We finally have a face to go with the name of the infamous Islamic State murderer known as “Jihadi John.” He is Mohammed Emwazi and is shown here in a Pittsburgh Pirates hat from his time at the University of Westminster. He turns out to another militant from a well-off family and someone who seemed successful in society as we have seen in other cases. This will make it easier for the United States which, according to Attorney General Eric Holder, has made capturing or killing Jihadi John a priority.
The 26-year-old now beheads people for not believing in his extreme view of Islam.
When this picture was taken he was completing his Information Systems with Business Management degree at the London’s Cavendish campus.
Cases like Emwazi tend to undermine the image of IS militants as coming from people left without jobs or a future in the West.
welcome to lake wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, all the children above average, and all the history pleasant and sanitized.
Another excellent memoir of an ethnic German family who stayed in Yugoslavia. “Barefoot in the Rubble” by Elizabeth B. Walter. I’ve read as many accounts of what happened to ethnic Germans and Jews during the War as I could get my hands on, I’m always looking for more. I will do more research on the genocide of the Serbs also.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944–50)
You may be aware of much of this. Idk.
I agree that Germans were guilty as heck, but not every single German is guilty by association. There were righteous Germans who saved Jews. My grandmother was arrested when she expressed outrage while standing with a group of people watching the Synagogue in the area burn down. She was released but with a stern warning to keep her mouth shut in future.
“A Pebble in My Shoe” by Katherine Hoeger Flotz and “A Terrible Revenge” by Alfred-Maurice De Zayes. In order to understand what happened at the end of WW2 in Eastern Europe, start with these two books.
Inga, I am far more aware of the conduct of the Red Army rear elements as they advanced into German territory. in fact, they did that in Yugoslavia as well which is why Djilas complained loudly to Stalin, in public, and in Moscow about the way the Yugoslavs were treated by them since they were ALLIES! I don’t condone those acts, but I also cannot put it on the same plane as the Nazis who were FAR worse. At least I believe that the Red Army improved their conduct in Yugoslavia after being embarrassed publically. I find it hard to shed too many tears over German women being raped since they would have been murdered if the Red Army acted like the Germans. It should not have been done and should have been stopped. Many people though feel that the Germans got what they deserved. I don’t feel that way since such conduct cannot be justified, even though it has long been a fact of wars historically ever since wars were fought. I recall reading an account of a German soldier observing that if Germany lost the war there would be a terrible reckoning for what they had done.
Please take the book titles out of moderation.
Randyjet, the were ethnic Germans, THAT was their crime. It appears that you haven’t spoken to many Eastern European ethnic Germans. They may have benefitted from the presence of the German troops, true enough, but is blood revenge on hundreds of thousands of ethnic German women and children and old people justified? I don’t know, but I do know that any ethnic German who stayed and lived through it had a story to tell like the one below of a young girl put in work camp with her mother and grandparents and thousands of other ethnic Germans.
Inga, The fact is that the UN did what you accuse only the Partisans of doing. The answer to your question is that the ethnic Germans were in large part supporters of the Nazis and as such not only were complicit but benefited from the occupation. I am sure that there were many exceptions, or folks like Oskar Schindler who were party members, but changed. Schindler lost his home which was in Czechoslovakia, and forced out to Germany. So yes, what happened was justified and necessary, unlike the US internment of Japanese Americans where there was basically ZERO support for the Emperor or Japan. If an ethnic German had fought for the Partisans, they had no problems I am sure.
During the NATO war against Serbia, I noticed that Israel maintained absolute silence since I saw nothing on their part. I attributed that to the fact that the partisans were the most active group fighting for Jews and against the Nazis.
I was opposed to the ICC trying Milosevic because most of the crimes attributed to him were bogus, and what he did was the SAME thing the US did in Vietnam. The Court also lost ALL legitimacy when they refused to arrest and try Izbegovich, the head of Croatia for FAR worse crimes than anything Milosevic had done. That so called trial was politically driven and a farce. Also the leaders in Kosovo got away with mass murder of Serbs in Kosovo which was their STATED PROGRAM! They were proud of their genocide and made no secret of it, and even after NATO had control, STILL kept on murdering Serbs who were under NATO protection!
And Randy, I’m sure you know that wholesale pillaging, plundering and mass rape happened to ethnic Germans in every country in which the Russians entered. Have you seen a movie called “A woman in Berlin” which is based on a true account of a German woman and want happened to her when the Russians came to Berlin.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_in_Berlin
Randy, ethnic Germans, even Croats and Serbs fled Yugoslavia under Communist rule. There were Croats and Serbs in the DP camps that were forcefully repatriated to Yugoslavia. Many did NOT want to live under communism. The ethnic Germans who stayed were killed or put in work camps where hundreds of thousands were worked or starved to death. To make an assertion that if they the ethnic Germans were innocent they wouldn’t have been molested by the communists is WRONG. The ones who stayed felt they were innocent of any wrong doing and were either deported if they were lucky, or put in work camps or outrightly killed. Anti German sentiment was high and even innocent Germans were not safe. I’m not some right wing person who is fearful of socialism, but communism wasn’t a beneficial form of socialism.
