Category Archives: World War III

Peace in Bosnia

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Setting: A roundtable discussion about Angelina Jolie’s film In the Land of Blood and Honey, the Bosnian War, and deeper geopolitical forces.

Joe Jukic: Angelina, your movie In the Land of Blood and Honey really hit hard—showing the raw pain of the Bosnian War, the ethnic hatred, the atrocities. But Frank here has some strong views on what really fueled that conflict.

Frank Sumera: Exactly, Joe. That war wasn’t just about ancient hatreds or local leaders going rogue. It was fueled by David Rockefeller’s New World Order ambitions. The so-called war criminals from Yugoslavia—the ones they dragged to The Hague—are just pawns, patsies, fall guys. The real war criminals? Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Donald Trump. They call their war crimes “collateral damage” and walk away clean.

Angelina Jolie: I hear you, Frank. I made the film to show the human cost—the rape, the displacement, the way ordinary people got torn apart. But you’re saying the bigger picture involves global powers using the region?

Frank Sumera: Absolutely. America can use the United Nations to declare war and disguise an invasion as a “peacekeeping mission.” We’ve seen it. But the UN can also recognize small nations and grant them independence. Croatia’s a perfect example—they got fast-tracked recognition while everything else burned.

Angelina Jolie: The UN’s role is complicated. It can protect or enable, depending on who’s pulling the strings. In Bosnia, the peacekeeping was too late for so many.

Joe Jukic: Frank, you’ve told me before about your high-school days. You and your Serbian friend Dean would drive around talking about all this.

Frank Sumera: Yeah, Dean Koteras—great guy. Back in high school, we’d pile into his Dodge Diplomat, cruising around, debating the politics of the New World Order in Yugoslavia. We saw the signs even then. The breakup wasn’t organic; it was engineered.

Dean Koteras: (nodding) We talked about how the West wanted to carve it up, control the pieces. Tito held it together, but once he was gone, the vultures circled.

Frank Sumera: And I’m not fighting a third world war in Bosnia for Trump—or anyone else. If Trump’s so gung-ho about escalating to WWIII, he should put some boots on the ground himself. Give a rifle to Barron and lead the charge. Let him feel what it means.

Joe Jukic: Strong words, Frank.

Frank Sumera: The first world war started in Bosnia—Sarajevo, 1914. And if a third one comes, it’ll end there too. Yugoslavia: the graveyard of empires.

Angelina Jolie: It’s tragic how that beautiful region keeps being the flashpoint. My film was about remembering the victims, not glorifying more war.

Frank Sumera: That’s why we need to call out the real architects. Not just the local fall guys.

Dean Koteras: Amen to that.

Frank Sumera: Thank you, Jesus and Mary.

All: (a moment of quiet reflection)

The INFANTry

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Essay by Frank Sumera: Why the Word Infant is in Infantry

Language hides truth in plain sight, if only we have the courage to look. Take the word infantry. The root is infant, Latin for “unable to speak.” In ancient Rome, infans meant the child too young to speak up. So what does it say that our foot soldiers, the ones who die first and most often in war, are still called the infantry?

It says they’re the ones with the least power, the least say, and often, the least choice. Too young to vote, too poor to escape. Too indoctrinated to question orders. They’re not the sons of Trump or Netanyahu or any other billionaire or politician who beats the war drum while sipping champagne in their Manhattan penthouses or Tel Aviv strongholds. No. Their children will not be fighting in World War III. Yours will.

The military-industrial complex counts on this. It feeds on it. War needs the young. Not because they’re brave—though they are. Not because they’re strong—though they can be. But because they’re malleable. Because they can still be shaped. Because no one with billions of dollars and options ever chooses to send their own into the meat grinder. It’s always the working-class kid. The farm boy. The dropout. The immigrant. The infant in the system. Too “green” to know he’s being used. Too “patriotic” to question why.

In Gaza, in Ukraine, in Yemen, in Afghanistan, and soon perhaps in Taiwan or Iran—the same equation plays out. The rich provoke, the poor perish.

Let’s not be fooled by medals and flags. The generals talk about valor and glory, but they recruit with video game trailers and sign-on bonuses for college tuition they know most won’t live to use. They don’t tell you you’re an infant in this machine—silent, expendable, replaceable.

Trump’s kids will be playing golf. Netanyahu’s will be behind desks. But your kids will be on the front lines, with sand in their mouths and blood on their boots, wondering how they got there.

So yes, infantry comes from infant. Because that’s how the system sees them: not as men or women, but as tools. As bodies. As babies too naive to know they were born into a war they didn’t start—and one they’re not meant to survive.

– Frank Sumera