London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been suspended for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist with a concentration camp guard. Seven years ago, before the start of the war against Yugoslavia, Livingstone said 'We are told that it is facile to compare Milosevic with Hitler. He might not be fully comparable, but he is well down the road'.
I have always thought that those who are quick to use the 'Nazi' 'New Hitler' jibe are those with
a mindset very similar to the Nazis themselves. Livingstone is a case in point. Milosevic, who Livingstone accused, is a life-long socialist, a man who never made a racist or anti-Jewish speech in his life and whose parents fought as partisans against the Nazis in World War Two. Livingstone by contrast invites judeophobic Islamic preachers to London and when challenged by a Jewish journalist responds with an appalling holocaust jibe. Livingstone may not be 'fully comparable' to Hitler, but many will come to the conclusion that he is already 'well down the road'.
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7 comments:
Milosevic, who Livingstone accused, is a life-long socialist, a man who never made a racist or anti-Jewish speech in his life and whose parents fought as partisans against the Nazis
Why don't you start up a fan site dedicated to your hero Slobo, eh?
What do you have against Slobo, Brian? If you've got evidence of any war crimes then send it to the prosecution team at The Hague- after four years they don't seem to have come with much so far.
I defend Milosevic because I honestly don't think he's guilty of the crimes he's charged with- if you followed proceedings at The Hague on a regular basis, I'm sure you would come to the same conclusion too.
You could say that Hilter was not guilty of war crimes it was the people under him,same with your hero,the great Democrat and lover of minorities
Slobo.
'You could say Hitler was not guilty of war crimes'?
Really? Try telling that to the families of the victims of the Nazis in occupied Europe and the Soviet Union. And don't forget the Nuremburg judgement either, which held Nazi Germany guilty of the 'supreme international crime' of initiating a war of aggression. Who did Yugoslavia attack Steve?
By the way - the Bosnian War death toll has been revised down from 250,000 to 100,000...16,000 of whom were Serbian civilians (http://grayfalcon.blogspot.com/2004/11/bosnia-death-toll-revealed.html). And we still haven't heard anything about Krajina from our beloved "humanitarian" leaders such as Tony Blair.
Kind of turns the whole black and white depiction of the Balkans into a fuzzy shade of grey.
I remember reading an account of Milosovich by Martin Bell the UK journalist, he said Milosovich's slogan was "Greater Serbian Nationalism" and when you think to compare the sorts of neo-nazism coming out of the main Serb radio station Radio Belgrade at the height of the conflict I think any comparison of that with Mr Livingstone's comments is a very extreme comparison to make - for one, Livingstone does not sing rock songs calling on his countrymen to murder and rape Muslims and other minorities.
And aside from your opinions on this matter, I just love your blog Neil - I can see you have strong opinions on good journalism and that's why it surprises me you line up behind something like Radio Belgrade.
Is there not a precendent for people to make claims that the "holocaust has been exaggerated" - that's what that guy David Irving got done for recently. And I think fairly.
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