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International Politics in the 21 Century

International Politics in the 21st Century
Welcome to International Politics. We are interested in hearing from all scholars, academicians, university professors and political researchers.
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‘The Democratization Project: Challenges and Opportunities’ - New Book by Anthem Press -- Anthem Press, 10:34:00 12/11/08 Thu [1]
‘The Democratization Project: Challenges and Opportunities’ edited by Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer and Joakim Öjendal
ISBN: 9781843313144; List Price: £60.00 / $100.00
Available for sale at a discount on www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com.

Democratization is a field where unexpected and sudden events have repeatedly challenged conventional wisdom. Fore example, who in the mid-1970s would have foreseen the democratization of Cambodia, Albania, South Africa or East Timor? Our current ‘wave’ of democratization is complex and diverse and understanding it requires a variety of theoretical approaches. Most of the literature on democracy assumes that it is the best form of government. Theoretical works on democratic transition and democratization have also emphasized the internal conflict resolution capacity of democracy. It has been reasoned that democracy reduces the likelihood of discrimination, especially of ethno-political minorities, and thus the possibility of political repression. However, the democratic peace theory has not been explicitly tested with reference to third world post-colonial states, where most internal violent conflicts take place. Certainly, there is a dearth of practical advice for policy makers on how to design and implement democratic levers that can make internal peace and stability endure in the South. This volume, drawing on the work of a variety of scholars, will contribute to identifying and understanding the challenges and opportunities of this ‘democratization project’ to the peace and development of the world both at the domestic level in selected countries, trends in regions of the world, and in the global system of the post-Cold War Era.

Ashok Swain is Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University and Coordinator, Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict and Development Research.
Ramses Amer is Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Umeå University.
Joakim Öjendal is Professor of Peace and Development Research, Gothenburg University.

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‘Russia and Europe in the Twenty-First Century: An Uneasy Partnership’ - New Book by Anthem Press -- Anthem Press, 10:02:42 12/11/08 Thu [1]
‘Russia and Europe in the Twenty-First Century: An Uneasy Partnership’ edited by Jackie Gower and Graham Timmins, foreword by Lord Robertson
ISBN: 9781843313366; List Price: £25.00 / $40.00
Available for sale at a discount on www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com.

This book examines the evolution of relations between Russia and Europe since the end of the Cold War with particular emphasis on the Putin period. It is divided into three clearly defined sections: 1) Russia - Looking West, 2) Europe - Looking East and 3) Partnership in Practice. Each section contains comprehensive political essays by some of the foremost academics in the field. Russia has taken a more pro-western and pragmatic line in its relations with the West since the election of Vladimir Putin in March 2000, whilst the European Union and NATO have in recent times put in place enhanced mechanisms for consultation and cooperation. At the Rome Summit in May 2002, NATO created the NATO-Russia Council, while in 2003 the European Union and Russia agreed an ambitious agenda to create 'common spaces' covering the economy, security, research and development. Despite these developments, there is a general view in the media and academic literature that relations remain predominantly on a rhetorical level and that the concept of partnership lacks genuine substance. This book makes an important contribution to existing literature on Russian/European politics as it focuses on the challenges facing Russian and Western policy-makers and thus provides an insight into this highly complex relationship.

Jackie Gower is a visiting lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, teaching the MA options European Security and EU and the World. Previously she taught at the University of Kent where she is still an Honorary Research Fellow.
Graham Timmins is Jean Monnet Professor in European Integration Studies at the University of Stirling.
The Right Honourable Lord Robertson was the Secretary-General of the NATO, between October 1999 and early January 2004; he succeeded Javier Solana in that position. He served as Defence Secretary for the UK from 1997 to 1999, before taking up his NATO position and becoming a life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, of Islay in Argyll and Bute.

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Read and see the truth about Macedonia and the Macedonian nation. -- VMRO-MNM (VMRO-MNM (MACEDONIA FOR THE MACEDONIANS)!), 12:35:59 05/12/07 Sat [1]
MACEDONIAN BOOK 2006 - MACEDONIA FOR THE MACEDONIANS!

Read about Communism and Democracy, Justice and Solidarity, War and Peace, Discriminations and Violations and so on.

Read and see the truth about Macedonia and the Macedonian nation.

