Marian's Blog

"Why does Barack Obama hate my family?", Counterpunch

"... I'm not claiming to know the story behind the picture of Obama and his father at the airport, but I suspect that joint custody between Hawaii, Indonesia, Massachusetts, Kansas, New York, Illinois and Africa would have been tough. ..." My quote of the week from Kevin Alexander Gray's essay, "Why does Barack Obama hate my family?" And thanks to Counterpunch for publishing it.

McKinney and Clemente Chosen by U.S. Green Party

The Green Party of the United States has voted former Georgia Member of Congress Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 and first woman and woman of colour presidential nominee. McKinney carried her historic political quest to the next level, asking New York City South Bronx native, Nuyorican (self-identified Black Puerto Rican) Rosa Clemente - a sister Afrodescendant of the Americas - to be her vice presidential running mate. More info on these two sites: runcynthiarun.org and gp.org.

Election 2008: the meanings of "history"

Over the past several months I've talked with about sixty journalists about the issues of ethnicity (which is neither colour or "race"), representation and the lack of it, and history - particularly the history of the USA and every other society in the Americas, Europe - including Britain - and Africa, which is a continent, not a country. In talking with journalists, historians and others there are fundamental and serious concerns about this election cycle which, despite the hype and in very basic and uncomfortable ways, is like every previous U.S. presidential election. What I find most astounding is that with so much "free" press running around - domestic and international - almost no one is willing to go on-record to ask, acknowledge or discuss, in clear language whether English, Kreyol, Spanish, Arabic or Choctaw, what it means that in 2008 the U.S. continued its erstwhile tradition of never nominating or electing an American Indian or a Black American - a descendant of those enslaved in the USA. Posed against election hoopla versus an almost overwhelming need for decency and accountability right around the world, what does, or what should, this fact mean?

Black Politics with Chris Owens, Saturdays, 11 a.m. eastern

Be sure to check today's radio show, Black Politics with Chris Owens. Starts 11AM U.S. Eastern time Saturdays. Executive Producers are Logan Nakyanzi Pollard and Stephen Davis. Chris composed the show's music. The show's produced in New York City. Listen at Air America via computer if you can't hear it by radio.

Voters pick Clinton in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island; McCain

Hillary Clinton has won Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island Democratic primaries. And if folks want to talk about total numbers of delegates picked by the voters, why doesn't the will of Democratic voters in Florida and Michigan count? Granted Barack Obama's name wasn't on the ballot in Florida - make that Michigan. Will the Democratic Party let stand the earlier decision to exclude all the delegates Senator Clinton would have won in those two states? What's up with that? Meanwhile John McCain is now officially the GOP's presidential candidate.

Chocolate City, a film on Washington, DC and gentrification

In recognition of our colonised status, people around the world can help by taking a symbolic break from even uttering the words "Washington" and "Washington, DC." Leave our name out of conversation and put a blank space in print. Besides the general public, those encouraged to promote, observe and abide by the boycott should include bloggers, teachers and professors, clergymembers, tourists and tour guides, travel agents, economists, journalists, scientists, activists and politicians. To do so will send a powerful message in contrast to the real lack of power of our city's mostly Black and mostly Black women residents. Washington, the city, always has been about far more than national and international politics and tourism.

(In Washington, an image of DC native son the late Marvin Gaye shows up only in a vodka advert. U.S. Capitol with "don't walk" sign. Photos property Marian's Blog)

In fact, DC's reality remains hidden: a majority-Black American city with a buried yet deeply rooted history (and identity) as the former capital of the U.S. interstate slave trade. People live here, and for many years the majority of Washington's citizens have been Black Americans; or at least we have been the vast majority until the very recent past. Washington as a majority Black city has always been subjugated and segregated. We have been and are under attack. In spite of the presence of international organizations and the embassies of nations around the world, little news of the real DC and our status seems to get out, even and especially among journalists. Along comes a film to break the silence: CHOCOLATE CITY, a documentary by filmmakers Ellie Walton and Sam Wild. Just as they would have bought Black Americans' ancestors as slaves, property developers have bought my town and the local population is being forced out using means that are mostly foul. CC focuses on the displacement and dispersal of the community of 400 families who lived in public housing called Arthur Capper Homes. The film has two de facto "stars", Arthur Capper resident Debra Frazier and Anu Yadav, a performance artist of South Asian origin. The two form unlikely yet complementary poles in the moving narrative. A quickly built official website for Chocolate City is down now seems to be back up after having received so many hits it temporarily exceeded its bandwidth. I'm also pointing readers to Jennifer Tchinnosian's 6 Feb 2008 review in George Washington University's student paper, the Daily Colonial, a name which is wholly a propos.