Inga, I have no idea of what the persons who were put into work camps had done or if they were supporters of the dictatorship of the genocidal Ustashi regime. I have no doubt that mistakes were made in some instances. The FACT though is that those who fled had NO PROBLEM living under that regime and may well and probably did benefit from it. Another fact is that there was a huge job of reconstruction to do, and the regime needed manpower and more than likely used ethnic groups who supported the old regime as a labor source.
All governments faced with such a situation did similar things, not just the communists.
The UK and the allied nations used German POWs after the war as forced labor for many years too. I think the Brits only let their German POWs go back to Germany around 1950 or earlier. The Soviets only let the last ones go home in 1955. In Germany itself the UN used Germans in forced labor units in the process of reconstruction. So what you say is not exceptional or confined to communists.
Randy, my reading of your comments earlier was that you were adamant that:
1- Inga’s understanding of what her grandpa said was wrong if not just impossible. Then you offered your knowledge of the events there as proof that she indeed was deceived by her grandpa.
2- You took her highlighting of the other side of the coin, the violence from the Serbians as proof that she was anti-Serbs.
Seems like you left her no choice but to defend herself.
Professor Turley: What is your view for combating ISIS? Also, if you were the president, what would you do?
Randyjet, despite your vast and superior knowlege of the region, you still cannot accuse my father of being a Nazi or an Ustashi member based on his oral history of his war years. That is a HUGE leap and it’s insulting. I don’t have a strong anti Serb bias and that is another leap. My ankle hurts where you keep biting it, so maybe you’ve got your pound of flesh now you’ll go bite someone else? I also worked with a Serbian woman who was born in Garesnica, which isn’t far from my family’s towns. She and I developed a friendship based on mutual respect and a common history. Schwabians and Serbs did coexist peacefully for hundreds of years. I was invited to her husband’s Saint’s Day celebration every year and had a great time with all the Serbs there, one of which who was actually born in my parents town. So don’t pin an anti Serb label on me. Don’t make so many leaps, as I said my Uncle was Serbian, we loved him very much.
Inga, you take things too personally. I have no doubt you have no hatred for Serbs. That is NOT the same as taking the history for good coin that is wrong and biased. I am an old Civil Rights activist, and most white southerners did not hate blacks and had friends who were black and got along well with them. Unfortunately, they also went along with policies that were biased against them or did not speak up for their black friends rights. Indeed the greatest President in civil rights was LBJ who used the word nigger rather frequently. Does that mean he hated black Americans? I don’t think so.
If your father was Jewish, he would have been with the Partisans or dead. He would not have had to leave Yugoslavia after WWII, unless he were a fan of Trotsky. That he had to flee Yugoslavia says something he did during the war was most likely a problem since the communists did not simply attack people for no reason. I have no idea of what that could be, and you did not give his reasons for fleeing. In fact, they were rather tolerant of their opponents for the most part. My German teacher was a veteran of the Hungarian Army and fought against the Red Army. He only left after the revolution in 1956.
Jill
That’s why these posts by prof Turley get my goat. When we have a black site right here domestically, where American citizens are held, chained and mistreated without access to basic rights such as being able to call a lawyer, or to even know what they are accused of…to the tune of having at least one person die there, to look elsewhere for evil or dysfunction is utterly ridiculous and hypocritical.
He is quick to point out China, Arab nations, Russia…and yet, and yet…
By the way, I drove around Yugoslavia in 1884 through Zagreb, Belgrade, etc. I did not have time to see the Dalmatian coast which I regret. The later events in Yugoslavia only proved the thesis of Djilas in his book The New Class. That thesis was so correct, that he spent a number of years in prison for writing it. I had occasion to ask some folks from Croatia if they had ever heard of him, and they stated they did not know who he was. This was during the 90s. It was too bad since he was probably one of the few politicians who could have solved much of the conflict. Of course, he was a real socialist which prevented him from getting any air time or funds from the West.
State Crimes Against Democracy–While the US is busy fomenting wars and having given support to ISIS, it’s busy at home detainning and torturing our citizens. It is going unnoticed and unrecognized that the “leadership” in the US is fully capable of terrible crimes:
“Amnesty International is alarmed by reports recently published in The Guardian newspaper which reported on the equivalent of a “CIA black site,” allegedly operated by the city’s police. Amnesty has called on Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to investigate reports of human rights abuses at the secret police facility in Homan Square, including torture and disappearances. One detainee likened the alleged police tactics to interrogation facilities in the Middle East. The City of Chicago continues to fall short of meeting its obligations under international human rights law to ensure accountability for torture and ill-treatment by its police officers.
