By Alessandro RAIMONDI
(THE GLOBE)
Once upon a time there was a war in the Balkans, it was one of the kind that civilization had long forgotten about. They called it an ethnic-religious one, the sort dressing of moral justification the barbaric killing of innocent children, guilty only of being raised under a different doctrine, raping of women, guilty only of generating a �different� kind of persons, �executing� of elders, guilty enough for having lived too long in a different, distant, remote, incomprehensible environment. And, of course, the lethal punishing of male adults, guilty for trying to stop the annihilation of their dear ones, their beliefs, their land, their traditions, their history and heritage.
Yes, of all this were guilty those who paid their toll to the holocaust of their lot.
Then, as in every tale it always happens, the white knight has come to defend the poor ones, to save the derelicts, to spare the miserables, to restore justice, to stop the exodus. And he was not alone, there were many like him, descending from the heavens in monster-like machines bringing with them destruction to the wicked. Final payments were, at long last, being made. Completely?
A respectable tale so ends: rightness triumphs and evil is beaten. Completely. Once for all.
This little metaphor serves the purpose of introducing today�s issue. Has evil been �completely� beaten in Kosovo? What does of such a tale remain today? What to do to introduce tolerance, respect and self-respect in that war-torn area?
Completely beaten?
Figures of the Serb massacre of Kosovars are still on the making, as every week new and awful mass graves are being discovered. Nevertheless if a precise dimension to that trivial behavior cannot be given yet, it is being well known � name and surname � the mastermind of the planned extirpation of Yugoslavia�s Albanians. A man � and we need to apologize with the rest of mankind, assimilated to him as we are all men � of little moral, named Slobodan Milosevic, the adventurer of the Balkans, the card-sharper and most, most definetly the tyrant of Belgrade. A man � sorry again, folks � that has been indicted by The Hague�s International Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Europe�s opinion is that there isn�t a worst crime to be committed, and to have the stomach to perpetrate that kind of stuff one has to be little human and much beast, although a best kills, contrary to Slobo�s practice, only to sustain itself and its cubs.
So to answer the first question, it doesn�t really seem that final payments have been completely made: the #1 debtor doesn�t still honor his debts. Like him the plethora, luckily enough rather slim, of those so-called politicians that have missed the chance of becoming statesmen, once requested by events to choose between good and evil, instead dropping to the level of �moral supporters�. How to judge � Europeans ask � raving expressions such as Belarus� president Lukashenko�s �Yugoslavs do not need foreign soldiers. They need weapons reliable and modern to be able to defend themselves�. From Milosevic, probably� Cascades of boos would cover this �democratic� gentleman every step of the way in any European city, Belgrade included, I�m afraid.
And what to say to the other champion of the Serbian side, Boris Yeltsin, that from one hospitalization to another still indulges to play the great game? Listen to this: �We have extreme measures in reserve but we have decided not to use them. We are above that�. Was he talking about vodka in gallons or liters? That was Europe�s concern�
True, anybody can hold an opinion, but in declaring that, it ought to take care of not insulting the so-called common sense, or, just to remain in theme, the measure. Why, for God�s sake, boring with nonsense?
Remnants of the tale.
After the atrocities committed on Kosovo Albanians, after NATO bombing of Serbia, after Montenegro�s parting from Serbia�s stand, after the indictments of Milosevic and four of his top henchmen for war crimes, after hours of empty talking (emblematic this Tokaev�s declaration that could be prized as the �vacuum� declaration of the year: �The use of NATO force mark a transition to military methods in resolving the Kosovo crisis which has escalated international tension�. He also called for employing appropriate mechanism of the UN and the OSCE�) a man is still on the saddle, even if his stallion is, slowly but surely, reaching the dimension of a pony. This odd situation gives the whole affair the patent of �incomplete, unfinished�, a cake with no cherry on the top. Sure, the war is over but the responsible ones are still at large, no Nuremberg trial has been started even if a means-business-judge, Louise Arbour, a Canadian, has gathered information and evidencies to build a case against Milosevic. Would the world miss the ol� fella if he�s sent to reside beside bars for a long while? Europeans don�t, and to make sure that they will not feel the vacuum left by his� non presence around, they even consider more appropriate his final residence to be on the gallows.