Election 2008: help a grad student, take a survey

Marian's Blog received a survey request from a PhD student at Stony Brook University in New York State. Chris Weber is conducting a survey on "people's reactions to the presidential candidates in the upcoming election." Logically this would be aimed at U.S. voters. I agreed to pass this along, and completed the survey myself. We won't be taking comments on this post.

"The purpose of this survey is to examine how people think and feel about the political issues, parties, and candidates in the upcoming election. In the survey, you will be asked a series of questions about two political candidates, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. We are very interested in how individuals [who] find information on the web think about politics, and your participation would be greatly appreciated. In total, the survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and you can skip any questions you do not wish to answer. Click here to take the survey http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/crweber/TAKESURVEY/election_2008.htm. Contact Chris ( crweber AT notes.cc.sunysb.edu) at Stony Brook University with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help!"  ***

Republicans' Larry Craig vs. Oliver Thomas, New Orleans' ex-councilman

How many Republicans have heard of the "down-low"? They may be getting an unparallelled lesson from a U.S. senator, another member of the conservative flock. The "down-low" is a Black American cultural reference to the not-so-rare behavior or lifestyle in which a man is intimately involved with men while 'fronting' with women to appear 'macho'. Only hours after finally getting shod of an albatross attorney general, GOPers now are confronted with their old friend, senior U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. As in "Idaho potatoes". Yet another self-aggrandising poster boy for "family values" that look and feel a lot more like cardboard. Craig was arrested for "disorderly" (or lewd? (no, not lewd - disorderly)) behavior in a men's public restroom and pled guilty. Now he says he shouldn't have pled guilty... This must be rich food for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association - NLGJA - holding its annual meeting in San Diego (nlgja.org).

Compare Craig's attitude to the down-to-earth, even gracious, public apology earlier this month (also televised) of local Louisiana politico, Oliver Thomas, who is Black. Read his statement below. Larry Craig, on the other hand, defiantly called a press conference and rather than calmly giving his version of what occurred in the airport men's restroom (snicker), Craig arrogantly and repeatedly tells press and public something most of us really did not need or want to know, and about a complete stranger at that. "I am not gay." It's reported that Craig also pulled out a card identifying himself as a member of the U.S. Senate. Was he hoping the officer would simply go away? Not. He was arrested.

So how long will Idahoans, the Republican Party and Craig's colleagues in both houses of Congress put up with this? Days? Weeks? Hours? The remainder of '07 and well into 2008? How long is this going to fester? I'm watching my watch.

Contrast Mr. Craig with Oliver Thomas of New Orleans, La. Mr. Thomas resigned from New Orleans City Council around 13 August "after pleading guilty in federal court to accepting a bribe from a City Hall vendor" (from Times-Picayune blog). Back around 2002, as a city councilmember, Thomas reportedly accepted a piddling $15-thousand dollar bribe over a city parking contract. This wrongdoing is dwarfed, smothered by a unilateral war on Iraq, the Enron scandal and the still-growing list of truly astounding scandal. Yet men like George W. Bush and Larry
Craig could care less about
humbly asking Oliver Thomas for a page from his book. Americans will do well to finally familiarise themselves with Transparency International, a global nonprofit, or "NGO" (nongovernmental organisation) that addresses public corruption.

Here's Oliver Thomas' televised admission of guilt and offer of contrition:

"First, to my family, then to my friends and colleagues and finally to all of my fellow New Orleanians, I stand before you today humbled, disappointed in myself, and seeking your forgiveness for what I'm about to say. ..."

