worms—and dump it all over NATO’s head.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Transnistria: A Pseudo-State in the Balkans Seems Ripe for Russia’s Plucking</b></span><br />
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<b>Transnistria</b>—more properly the <b>Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic</b>—is not much, actually. It’s a wafer-thin sliver of the formerly-Soviet <b>Republic of Moldova</b>, and Moldova <i>itself</i> is a sliver, being the slice of <b>Romania</b>’s <b>Moldavia</b> region which ended up being divvied out to the <b>Soviet Union</b> after the Second World War. Today, Transnistria governs itself and calls itself independent, but doesn’t even have the official diplomatic recognition from Russia that puppet states like <b>Abkhazia</b> and <b>South Ossetia</b>, in <b>Georgia</b>, have. Transnistria’s half-million or so people are about about evenly divided three ways among ethnic <b>Russians</b>, ethnic <b>Ukrainians</b>, and ethnic Moldavians (i.e., <b>Romanians</b>). In 2006, 97% of them voted in a referendum that they wanted to break from Moldova completely and be recognized as a separate state in “free association” with the <b>Russian Federation</b>. There is no reason to think that sentiment has cooled in the decade since, except in defection to the even more appealing idea, since 2014, of following <b>Crimea</b>’s lead in become part of Russia outright—which is the openly stated goal of Transnistria’s government. The only problem is that a large chunk of independent <b>Ukraine</b> stands between Transnistria and the nearest point of <i>de facto</i> Russian territory, Crimea. For a while it looked as if President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> and his proxy forces meant to take not only the <b>Donetsk</b> and <b>Luhansk</b> oblasts in the southeast of Ukraine but also the entire Black Sea coast, where ethnic Russians are also numerous. Those ambitions have been scaled back a bit, but it’s not out of the question that Russian residents of the ethnically tense <b>Odessa Oblast</b> which borders Transnistria on its east could secede from Ukraine just as Donetsk and Luhansk have done and unify with Transnistria. (Anti-Western Odessans did declare an “<b>Odessa Republic of Novorossiya</b>” in April 2014, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/russian-ultranationalists-in-odessa-go.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time in this blog</a>, but it never translated into actually holding any territory.) Putin’s <b>Syrian</b> adventure (see below) has overextended his forces somewhat, but if the right opportunity came along—such as a local uprising by ethnic Russians that “need protecting,” he might just snatch up Transnistria as an after-dinner snack, or at least grant it diplomatic recognition on its own.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Alawite State: Shouldn’t Assad Be Gone by Now? If Putin Has a Say, We’re Stuck with Him</b></span><br />
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Since <b>Syria</b> descended into civil war four years ago, <b>Russia</b>’s President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> has used his influence with the embattled Syrian dictator, <b>Bashar al-Assad</b>, to enhance his own diplomatic credibility. In 2015, the <b>United States</b> and western European nations, which had only half-heartedly been helping the <b>Free Syrian Army</b> (<b>F.S.A.</b>) and other moderate rebels, began stepping up their fight against the self-declared terrorist <b>Islamic State</b> (a.k.a. <b>ISIS</b>), which controls large swathes of Syria and <b>Iraq</b>, and in October Russia stepped into the Syrian fray itself, with public announcements that Russia and the West, despite their differences, were partners in the fight against the Islamic State terrorists. But a look at where exactly Russia has been dropping its bombs since early October tell a different story. Putin is expending very little of his firepower against Islamic State and instead is pinpointing his attacks on the F.S.A. and other moderates who control the territory surrounding Assad’s redoubt in the west. This includes the area around Damascus, the capital, but also the coastal provinces of <b>Tartus</b> and <b>Latakia</b>, where Russia has its military bases. This is the part of Syria which was known as the <b>Alawite State</b> when it was a colony of <b>France</b>, and it is home to the doctrinally liberal Shiite Muslims of Assad’s minority <b>Alawite</b> sect, whom Islamic State regards as heretics. Assad’s Syria is a crucial part of Putin’s loose alliance of tinpot dictatorships (also including <b>Cuba</b>, <b>Iran</b>, <b>Zimbabwe</b>, and <b>Sudan</b>), since it offers him a guaranteed Mediterranean presence, and Syria is also part of an arc of Shiite-ruled states, along with Iraq and <b>Iran</b>, that Islamic State is keen to punch holes in. Already Putin is starting to treat western Syria more and more as his own territory, including threatening to turn the whole country into a “no fly” zone for <b>Turkey</b>, which is aiding some Syrian rebels but attacking others (like the <b>Kurds</b>; see no. 1 below) and which shot down a Russian warplane earlier this month. Many observers expect that Assad’s long-contemplated plan to reestablish an Alawite State as a way of avoiding being removed from power entirely could become reality if Putin uses the same approach he has used with some success in places like <b>Georgia</b>, <b>Moldova</b> (see no. 3 above) and <b>Ukraine</b>: establishing quasi-independent puppet states, with or without diplomatic recognition. Russians and Turks have been battling for centuries for dominance in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean. The establishment of an independent Alawite State is Russia’s logical next step.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Kurdistan: No One Has Waited Longer, or Fought Harder, for Freedom</b></span><br />
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The Middle East’s 30 million or so <b>Kurds</b> are the world’s largest stateless nation, spread across northern <b>Iraq</b>, northern <b>Syria</b>, northwestern <b>Iran</b>, and—the largest chunk of their homeland—southeastern <b>Turkey</b>. They were promised their own independent state when <b>Woodrow Wilson</b> and the <b>League of Nations</b> dismantled the <b>Ottoman Empire</b> after the First World War, but the brutal nationalists who founded the <b>Republic of Turkey</b> had other ideas and absorbed the Kurds and another aspirant people, the <b>Armenians</b>, into their rump empire. The Armenians finally secured independence in 1991—though without their heartland in northeast Turkey that was depopulated by genocide. But the Kurds are still waiting. Iraq’s Kurds tasted autonomy of a sort after the First Gulf War of 1990, when the <b>United States</b> enforced a “no fly” zone that kept them safe from <b>Saddam Hussein</b>’s worst abuses, and then after Hussein’s fall they were able to convert that into a genuine <b>Kurdistan Autonomous Region</b>. Their cousins in Turkey fared far worse: millions of Kurds were massacred by Turkey during the 1920s and ’30s, and their culture and language were criminalized to the extent that they were officially “Mountain Turks”: it was illegal to even say the words <i>Kurd</i> or <i>Kurdistan.</i> Starting in the 1970s, an (initially <b>Soviet</b>-backed) Communist insurgent army called the <b>Kurdistan Worker’s Party</b>, or <b>P.K.K.</b>, waged a fierce war against the Turkish state, with tens of thousands dead over the decades. A ceasefire in 2013 promised to bring an end to the fighting, but that has mostly unraveled under pressure from the situation to the south, where Syria’s embattled dictator, <b>Bashar al-Assad</b>, retreated from the far north of his civil-war-torn country and allowed Kurds to found there a quasi-state called <b>Rojava</b>, which is—unlike the Kurdish government in northern Iraq, which Turkey gets along with—aligned with the P.K.K. And then, soon after, the <b>Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham</b> (<b>ISIS</b>), a.k.a. <b>Islamic State</b>, established itself in the large <b>Sunni Arab</b> homeland that stretches across much of Syria and Iraq. Islamic State’s success in exploiting the local oil wealth, recruiting followers from around the world, and exporting terrorism to the West meant that the Syrian civil war became internationalized, with Turkey, <b>Saudi Arabia</b>, Iran, <b>Russia</b>, and various <b>NATO</b> countries, including the U.S., fighting there either directly or indirectly, all with different agendas. Of these players, the Kurds closest allies are the U.S. and other Western powers and, to a lesser extent, Russia.<br />
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It has become clear that the West is promising independence to the Kurds of Iraq when and if Islamic State is defeated, and indeed it is Kurds in Iraq and Syria who are in the very front lines of that fight. What is not clear is whether or not Rojava will be allowed to become part of that independent Kurdistan. That will depend on how the Syrian civil war resolves itself eventually: Turkey is dead against the idea and Russia would only allow it if Assad is able to retain some territory outright (see <b>Alawite State</b>, no. 2, above), but the U.S. seems open to the idea.<br />
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Rojava, it should be said, is a kind of miracle: a progressive, democratic enterprise, with respect for women’s rights (Kurds have the world’s most feared female soldiers), a very moderate form of Islam, and, though its population is mostly Kurdish, a robustly multi-ethnic government with power-sharing between Kurds and the Sunni Arab, <b>Assyrian</b>, <b>Chechen</b>, and other minorities—all of this in the eye of the hurricane, surrounded on all sides by what is today the world’s most devastating war. A merger with Iraqi Kurdistan would mean that this new member of the international community could be something the Middle East desperately needs: a place where Christians, Muslims, <b>Yezidis</b>, and others of all ethnic backgrounds can live in peace and security. Plus, they’ve got all that oil. Maybe 2016 will be the year that ISIS is defeated, or contained enough that the international community can allow the Kurds to start building independence. It cannot happen soon enough. They’ve waited long enough.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about all these and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-71051727223887030012015-11-03T14:07:00.000-06:002015-11-04T06:50:35.781-06:00Near Russia’s Arctic Rim, Karelians Bristle under Putin’s Rule<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Vladimir Putin</b>, as this blog tirelessly points out, is a hypocrite when it comes to separatism. Though the authoritarian Russian president arms and funds separatists in places like <b>Ukraine</b>, <b>Georgia</b>, <b>Moldova</b>, and—perhaps soon—<b>Syria</b>, <i>within</i> Russia it is (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/11/separatism-added-to-list-of-things.html" target="_blank">as I have reported in this blog</a>) a crime, as of last year, even to publicly advocate secession from the <b>Russian Federation</b>. I have detailed how the Russian government has cracked down mercilessly on activists arguing even for <i>enhanced autonomy</i> in Russian regions like <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/02/games-begin-ukrainian-hijacking-putin.html" target="_blank"><b>Circassia</b> (in the north Caucasus and nearby steppes)</a> and <b>Siberia</b> (see articles <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/08/meanwhile-at-other-end-of-empire-putin.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/08/autonomy-activism-spreads-from-siberia.html" target="_blank">here</a>), to say nothing of demands for self-determination by the <b>Tatar</b> minority in <b>Crimea</b>, which Russia reconquered from Ukraine last year. A Crimean Tatar activist, <b>Rafis Kashapov</b>, was the first person tried under the new advocacy-of-separatism ban. But the latest flare-up of resistance to Moscow rule is not along one of these familiar fault-lines but to the Sub-Arctic extreme northwest of the country, in the <b>Republic of Karelia</b>.<br />
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Last week, on October 26th, <b>Vladimir Zavarkin</b>, a municipal deputy (equivalent to city councilman) in the Karelian town of Suoyarvi (population <i>ca.</i> 10,000) became the second person, after Kashapov, to be put on trial for promoting separatism. He is <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/karelian-activist-on-trial-after-calling-for-referendum-on-secession-from-russia/540480.html" target="_blank">is being tried</a> in Petrozavodsk, the Karelian capital, for advocating separatism. The charges stem from an address he gave in May. “Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” he said in the speech, “I propose to you: get rid of the wool over your eyes, look at what’s being done in Karelia. Forests are being felled down to the root ... everything is being moved to St. Petersburg, Moscow, taxes aren’t being paid. What will be left for our children? Nothing! So we, probably, if the Russian government won’t hear us, will stage a referendum, I think. If Russia doesn’t need Karelia—let’s secede. That would be the most honest!”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vladimir Zavarkin, who is on trial for promoting the idea of a referendum on Karelian independence</td></tr>
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Zavarkin’s attorney, <b>Dmitry Dinze</b>, said that the real reason behind the arrest is Zavarkin’s criticism of the Karelian governor, <b>Alexander Khudilainen</b>, who, like other governors of Russia’s constituent republics and provinces, is not elected but appointed directly by Putin. But the Kremlin is also very keen to nip internal separatism in the bud wherever it appears, be it <b>Chechnya</b> or <b>Tatarstan</b>, but especially in areas rich in natural resources like Karelia.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karelia (upper left) is one of many “republics” within the Russian Federation, but it has no autonomy.</td></tr>
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Also last week, <b>Anatoly Grigoryev</b>, chairman of the unofficial <b>Karelian Congress</b>, <a href="http://vesti.karelia.ru/anatolij_grigorev_predsedatel_karelskogo_kongressa/repressii_v_proshlom_strah_v_nastoyawem/" target="_blank">used the occasion</a> of the post-Soviet regime’s annual Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression to point out that the Putin regime downplays the Soviet dictator <b>Josef Stalin</b>’s repression of Karelians and ethnic <b>Finns</b> in Russia. In fact, Stalinist iconography is enjoying a resurgence in Putin’s Russia, with little apparent awareness of the barbarity of his genocidal crimes against minorities.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karelian rebels in the days of the Russian Civil War</td></tr>
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Karelia spreads northward from near the edge of the former imperial capital at St. Petersburg and thus has always been in Russia’s backyard. Tensions between Karelia and the Kremlin sharpened in 1917, when, in the midst of the Russian Revolution and the disastrous civil war in which nearly every region of Russia tried to split away from the new <b>Bolshevik</b> dictatorship, <b>Finland</b>—up to that point part of the <b>Russian Empire</b>—became the first and only nation in the Civil War to succeed in its secession bid. While Finland was establishing its independence, a Karelian nationalist insurgency controlled Karelia and in 1918 voted to secede and to merge with Finland. This makes sense: the Finnish language is nearly mutually intelligible with Karelian—both being members of the Finno-Ugric language family that has no connection to any other European languages and also includes <b>Estonian</b>, <b>Hungarian</b>, <b>Saami</b> (<b>Lappish</b>), and the languages of numerous small nations in Russia’s north. There is no agreement on where to draw the line between Finnish and Karelian languages and cultures; some call them two branches of a single nation.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karelian is one of the Finno-Ugric languages.<br />
Of these, only Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian have speakers numbering over 1 million.</td></tr>
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There was also a move among the Finno-Ugric-speaking <b>Ingrian</b> people of the area around St. Petersburg to become an independent <b>Ingermanland</b> (a.k.a. <b>Inkeri</b> or <b>Ingria</b>) or to join Finland as well—and you can imagine how popular with the Bolsheviks was the idea of either losing St. Petersburg or seeing it cut off as an exclave separated from the rest of Russia by hostile territory. Self-declared Ingrian and Karelian republics held out against the Reds until the early 1920s, with Finland too busy fighting for control of Finland proper to worry about annexing areas to the east which Russia was fighting tooth and nail to retain.</div>
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In the Second World War, Finland was an <b>Axis</b> country, allied with <b>Nazi Germany</b>, which led to the “Winter War” of 1940, in which the <b>Soviet Union</b> tried unsuccessfully to retake Finland, and to the political demonization of any species of Finno-Ugric nationalism as somehow pro-Nazi—even though Finns aligned themselves with <b>Adolf Hitler</b> mostly as a way to protect themselves from Russia. (This is very analogous to the way in which Putin’s propaganda machine today brands any anti-Moscow feeling in Ukraine as neo-Nazism.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some Karelian activists today fly the flag<br />
of the short-lived Republic of East Karelia of the 1920s</td></tr>
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Stalin upgraded the <b>Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic</b> in 1940 to create the <b>Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic</b>, which it was hoped would grow as larger and larger chunks of Finland were annexed—which did not quite happen. In 1956, Stalin’s successor, <b>Nikita Khrushchev</b>, downgraded the Karelo-Finnish S.S.R. to the Karelian A.S.S.R. again—this during a period when other nationalities victimized under Stalin were being repatriated and recuperated and seeing their statuses restored.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marching in Finland for Karelian–Finnish solidarity</td></tr>
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As for Karelia, the bare facts are that a referendum on independence, even if it were permitted to be held, would avail Karelians nothing. Even under Stalin, Karelians were a minority in their own republic, at 37% of the population, outnumbered by the 57% majority of ethnic Russians. Today, Russians are 82% of the population, and Karelians are only 7.4% (and only 5.1% in Petrozavodsk, the capital), with ethnic Finns and <b>Vepsians</b> (another related Finno-Ugric-speaking nationality) making up 1.4% and 0.5%, respectively. Much of this demographic drop is due to Karelians emigrating to Finland to escape Stalinism, where some assimilated, or passed, as Finns. At least 10,000 Finnish citizens today identify as Karelian. Karelian is not even an official language of the Republic of Karelia.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Karelian national flag</td></tr>
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If Karelia were to split away, it would disconnect <b>Murmansk Oblast</b> (province) to the north from the rest of Russia. Murmansk’s local population includes Russia’s portion of the Saami (Lappish) indigenous territory stretching west into <b>Norway</b>, Finland, and <b>Sweden</b>—though today Saami form only 0.2% of the oblast’s population, which is 89% ethnic Russian. Losing Murmansk, including the Kola Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean, is an even more important possession for Russia, economically speaking, not only for the harbor at Murmansk but for the larger slice of the pie of the Arctic, with its potential energy bonanza beneath the slowly melting ice.</div>
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So Zavarkin, who can be guaranteed a predetermined verdict in a Putinist kangaroo court, is not quite grasping the problem when he says, “If Russia doesn’t need Karelia—let’s secede.” Putin <i>does</i> need Karelia. It’s the Karelian <i>people</i> that he couldn’t give a damn about.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Russia’s Murmansk oblast</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about Karelia, Ingermanland, and other sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-88552142717807143202015-10-08T13:04:00.000-05:002015-11-01T09:18:15.860-06:00Tsimshian Protest Camp on Small Canadian Island Defies Massive Natural-Gas Project <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since late August, members of an indigenous <b>First Nations</b> community from the <b>Tsimshian</b> (also spelled <b><i>Ts’msyen</i></b>)<b> Nation</b> have been occupying—“re-occupying,” as they prefer to put it—an island off the coast of northern <b>British Columbia</b> where an energy multinational from <b>Malaysia</b> wants to build a liquid natural gas (L.N.G.) exporting terminal. The community, <b>Lax Kw’alaams</b>, often referred to by its colonial name, <b>Port Simpson</b>, is the most populous Tsimshian village in <b>Canada</b> (there is also one over the border in <b>Alaska</b>) and is home to nine of the Tsimshian Nation’s fourteen constituent tribes. Lax Kw’alaams members overwhelmingly voted down the developments plans in a referendum in May of this year, and the community’s mayor, <b>Garry Reece</b>, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/lax-kwalaams-first-nation-moves-to-veto-lng-plan/article26440805/" target="_blank">said late last month</a> that the <b>Lax Kw’alaams First Nation</b> would file suit for aboriginal title to the island, Lelu Island, and to nearby Flora Bank.<br />
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Tsimshian territory makes up about the northern third of B.C.’s coast. Since, with very few exceptions, almost no land in this vast province has been ceded by Indian treaty, technically all of Tsimshian territory, and nearly all of B.C., is in one sense not part of B.C. or Canada but is unceded aboriginal territory. An “aboriginal title” claim by Lax Kw’alaams would take these territories out of their current legal limbo (which the federal and provincial governments treat as <i>de facto</i> Crown sovereignty) and put them squarely before the courts, where a number of recent decisions (the <b>Git<u>x</u>san</b> in 1997, the <b>Tsihlq’otin</b> in 2014) have greatly strengthened the aboriginal hand.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist’s rendering of the L.N.G.-terminal project proposed for Lelu Island</td></tr>
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The struggle over L.N.G. pipelines through the territories of B.C. nations has become a flashpoint in the indigenous North American land struggle, including the recent aboriginal push against environmentally destructive energy projects which operates under the banner <b>“Idle No More.”</b> (See articles from this blog about the Git<u>x</u>san land struggle <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/gitxsan-chiefs-in-british-columbia.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/08/deadline-in-british-columbia-for.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/08/tense-standoff-eases-as-gitxsan-nation.html" target="_blank">here</a> and about that of B.C.’s <b>Wet’suwet’en</b> <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/11/which-part-of-wetsuweten-territory-dont.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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The Lelu project planners, <b>Petronas</b> (a Malaysian corporation known worldwide for its record-breaking Petronas Towers skyscraper complex), and its Canadian arm, <b>Pacific NorthWest L.N.G.</b>, have said that construction of the terminal would cost nearly $1.5 billion. This includes constructing a bridge and a harbor in addition to the processing plant. But Lax Kw’alaams, with studies in hand, points out this will harm salmon habitat in the nearby Skeena River estuary, a serious issue for a community very dependent on the traditional seasonal round of resource-gathering, primarily salmon. Among the other six Tsimshian communities in Canada, <b>Metlakatla</b> (<b><i>Max</i></b><b><i>ł</i></b><b><i>a<u>k</u>xaa</i></b><b><i>ł</i></b><b><i>a</i></b>) and <b>Kitselas</b> (<b><i>Gits’ilaasü</i></b>) bands signed off on the project (Metlakatla is home to members of several of Lax Kw’alaams’s nine tribes, but the tribes’ paramount chiefs are of Lax Kw’alaams), but <b>Kitsumkalum</b> (<i><b>Gitsm<u>g</u>eelm</b></i>), <b>Kitkatla </b>(<b><i>Git<u>k</u>xaała</i></b>), <b>Klemtu </b>(the <i><b>Gidestsu</b></i> people at <b><i>Kłmduu</i>)</b>, and <b>Hartley Bay </b>(<b><i>Gitga’ata</i></b>), as of late September, had yet to do so. B.C.’s premier, <b>Christie Clark</b>, is a supporter of the Petronas plan.<br />
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<b>Sm’oogit Yahan</b>, a.k.a. <b>Donald Wesley, Jr.</b>, who has been speaking for the protestors, <a href="http://www.cftktv.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=2185768" target="_blank">said in September</a> that his group will be co-founding a brand-new organization called the <b>Northern First Nation Alliance</b>, along with some of the more uncompromisingly sovereigntist nations in the province, including the Git<u>x</u>san, the Wet’suwet’en, and the <b>Council of Haida Nations</b>. (The <b>Nis<u>g</u>a’a</b>, just to the north, are not part of the club: their chiefs surrendered their territory to the Crown in the 1990s for a cash settlement and for self-government rights that they already possessed.) As Yahan <a href="https://ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/first-nation-news-surveyors-conducting-unauthorized-work-for-petronas-escorted-off-lelu-island/" target="_blank">explained</a>, “Our Traditional ways of life and the resources which have sustained our people are not to be pawns in the Christie Clark government’s L.N.G. dreams. Development within our Traditional territories must have our free, prior and informed consent. The people of Lax Kw’alaams spoke very clearly in their rejection of the 1.25-billion-dollar offer from Petronas, and this camp builds upon that rejection. This issue is not just a First Nations issue but one that will affect all British Columbians, especially those who rely upon healthy and abundant fish stocks.”<br />
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Meanwhile, Mayor Reece—whose village government office is separate from the Lelu protest group but for a while was quoted in the media as implicitly supporting it—said last month, “We want to protect crucial salmon habitat, protect our food security, and ensure that governments and industry are obligated to seek our consent. If we obtain title, we will own Lelu Island and Flora Bank.” He <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/first+nation+lays+claim+lelu+island/11374661/story.html?__lsa=18d6-6b06" target="_blank">added</a>, “Our traditional law, backed by our scientific reports, has made it clear that Flora Bank cannot be touched by [Pacific NorthWest] or any other company that proposes development.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Git<u>x</u>san chiefs visited Lelu Island to show solidarity.</td></tr>
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But things got complicated in late September, when Petronas workers conducting unauthorized surveying on Lelu <a href="https://ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/first-nation-news-surveyors-conducting-unauthorized-work-for-petronas-escorted-off-lelu-island/" target="_blank">were escorted away</a> by members of the <b>Lax U’u’la Warriors</b>—an intertribal, interethnic support group linked to the Lelu protest camp. (<i>Lax U’u’la,</i> also spelled <i>Lax Üüla,</i> or “place of the harbor seals”) is the Sm’algyax (Tsimshian language) name for the island.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Lax Kw’alaams, flying on Lelu Island</td></tr>