My name is Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet and I am a Macedonian, born in Macedonia.
For many years I have fought against the violations and discriminations of the Macedonian people executed by different countries in the world, especially the Western World and the Asian occupants.

This is a CD-book about the Macedonian question and the Macedonian nation. The CD-book contains part 1 (430 pages) and part 2 (502 pages).
This is a voluminous collection of material containing protest letters to different international organisations, institutes, governments and so on, answers and reactions from some them, pictures and maps and much more. The main part of the material is written in English (95%) but there are also texts in Macedonian, German and Scandinavian.

Macedonia is a nation that has suffered oppression during decades, genocide and ethnic cleansing. Macedonia is a nation the world has forgotten about.

Western authors, historians, experts, archaeologists teachers, professors and politicians have deprived the Macedonian nation of its history, traditions, culture, identity, literature, symbols and land, and falsified our Macedonian antiquity.

In schools, children are deceived and indoctrinated with "Greek" history, mythology, Gods and literature instead of being taught the truth.

Before 1860, "Greece" ("Hellas") did not exist. Neither did any "Greek" ("Hellenism") nationality. Before 1913, no Serbian "Albanian" or "Bulgarian" nationality or country existed. Before the Second World War, no Montenegrin, Croatian, Bosnian or Slovenian nationality or country existed. All of this is old Macedonian territory. As evidence, there are ancient historian maps presented in book 1.

The media of the western world has never revealed the truth about Macedonia, only presented fabricated, anti-Macedonian propaganda.

During the 20th century we have heard and seen the Western world's propaganda, discrimination and violations against Macedonia and the Macedonian nation. Now it is time for us to make our voices heard and to inform the world about the truth. We want to show the world our struggle for justice and reveal to the world the truth about Macedonia and the Macedonian nation.

I want to warn the readers about the shocking pictures in the book, of young Macedonians, some tortured, others massacred in the spring of 2001 by "Albanian" Nazi fascist extremists and terrorists and with the help of corrupt Macedonian traitors, who call themselves politicians and the Western World's Governments, and the Western World's organizations the NATO, the UN and the EU.

This is an echo of the Second World War when Hitler's nazis and Mussolini's fascists occupied Macedonia and gave the "Albanian" terrorists and fascists permission to massacre, murder and slaughter hundreds of thousands of Macedonians. Now the NATO, the UN and the EU are the barbarian, performing the same task as Hitler and Mussolini did. We Macedonians will never forget nor forgive this.

Many people have asked why the CD-book is named Macedonia for the Macedonians. The answer to this question will be revealed when you read the CD-book.

The price of the CD-book is 16 Euro including shipping. Would you like to be a distributor? The price is then 10 Euro per CD-book including shipping, if you order 20 CD-books or more.

To order the CD-book send an e-mail to: Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet Ljupco_Mircevski_Trepet@hotmail.com, TREPET_1@hotmail.com

Please visit my web site: http://trepet.ds4a.com ; http://trepet.1colony.com

I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed when buying this book. I can promise you an interesting and exciting reading.

Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet

MACEDONIAN BOOK 2006 - MACEDONIA FOR THE MACEDONIANS!

Read about Communism and Democracy, Justice and Solidarity, War and Peace, Discriminations and Violations and so on.

Read and see the truth about Macedonia and the Macedonian nation.

My name is Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet and I am a Macedonian, born in Macedonia.
For many years I have fought against the violations and discriminations of the Macedonian people executed by different countries in the world, especially the Western World and the Asian occupants of Macedonian territory.

I have written several protest letters to all the great organisations that claim to be democratic, loyal and fair. In these letters I have written and demanded from the anti-democratic organisations and governments in the West that they should not meddle in Macedonia or violate and discriminate the Macedonian people and falsify our history.

Macedonia is a nation that has suffered oppression during decades, genocide and ethnic cleansing. Macedonia is a nation that has been shattered and that the world has forgotten about.

Western authors, historians, experts, archaeologists teachers, professors and politicians have deprived the Macedonian nation of its history, traditions, culture, identity, literature, symbols and land, and falsified our Macedonian antiquity.

