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17th Dec 2013

The Balkans Tinderbox

1999 – War in the Balkans – Serbian troops entered Kosovo, a region with a primarily Muslim Albanian population, with an intent to restore their authority. NATO forces attacked the Serbian forces in Kosovo and Belgrade. 11 weeks later the bombing ceased as Serbian forces retreated from Kosovo. But the hatred remained.

For more than 500 years the Yugoslavian territories were divided among the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. In areas ruled by Austria-Hungary, Roman Catholicism prevailed while Islam prevailed in the regions ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

In 1912, the South Slavs led by the Serbs were successful in driving the Turks out of the region. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was the next target for the South Slavs. In 1914, the heir to the throne – Archduke Ferdinand was sent to Bosnia to offer concessions to the Serbs. However, he along with his wife were assassinated by a member of the extremist Serbian group – Black Hand. Austria demanded that their forces should be allowed into Serbia to hunt down the killers. Serbia didn’t concede to the request. Austria prepared for war.  Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany saw no reason for an all-out war. He wrote a letter to the Austrian monarchy not to count on his support. But the note reached the Austrians too late. Believing they have German support, they attacked Serbia.  This triggered a series a political alliances which plunged Europe into the First World War. England, France, Russia and later America supported Balkan independence from Austria-Hungary. When the war was over, hundreds of thousands of Slavs were dead. The regional states were in complete disarray. World leaders tried to bring an order to the chaos. Under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were together called Yugoslavia. Serbia, which was a major fighting force in the war, felt betrayed.

Among the chaos, Josef Stalin saw an opportunity to spread communism in Yugoslavia. He appointed Marshal Tito, a long-time Stalin-protege for the task. He was born of a Slovenian mother and a Croatian father in 1892. He fought for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution. In the 1930s, Stalin sent Tito to Yugoslavia to rebuild and lead the ousted Yugoslavian Communist Party.

World War 2: In 1941, the Yugoslavian monarch Prince Paul signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The deal angered his Serb generals who overthrew his monarchy within 2 weeks. Hitler ordered to crush the troublemakers and the Yugoslav army completely. Operation Punishment was underway and Belgrade was bombarded by the Nazis. In less than 2 weeks, the country was in ruins. It was later found out that it was due to the delay resulting from this operation that had resulted in Germany’s failure to conquer Russia. During the conquest of Yugoslavia, the Germans and Italians took control of the nation with one exception – the pro-German Croatians were allowed to form Croatia under the political leadership of Ustase. The Ustase massacred one-third of the Serbs in Croatia along with thousands of Jews and Gypsies. Some of the Nazi-SS officers were horrified by the atrocities committed by them. Some experts believe that the Vatican might have had a hand in supporting the Ustase.

To fight the Germans, Italians and the ruthlessness of the Ustase, two grounps of underground guerilla armies emerged – Serbian officers of the Royal Army formed the Chetniks, and the Communist guerilla fighters led by Tito called Partisans. Both groups sought support from the Allied nations.  The Allied nations had no inside information to exactly know which group is more powerful in fighting the Axis control in Yugoslavia. In reality, both groups were more engaged in fighting each other than the occupying forces. Initially the British backed the Chetniks, because their record for fighting the Germans was more satisfactory. However, as the war progressed, the Partisans were in favor. The British had no way of knowing the ground reality. Seeing this opportunity Communist spies infiltrated British intelligence and gave false information about Partisan involvement. It was not until 1999, that the truth came out through secret documents. Since the Partisans were in favor, the British dropped support for the Chetniks and this treachery later led to the formation of a Communist-led Yugoslavia (under Marshal Tito) after the war.

Tito was smart to play all factions against one another. He led the British believe that he would help them secure Belgrade. He made a secret deal with Stalin that led to Russians capture the Yugoslav capital first.

When Soviet troops entered Yugoslavia towards the end of the war, Yugoslavia was united as a communist state under the leadership of Tito. To ease further tensions, he created a federation of six nominally equal republics – Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Each republic had its own elected president.  His greatest threat came from the same man who supported him – Josef Stalin. When Tito refused Stalin’s demands for Russian troops stationed in Yugoslavia, the Russian chief banished Yugoslavia from the World Communist Organization. Yugoslavia quickly became isolated and ostracized from the communist world. Tito received support from an unexpected ally – the U.S.

In 1949, Harry Truman offered economic assistance (including arms) but kept the deal hidden from the public since he cannot openly support communism. Stalin even ordered the assassination of Tito but the plan was dropped due to Stalin’s death in 1953. Tito also protested against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Between 1945 and 1989, western powers viewed Yugoslavia as a geographical and political buffer against Soviet Union.  But the need ended with the end of the Cold War. Overnight, Western foreign aid plummeted and Yugoslavian economy collapsed. A crisis was on its way.

It was Tito’s defiance that acted as a precedent for other nations to openly oppose the sovereignty of Soviet Union which ultimately led to the disintegration of the communist super power. Marshal Tito died in 1980 leaving no single successor but a rather complicated system of a rotating presidency among 8 members – leaders from the 6 republics and 2 leaders from the Serbian territories: Kosovo and Vojvodina. Very soon, the growing unrest due the economic mismanagement led to riots and general strikes. Serbian minorities in Kosovo demonstrated in 1987 against alleged mistreatment by the Muslim majority. The Communist central government in Belgrade sent Slobodan Milosevic to handle the issue.