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In response, in early October, <a href="http://www.thenorthernview.com/news/330695311.html" target="_blank">a statement issued</a> on behalf of “the <b>Hereditary Chiefs of the Nine Tribes of Lax Kw’alaams</b>” granted Petronas surveyers “conditional access to Lelu Island and the Flora Banks to complete their studies, the results of which will allow us to determine our final stance.” The statement said that Yahan and the island’s occupiers did not have “authority to speak or act, no authority to unilaterally decide to use and occupy any lands and no authority to use the identity of the Nine Tribes. All of this contravenes Ts’msyen Law. ... We are actively addressing the shame certain individuals, bound by our laws, have brought by these actions.” Regarding the expulsion of the Petronas workers, the hereditary chiefs’ statement added, “To commit violence, demean and disgrace the station of Ts’msyen Chieftainship through words and action is abhorrent to the true Chiefs of the Ts’msyen Nation and such disrespect threatens the Nine Tribes of Lax Kw’alaams,” whose “duties and responsibilities” and “names handed down since time immemorial, are thus activated, and we remind all our people that they have the right to live and work in safety under the protection of the Laws of the Ts’msyen.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lax Kw’alaams</td></tr>
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In the traditional social and political structure of the Tsimshian, Git<u>x</u>san, Nis<u>g</u>a’a, Wet’suwet’en, <b>Haisla</b>, Haida, <b>Tlingit</b>, and other nations in the area, it is the hundreds of matrilineal extended families (<i>houses</i>) which hold sovereignty over their separate territories. In Lax Kw’alaams, however, houses pool some of their authority in the paramount hereditary chieftainships of the community’s nine tribes. (For more detail on Tsimshian social structure, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Tsimshian-Social-Life-Names/dp/0295988061" target="_blank">see my book </a><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Tsimshian-Social-Life-Names/dp/0295988061" target="_blank">Becoming Tsimshian: The Social Life of Names</a>.</i>)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mayor Garry Reece (left), with timber executive Wayne Drury</td></tr>
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Yahan, identified as chief of the <b>Gitwilgyoots</b> (one of the Nine Tribes), reacted swiftly to the joint statement from the hereditary chiefs by stating that only he had the authority to grant access to the island. “I stand on that island because it is on our traditional territory. I am the sole chief in standing in this tribe that has a say in what goes on. ... We are all individual tribes and we don’t go over other tribes’ territory.” Mayor Reece, who uses the chiefs’ name <b>Txa<u>g</u>aaxs</b> and is identified as chief of the <b>Ginaxangiik</b>, appeared to agree with Yahan that no one had “authority to represent or sign anything on the tribe’s behalf.” He added that no person or group currently speaks on behalf of all nine tribes.<br />
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The Tsimshian, at least, certainly are idle no more. Which approach to land stewardship will prevail in the Lax Kw’alaams community, and whether protectors of the land will win this battle in the war over energy projects and the environment, remains to be seen.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about the Tsimshian, Git<u>x</u>san, Nis<u>g</u>a’a, etc., as well as sovereignty and independence movements both famous and obscure in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Full disclosure: I have worked with and for various Tsimshian organizations, including the Allied Tsimshian Tribes Association, the Tsimshian Tribal Council, the Kitsumkalum Band Office, and, in particular and most extensively, the Kitsumkalum First Nation Treaty Office, as well as many individuals and families. My opinions and perspectives are my own, not necessarily shared by anyone else, and I do not speak on behalf of any Tsimshian individual or organization.</i></span></div>
Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-42321483626305457802015-10-07T12:01:00.000-05:002015-10-09T06:03:04.805-05:00Liberland’s Empty Promises to Syrian Refugees Scorned by Other Micronations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGl1yRpBfvDYWkdfCtwR0bMR1KlLlUOZ7EO4fme0TJYvRfAponnJ-GaCS2SnL8wyfDAF9euSiG-lVJu4CBuAzyTVbMQIhWvTlItltKK0UgoKyT7SwrbldvowC2l1-1UQl7t9s_H0xag3-l/s1600/architecture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGl1yRpBfvDYWkdfCtwR0bMR1KlLlUOZ7EO4fme0TJYvRfAponnJ-GaCS2SnL8wyfDAF9euSiG-lVJu4CBuAzyTVbMQIhWvTlItltKK0UgoKyT7SwrbldvowC2l1-1UQl7t9s_H0xag3-l/s640/architecture.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the midst of the Middle Eastern refugee crisis roiling Europe, an unrecognized “micronation” on a chunk of no-man’s-land between <b>Serbia</b> and <b>Croatia</b> is trying to market itself as a haven for tens of thousands fleeing civil war in places such as <b>Libya</b>, <b>Iraq</b>, <b>Yemen</b>, and, especially and most tragically, <b>Syria</b>. The so-called <b>Free Republic of Liberland</b> was declared April 13th (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/04/liberland-czech-libertarian-declares.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time in this blog</a>; see also article <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/06/bulgarian-declares-mass-of-floating.html" target="_blank">here</a>) on three nearly empty square miles of grassy fields, thickets, and riverbank along the Danube River, one of several shards of intersecting claims by Serbia and Croatia as a result of the shifting course of the winding Danube over the decades. Neither side presses its claim, but both are clear that Liberland has no right to set up shop there. The republic is intended as a libertarian utopia, founded by <b>Vít Jedlička</b>, a 31-year-old officer in the <b>Czech Republic</b>’s small libertarian <b>Free Citizens’ Party</b> (<i><b>Strana svobodných občanů</b></i>). Croatian and Serbian police and border agencies have quietly foiled attempts by Jedlička to do more than raise a flag there. Meanwhile, despite Jedlička’s big talk to the contrary, the chances of any kind of international recognition are close to nil.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQB-a9oTOBdA9ZbX2Z0FEuO7CZtogT5hQ7bRyWHDfjf5hq8GSUQkBqOjHTBs0aAqzoEDQIF1hR5WePrbGBOcLT1oOf3hERUOqpRmjq51YrMUZojW3bHu0fXSRZqKC9OsbF1ZOurOC5v1Nb/s1600/liberland+jedlicka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQB-a9oTOBdA9ZbX2Z0FEuO7CZtogT5hQ7bRyWHDfjf5hq8GSUQkBqOjHTBs0aAqzoEDQIF1hR5WePrbGBOcLT1oOf3hERUOqpRmjq51YrMUZojW3bHu0fXSRZqKC9OsbF1ZOurOC5v1Nb/s400/liberland+jedlicka.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Vit Jedlička</td></tr>
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Indeed, even among the hundreds-strong community of micronations around the world, Liberland is an outcast. As far as I can tell, only the risible <b>Kingdom of North Sudan</b>—founded last year along the border between <b>Egypt</b> and <b>Sudan</b> by an American from <b>Virginia</b> so that he could make his seven-year-old daughter a “princess” (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/virginia-dad-crowns-7-year-old-daughter.html" target="_blank">as reported at the time in this blog</a>)—<a href="http://www.etrend.sk/ekonomika/v-europe-vznikol-novy-stat-liberland-zalozil-ho-cech-chce-skoncovat-s-byrokratickymi-opachami.html" target="_blank">has extended diplomatic recognition</a>. They have also gotten an endorsement from <b>Switzerland</b>’s libertarian <i><b>Unabhängige Partei</b></i> (“<b>Independence Party</b>”) (which uses the exclamatory acronym <i><b>UP!</b></i>); much of Liberland’s support and organizational energy seems to come from Switzerland. (Unlike many libertarian parties which pander to the xenophobic right, UP! <a href="http://snbchf.com/chf/2014-chf/swiss-radical-libertarian-up-schweiz/" target="_blank">supports abolishing all restrictions and controls</a> on movement across any borders.) The reaction from other micronational leaders, who tend, at least in Europe and <b>Australia</b>, to be more left-leaning than Jedlička, has been cold. Now Jedlička is raising more hackles by wading into the debate over the flood of migrants to the Balkans by offering citizenship to anyone willing to pay his $10,000 passport fee. A couple weeks ago Jedlička told media that among the 380,000 or so citizenship applications received since April <a href="http://inserbia.info/today/2015/09/jedlicka-20000-syrians-apply-for-liberland-citizenship/" target="_blank">are now 20,000 from Syria</a> and nearly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/24/almost-10000-syrians-have-registered-to-live-in-a-country-that-might-not-exist/" target="_blank">2,000 from Libya</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7wnufPzKJ5b0VB0EJAJGmXxzWzCwplBqO81hr61jAib0fWtDeaTqqYeRKrOTrlxJvkeYSYPxJm1-Dnl8nDN-3gtoYMEstZ-ryF-U7MrlZRRQoqgglmK8m5F0WFeHpvROZaObZRHphBBC/s1600/liberland-670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7wnufPzKJ5b0VB0EJAJGmXxzWzCwplBqO81hr61jAib0fWtDeaTqqYeRKrOTrlxJvkeYSYPxJm1-Dnl8nDN-3gtoYMEstZ-ryF-U7MrlZRRQoqgglmK8m5F0WFeHpvROZaObZRHphBBC/s640/liberland-670.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Bring us your tired, your poor, your hungry ...<br />
and we will take every last penny they have and then turn them out into the cold.”</td></tr>
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This is not surprising. Other micronations, such as the <b>Grand Duchy of Flandrensis</b>, a <b>Belgium</b>-based micronation project which administers no territory (though it claims some islands off <b>Antarctica</b>), report a sharp increase in applications from the Middle East. Doubtless this is because of desperate and ill-informed war refugees grasping at straws and not realizing from their web-surfing that some online citizenship-application forms are not from physically existing countries. On September 22nd, <b>Niels Vermeersch</b>, the Flandrensisian grand duke and head of state, posted <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Grand-Duchy-of-Flandrensis-172315646160830/timeline/" target="_blank">on his <b>Facebook</b> page</a>, “On a weekly basis we receive requests for the Flandrensisian citizenship from the Middle East with often sad stories. Those people are so desperate that they are willing to try everything and they don’t seem to know that Flandrensis is only a micronation. We believe that every human being has the right to a home and a decent life. That is the world we want for our future generations to come!”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkocSQ6sm0Qwqh_6RqopV-W8vbdRZXoHhEuDyd9OF0OYiVHfxIrf-ZumN_rHx_ZwUpNsLMzGo6yGzVpx5rxe0bAYimJs1F7mkTPA7bHGKAb_5e_RKDqXdkvnnm1GCH0muOj9_NWzg2Ksu/s1600/Liberland+proposed+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkocSQ6sm0Qwqh_6RqopV-W8vbdRZXoHhEuDyd9OF0OYiVHfxIrf-ZumN_rHx_ZwUpNsLMzGo6yGzVpx5rxe0bAYimJs1F7mkTPA7bHGKAb_5e_RKDqXdkvnnm1GCH0muOj9_NWzg2Ksu/s400/Liberland+proposed+map.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big plans for Liberland</td></tr>
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Thus the news out of Liberland particularly infuriates Vermeersch. “Where do they plan to put them?” the post continued. “How will they feed them? Where will these people work & live? ... Liberland used this crisis to get press and it is cruel to give those people false hope, using misery of refugees to make money.” <b>Georg von Strofzia</b>, foreign minister of the <b>Kingdom of Ruritania</b> (the fictional nation from <i>The Prisoner of Zenda,</i> asserted to be within the Czech Republic), added, “Three square miles! That’s 7 square kilometers! This isn’t <b>Dubai</b>. There is no treasury to pay to import food for these people. The sanitation problems would be a nightmare.” This, of course, despite long-term plans to erect a futuristic city on the spot. (See the artist’s rendering at the top of this article for one such plan.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64qcqdKwo7dfbyBXsBae0maYFm4zmpN_U1GAezt-wusYZutvbtxeSO3SIVh7kuy5B2jtFKxEKrstawrB0qf77wijWZKW-iyQC3lIQ47-X7e6N2By9NMredRFRbhH6VPPRQsXk2HEXtNJV/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64qcqdKwo7dfbyBXsBae0maYFm4zmpN_U1GAezt-wusYZutvbtxeSO3SIVh7kuy5B2jtFKxEKrstawrB0qf77wijWZKW-iyQC3lIQ47-X7e6N2By9NMredRFRbhH6VPPRQsXk2HEXtNJV/s400/hqdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alleged scenes of Liberlandic nation-building can be found on YouTube.<br />
But it’s not clear if anything is actually being built there.</td></tr>
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Prince <b>Jean-Pierre IV</b>, of the <b>Principality of Aigues-Mortes</b>, a high-profile micronation in a walled Medieval city on the Mediterranean coast of <b>France</b>, agreed, writing September 30th on the “Micronations and Alternative Polities” Facebook group, “We all agree that Liberland is a scam and that it gives a very bad image of micronationalism.” And <b>Olivier Touzeau</b>, Emperor of <b>Angyalistan</b> (a French-based micronation whose territory is “the horizon”), <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/micronationsandalternativepolities/966363280086470/" target="_blank">added in what became an official communiqué</a> on behalf of the <b>Organization of Microfrancophony</b> (<i><b>Organisation de la MicroFrancophonie</b></i>) and co-signers from Aigues-Mortes, “The micronations who publish passports are faced with the serious problem of the refugee crisis and the actions needed to give hope to humanity without fooling anyone. Liberland just did exactly the opposite of what can be hoped from a serious micronational project. We strongly condemn the despicable initiative of the leader of the free Republic of Liberland, offering Syrian refugees to come to his claimed territory for $ 10,000. The free Republic of Liberland is a media smokescreen that throws ridiculous and vain shadows at the expense of human distress on the ideals of most serious micronations and shows thus the full extent of the intellectual swindle it stands for.” (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/07/micronations-sign-alcatraz-accords.html" target="_blank">my recent blog article</a> for more on these micronations.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flag of the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis</td></tr>
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So far, several other micronations have signed on to Emperor Olivier’s declaration, including, in addition to Aigues-Mortes and Flandrensis, the <b>Cyanocitta Cristata Principal Republic</b> (an environmental project; <i>Cyanocitta cristata</i> is the scientific term for the bluejay), the <b>Principality of Hélianthis</b>, <b>Ladonia</b> (on the coast of <b>Sweden</b>), the <b>Empire of</b> <b>Lemuria</b> (not to be confused with either the Indian Ocean protocontinent or the mythical “sister city” to <b>Atlantis</b>), <b>Lykosha</b> (an online community which gathers under a lupine banner), the <b>Republic of Navalon</b> (an ecological “floating island” project), the <b>Republic of Padrhom</b>, the <b>Holy Empire of Réunion</b> (declared by citizens of <b>Brazil</b> on the eponymous French territory of the African coast), Ruritania (see above), the <b>Kingdom of Ruthenia</b> (not to be confused with <b>Transcarpathian Ruthenia</b>, a.k.a. <b>Ukraine</b>’s <b>Transcarpathia</b> (<i><b>Zakarpattia</b></i>) oblast, discussed frequently in this blog—e.g., articles <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/will-transcarpathia-be-next-donetskor.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/07/ukrainian-right-sector-fascists-light.html" target="_blank">here</a>), the <b>State of Sandus</b>, the <b>Republic of Saint-Castin</b> (located within <b>Quebec</b>), and the <b>Consulat of Surland</b> (five islands in the Moselle River, in France).<br />
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Jedlička even <a href="http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/164331/liberland-recruits-citizens-in-istanbul" target="_blank">went so far as to host</a>, at a hotel in Istanbul, a Liberland recruitment drive on September 16th. <b>Turkey</b> is the point of transit for most European-bound refugees from Syria and elsewhere.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H.I.M. George II, Emperor of Atlantium</td></tr>
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<b>George II</b>, Emperor of <b>Atlantium</b> (which is surrounded by <b>New South Wales</b>, <b>Australia</b>), thundered, “Liberland is a financial scam dressed up in the language of ‘freedom’ that is used by libertarians and other conservatives to deliver the exact opposite: the entrenchment of power and privilege and the denial of opportunity.” (His comments remind me that I lament still that he was unable to attend this summer’s 3rd PoliNation conference and micronational summit in the Italy-based <b>Republic of Alcatraz</b> (attended by this blogger and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/07/micronations-sign-alcatraz-accords.html" target="_blank">reported on in this blog</a>), where his presentation was to have been titled “Reclaiming Micronationalism: How Libertarians Ruined a Good Thing.”)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUFgYoZjiBlV6EsNO_7BU2fc-lKpMmfAe1BmxMRtht-neYTbzVpZS1HeKkjEVLk34EInnn-oAvQShM2v7ueykFKI92MtKn5sFqalN5HBu3IkeGzKQGV6SEbGpwgutQzKyCZREEfJHtpzV/s1600/Liberland+flag+%2526+house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUFgYoZjiBlV6EsNO_7BU2fc-lKpMmfAe1BmxMRtht-neYTbzVpZS1HeKkjEVLk34EInnn-oAvQShM2v7ueykFKI92MtKn5sFqalN5HBu3IkeGzKQGV6SEbGpwgutQzKyCZREEfJHtpzV/s400/Liberland+flag+%2526+house.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liberland’s one building. It doesn’t look like it can sleep 10,000.</td></tr>
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Jedlička may or may not have his heart in the right place, and he may or may not believe that he will really build a shining city of freedom on his little plot of land. But at the very least he needs to scale back his big talk, and not raise false hopes among desperate people.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZFYoUI4P8TeQc4PUgkjpHvM4zhTwRToCsSxUQP3rBcazVrY2dwM1kj2uwvlUqPgda_WwgmGgvGR0d-ygAerZ7p4tDqEKx2LGG3jS_oBO7q7o9QP6MZvBXdmBY8dGVfSAcTdqppuoX-r8/s1600/Vl46Xmd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZFYoUI4P8TeQc4PUgkjpHvM4zhTwRToCsSxUQP3rBcazVrY2dwM1kj2uwvlUqPgda_WwgmGgvGR0d-ygAerZ7p4tDqEKx2LGG3jS_oBO7q7o9QP6MZvBXdmBY8dGVfSAcTdqppuoX-r8/s400/Vl46Xmd.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiss volunteers scouting Liberland for a good spot for a refugee camp</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">[Thanks to Emperor Olivier, Michael Cessna, and Queen Anastasia for information for, and corrections to, this article.]</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about many micronations and other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-35200985006164530982015-09-23T13:57:00.002-05:002015-10-13T18:48:50.782-05:00Somalia’s New Autonomous Regions Hit Lethal Snags on Road to Federalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The barely functioning <b>Federal Somali Government</b> (F.S.G.) is pushing forward this fall to replace its original system of small administrative regions with large autonomous “regional states,” officially enshrining a fragmentation that has been going on over a quarter-century of civil war. But the plan is running into problems, notably with outbreaks of factionalism and fighting in the central Galmudug and Hiiraan regions. Some say it is long past time to abandon the whole idea of Somali unity.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It’s only gotten more complicated since.</td></tr>
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The most well known of these states, <b>Puntland State of Somalia</b>, has been <i>de facto</i> self-governing since 1991, when Somalia fragmented in civil war following the end of its sponsor state, the Soviet Union. Today, Puntland is in most ways independent, though the government is nominally “unionist.” Another region, the former <b>British Somaliland</b>, is the <i>de facto</i> independent <b>Republic of Somaliland</b>, which, unlike Puntland, does <i>not</i> pretend to be part of the <b>Federal Republic of Somalia</b>, though Somalia insists it is. Somaliland is diplomatically unrecognized, but treated by the <b>United Nations</b> and many states as independent in every respect other than the exchange of ambassadors—mostly because of its oil wealth, exploited by firms from the <b>United Kingdom</b>, <b>Canada</b>, the <b>United Arab Emirates</b>, and elsewhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnfPCQmzlPBkOKjdiYqRA8x18YiHZd0bSydqX4yniRZCwpSyyBUY9zC9rx0pH4QmZ3fWDfqX5Wicz9xSCDVmWtGHw0w4cEqGJ6WRmSEO7SKQ4xB_nofgoBV27OTeNIojYKulirgkQ-tvG/s1600/puntland+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnfPCQmzlPBkOKjdiYqRA8x18YiHZd0bSydqX4yniRZCwpSyyBUY9zC9rx0pH4QmZ3fWDfqX5Wicz9xSCDVmWtGHw0w4cEqGJ6WRmSEO7SKQ4xB_nofgoBV27OTeNIojYKulirgkQ-tvG/s400/puntland+flag.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puntlanders with their flag</td></tr>
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The federal government gave its blessing last July to an officially autonomous “<b>Central Regions State</b>,” just south of Puntland. (That’s the occasion for the flag display at the top of this article.) That entity has now reverted to calling itself <b>Galmudug Regional State</b> (<i>Galmudug</i> being a portmanteau of the names of the smaller <b>Mudug </b>and <b>Galduduud</b> administrative regions), the name used when it first declared itself self-governing in 2004 amidst the chaos of the Somali civil war. Galmudug’s formal establishment last year created tensions not only with Puntland—the two states’ shared border is in dispute—but with neighboring entities on its western and southern side which have long aspired, with less success, to formal autonomous status, notably <b>Ximan and Xeeb</b> (also spelled <b>Himan and Heeb</b>) <b>State</b> and <b>Hiiraan State</b>. Puntland, jealous of threats to its preeminence as a stable, economically viable, and (not incidentally) territorially expansive pseudo-state, has (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/08/puntland-its-ego-injured-by-galmudug.html" target="_blank">as discussed before in this blog</a>) repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the Somali federation whenever another autonomous state begins establishing itself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC9fDwjmAwpMtlhEbmnQxWLS2jUKVH3DLJBAJHYxv4xp5oAZ9Qx9H2FOR6LhEoW0AVgzTJegikXxB78w4w7okWG1zhSMQY5fQd6-XlkQU_u-luDKWW-rfC_gMgdc7OjDuLRaspIiLirOp/s1600/galmudug+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC9fDwjmAwpMtlhEbmnQxWLS2jUKVH3DLJBAJHYxv4xp5oAZ9Qx9H2FOR6LhEoW0AVgzTJegikXxB78w4w7okWG1zhSMQY5fQd6-XlkQU_u-luDKWW-rfC_gMgdc7OjDuLRaspIiLirOp/s320/galmudug+banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mudug + Galgaduud = Galmudug</td></tr>
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Internally, Galmudug <a href="http://www.somalicurrent.com/2015/08/28/impending-clash-as-ahlu-sunna-disown-representatives-that-signed-deal-with-galmudug/" target="_blank">is riven</a> by factionalism within <b>Ahlu Sunna</b>, a moderate Islamist militia whose conservative faction controls some areas of Galmudug, including the town of Dhusamareb. Twenty people <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/somalia-galmudug-soldiers-take-full-control-of-abudwaak-town/" target="_blank">were killed</a> in a two-day battle for Abudwaak this month between the <b>Interim Galmudug Administration</b> (<b>I.G.A.</b>) and the traditionalist <b>Ahlu Sunna Wajameeca</b> faction, with the I.G.A. securing control of the town.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Z3QZXx4qJV1lhtj3t4_J6n7WjAwdIU7VtHa9Op4IG-WY1z19VRF6xA6zdhOOduMo9WrXJzo_t_CDLzuXrkt5fR77nDc5DdC9X5PL0TPnSlDqNeWzH577xS65uyndDKcuA9I8RGb3eg9Q/s1600/Ahlusunna_Waljameeca_eedeyn_Dowladda_FS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Z3QZXx4qJV1lhtj3t4_J6n7WjAwdIU7VtHa9Op4IG-WY1z19VRF6xA6zdhOOduMo9WrXJzo_t_CDLzuXrkt5fR77nDc5DdC9X5PL0TPnSlDqNeWzH577xS65uyndDKcuA9I8RGb3eg9Q/s400/Ahlusunna_Waljameeca_eedeyn_Dowladda_FS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warring Ahlu Sunna factions make a stable Galmudug difficult to achieve.</td></tr>
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Just last week the newly elected president of Galmudug, <b>Abdikarim Guled</b>, <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/guled-galmudug-in-talks-with-puntland-to-end-hostility/" target="_blank">said</a> that Galmudug was in talks with Puntland to end their hostilities. The Puntland–Galmudug conflict swirls mostly around rival claims on the Northern Mudug administrative district (in the terms of the old, vestigial map of Somalian regions and sub-regional districts), where Galmudug’s newly relocated capital, Adado, sits. Local clans do most of the fighting in these disputes. Formerly, Galmudug used the southern part of the city of Galkayo as its capital; Galkayo straddles, <b>Berlin</b>-like, the <i>de facto</i> border between Galmudug and Puntland. Adado is farther south but is still claimed by Galmudug. Awkwardly, it is also the capital of the aforementioned Ximan and Xeeb State, an intermittently self-governing landlocked pocket of desert which theoretically aspires to be a Mogadishu-recognized autonomous regional state.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hV9hH99LBZrjTdFo7eaRMxPHZS-BBlO1qXfYkqo3xoqjLCeVaAMCT-qZ0q7A0K02-bYFvMf0Z9xWmqz141DB5b-SdeTA56lrtPR5BR-WkjDNkxk_qjwcJYSomXoMVKl2lCTDnyZzava4/s1600/galmudug+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hV9hH99LBZrjTdFo7eaRMxPHZS-BBlO1qXfYkqo3xoqjLCeVaAMCT-qZ0q7A0K02-bYFvMf0Z9xWmqz141DB5b-SdeTA56lrtPR5BR-WkjDNkxk_qjwcJYSomXoMVKl2lCTDnyZzava4/s1600/galmudug+map.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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To add to the mess, <b>al-Shabaab</b> (literally “the Youth”), a radical Islamist terror group which affiliates itself with <b>al-Qaeda</b>, is in a constant tug-of-war with these entities, the central government, and with the <b>African Union</b> (<b>A.U.</b>) <b>Mission in Somalia</b> (<b>Amisom</b>), a peacekeeping group dominated by <b>Ethiopia</b> and <b>Kenya</b>, for control of remote towns. Just last week, federal troops, joined by some of the 2,000 Amisom troops there from <b>Djibouti</b> (a country which sponsors insurgent separatists in western Somaliland, incidentally), <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/somalia-sna-amisom-troops-push-al-shabaab-out-of-key-areas/" target="_blank">drove al-Shabaab out of</a> two Hiiraan villages. <b>Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle</b> (also called <b>Hiiraan and Jawhar</b>) <b>Regional State</b> <a href="http://www.geeskaafrika.com/somalia-the-formation-of-hiiraan-and-jawhar-regional-state/9841/" target="_blank">was supposed to</a> begin its implementation process on September 1st and complete it in December. So there is a big push to stabilize that region so it can keep to its timetable. There is also tension within Amisom, since Djibouti—which sponsors insurgent separatists in western Somaliland, incidentally—<a href="http://www.mareeg.com/djibouti-denies-claims-of-hidden-agenda-in-somalia-operation/" target="_blank">suspects Ethiopia</a> of having an anti-Djiboutian agenda in the peacekeeping operations. Djibouti is ruled by its <b>Issa</b> (Somali) minority, which is in perpetual conflict with its <b>Afar</b> majority, which is also a powerful minority in neighboring Ethiopia and <b>Eritrea</b>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkU_h5u_rjDwQrs2oO6xMqvC3PYhnB9Exh90B3dmw45S1CWugafcfOuetxcF-oFkuEHetCli-DsUguoecIpcvOLStNyF-0T6snJPRuXL5M35ngXiKVRH1qjm3v16-0irXn9Mf0lHOZ4X0X/s1600/somalia+regions+old.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkU_h5u_rjDwQrs2oO6xMqvC3PYhnB9Exh90B3dmw45S1CWugafcfOuetxcF-oFkuEHetCli-DsUguoecIpcvOLStNyF-0T6snJPRuXL5M35ngXiKVRH1qjm3v16-0irXn9Mf0lHOZ4X0X/s400/somalia+regions+old.gif" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somalian subdivisions—old style ...</td></tr>