The media of the Western World has never revealed the truth about Macedonia, only presented fabricated, anti-Macedonian propaganda. During the 20th century we have heard and seen the Western World's propaganda, discrimination and violations against Macedonia and the Macedonian nation. Now it is time for us to make our voices heard and to inform the world about the truth. We want to show the world our struggle for justice and reveal to the world the truth about Macedonia and the Macedonian nation.

I have put together all of the letters that I have written into a CD-book. However, the CD-book is not only about the Macedonian question and the Macedonian nation but also about how the Western World treats immigrants; the discriminations and violations against immigrants (A hell of a life for immigrants in the Western World). It is also about the Western World's crime and the provocations and the promotion of war outside its borders.

The CD-book contains part 1 (430 pages) and part 2 (502) pages. This is a voluminous collection of material containing protest letters to different international organisations, institutes, governments and so on, answers and reactions from some of them, pictures and maps and much more. The main part of the material is written in English (95%) but there are also texts in Macedonian, German and Scandinavian.

My struggle for Macedonia has had many positive reactions. In this CD-book you will find the truth and not fabricated stories as you will find many journalists and authors to write. When reading this book, many of you will change your opinion regarding history and about the Western World's democracy, justice and solidarity.

Many people have asked why the CD-book is named Macedonia for the Macedonians. The answer to this question will be revealed when you read the CD-book.

The price of the CD-book is 16 Euro including shipping. For distributors, the price is 10 Euro per CD-book including shipping, when ordering 20 CD-books or more.

To order the CD-book send an e-mail to: Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet Ljupco_Mircevski_Trepet@hotmail.com, TREPET_1@hotmail.com

Please visit my web site: http://trepet.ds4a.com ; http://trepet.1colony.com

I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed when buying this book. I can promise you an interesting and exciting reading.

Ljupco Mircevski-Trepet

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The Peaceful Majority -- Pahu, 16:24:21 02/26/07 Mon [1]

The Peaceful Majority

Some history to think about and history does repeat itself!
Land of the Free—Because of the Brave!

I used to know a man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

"Very few people were true Nazis," he said. "But many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that at this moment in history the fanatics rule Islam. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or "honor" kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority" is the silent majority, and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority was irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. Lets quit laughing at and forwarding the jokes and cartoons, which denigrate and ridicule our leaders in this war against terror. They are trying to protect the interests and well being of the US and it's citizens. Best we support them before it's too late.

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America's First War with Muslims -- Pahu, 14:23:40 01/24/07 Wed [1]

America's First War with Muslims

What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad

By Ted Sampley
http://www.usvetdsp.com/sampbio.htm

U.S. Veteran Dispatch January 2007

Democrat Keith Ellison is now officially the first Muslim United States congressman. True to his pledge, he placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and pledged his allegiance to the United States during his ceremonial swearing-in. Capitol Hill staff said Ellison's swearing-in photo opportunity drew more media than they had ever seen in the history of the U.S. House.

Ellison represents the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota.

The Quran Ellison used was no ordinary book. It once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed it from the Rare Book Section of the Library of Congress. It was one of the 6,500 Jefferson books archived in the library.

Ellison, who was born in Detroit and converted to Islam while in college, said he chose to use Jefferson's Quran because it showed that "a visionary like Jefferson" believed that wisdom could be gleaned from many sources.

There is no doubt Ellison was right about Jefferson believing wisdom could be "gleaned" from the Muslim Quran. At the time Jefferson owned the book, he needed to know everything possible about Muslims because he was about to advocate war against the Islamic "Barbary" states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli.

Ellison's use of Jefferson's Quran as a prop illuminates a subject once well-known in the history of the United States, but, which today, is mostly forgotten—the Muslim pirate slavers who over many centuries enslaved millions of Africans and tens of thousands of Christian Europeans and Americans in the Islamic "Barbary" states.

Over the course of 10 centuries, Muslim pirates cruised the African and Mediterranean coastline, pillaging villages and seizing slaves. The taking of slaves in pre-dawn raids on unsuspecting coastal villages had a high casualty rate. It was typical of Muslim raiders to kill off as many of the "non-Muslim" older men and women as possible so the preferred "booty" of only young women and children could be collected.

Young non-Muslim women were targeted because of their value as concubines in Islamic markets. Islamic law provides for the sexual interests of Muslim men by allowing them to take as many as four wives at one time and to have as many concubines as their fortunes allow.

