Terrorists and Freedom Fighters

S >> Sam Vaknin >> Terrorists and Freedom Fighters

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But again, this negative and annihilating attitude was reserved
to outsiders and foreigners, the off-spring of Ishmael and of
Hagar, the Latins and the Turks. Moslem or Catholic neighbours
were rarely, if ever, the target of such vitriolic diatribes.
External enemies - be they Christian or Moslem - were always to
be cursed and resisted. Neighbours of the same ethnicity were
never to be punished or discriminated against for their religion
or convictions - though half-hearted condemnations did occur.
The geographical and ethnic community seems to have been a
critical determinant of identity even when confronted with an
enemy at the gates. Members of an ethnic community could share
the same religious faith as the invader or the heretic - yet
this detracted none from their allegiance and place in their
society as emanating from birth and long term residence. These
tolerance and acceptance prevailed even in the face of Ottoman
segregation of religious communities in ethnically-mixed
"millets". This principle was shattered finally by the advent of
the modern nation-state and its defining parameters (history and
language), real or (more often) invented.

One could sometimes find members of the same nuclear family -
but of different religious affiliation. Secular rulers and
artisans in guilds collaborated unhesitatingly with Jews, Turks
and Catholics. Conversions to and fro were common practice, as
ways to secure economic benefits. These phenomena were
especially prevalent in the border areas of Croatia and Bosnia.
But everyone, throughout the Balkan, shared the same rituals,
the way of life, the superstitions, the magic, the folklore, the
customs and the habits regardless of religious persuasion.

Where religions co-existed, they fused syncretically. Some Sufi
sects (mainly among the Janiccary) adopted Catholic rituals,
made the sign of the cross, drank alcohol and ate pork. The
followers of Bedreddin were Jews and Christians, as well as
Moslems. Everybody shared miraculous sites, icons, even prayers.
Orthodox Slavs pilgrims to the holy places in Palestine were
titled "Hadzi" and Moslems were especially keen on Easter eggs
and holy water as talismans of health. Calendars enumerated the
holidays of all religions, side by side. Muslim judges ("kadis")
married Muslim men to non-Muslim women and inter-marriage was
rife. They also married and divorced Catholic couples, in
contravention of the Catholic faith. Orthodox and Catholic
habitually intermarried and interbred.

That this background yielded Srebrenica and Sarajevo, Kosovo and
Krajina is astounding. It is the malignant growth of this
century. It is the subject of our next instalment.

T H E A U T H O R

SHMUEL (SAM) VAKNIN

Curriculum Vitae

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Born in 1961 in Qiryat-Yam, Israel.

Served in the Israeli Defence Force (1979-1982) in training and
education units.

Education

Graduated a few semesters in the Technion - Israel Institute of
Technology, Haifa.

Ph.D. in Philosophy (major : Philosophy of Physics) - Pacific
Western University, California.

Graduate of numerous courses in Finance Theory and International
Trading.

Certified E-Commerce Concepts Analyst.

Certified in Psychological Counselling Techniques.

Full proficiency in Hebrew and in English.

Business Experience

1980 to 1983

Founder and co-owner of a chain of computerized information
kiosks in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

1982 to 1985

Senior positions with the Nessim D. Gaon Group of Companies in
Geneva, Paris and New-York (NOGA and APROFIM SA):

- Chief Analyst of Edible Commodities in the Group's
Headquarters in Switzerland.
- Manager of the Research and Analysis Division
- Manager of the Data Processing Division
- Project Manager of The Nigerian Computerized Census
- Vice President in charge of RND and Advanced Technologies
- Vice President in charge of Sovereign Debt Financing

1985 to 1986

Represented Canadian Venture Capital Funds in Israel.

1986 to 1987

General Manager of IPE Ltd. in London. The firm financed
international multi-lateral countertrade and leasing
transactions.

1988 to 1990

Co-founder and Director of "Mikbats - Tesuah", a portfolio
management firm based in Tel-Aviv. Activities included large-
scale portfolio management, underwriting, forex trading and
general financial advisory services.

1990 to Present

Free-lance consultant to many of Israel's Blue-Chip firms,
mainly on issues related to the capital markets in Israel,
Canada, the UK and the USA.

Consultant to foreign RND ventures and to Governments on macro-
economic matters.

President of the Israel chapter of the Professors World Peace
Academy (PWPA) and (briefly) Israel representative of the
"Washington Times".

1993 to 1994

Co-owner and Director of many business enterprises:

- The Omega and Energy Air-Conditioning Concern
- AVP Financial Consultants
- Handiman Legal Services
Total annual turnover of the group: 10 million USD.

Co-owner, Director and Finance Manager of COSTI Ltd. - Israel's
largest computerized information vendor and developer. Raised
funds through a series of private placements locally, in the
USA, Canada and London.

1995 to 1996

Publisher and Editor of a Capital Markets Newsletter distributed
by subscription only to dozens of subscribers countrywide.