U.S. Midterms: "Appetizer for 2008" - Gergen

What was unimaginable less than 48 hours ago has occurred. Democrats have won both the House and the Senate while Mr. Rumsfeld has been shown the District line. Sayonara, Don. I couldn't have said it better than David Gergen on CNN declaring Tuesday's election results "the appetizer" for Election Day 2008. Gergen also aptly declared what's happening in America as "political high drama". A-men. In today's early hours, Thursday, 9 November, Associated Press has now declared Jim Webb winner while Mr. Webb has publicly thanked the people of Virginia (1607-2007) for electing him that state's new U.S. senator. Unlike perhaps a few folks I don't really intend to brag. At least not much. Globally and inside the U.S. all of us are dealing with many sobering things. Yet now at least there's the opportunity to begin again and to do some things which are both practical and right. Tuesday's really was a seismic vote.

Fishing - Highlight of Bush presidency since 2001

Everybody's blogging this because it's so incredible.

George Bush says his best moment since becoming president of the US was catching a fish. The fishing took place at his private lake in Texas. He told this to Bild am Sonntag - a German paper, adding that his fish was a 7-1/2 lb perch.

What can anyone add to something like that? 

God, Please Send Me Back as a Black American again

This is for my buddy and brother Washingtonian George over at Negrophile ("one who loves and admires Black people"). Thank you for that inspiration, in spite of such things as Harvard University's "implicit association test" - which neither mentions nor measures the existence of those of us (not only among Blacks) who love and admire Black Americans - Black folks any and everywhere. Thank you, George, for Negrophile's truth and inspiration. I also thank the spirit of my cousin, Harry Lee Gudger, God rest his good-natured soul. In his lifetime Harry Gudger was a native of Muncie, Indiana USA who later became an elected officer of the Texas NAACP. From Zvornik to Srebrenica, from Travnik to Somalia, Haiti and beyond I've been asked: "'What' (ethnicity) are you? Where are you from?" As I walked to work one morning in eastern Bosnia an elderly man asked (translating): "Gospodja ("ma'am") - Are you from India?" I looked my elder, that's what he was, in his eyes and let him know, "no, sir", I was not from India but that I was Black American, meaning this particular US North American version of our mestizajes of the Americas - our various, similar yet diverse mixtures of African + Indigenous Native American + European - mixed race ancestry. In other words I am 100% Black American. I realise and cannot accept as some among the 'newly mixed' assert "their" issues and identity right here in the same geopolitical space by apparently ignoring and supplanting - even denigrating - any thoughtful consideration of the processes by which mixed race people in the US and Americas were created centuries ago. In other words, I thank the Creator for making my people - Black Americans - as fully human as most of them truly are; and in the face of and in spite of such indifference, cruelty, craziness, deprivation and depravity, all taking place in the midst of unprecedented wealth and power. Across the world and including some recent immigrants to the USA - so many people have told me they've been inspired by Black Americans... So if there is karma and as Black Americans say, "What goes around comes around," God, send me back another time as a Black American, a Black American woman.

Impostor: Richard Nixon, George Bush - What's the difference?

Now for a history moment. What's the difference between George Bush and Richard Nixon? In my book - Nixon was impeached. In November 1973 Nixon spoke to a large group of Associated Press editors in Florida, stating, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook...." He added he was "not a crook." The American public disagreed. In 2006 it would seem reasonable that US citizens have a civic responsibility to be interested in knowing not only whether their president is a 'crook' but also whether he is competent. US citizens need to know whether our legislative branch (Congress) and the judicial branch (Supreme Court) of government are even exercising their check and balance functions. We're supposed to know who actually is running the US government, and whether or not those actions truly represent the will of the American people. If the answer to any of those things is no, we're in it deep. In October 1973 the Nixon administration appointed special prosecutor Archibald Cox to investigate the break-in at Democratic Party national headquarters then located in Washington's Watergate complex. (The late Frank Wills was the security guard who discovered the break-in.) Within days Nixon had decided to fire Cox. This led to October 20, 1973's "Saturday Night Massacre." The firing was temporarily halted by US Attorney General Elliot Richardson and deputy AG William Ruckelshaus as both chose to resign rather than obey the order to fire Cox. These days who would have that much integrity? Let's not mention courage. Enter Robert Bork, Nixon's Solicitor General in 1973. Later as Supreme Court candidate he was "borked."  After the demission of Richardson and Ruckelshaus, Bork voluntarily carried out the order to fire Cox. That was then and this is now, as another conservative by the name of Bruce Bartlett has published a rousing book titled Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. I have absolutely no nostalgia for Mr. Reagan or his "legacy", but unfortunately before long more of us probably will agree with the first part of Bartlett's premise. - "Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people." - Archibald Cox

"What About the People Who Can't Eat?"- The Injustice Index, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

"With all due respect to gay rights or abortion - What about the people who can't eat??!" - Kristina Borjesson, Feb 3rd, 2006, speaking to a small, live audience at New York Open Center, broadcast on CSPAN2 Book TV. Editor of Feet to the Fire - The Media After 9/11: Top Journalists Speak Out.