Boys, as young as 9 or 10 years old, were often mutilated to create eunuchs who would bring higher prices in the slave markets of the Middle East. Muslim slave traders created "eunuch stations" along major African slave routes so the necessary surgery could be performed. It was estimated that only a small number of the boys subjected to the mutilation survived after the surgery.

When American colonists rebelled against British rule in 1776, American merchant ships lost Royal Navy protection. With no American Navy for protection, American ships were attacked and their Christian crews enslaved by Muslim pirates operating under the control of the "Dey of Algiers"—an Islamist warlord ruling Algeria.

Because American commerce in the Mediterranean was being destroyed by the pirates, the Continental Congress agreed in 1784 to negotiate treaties with the four Barbary States. Congress appointed a special commission consisting of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to oversee the negotiations.

Lacking the ability to protect its merchant ships in the Mediterranean, the new America government tried to appease the Muslim slavers by agreeing to pay tribute and ransoms in order to retrieve seized American ships and buy the freedom of enslaved sailors.

Adams argued in favor of paying tribute as the cheapest way to get American commerce in the Mediterranean moving again. Jefferson was opposed. He believed there would be no end to the demands for tribute and wanted matters settled "through the medium of war." He proposed a league of trading nations to force an end to Muslim piracy.

In 1786, Jefferson, then the American ambassador to France, and Adams, then the American ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the "Dey of Algiers" ambassador to Britain. The Americans wanted to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress' vote to appease. During the meeting, Jefferson and Adams asked the Dey's ambassador why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

In a later meeting with the American Congress, the two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

For the following 15 years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.

Not long after Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, he dispatched a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress. Declaring that America was going to spend "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute," Jefferson pressed the issue by deploying American Marines and many of America's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast. The USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Philadelphia, USS Chesapeake, USS Argus, USS Syren and USS Intrepid all saw action.

In 1805, American Marines marched across the dessert from Egypt into Tripolitania, forcing the surrender of Tripoli and the freeing of all American slaves.

During the Jefferson administration, the Muslim Barbary States, crumbling as a result of intense American naval bombardment and on shore raids by Marines, finally officially agreed to abandon slavery and piracy.

Jefferson's victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine Hymn, with the line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea."

It wasn't until 1815 that the problem was fully settled by the total defeat of all the Muslim slave trading pirates. Jefferson had been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put an end to the Muslim problem. Mr. Ellison was right about Jefferson. He was a "visionary" wise enough to read and learn about the enemy from their own Muslim book of jihad.

Evil itself is not dangerous without the help of those who tolerate it.

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Islam is the Enemy -- Pahu, 18:49:12 12/09/06 Sat [1]
ISLAM IS THE ENEMY
A Letter From An American Airlines Pilot

This well-spoken man, who is a pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart beautifully Read, absorb and pass on. It's time to get answers from those who claim their terrorist members do not represent them. Why are their leaders not LOUDLY AND FIERCELY AND CONTINUOUSLY condemning their visible murderous brethren?

YOU WORRY ME! By American Airlines Pilot Captain John Maniscalco:

I've been trying to say this since 9-11 but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. The Palestinians Celebrated. The Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the Arab/Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children?

The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me. I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your "Jihads"?

Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords, a freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy. I am only interested in action.

What will you do for America—our great country—at this time of crisis, at this time of war? I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America " I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat.

If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your "leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.

A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again.

A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide.

A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world.

A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air.

A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth.

A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show their faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful whore? Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with dinner, or celebrate Christmas? Do you and you fellow Muslims hate us because we have befriended Israel, the ONLY FRIENDLY CIVILIZED SOCIETY in the Muslim/Arab area, that thinks and acts like most Americans? And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in the world are you even here? Are you here to take our money? Are you here to undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us?

If so, I want you to leave. I want you to go back to your desert sandpit where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic extremists, and STAY THERE! We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality, and your twisted, violent, intolerant religion. We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.

I want to know where every Arab/ Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU to show ME where YOU stand. Until then, you worry me!

