> Come to think of it, this book looks pretty dumb. Pol Pot killed a hell
> of a lot of people, but to accuse him of "genocide" implies he wanted to
> wipe out every single Cambodian, including himself. Bruital ethnic war
> and ethnic cleansing like in the former Yugoslavia is not genocide
> either. Nor are the various bloody ethnic deportations of Stalin examples
> of genocide.
Chechens being deported en masse in 1944? Ukranian famine?
http://www.crimesofwar.org/thebook/genocide.html Cf. Lemkin, "“By ‘genocide’ we mean the destruction of an ethnic group . . . . Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups . . ..
“Genocide has two phases: one, destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group; the other, the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. This imposition, in turn, may be made upon the oppressed population which is allowed to remain, or upon the territory alone, after removal of the population and colonization of the area by the oppressor’s own nationals.”
-- Michael Pugliese
"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted at each other, as if we were in a madhouse." -Tolstoy