Injustice Index US domestic stats from Drum Major Institute for Public Policy:

*pounds lost by George W. Bush in first 7 months of 2005: 8

*growth in number of hungry US households since 1999: 43%

*income at which a US family of 3 qualifies for food stamps: $20,376

*average yearly wage of "sales associates" at Wal-Mart: $14,787

*number of Wal-Mart employees in USA: 1.2 million

*net worth of five (5) Walton family heirs to Wal-Mart fortune: $77.9 billion

About those Diebold machines... A FL county elections head thinks votes were manipulated

Blogger and investigative reporter Brad Friedman writes that the elections director of the Florida county that includes the state capital, Tallahassee (that would be Leon County), says he believes there was "electronic manipulation" of votes in the state's year 2000 US presidential election results. More specifically, he alleges manipulation of some "certain" votes cast in Volusia County, Florida. How many more knowledgeable folk need to come forward on all this?? Friedman's own Brad Blog documents his detailed account of the ongoing struggle over votes, politics and democracy in the United States of America.

Bush does not squeak by in Virginia and New Jersey elections

It looks like Virginia Democrat and current lieutenant governor Tim Kaine has defeated Republican Jerry Kilgore in the state's governor's race. So much for Mr. Bush's political support on the heels of his Summit of the Americas junket (and street protests) in Mar del Plata, Argentina. In New York City Republican incumbent billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg has been elected to another term, defeating challenger Fernando Ferrer. By late October Bloomberg's campaign had spent nearly 67 million dollars on his mayoral campaign. In New Jersey voters have selected US Democratic Senator Jon Corzine to be New Jersey's new governor over challenger Douglas Forrester. With a three hour time difference separating California from the East Coast US, not much news has arrived yet from out there. More later.

Elections in NY, CA, VA, NJ - Can Bush squeak past "referenda" on himself and the GOP?

Americans in New York City, Virginia, California and New Jersey have had the opportunity, privilege and responsibility to get out and vote today. In general numbers, most of the US has really lousy voter turnout although some of us definitely do not take voting for granted. Today there are state and local elections in Virginia, California, New York and New Jersey. Last night Bush 'fils' ("son") stopped through the state of Virginia (bordering Wash, DC) after the rousing 'welcome' Bush received in the streets of Mar del Plata, Argentina, at the Summit of the Americas. "W" stopped in Virginia to try and "help" GOP candidate Jerry Kilgore in his governor campaign against current Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Tim Kaine. In New York City it's the mayor's race between Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer and billionaire Republican incumbent Michael Bloomberg.  New Jersey voters also are electing a new governor with a menu offering two more wealthy white guys - Republican Douglas Forrester and Democratic US Senator Jon Corzine. California voters are choosing whether to slap down or support Republican "governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger. We hear his gubernatorial behaviour isn't all that funny. "Aahnold" is using ballot initiatives to try to give himself more power over the state budget, over public teacher jobs, and over shaping California legislative districts and imposing political contribution limits on trade unions (Governor Schwarzenegger's political opponents). More later!

Bush Shamelessly takes Republican "New Southern Strategy" to Indiana Black Expo - and to Latinos

Today George Bush and GOP Chair Ken Mehlman took their 'dog-and-pony' show to Indiana and Indiana's Black Expo. Since I have family ties there Indiana also is a home to me. The Bush-Mehlman junket was part of what I'm naming the New Republican Southern Strategy. The 'strategy' seems pretty much to be an attempt to dilute or neutralise the Black vote while organising dissatisfied Whites. Those too are my own words. The tantalising question of what some White Americans may be or ought to be upset about - and at whom - will be subjects for future posts on this blog. The New Republican Southern Strategy extends well beyond the US South, though Indiana, which borders the state of Kentucky, culturally is not completely "Northern." The Bush-Mehlman Hoosier trip was arrogant and anti-historical in the way it targeted Black Americans. These are the same people who violated the voting rights of thousands of Black Americans before and on Election Day 2000. Now George Bush and Ken Mehlman have the gall to stand before Black Indianans asking for a political blank check. Forget it George. And by the way, since Republicans have yet another "strategy" to woo Hispanics - and try to divide them from Blacks - FYI - Latinos are not monolithic... and just to re-iterate: with most Black Americans THE GOP IS STILL BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE.