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The current parliamentary system is an arcane one involving unelected traditional clan elders as a sort of estate or upper chamber within the representative system. But one of the plans <a href="http://www.mareeg.com/coalition-government-a-likely-scenario-as-powerful-premier-endorsed-in-new-2016-roadmap/" target="_blank">being considered</a> divides Somalia into seven large legislative districts: Puntland, the <b>Interim Jubba Administration</b> in the far south (also called, at various times, <b>Jubaland</b>, <b>Jubbaland</b>, <b>Azania</b>, or even <b>Greenland</b>), the <b>Interim South West Administration</b> (also called sometimes <b>Asal</b>, just to the north of Jubaland) (see <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/puntland-now-backs-rival-south-western.html" target="_blank">article from this blog</a>), Galmudug, <b>Benadir</b>, Somaliland, and the Hiiraan–Shabeelle entity (see above). Jubaland, in particular, is supported by the A.U. and by the Kenyan military command which operates through the A.U. in southern Somalia; Kenya sees it as a useful buffer state between the Kenyan homeland and the al-Shabaab-ruled areas bent on exporting terrorism across the border into Kenya. (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/09/somalian-unity-imperiled-at-both-ends.html" target="_blank">an article from this blog on Jubaland</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fVyUBG_6ZotJAXhTqrRJjprgTh0Dgp9qPi2X1qoHdpsDhF4cLCa3LAG1Dy8zYE05xKl24pJhvJ_UPE0RFdbXDl4ZSMCovTy5czEHe8YKvT_2IAVU-YJBzjjpMCxuujd3b8hpkIpvEyRw/s1600/brit+somaliland+map.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fVyUBG_6ZotJAXhTqrRJjprgTh0Dgp9qPi2X1qoHdpsDhF4cLCa3LAG1Dy8zYE05xKl24pJhvJ_UPE0RFdbXDl4ZSMCovTy5czEHe8YKvT_2IAVU-YJBzjjpMCxuujd3b8hpkIpvEyRw/s1600/brit+somaliland+map.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and <i>old</i> old style.</td></tr>
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Somaliland, in the far northwest, will never accede to being part of the failed state of Somalia; it has done well on its own, and federal forces would never try to subdue Somaliland’s capable military. But the Puntland, Galmudug, Hiiraan–Shabelle, South-West, Benadir, and Jubaland regional states are gradually trying to normalize themselves, in almost impossible circumstances. Whether they can ever succeed is an open question. In my opinion (as I <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/02/somalia-failed-stateso-what-are.html" target="_blank">have written as long ago as 2012</a>), the problem is that the international community unanimously backs the failed idea of a central government based in Mogadishu. The world’s leading nations should grant diplomatic recognition to Somaliland and showcase the country, imperfect though it is, as the island of stability it is in its horrifically dangerous neighborhood (near, among other places, <b>South Sudan</b> and <b>Yemen</b>). This might encourage Puntland to declare independence as well (it is a quite viable state), or might convince Mogadishu to craft with local leaders a very loose confederation of four or five large regions. The alternative is today’s dysfunction, with vast areas under no clear governance and becoming a breeding ground for al-Shabaab. It would be good to get this in place before al-Shabaab, like <b>Boko Haram</b> in <b>Nigeria</b>, switches its allegiance to <b>Islamic State</b>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQ0usdy7T6MCAV0XFfFT0jI665y48nuQsRNb5zBUVR7SaQ_EY6r2tqQsxz8gTPW0mJMKXYOoAxZ86JxwllvU7oYM0fkK7HDsCsWWGRrdTk4Gl3gMFoTjjLUhMJtq6pjQxI1kOaHnNYob0/s1600/hiiraan+state+flag.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQ0usdy7T6MCAV0XFfFT0jI665y48nuQsRNb5zBUVR7SaQ_EY6r2tqQsxz8gTPW0mJMKXYOoAxZ86JxwllvU7oYM0fkK7HDsCsWWGRrdTk4Gl3gMFoTjjLUhMJtq6pjQxI1kOaHnNYob0/s320/hiiraan+state+flag.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Hiiraan State</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Puntland, Galmudug, and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-90052893387780972722015-09-10T13:46:00.001-05:002015-09-23T13:55:43.096-05:00Fiji Junta Rounds Up Islamophobes Bent on Separate Christian State on Viti Levu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZV22cGnH0jPF_7FELGTygX6F_XGdL47LfmJxXF504mKic0zhGBoJjYRR3maV4Yrhhp2tQws64TXtDZ61wuNrdc7raUEqRrj8ynoPwPShm47puwNPCbCNzUvMRTb3cr1-PflX68GJB7leY/s1600/fiji_australia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZV22cGnH0jPF_7FELGTygX6F_XGdL47LfmJxXF504mKic0zhGBoJjYRR3maV4Yrhhp2tQws64TXtDZ61wuNrdc7raUEqRrj8ynoPwPShm47puwNPCbCNzUvMRTb3cr1-PflX68GJB7leY/s1600/fiji_australia.png" /></a></div>
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The military strongman who runs the <b>Republic of Fiji</b> is continuing to crack down this month on what his government and military call a separatist insurrection on Viti Levu, the Pacific nation’s largest and most populous island.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogBjq_CUu6_S7HsRuTHbkVpRKh96S4KazFADGsb8P4MOC7sYKO3p9WAPhQKGbyF6j-y4B8QFKDSw8GVnIpXa-4WOew6OqY55pbI0znJ6xAArp2slLF9P-aijhzLb5SVU6Lnnj2KguFF11/s1600/Fiji+provinces+with+ra+and+nn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogBjq_CUu6_S7HsRuTHbkVpRKh96S4KazFADGsb8P4MOC7sYKO3p9WAPhQKGbyF6j-y4B8QFKDSw8GVnIpXa-4WOew6OqY55pbI0znJ6xAArp2slLF9P-aijhzLb5SVU6Lnnj2KguFF11/s640/Fiji+provinces+with+ra+and+nn.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The self-declared Christian republics are in Ra and Nadroga-Navosa provinces.</td></tr>
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The crisis came to international attention last month, when <a href="http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=65564&icid=4&d_str=" target="_blank">over 50 people were arrested</a> in Viti Levu’s <b>Ra</b> province, on the northeast coast, on suspicion of connection with a training camp allegedly run by a former British military officer. Authorities said the camp was training forces to help establish two separate “Christian states” declared late last year. The <b>Nadroga-Navosa Sovereign Christian State</b>, on the southwestern end of the island, in <b>Nadroga-Navosa</b> province, and the <b>Ra Sovereign Christian State</b>, in Ra, <a href="http://fijisun.com.fj/2014/11/08/ratu-oseas-sham/" target="_blank">were declared</a> in October and November 2014, reportedly with the approval and participation of some (supporters say all) local traditional chiefs. Five people were arrested and charged with sedition at the time in connection with those declarations. The presidents ceremonially installed for the two would-be states—Nadroga-Navosa’s <b>Ratu Osea Turaga Gavidi</b> and Ra’s <b>Ratu Meli Bolobolo</b>—have since died.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Pb5urg9dJpDtDl1R8Q07QIbTLLc9m-pd1T1H1PtobaruUpC3DH0l3IVQ2H1ylAvm-rz2um7-A9q7zIxnZOrMU92leF_Aga9ZSbheIwzqYjl-jf5ld8bzGeFw_jHUgKQgU8_pogNfs07p/s1600/Fiji+Nadroga+Navosa+Christian+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Pb5urg9dJpDtDl1R8Q07QIbTLLc9m-pd1T1H1PtobaruUpC3DH0l3IVQ2H1ylAvm-rz2um7-A9q7zIxnZOrMU92leF_Aga9ZSbheIwzqYjl-jf5ld8bzGeFw_jHUgKQgU8_pogNfs07p/s400/Fiji+Nadroga+Navosa+Christian+flag.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Nadroga-Navosa Sovereign Christian State flag flying over Cuvu village last month</td></tr>
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It is not entirely clear who runs the provisional governments now, but supporters in Sydney, <b>Australia</b>, some calling themselves the <b>Fiji Democracy Movement</b>, speak for the entities and have commissioned flags. Their views are disseminated to the public by a Fijian, now banned from re-entering the country, named <b>Oni Kirwin</b>, who calls herself “attorney general” of the <b>Ra and Nadroga Christian State</b> (which makes it sound like one entity, instead of two) and talks brashly of bringing her case to the <b>International Criminal Court</b> in the Hague and to <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b>. (Fiji was a <b>United Kingdom</b> colony until 1970, then a <b>Commonwealth</b> realm until a <i>coup d’état </i>in 1987.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Dl5ZlnAsTPD1_0XaLYWRK8rMMMCu6hBQq02GOP2HqbRApzeP0CxA7NicUsZDq0zb6LjVk8GFh0RRVAyGitG2qakgFagSO0mQSbtuaxSFhaROcpXm8fOJkKwiERbyGdS2FbKEa1ICRKdw/s1600/Fiji+Oni+Kirwin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Dl5ZlnAsTPD1_0XaLYWRK8rMMMCu6hBQq02GOP2HqbRApzeP0CxA7NicUsZDq0zb6LjVk8GFh0RRVAyGitG2qakgFagSO0mQSbtuaxSFhaROcpXm8fOJkKwiERbyGdS2FbKEa1ICRKdw/s400/Fiji+Oni+Kirwin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oni Kirwin</td></tr>
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Most of those arrested last month, plus others later, have been charged with sedition. In a statement, Prime Minister <b>Josaia Voreque “Frank” Bainimarama</b>, the former naval commander who heads the country’s ruling <i>junta,</i> said, “There will be no so-called independent states established in Fiji. Anyone who swears an illegal oath will face the full force of the law. Anyone who encourages political violence will face the full force of the law. We will not and should not tolerate the kind of instability certain people are currently trying to provoke. Put simply, any insurrection will be crushed.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank Bainimarama</td></tr>
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Bainimarama, who was elected prime minister last year in a shady and dirty election process, had served as president (and later as acting prime minister) in an unelected capacity since he took the reins of the 2000 <i>coup d’état</i> that unseated the elected prime minister, <b>Mahendra Chaudhry</b>. Chaudhry is from the large <b>Indo-Fijian</b> (i.e., South Asian) community—descendants of indentured laborers imported from <b>India</b> by British colonists who have become so numerous that indigenous Fijians like Bainimarama are only about 53-57% of the population. Indo-Fijians are 38%, but used to have a larger share before the <i>coup </i>and a wave of emigration. Reliable numbers are hard to come by, since demographics has become such an explosive source of political tension in this tiny nation of around 900,000 that census-taking has been nearly abandoned. Bainimarama builds his support on Indo-Fijians as much as on indigenous Fijians.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlNrOhw2xweCJZIS3FyvlwPp7Z4_5jGKb6D9hmRYYgL0XKeY8i8f8N69X-rrLXZRq7tRQP0riLn4K0E04kLDejwL-JI1T_SE9VEcj0ZkL6Um5wWGFxKup_VsW_i-TizwTI-QpLkL6JcMp/s1600/Fiji+Christian+state+flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlNrOhw2xweCJZIS3FyvlwPp7Z4_5jGKb6D9hmRYYgL0XKeY8i8f8N69X-rrLXZRq7tRQP0riLn4K0E04kLDejwL-JI1T_SE9VEcj0ZkL6Um5wWGFxKup_VsW_i-TizwTI-QpLkL6JcMp/s400/Fiji+Christian+state+flag.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The collective flag for the Ra and Nadroga-Navosa Sovereign Christian States</td></tr>
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Christians (mostly Methodists) make up 58% of the Fijian population, including 6% of Indo-Fijians but over 90% of the remaining population, which includes indigenous Fijians and those with origins in <b>China</b>, Europe, or elsewhere in Oceania. Indigenous Fijians have only recently regained their slim majority, and the phrase “Christian state” as it is used in the latest unrest is used by indigenous Fijians resentful of the Indo-Fijian role in politics, which is still considerable. One member of parliament, <b>Mosese Bulitavoare</b>, of the <b>Social Democratic Liberal Party</b> (<b>Sodelpa</b>), was charged with sedition recently for whipping up anti-Indian bigotry. Sodelpa has found itself in the position of <a href="http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/05/01/sodelpa-no-link-to-rebels/" target="_blank">denying publicly</a> any role in the current separatist movements.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dEuJX_EAll6L30lqeTcxHainXWhLuOJ-whsMWohWMHztf1tYPVIf5sQkb30XsYmWUy_SOwUKkQkomolyV-HZLVQxeeQ8ABn135aN_gdBPhl64tROP1sjxczHg_FlBDwUNhRAeEFu1uOk/s1600/2013-04-08+at+22-30-13-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dEuJX_EAll6L30lqeTcxHainXWhLuOJ-whsMWohWMHztf1tYPVIf5sQkb30XsYmWUy_SOwUKkQkomolyV-HZLVQxeeQ8ABn135aN_gdBPhl64tROP1sjxczHg_FlBDwUNhRAeEFu1uOk/s400/2013-04-08+at+22-30-13-M.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some neighborhoods in Fiji’s capital, Suva, feel like India.</td></tr>
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Fijian Christian activists’ concerns are less focused on Hinduism, practiced by 77% of Indo-Fijians (a third of the national population), than on Islam, even though it is practiced by only 16% of Indo-Fijians and a mere 7% of Fiji’s total population. As the <i>soi-disant</i> “attorney general” Kirwin, in Australia, <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/31/fiji-pm-distracts-overseas-plotter-threat" target="_blank">puts it</a>, “I’m not frightened or scared at all. There is a takeover in Fiji and it is not a good one. We’re concerned by Muslims. Their influence is very, very high.” She explicitly opposes constitutional guarantees of equal rights for all Fijians, regardless of ethnic background or faith. Fiji’s attorney general, <b>Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum</b>, has in particular been subjected to considerable vilification for his faith by some indigenous Christians.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy9zuQ8PHxgCcODlLKTl9Hhi6i2Ealoy3GMSjLEgFybJRM_ZS__-o0cCgNrif1e3VOgaC4s4bN_Y4KOr5L5C3VK2ISVcVSEulcmEyN9NjS9KcG87j1iLqpd54EIF14Mu0KoXs6nM_x90hS/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy9zuQ8PHxgCcODlLKTl9Hhi6i2Ealoy3GMSjLEgFybJRM_ZS__-o0cCgNrif1e3VOgaC4s4bN_Y4KOr5L5C3VK2ISVcVSEulcmEyN9NjS9KcG87j1iLqpd54EIF14Mu0KoXs6nM_x90hS/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attorney General Khaiyum has been the focus of much indigenist Christian vilification</td></tr>
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Details on last month’s arrests are hard to come by, and are usually filtered through the government’s interpretation of events. Late last month, Bainimarama <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/09/08/fiji-s08.html" target="_blank">blamed “high-profile figures”</a> in Australia for abetting the uprising, which he blamed on “enemies of modern Fiji.” This may be a reference to one of the Fijian Christian states’ loudest supporters, the Rev. <b>Fred Nile</b>, a <b>New South Wales</b> state legislator who heads the <b>Christian Democratic Party</b> (<b>C.D.P.</b>) and is a perpetual target of ridicule in Australian politics. Each year Nile publicly prays for Sydney’s annual gay-pride parade to be rained on, and he has pushed for laws banning Muslim immigration, the wearing of Muslim religious dress, and not just same-sex weddings but also pagan and Wiccan ones.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iind25WTsk3lnesVlhCR9Dz3L6TPxpJP9xKIxoOI1-r_VStyRC2NWfwhN1WOszTVYXghuDR5_XYZF_IKYsWLhbyHuKx45071EtcBhsDJ5lb0wwrLA6P-_ehBqGp7HrsWaX4RZvRC8HsS/s1600/27_fred_nile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iind25WTsk3lnesVlhCR9Dz3L6TPxpJP9xKIxoOI1-r_VStyRC2NWfwhN1WOszTVYXghuDR5_XYZF_IKYsWLhbyHuKx45071EtcBhsDJ5lb0wwrLA6P-_ehBqGp7HrsWaX4RZvRC8HsS/s400/27_fred_nile.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A defaced Fred Nile billboard in Australia</td></tr>
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Fiji is no stranger to ethnic and sectarian unrest. In addition to several <i>coups d’état</i> and the tensions between indigenous and South Asian Fijians, there is recurring separatist activity on an outer Fijian island called <b>Rotuma</b> (1.2% of Fiji’s population), which shares more with the Polynesian culture of <b>Samoa</b> and <b>Tonga</b> than with Fiji’s Melanesian one. And on Fiji’s <b>Rabi Island</b> an elders’ council of expatriates from the <b>Republic of Kiribati</b>’s <b>Banaba Island</b>, which is more Fijian than Kiribatian culturally, acts as a sort of provisional government for Banaba, where there is ongoing advocacy of either seceding as an independent state or transferring Banaba to Fiji.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMpanetdl-2L_vRK2_zDlukhYn4F2i1f8PBoo2EKQJ2_5zHwj0E8Iu_OlMA_HwVV3xtyoNITrZHMD4TjArrDUYZauvjGuUFtQrQAReWrPV29ZQXKhamRFken8qk9pkDHF_QrxXkaQg_dl/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMpanetdl-2L_vRK2_zDlukhYn4F2i1f8PBoo2EKQJ2_5zHwj0E8Iu_OlMA_HwVV3xtyoNITrZHMD4TjArrDUYZauvjGuUFtQrQAReWrPV29ZQXKhamRFken8qk9pkDHF_QrxXkaQg_dl/s400/images-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes politics in Fiji gets racial, in an ugly way.</td></tr>
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Seventy alleged “Christian state” activists await trial for sedition. Sixteen have pleaded not guilty and are due back in court on September 22nd. Due to the repressive political atmosphere in Fiji and constraints on the press, it is not clear how true any of the allegations are. One defense lawyer for the defendants, <b>Aman Ravindra-Singh</b>, has said, “We have been kept in the dark as counsel for these persons and we have yet to see any shred of evidence with regards the allegations of guns and firearms being involved in military-style training.” Nor can we rely on any kind of pressure for due process from neighbors like Australia and <b>New Zealand</b>, who regard Bainimarama’s Fiji as a crucial link in the geopolitical containment of China’s naval ambitions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKg9HnTaB2wcRH7Gef2LcVinMkywFXqSaTCO12xufDQcXMXxKo9pKTljCCP7PwY9EGHkT0Ru5vJoE1wBOwy33I7WuXisiq4XcN2kgeGvRgHeY73Sj7p9JEnKdYnbNkXCDskL3vrtL0QkUr/s1600/woman+holding+Fiji+flag_1425022299974_14068324_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKg9HnTaB2wcRH7Gef2LcVinMkywFXqSaTCO12xufDQcXMXxKo9pKTljCCP7PwY9EGHkT0Ru5vJoE1wBOwy33I7WuXisiq4XcN2kgeGvRgHeY73Sj7p9JEnKdYnbNkXCDskL3vrtL0QkUr/s400/woman+holding+Fiji+flag_1425022299974_14068324_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiji’s flag</td></tr>
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The proposed Christian states on Viti Levu are dangerously intolerant and undemocratic. The attitudes and prejudices underlying them have no place in a modern democratic nation. But neither do the military-style policing and disregard for civil rights with which Bainimarama is trying to keep the uprising down. Fiji’s <i>junta</i> may find that it is feeding the nation’s cycle of <i>coups</i> and counter-<i>coups</i> rather than stabilizing the country.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYFpT9YGA1pMpMeS7oqqFhS8gRCnHkjeESGqulfMzeEINWc8QvTKN09aMnfYVYKgf2qUgKobji-HgcaR3YPlZYLRyOKnHEwkpHZrlGoMXlo-jEoHp3drGQ26gJYjbqr98zbFGTUBIdjJGb/s1600/38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYFpT9YGA1pMpMeS7oqqFhS8gRCnHkjeESGqulfMzeEINWc8QvTKN09aMnfYVYKgf2qUgKobji-HgcaR3YPlZYLRyOKnHEwkpHZrlGoMXlo-jEoHp3drGQ26gJYjbqr98zbFGTUBIdjJGb/s400/38.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many proposed redesigns of the Fijian national flag</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Thanks to Olivier Touzeau for a correction on identification of flags in this article.]</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-52945313093357993272015-09-06T13:27:00.002-05:002015-09-09T08:38:38.736-05:00Why Does Abkhazia Get to Host the 2016 “World Cup” for Aspirant Nations?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>[Special note to readers: This article elicited a strong reaction from ConIFA, which contributed a statement to the effect that it considers itself a “non-political” organization. For that statement, please see the comments section at the end of this article. This blog welcomes and encourages a full discussion of the political and ethical implications, if one feels there are any, to ConIFA’s relationship with Abkhazia, Transnistria, Magyar irredentists, and other entities which many see as playing a negative role, to say the least, in European politics.]</b><br />
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We are used to international geopolitics inserting itself into the world of association football (that’s “soccer” to Americans). World powers sometimes use the game as a proxy war for their own tussles over what is and is not a state and where national borders lie. Examples include the ban on holding FIFA games in Russian-occupied <b>Crimea</b>, <b>Spain</b> trying to block <b>Gibraltar</b>, which it still claims, from member-state status, and ongoing politically motivated fan violence in Balkan hotspots like <b>Bosnia</b> and <b>Kosovo</b>. But now a smaller football league that was supposed to be aloof from the rougher political edges of <b>FIFA</b> (the French acronym for the <b>International Federation of Association Football</b>) is courting similar controversy.<br />
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This league, the <b>Confederation of Independent Football Associations</b> (<b>ConIFA</b>), a new organization devoted to aspirant or unrecognized states ineligible for FIFA membership, <a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/node/74166" target="_blank">decided this summer</a> that its 2016 football (soccer) world cup would be held in the <b>Republic of Abkhazia</b>, a <i>de facto</i>–independent Russian puppet state in what most of the world outside <b>Russia</b> regards as part of the <b>Republic of Georgia</b>. Despite damage and economic instability resulting from a recent history of separatist war and ongoing diplomatic limbo, Abkhazia and its capital city, Sukhumi, can, ConIFA promises, offer “top-class infrastructure” for a sporting event. But Abkhazia is bound to be a divisive choice, considering that Russian support for violent separatism in <b>Ukraine</b> since early last year—a political situation which closely parallels Abkhazia, which split away as the Cold War ended—has led to calls to boycott the Russian-hosted FIFA World Cup planned for 2018.<br />
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ConIFA is not the first league of its type. A predecessor was <b>Viva</b>, which doesn’t stand for anything but is a play on the name FIFA, also set up for national teams of unrecognized states. Viva’s first world cup, in 2006, was originally to be held in the <b>Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus</b>, a puppet state that every country in the world other than <b>Turkey</b> recognizes as part of the <b>Republic of Cyprus</b>. Northern Cyprus ended up ceding hosting duties to <b>Occitania</b> (southern <b>France</b>) after a brouhaha over Northern Cypriot demands to vet participating teams—probably the result of Turkish skittishness at that time about any kind of recognition of any kind of Kurdish entity, since northern <b>Iraq</b>’s autonomous <b>Kurdistan Region</b> was also a participant. Viva has successfully kept politics out of the team-selection process in the four subsequent Viva cup finals hosted by, in turn, <b>Sápmi</b> (the northern Scandinavian homeland of the <b>Sami</b>, or <b>Lappish</b>, people), <b>Padania</b> (separatist northern <b>Italy</b>), <b>Gozo</b> (the <b>Republic of Malta</b>’s smaller island), and Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8_0nsoUQbXU5sbzx8bgKYsA2p8p6ll3HUeDTzXyx9Su1UwxshQcqsk7sH4B9J1o0hDdP4pb3U7Bmj8PJx78iWdMSZTZuhMQtSB-6oUNzxctjryvs3Vj91sa9OGpblwIfLzanwquqWPh2/s1600/3305472_2048_1196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8_0nsoUQbXU5sbzx8bgKYsA2p8p6ll3HUeDTzXyx9Su1UwxshQcqsk7sH4B9J1o0hDdP4pb3U7Bmj8PJx78iWdMSZTZuhMQtSB-6oUNzxctjryvs3Vj91sa9OGpblwIfLzanwquqWPh2/s400/3305472_2048_1196.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sami (Lapp) footballers competing in Östersund</td></tr>
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Other participating Viva teams over the years have included <b>Monaco</b> (not a pseudo-state, but too small for FIFA nonetheless), <b>Provence</b>, <b>Zanzibar</b>, <b>Arameans Soryoye</b> (the team of the Christian <b>Syriac</b> people), <b>Darfur</b> (southwestern <b>Sudan</b>), <b>Raetia</b> (the linguistically distinct <b>Ladin</b>, <b>Friulian</b>, and <b>Romansh</b> speakers of southeast <b>Switzerland</b> and northern <b>Italy</b>), <b>Tamil Eelam</b> (the Hindus of northern <b>Sri Lanka</b>), and <b>Western Sahara</b> (the <b>Moroccan</b>-occupied <b>Sahrawi</b> homeland). Customs red tape and other logistical problems have mostly prevented <b>Southern Cameroons</b>, <b>West Papua</b>, and <b>Tibet</b> from participating. But no one was deliberately excluding anyone, or being remotely provocative. Even the Northern Cypriot team graciously conceded defeat to the Kurdish team in the 2012 Erbil games.<br />
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(Yet another organization, <b>FIFI</b> (<b>Federation of International Football Independents</b>), in 2006 held a one-off exhibition “Wild Cup” tournament in Hamburg, <b>Germany</b>, where Northern Cyprus triumphed over Zanzibar, Gibraltar, <b>Greenland</b>, Tibet, and the <b>Republic of St. Pauli</b>—this last being a fictive micronation (fictive even by micronational standards) consisting of Hamburg’s red-light district.)<br />
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The ConIFA European cup this June, for its part, was hosted in <b>Hungary</b> by <b>Székely Land</b>, a proposed state in western <b>Romania</b>’s ethnic-Magyar (Hungarian) region. <b>Padania</b> (northern <b>Italy</b>) won that 11-match series, with the <b>County of Nice</b> (in southeastern <b>France</b>), the <b>Isle of Man</b>, and <b>Felvidék</b> (<b>Slovakia</b>’s “<b>Upper Hungary</b>” region) ranking second through fourth, in that order. The first ConIFA world cup, in 2014 in Östersund, <b>Sweden</b>, hosted by <b>Sápmi</b> (<b>Lappland</b>), was won by the highly impressive Niçois team.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4AFspu27wHM1nN2uxjjDwRIKWylQal5-jlGri9NuNOdKcBu4u6LL7SsSNGjqddBgd6JbryerSa4EAhMuVuViI_rjqGGaysBdixQM7fMU83fRyMhxpaQOruBBzDNw4Nb1ohHUO80LzQKU/s1600/sicul-flag.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4AFspu27wHM1nN2uxjjDwRIKWylQal5-jlGri9NuNOdKcBu4u6LL7SsSNGjqddBgd6JbryerSa4EAhMuVuViI_rjqGGaysBdixQM7fMU83fRyMhxpaQOruBBzDNw4Nb1ohHUO80LzQKU/s400/sicul-flag.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magyar nationalists displaying the Székely Land flag in Transylvania</td></tr>