Action not words have stopped the indicted Milosevic, NATO raids have stopped the �mattanza� of Albabian Yugoslavs, and all this without ground troops, without giving up a non-nuclear status like Kazakstan�s Parliament member Ivan Schegolikhin has dreamed of.
The warrants issued by the UN Court has made Milosevic a wanted man in every member state of the organization. This should also mean to have a formal apology from Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan and all those countries that have expressed support for the policy of a bunch of indicted men.
Action is what is needed now, to finish the job and clean Europe from her rubbish, legally, not savagely as ol� fella has done with Kosovars.
Action means a number of things, as �Eurolanders� see it. As soon as Milosevic steps out of his country to enter another UN member state, he should be arrested by the local authorities and �delivered� to The Hague�s Court. Action is also splitting Yugoslavia by the legal secession of Montenegro (who�d want to stay with ol� fella?), a process that apparently is on the way. Action is, much to Europe�s regret, cutting diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia once that the country would be formed only by Serbia. Who on Earth would like to risk shaking hands with ol� fella? A measure that, increasing the country isolation, setting a belt of vacuum around it, force Yugoslavs to come to terms with reality. The Middle Ages is over, so is Communism, no need to be ruled by somebody belonging to both. What better chance than starting the new millennium with an honest and decent man at Serbia�s helm?
What to do now?
Remember old Europe after the end of W.W.II? Smoking ruins everywhere thanks to the megalomania of another crazy chap, namely Adolph Hitler. Nevertheless in 1947 the continent was showing an urgent desire to start anew, and the various nations genuinely cherished their willingness to reconciliate (the European Commission was born soon after). That was the fertile humus that absorbed George Marshall�s Europe Reconstruction Program. The US assistance economic plan to the war-ravaged continent, that poured some $ 13 billion in grants to 16 countries, mainly contributing to their economic recovery from the madness of war.
Michael Emerson, former EU ambassador to Russia up to 1995, member of the Centre for European Policy Studies, and an expert of the Slav world, has proposed to revive the Marshall Plan spirit and apply something similar to the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania and Yugoslavia). Mr. Emerson�s plan, structured in 10 points, includes assistance to worst hit countries, abolition of custom duties, creation of an agency for reconstructing Southeast Europe, chance of association with Europe starting negotiations as early as January 2000, gradual admittance into the Union.
Would it be enough? For sure a platform has been laid down, would it act as a bridge to pass from serious talking to real facts?
Would we be able to say, after all this takes place, that they � Serbs and Kosovars � lived happily ever after?
By Alberto MENGONI
ALMATY, Sept 6
(THE GLOBE)
No doubt about it Poe�s novels are among the most read in the world, not only for the author�s uncanny ability in solving the intricate riddles of which they are rich, but also because, being him the forerunner of a literary genre, the mistery story, his works have became classic-like. It�s somewhat fascinating to follow through his books the path of a precursor, in this case, of course, a literary excursus.
Edgar Allan Poe�s unique ability of describing the terrors of the soul and his masterly way to build up a climax toward an incoming catastrophe, have much contributed to his reputation of �poete mandit�. In fact, his whole life cannot be considered an easy one, so plagued with tragedies have been his only 40 years of existence. Deeply effected by the tragical circumstances dotting his life, he has developed a psychopathic nature of which his works are clear and solar evidencies.
Profoundly impressed by the disquieting occurrence of his mother�s illness and death, early in his life, his mind produces inspirations, casts effects, draws suggestions that his pen masterly expresses into supremely romantic passages.
