Informazione
[ Benche' affetto da una certa ossessione anticomunista, il
commentatore serbo-statunitense Nebojsa Malic sa descrivere con
profondita' e colore la attuale situazione nei Balcani. In questi due
editoriali che qui riportiamo, egli da una parte si chiede quali
confini debba/possa mai avere la Serbia, dall'altra chiede il ritiro
delle truppe di occupazione occidentali dall'area... ]
Two commentaries by Nebojsa Malic
SEE ALSO:
Imperial Balkans: A Legacy of Lies and Disasters (23/9/2004)
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3640
Electing to Abstain (10/7/2004)
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3721
(go to the original URLs to find many useful hyperlinks)
---
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/
Solving the 'Serbian Question: Empire's Sinister Plans'
Thursday, October 14, 2004 -- Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
It was only a matter of time before someone said it: "[A]n old question
haunts the continent: Where should the borders of Serbia lie?" So began
Roger Cohen's commentary in the International Herald Tribune on
Tuesday, titled "The Serbian Question, Still on Europe's Plate."
Though the wars of the 1990s – which he blames squarely on Slobodan
Milosevic's "destructive vision" – are over, the "issues behind the
killing are not yet resolved," Cohen says. "Fundamental decisions will
have to be made soon – about the nature of Bosnian society, about
Kosovo, and about the future of the truncated federation of Serbia and
Montenegro."
Cohen is carefully vague, but the article makes it obvious what the
"solution" is likely to be. Total centralization of Bosnia and the
separation of Kosovo and Montenegro – the Morton Abramowitz platform,
to the letter – are presented as almost inevitable.
Kosovo as Paradigm
Cohen, like the rest of the Western press, frames Kosovo in simple
terms: "Serb minority" versus the "overwhelming Albanian majority" that
demands independence. One conclusion clearly follows from the
terminology: "An adjustment of borders may have to come one day."
The only thing shocking here is Cohen's admission. The Empire's
official propaganda arm, Voice of America, considers Washington
"sympathetic towards independence" in a report indicating all Albanians
are united on the issue. In just a few days, the Albanians will come
out and vote for a new provisional government, an institution created
under the "constitutional framework" by a UN viceroy in 2001.
Some may argue that the UN had no mandate to create a virtual state in
occupied territory where it was only authorized to provide "substantial
autonomy." That's true. It is also true that the armistice signed by
NATO and the Yugoslav military was not an act of unconditional
surrender, though NATO treated it as such. It is also true that NATO
and the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) are in violation of the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244, which provides cover for the
occupation that resulted from an illegal war of aggression. And it is
also true that nobody cares – especially not the UN and NATO. The
Empire does not obey treaties; it creates them to demand the obedience
of others.
When the beleaguered Kosovo Serbs announced they would disobey the
Empire and not participate in the elections, both they and the
government in Belgrade faced enormous pressure. Prime Minister
Kostunica declined to coerce his compatriots in Kosovo, but President
Tadic caved in.
Not surprisingly, UNMIK praised Tadic's choice. So did the UN, Brussels
and Washington. "Participation will allow the minority community to
have its voice heard," said viceroy Jessen-Petersen last Wednesday, and
was echoed by the State Department spokesman the following weekend.
Of course, the reason Kosovo Serbs are boycotting the election –
Tadic's plea notwithstanding – is that their voice has not been heard
since 1999, despite them bending over backwards to collaborate with the
UN/NATO occupiers. Serb participation is not really about anyone having
a voice, but about lending legitimacy to the occupation regime.
Absence of Resistance
In the remainder of Serbia, official resistance to the rape of Kosovo
is virtually nonexistent. Serbia's dominant political parties all come
from the same bloc supported by the Empire in the fall of 2000 to
overthrow the government of Slobodan Milosevic. They know the Empire's
definition of "reformers": those who stay bought; all others are
denounced as "ultra-nationalists."