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And here, with this ConIFA line-up, the observant reader who is familiar with the minor nationalisms to which this blog is devoted will have caught perhaps a clue as to why Abkhazia, of all places, was selected to host the 2016 ConIFA cup. Start with Székely Land, an autonomist cause with nowhere near the popular momentum enjoyed by, say, <b>Scotland</b>, <b>Catalonia</b> (both of which keep a plenty high profile in FIFA football), Padania, Kurdistan, or Tibet. In fact, the idea of giving autonomy to the Magyar-dominated parts of western Romania is mostly a pet cause of the extremist far right in Hungary and Romania (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/08/transylvanian-separatist-haunt-hungary.html" target="_blank">as discussed once in this blog</a>). Autonomy for Romania’s Szeklers (Magyars) is in particular an abiding emotional rallying point for <b>Jobbik</b>, the neo-fascist ultranationalist party in Hungary, which in an election last year became Hungary’s third-largest party.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizIpZ2rJIIC6WBYqv-SBIc1ajikG1TVVnyyY-3lIRJHKjg3nAZZtEkm-m1y0aT8yRB8b-X1IJOFNh4IKzr7gOQJ3N0hWWLTqkSoEiTb-ommOfi5cImsG9v9f8IkDdNEpIyNr0bfv6nFoWu/s1600/Jobbik-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizIpZ2rJIIC6WBYqv-SBIc1ajikG1TVVnyyY-3lIRJHKjg3nAZZtEkm-m1y0aT8yRB8b-X1IJOFNh4IKzr7gOQJ3N0hWWLTqkSoEiTb-ommOfi5cImsG9v9f8IkDdNEpIyNr0bfv6nFoWu/s400/Jobbik-008.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jobbik armbands on parade</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Felvidék, or “Upper Hungary,” the formerly Hungarian-ruled parts of Slovakia, is an even obscurer cause. Slovakia is a stable, increasingly western-style state, and Hungarian is an official language in areas where speakers are more than 20% of the population. (They are 8.5% of it nationwide.) Slovakia’s Magyars are hardly separatist, but Jobbik has not forgotten them. The party specifically calls for the revocation of the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. That agreement, part of the dismantling of the defeated <b>Austro-Hungarian Empire</b> after the First World War, whittled the newly independent Hungary down to its current size, stripping away territories that had been under the Hungarian crown within the empire: all of Slovakia, a third or so of modern Romania, the <b>Vojvodina</b> province of northern <b>Serbia</b>, Ukraine’s <b>Transcarpathia</b> oblast, and significant territories which are now along the edges of <b>Austria</b>, <b>Slovenia</b>, and <b>Croatia</b>. Jobbik wants all these lands back. Only small bits of them have ethnic-Hungarian majorities today, but under Habsburg rule the German-speaking Austrian and Magyar élites ruled over smaller ethnonational groups in a political structure that was almost feudal. Hungary, when it was an Axis country during the Second World War, tried and failed to use that conflict to regain lost territories.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHDhG7HCNC-IkHzcxJvar0GISdN8mO3YIPvppu0z03EMRFUIKn-7R6dX3wNlpw5LD8RtlQal3FA_I68EY-unEdZj-WXPnUim88npcUV0qYZR2w26oU-lviFj_nhqbW3KE9XRF4c2KZxE7/s1600/Hungary+Greater+treaty+trianon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHDhG7HCNC-IkHzcxJvar0GISdN8mO3YIPvppu0z03EMRFUIKn-7R6dX3wNlpw5LD8RtlQal3FA_I68EY-unEdZj-WXPnUim88npcUV0qYZR2w26oU-lviFj_nhqbW3KE9XRF4c2KZxE7/s400/Hungary+Greater+treaty+trianon.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Light green is modern Hungary;<br />
darker green are those areas stripped from<br />
the Kingdom of Hungary after the First World War</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The County of Nice, too, is mostly a right-wing, even neo-fascist, irredentist cause. In the years of conflict leading up to Italian unification in the mid 19th century, this Mediterranean city and its environs were ceded by the <b>Kingdom of Sardinia</b>’s <b>House of Savoy</b> (soon to become the ruling house of unified Italy) to France in exchange for help fighting the Austrians. This stuck in the craw of the unification hero <b>Giuseppe Garibaldi</b>, a Niçois native who once famously said, “If Nice is French, then I am a <b>Tatar</b>.” Thus Nice shifted from a mostly Italian-speaking city to a francophone one. A claim on Nice was revived by <b>Benito Mussolini</b> during the Fascist era, and it is also included by the far-right, xenophobic, anti-Brussels <i><b>Lega Nord</b></i> (<b>Northern League</b>) in northern Italy as part of its dreamed-of “<b>Greater Padania</b>.” Oh, and of course Padania is prominent in ConIFA too (as it was in Viva). A ConIFA delegation to Nice in May of this year <a href="https://conifaofficial.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/conifa-visits-nice/" target="_blank">is prominently featured on the ConIFA website</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHClxjIdPTt5qBgkZHIDdT8C1RzRbxFqJHJNWYln-gbhOixmfRxBn5e9F9idLdjmuVba6W9KfapO83VAm3yU9uuAEButDEuKpFQpkLxx6MHVwxulUWYPopv3ntNqqzQGL6j0bP5zzR0Hk/s1600/fansplakate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHClxjIdPTt5qBgkZHIDdT8C1RzRbxFqJHJNWYln-gbhOixmfRxBn5e9F9idLdjmuVba6W9KfapO83VAm3yU9uuAEButDEuKpFQpkLxx6MHVwxulUWYPopv3ntNqqzQGL6j0bP5zzR0Hk/s400/fansplakate.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Football fans waving the Niçois separatist flag</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Abkhazia, next year’s ConIFA host, is one of two ethnically distinct parts of Georgia which split away from Georgia after the fall of Communism in the early 1990s—the other being <b>South Ossetia</b>, which, like Abkhazia, is also a ConIFA member “state.” After the brief South Ossetia War in 2008, Russia’s President <b>Vladimir Putin</b> shored up their <i>de facto</i> independence and granted them diplomatic recognition, something only a handful of other tiny states have followed the Russian example in extending. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are in fact just the longest-standing parts of an archipelago of Russian-backed puppet states in non-Russian parts of the former <b>Union of Soviet Socialist Republics</b>. Others (discussed at length elsewhere in this blog, e.g. <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/donetsk-rebels-novorossiya-fits-russian.html" target="_blank">here</a>) are <b>Transnistria</b>, in <b>Moldova</b>; the <b>Armenian</b>-dominated <b>Nagorno-Karabakh Republic</b> in <b>Azerbaijan</b> (the N.K.R. is also in ConIFA); the <b>Donetsk</b> and <b>Luhansk</b> “<b>People’s Republics</b>” established last year in eastern Ukraine; and, less concretely, possible future separatist entities in places like Transcarpathia (see discussions in this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/will-transcarpathia-be-next-donetskor.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/07/ukrainian-right-sector-fascists-light.html" target="_blank">here</a>), Ukraine’s <b>Odessa</b> oblast (see reports from this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/west-watches-helplessly-as-declaration.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/russian-ultranationalists-in-odessa-go.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and ethnic-Russian parts of <b>Kazakhstan</b>, the Baltic States, and elsewhere. Another emotional issue for Armenian nationalists and their Turkophobic puppetmasters in the Kremlin is another ConIFA “member,” <b>Western Armenia</b>, a proposed N.K.R.-type entity many Armenians would like to carve out of what is now eastern <b>Turkey</b>. (Turkey is a member of the <b>North Atlantic Treaty Organization</b> (<b>NATO</b>) and has been a bugbear of Russian nationalists since Ottoman days. Turkey and Azerbaijan are both allies of the U.S.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31AnvG90Hv-TFKsvHkw2pmcjqyu2qcwGFcO3LN3IMFI8xaQHopzeEKAn354f3AWisrC9IDlWJWhWumUhb_GlBPCE3DpyX-qM2s5I6yb65fdh62HduMCVV_3s_eY5zVhrzq3iM3shutIjZ/s1600/russian+puppet+states.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31AnvG90Hv-TFKsvHkw2pmcjqyu2qcwGFcO3LN3IMFI8xaQHopzeEKAn354f3AWisrC9IDlWJWhWumUhb_GlBPCE3DpyX-qM2s5I6yb65fdh62HduMCVV_3s_eY5zVhrzq3iM3shutIjZ/s400/russian+puppet+states.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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Transnistria, it will be no surprise, is also a target of ConIFA diplomacy, in the form of <a href="https://conifaofficial.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/conifa-visits-transnistria-we-are-ready-to-start-a-great-common-journey-with-you/" target="_blank">an official ConIFA visit just before June’s European cup</a> to Tiraspol, capital of this tiny, Russian-backed sliver of a pseudostate consisting of Moldova’s eastern edge abutting Ukraine. ConIFA would like Transnistria to host a future tournament. It also features prominently in contingent Russian plans for a takeover of more of the southern, ethnic-Russian-dominated areas of Ukraine, which mostly extend in a belt across the northern shores of the Black Sea, extending to Odessa oblast, which borders Transnistria.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkcmbp9RLg1gbyiO_KewZ7mfMFVDr9LV77duB9qB1jfmoT9lIAUkqEJpH5V_BwuzmSRZNfs1QXL227E811AlsQZGiEH5FoEolGDE_-hE2GtIv6840JIui-CFpJuq0AT4uMLm6BiL86ul0/s1600/bc0e0baa4b4937c9fc08635bf3bca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkcmbp9RLg1gbyiO_KewZ7mfMFVDr9LV77duB9qB1jfmoT9lIAUkqEJpH5V_BwuzmSRZNfs1QXL227E811AlsQZGiEH5FoEolGDE_-hE2GtIv6840JIui-CFpJuq0AT4uMLm6BiL86ul0/s400/bc0e0baa4b4937c9fc08635bf3bca.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Transnistrians in Bessarabian folk costume in a flag ceremony in Tiraspol</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Putin’s proxy expansionism, while it exploits Soviet iconography and terms like “people’s republic,” is in fact a right-wing type of enterprise, and to this end it is not surprising that it has gained the support of far-right parties in the west that might otherwise talk a lot about “freedom”—such as (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/11/strange-bedfellows-republic-of-venice.html" target="_blank">see discussion in this blog</a>) Jobbik, Lega Nord, <b>Flemish</b> separatists in <b>Belgium</b>, libertarian-leaning separatists in Venice, the <b>United Kingdom Independence Party</b> (<b>UKIP</b>), and high-profile right-wing conspiracy-mongering nuts in the <b>United States</b> such as <b>Lyndon LaRouche</b> and <b>Ron Paul</b>. Putinism shares with these far-right movements a suspicion of the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), NATO, and multilateralism in general; xenophobia focusing on a nakedly bigoted Islamophobia; and an infatuation with muscular militant nationalist leadership that in fact has more in common with 1930s Fascism than with Soviet-style Communism.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSuG9dvGpW04CkQlrKhkrFPgbIqk8DY2K8zElh0_nIWJCjpV2qmRSOw1abvyQUyOy821Sw7pWB_I3SNqtlXQLAm8lVK_vgedYh_hwDMG1Ml09HfwMeKZZI7m1JZ-trDNJgwFr-1IT7xyT/s1600/Putin+in+Milan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSuG9dvGpW04CkQlrKhkrFPgbIqk8DY2K8zElh0_nIWJCjpV2qmRSOw1abvyQUyOy821Sw7pWB_I3SNqtlXQLAm8lVK_vgedYh_hwDMG1Ml09HfwMeKZZI7m1JZ-trDNJgwFr-1IT7xyT/s400/Putin+in+Milan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putin is a darling of xenophobic Padanist separatists like these Lega Nord activists in Milan</td></tr>
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To be sure, leftist aspirant states are in ConIFA too, including the <b>Aymará</b> indigenous nation of <b>Bolivia</b>; the disinherited <b>Chagos Islanders</b> of <b>Diego Garcia</b> in the Indian Ocean, who live in exile in <b>England</b>; and <b>Cascadia</b> in the American and <b>Canadian</b> Pacific Northwest. But even some of these are causes which appeal to Putin’s anti-Western imperialism. <a href="https://conifaofficial.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/signing-of-team-aymara-chile-trip-of-our-south-america-director-jens-jockel/" target="_blank">The Aymará nation</a> includes Bolivia’s left-wing president, <b>Evo Morales</b>, who sided with Putin’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. Bolivia was one of only ten countries which sided with Russia in voting against a March 2014 United Nations resolution that upheld Ukraine’s right to territorial integrity following the Crimea annexation; the others—all of them (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/rogues-gallery-everyone-seems-to-be.html" target="_blank">as discussed at the time in this blog</a>) mostly profoundly undemocratic societies—were Armenia, <b>North Korea</b>, <b>Zimbabwe</b>, <b>Cuba</b>, <b>Nicaragua</b>, <b>Venezuela</b>, <b>Syria</b>, <b>Sudan</b>, and <b>Belarus</b>. Even <b>Iran</b>, <b>China</b>, and <b>Myanmar</b> had the decency to at least abstain. The Chagos Islanders’ cause, too (see discussion <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/12/chagossian-diaspora-in-sussex-buoyed-by.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/chagossians-squander-britons-goodwill.html" target="_blank">here</a>), is one which Putin is keen to highlight because it is an example of a serious human-rights abuse which can be laid at the feet of NATO. Along with the prominence of the above-discussed obscure neo-fascist irrendentist entities like Upper Hungary, Székely Land, and Nice, most of the teams prominent in ConIFA are ones that conform to the anti-Western, anti-NATO, anti-E.U. agenda of Putin’s new imperialism in its “near abroad.”<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpeIfeYb_E_s5gmx1yT01YaHHBMpUUMWJ06e35hS_DUz-e7nNhrFj-A3rsx87bKExJ0UwplvZSA8FiVZob-abrNGh_OGRiYhk3nFb29ciVxQsx0E6L1ienty-3RabBlEKh84xi1QI8AIa/s1600/_46072066_flags_afp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpeIfeYb_E_s5gmx1yT01YaHHBMpUUMWJ06e35hS_DUz-e7nNhrFj-A3rsx87bKExJ0UwplvZSA8FiVZob-abrNGh_OGRiYhk3nFb29ciVxQsx0E6L1ienty-3RabBlEKh84xi1QI8AIa/s400/_46072066_flags_afp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aymará Indian demonstrators with their national flag</td></tr>
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One possible result of a tournament in Abkhazia next year, and a possible later one in Transnistria, would be to spread the popularity and prestige of the Russian puppet-state model among separatist groups across the political spectrum and around the world—fitting the new pattern of parties like Lega Nord, France’s <b>National Front</b>, and Jobbik—even the otherwise-leftist Basque nationalists in Spain—lining up behind Putin’s imperialist agenda in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Playing in Abkhazia is sure to be willfully misinterpreted as a <i>de facto</i> recognition by these aspirant nations. It is worth asking who is running ConIFA—or, perhaps, who has taken it over or whom it serves. While Putin plays hardball in Ukraine, the lurch to the right in separatist soccer may be playing into the hands of his stealth “soft power” offensive against the West.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByxPM91s7v7weLxtMdRByHaxWL5CheBYkvzRzC86nmtyXg_R3EreM5hY0AmBhNdhNMznLFcm06n4eW3zIOJjQ65GWIVLe0u6Ev4_xkeyzvGgL-VQ9orEddFpXn745ZvLSbFWpYDnZyBxQ/s1600/putin-tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByxPM91s7v7weLxtMdRByHaxWL5CheBYkvzRzC86nmtyXg_R3EreM5hY0AmBhNdhNMznLFcm06n4eW3zIOJjQ65GWIVLe0u6Ev4_xkeyzvGgL-VQ9orEddFpXn745ZvLSbFWpYDnZyBxQ/s320/putin-tea.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Abkhazia, Transnistria, and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-8726982720408615492015-08-09T08:06:00.000-05:002015-08-09T08:53:11.361-05:00Uganda Fragmenting: Kooki Chieftainship Secedes from Buganda Kingdom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A small, previously relatively unknown polity in south-central <b>Uganda</b>, the <b>Kooki</b> chieftainship, <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201508060380.html" target="_blank">quietly declared independence a couple weeks ago</a>, the culmination of long-simmering conflict with its larger neighbor—or, depending on whom you ask, overarching entity—the <b>Buganda Kingdom</b>. The Kooki prime minister, <b>Hajji Idi Ahmed Kiwanuka</b>, announced his small nation’s independence from Buganda in a July 27th letter to the Baganda prime minister, <b>Charles Peter Mayiga</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uganda’s kingdoms, of which Buganda is the largest and most powerful.<br />
(The Rwenzururu live between Toro and the Congolese border.)</td></tr>
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The <b>Republic of Uganda</b> is not a monarchy, but, in a situation similar to that in <b>Malaysia</b>, <b>Nigeria</b>, or <b>South Africa</b>, monarchies within the state are tolerated and semi-officially established, though without constitutionally recognized powers. The <b>Ganda</b>, occupying a large area in south-central Uganda, are the ethnic group for which the country as a whole is named (<i>Ganda</i> are the people, <i>Baganda</i> the adjective, <i>Buganda</i> the kingdom, and <i>Luganda</i> the language). They are the largest group—both in population (almost 17%) and in territory (almost 25%)—and were favored under the<b> United Kingdom</b>’s colonial rule, which pitted smaller kingdoms against one another in a “divide and rule” tactic. Uganda’s second president, <b>Milton Obote</b>, who was from the far north, came to power with Baganda support and made the large Buganda Kingdom nearly coextensive with the Ugandan state itself. This lopsided situation provoked a rebellion by the neighboring <b>Ankole Kingdom</b>, Uganda’s second-largest, and Obote eventually disestablished the kingdoms in 1967. <b>Yoweri Museveni</b>, an Ankole, rose to power in 1986 and restored the kingdoms but only to semi-official status—and he refused to restore some monarchies, including, surprisingly, his own Ankole one, as part of his own agenda to disrupt and divide the normal monarchic order. Territorial disputes and rivalries have raged for decades and threatened to destabilize what would otherwise be one of central Africa’s most stable and prosperous countries.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rakai District, homeland of the Kooki, is in the south of the Buganda Kingdom.</td></tr>
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The Kooki, a few tens of thousands of people (though figures are hard to come by) living in the Rakai District along the border with <b>Tanzania</b>, have for more than a century been considered a chieftainship and a county <i>within</i> the Buganda Kingdom, the result of an 1896 merger that was part of the British plan for Baganda hegemony. Opinion is fiercely divided today as to whether the Kooki were traditionally a sovereign monarchy and whether Kooki is its own language or is instead a dialect of Luganda. (The homeland is tiny: Kooki County is only one of six in Rakai, a district considerably smaller than Rhode Island.) Only within the past few years have the Kooki introduced their own flag and anthem.<br />
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“Irrespective of individual and/or institutional perspective,” Kiwanuka’s letter last month read, “Kooki, by all laws governing the Republic of Uganda, is a lawful cultural institution with a hereditary leader, governance structures, with due protocol and indeed independence.” But the letter pledges “co-existence” with other institutions.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hajji Idi Ahmed Kiwanuka, the Kooki prime minister,<br />
at the site of the soon-to-be-built palace of the Kooki monarch</td></tr>
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This had been building for some time. In April, the Kooki <a href="http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=73094" target="_blank">announced the formation</a> of their own sports league, and in May <a href="http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=73725" target="_blank">construction began</a> on a new palace for <b>Kamuswaga Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli II</b>, the Kooki “cultural leader”—a hereditary monarch sometimes called a sovereign “chief,” less commonly a “king.” Much of the funding for the palace comes from <b>Japan</b> and <b>Abu Dhabi</b>. A <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201408150842.html" target="_blank">conflict over land</a> last year led to <a href="http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=68497" target="_blank">the establishment in November 2014 of a Kooki land board</a> in the local government, in defiance of Baganda claims on Kooki lands. And talk of independence had been swirling since Kabumbuli II’s <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201409291684.html" target="_blank">swearing in of his new cabinet</a> in September 2014, usually followed by official denials that Kooki were planning a secession. Most bizarrely, Ganda–Kooki relations had deteriorated to such a point that the Kamuswaga <a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/655149--we-are-not-cannibals.html" target="_blank">felt the need to deny to the press</a> accusations that Kooki were cannibals and, less slanderously, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzWYbnQ84Uo" target="_blank">that they ate rats</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The royal Kamuswaga of the Kooki nation denying,<br />
in a November 2014 press conference, that his people were rat-eaters.</td></tr>
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Uganda has also been plagued by territorial conflict between the <b>Rwenzururu</b> and <b>Toro</b> kingdoms in the southwest of the country, demands by the Ankole and <b>Songora</b> for restoration of their monarchies, and separatist stirrings among the non-monarchical <b>Acholi</b> of the north, homeland of the dreaded <b>Lord’s Resistance Army</b>. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An official portrait of the Kooki monarch</td></tr>
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(If Kooki people did, one way or another, secede from Uganda itself, it would risk confusion among outsiders with the identically-pronounced <b>Kuki</b> nation in far-eastern <b>India</b>, some of whom seek to secede from <b>Manipur</b> as a separate state within India and some of whom wish to merge with the related <b>Mizo</b>, <b>Chin</b>, <b>Lushai</b>, <b>Hmar</b>, and <b>Naga</b> peoples (sometimes called collectively <b>Zo</b>) to create a vast, independent <b>Kukiland</b> or <b>Zale’n-gam</b> republic straddling what is now India’s border with <b>Burma</b> (<b>Myanmar</b>). <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/10/israel-admitting-hundreds-from-ethnic.html" target="_blank">As discussed earlier in this blog</a>, some Mizos and Kukis in particular identify themselves as descendants of ancient <b>Israel</b>’s <b>Tribe of Manasseh</b>, with kindred traditions, customs, and lore—a claim which has been bolstered by the investigations of folklorists and has even been accepted by the Israeli government, which has allowed thousands of these <b>“Mizoram Jews”</b> to settle in the <b>West Bank</b> and elsewhere.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uganda’s Kooki are no relation to the Jewish-identified Kuki people of eastern India.</td></tr>
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There has not yet been a firm Baganda reaction to the Kooki declaration. There is significance to the borders and divisions among Uganda’s kingdoms not only because kingdoms have authority over local land distribution but because many foresee a day when Uganda might break up along these very borders. In fact, perhaps the most strident separatist movement is Buganda itself. With the capital, the vast center of the national territory, and the very essence of Ugandan national identity, the departure of the Ganda from the lopsided union would mean the collapse of Uganda itself. Then we might see lethal chaos of the sort that has plagued adjacent countries in what is clearly the most dangerous neighborhood in the world: the <b>Democratic Republic of the Congo</b>, <b>South Sudan</b>, and <b>Rwanda</b>. Many have been waiting for the provocation that might spark just such a civil war. The Kooki declaration is probably not that spark. But it adds to the tension—stoking Baganda discontent with the current order, inspiring other kingdoms with their own latent grievances, and perhaps bringing a day of division a little closer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Apollo Sansa Kabumbuli II with his consort, H.R.H. <b>Omugo Rebecca Talituuka</b></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Uganda’s kingdoms and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-58634018026782886092015-07-15T11:35:00.000-05:002015-07-18T07:20:35.883-05:00Ukrainian “Right Sector” Fascists Light Transcarpathian Fuse<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYWZ8i3fTbZi0SPlocLT6OGPmpufSbPiX8A1EzoixEeqVzHdK7aDYvt99IXN5ysuhs2lbg2mt60Vpdh6PnVTvD_uwwZ-6YTibxE_kJhnW5OkrNJvnov-vkT7BDkS-7iC1LxdE9S2nXXvW/s1600/1021507521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYWZ8i3fTbZi0SPlocLT6OGPmpufSbPiX8A1EzoixEeqVzHdK7aDYvt99IXN5ysuhs2lbg2mt60Vpdh6PnVTvD_uwwZ-6YTibxE_kJhnW5OkrNJvnov-vkT7BDkS-7iC1LxdE9S2nXXvW/s640/1021507521.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Right Sector ultranationalists in Lviv this week</td></tr>
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Back in early 2014, during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, I predicted on this blog that <b>Crimea</b> would be the next part of the post-Soviet “near abroad” to explode in violence between pro-Russian and anti-Russian forces. And indeed it was that republic within independent <b>Ukraine</b> that the <b>Russian Federation</b> invaded and annexed mere weeks later. This blog has followed the ensuing Russian war on Ukraine closely, and almost exactly a year ago (in an article in this blog titled <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/will-transcarpathia-be-next-donetskor.html" target="_blank">“Will Transcarpathia Be the Next Donetsk—or Crimea?”</a>), I opined that Ukraine’s <b>Transcarpathia</b> was a likely place for President <b>Vladimir Putin</b>’s next infringement of Ukrainian sovereignty. Well, this week the Transcarpathian domino has started to fall, but not quite in the direction I had predicted.<br />
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First, some history. The <i>oblast</i> (province) of Transcarpathia is a former part of the <b>Austro-Hungarian Empire</b> which between the world wars was attached by the <b>League of Nations</b> as the eastern “tail” of the new composite republic of <b>Czecho-Slovakia</b>. Its inhabitants included, and continue to include, <b>Ukrainians</b>, <b>Magyars</b> (<b>Hungarians</b>), <b>Russians</b>, and a long-standing local minority called the <b>Ruthenian</b>, or <b>Rusyn</b>, people—Slavs whose communities are also found in nearby <b>Poland</b> and <b>Slovakia</b> today, where they tend to be known as <b>Lemkos</b>. When <b>Adolf Hitler</b> moved into Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, <b>Ruthenia</b> and <b>Slovakia</b>, separately, declared independence, but Transcarpathia was annexed by the <b>Axis</b> government in Hungary. After the Second World War, Transcarpathia, also called <b>Carpathian Ruthenia</b> or <b>Carpatho-Ukraine</b>, was grafted onto the <b>Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic</b> under <b>Josef Stalin</b>. In the centrally-governed Soviet empire, boundaries between constituent S.S.R.s had little meaning, but after the <b>Soviet Union</b> dissolved in 1991, Ukraine became one of the places where, as Putin was later to put it, people went to bed as Soviet citizens and woke up as a Russian minority in a foreign country. (Imperialist karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?) Autonomy-minded residents, including some ethnic Hungarians (12% of the oblast), Russians (3%), and Ruthenians (by then less than 1%) declared an independent <b>Republic of Subcarpathian Rus’</b> in 1993, but it fizzled.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Transcarpathia</td></tr>
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In 2008, as Putin was flexing his muscles in the neighboring <b>Republic of Georgia</b>—formalizing, through war, two of its constituent regions, <b>South Ossetia</b> and <b>Abkhazia</b>, as Russian puppet states—trouble was brewing in Ukraine as well. Again, Transcarpathians rose up, this time declaring an independent <b>Republic of Carpathian Ruthenia</b>. This the government in Kyiv would not indulge, claiming that it was all being staged by Moscow—which, given the events in Georgia, remains a reasonable interpretation.<br />