A Bostonian, son of two itinerant actors, Poe lost them when he was only 2, however the young boy was adopted by a rich Scottish merchant, John Allan, who brought him along to Europe. Young Edgar received there an education (1815/�20) and enjoyed a tranquil life although his mind remained restless, alert and frantic. He soon made his adoptive father aware of his quest for independence, his necessity of having no constraints at all.
Back in the U.S.A., Edgar, as usual financed by Mr. Allan, entered Virginia University but his rebellious temperament made him run into debt, which consequently lead to a confrontation between him and his adoptive father. Poe wouldn�t listen reasons and slammed the door at his back.
He then attempted the military career entering West Point where, unadapted to disciplined and hierarchic lifestyle, he was expelled.
From one failure to another, nevertheless the tormented young man had already written two books of verse in 1827, �Tamerlane and Other Poems� so his writing ability brought him to embrace a journalistic career. More writing artist than writing employee, he looses his journalistic assignments while conducting a disorderly life. In the meantime the latent genius within himself starts emerging in the prose of the �Tales of the Folio Club�, including novels such as �The Manuscript found in a Bottle�, �Morella�, �Berenice� and others.
A Turning point in his uneasy life comes in 1836, when 25-year-old Poe, already an aloholic, asks his aunt to marry her daughter, 13-year-old Virginia Clemm. Obtained Mrs. Clemm�s consent, who was hoping in so doing to help his nephew to get rid of his depression and consequently quit drinking, the two cousins married only to find out that a life in common cannot be much better than a single disorderly life if there is no stability and peace of mind.
Unable to keep a job, Poe writes independently, so to be the boss of himself � no constraints at all, remember? � and produces works such as the �Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque�, published in 1840, that although gives him and his young wife a little financial relief, doesn�t change dramatically his precarious money situation.
Fame comes for the burning man at the beginning of 1845 when, also a drug user at that time, �The Raven� is published in many newspapers across America. But it�s somewhat too late since Edgar is conducting himself to destruction in New York by making use of alcohol and drugs and living a life of privations, so much so that his wife dies of consumption, only 24, in 1847. This is another blow for the already fragile spirit of the poet that digs himself into a more disorderly way of life and insignificant love affairs.
In 1849, however, he is about to marry once more and after having celebrated in Baltimore the coming events with some friends, he is found in front of a tavern, in a hopeless state, on October 3rd, 1849. Immediately hospitalized he will die, alone, on October 7th of a delirium tremens attack caused by his abuse of alcohol and drugs. His deep knowledge of the latter is proved by a line of his �The Fall of the House of Usher�: ��an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium��.
Poe leaves novels, (�The Adventures of Gordon Pym�), many short stories and poems (�Eureka�) in which gloomy themes are predominant, and in which it can be detected, every now and then, mannerism and mechanical devices to help the verse structure.
He is considered a forerunner in the science fiction and detective story genres for the halo of mistery that pervades his works. The peak of his art is reached in the so-called �horror stories�, thrilling plots that terrorize readers like that of �The Well and the Pendulum�, with its unreal atmosphere between dream and nightmare, gothic and supernatural fantasies, but also cool and logic reconstruction of events that crown Poe as one of the absolute dominators of this kind of literature.
The American author himself explained in 1846 the mechanism of a detective story: �Nothing is clearer than the fact that whatever plan deserving such name, must be conceived up, the final unravelling, before trying to get to the pen�. His canons have been adopted later on by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his immortal �Sherlock Holmes�.
Also France�s Baudelaire discovered some of Poe�s works and translated them into French in 1846, �Histoires extraordinaires� and �Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires�, that left a deep mark on European literature.
As well valuable has been the contribution of Poe, as a critic, to the development of aesthetic thought in the final part of the XIX century. From his essays on �The Poetic Principle� and �The Philosophy of Composition� emerges the idea that a true poem must be necessarily brief if it is true that a state of exaltation lasts only a little time. But Poe ventured even higher by announcing the inseparability of poetry from music, an unquestioned canon as long as poems are as Poe�s �The City and the Sea�, which follows.
�The City and The Sea�
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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