Managed the Internet and International News Department of an
Israeli mass media group, "Ha-Tikshoret and Namer". Assistant
in the Law Faculty in Tel-Aviv University (to Prof. S.G.
Shoham).

1996 to 1999

Financial consultant to leading businesses in Macedonia, Russia
and the Czech Republic.

Collaborated with the Agency of Transformation of Business with
Social Capital.

Economic commentator in "Nova Makedonija", "Dnevnik",
"Izvestia", "Argumenti i Fakti", "The Middle East Times",
"Makedonija Denes", "The New Presence", "Central Europe Review"
, InternetContent, United Press International (UPI), other
periodicals and in the economic programs on various channels of
Macedonian Television.

Chief Lecturer in courses organized by the Agency of
Transformation, by the Macedonian Stock Exchange and by the
Ministry of Trade.

1999 to 2001

Economic Advisor to the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.

2001-

Business Correspondent for United Press International (UPI)

Web Activities

Author of extensive websites in Psychology ("Malignant Self
Love") - An Open Directory Cool Site

Philosophy ("Philosophical Musings")

Economics and Geopolitics ("After the Rain")

Owner of the Narcissistic Abuse Announcement and Study List and
the Narcissism Revisited mailing list (more than 3400 members)

Editor of mental health disorders and Central and Eastern Europe
categories in web directories (Open Directory, Suite 101, Search
Europe).

Weekly columnist in "The New Presence", United Press
International (UPI), InternetContent, ebookWeb.org and "Central
Europe Review".

Publications and Awards

"Managing Investment Portfolios in States of Uncertainty", Limon
Publishers, Tel-Aviv, 1988

"The Gambling Industry", Limon Publishers., Tel-Aviv, 1990

"Requesting my Loved One - Short Stories", Yedioth Aharonot,
Tel-Aviv, 1997

"The Macedonian Economy at a Crossroads - On the way to a
Healthier Economy" (with Nikola Gruevski), Skopje, 1998

"Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited", Narcissus
Publications, Prague and Skopje, 1999, 2001

"The Exporters' Pocketbook", Ministry of Trade, Republic of
Macedonia, Skopje, 1999

"The Suffering of Being Kafka" (electronic book of Hebrew Short
Fiction)

"After the Rain - How the West Lost the East", Narcissus
Publications in association with Central Europe Review/CEENMI,
Prague and Skopje, 2000

Winner of numerous awards, among them the Israeli Education
Ministry Prize (Literature) 1997, The Rotary Club Award for
Social Studies (1976) and the Bilateral Relations Studies Award
of the American Embassy in Israel (1978).

Hundreds of professional articles in all fields of finances and
the economy and numerous articles dealing with geopolitical and
political economic issues published in both print and web
periodicals in many countries.

Many appearances in the electronic media on subjects in
philosophy and the sciences and concerning economic matters.

Contact Details:

palma@unet.com.mk

samvak@briefcase.com

My Web Sites:

Economy / Politics:

http://samvak.tripod.com/guide.html

Psychology:

http://samvak.tripod.com/index.html

Philosophy:

http://samvak.tripod.com/culture.html

Poetry:

http://samvak.tripod.com/contents.html

After the Rain

How the West

Lost the East

The Book

This is a series of articles written and published in 1996-2000
in Macedonia, in Russia, in Egypt and in the Czech Republic.

How the West lost the East. The economics, the politics, the
geopolitics, the conspiracies, the corruption, the old and the
new, the plough and the internet - it is all here, in colourful
and provocative prose.

From "The Mind of Darkness":

"'The Balkans' - I say - 'is the unconscious of the world'.
People stop to digest this metaphor and then they nod
enthusiastically. It is here that the repressed memories of
history, its traumas and fears and images reside. It is here
that the psychodynamics of humanity - the tectonic clash between
Rome and Byzantium, West and East, Judeo-Christianity and Islam
- is still easily discernible. We are seated at a New Year's
dining table, loaded with a roasted pig and exotic salads. I,
the Jew, only half foreign to this cradle of Slavonics. Four
Serbs, five Macedonians. It is in the Balkans that all ethnic
distinctions fail and it is here that they prevail
anachronistically and atavistically. Contradiction and change
the only two fixtures of this tormented region. The women of the
Balkan - buried under provocative mask-like make up, retro
hairstyles and too narrow dresses. The men, clad in sepia
colours, old fashioned suits and turn of the century moustaches.
In the background there is the crying game that is Balkanian
music: liturgy and folk and elegy combined. The smells are heavy
with muskular perfumes. It is like time travel. It is like
revisiting one's childhood."

The Author

Sam Vaknin was born in Israel in 1961. A financial consultant
and columnist, he lived and published in 11 countries. An author
of short stories, the winner of many literary awards, an amateur
philosopher - he is a controversial figure. This is his tenth
book.

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