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In 2012, the new ethnically Russian–Polish–Belarussian pro-Kremlin president of Ukraine, <b>Viktor Yanukovych</b>, helped enshrine Russian, Ruthenian, Hungarian, and other minority languages as official. But after Yanukovych fled and was impeached in the popular “Euro-Maidan” uprising in 2014, the largely progressive, democratically-minded new government included strong elements of the Ukrainian-nationalist far right, including the fringe neo-fascist group <b>Right Sector</b> (<i><b>Pravyi Sektor</b></i>), who, because of their importance in the Euro-Maidan movement, were given a small political role, including some ministries. (I discussed Right Sector and kindred groups in <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/03/donetsk-putsch-nipped-in-bud-but-could.html" target="_blank">an article last year</a>; see also <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-loses-grip-on-crimea-prepares.html" target="_blank">this article</a>.) These right-wing elements pushed through an erasure of minority language rights—a policy which was quickly reversed, under international pressure, but remains for many non-Ukrainian-speakers a symbol of the new regime’s disdain for them and a pretext for ethnic-Russian separatism in places like Crimea and the Donbas. The cause of Transcarpathian autonomy has an ally (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/rogues-gallery-everyone-seems-to-be.html" target="_blank">as discussed earlier in this blog</a>) in <b>Jobbik</b>, the pro-Kremlin right-wing extremist nationalist group which is now Hungary’s third-largest political party. As in <b>Kharkiv</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/third-domino-falls-in-ukraine-ethnic.html" target="_blank">see article from this blog</a>) and <b>Odessa</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/russian-ultranationalists-in-odessa-go.html" target="_blank">see article from this blog</a>) oblasts, a pro-Kremlin “people’s republic” has been declared in Transcarpathia, but without any actual rebel control of territory as there is in the self-declared pro-Kremlin <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> and <b>Luhansk People’s Republic</b> in southeastern Ukraine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7S-5A6tC7_lsmsxDlNrNTz-fDU0qgpkrFrXTDp3SaE1eAksIDIZksFZvVROCYqc-T7nqfdrQyqsPGU6l3NwilYH5tU-PaiUqQnO2YWRBIUfKRe-lj2jmlO9S3xLid8IcuQNtxUVAknf3/s1600/Rightist+Sector+Wolfsangel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7S-5A6tC7_lsmsxDlNrNTz-fDU0qgpkrFrXTDp3SaE1eAksIDIZksFZvVROCYqc-T7nqfdrQyqsPGU6l3NwilYH5tU-PaiUqQnO2YWRBIUfKRe-lj2jmlO9S3xLid8IcuQNtxUVAknf3/s400/Rightist+Sector+Wolfsangel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right Sector yobbos with “<i>Wolfsangel</i>” armbands</td></tr>
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Observers have long wondered now which “near abroad” territories Putin would, either directly or, as he prefers, through “false flag” battalions and agents provocateurs, try to invade next: Odessa? <b>Transnistria</b>? <b>Transcaspia</b>? Transcarpathia? But in Transcarpathia the spark that lit the fuse this week has come from the aforementioned ultranationalist Ukrainian group Right Sector, which has thousands of active, armed members throughout Ukraine and as many as 10,000 fighting Russian troops in the Donbas. On July 11th, according to Ukrainian prosecutors, two dozen armed militants wearing Right Sector insignia exchanged gunfire with police at a café in the Transcarpathian city of Mukachevo, destroying police and civilian cars with grenade launchers and killing two officers. Five Right Sector fighters were wounded, but most fled to a nearby rural area where police engaged them in a siege—still ongoing three days later as this is being written, with <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/sbu-says-over-ten-right-sector-members-surrounded-in-zakarpattia-region-393435.html" target="_blank">ten Right Sector militants holding out against state police</a> (though reliable up-to-date reports are difficult to find).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL12zcA1f6PJYc9hJ3qM7C-Zw8nSKE3nSbxMBLW-Npv6g5aOLMr-qbU-iKe7zvDx38fzAYj-7HwmQcZejfIsB094VZQ3TaKlnzfi0CZuFefZ5dBIJTucA_jUIfSCZ3Zqwd2rQiaIb7BAMu/s1600/russian+puppet+states.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL12zcA1f6PJYc9hJ3qM7C-Zw8nSKE3nSbxMBLW-Npv6g5aOLMr-qbU-iKe7zvDx38fzAYj-7HwmQcZejfIsB094VZQ3TaKlnzfi0CZuFefZ5dBIJTucA_jUIfSCZ3Zqwd2rQiaIb7BAMu/s400/russian+puppet+states.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Transcarpathia join the archipelago of Russian puppet regimes?</td></tr>
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Russian news reports the same day <a href="http://en.apa.az/xeber_two_people_killed__eight_wounded_in_righ_229625.html" target="_blank">described Right Sector attacks on a gymnasium and a police station</a>, also in Mukachevo. Two were killed at the gym, owned by a local legislator, <b>Mikhail Lanyo</b>, allied with the Yanukovych regime.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
Ukrainian fascists with red-and-black flags were a minority but a high-profile presence</div>
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during the Euro-Maidan movement of 2013-14.</div>
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Some descriptions of events say the incident in the café was a meeting between rival gangs—one run by Lanyo, who controls border crossings with the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) states of <b>Romania</b>, Hungary, and Slovakia, and rivals in league with Right Sector and a local politician named <b>Viktor Baloha</b>, who is reported to run Transcarpathia as his own mafia-style fief. The summit meeting, planned to divide territories in gangland-politics fashion, got out of hand, drawing in the police.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIIGms6Hx4hYJ0Qy8Q4sJGX_PZSxSJfmha6zZPmdCNAOWgCpWB81c-11CMrqb43__2GzEBYIGPWSOvhyfthLQ3uiJ-TtFayWbLUVY-FXq66wvNAPT0y4gaAacr1KJ2tAt6wV6S25f4vw1/s1600/220px-Baloha_Viktor-MNS_UA-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIIGms6Hx4hYJ0Qy8Q4sJGX_PZSxSJfmha6zZPmdCNAOWgCpWB81c-11CMrqb43__2GzEBYIGPWSOvhyfthLQ3uiJ-TtFayWbLUVY-FXq66wvNAPT0y4gaAacr1KJ2tAt6wV6S25f4vw1/s1600/220px-Baloha_Viktor-MNS_UA-photo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viktor Baloha</td></tr>
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As this article goes to press, two Right Sector participants in the events have been taken to Kyiv for questioning, a six-year-old boy taken hostage by Right Sector has been released, and Right Sector volunteer troops, who seem extremely well organized, have established roadblocks on the main Kyiv–Zhytomyr road. Right Sector spokespeople also say they are working <i>with</i> the Ukrainian secret police, the <b>S.B.U.</b> (<i><b>Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny</b>,</i> or <b>Security Service of Ukraine</b>), to restore order—which, if true, anyone should find a bit worrying.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Right Sector roadblock in Transcarpathia this week</td></tr>
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The same state-owned and state-controlled Russian media outlets that the Kremlin uses as a tightly scripted propaganda machine disseminating lies about the conflict in the southeast <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/war-in-ukraine-second-front-transcarpathia-russia/27125339.html" target="_blank">are describing what sounds like a near-takeover of Ukraine by Right Sector forces</a>. Ukraine’s president, the former chocolate tycoon <b>Petro Poroshenko</b>, on the other hand, <a href="http://rbth.com/news/2015/07/11/ukranian_prosecutors_begin_investigation_into_mukachevo_events_47678.html" target="_blank">says the events are only about smuggling and not about geopolitics</a>. Meanwhile, however, hundreds of Right Sector protestors in Kyiv are demanding the resignation of the minister of the interior, <b>Arsen Avakov</b>. In Ukraine’s second city, Lviv (the Ruthenian capital in the days of the <b>Habsburgs</b>), according to Russian media, Right Sector demonstrators <a href="http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150713/1024539561.html" target="_blank">lowered E.U. flags at the main administrative building</a> and replaced them with their own ultranationalist red-and-black flags. And Right Sector demonstrations are being reported in cities as far apart as Kharkiv in the east and Ternopil in the west.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right Sector on parade</td></tr>
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In a reshuffle reminiscent of the decision earlier this year to install the former Georgian president, <b>Mikheil Saakashvili</b>, as governor of the ethnopolitically tense Odessa oblast, Poroshenko’s administration <a href="http://uatoday.tv/politics/luhansk-governor-moskal-to-head-zakarpattia-region-in-western-ukraine-456513.html" target="_blank">today named</a> <b>Hennady Moskal</b>, the chairman of Luhansk oblast’s State Military and Civil Administration, to be Transcarpathia’s new governor. In both cases, Poroshenko seems interested in shoring up Ukraine’s geopolitically vulnerable regions by putting them in the charge of politicians that have direct experience with surrendering to Russia. Moskal <a href="http://charter97.org/en/news/2015/7/14/159661/" target="_blank">supports Poroshenko’s position on the conflict</a>, saying that Transcarpathia is a “green channel” through which billions of dollars’ worth of commodities, including timber but mostly Belarussian cigarettes, <a href="http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3983111&Itemid=1" target="_blank">are smuggled</a> into the E.U. via light planes, drones, and tunnel systems, as well as co-opted border controls.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Euro-Maidan movement was—sometimes unfortunately so—a big tent.</td></tr>
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One possible cause of the rise of Right Sector at this particular juncture is popular Ukrainian dissatisfaction with Poroshenko’s handling of the ongoing undeclared war with Russia. The government has all but written off Crimea as lost and seems willing to accept Putin’s demand that Ukraine turn the 24 out of 27 oblasts it still controls from a unitary state (as the constitution designates it) into a loose confederation—which is rightly seen as a euphemism for allowing ethnic-Russian-dominated areas to be hived off as Russian puppet states. Even the E.U. is urging Poroshenko to throw in the towel and allow “federalism.” (Interestingly, Putin has no appetite for autonomy or federalism within the Russian Federation itself, which he rules from the center with an iron fist.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putin preparing to ride westward across the Steppes</td></tr>
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As in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk—and as in Odessa, where a deadly arson fire last year that killed pro-Russian demonstrators stoked anti-Kyiv feeling—one must be especially on guard when local events seem to provide a perfect pretext for Russian intervention. As one Ukrainian political analyst, <b>Petro Kralyuk</b>, <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/war-in-ukraine-second-front-transcarpathia-russia/27125339.html" target="_blank">puts it</a>, Russia’s <b>Federal Security Service</b> (<b>F.S.B.</b>, successor to the <b>K.G.B.</b>) “has successfully picked up the baton. For Russia, Transcarpathia and its surroundings remain an important region. Taking into account the blurred identity and ethnic diversity of the local population, the field of activities for these agents is quite fertile.” Kralyuk calls this week’s apparent rise of Right Sector violence “a wonderful gift” for Moscow. If events follow the earlier scripts, Putin will now say that neo-Nazis (Right Sector) are taking over Ukraine and that it is time to help the poor ethnic Russians, Hungarians, and Ruthenians in Transcarpathia “liberate” themselves from Kyiv’s tyrrany, just like Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. With Russian help, of course. Out of the goodness of Putin’s heart. You read it here first.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Transcarpathia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, Transnistria, and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-75856557039485946672015-07-14T10:29:00.000-05:002015-07-14T10:29:53.595-05:00Micronations Sign “Alcatraz Accords” Environmental Treaty at Central Italy Summit<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ7SKsdGeXGQmEhU31r1S6ryeSvzhp40yrD_A6Tii1FB9t4XKUlcdzISnupBeHhcxf-0kT8l8LgKWe3duxQ8oOW0SbvS6z-3uDh1n-Wda6upJCio0iMpEz2FWey3Qi8_YEup3IQwQnaRx/s1600/11692765_10153007238713657_6876486240703576197_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ7SKsdGeXGQmEhU31r1S6ryeSvzhp40yrD_A6Tii1FB9t4XKUlcdzISnupBeHhcxf-0kT8l8LgKWe3duxQ8oOW0SbvS6z-3uDh1n-Wda6upJCio0iMpEz2FWey3Qi8_YEup3IQwQnaRx/s640/11692765_10153007238713657_6876486240703576197_n.jpg" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></td></tr>
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Though “Springtime of Nations” is in many ways a news blog, rarely do I present first-person reportage on these pages. Earlier this month, however, I was an invited speaker <a href="http://www.arciperugia.it/gubbio-alla-libera-universi-di-alcatraz-le-micronazioni-hanno-firmato-il-trattato-ambientale-2015/" target="_blank">at the 3rd PoliNation conference</a>, at the <b>Free Republic of Alcatraz</b>, in the Umbrian mountains of Italy, and was able to witness the signing of a first-of-its-kind environmental treaty by heads of state and other representatives of some of the world’s most high-profile micronations.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoyN9JZO5KOOah5U_DJe1k8e-ZIf6ygOnhmlcQRSHrTM6RFqYfOu7JiCAjV-zwgLFDquli0WHwbuWb_DZMy8ko-QTUcTacwz5xQgg2IOOz0IMYwIIOquPB96u27Xc8r93r9qHp037KWHK/s1600/11693899_10153011157488657_3965372344651876542_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoyN9JZO5KOOah5U_DJe1k8e-ZIf6ygOnhmlcQRSHrTM6RFqYfOu7JiCAjV-zwgLFDquli0WHwbuWb_DZMy8ko-QTUcTacwz5xQgg2IOOz0IMYwIIOquPB96u27Xc8r93r9qHp037KWHK/s640/11693899_10153011157488657_3965372344651876542_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daily life in the Free Republic of Alcatraz, with some of its 111 inhabitants<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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Titled the Alcatraz Environmental Treaty of 2015, the document, signed on July 5th, charges that “the large states of the world have been ineffective and their efforts have been lacking in intention and execution concerning efforts to improve the environment, preserve existing natural resources, and reduce carbon emissions to slow the change of the climate.” Signatories agree to set a global example through responsible ecological stewardship in their own (usually tiny) territories, especially bee populations; to urge the preservation of <b>Antarctica</b> as a nature preserve set aside for scientific research only, even after the expiration of the Antarctic Treaty in 2020; to create “highly localized sub-currencies that will promote the local production and consumption of goods and produce”; to support efforts “to clean the human-generated debris from the oceans and reduce the ‘garbage patches’”; and to financial restructuring to reduce poverty and inequality.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXqcCqjCorkk5T0sY1BQp37qAbuPLmJeagDen-0KpRq_GHk_4Qcq939BDPlLAP1l-BxhHq6onaB-F_2hOkeZdtEfGYhSRU0oouNblbI_zTMZEEiMAPBUeZJALtEXJM4Q0jJzNWyhZJWK28/s1600/11540939_10153011149533657_4473713364084653722_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXqcCqjCorkk5T0sY1BQp37qAbuPLmJeagDen-0KpRq_GHk_4Qcq939BDPlLAP1l-BxhHq6onaB-F_2hOkeZdtEfGYhSRU0oouNblbI_zTMZEEiMAPBUeZJALtEXJM4Q0jJzNWyhZJWK28/s640/11540939_10153011149533657_4473713364084653722_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen Carolyn and other dignitaries work on a draft of the final environmental treaty<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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In addition, the treaty demands, “for every square foot of land or glacier lost to melting ice sheets and rising ocean levels, compensation from the large landed nations of one square meter of dry/non-threatened land so that we may relocate the climate refugees that will be created as a result of the rising waters.” (See <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/10/miamians-fed-up-with-gop-indifference.html" target="_blank">my recent article which addresses the issue of the survival of low-elevation nations in a warmer planet with higher sea levels</a>.) You can read the full text of the treaty <a href="http://www.angyalistan.com/330.php" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSeJjHdUlHOczw-NpBZmqgk16cVSYhv1zKbU5c0EkWLyRKLzxLdhVtI9KtgH-3rGxcBmfFU01fucDjrP-QBxqiwKvGucu3zVvf7JWm3qFM2gUKk89rhFMDvllXZQEwidlM0m7spigmZIo/s1600/aigues-mortes-la-cit%2525C3%2525A9-de-saint-louis-aigues-mortes-france%252B12807520606-tpfil02aw-11752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSeJjHdUlHOczw-NpBZmqgk16cVSYhv1zKbU5c0EkWLyRKLzxLdhVtI9KtgH-3rGxcBmfFU01fucDjrP-QBxqiwKvGucu3zVvf7JWm3qFM2gUKk89rhFMDvllXZQEwidlM0m7spigmZIo/s400/aigues-mortes-la-cit%2525C3%2525A9-de-saint-louis-aigues-mortes-france%252B12807520606-tpfil02aw-11752.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For the Principality of Aigues-Mortes, one of the world’s lowest-elevation nations,<br />
rising sea levels are no small matter.</td></tr>
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Signatories of the treaty are <b>Queen Carolyn</b> of <b>Ladonia</b>; <b>Grand Duke Niels</b> of <b>Flandrensis</b>; President <b>Iacopo Fo</b> of Alcatraz; the <b>Republic of Benny André Lund</b>; <b>Prince Jean-Pierre IV</b> of <b>Aigues-Mortes</b>; <b>Emperor Olivier</b> of <b>Angyalistan</b>; <b>Sogoln Yg Ysca</b>, president of the <b>Institut Fomoire</b>; and a delegation from the otherwise acephalous (leaderless) <b>Bunte Republik Neustadt</b>. Other nations have since expressed an interest in adding their names to the treaty.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMVFhx37ypacDRe3Ou-i3aIpDIlTVVhFBzRjO209i0MZCY9jHFq-ztYWy62dSYuI1EIZidgn1VaFZaL0APewQx9xV0CIOGg5TnXmGbENM2PIxdFuVgGNSwKyu6WQQS7VOIAjl0gc-sQZ4/s1600/11667371_10153007238903657_83755324760222928_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMVFhx37ypacDRe3Ou-i3aIpDIlTVVhFBzRjO209i0MZCY9jHFq-ztYWy62dSYuI1EIZidgn1VaFZaL0APewQx9xV0CIOGg5TnXmGbENM2PIxdFuVgGNSwKyu6WQQS7VOIAjl0gc-sQZ4/s400/11667371_10153007238903657_83755324760222928_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Alcatraz<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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The <b><a href="http://www.ladonia.org/" target="_blank">Royal Republic of Ladonia</a></b> is a 1-square-kilometer art installation of sorts on the coast of <b>Sweden</b>, founded by <b>Lars Vilks</b>, a Latvian–Swedish <i>avant-garde</i> artist now living an underground, <b>Salman Rushdie</b>–style existence due to being targeted by jihadists for his cartoons of the Prophet <b>Muhammad</b>. (The apparent oxymoron in Ladonia’s full name is reconciled through their unique form of government, <i>remony</i> (republic + monarchy).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0w7zpUtUfDrQs-Z-wwYS9YG1rrr602eTEuj1T1rZ06_68kMN-Bx-i9HbVBDqG7Z0NV4gr08leIz-APNFnF_CZOBo2HtGB35l_dh7QiEh99grI8lF8CYIrFylsxdWYsBABOoOcQhevPXX/s1600/MG_7394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0w7zpUtUfDrQs-Z-wwYS9YG1rrr602eTEuj1T1rZ06_68kMN-Bx-i9HbVBDqG7Z0NV4gr08leIz-APNFnF_CZOBo2HtGB35l_dh7QiEh99grI8lF8CYIrFylsxdWYsBABOoOcQhevPXX/s400/MG_7394.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladonia is an unusual place</td></tr>
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The <b><a href="http://www.flandrensis.com/" target="_blank">Grand Duchy of Flandrensis</a></b>, founded by <b>Niels Vermeersch</b> of <b>Belgium</b>, claims five islands off the coast of Antarctica, arguing that the Antarctic Treaty bars territorial claims by states but not individuals such as <i>soi-disant</i> heads of state.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.bennylund.com/" target="_blank"><b>Republicof</b> (<i>sic</i>; one word) <b>Benny André Lund</b></a> is a native of Norway, born in 1977, who has styled himself as a sovereign nation of one. He has changed his name legally to this phrase, including the first name <i>Republicof.</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKvcNtc8eB8pHEZsg2tWGAnVFCsBZqX5QWYdvrvG1p1XBj7S3Fpgf92OesZ1X4TWZBgx23yjPY21HTMq4ouaY17aQySqUT_-VrqqROWktEiD2OBvMXYclqvGoanNvUwdyBe_ANAlr34aZ/s1600/11249019_10153011157803657_1603343175597723825_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKvcNtc8eB8pHEZsg2tWGAnVFCsBZqX5QWYdvrvG1p1XBj7S3Fpgf92OesZ1X4TWZBgx23yjPY21HTMq4ouaY17aQySqUT_-VrqqROWktEiD2OBvMXYclqvGoanNvUwdyBe_ANAlr34aZ/s320/11249019_10153011157803657_1603343175597723825_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Republic of Benny André Lund and his flag<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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The <b><a href="http://www.principaute-aigues-mortes.com/" target="_blank">Principality of Aigues-Mortes</a></b> is a small town on the coast of <b>France</b>’s <b>Provence</b> region, centered on a Medieval castle, which promotes tourism as well as causes such as sustainability, including through the use of its local currency, the <i>tune,</i> serving a function much like that outlined in the Alcatraz treaty. One invited speaker, the Belgian journalist <b>Julien Oeuillet</b>, called Aigues-Mortes the world’s most successful micronation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimY52KSdKRWlbY4bCUS9id9-OH1Z9wgPvGASTLBaxws6cbB4rjkXalgZ_gbS7HsweG8LjUy5_XGuecJfGpMF7RR-7vJ8vNUXYXpbDCeTRI2KvZR2Wf3Jr9nPolS8I4Kgi-5_hjOs-ajVcj/s1600/11235388_10153007237968657_3446876134569749024_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimY52KSdKRWlbY4bCUS9id9-OH1Z9wgPvGASTLBaxws6cbB4rjkXalgZ_gbS7HsweG8LjUy5_XGuecJfGpMF7RR-7vJ8vNUXYXpbDCeTRI2KvZR2Wf3Jr9nPolS8I4Kgi-5_hjOs-ajVcj/s1600/11235388_10153007237968657_3446876134569749024_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vive la microfrancophonie!</i><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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The <b><a href="http://www.angyalistan.com/" target="_blank">Empire of Angyalistan</a></b>, founded in 1999 and active in environmental causes, is a nation whose territory is the horizon: it is always around us and can never be reached.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNbYu5lRi0GT4p8Hs0TmG1n0qDnSkjgCvQMhtP33ovB5VGYN51brOurbN3Wgfiwp8p1qNh_HPzpXUD0v_-4Ij-nHWRFR_GYuDqqSZV-exnWjsz2CJTekZbkAA9XFabdPDPXVGN6bNCQRH/s1600/11707667_10153007240713657_8679626136523736315_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNbYu5lRi0GT4p8Hs0TmG1n0qDnSkjgCvQMhtP33ovB5VGYN51brOurbN3Wgfiwp8p1qNh_HPzpXUD0v_-4Ij-nHWRFR_GYuDqqSZV-exnWjsz2CJTekZbkAA9XFabdPDPXVGN6bNCQRH/s640/11707667_10153007240713657_8679626136523736315_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emperor Olivier explains Angyalistan<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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The <a href="http://www.fomoire.org/" target="_blank"><b>Formori Institute</b> (<i><b>Institut Fomoire</b></i>)</a>, mostly found in the French-speaking world, is a landless international nation (structured much like a fraternal order) which claims for itself the heritage of the Formori (a.k.a. Fomorians or Fomoire), a legendary race of chthonic demi-gods who were defeated, according to <b>Irish</b> mythology, by the <b>Tuatha Dé Danann</b>, the pantheon of pre-Christian <b>Celtic</b> deities. (The present writer had the honor of being inducted into the Formori’s <b>House of the Yew</b>. Contact me privately if you are curious about my name in the (re)constructed Formoric tongue; I am still a novice in Formori protocols and confidentiality.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zwIwQy40HrFbdywbkLDiWdFObJZ6eK_Pxr8Yxi8mipViEopKQAbS2JAwMtMNjfW5z76TTdkBMV_JBepmcG-nd9awBRTw4UeLv33WFapD1P_XDvdbyDR_u4lbltihyf8-55wQTyymqhgl/s1600/11701083_10153011158348657_4063154239124921204_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zwIwQy40HrFbdywbkLDiWdFObJZ6eK_Pxr8Yxi8mipViEopKQAbS2JAwMtMNjfW5z76TTdkBMV_JBepmcG-nd9awBRTw4UeLv33WFapD1P_XDvdbyDR_u4lbltihyf8-55wQTyymqhgl/s400/11701083_10153011158348657_4063154239124921204_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Formori induction ceremony, at the PoliNation conference<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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The <a href="http://www.brn-dresden.de/index.html" target="_blank"><b>Colorful Republic of Newtown</b> (<i><b>Bunte Republik Neustadt</b></i>)</a>, in the former <b>East Germany</b>, is a leaderless micronation, much in the style of Copenhagen’s <b>Christiania</b> community, which is the focus of an annual music and cultural festival drawing more than 100,000 people to Dresden’s Neustadt neighborhood, which is where all the funky artist types were living when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. It sets itself against the forces of conformity, homogenization, gentrification, and the fragmentation of community in the new <b>Germany</b>. (I was also made a citizen of the B.R.N., I am proud to say.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNfuKtHpUCfMtPbVQ0_bcZ2vL0YrzuQsDVse1A3XMA_SFXS19Xdn2rDSdahqju8xXdbXpgvwFb4ZBo8nLRf3grfvzXuA99SvK4LMmpyNyH-TxgQTRm9tCzHkYxO8CyOT7K9kZEjft0HPC/s1600/10885608_10153011149213657_6757532886128961857_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNfuKtHpUCfMtPbVQ0_bcZ2vL0YrzuQsDVse1A3XMA_SFXS19Xdn2rDSdahqju8xXdbXpgvwFb4ZBo8nLRf3grfvzXuA99SvK4LMmpyNyH-TxgQTRm9tCzHkYxO8CyOT7K9kZEjft0HPC/s400/10885608_10153011149213657_6757532886128961857_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The foreign minister of the Bunte Republik Neustadt with, to his left, the B.R.N. flag,<br />
featuring a gleefully-pirated trademarked image in place of the old D.D.R.’s Masonic device<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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As for the host community of the conference, the <a href="http://www.repubblicadialcatraz.com/" target="_blank"><b>Free Republic of Alcatraz</b> (<i><b>Libera Repubblica di Alcatraz</b></i>)</a> is an area of private land near Perugia in the stunningly beautiful hills of <b>Italy</b>’s central, landlocked region of Umbria. It was founded by <b>Jacopo Fo</b>, son of <b>Dario Fo</b>, the Italian winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature, and a writer and sex guru in his own right. The <b>Free University of Alcatraz</b> (<b><i>Libera Università di Alcatraz</i></b>) has a full calendar of dance workshops, art exhibitions, conferences, music festivals, and other events and also advocates sustainability and strong local community by example.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51u7I5jWBBMebJv99y2EDbo3AmlRtB2u-QIZi9SdAdnJHLsRfkLvJjusJJoM4it5ikPkdCoMU-ndmF1_7iX4zxFLciuyPs-1vi1NVAghydBD_HIfr12tgTNn575cr5UAkoICjt2loMZR4/s1600/ecovilaggio23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51u7I5jWBBMebJv99y2EDbo3AmlRtB2u-QIZi9SdAdnJHLsRfkLvJjusJJoM4it5ikPkdCoMU-ndmF1_7iX4zxFLciuyPs-1vi1NVAghydBD_HIfr12tgTNn575cr5UAkoICjt2loMZR4/s640/ecovilaggio23.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map showing the territories of the Free Republic of Alcatraz, in the central Italian highlands.<br />
(Darn! I missed the gnome village.)</td></tr>
