Lessons We MUST Learn from the Bosnian Genocide & A Thug is Running Interpol

In this episode, Alex starts by going over an article from The Atlantic called “TRUMP’S NEXT COUP HAS ALREADY BEGUN” by Barton Gellman. The main point of the first half of the article is that “January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to subvert the next election.”  Alex then focuses on the more disturbing parts of the article. Gellman interviews a man who is furious about the 2020 election and still believes it was stolen. The man says “There ain’t no f***** way we are letting go of 3 November 2020." When people think their livelihoods have been taken from them, whether it is perceived or real, it seems like people may be willing to do the unthinkable. 

Alex turns to Robert Pape, who is at the University of Chicago. He focuses on national and international security affairs. He said that when he saw the storming of the capital, he immediately thought of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Serbia. Pape says that “Milošević compared Muslims in the former Yugoslavia to Ottomans who had enslaved the Serbs six centuries before. He fomented years of genocidal war that destroyed the hope for a multiethnic democracy.” Basically, Milošević stoked grievance and anger for a changing, multiethnic country, and it led to a brutal genocide that killed close to 100,000 people, mainly Bosnian Muslims. This happened slowly because society and the institutions slowly became corrupted and radicalized against other groups. Alex goes into how this could have happened, and how leaders like Trump, Tucker Carlson, and some congressmen, are stoking the same ideas of replacement, historical grievances towards “the other”, and this idea of opposing a changing, multiethnic world. Alex sees the current escalation of real-world violence and hatred towards others as a disturbing escalation of affairs in the United States. 

Later on, Alex talks about Interpol and its flaws. Interpol has a new president and his name is Ahmed Naser al-Raisi. He was previously the inspector general for the interior ministry in the United Arab Emirates and recently was elected to be the president. The head of ALQST for Human Rights, said: “Raisi’s election sends a chilling message that Interpol has abandoned its human rights commitments.” There are numerous reports that al-Raisi was involved in torture and other brutal acts during his time in the UAE. Alex worries that al-Raisi may end up just helping autocrats abuse Interpol’s “red notice” system. Over the last two decades, autocratic regimes have found that the red notices, or international warrants, can be used to persecute exiled dissidents. Alex then goes into a deeper look at Interpol, why it has become useful for autocrats, why it has lost credibility, and why these international organizations keep electing flawed individuals.