The secret Downing Street Memo in The Times of London

How could US press have missed this story? (snicker) Here's the link to the Sunday Times of London May 1st 2005 article containing the top-secret July 23rd, 2002 memo now known as the Downing Street memo or the Rycroft memo. Rawstory points out July 2002 was "months before President Bush submitted his resolution on Iraq to the United States Congress and months before Bush and Blair asked the United Nations to resume its inspections for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." The Times explains Andrew Rycroft, who drafted the memo, was a foreign policy aide at #10 Downing St, official residence of British prime minister Tony Blair. **And thanks in particular to Representative John Conyers, Democratic member of the US Congress and the Congressional Black Caucus representing the people of Detroit, Michigan, for carrying this issue back to the American people, his colleagues, the Bush admin and the US mainstream media. Apparently the US press has yet to discover these events. Give them time. And don't hold your breath. Meanwhile, would you mind answering our poll down the right side of this blog? It asks simply whether the Bush White House tries to influence or control the press in the USA. CNN host Lou Dobbs recently asked the same question in a public poll on his CNN website. More about those results later. FYI Lou Dobbs isn't exactly a pinko-communist-pacifist whatever.

U.S. militarism

I've never lived in any other country as militarised as the US. Is constant, full-blown 'military preparedness' a normal way to live? Do Americans realise the tentacles being spread across the world in their names? We're busy waxing our SUVs and such. In some countries I've lived in the biggest military presence is the USA, though it's not US soil. I remember 1950's president Dwight Eisenhower's seemingly unheeded warning: Americans beware of "the military-industrial complex" (1961). Deaf ears... apparently drowned out by surround sound. I was deciding whether or not to blog this when what popped on the telly this a.m. but two - 2 - military commercials all in a row. These weren't your average, overkill ads for recruitment. The first was 'soft': a string of mostly middle aged to elder faces saying things like, "I'll never forget him," meaning others who died on military duty. Among the men was a single lady who managed reference to a 'her'. At the end was the word "Boeing" since they sponsored the spot. Next was a straight up, hardcore Northrup Gruman ad - not disguised by sentimentality. It showed 'men at work' on an aircraft carrier. It advertised "being ready" and some kind of high tech weapon system. In the past 40 years how much "ready" has ever been enough? They used gibberish techie jargon the ordinary public, including me, would not understand, though our taxes cover part of the bill. All this in less than 5 minutes. But we never see ads of our public schools that stand in ruin - with our children inside. Of American neighborhoods - mostly Black, whether middle, poor, or working class - disinvested and abandoned by Big Capital during the same last 40 years but now invaded by wealth and outsiders who by far are not Black. I'm sick of it all. Those of us who care have to change these things for the better.

U.S. President Eisenhower, 1961 - This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. ... (continued below)

L.A.'s First Latino Mayor in 130 Years

Here's one of the news stories about L.A. electing its first Latino mayor since 1872. A "dry spell" that long is a story in itself. Can anyone figure out what these letters mean? - CNSLRDLA. Hint: has something to do with L.A.

TV Now: Book TV, CSPAN 2- "The New American Militarism," Andrew Bacevich

I've got to read this book. This guy is talking about a "technology-hyped mood" toward war.

Some Balkan American guy named Andrew Bacevich (bah cheh vitch) is on C-Span 2's Book TV at this moment, telling "too much truth." [Now they're discussing what he said.] His new book is, The New American Militarism. He's using words & phrases like, the old view of war was "barbarism, brutality, ugliness, and waste" ... while today we have hi-tech warfare - "smart weapons, new vision of war new lexicon" - war was becoming "surgical, frictionless post-modern abstract, virtual," ... 'cost-effective', 'humane', even 'thrilling' ...we're in the midst of a "technology-hyped mood" toward war.