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Other dignitaries at the conference include <b>King Bruno</b> of <b><a href="http://noseland.ch/" target="_blank">Noseland</a></b>, a patch of land surrounded by northern <b>Switzerland</b>’s Canton of Argovia (Aargau), which has its own currency. Its king is also producer of a documentary about micronations. One of the conference’s organizers, <b>Emperor George II</b> of <b><a href="http://www.atlantium.org/" target="_blank">Atlantium</a></b> (a territory surrounded by <b>New South Wales</b>, <b>Australia</b>), was unable to attend, due to illness—to my disappointment, since he has been a supporter of my book <i>Let’s Split!</i> and is helpful to my work in other ways.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBgcA7c11mi0mdlIr2Ck-jE66u18OOamqZrqGdFMnQXpyfQo1dWWAuUlboxGWr2Uh1tZ2pL3PJ-aG5bKQWVB_x70hu2_6y4LZ2Ggm2UyI1gZKbYUAi3eezCm9-pM_cuJTRNeuFAS7X0ui/s1600/1891130_10153007231588657_2543604981966389365_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBgcA7c11mi0mdlIr2Ck-jE66u18OOamqZrqGdFMnQXpyfQo1dWWAuUlboxGWr2Uh1tZ2pL3PJ-aG5bKQWVB_x70hu2_6y4LZ2Ggm2UyI1gZKbYUAi3eezCm9-pM_cuJTRNeuFAS7X0ui/s400/1891130_10153007231588657_2543604981966389365_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruno, king of Noseland<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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Other highlights of the conference included a talk by the Austrian anthropologist <b>Irina Ulrika Andel</b> on the micronation phenomenon; a presentation on the <b>Principality of Outer Baldonia</b> by the Canadian historian <b>Lachlan MacKinnon</b>; presentations by nearly all of the micronations listed above (the playing of the Noselandic national anthem, “sung” through the nose, was a highlight); and an official statement by Queen Carolyn to announce that, contrary to what some sources on the World Wide Web still state, Ladonia is no longer in a state of war with Sweden or any other nation. (In further state business, Her Majesty <a href="https://austenasiantimes.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/austenasia-ladonia-treaty-signed-at-heathrow-meeting/" target="_blank">sealed a mutual-recognition accord</a> with the <b>Empire of Austenasia</b> at a hastily arranged meeting at Heathrow airport en route back to her home in the <b>United States</b>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7aYicTCS9Sy-QMPdWlqKbH60ohxk3fIEb_-Nxo4iG1DOLyQgse_lsgDCLm92x6WfRvYD09EmLf0BxPjwkn5fWLRRhCQ4DuNCPMZvnU_-GAh5FxjuTfex-Ao_XA1vfCXWlwHKBw9E6xV8/s1600/11704960_10153011097323657_974885287823323960_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7aYicTCS9Sy-QMPdWlqKbH60ohxk3fIEb_-Nxo4iG1DOLyQgse_lsgDCLm92x6WfRvYD09EmLf0BxPjwkn5fWLRRhCQ4DuNCPMZvnU_-GAh5FxjuTfex-Ao_XA1vfCXWlwHKBw9E6xV8/s400/11704960_10153011097323657_974885287823323960_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacopo Fo, circulating at the conference<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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As Oeuillet, the Belgian journalist (and author of a new book on impostor noblemen), put it at the conference, today’s micronations are conducting private activity using the language and symbols of public institutions, and the best of them are doing things that the recognized public institutions should be doing but aren’t. When it comes to climate change, maybe these “silly” and “self-styled” monarchs and heads of state can nonetheless help prod the real powers that be to move in the right direction.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm6_M4YoIE7qrTlKz0_eX8lpK7r_KzPxsaEoqEns5mUmYzsC87te1Blq-p87vM8fnVN1kLEW2YsedKXbpqCYI1kZ1Wa2QfjS5cC1rRfPt8JwGezc7pxvVX87wOj2SrI_Wlw78wCt7FoZ4F/s1600/PoliNation+group+photo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm6_M4YoIE7qrTlKz0_eX8lpK7r_KzPxsaEoqEns5mUmYzsC87te1Blq-p87vM8fnVN1kLEW2YsedKXbpqCYI1kZ1Wa2QfjS5cC1rRfPt8JwGezc7pxvVX87wOj2SrI_Wlw78wCt7FoZ4F/s640/PoliNation+group+photo.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A group photo of the participants in the PoliNation conference, swiped from <a href="http://www.arciperugia.it/gubbio-alla-libera-universi-di-alcatraz-le-micronazioni-hanno-firmato-il-trattato-ambientale-2015/" target="_blank">the ArciPerugia website</a>.<br />
I am at the lower right.</td></tr>
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In fact, during my stay in Alcatraz, the news came in over the radio that voters in <b>Greece</b> had thumbed their nose at the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>) in general and at Germany’s chancellor, <b>Angela Merkel</b>, in particular by rejecting the austerity measures proposed to help keep Greece in the euro zone. In jubilant celebration, Alcatraz’s queen, Eleonora Albanese, passed out <i>grappa</i> for everyone. Not, of course, because a “Grexit” would necessarily be the best thing or because anyone knows which course might be best for the people of Greece and the rest of southern Europe—but most of all, I gather, because, in geopolitics, Going Big isn’t working, and something has to give.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSwFdEuazb8Xr0KcV4lc3jzGCp7amI7E6xpT8CMoSRIdr-jgd0oSk36iu0wZfH2YS4_uHQ6eSrZVX0l1Exfzt_CfIXrYJhTRZF7PM_EVB8BiJwVirgOh4XiLtf3IgzZVmhRRXqK3JWlV_/s1600/11695791_10153006341293657_8706010382366425644_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSwFdEuazb8Xr0KcV4lc3jzGCp7amI7E6xpT8CMoSRIdr-jgd0oSk36iu0wZfH2YS4_uHQ6eSrZVX0l1Exfzt_CfIXrYJhTRZF7PM_EVB8BiJwVirgOh4XiLtf3IgzZVmhRRXqK3JWlV_/s400/11695791_10153006341293657_8706010382366425644_n.jpg" width="356" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eleonora Albanese, Queen of Alcatraz<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo by the author)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Atlantium, Ladonia, and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">this interview</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKzLGiDYJzoxLz7mqaFygTeNxxO0Qdhc4braMR3v8UTH2kS0-tQhk21x-SnITYJ2WDPaPbF34M4rNgt4EL6Y5sXXSl4WJuKKT14BgyglhJ-FugxMxFWHsX2MXQWx2op6zpIB6YUTSBMtq/s1600/11694932_10153007253768657_4208053450787112159_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKzLGiDYJzoxLz7mqaFygTeNxxO0Qdhc4braMR3v8UTH2kS0-tQhk21x-SnITYJ2WDPaPbF34M4rNgt4EL6Y5sXXSl4WJuKKT14BgyglhJ-FugxMxFWHsX2MXQWx2op6zpIB6YUTSBMtq/s640/11694932_10153007253768657_4208053450787112159_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Let’s Split! was on display at the PoliNation conference, but you can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank">buy your copy here</a>.</span></div>
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(photo by the author)</div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-8800294213322053752015-06-19T10:01:00.000-05:002015-08-11T15:26:58.397-05:00Bulgarian Declares Mass of Floating Pumice off New Zealand “Principality of New Atlantis”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s <a href="http://www.novinite.com/articles/169229/Bulgarian+Businessman+Establishes+His+Own+Country+on+Island+in+Pacific+Ocean" target="_blank">being reported this week</a> that a 59-year-old businessman from <b>Bulgaria</b> has declared what he hopes will be the world’s newest independent country: the <b>Principality of New Atlantis</b> (<b>Нова Атлантида</b>). The businessman, <b>Vladimir Yordanov Balanov</b>, has chosen as New Atlantis’s location a giant mass of floating volcanic pumice in the South Pacific measuring about 26,800 square kilometers—a bit smaller than <b>Haiti</b> or <b>Belgium</b>. (See the nation’s website <a href="http://newatlantis-principality.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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This rocky mass, generated by an underwater volcanic eruption, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/22268-huge-pumice-island-floats-in-pacific.html" target="_blank">was first reported in 2012</a> by <b>New Zealand</b>’s navy, but it is not in that country’s territorial waters. It is at approximately 168ºW and 38ºS, due east of the country’s large North Island and due south of the self-governing overseas New Zealand territory of <b>Niue</b>. It even lies significantly outside New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGClnPMJ_rUjVAwKhAwHIwXWjB-7eIgkkq0cabYf-poGsanYI38h_n7lR9XnXLIMCw-a8rPEGwxg2NvKgi0qvUhiQb4orLzYj_HTexHSJBQ5QpzBJnbt5kqQ1dh_0d61QEtUBEEwMxSiz/s1600/nz+boundary.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGClnPMJ_rUjVAwKhAwHIwXWjB-7eIgkkq0cabYf-poGsanYI38h_n7lR9XnXLIMCw-a8rPEGwxg2NvKgi0qvUhiQb4orLzYj_HTexHSJBQ5QpzBJnbt5kqQ1dh_0d61QEtUBEEwMxSiz/s400/nz+boundary.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The approximate location of “New Atlantis” in relation to New Zealand’s marine boundaries.</td></tr>
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Balanov <a href="http://novanews.novatv.bg/news/view/2014/09/29/87722/%D0%B4%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%88-%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D1%89%D0%B5-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B5-%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B2-%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%B0%D0%BD/" target="_blank">originally tried</a> to convince his native Republic of Bulgaria to annex it—there are even indications he travelled there to plant a flag—but he got no expressions of interest either from Sofia or from the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), of which Bulgaria is a member. (Bulgaria has never had any overseas territories. The E.U. does not have overseas territories itself other than overseas territories of specific member states. Some overseas territories of E.U. member states, such as <b>French Guiana</b> and the <b>Canary Islands</b>, are part of the E.U., while others, like <b>Greenland</b>, the <b>Falkland Islands</b>, <b>Curaçao</b>, and <b>French Polynesia</b>, lie outside the union while still being tethered to their mother countries. Nor has <i>any</i> Eastern European country had overseas colonies, except for one: the <b>Duchy of Courland and Semigalli</b><b>a</b>, a part of modern <b>Latvia</b> which enjoyed quasi-independence from the <b>Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth</b> in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and briefly established colonies on <b>Tobago</b> in the Caribbean—now half of independent <b>Trinidad and Tobago</b>—and on <b>St. Andrews Island</b> off the coast of what is now the <b>Republic of the Gambia</b>. (St. Andrews has been renamed Kunta Kinteh Island, named for a fictional ancestor of <b>African-Americans</b> in <b>Alex Haley</b>’s 1976 novel <i>Roots,</i> later played on television by <b>LeVar Burton</b>.))<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzKLvbCuAkemQJBU1C38jujmf7dm1G87GBqTolN9pA59hfjmTQzo0PTpFT7WJZ-Vdg_ftO47UD4o9cKjMz07bJV4v8eMpUB7rufn8Yg_lhO1yDYxbPgNt69_nMnw8R9U_a4tYlVQvGnht/s1600/Liberland+flag+of.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzKLvbCuAkemQJBU1C38jujmf7dm1G87GBqTolN9pA59hfjmTQzo0PTpFT7WJZ-Vdg_ftO47UD4o9cKjMz07bJV4v8eMpUB7rufn8Yg_lhO1yDYxbPgNt69_nMnw8R9U_a4tYlVQvGnht/s1600/Liberland+flag+of.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Liberland</td></tr>
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Other citizens of New Atlantis include, in addition to Balanov himself (who, <a href="http://newatlantis-principality.com/constitution/" target="_blank">the published constitution</a> implies, will be New Atlantis’s founding hereditary prince), Balanov’s wife <b>Galina</b>, as well as <b>Hristo Radkov</b>, vice-president of the Bulgarian chapter of <b>Mensa</b>, the international organization for high-I.Q. individuals. Balanov said that he was partly inspired by the establishment in April (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2015/04/liberland-czech-libertarian-declares.html" target="_blank">reported at the time in this blog</a>) of the tiny libertarian micronation of <b>Liberland</b>, on the border between <b>Serbia</b> and <b>Croatia</b>—a project headed by a Czech but largely, it seems, funded and staffed via <b>Switzerland</b>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LHNYKdAWlDEea5e4Xxpw4cjB8lZALLk_NfDCE0PyMyopDZVsdH2mDphHLe6td-LwTfzkFp9_9YG5CeubOQFT5oN_ZWWDCfl9rSIJpYmoab3zB24H2acApirXKZoHcK_I5vYjnk6ELGGP/s1600/Liberland+location.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LHNYKdAWlDEea5e4Xxpw4cjB8lZALLk_NfDCE0PyMyopDZVsdH2mDphHLe6td-LwTfzkFp9_9YG5CeubOQFT5oN_ZWWDCfl9rSIJpYmoab3zB24H2acApirXKZoHcK_I5vYjnk6ELGGP/s320/Liberland+location.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In this map of disputed and unclaimed areas along the Serbian-Croatian border, the green area (“Siga”) is “Liberland,” while “Pocket 1” is the proclaimed territory of the Kingdom of Enclava (see below).</td></tr>
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Liberland is situated in a 3-square-mile area consituting one of several no-man’s-lands along the disputed border. The Liberland project had already inspired one other micronation: a group of tourists from Poland later that month <a href="http://rt.com/news/261661-enclava-microstate-serbia-croatia/" target="_blank">declared</a> a <a href="http://enclava.org/" target="_blank"><b>Kingdom of</b> <b>Enclava</b></a> along the border between Croatia and <b>Slovenia</b>. But the Slovenian foreign ministry quickly pointed out that “Enclava” was not <i>terra nullius</i> but was actually undisputed Slovenian territory, even though admittedly the two states have not finalized the demarcation of their border. Enclava’s founder, <b>Kamil Wrona</b>, calling himself King <b>Enclav I</b>, then relocated his 134-citizen project to one of the true no-man’s-lands on the Danube River near Liberland (see map above). But Croatian and Serbian police have consistently done everything they can to shut down Liberland’s publicity stunts and flag-raisings.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloihYDQjvKwyWj6hTO6B7p2-RzgwfmxM6m42O7Q8B1X0Er-QRGRVDjLtTXzmqfl5GWdKynrZYR0PPK30ba4mvdfs91VKyv454V6MrRtJopEwHA4XgeuKJnFio6bQneLPNK8yl_NWA6urk/s1600/TheSun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloihYDQjvKwyWj6hTO6B7p2-RzgwfmxM6m42O7Q8B1X0Er-QRGRVDjLtTXzmqfl5GWdKynrZYR0PPK30ba4mvdfs91VKyv454V6MrRtJopEwHA4XgeuKJnFio6bQneLPNK8yl_NWA6urk/s640/TheSun.jpg" width="368" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <b>U.K.</b>’s <i>Sun</i> tabloid has covered the Enclava story, since Britain, which has a large Polish population, is home to some who are connected the project.</td></tr>
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The Bulgarian founders of “New Atlantis” may yet prove to be making the same mistake that Liberlanders, Enclavans, and many other micronationalists have made—assuming that because a scrap of land is technically unclaimed, no state will interfere with the founding of an independent entity there. A libertarian Lithuanian-American real estate mogul named <b>Michael Oliver</b> made this mistake in the early 1970s, when he barged tons of sand from <b>Australia</b> to the Minerva Reefs, a set of low seamounts between <b>Fiji</b> and <b>Tonga</b> which did not poke above water for enough of the tidal cycle to be classified under international law as “territory.” But as soon as the reef was built up enough to pass legal muster, <b>Taufa’ahau Tupou IV</b>, Tonga’s king, claimed it, and sent a naval vessel to eject Oliver and his nascent <b>Republic of Minerva</b>. (Today, the reefs have eroded away once again to nothingness, but rival claims are still being made by Tonga, Fiji, and one “<b>Prince Calvin</b>,” an American who says he is the “island’s” monarch.) Oliver’s similar “seasteading” project in <b>Palmyra Atoll</b>, a <b>United States</b> territory near <b>Hawai‘i</b>, got even less far.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrR2JKQX86BnoqfBXz0tmFs6jIKYqmAaQRNWrxq4sD_8DKhXYwkue5zMJqR3srvnl0olC9cWnDqMwRBwiZVNSmdsfPKFIoQUeeW6QYg79TaAlmVzO034lZ2_oz-YwZKszI1TczkzwYn2/s1600/350px-Voyages_of_Dr_Dolittle_p293.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrR2JKQX86BnoqfBXz0tmFs6jIKYqmAaQRNWrxq4sD_8DKhXYwkue5zMJqR3srvnl0olC9cWnDqMwRBwiZVNSmdsfPKFIoQUeeW6QYg79TaAlmVzO034lZ2_oz-YwZKszI1TczkzwYn2/s1600/350px-Voyages_of_Dr_Dolittle_p293.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spidermonkey Island, a floating island off the coast of <b>Brazil</b> invented by <b>Hugh Lofting</b> for the Doctor Dolittle novels, would not qualify as “territory” under international law because, like the New Atlantis pumice patch, it is not anchored to the ocean floor. Here, some whales under Dolittle’s command help move Spidermonkey Island to a more convenient spot.</td></tr>
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The “New Atlantis” mass of pumice stays above water throughout the tidal cycle, but it is not legally “land” either, since it is floating, not anchored. Whether New Zealand, its nearest neighbor, will tolerate any state-building there remains to be seen. Certainly, with no source of freshwater and no supply ports anywhere near by, it would be difficult to colonize. Perhaps Balanov was also inspired by the recent <b>Image Comics</b> series titled <i>Great Pacific,</i> which envisions a do-it-yourself nation called <b>New Texas</b> founded atop an (actual existing, sadly) floating mass of plastic in the northern Pacific Ocean. The comics series, however, remains silent on many of the insuperable logistical barriers to such a project.<br />
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Balanov and compatriots may also want to consider a new name for their principality. The term <i>New Atlantis</i> may well derive from the use of the name <i>Atlantis</i> in <b>Ayn Rand</b>’s 1957 novel-format libertarian manifesto <i>Atlas Shrugged,</i> in which it, along with <i>Galt’s Gulch,</i> was a label for the hidden mountain refuge in <b>Colorado</b> where the world’s leading industrialists relocated themselves after dropping out of society so that they could live in peace and prosperity while the greedy, lazy “second-handers” bent on the redistribution of wealth suffered the utter implosion of the rest of the world’s now rudderless economy. (Just to clarify: in Rand’s novel, these industrialists were supposed to be the <i>good</i> guys.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vladimir Balanov posing with the Bulgarian and New Atlantean flags</td></tr>
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Also, this isn’t even the first use of the name <i>New Atlantis.</i> In 1964, <b>Ernest Hemingway</b>’s brother <b>Leicester Hemingway</b> founded his <b>Republic of New Atlantis</b> on a bamboo raft lashed to an old Ford engine block floating off the coast of <b>Jamaica</b>. And in 1624, Sir <b>Francis Bacon</b> published a description of a fictional utopian “New Atlantis” on an island called Bensalem off the coast of <b>Peru</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of Leicester Hemingway’s Republic of New Atlantis (1964)</td></tr>
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But the oddest thing about the name is that New <i>Atlantis</i> is not in the Atlantic but in the <i>Pacific.</i> Why don’t they call it New Lemuria?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original, <i>original</i> New Atlantis, as envisioned by Sir Francis Bacon</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks to Peppino Galiardi of the Kingdom of Cavaleria for alerting me to some sources and information for this article.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about the Republic of New Atlantis and many other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7xjlXGDpVxPO3x1F_Va6uAHkAlcqJ0vJETaGihyz5G1APaYzibP3yOczQRyFA2i4QH1uEI1TJqxXFsVmS522ayA1dhhDO0UW2Pvb8sLMQedTzTQLqLaUoUmiW6aol0fjD3RlnFKDcQlZ8/s1600/Official+Let%2527s+Split+cover+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7xjlXGDpVxPO3x1F_Va6uAHkAlcqJ0vJETaGihyz5G1APaYzibP3yOczQRyFA2i4QH1uEI1TJqxXFsVmS522ayA1dhhDO0UW2Pvb8sLMQedTzTQLqLaUoUmiW6aol0fjD3RlnFKDcQlZ8/s320/Official+Let%2527s+Split+cover+image.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
<br />Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-54244663180894900202015-06-11T08:50:00.001-05:002015-07-14T10:26:51.723-05:00Read an Interview with Chris Roth, Author of “Let’s Split!”, on the “Library Juice” BlogRead <a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">an interview with Chris Roth</a>, author of <i><b>Let’s Split!</b>,</i> on <a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/" target="_blank">the <b>“Library Juice”</b> blog</a> ...<br />
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Click <a href="http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=5013" target="_blank">here</a> for the interview.<br />
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a> </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a sort of encyclopedic atlas published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Containing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"> 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), <i>Let’s Split!</i> is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span>Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-22819320383794455862015-06-09T08:27:00.002-05:002016-01-19T07:47:23.563-06:00Philadelphia Apartment Building Claimed as Sovereign “Moorish” Territory on 30th Anniversary of MOVE Bombing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMCEKRtpDyibteULpHS0DiyygTgdsTt7VQ2uz43Wz3-lhQGnJBl25R9diuO6CMqQD1qhbpyHmnIfWo8Ikjmzv3nNH3IHvZ1a-Tj_3mjseCg70yipsXyGuFHdOmrRzG1dOX3rmzbmiRQa7/s1600/2954DA6400000578-3109668-image-m-4_1433353753305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMCEKRtpDyibteULpHS0DiyygTgdsTt7VQ2uz43Wz3-lhQGnJBl25R9diuO6CMqQD1qhbpyHmnIfWo8Ikjmzv3nNH3IHvZ1a-Tj_3mjseCg70yipsXyGuFHdOmrRzG1dOX3rmzbmiRQa7/s1600/2954DA6400000578-3109668-image-m-4_1433353753305.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new Black nationalist micronation in Philadelphia?</td></tr>
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The city of Philadelphia, <b>Pennsylvania</b>, has never healed from the horrific events of May 1985, when police helicopters bombed an urban compound rented by the radical Black nationalist organization <b>MOVE</b> and the mayor ordered firefighters to stand aside while 65 homes burned to the ground, after a siege followed police attempts to evict the group. MOVE, a (heavily armed) communitarian, back-to-nature movement, had been branded a terrorist organization linked to the killing of a police officer seven years earlier, though in the 1985 eviction case had done little more than torment neighbors with political diatribes delivered through bullhorns. Last month, media and activists <a href="http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/05/13/thirty-years-move-still-hurts/" target="_blank">revisited the MOVE siege</a> on its thirtieth anniversary, which came amid a new civil-rights movement across the <b>United States</b> focusing on police brutality against <b>African-Americans</b>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcK-Ge7iA_uGaYQwdWMDO4cCC8ypy7qxVURsNRFQzahv-uVFenZh5EtLvfymIs5Iqd0EucS6WjCPJVubfOU92Fs1cJ4k35pIAnyzcWuElbOFX_GcFkr3XXd_l1czStCnsJEvAv97_fq-9/s1600/Move-bombing-history3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcK-Ge7iA_uGaYQwdWMDO4cCC8ypy7qxVURsNRFQzahv-uVFenZh5EtLvfymIs5Iqd0EucS6WjCPJVubfOU92Fs1cJ4k35pIAnyzcWuElbOFX_GcFkr3XXd_l1czStCnsJEvAv97_fq-9/s640/Move-bombing-history3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How Philadelphia police handled an eviction complaint in 1985.</td></tr>
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It was in this climate that four African-American activists facing eviction from another Philadelphia apartment building <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150603_Birthright_or_burglary_.html" target="_blank">invoked Black nationalism last week</a> and tried to turn a minor court hearing into an international incident. They say the entire building is a sovereign territory, not part of the United States.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEqnC1mi90wy08ZdSVLnwJSfOC7yFECT8JhvRju8Oq-6B6gSzfp-u7zBuhwrJZ-CTKLr8ZlJaJOYlUqsdukprS2VeEJhTQ0bukkchgLALgI1pMNm5S224c3QfZsGZ4QPgCyhoTDzHIHv4G/s1600/Moorish+perp+walk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEqnC1mi90wy08ZdSVLnwJSfOC7yFECT8JhvRju8Oq-6B6gSzfp-u7zBuhwrJZ-CTKLr8ZlJaJOYlUqsdukprS2VeEJhTQ0bukkchgLALgI1pMNm5S224c3QfZsGZ4QPgCyhoTDzHIHv4G/s1600/Moorish+perp+walk.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tenant in the latest dispute being arrested last month</td></tr>
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At the June 2nd hearing addressing defiance of an eviction order by the landlord, <b>Francine Beyer</b>, the four tenants of the apartment at 13th and Hamilton identified themselves as “Aboriginal Indigenous <b>Moorish Americans</b>,” refusing to recognize the court’s right to call them or its authority over the building, which they regard as “theirs by birthright,” according to the <i>Philadelphia Daily News,</i> and not subject to U.S., state, or municipal law.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT8Krff5QRNz6IPmhUy7g80N3CGb1mKmPP8nGBra5HN68T6VvBqfLu7zEcl19C255Z_OpA33tAVTLcXZHUWAIxOEa6lCTVNBy60h96E0t8C0Fs_ph2Vadtjse7jZ5WX6_KOJyBG3bPbuTG/s1600/Moorish+phillie+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT8Krff5QRNz6IPmhUy7g80N3CGb1mKmPP8nGBra5HN68T6VvBqfLu7zEcl19C255Z_OpA33tAVTLcXZHUWAIxOEa6lCTVNBy60h96E0t8C0Fs_ph2Vadtjse7jZ5WX6_KOJyBG3bPbuTG/s640/Moorish+phillie+map.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of the apartment building on 13th and Hamilton in Philadelphia being claimed as a separate nation.</td></tr>
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“Are you aware that the people who you have falsely called defendants,” one defendant, <b>Nanye Amil El</b> (a.k.a. 45-year-old <b>Dante Morris</b>), wearing a maroon fez cap, asked Judge <b>David C. Shuter</b>, “are actually heirs to this land?” Another defendant, 65-year-old <b>Delilah Passe</b>, waved what the press described as a Moorish flag but was asked to put it away lest it be used as a weapon. (If a reader can tell me which flag was used, I would be grateful.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VaGvI6TeDXNKfnEcvi7-YtpArmdLT6F54JGkbRBMEHp4IWpFP6wxcWj4uUr0f9EdH8naRLCXZu2_omuDJllI4bkKzVt5qpc_MqTi9m2otbJ4hR2LSko64EHZ_50nmL-h8doA9qllvZ4z/s1600/url.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VaGvI6TeDXNKfnEcvi7-YtpArmdLT6F54JGkbRBMEHp4IWpFP6wxcWj4uUr0f9EdH8naRLCXZu2_omuDJllI4bkKzVt5qpc_MqTi9m2otbJ4hR2LSko64EHZ_50nmL-h8doA9qllvZ4z/s400/url.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This (in center) may or may not be an example of the type of Moorish flag<br />
displayed by defendants in court last week in Philadelphia.</td></tr>
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At this point, students of the history of Black nationalism and readers of this blog will recognize the names and terminology of the tenants as indications that they are part of the <b>Moorish Science Temple</b> movement. This precursor to modern Black nationalism emerged in the ferment of religious and political ideas in 1920s and ’30s Detroit, <b>Michigan</b>, where Islam, Freemasonry, offbeat anthropological theorizing, and an infatuation with all things Egyptian and occultic gave rise to <b>Marcus Garvey</b> as well as the <b>Nation of Islam</b>’s founder, <b>Elijah Muhammad</b>, among others. Many Moorish activists claim that African-Americans are actually African-featured “<b>Israelites</b>.” This is known as the “<b>Paleo-Negroid</b>” hypothesis, which holds, against all evidence, that the Americas were peopled by ancient Africans who are responsible for the monumental architecture of the Midwestern mound-building cultures and others.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst9IoY8qrNi4t5WF6FF_4oEZYfGftKPfsWqdjxtOVAo0Vz1GupFOg6Jjwyr6BGi9JhHBQnmegAyhPwgneUaEu3z1gomAmwQe-l-FbIXO6SCYc6dsp7QS2Kow09NdT1_xqo_M0nA5n2WBO/s1600/Moorish_Science_Temple_1928_Convention.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst9IoY8qrNi4t5WF6FF_4oEZYfGftKPfsWqdjxtOVAo0Vz1GupFOg6Jjwyr6BGi9JhHBQnmegAyhPwgneUaEu3z1gomAmwQe-l-FbIXO6SCYc6dsp7QS2Kow09NdT1_xqo_M0nA5n2WBO/s1600/Moorish_Science_Temple_1928_Convention.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Historic photo of Moorish Science Temple of America members</td></tr>
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Other offshoots of the group that have been reported on in this blog include the <b>Washitaw Nation</b> in <b>Oklahoma</b> and elsewhere (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/05/washitaw-empress-of-oklahoma-dies-in.html" target="_blank">see an article from this blog</a>) (whose crown is currently claimed by a Trenton, <b>New Jersey</b>, eccentric calling himself “<b>Crown Prince Emperor El Bey Bigbay Bagby-Badger</b>” (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/emperor-of-black-nationalist-washitaw.html" target="_blank">see article</a>), the <b>Nuwaubian Nation of Moors</b> (whose 500-acre compound Tama-Re, in <b>Georgia</b>, was demolished by authorities in 2005), and a new splinter group called the <b>United Nuwaupian Nation</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/10/venetians-declares-independence-via.html" target="_blank">see article</a>). Yet another group, the <b>Moorish Divine and National Movement of the World</b>, includes among its followers <b>Pilar Sanders</b>, the estranged wife of the retired football star <b>Deion Sanders</b>, who in court last month <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2014/05/29/pilar-sanders-deion-sanders-divorce-custody-moorish-national/" target="_blank">tried to void a prenuptial agreement</a> which would cost her millions by saying that she now calls herself <b>Pilar Biggers Sanders Love El-Dey</b> and answers only to the laws of the <b>“Moroccan Empire.”</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIrgcJ_dHTVXtSVK96NeAlC_eQVebbm0nILy1J7NelEkHDRYQZRy6Xjx9olbTv44fx9jWUhCjbM-6VTXGIdHzm_9-Zfgn2igMveiz1v-ub56QvGVpcKBDuLdN_3s7tfy5VRuXq1x9vAUN/s1600/0528-pilar-sanders-morrish-sci-tem-flag-twitter-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIrgcJ_dHTVXtSVK96NeAlC_eQVebbm0nILy1J7NelEkHDRYQZRy6Xjx9olbTv44fx9jWUhCjbM-6VTXGIdHzm_9-Zfgn2igMveiz1v-ub56QvGVpcKBDuLdN_3s7tfy5VRuXq1x9vAUN/s400/0528-pilar-sanders-morrish-sci-tem-flag-twitter-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moorish Science follower Pilar Sanders as depicted in a graphic by the celebrity gossip website <b>TMZ</b></td></tr>