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The Scientific Juridical Analysis of the Succession to the Headship of the Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies and the Grand Magistry of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of of St. George -- Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren, 19:49:41 01/25/05 Tue [1]
An Abstract

The Scientific Juridical Analysis of the Succession to the Headship of the Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies and the Grand Magistry of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of of St. George of Naples

Stephen Kerr, B.A.A., J.D., L.L.M., M.A.T.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HERITAGE OF THE SACRED MILITARY

CONSTANTINIAN ORDER OF ST. GEORGE

Please note that some parts of the early history of the Order, like that of some others (i.e. Equestrian Order), are deeply embedded in legend and speculation . I have covered this in a historical and legal manner and do not touch upon its actual existence thereof as a factual series of events. My original 1973 study analysed the succession dispute to both the Headship of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and to the Grand Magistry of the order of Constantine St.. George from the perspective of public international law, which may be summarised as follows:

The seed from which sprang the present Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George under the Magistry of the Chief of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies can be traced to the famous vision of emperor Constantine I “The Great” before the Battle of Ponte Milvio. According to Constantine’s biographer and friend Eusebius, in A.D. 313 the Emperor was pondering how he would defeat his enemy Maxentius who had a larger army, when suddenly he and his worried troops saw a vision of a cross flory in the face of the sun circumscribed with the motto In Hoc Signo Vinces – “By this Sign you will conquer”. Constantine ordered that a special device, called the Labarum, be made for the Roman army to carry into battle.

The Labarum consisted of a long gilt spear with a transverse bar forming a cross, crowned with a wreath of gold and jewels enclosing the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ, also seen by Emperor Constantine in a previous dream, with a square purple banner inscribed TOTTÙ NIKA (“by this sign conquer”) and embroidered with precious stones interlaced with gold hanging from the cross-bar. There were medallions of the Emperor and his sons immediately above this banner. This present insignia of the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George is derived from the cross flory seen in the vision, over which is superimposed the Chi-Rho monogram which surmounted the Labarum; the Letters IHSV for In Hoc Signo Vinces are representing God as the Beginning and the End, were added to either army of the cross.

Trusting in God, Emperor Constantine led his now confident army with the Labarum at its head to the Milvian Bridge to face Maxentius. Although far stronger, Maxentius and his army were routed, retreated to the Tiber but were unable to cross the bridge. Constantine and his army drove them into the river where Maxentius and most of his troops perished.

In his thanksgiving to God for this great victory, Constantine discerned that Christianity is the True Faith and that Jesus is, indeed, Lord. He later ordered that Christianity be recognized as the religion of the Roman Empire, encouraged mass conversions to Christianity, and ultimately became a Christian himself. Significantly, Emperor Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, discovered the remains of the True Cross on an expedition to Jerusalem, which is celebrated on September 14th as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Constantine also decided to make the Labarum the official standard of the Roman army. He instituted a special honor guard for the Labarum composed of fifty men of the Christian faith from his Imperial Guard who were renowned for courage and strength to carry and defend the Labarum. This guard wore a badge of the Cross seen by Constantine on a chain around their necks. Eusebius describes the institution of this guard as follows (Eusebius, Pamphili II, De Vita Constantini, Lib. II, Chap. Vii; tr. By Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Grueca, tom. 20):

Fifty men were chosen to carry the cross. Therefore, upon men chosen from the Imperial Body Guard possessing strength of body, fortitude of mind, and professing the true religion, he imposed this one duty: that they zealously take care of this sign. There were in all fifty men, who had no other duty than to stand around and protect with their guard the sign, which they carried on their shoulders by turn one at a time. While he was having some leisure, the Emperor himself told these things to us, who write this story, a long time after they had happened.

The institution of this guard is depicted in one of the sculptured panels in the triumphal arch erected by the Senate in 315 near the Colosseum to commemorate Constantine’s victory: Constantine is seated on a throne distributing copies of the cross seen in his vision. Beneath the panel is the inscription: Constantinus Maximum Imperator postquam Mundatus a lepra per medium Baptismatis milites sive equites deauratos creat in tutelam Christiana nominis (Constantine the Great Emperor, after he had been cleansed from leprosy through the medium of baptism, elected soldiers or knights [literally “gilded horsemen or noble horsemen”] for the protection of the Christian name.”).

