Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Questi mezzi non ci piacicono, ma siamo in guerra... la sicurezza, capite?  E' legittimo difendere i nostri confini

In alcuni posti dove questi ragionamenti erano molto sexy si sente un
tintinnar di manette.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6943093.stm
Border guards in East Germany during the Cold War were given clear
orders to shoot at attempted defectors, including children, a senior
official says.
A newly discovered order is the firmest evidence yet that the
communist regime gave explicit shoot-to-kill orders, says Germany's
director of Stasi files.
Do not hesitate with the use of a firearm, including when the border
breakouts involve women and children, which the traitors have already
frequently taken advantage of," it reads.
Officially, East German border regulations said use of a weapon was to
be considered an "extreme measure".
But Marianne Birthler, director of the government office that now
manages Stasi archives, said the order proves that the top echelon of
the regime expected attempted runaways to be killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6940666.stm
Apartheid crimes dilemma haunts SA
By Peter Biles
BBC News, Pretoria
In the 1990s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, granted amnesties to some of the perpetrators
of violence and human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa.
Years later some of those involved may finally face prosecution.
The Union Buildings in Pretoria are, without doubt, an architectural
gem.
I adore the light sandstone, the terracotta roof tiles and the cool
passageways of this elegant structure which has been the seat of
government since 1910.
This was where Nelson Mandela stood on the day of his presidential
inauguration in 1994.
More recently, the Union Buildings were the setting for one of the
most extraordinary acts of contrition which South Africa has seen.
Last year, a man called Adriaan Vlok - who had been South Africa's law
and order minister in the late 1980s - came to the Union Buildings to
offer an apology to the Reverend Frank Chikane, the director-general
of the presidency.
Mr Vlok climbed the steps of the West Wing and made his way to the Rev
Chikane's office at the far end of the ground floor.
Once inside, he produced an inscribed bible, handed it to Frank
Chikane and pleaded for forgiveness.
Then Adriaan Vlok opened his bag again, took out a bowl and two towels
and insisted on washing Mr Chikane's feet.
Poison shirt
In 1989, the Rev Chikane had been head of the South African Council of
Churches and a leading anti-apartheid activist.
He had also been the victim of a bizarre assassination attempt by the
apartheid state, in which his underwear was impregnated with poison,
causing him to become violently ill.
Adriaan Vlok and Frank Chikane have made peace with one another. Mr
Vlok has even been to preach in the Rev Chikane's church in Soweto.
Frank Chikane comes across as a gentle and honest man and in that same
office at the Union Buildings, he told me he bore no vengeance or
bitterness towards anyone - the politicians, the police or the
scientists who might have been involved in the plot to kill him 18
years ago.
But Frank Chikane says he is powerless to protect Adriaan Vlok from
prosecution.
The former minister is about to appear in court, along with a former
police chief, Johann Van Der Merwe, charged with Mr Chikane's
attempted murder.
Frank Chikane says the "prosecution" of Mr Vlok and others should not
be interpreted as "persecution".
It is for their own good, he insists, to ensure that the matter is
dealt with by the courts once and for all and not resurrected in 20
years' time.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was supposed to have
investigated all these matters a decade ago.
Witch hunt?
Adriaan Vlok was, in fact, the highest-ranking member of the old
regime to apply for amnesty for crimes committed by the state.
But he only sought amnesty, and was granted it, for ordering the 1988
bombing of Khotso House - the offices of the Council of Churches.
The issue of poisoning Frank Chikane did not arise when Mr Vlok
appeared before the Truth Commission.
Of course, many secrets of the apartheid era remain hidden and much
evidence was shredded and destroyed in the early 1990s when South
Africa was undergoing its political transition.
Plenty of people never sought amnesty for their crimes and senior
figures - notably the former President, the late P W Botha - wanted
nothing to do with the Truth Commission.
The move all these years later by the National Prosecuting Authority
to charge people is seen by some as a witch hunt. The government is
adamant that it is not.
But South Africa's last white president, FW De Klerk, is clearly
uneasy that he could be implicated in some way.
He says if prosecutions go ahead then they should be even-handed. That
means he wants to see senior figures in the ruling African National
Congress prosecuted, if they did not apply for amnesty.
So too does Dirk Van Eck who lost his wife and two children in an ANC
landmine attack near the country's northern border in 1985. If there
are to be prosecutions, he says, then ANC leaders must face them as
well.
So what are we to make of reconciliation in South Africa in this
second decade of the post-apartheid era?
Mr De Klerk believes reconciliation is more developed than is
generally acknowledged.
My overall sense is that there is little stomach for digging over the
past. People do want to move on.
But for those who were victims of apartheid-era atrocities, or knew
people who were, then there is a natural desire to find out the truth
about all that happened.
A former Truth Commission investigator says he is surprised that there
is relatively little interest from South African students and
researchers about the recent past.
By contrast, he says, overseas post-graduate scholars come here in
droves on a quest to learn more.
Perhaps the next generation of South Africans - in 20 or 30 years'
time - will finally confront the apartheid era, but by then, it is
unlikely the principal characters will still be around.

well.
Quoto.
-Stefano

 Puttanata di sua invenzione che fara' fatica a dimostrare.
mentre il facocero fallito dimostra sempre con fior di documenti le
sue puttanate...