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One reporter contacted <b>Brother A. Kinard-Bey</b>, of the largest and oldest Moorish group, the <b>Moorish Science Temple of Ame</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f0f13; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><b>rica, Inc.</b>, in Washington, D.C., who <a href="http://fusion.net/story/144047/philadelphia-tenants-claim-apartment-is-its-own-sovereign-country-after-landlord-evicts-them/" target="_blank">called the four Philadelphia tenants “impostors”</a> and said his group is the only <i>real</i> Moorish Temple in the U.S. He added, “</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f0f13; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit;">We’re seeing a number of people claiming to be of our temple who want to know how to naturalize or how to gain to their sovereignty. Those are not lessons that the Moorish Science Temple of America teaches.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfvoQ8cXOeUUCPZITmeC7aTLLQd27YcMVQG8GKVo7YxbiyXwoTZTM0v4GH7HujGAZLpkQ_fnK1BCELTJ5909AzuWdwQPQCG4YoZAz86YkO5lOg24S7RH6L5vSTfV-IJt3ZeuLMp7egZDg/s1600/NobleDrewAli_page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfvoQ8cXOeUUCPZITmeC7aTLLQd27YcMVQG8GKVo7YxbiyXwoTZTM0v4GH7HujGAZLpkQ_fnK1BCELTJ5909AzuWdwQPQCG4YoZAz86YkO5lOg24S7RH6L5vSTfV-IJt3ZeuLMp7egZDg/s400/NobleDrewAli_page.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noble Drew Ali, founder of the Moorish Science Temple movement</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0f0f13;"><span style="background-color: white;">Indeed, while Moorish Science traditionally is communal and leftish in its orientation, new offshoots like the Washitaw Nation are borrowing concepts and legal strategies from the “individual sovereignty” movement more popular among alienated right-wing white American males. One of the tenant activists in Philadelphia this month, 38-year-old <b>Rebecca Lyn Harmon</b>, who asked to be referre</span></span>d to as <b>R. Lynn Hatshepsut Ma’atKare El</b>, is also an attorney (under yet a third name, <b>Rhashea Lynn Harmon</b>), who has talked of running for mayor of Philadelphia on the <b>Republican Party</b> ticket.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGU4QLvN-pTBwFmLZ7KOYr-KLDxSpyYGH-G7hL-ZsQGD4mk02ecdUP7IZJTHbMUHRVBxs3dGl6s9HBvj-NE2Bufj7OYD2YoMr-SlpjOg8Ow5SwzgLDVXfVVcymJuQ1XNRLM9ybAnDKHr6M/s1600/2954CD9B00000578-3109668-image-a-63_1433351872531.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGU4QLvN-pTBwFmLZ7KOYr-KLDxSpyYGH-G7hL-ZsQGD4mk02ecdUP7IZJTHbMUHRVBxs3dGl6s9HBvj-NE2Bufj7OYD2YoMr-SlpjOg8Ow5SwzgLDVXfVVcymJuQ1XNRLM9ybAnDKHr6M/s400/2954CD9B00000578-3109668-image-a-63_1433351872531.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">R. Lynn Hatshepsut Ma’atKare El (a.k.a. Rebecca Harmon),<br />a defendant in the current eviction case</span></span></td></tr>
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A formal arraignment will be held for the four tenants on June 23rd.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">American and Moroccan flags on display at a charity event hosted by a separate Moorish group in Philadelphia recently. Note the 48-star flag.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">[You can read more about many of these and other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-86538848693228082112015-04-20T11:22:00.000-05:002015-06-09T08:32:54.694-05:00Liberland: Czech Libertarian Declares New State on Danube Disputed by Croats and Serbs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past week a new nation was declared, on a spot of land in the murkily demarcated border zone in the region of Slavonia where the <b>Republic of Serbia</b> and the <b>Republic of Croatia</b> meet. But it is not a <b>Serb</b> or <b>Croat</b> behind the project, but a <b>Czech</b> one, and it is more ideological than ethnonationalist. The founder, <b>Vít Jedlička</b>, on April 13th, announced the independence of the <b>Free Republic of Liberland</b> (<i><b>Svobodná republika Liberland</b></i>) on a parcel of land on the west bank of the Danube (the mostly Croatian side) around Gornja Siga, an area which is a <i>de facto</i> no-man’s-land since neither side asserts a claim on it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gornja Siga, in green, is only one of several parcels of land<br />
along the Croatian–Serbian frontier with no clear status.</td></tr>
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In 1991, Croatia successfully seceded from the ethnic-Serb-dominated <b>Federal Republic of Yugoslavia</b>, which was subsequently whittled down of all of its peripheral republics until it became simply the rump Republic of Serbia. Croatia is in the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), but Serbia is still on a rocky road to normalization with the West.</div>
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The self-declared President Jedlička—a 31-year-old local official of the <b>Czech Republic</b>’s marginal, libertarian <b>Free Citizens’ Party</b> (<i><b>Strana svobodných občanů</b></i>), which is hostile to Czechs’ membership in the E.U.—admits that there are no “facts on the ground,” as it were, in Gornja Siga itself, only a declaration made from afar. There was also an impromptu, unauthorized flag-raising on Liberlandic territory. But although, as Jedlička <a href="http://time.com/3825100/man-claims-new-country-europe/" target="_blank">told <i>Time</i> magazine</a>, “it started a little bit like a protest, ... it’s really turning out to be a real project with real support.”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Czech <b>ZZ Top</b> tribute band rocked a recent Free Citizens’ Party rally.</td></tr>
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The three-square-mile statelet is to have no enforced taxation and no military and seems to be modeled on libertarian ideas that would be familiar to, for example, followers of <b>Ron Paul</b> and <b>Rand Paul</b> in the <b>United States</b>. “The objective of the founders of the new state,” says Jedlička, “is to build a country where honest people can prosper without being oppressed by governments making their lives unpleasant through the burden of unnecessary restrictions and taxes.” Apparently, there are already 20,000 applications for citizenship, being processed by seven volunteers working around the clock, but Jedlicka plans to cap the on-paper population at 3,000 or 5,000 for the time being.</div>
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One of the few requirements for citizenship is a lack of a <b>Nazi</b>, <b>Communist</b>, or “extremist” past. (Presumably, radical anarcho-libertarianism is, for these purposes, not classified as “extremist.”) It is unclear at this point whether anyone currently lives in the designated territory of Liberland, but aerial photos suggest that it its status as <i>terra nullius</i> is <i>de facto</i> and not just <i>de jure.</i> The Serbian and Croatian governments have not yet responded to the declaration, though <b>Egypt</b>’s foreign ministry <a href="http://www.thecairopost.com/news/146887/news/foreign-min-warns-egyptians-against-emigrating-to-liberland" target="_blank">has already warned Egyptians against trying to move there</a>. <b>Bitcoin</b>, <a href="https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/welcome-liberland-bitcoin-national-currency/" target="_blank">reportedly</a>, is to be the national currency.</div>
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Originally, Jedlička’s idea was borne of frustration at the marginalization of libertarian ideas in the Czech Republic—even though his country is more committed to free-market principles than almost any in the world. The Free Citizens’ Party has one seat in the mostly powerless <b>European Parliament</b> and none in the Czech legislature. “I’m still going to be active in Czech politics,” he added. “I would probably resign and let somebody else run Liberland for me if there was a chance to do political change in the Czech Republic.”</div>
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Most high-profile micronations can be found in the English-speaking world (especially <b>Australia</b>, for some reason) and Scandinavia, with some in the rest of western Europe as well. The Balkans have vanishingly few so far. But the Czech Republic is no stranger to the phenomenon. In 1997 a Czech photographer named <b>Tomáš Harabiš</b> founded a <b>Kingdom of Wallachia</b> (<i><b>Valašské Kralovství</b></i>) in the republic’s <b>Moravian Wallachia</b> region (not to be confused with <b>Romania</b>’s region of <b>Wallachia</b>), and the noted Czech comic film actor <b>Bolek Polívka</b> was crowned <b>King Boleslav the Gracious</b> (later deposed). There are, on paper, 80,000 “Wallachian” citizens.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moravian Wallachia’s King Boleslav the Gracious</td></tr>
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More flamboyantly, a 16th-century castle in Černá, in the central Czech Republic, in 1996 became the physical site of the <b>Other World Kingdom</b> (<b>O.W.K.</b>), a micronation based on the B.D.S.M. (bondage-and-discipline/sado-masochism) subculture, in particular the “femdom” (female domination) branch of it. Really a glorified sex club, it touted itself as an absolute matriarchal monarchy under <b>Queen Patricia I</b>, with institutionalized male slavery. The O.W.K. now exists only online.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four worthless vermin—I mean, citizens—pay tribute to Queen Patricia I in the erstwhile Other World Kingdom.</td></tr>
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It is no accident for the Czech Republic to originate what may yet prove to be the most prominent libertarian micronation movement. During the Cold War, <b>Czechoslovakia</b> was arguably the most culturally Western-leaning part of the Communist, <b>Soviet</b>-aligned East Bloc, possibly even more than <b>East Germany</b>; Prague, after all, is farther west than Vienna or Berlin. The country’s leading dissident, <b>Václav Havel</b>, who became president after the 1989 revolution, was an unabashed Americophile, obsessed with the <b>Velvet Underground</b> and <b>Andy Warhol</b>. His successor, <b>Václav Klaus</b>, was one of the most ardently pro-free-market heads of state—more Thatcherite than <b>Margaret Thatcher</b> herself. When a dissident-spearheaded set of mild reforms known as “socialism with a human face” (<i>socializmus s ľudskou tvárou</i>) led in 1968 to the brutal Soviet invasion and crackdown known as the Prague Spring, it understandably soured many Czechs on the idea of the mixed-economy social-democratic approach halfway between socialism and capitalism which was the emerging model in western Europe and in places like Poland, where dissent took the form of organized labor. And, as part of the <b>Austro-Hungarian Empire</b> until 1918, Czechs were influenced by free-market economists such as <b>Austria</b>’s <b>Ludwig von Mises</b> of the Austrian School of economic theory and two Nobel laureates: the Viennese-born <b>Prussian</b>–<b>Bohemian</b> aristocrat <b>Friedrich Hayek</b> and the dwarfish <b>Milton Friedman</b> (author of <i>Free to Choose</i>), who was (like Andy Warhol, funnily enough), the son of immigrants from the old Czechoslovakia’s eastern region of <b>Carpathian Ruthenia</b> (now an increasingly contested part of <b>Ukraine</b>, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/07/will-transcarpathia-be-next-donetskor.html" target="_blank">as discussed elsewhere in this blog</a>).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifQyRdWPebHxYVq2x90LWe39iFXc3iJin5fiSNqZNpXQ8O513dOrZihDp9yI_1mdpPTs5LTNjdSyUex4J_58FjEAA7S6_HVr74lY8x0qaFZiQNKdNwk14mHBOvzY5k3J5bRPp8DTqbRr8/s1600/milton-president-reagan.preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifQyRdWPebHxYVq2x90LWe39iFXc3iJin5fiSNqZNpXQ8O513dOrZihDp9yI_1mdpPTs5LTNjdSyUex4J_58FjEAA7S6_HVr74lY8x0qaFZiQNKdNwk14mHBOvzY5k3J5bRPp8DTqbRr8/s1600/milton-president-reagan.preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milton Friedman (left; actual size) also had Czechoslovak blood in his veins.</td></tr>
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But Liberland is hardly the first libertarian experiment in the annals of micronationdom. In the 1970s, a <b>Lithuanian</b>-American real-estate tycoon named <b>Michael J. Oliver</b> attempted to take advantage of the unrest accompanying two separate British colonies’ independence days with libertarian insurrections. First, in 1973, he played on the fears of black rule on the part of the large white minority on the <b>Abaco Islands</b> portion of the <b>Bahamas</b> to try to declare a separate free-market utopia, with the help of white-supremacist activists and <b>C.I.A.</b>-linked American mercenaries, including <b>Larry Flynt</b>’s alleged personal hired hit-man. Then, in 1980, as the <b>United Kingdom</b> and <b>France</b>’s shared “condominium” rule came to an end as the <b>New Hebrides</b>, in the South Pacific, became <b>Vanuatu</b>, Oliver tried to piggy-back his cause onto a separatist movement among the cargo cults of the archipelago’s northern <b>Espiritu Santo</b> island, which he wanted to call the <b>Republic of Vemerana</b>. He even strung the French government along for a while with the idea.<br />
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Oliver’s most tragicomic attempt at a libertarian state had been in the early 1970s, when he barged tons of sand from <b>Australia</b> to the Minerva Reefs, a set of low seamounts between <b>Fiji</b> and <b>Tonga</b> which did not spend enough of the tidal cycle above water to be classified under international law as “territory.” But as soon as the island was built up enough to pass legal muster, <b>Taufa’ahau Tupou IV</b>, Tonga’s king, claimed it, sent a naval vessel to eject Oliver and his nascent <b>Republic of Minerva</b>. (Today, the reefs have eroded away once again to nothingness, but rival claims are still being made by Tonga, Fiji, and one “<b>Prince Calvin</b>,” an American who says he is the “island’s” monarch.) Oliver’s similar “seasteading” project in Palmyra Atoll, a U.S. territory near <b>Hawai‘i</b>, got even less far.<br />
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Another libertarian seasteading pioneer was <b>Werner K. Stiefel</b>, an American drugs mogul who in 1969 tried to start a utopia by fomenting a rebel movement in the uninhabited Prickly Pear Cays during a brief separatist rebellion in the British colony of <b>Anguilla</b>. After British troops put an end to that, Stiefel tried landfilling to seastead something called <b>“Operation Atlantis”</b> on <b>Silver Shoals</b>, disputed specks of land between <b>Haiti</b> and the Bahamas. <i>Atlantis</i> was a name for the invisibility-cloaked libertarian refuge in the Rockies in <b>Ayn Rand</b>’s influential 1957 novel <i>Atlas Shrugged.</i> (For more on seasteading, see articles from this blog on the <b>Principality of Sealand</b>, <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/02/wikileaks-mulls-moving-its-servers-to.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/10/his-royal-highness-roy-bates-prince-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An artist’s rendering of the planned Principality of New Utopia, in the western Caribbean</td></tr>
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Similar attempts in the Caribbean were the Wall Street swindler <b>Robert Vesco</b>’s “<b>Sovereign Order of New Aragon</b>” territory, on <b>Barbuda</b>, and the <b>Principality of New Utopia</b>, founded on reefs between the <b>Cayman Islands</b> and <b>Belize</b> in the 1990s by another shady Wall Street type, <b>Howard Turney</b> (using the pseudonym <b>Lazarus Long</b>, borrowed from <b>Robert A. Heinlein</b>’s libertarian sci-fi novels).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Would you buy a used micronation from this man?<br />
Robert Vesco was never a big fan of government regulation.</td></tr>
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Other projects have included, in the 1950s and ’60s, the nation of <b>Taluga</b> (a.k.a. <b>Aphrodite</b>), on the unclaimed Cortes Bank off the coast of <b>Baja California</b>; recent plans to build free-market city-states in Trujillo, <b>Honduras</b>, and on <b>Belle Isle</b>, a park on a riverine island between Detroit, <b>Michigan</b>, and Windsor, <b>Ontario</b>; and a west <b>Texas</b> community called <b>Paulville</b>, after Congressman <b>Ron Paul</b>, though Paul himself wants nothing to do with it. Even <b>Silicon Valley</b> has (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/11/silicon-valley-technocrats-plan-to-flee.html" target="_blank">as I’ve written about in this blog</a>) gotten into the act, with plans either to split the region off <b>California</b> as an autonomous state free of government economic regulations or found a free-market “floating city” just outside northern California’s territorial waters to be called <i><b>Blueseed</b>.</i><br />
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Of all these past attempts, President Jedlička might do well to note the fate of the Republic of Minerva. He chose the Minerva Reefs because they were pieces of “land” that had fallen between the cracks of two established states, Fiji and Tonga, which were not claiming them. But then as soon as the project got rolling, the neighbors changed their minds and wanted in on the project. That ended badly. Imagine how much uglier it could get if Jedlička not only lost his utopia invaded but found himself literally in the middle of a renewed territorial battle between Serbs and Croats. Liberland might be in a pretty spot, but it’s one of the most volatile borders in recent history.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Thanks to Trena Klohe and Alexander Velky for first alerting me to this story.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about many of these and other separatist and new-nation movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span></div>
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-51187669761155636592015-04-16T12:03:00.000-05:002015-04-16T12:03:57.192-05:00UKIP’s Rise Casts Gibraltar’s Future into Question: Spanish “Reconquista” or a “Monaco of the Strait”?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The recent rise of the far-right <b>United Kingdom Independence Party</b> (<b>UKIP</b>), which wants the <b>U.K.</b> to leave the <b>European Union</b> (<b>E.U.</b>), has shaken up British politics. Next month’s general election is not at all shaping up to be the usual American-style horse race between the left-of-center <b>Labour Party</b> and right-of-center <b>Conservative Party</b>, with the more lefty <b>Liberal Democratic Party</b> (currently in a coalition government with the Conservatives) as a side show. In last year’s elections to the <b>European Parliament</b>, UKIP became the largest party in the U.K.’s delegation, but the UKIP phenomenon is far from being a flash in the pan, even though the largely toothless European Parliament attracts far more protest votes than the more consequential general elections do: UKIP is actually the third-largest party in the U.K. now. And a further complication is the surge in support for the separatist <b>Scottish National Party</b> (<b>S.N.P.</b>) (at Labour’s expense) after last year’s narrowly defeated independence referendum in <b>Scotland</b>. Next month’s election will have serious geopolitical consequences as no British election in recent memory has.<br />
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This means that Conservatives and Labour have to some extent resigned themselves to the groundswell of populist centrifugal forces likely to define the U.K.’s future. Prime Minister <b>David Cameron</b> has already capitulated to UKIP by promising, if he is reelected, to hold a referendum on continued E.U. membership, and during the run-up to the Scottish referendum his government instituted a raft of new powers of self-government, for not only Scotland but <b>Wales</b> and <b>Northern Ireland</b> as well. These developments are convergent: UKIP would also like a more decentralized Britain. But <b>Nigel Farage</b>, UKIP’s bombastic leader, a self-described libertarian, has scoffed at the S.N.P.’s and the Scottish public’s overwhelming desire to stay in the E.U. but leave the U.K. He has called Scottish nationalism a “fraud” which aspires merely to “swap your masters from Westminster to Brussels.” (See article from this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/01/succession-or-accession-could-scotland.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-and-isnt-at-stake-in-scotland.html" target="_blank">here</a> on the question of whether Scotland <i>could</i> leave Britain but stay in the Union.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nigel Farage—now destroyer of empires, as well?</td></tr>
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One unexpected reverberation of this political earthquake is policy toward the U.K.’s overseas territories. In the past, Farage has called for a special Member of Parliament to represent colonies like <b>Gibraltar</b> and the <b>Falkland Islands</b>. Presumably this would overlay the current self-government in those territories which fill the role an M.P. in London would for most areas of governance. As Farage points out, citizens in the overseas territories have no say in those functions still reserved to Westminster: currency, defense, and foreign relations. (This is similar to <b>Puerto Rico</b>’s relationship to the <b>United States</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/11/puerto-rico-votes-for-statehoodor-at.html" target="_blank">as discussed earlier in this blog</a>).)<br />
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The rethinking has already begun in Gibraltar: the territory’s Chief Minister, <b>Fabian Picardo</b>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/gibraltar/11534580/Gibraltar-suggests-it-wants-to-stay-in-EU-in-the-event-of-Brexit.html" target="_blank">said this week</a> that in the event of a “Brexit”—as the media have dubbed UKIP’s hoped-for secession from the E.U.—Gibraltar would want to stay <i>in</i> the Union. “The only existential threat to our economy,” Picardo told the conservative <i>Daily Telegraph</i><i>,</i> “is one where we are pulled out of the European Union against our will and denied access to the single market. I think everybody who is serious about the subject, even those whose views I don’t share, talk about retaining access to Europe as a member of the European economic area. I know that there are many in the U.K. who advocate the U.K. moving out of the E.U. who consider themselves to be very good friends of Gibraltar, but they need to understand the economics of this.” Gibraltar is the only overseas U.K. territory that is not in the E.U. (though some far-flung possessions of E.U. member states are in it, notably <b>French Guiana</b> and other <b>French</b> territories like <b>Réunion</b> and <b>Mayotte</b> in the Indian Ocean and <b>Guadeloupe</b> and <b>Martinique</b> in the Caribbean, as well as <b>Spain</b>’s special municipalities of <b>Ceuta</b> and <b>Melilla</b> and its <b>Canary Islands</b>, which are all geographically African).<br />
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Picardo’s words echo the position not only the S.N.P. in Scotland but of <b>Plaid Cymru</b>, the nationalist party in Wales: both demand that their countries be allowed binding local referenda on E.U. membership in the event of a U.K.-wide vote on the question. The E.U. is only really unpopular in England, not in other parts of the U.K. But in Gibraltar the statement represents a serious reversal of thinking on the status of “the Rock,” as locals call the two-and-a-half-square-mile peninsula jutting off Spain’s mainland. Gibraltarians, after all, have never favored independence. In a 2002 referendum on Gibraltar’s status, confirming a similar result in 1967, more than 98.97% of the 30,000 or so residents opposed any change in status. This ranks among history’s most thunderously near-unanimous votes against changing the status of a territory, alongside similar polls in the Falkland Islands (where residents in 2013 backed the status quo 1,513 to 3) and the <b>Cocos Islands</b> (where, in 1983, only 9 out of 261 wanted independence from <b>Australia</b>).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJAyQYHGSwH0hKR_mRUHmwYuT5UE_l60fYCVXsHwR5tPjj3VFMEQYfIyWPIyxBG4gUZXc7b7VKxaqRMC181xc0x6SHbmKNKAonMyCCZdL1zgy-dcR3FtCVo4i7Nh_3q4SjwqqDAPhVpOo/s1600/gibraltar+monkeys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJAyQYHGSwH0hKR_mRUHmwYuT5UE_l60fYCVXsHwR5tPjj3VFMEQYfIyWPIyxBG4gUZXc7b7VKxaqRMC181xc0x6SHbmKNKAonMyCCZdL1zgy-dcR3FtCVo4i7Nh_3q4SjwqqDAPhVpOo/s1600/gibraltar+monkeys.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These Gibraltar residents don’t care which flag flies over them.</td></tr>
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But is Picardo thinking of what would amount to independence—continued membership in the E.U. on its own? (it would make it the Union’s tiniest member state, smaller by far even than <b>Luxembourg</b> or <b>Malta</b>)—or is he thinking of joining Spain? Surely not the latter, since Spain’s ongoing claims on the territory are the chief source of Gibraltarian indignation that has energized opposition to change.<br />
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A quick history review: the Spanish claim go goes back to 1700, when the death of Spain’s childless <b>King</b> <b>Carlos II</b>, left him with no clear successor. Carlos was a member of <b>Austria</b>’s <b>Habsburg</b> dynasty, so the Britain, <b>Prussia</b>, and <b>Portugal</b> wanted the crown to pass to the Austrian kaiser’s son, <b>Archduke Karl</b>—um, I mean, <i><b>Carlos</b></i>—while France and <b>Bavaria</b> backed a candidate from France’s royal family, the <b>House of Bourbon</b>. Thus began the War of the Spanish Succession. The Bourbons and their supporters prevailed: the prospective <b>Carlos III</b> stayed <i><b>Karl</b></i> and later became Holy Roman Emperor, and a Bourbon sits on the throne in Madrid even today. But the end of the war in 1714 sorted out lots of outstanding territorial squabbles around the world among the European powers: France gave big chunks of <b>Canada</b> to Britain, for example, and Spain lost numerous colonies, including <b>Sicily</b> and what are now the <b>Netherlands</b> and <b>Belgium</b>. Since the British and Spanish were in the midst of a long struggle for naval supremacy, <b>Queen Anne</b> of Great Britain negotiated hard, and successfully, for her consolation prize, Gibraltar, ownership of which meant theoretical control of trade through the narrow passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the open Atlantic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwKP1gniujgZQm8mwye8NQ_AZS3KevpNJ5AuXdEwYkCcT1WDDzH4lnR32TvMuNXvTLZOsfmZSOh22gSs1DKVXWK95exdjUKzhg_s56AWvbTmrl8BmJhvKVNg-q6LjUNasBJwRjJdzdAFG/s1600/Fromiller_-_Huldigung_der_Sta%CC%88nde_vor_Kaiser_Karl_VI.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwKP1gniujgZQm8mwye8NQ_AZS3KevpNJ5AuXdEwYkCcT1WDDzH4lnR32TvMuNXvTLZOsfmZSOh22gSs1DKVXWK95exdjUKzhg_s56AWvbTmrl8BmJhvKVNg-q6LjUNasBJwRjJdzdAFG/s1600/Fromiller_-_Huldigung_der_Sta%CC%88nde_vor_Kaiser_Karl_VI.jpeg" height="457" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Mediterranean climes for Archduke Karl; he had to settle for this measly job.</td></tr>