The language milites sive equites deauratos indicates that the Labarum Guard was composed of “gilded horsemen” or noble horsemen, signifying they were either persons of high social station or officers rather than foot soldiers or enlisted men. This archaeological evidence is supported by the Code of Theodosius the Great (Imperabat 379-395) which treats the Labarum Guard and states Emperor Constantine was its founder.

Religious significance was added to the Labarum Guard by St. Basil’s (vivebat 329-379) institution of a religious rule for the Guard, which began to live a common religious life. The ideals in the Rule of St. Basil are followed by the modern S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George and can be translated into contemporary understanding as follows:

1. In the first place be ever mindful of the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood to free us from the fall of our first parent, and on this account fast every Friday.

2. Fight for the Christian Faith and for all of Christendom.

3. Deliver the Church of God and its priests from the plots of its aggressors.

4. Wage war only against the enemies of God and the Church and Christendom.

5. Remember the Scorn which Christ endured, and therefore be patient under injuries and, like Him, meek and gentle.

6. March under the Cross, for it is Christ’s token and standard.

7. Take vengeance for His death on anti-clericals, secularists, liberal-socialists, and all traitors.

8. Protect and succor in their necessities widows, orphans, destitute children, and all that be in distress.

9. Live under obedience and do not be a knight-errant.

10. Live chastely and be content with one wife.

Pursuant to a request from Emperor Marcian, Pope St. Leo I the Great confirmed in July 456 the Rule of St. Basil for the Labarum Guard which erected it into a religious community of warriors as a right in Canon Law under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Holy See:

Joining apostolic authority to the rule of Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, of a most holy life, which he prescribed for the officers [literally, soldiers] of the Constantinian Brotherhood, who are signed with the brand of the red cross, I acknowledge and confirm for you and for this very Prince Alexius, the Supreme Moderator of the Brotherhood, this very rule filled with Christian and moral doctrine. Thus joined and signed by my hand, I transmit it as you desire.

A letter dated March 489 from Emperor Zeno (Imperabat 474-491) to Prince Alexius Angelus Flavius Comnenus (mentioned in St. Leo I’s Bull as the hereditary Supreme Moderator of the Guard) and his son Michael affirms (1) Emperor Marcian had, indeed, petitioned Pope St. Leo I to confirm the Rule of St. Basil for the Labarum Guard and (2) that the Guard had been founded by their ancestor, Emperor Constantine (the Comnenus family claimed descent from Constantine):

Now your forefathers had already approached us a long time ago when they were eager to gather various officers [literally, soldiers] into bands and to instruct them by a certain rule of moral and pious training. Through the most serene Marcian, our predecessor, you had sought from the most holy Leo, Bishop of Rome and the universal church, the confirmation of this same rule which Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, of holy and venerable memory, wrote for the said Brotherhood of Knights [literally, horsemen], which indeed was willingly granted by the same Roman patriarch as you have shown.

The famous St. George (of Cappadocia) became the patron saint of the Labarum Guard due to the symbolism of his defeat of the dragon as victory over evil, which is an allegory to the spiritual combat that every Christian must wage in this life. He is the Patron of Knighthood, of all Christian warriors, and of the historic St. George orders such as the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George, the Order of the Garter, and the Royal Order of St. George of Bavaria.

Evolution into an Order of Chivalry: Although Emperor Constantine’s foundation of the Labarum Guard in 313 is well enough documented, no one claims that it was established as an order of knighthood as of that date. It was simply a religious community of fifty soldiers (officers) entrusted with guarding the original Labarum, existing as a hereditary right or estate of the Comnenus family.

The Constantinian Labarum Guard under the patronage of St. George had been in existence for 877 years when the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade passed through Constantinople in 1190. Byzantine Emperor Isaac II (Imperabat 1185-1195) studied the chivalry of the west, especially the three great military-religious orders, the Knights of St. John (Now termed the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or S.M.O.M.), the Teutonic Order, and the Templars (defunct since 1307).

Desiring a military-religious order of his own, Isaac II decided to transform the Labarum Guard into an order of chivalry. Guided by the statutes of the western orders, Isaac II promulgated a new constitution of 77 chapters for the Labarum Guard on 22 June 1190. This act transformed the original Labarum Guard into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George. The following sovereigns of the west, leading the Fourth Crusade, were present at this ceremony and attended the first General Chapter of the new Order: Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, King Philip II of France, King Richard I (the Lionhearted) of England, King Alfonso of Castile, King Casimir II of Poland, King William II of Sicily, King Alfonso of Aragon, King Sancho of Navaree, and Count Philip I of Flanders. Hence, the birth of the S.M. Constantinian Order of St. George from the womb of the Labarum Guard was truly an international affair.