Ben Greenberg: "Arresting children Under 12 in Florida" (United States of America)

Thanks to Ben Greenberg's Hungry Blues blog entry "Arresting children under 12 in Florida" we've learned there is a serious pattern and problem in Pinellas County, Florida. Pinellas is where (as seen in the video of what occurred) a little Black 5 year old Ja'eisha Scott was treated like a space alien and abandoned by her 2 white kindergarten teachers, then turned over by them to three (3) white police who handcuffed her and apparently later, off camera, put some type of shackles on her legs. This smacks of slavery and clearly is a violation of human rights.

Ben and his family discovered a multi-part St. Petersburg Times newspaper special report, "Under 12, Under Arrest" - published in December 2000 - over 4 years ago. Thanks, Ben.

I've borrowed the newpaper's chart, which Ben also has on his site. He notes that Pinellas and Hillsborough counties lead the state in arresting children under 11 years old.

CNN.com Video: Police Handcuff Five Year Old Girl - after White School Teachers Call Police

Go to CNN's website and look for this story and video, "Controversy After Police Handcuff Five Year Old Girl." If your system can play video, watch it for yourself. They also should show the entire video with two white female teachers hounding this little girl while she was merely upset about something and throwing toys on the classroom floor. Because a 5 year old child did that and tried to hit a teacher someone called police.

How this Black child is treated should remind us of apartheid-era South Africa. If this were South Africa during apartheid we would acknowledge without a doubt that it is absolutely pertinent to these events that every adult involved is white and this little child is Black American... and that these people called the police and handcuffed a helpless, little girl.

Sunnis as 'Serbs'? Iraq election, Sunni minority, ethnic jigsaw puzzles

Iraq is happening today. I see Peter Erben is in charge of Iraq's out-of-country voting. That's the process for those Iraqis who will vote but aren't in [the midst of the carnage of certain areas of present-day] Iraq.

Here at my house we're talking about the Iraq election process compared to our experiences in Bosnia, Kosova/Kosovo, Croatia, and elsewhere in the Balkans.

For the moment we'll set aside the distinct and frightening, or at the very least unsettling, possibility of going to vote (or to monitor these elections) and not getting back alive. There's also issues of follow-up to this election including the presence of a now politically dominant Shi'a society in a sea of Sunni-dominant societies.

[Apparently Bush's Official Washington says it intends going to change all that. To change in fact the whole Mideast. On the brilliant Daily Show with Jon Stewart, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said the Bush juggernaut ["Jagannatha"] is not interested in any news stories, any factual accounts, congressional questions/ [minority Democrat] condemnation, or any other criticism.]

The Bush part of Official Washington is on its own path for 4 more years.

Iraq causes some of us to think of the 'ghosts' of other recent (and far less bloody/chaotic) foreign (mostly not unilateral) military interventions and subsequent elections.

Like Bosnia 1997. Thanks to OSCE, this was my own introduction to life and work in eastern Bosnia: Zvornik, Bratunac and Srebrenica (and of course Sekovici [sheh kovee chee]) - the Bosnian Serb Republic, Republika Srpska.

After the Bosnian war and the rest of the break up of former Jugoslavija, some saw Bosnian Serbs as Bosnia's new ethnic underdog - or as being out of favour - since the forces purporting to represent them [Milosevic et al] had lost the war.

The thing to realise here is that the ethnic effect I'm talking about was/is not limited to a single country.

Bosnia was one thing. So was Croatia. Then there was Kosovo.

I should say there is Kosova/o. "Kosova" in Albanian.

Kosova/o remains a province of Serbia and of 'remnant' Jugoslavija, which amounts to Serbia including Kosova/o + tiny Montenegro). [The international community still isn't sure what to do on the Kosovo/a final status either. With all eyes on Washington & Iraq time is running out for Kosovo/a's peaceful resolution.]

What's left of the Kosovar Serbs is now Kosova/Kosovo's largest ethnic minority.

(There are also major & even more disadvantaged Roma ["gypsy"] and related populations in Kosovo/a and throughout the Balkans.)

Check your news archives and elsewhere on the Kosovo Serb minority's (non)participation in elections there since 2000. Yes, I was there in the province's very first municipal election in 2000.

And now we have Iraq. Kurds seem thrilled to vote, as are most or many of the newly post-Saddam (a Sunni), liberated numerical majority Shi'a population.

With Sunnis as the majority in the region what of their minority in Iraq? Will the Sunni be the "Serbs" of Iraq?