Milosevic took advantage of the situation and became a folk hero for Serbian rights.  Serbian nationalism had a new champion. He rocketed to the top most position as the leader of the Serbian communist party and the president of the republic of Serbia in 1989. He placed Kosovo under tight Serbian authority.  This led to a series of spiraling rivalries among the different nationalities of Yugoslavia. In June 1991, Slovenia declared its independence. Due to fewer number of Serbs in Slovenia, the land was not considered historically important. In the same year, the Republic of Macedonia also gained independence without a lot of effort and trouble. To prevent further troubles, Milosevic took autocratic control of what remained of the country.

Very soon the people of Croatia also sought independence.  The chequered flag of Ustese that led to the carnage of thousands of Serbs was used as a national symbol of the region. The Serbs in Croatia were infuriated and decided to rebel. The newly formed Croatian army tried to control the Serb rebellion. Milosevic sought the support of Soviet Union to invade Croatia. He deployed his troops in Serb-controlled areas of Croatia. In December 1991, the war began. Most UN nations backed Croatian secession. In May 1992, Croatia was declared a sovereign nation by the UN. During these troubling times, the region was wrought with ethnic cleansing. It was just the beginning of the horrors that would succeed the war in Croatia.

Yugoslavia was finally left with three republics – Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The people of Bosnia, with a Muslim majority, were intent on gained their recognition in 1992. The Serb minority in Bosnia were keener on being a part of greater Serbia. They started attacking Bosnian Muslims. Croatian president Tudjman wanted a share of the pie – which is half of Bosnia for Croatia; even though it meant betraying Bosnian Muslims who helped Croatia gained its independence. Milosevic and Tudjman tried to come to a common agreement regarding the division of Bosnia.

Unable to get Milosevic’s support, Tudjman went directly to Radovan Karadzic, head of an extremist Serbian Party in Bosnia.

Under the new alliance, Bosnian Serbs and Croats attacked the Muslims – burning, raping and killing them. They even betrayed the Muslims fighting in Croat army by imprisoning them.  Recently revealed documents revealed RAM plan, an operation by Serbian military to undertake numerous actions during the Yugoslav Wars that were later described as ethnic cleansing and genocide of non-Serb populations. As a result, Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims started cleansing each other making the distinction between victim and criminal almost impossible. According to later reports by the International War Crimes Tribunal, the Serbs committed the worst atrocities. Among the criminals was a fanatic popularly known as Arkan with his private army known as Tigers, was responsible for the worst atrocities in Bosnia.

 The UN peace keeping forces were sent to Bosnia to alleviate the consequences of war. In 1995, NATO intervened and bombed Serb targets with air raids. This action resulted in Dayton Peace talks in Ohio. Though the treaty stopped the fighting, the tensions were still on. Serbs, Croats and Muslims ignored the treaty. Milosevic was still active with his plans for a greater Serbia. 

After the Bosnian war, the next region to face the brunt of Serbian authoritarianism was Kosovo, where 90% of the population are Albanian Muslims. However Kosovo was at the very heart of Milosevic’s greater Serbia. The Serbs contended that Kosovo was like their holy land because of historic and religious prominence.  The Serbian minority started treating Albanian Muslims like second class citizens. Milosevic imposed martial law in Kosovo in 1998.  The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) came out in open rebellion against the Serbs. Serb soldiers terrorized the Kosovo countryside by burning villages and killing ethnic populations. Arkan and his army of tigers were actively involved in the atrocities. Under threat of NATO airstrikes, Milosevic discussed ways to ease tensions. Due to his continued defiance, NATO conducted relentless airstrikes on Serbian forces.

Milosevic was charged of war crimes by the international tribunal. He gradually withdrew all his troops from Kosovo for political reasons. However, the Serbian departure did not end the violence in Kosovo. The new victims were the minority Serbs targeted by Muslims. Most the Serbs were murdered by the KLA. 

NATO, the UN and the European Union joined hands to rebuild Kosovo and other regions of Yugoslavia and bring peace & security in the war-torn region.

 

16th Dec 2013

How to create a mind: Ray Kurzweil

Human Genome Project – the team was able to complete only 1% of the project in the first 7 years. The entire project was completed in total time of 14 years. This was possible due to the exponential progression in the speed of computing.

What technology will follow integrated circuits, to serve as the sixth paradigm, is unknown, but Kurzweil believes nanotubes are the most likely alternative among a number of possibilities:

nanotubes and nanotube circuitry, molecular computing, self-assembly in nanotube circuits, biological systems emulating circuit assembly, computing with DNA, spintronics (computing with the spin of electrons), computing with light, and quantum computing.

Dr. Alan Watkins – Being brilliant every single day

‘Why do people do what they do?’ is affected by ‘What people think?’ is affected by ‘How people feel?’ is affected by ‘raw emotion’ is affected by physiology. Physiology is nothing but data streams to the brain based on our experiences.

Thinking vs. Feeling vs. Emotion

Emotion is Energy in motion. Feeling is an awareness of the mind of such energy.

Tune in to what happens at the emotional level. It is not just about becoming aware of it but learning to be able to have control over such emotions.

To change thinking and to take it to brilliance would require a shift at the physiological level.