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The Spanish have never gotten over this, even now that shared membership in the E.U. means the border between Gibraltar and the Spanish mainland amounts to very little (though Spain routinely tests British patience by imposing punitive border controls from time to time). Spanish political candidates thunder on about taking back the Rock whenever patriotism needs to be whipped up before an election. The Spanish royal family even boycotted <b>Queen Elizabeth II</b>’s diamond jubilee in 2012 over the issue (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2012/05/week-in-separatist-news-may-13-19.html" target="_blank">as reported on at the time in this blog</a>)—which in terms of historical memory and emotional maturity is sort of equivalent to what it would be like if David Cameron refused to shake hands with <b>Barack Obama</b> because he was still pouting over mean things said about <b>King</b> <b>George III</b> during the Boston Tea Party.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1aqP3-LzuJeZp0jZT1Y28vDGisoWQz5JlHKbIv_PPYbXaf1UPjGIgfJwDGK5PT2Tdn-i_T3t-t7Urw8BwyMSQFtxkUHrItzkkf7SzdWTmXT0b9uQ26jOf8WIXFZp_rOoGOQYlssnA2OA/s1600/gibraltar+border+delay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1aqP3-LzuJeZp0jZT1Y28vDGisoWQz5JlHKbIv_PPYbXaf1UPjGIgfJwDGK5PT2Tdn-i_T3t-t7Urw8BwyMSQFtxkUHrItzkkf7SzdWTmXT0b9uQ26jOf8WIXFZp_rOoGOQYlssnA2OA/s1600/gibraltar+border+delay.jpg" height="359" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cars lined up during one of Spain’s capriciously imposed border delays</td></tr>
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On the Spanish side, nationalists have been eyeing Gibraltar hungrily in the wake of UKIP’s rise as well. Professor <b>Alejandro del Valle Gálvez</b>, a Gibraltar expert at Spain’s <b>University of Cádiz</b>, <a href="http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=35766" target="_blank">says the time is ripe</a> for Madrid to pursue “the democratic control of the British base, a <i>modus vivendi</i> agreed on legal and finance issues whilst negotiations take place for a definitive international status for Gibraltar that is accepted by all parties.” In other words, they want to push and push until Gibraltarians give in and resort to Spanish rule. Del Valle envisions the current British territory and the “<i><b>Campo de Gibraltar</b></i>”—the adjacent administrative district in Spain’s autonomous <b>Andalusia</b> region—to merge as a city-state that could become a “<b>Monaco</b> of the Strait.” (A big difference, of course, would be that the <b>Principality of Monaco</b> allows citizens to choose who governs them, in conformity to international norms.)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihifumRriyEQzrNFZHNDHbYA985trK8NUbEVhWrNwqPR5F4iVDYzTKRW26EU79KbeU_HPEq03xgcy8y1gWjqWJZ4ChnEvnaVx8a2ZevPzTfJ7D0djFg4FNpzp7M5dUnZPhUR5GB-qoh5M1/s1600/gibraltar5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihifumRriyEQzrNFZHNDHbYA985trK8NUbEVhWrNwqPR5F4iVDYzTKRW26EU79KbeU_HPEq03xgcy8y1gWjqWJZ4ChnEvnaVx8a2ZevPzTfJ7D0djFg4FNpzp7M5dUnZPhUR5GB-qoh5M1/s1600/gibraltar5.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brits and Spaniards stare each other down across one of the world’s shortest land borders.</td></tr>
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There is another reason that Gibraltar will never choose Spain over independence or leaving the E.U.: Spain itself is among the Union’s economic basket cases, and it is not inconceivable that a “Spexit” could be in the works, too, leaving the Rock with the worst of both worlds. But Spain’s relationship to the E.U. and the financial crisis that began in 2008 is as complex as Britain’s: in particular, Spain’s most economically successful region, <b>Catalonia</b>, has been pushing as hard for independence recently as Scotland has (though so far against deal-killing pushback from the mother country). Catalan separatists are eager to avoid the punitive effects of economic mismanagement that they believe Spain—along with the fellow member states Portugal, <b>Greece</b>, <b>Cyprus</b>, and <b>Italy</b>—have brought upon themselves. If Catalonia were independent, it would never be forced to quit the euro or leave the Union, though what was left of Spain, without its wealthiest region, would be more likely to do either.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KoMOZYmT3aW1QYFF8CgCHvaI_ytiiaMYmKY8GfV2OrJPUu8XfiB07E3Zp7832YMwrUZwFPkAXIy5C2EptmugdGOppIVHWZOQBZxGN7UT-m6r1V6RvwV0bYW8j7-pHVH3a1o0E7PbsHcJ/s1600/Catalonia+Gibraltar+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KoMOZYmT3aW1QYFF8CgCHvaI_ytiiaMYmKY8GfV2OrJPUu8XfiB07E3Zp7832YMwrUZwFPkAXIy5C2EptmugdGOppIVHWZOQBZxGN7UT-m6r1V6RvwV0bYW8j7-pHVH3a1o0E7PbsHcJ/s1600/Catalonia+Gibraltar+map.png" height="230" width="400" /></a></div>
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So, in my opinion, the solution is obvious: Gibraltar can avoid both UKIP’s economically suicidal policies and Spain’s, and stay in the E.U. as well, by joining an independent Catalonia. The two entities do not border each other, but Barcelona is certainly nearer Gibraltar than London is. Catalonia is already a playground for hordes of vacationing Britons. And there is a deep historical tie: the then quasi-independent Catalonia sided with Britain, not the Spanish, in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1704, over 300 Catalans defended the Rock from the Habsburgs; a local beach is named in their honor. And the king-making <b>Republican Left of Catalonia</b> (<i><b>Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya</b>,</i> or <b>E.R.C.</b>) party in Catalonia’s separatist ruling coalition scandalizes mainstream opinion in Spain by refusing to side with Madrid on Gibraltar (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2013/08/catalan-nationalists-side-with-britain.html" target="_blank">as discussed in an article in this blog</a>). (<b>Basque</b> separatists, by contrast, want Spain to reclaim Gibraltar, making them more than a bit hypocritical on the question of whether a referendum on being or not being part of Spain should be binding.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sgi5nnrSxBRQHzVk0v5uns4dfUZcW-XWC3ustnoIR_tFt0NeN2MdAKyxr7iLke19G9-YR8KYR2V39H_Yl0FY0keRoYzzVAkGxpokm3eD8N_q_FpVpLu4nMlx2mZ72Do8vKPEvP1kccC3/s1600/Gibraltar-Flag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sgi5nnrSxBRQHzVk0v5uns4dfUZcW-XWC3ustnoIR_tFt0NeN2MdAKyxr7iLke19G9-YR8KYR2V39H_Yl0FY0keRoYzzVAkGxpokm3eD8N_q_FpVpLu4nMlx2mZ72Do8vKPEvP1kccC3/s1600/Gibraltar-Flag1.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gibraltar’s flag</td></tr>
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On the other hand, if Spain’s <b>King Felipe VI</b> would really and truly like to undo the Treaty of Utrecht, he is perfectly free to step aside and let 54-year-old <b>Karl von Habsburg</b>, a private citizen living in Salzburg, to take over the throne in Madrid.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPKw1I_8BVMtR0Zn69U9SCMJO1z4a7QzJcpDCP1DiIH8bt-i3jkZ_FLC-yKfdXgCgB_zIdfVGmCNU9Dr_JrYQeThJ-b0OdiJ-4x_RvXttOnofXCccNjnfDRpMHO1RzBMuMRKBCy33R-LH/s1600/king-felipe-juan-carlos-inline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPKw1I_8BVMtR0Zn69U9SCMJO1z4a7QzJcpDCP1DiIH8bt-i3jkZ_FLC-yKfdXgCgB_zIdfVGmCNU9Dr_JrYQeThJ-b0OdiJ-4x_RvXttOnofXCccNjnfDRpMHO1RzBMuMRKBCy33R-LH/s1600/king-felipe-juan-carlos-inline.jpg" height="400" width="372" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For use in case of <i>reconquista</i>: outgoing King Juan Carlos places the sash of Captain General<br />of Spain’s royal armed forces on his son and successor, King Felipe VI.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Gibraltar, Scotland, Catalonia, UKIP, and other movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-13790619731347261392015-03-31T12:07:00.000-05:002015-03-31T14:30:35.866-05:00Cossacks at the Alamo? Putin’s Chechen Toadies Threaten to Arm Mexico for Reconquest of Southwest U.S.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The speaker of parliament of southwestern <b>Russia</b>’s <b>Chechen Republic</b> responded on March 24th to recent measures in the <b>United States</b> Congress to arm <b>Ukraine</b> against Russian aggression by <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/news/article/chechnya-threatens-to-send-weapons-to-mexico-if-us-arms-ukraine/518064.html" target="_blank">threatening to</a> arm <b>Mexico</b> for a <i>reconquista</i> of vast territories the U.S. swiped in the 19th century.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov, ready for some sort of <i>reconquista,</i><br />
in a photo from <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3000353/Bizarre-Instagram-Chechen-dictator-accused-ordering-murders.html" target="_blank">his twisted Instagram account</a></td></tr>
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The parliament speaker, <b>Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov</b>, said in <a href="http://parlamentchr.ru/press-centre/news/1924-454-50" target="_blank">a statement on the legislature’s website</a> that that day’s 348-48 non-binding House of Representatives vote on supplying “lethal aid” to Ukraine was an overstepping of America’s bounds and that it was time to “resume debate on the legal status of the territories annexed by the U.S.,” including “<b>California</b>, <b>New Mexico</b>, <b>Arizona</b>, <b>Nevada</b>, <b>Utah</b>, <b>Colorado</b>, and a part of <b>Wyoming</b>.” The statement added, “ We reserve the right to conduct conferences in Russia, Mexico and the U.S. to raise the question of breaking away the above mentioned states from the U.S., and [about] supplying weapons to resistance fighters there.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chechen parliament speaker, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov</td></tr>
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<b>Dmitry Peskov</b>, a spokesman for Russia’s president, <b>Vladimir Putin</b>, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kremlin-dismisses-chechen-threat-incite-separatism-us-29946445" target="_blank">reminded</a> Chechen leaders three days later that Russian law forbids arms sales abroad by individual constituent republics of the <b>Russian Federation</b>. But the Kremlin pointedly did not distance itself from the underlying sentiment.<br />
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Chechnya fought and lost two brutal wars to secede from Russia after the fall of Communism, the second of which was spearheaded by Putin, punishing the tiny predominantly-Muslim nation with the most lethal and destructive bombing campaign in Europe since the Second World War (the <b>Yugoslav</b> Wars of Succession didn’t even come close). Since then, Chechnya has been sealed off and under the iron fist of <b>Ramzan Kadyrov</b>, the unelected, Putin-appointed dictator (and, ironically, former separatist rebel) who keeps the peace by toadying to the Kremlin and rewarding his citizens for their compliance with a form of Islamic law that, technically, flouts Russia’s secular constitution, including the reintroduction of polygamy, conservative clerics taking a leading role in public life, and the draining of public coffers to build football-stadium-sized mosques.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flag of the Chechen government-in-exile<br />
(i.e., not the loonies that run the place now)</td></tr>
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Chechnya—along with other predominantly-Muslim Russian republics like <b>Ingushetia</b> and <b>Tatarstan</b>—came out fully in favor of Russia’s illegal invasion and annexation last year of Ukraine’s <b>Crimea</b> peninsula (as discussed at the time in this blog; read articles <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/03/islam-and-second-crimean-war-russian.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/rogues-gallery-everyone-seems-to-be.html" target="_blank">here</a>), even though these nations also have a history of suffering horribly under Russian imperialism and even though <b>Crimean Tatars</b>, who are fellow Muslims, have gotten the worst of the Crimean annexation. Pro-Kremlin Chechen mercenaries are also active in the pro-Russian insurgencies in the self-proclaimed <b>Donetsk People’s Republic</b> and <b>Lugansk People’s Republic</b> in southeastern Ukraine, and it is widely understood that last month’s assassination of the Russian opposition leader <b>Boris Nemtsov</b> was almost certainly carried out by Chechen special forces. Chechens, sadly, are the new <b>Cossacks</b>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNvROtZKQUfi86LpuHmIpfRvx_8PGmmRNeJjQtMsB-XpHaWzcoXWxXjr-MZBzT1D3COb4958KNAr0z3JpTayaVOeDqi471opz1JUU2hIwkQmNy_BJySDU9avnHh53RIhI0euDM4RZkbOw/s1600/Chechen+mercenaries+in+Donetsk.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNvROtZKQUfi86LpuHmIpfRvx_8PGmmRNeJjQtMsB-XpHaWzcoXWxXjr-MZBzT1D3COb4958KNAr0z3JpTayaVOeDqi471opz1JUU2hIwkQmNy_BJySDU9avnHh53RIhI0euDM4RZkbOw/s1600/Chechen+mercenaries+in+Donetsk.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chechen irregulars, from the imaginatively named “Death” battalion,<br />
photographed recently in the Donetsk People’s Republic</td></tr>
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So does that mean that Kadyrov’s paramilitary reach is extending to, as Abdurakhmanov put it, “supplying weapons to resistance fighters” in formerly-Mexican parts of the U.S.? Well, probably not, since such a resistance movement doesn’t really exist. Sure, there have been publicity stunts. In 1966 <b>Chicano</b> activists inspired by the recent <b>American Indian Movement</b> (<b>A.I.M.</b>) standoff on <b>Alcatraz</b> island, in San Francisco Bay, occupied part of the Kit Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico and declared it a <b>Republic of San Joaquín del Río de Chama</b>. Around the same time, radical “<b>Brown Berets</b>” modeled on the <b>Black Panthers</b> took over <b>Santa Catalina Island</b> off the coast of Southern California, claiming that it fell outside the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the 1848 agreement which cemented the American annexation of the northern half of Mexico after the Mexican-American War. And groups like the <b>Congreso de Aztlán</b> and the student collective <i><b>Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán</b></i> (<b>MEChA</b>, or, in English, the <b>Chicano/Chicana Student Movement of Aztlán</b>) has advocated the idea of the southwestern United States becoming a Hispanic-ruled territory called <b>Aztlán</b> (either as its own country or as part of Mexico). The former <b>University of New Mexico</b> ethnic-studies professor <b>Charles Truxillo</b> was in the 2000s calling for a new <i><b>Republica del Norte</b></i> (“<b>Republic of the North</b>”) including territories on both sides of the current U.S.–Mexican border. But never have any of these risen above the level of symbolic protest to become an actual movement.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bit of right-wing propaganda about the (in fact, almost non-existent) Aztlán movement</td></tr>
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Nor is the Mexican government interested in taking up the issue, any more than it was when <b>Kaiser Wilhelm II</b> made a similar offer in 1917, during the First World War, in a Berlin–Mexico City telegram intercepted by <b>U.K.</b> intelligence. And let’s face it, <b>Germany</b>’s military was already stretched a little thin at the time.<br />
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But pointing out the shaky ground America stands on when it comes to respect for territorial integrity is part of the Kremlin’s propaganda assault since the invasion of Ukraine last year. Just as Russia’s English-language <b>R.T.</b> media network teems with the (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/11/strange-bedfellows-republic-of-venice.html" target="_blank">often right-wing, pro-Putin</a>) separatist movements that plague western Europe—as an example of supposed European vulnerability on the topic—so, also, did the possibility of a Russian re-annexation of <b>Alaska</b> become a “silly season” story of the week (discussed at the time in this blog <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/03/after-crimea-transnistria-then-donetsk.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/kremlin-hand-behind-alaska-annexation.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and Russia’s lock-step foreign-policy allies in the Western Hemisphere, <b>Cuba</b> and <b>Venezuela</b>, have more than once called for U.S. decolonization of <b>Puerto Rico</b> (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/01/venezuelas-president-maduro-urges.html" target="_blank">as reported on in this blog</a>), even as they (<a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/04/rogues-gallery-everyone-seems-to-be.html" target="_blank">as this blog has also discussed</a>) vote with Russia and against Ukraine in the <b>United Nations</b>. The message seems to be: if the West thinks it can tell Russia what should be part of Russia and what shouldn’t, then we can play that game too. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ramzan Kadyrov—wrapping Christmas presents for the Brown Berets?</td></tr>
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So far, it’s only talk, but <i>Springtime of Nations</i> will be keeping you posted of any further developments.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russian nationalists second that sentiment—or at least they pretend to in order to make a point</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about Chechnya, Aztlán, the Donetsk People’s Republic, and other separatist movements, both famous and obscure, in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389121945571056758.post-80819944052950012092015-03-16T11:11:00.000-05:002015-03-24T10:44:30.249-05:00Seeds of Fascism: Century-Old Soiled Hanky Could Enable Cloning of Carnaro Regency’s Tin-Pot Dictator-Prince<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes there’s a theme in a week’s minor news stories, and this week it seems to be: the mislaid spermatazoa of flamboyantly (even specifically <i>upward-turning!</i>) mustachioed Mediterranean fascist-sympathizing bohemian egomaniacs. First, there was the news that one <b>Pilar Abel</b>, a 58-year-old Spaniard, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/13/spanish-woman-court-salvador-dali-daughter-pilar-abel" target="_blank">was filing a paternity suit</a> against the estate of <b>Salvador Dalí</b>, claiming the bombastic Catalan surrealist painter had had an affair with her mother while he was married to <b>Gala Diakonova Éluard Dalí</b>, his <b>Tatarstan</b>-born Russo-Spanish muse. Of course, the case will get tossed right out; after all, she looks nothing like him:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And now there is the news that police in Italy <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gabriele-dannunzio-dna-fascist-poet-reconstructed-using-100-year-old-sperm-1491838" target="_blank">have used a semen-stained handkerchief to map the genome</a> of <b>Gabriele d’Annunzio</b>, an Italian poet, playwright, and ennobled prince who founded his own authoritarian micronation of sorts, the <b>Regency of Carnaro</b>, in 1919, and styled himself “<i>il Duce</i>” (“the Leader”) in anticipation of the eventual rise of <b>Benito Mussolini</b>. The aristocratic snail tracks were sent, in 1916, to Countess <b>Olga Levi Brunner</b>, d’Annunzio’s mistress, and were preserved for most of a century in a private collection in Cagliari, <b>Sardinia</b>. The hanky is now housed with other Annunziana at the <i><b>Vittoriale degli Italiani</b></i> (<b>“Shrine of Italian Victories”</b>) museum at his the prince’s former home on Lake Garda in <b>Lombardy</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgKZ1bVMWYfnPeq2EjJLzVT05y0_TIL11N7hz-fM-XFEWDSpi9hiSort1Sv3ThPLfG5NEwO3yLMOatKwVkd3KmTVeiCXaYzPexEXaoWl4NhvtGLYoW9n-Y54vZZfS1DCZghAyhStreyaW/s1600/la-vita-di-gabriele-d-annunzio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgKZ1bVMWYfnPeq2EjJLzVT05y0_TIL11N7hz-fM-XFEWDSpi9hiSort1Sv3ThPLfG5NEwO3yLMOatKwVkd3KmTVeiCXaYzPexEXaoWl4NhvtGLYoW9n-Y54vZZfS1DCZghAyhStreyaW/s1600/la-vita-di-gabriele-d-annunzio.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabriele d’Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the aftermath of the First World War, the </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kingdom of Italy</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and the fledgling </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kingdom of Yugoslavia</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> were still squabbling over where their final border would be. D’Annunzio, a wildly popular poet and war hero, in 1919 marched a makeshift army into </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fiume</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—a then-Italian-populated town which today is on the </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Croatia</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> side of the border and named </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rijeka</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—and claimed it for Italy. Italy’s <b>King</b> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Victor Immanuel III</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, however, wanted no part of the plot and declined to formally reabsorb the enclave. So d’Annunzio—an androgynous and wildly prolific bisexual erotic conqueror who followed the Italian art movement called Decadentism and whose megalomaniacal nicknames for himself included “<i>il Magnifico</i>” (“the Magnificent”) and “<i>il Profeto</i>” (“the Prophet”)—declared the town the </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Regency of Carnaro</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Reggenza Italiana del Carnaro</b></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) and ran it as his </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">de facto–</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">independent personal fief for a year before the Italian navy retook the town. Carnaro’s bizarre constitution, which was a piece of performance art in itself, declared “music” to be the founding political principle of the state, but d’Annunzio’s bombastic balcony speeches and black-shirted militias anticipated—some would say laid the groundwork for—the capital-</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">F</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Fascism which later, in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, swallowed up Italy and half of Europe. (Carnaro was later known as the </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Free State of Fiume</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Stato Libero di Fiume</b></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) and in 1924 was formally attached to Italy. After the Second World War, despite an attempt to revive the Carnaro entity, it reverted to Yugoslavian control.)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olga Brunner, the prince’s mistress.<br />
She’d better wait till the maid leaves the room before opening the mail.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Two years after Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 and began gently bending the monarchy to his will, Victor Immanuel III ennobled d’Annunzio as “Prince of Montenevoso”—the geographical principality in question being an Alpine town and district then within Italy but now known as Snežnik, in the </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Republic of Slovenia</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3XRIo7cop-doxGl1CNflxAcdd0FdgLhLqABm3BPtDmDIjuQqqLX_g98nkqZG2QpGSlV7CeJFKLpb0LVxFXNMlqQd0B2oNt2BNBnb_r-xjzibWDhRSocwkKXexcCfG4UzlP2OkjQx2SeK/s1600/Picture_of_Gabriele_D'Annunzio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3XRIo7cop-doxGl1CNflxAcdd0FdgLhLqABm3BPtDmDIjuQqqLX_g98nkqZG2QpGSlV7CeJFKLpb0LVxFXNMlqQd0B2oNt2BNBnb_r-xjzibWDhRSocwkKXexcCfG4UzlP2OkjQx2SeK/s1600/Picture_of_Gabriele_D'Annunzio.jpg" height="400" width="329" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor Prince Gabriele: before the age of smartphones and “sexting,”<br />
little ... um ... <i>presents</i> had to be sent through the royal mails.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">D’Annunzio’s semen and its DNA are being used for comparison with his great-grandson</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Federico d’Annunzio</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, the current Prince of Montenevoso (Italy, a republic, nonetheless retains a semi-official aristocracy), and all press reports indicate that it is a test run for forensic genomics that does not rely on exhumation. Though one wonders if something else is going on. A succession dispute or paternity case?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the waning days of the Second World War, a second try<br />
at an independent Carnaro also claimed some now-Croatian islands in the Adriatic.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Indeed, the chief of the museum which owns the crusty rag, </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Giordano Bruno Guerri</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> raised, in an interview, the specter of a kind of small-scale version of </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Boys from <b>Brazil</b>,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> musing that theoretically the poet, whom Italians regard as ambivalent sort of national hero and who died in 1938, could now be cloned. “Nobody wants to clone d’Annunzio,” Guerri hastily clarified, “but nobody knows what changes will take place in science and society. It’s good the DNA has been collected.” Hmm, hard to know where he’s going with that. If Guerri is planning to clone and breed a Decadentist pro-Fascist aristocracy to wrest control of Italy from corrupt republican politicos and imperialist Teutonic creditors, then where will it end? We may have to swipe </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Monica Lewinsky</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">’s dress from the Department of Justice’s evidence vault and clone an army of </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bill Clinton</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s to stop him. Who’s in?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[You can read more about the Free State of Fiume, the Regency of Carnaro, and other bizarre and obscure separatist movements in my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/index.php" target="_blank">Litwin Books</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> under the ti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><a href="http://litwinbooks.com/split.php" target="_blank">Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar</a>.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626;">he book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags<i> </i>(or, more accurately, 554 flag <i>images</i>), is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Separatist-Movements-Aspirant-Abkhazia/dp/1936117991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425067723&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+split+roth" target="_blank"><b>available for order <i>now</i> on Amazon</b></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Split/686031964777361?sk=timeline" target="_blank">on <b>Facebook</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and see </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/special-announcement.html" target="_blank">this special announcement</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for more information on the book.]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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Chris Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06344656092851347185noreply@blogger.com0