Under Isaac II’s constitution, the new Order consisted of two types of knights: officers who were permitted to marry and celibate religious. The duty of the former was to fight for the Faith and the Empire (Eastern Roman), and the office of the latter was to pray for and minister to the spiritual needs of the military knights. The Grand Master of the Order was the Commander-in-Chief of the military knights, made all appointments to the Order, and was responsible for its temporal affairs. The Grand Prior, a priest, was the spiritual head of the Order. The Grand Inquisitor was the Order’s disciplinarian.

Heretofore, the Supreme Moderatorship of the Labarum Guard had been hereditary in the Chief of Isaac II’s Imperial Byzantine House of Angelus Flavius Comnenus. To provide for the contingency that his House might become extinct, Isaac II amended the Constitution in September of 1193 as follows:

If at any time, which God forbid, my family should perish, then the Brethren of this Sacred Order should choose from among themselves a Commander-in-Chief, unless, the last surviving member of my House, with the consent of the principal brethren, shall have already appointed his successor.

This was exercised in 1697 by the last Chief of the House of Comnenus is transferring the Order to the Chief of the House of Farnese and is contained in Chapter 5, Article I, of the current (1965) Statutes should the House of the present hereditary Grand Master, Chief of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (Heir to the Chief of the House of Farnese) become extinct.

The fifty officers of the old Labarum Guard became the chief military dignitaries of the Order and were termed (Senator Knights” (now, Baliffs, Knights of the Grand Cross of Justice). They were assigned to command the principal houses of the Order, consisting of 10 Grand Priorities, 21 Priories, and 19 Bailiwicks with jurisdiction over Constantinian knights in various parts of Eastern Europe. When the Order became a specifically Roman Catholic order of Chivalry in 1706, the 50 houses in Eastern Europe were given corresponding jurisdiction over knights in areas of Western Europe. Today, each of the 50 Bailiff Knights Grand Cross of Justice is assigned the title of one of the ancient houses and has the style of “Excellency” and (in Latin countries) “Don”.

Evolution into a Western Religious-Military Order: The S.M. Constantinian Order of St. George came under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Eastern Patriarch of Constantinople at the time the latter fell into final schism with the successor of St. Peter in Rome. When Constantinople and the remnants of the Eastern Empire fell on 29 May 1453, the Grand Master of the S.M. Constantinian Order of St. George and most of the knights perished. The younger brother of the Grand Master, Prince Andrew, succeeded him as Chief of the House of Comnenus, and, as such, hereditary Grand Master and took the last knights to Italy where they were welcomed by Pope Calixtrus III. The Pope congratulated them on their heroism at Constantinople, confirmed their constitutions, and granted them several important privileges.

Pope Paul III by Bulls dated 21 November, 6 and 9 December 1545, took the Order under his special protection, recognized it as a true military-religious order of chivalry, and endowed it with special privileges. This status was confirmed by Pope Paul IV in the Bull Cum a Nobis Petitur, issued on 28 November 1555, which also recognized other rights granted by Popes Calixtus III, Pius II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, and Julius III.

Pope Pius IV by Bull of 1 May 1565 declared that religiously professed knights of the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George could hold ecclesiastical benefices. Later the Bull Cum a sicut accepimus, issued by Pope Sixtus V on 10 July 1585, confirmed the rights of Professed Knights to hold ecclesiastical benefices and authorized lay or married Knights to hold pensions on ecclesiastical benefices. In the Brief Cum sicut of 27 August 1672, Pope General in Rome with a place in the Papal Chapel immediately after that of the Servites and authorized the appointment of a Cardinal Protector for the Order. All Roman Catholic orders, be they religious (i.e. Dominicans) or chivalric (military-religious) are entitled to a Cardinal Protector to represent their interests at the Vatican. The S.M. Constantinian Order of St. George continued this tradition into the twentieth century. Although under the Grand Magistry of the chief of an Eastern Orthodox House, the Order could be so recognized by the Holy See because the original Labarum Guard of Constantine received its religious rule (of St. Basil), becoming a hereditary right of patronage of the Comnenus family in Canon Law (Canon 1449), and was converted into an Order of Chivalry before the final schism of the East from Rome and, hence, could be regarded as “Catholic” under Canon Law.

