Duplicity of Occupied Lands.

Freeman Center For Strategic Studies

by Steven Shamrak

There are many lands around the world that have been occupied not so long ago by other countries. Many of them are still subjugated to the rule of an occupying power. They were conquered during offensive or defensive wars, throughout the process of establishment of statehood or as a part of colonial and imperial policy. The following is a far from complete list of the currently occupied lands:

Great Britain still occupies 17 provinces of Ireland, Gibraltar and is holding on to the many residual symbols of her former colonial glory around the world.

France is still holding on to many overseas territories like New Caledonia and French Guinea. France and Spain divided and have no intention to give independence to the Basque people, the oldest indigenous living group known in Europe.

Belgium is an artificially forged country, which was created in order to protect the Netherlands from continuous attacks by France. There is still no love lost between the French and Flemish speaking populations of the country. China - The international community has done nothing to stop occupation of Tibet by China. Eastern, predominantly Muslim, provinces of China are still under imperial communist rule.

Chile - From the 1840s, heavy Anglo-Chilean investments were made in nitrate mining on the Bolivian coast. Bolivia lost its coastal region after the war of 1879-1884. Since then, Bolivia has been economically stifled by Chile with limited access to the sea ports.

Indonesia It was painful for Indonesia to allow freedom to East Timor. International pressure was applied only because of the huge oil reserves off the coast of East Timor were found. But there is no pressure in relation to the continuous occupation of Bali, West Papua and numerous islands that would love to obtain independence from the Muslim tyranny of Jakarta.

Panama proclaimed its independence after the US expressed interest in obtaining the rights to the canal, which Colombia refused. US marines landed in Panama the same day when independence was declared.

Russia has no plans to return the Eastern part of Poland it has occupied since before WW2 and end occupation of eastern Prussia, the Kuril Islands and Southern Sakhalin. Russia still retains its status as an imperial power by holding on to Chechnya, Dagistan, North Ossetia, Tatarstan and many other national enclaves which were occupied by Tsar.

USA - The biggest and leading democracy of the world is one of the biggest occupiers as well. There is no intention of even talking about compensation for, never mind returning, the occupied land which used to be, not long ago, a part of Mexico. What about Puerto Rico, Hawaii and other ?strategic interests??

The United Nations maintains a list of territories that do not govern themselves. The list was initially prepared in 1946 and adopted in 1986. It has officially endorsed control of these lands by their former colonial powers!

It should be remembered that most countries around the world (including USA, UK, France, Germany, China and Russia) were forged and established their current borders during the last 300 years.

Their creation was accompanied by dramatic conquests and destruction of unique and independent cultures.

In a Russian play one character asked the audience: Look, who are the judges Yes, who are they to tell Jews what is their land and to force Israel to give away Jewish land to Arab scoundrels Israel is the only country that can claim its statehood and ownership of the land.

Jewish people have over 3,000 years of spiritual and historical connection with the land. Israel is the only state which withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula after it was conquered during a defensive war. In exchange, Israel received the worthless piece of paper, which is called the Peace Agreement with Egypt. And yet, Israel is the only country under international pressure to surrender her own land to the enemy, a recently forged people - called Palestinians, whose only goal, they are not even hiding it, is to destroy the Jewish state.

There are three reasons why Israel is under such an international onslaught Traditional international anti-Semitism, a desire to sell out Israel in exchange for a steady supply of oil, and an appeasement of Islamic terrorists in order to defer attacks on the West!

Does it make sense? What definitely takes place and make sense is that the world's economic and political powers (?Puppet Masters?) apply pressure on Israel and use any means at their disposal, including manipulation of international law. An example of this is how it was done after Israel won the War of Independence.

Immediately the Fourth Geneva convention ruled out population transfer as a legitimate way of resolving conflicts but only when it suits their economic and political interests, with complete disregard to historical, spiritual and even legal rights of any people, not just Jews (remember ongoing dismantling of Yugoslavia and non-existence of Kurdistan the homeland of 35 million Kurds, divided and occupied by five countries). The multitude of international organizations - including the UN, IRC, Amnesty International etc - are at full disposal of the international Puppet Masters and only too eager to assist by generating andmanipulating public opinion - creating the illusion of propriety.
The bottom line: it is all about power, control and money!