To learn more about this topic:
The Intercept: Chicago’s “Black Site” Detainees Speak Out
Salon: “I was in a Black Site”
Universal Declaration for Human Rights
Convention Against Torture”
http://hrbrief.org/2015/02/amnesty-international-calls-on-chicago-mayor-to-investigate-allegations-of-black-sites/
It can and is happening here. Please wake up citizens, wake up.
Well Chuck, from this exchange I was reminded to never become complacent, as people will surprise you.
I had decided to drop this, but I guess y’all insist that I take it up again. I never accused Inga of anything, except ignorance of the region and history and her rather weak knowledge of her fathers past in WWII The exchange proved my point in spades and her own admission. My main objection to her posts was her anti-Serb bias. The fact is that the Muslim Bosnians did not suffer genocide to the extent of the Serbs in WWII and in the later conflict. In fact the Muslims of Yugoslavia in WWII were allies of the Nazis and joined the SS. I used to have a clipping of USA Today in which an older Muslim Kosovar was asked about the fact that German troops would be coming back to Kosovo, and he responded that he welcomed it since the last time the Germans were there, they killed off most of the Serbs.
If you call ethnic cleansing by forced relocation and mass murder genocide, then the Serbs were the victims FAR worse than any other group. I cited two specific areas, the Kraena in Croatia about 300,000 and 200,000 killed or forced out of SERBIA in the area of Kosovo. In WWII, the Serbs, Gypsies, and Jews to the number of about 700,000 were killed at the Jasenovik concentration camp. The funny part is that in a state in which religion had little role, there is virtually no difference between Croat and Serb, except that one uses the Cyrillic alphabet and the other the Roman. It was the corrupt politicians of the League of Communists who decided to raise the ethnic issues and used it to advance their own positions and supported by German and then other western countries.
Inga, you are a class act. Since I really like and respect both you and Randy, I was bothered by the increasing temperature of the exchange between the two of you. However, I did understand where each of you are coming from. Happens all the time on the internet, because of a combination of time lag and inability to communicate body language.
As for avatars, I am willing to bet Randy knows who she is, but is also letting others guess.
Game over,
I think it started with my comment about the Bosnian genocide by the Serbs. I neglected to mention the Serbian genocide by the Nazi’s. For this, as a person of German heritage I apologize. Who will apologize for the Bosnian genocide?
My avatar is a historical figure who was Dutch I believe. Also, I’m not ethnically a Slav, but am of western European ancestry. I’ve been told I look Jewish all my life, so who knows maybe my father’s secret life during the war was as a Jew living a double life.
And I have a great sense of humor actually, but being put on trial for one’s father’s war years isn’t all that funny.
Inga, You have nothing to apologize for, especially past wrongs that you had no hand it! I am white, of German-English heritage, and I feel no need to apologize for slavery, or any of the other historical wrongs done by the USA. I will apologize for my errors such as supporting the Vietnam war and taking part in it. I had a woman pilot from Germany who I checked out in a plane She was surprised that Americans and me specifically had no ill will towards Germans because of WWII. I told her she had no part in WWII, so it is stupid to hold her personally responsible for something she took no part in.
I have read through about 18 yards of sniping between Inga/Annie and Randyjet. I don’t think, from the picture of obviously fine-boned royalty, that Inga is Slavonian, Slovenian or Croat . I think she is a direct descendent of Russian royalty along the lines of Anastasia. That is a real likeness, isn’t it? I mean, everyone seems to be striving for authenticity, bloodlines, geographic boundaries and heritage here.
I worked with a Croat once, She was of sturdy build – could bench press a Volkswagen and hunt bear with a willow switch. I never knew but one. She was from Chicago, which she pronounced ChiCARGO. That is not to imply that all Croats are well upholstered and can’t pronounce Chicago. I hope I have not detoured onto another 12 miles of bad ethnicity road here – I am merely pointing out the true silliness of where Inga’s daddy was in the war and how randyjet is like a dog with a bone and just can’t let go.
I had a friend who was severely crippled and was 4F as far as serving in WWII. He said when his children, if he ever had any, asked him where he was in the Great War he would tell them he was in Calculus and when they asked him what he did he would say he integrated and differentiated. He had a better sense of humor than either Inga or randyjet.
Just curious, how on earth does an article about some well-to-do no hoper, Londoner Muslim who decided he wanted to take up human butchery and could not do it on a regular basis unless he changed his venue – – how does that degenerate into a discussion of where Inga’s dad came from and who he fought for?
Glad you came around game over. I have no Idea why they do that and I throw myself in the middle because I can’t stand it. I knew a girl from Croatia named Sophie from high school. Dumber than a fence post but she was pretty. Had fine boned face and blue eyes. Always talking about kielbasa sausage. lolol I don’t even want to know why. But she was different and funny. I liked her.