Prince John Andrew Angelus Flavius Comnenus, Chief of the House of Comnenus and, as such, hereditary Grand Master of the S.M. Constantinian Order of St. George, was the last of his House. On 27 July 1697 he used the privilege in Emperor Isaac II’s September 1193 amendment to the Order’s constitution to name Francisco Farnese, Chief of the Sovereign House of Farnese, and Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Castro, as his successor and transferred to him and his heirs as Chief of the House of Farnese all of the rights and privileges over the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George that the House of Comnenus had enjoyed. This cession was ratified by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I on 6 August 1699, and its canonical status was affirmed by the Brief Sincerae Fide of 24 October 1699. The latter indicated that the succession to the Grand Magistry of the Order, technically rights of patronage under Canon Law, was to be hereditary in Francisco Farnese in his capacity as Chief of the House of Farnese as it had been in the Chief of the House of Comnenus rather than in his capacity as Dukie of Parma, per se. Juridically the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George exists as a right of Patronage in Canon Law (Canon 1448) hereditary in the chief of its designated Sovereign House (Canon 1449) in the same manner that the original, historical (circa 1429) Order of the Golden Fleece is hereditary in the Chief of the House of Habsburg in his capacity as successor to the rights of the Chief of the House of Burgundy.

Francisco Farnese had the ancient church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma erected as the conventual church of the Order and revised Emperor Isaac’s Statutes of 1190. The new statutes, leges fundationis in Canon Law, were promulgated on 23 May 1705 and confirmed by Pope Clement XI on 12 July 1706, which transformed the order into a specifically Roman Catholic military-religious order of chivalry. In confirmation of its previous tradition, the Grand Magistry was declared to be hereditary in the person of the Chief of the House of Farnese. However, the new Statutes gave the Grand Master broad authority to deal with any contingency that might arise concerning the Order or the succession to the Grand Magistry: Chapter II, Paragraphs 3 and 5, of the Farnese Statutes declare that the Grand Master has authority to issue new regulations and statutes and whenever he judges it expedient, to interpret, annul, or repeal the same as well as to overcome or change any difficulty created by any of them. Likewise, Chapter II to the Appendix of the Farnese Statutes declare that whenever the Grand Master finds it expedient, he may amend, abolish, proclaim the meaning, and interpret the Statutes and regulations of the Order as well as when it may be necessary to dispense the Knights and to do all things to meet the expectations and needs of any particular occasion whenever it is judged necessary to do so. In sum, the Grand Master is the absolute monarch of the Order under its leges fundationis.

In recognition of the Order’s crusade in 1716 against the Ottoman Turks in Morea, Pope Clement XI granted the Bull Militantis Ecclesiae on 6 June 1718 from which the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George derives its present ecclesiastical status as a military-religious order of chivalry. The Bull ratified the cession of the Grand Magistry and the new Statutes and confirmed the juridical position of the Grand Master as the absolute monarch of the Order. Militantis Ecclesiae emphasized that, like the House of Comnenus, Francisco Farnese held the Grand Magistry in his capacity as Chief of the House of Farnese rather than as Duke of Parma. The Order, its churches, houses, and members were exempt from the authority of the local bishop, and the Conventual Seat of the Order, the Church of Santa Maria della Steccata, was placed under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See. This, in effect, invested the Grand Master with the canonical power of a bishop over the Order. The Grand Prior was given the rank and insignia of a mitred abbot, and priests of the Order were given the rank and insignia of prelates (Monsigniori). Therefore, canonically the S. M. Constantinian Order of St. George as an official military-religious order of the Roman Catholic Church differed from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta only in that it had a hereditary Grand Master rather than one elected from among the Professed Knights. Today, the Order has neither Professed Knights (with canonical vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience) nor Conventual Chaplains (priests having specific violations in the Order), and the canonical status of all existing Knights is equal to the Third Grade of Malta.

Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren

Note website: http://dynastic-law.com/law.html

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