President Boris Tadic is a reformer, all right. The Empire has doubts
about Prime Minister Kostunica, but then no one can say for sure where
he stands – probably not even Kostunica himself. The AP casts Tadic as
a brave pro-Western voice and Kostunica as part of "those supporting
the hardline policies of confrontation by Milosevic and his loyalists."
But the truth is rather less dramatic. Kostunica's political quarrel
with Tadic is "over how far to bend to Western wishes" (Reuters), not
whether.
Last week, Tadic condemned Kostunica's policies of "not doing anything"
as "extremely inefficient and dangerous for our national interests."
That implies his policy of unquestioned obedience is beneficial. But is
it? It does not seem to appease the Hague Inquisition. It only
emboldens the advocates of Kosovo independence. Satisfying one set of
demands only brings out another: that's the way with successful
extortion.
Is there no one in Serbia who would pursue a logical policy: defend the
country's integrity and independence, demand that the Empire cease
meddling and return the illegally occupied Kosovo? Seems not. Such a
policy would serve Serbia, and the present leadership serves only
Brussels and Washington. This is why European and American policymakers
can engage in plotting "solutions" to the "Serbian question." The Serbs
don't seem inclined to stop them.
"Thesis Reversal"
Roger Cohen's article ends with a comparison that is ominous, yet
entirely consistent with the way the Empire has been casting the
Balkans conflict:
"An attempt to keep [Kosovo] within Serbia may in the end merely
prolong the Serbian question. It was only with the resolution of the
German question that peace came to Central Europe. As long as the
Serbian question festers, the Balkans will remain unstable."
What Cohen is referring to here as the "resolution of the German
question" is somewhat unclear. He could be talking about the
reunification of Germany in 1991, but it neither brought peace (since
Germany immediately fomented conflict in Yugoslavia), nor does it fit
into the theme of the article; partition, not unification, is on
Cohen's mind.
The other option is the horrendous ethnic cleansing of almost 12
million Germans after 1945, often from lands they had inhabited for
centuries. The victors justified this as "revenge" for Nazi atrocities;
the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo in 1999 and the subsequent
terror against the remnant has been consistently described as "revenge
attacks" by Cohen's colleagues in the press. In the eyes of the Empire,
Serbs can never be victims of ethnic cleansing – only perpetrators.
But while Hitler's Germany claimed territories in Eastern Europe
(including, interestingly enough, Serbia) by the "right" of conquest,
the Serbs did no such thing in Yugoslavia. They actually had rights,
both as founders of the first Yugoslavia and oft-abused partners in the
second, guaranteed by the Yugoslav Constitution and a host of
international treaties and conventions. These rights were flagrantly
violated by the seceding regimes in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo, and
their EU and U.S. sponsors.
How is it not "aggression" to forcibly separate territories from a
country (again, in violation of international treaties) but it is
"aggression" when the two million people living in those territories
object? How can it be considered "aggression" to defend one's country
against a terrorist separatist movement, as Slobodan Milosevic did in
Kosovo, but entirely legitimate to actually start a war and occupy
Kosovo on behalf of that terrorist movement, as NATO did?
And yet, most of the mainstream Imperial view of the Balkans is one
gigantic "thesis reversal" of this kind.
One Alternative
After the projected amputations, Cohen would see the resulting Serbia
handed over to the EU: "Where empires – Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian or
communist – once ruled, the EU would step in, a benign deflator of
nationalist extremes." However, the EU is an empire, or an adjunct to
one, and has a record of maliciously inflating nationalist extremes in
the Balkans.
Although the EU is being forced on Serbia as the "only choice,"
becoming a tributary to the Brussels Leviathan does have alternatives.
Take for example Iceland, the wealthiest place in Europe despite its
small size, population and scarcity of natural resources (which is not
a problem for Serbia): it has grown prosperous precisely because it has
not joined the EU.
"Icelanders believe that self-government is the natural condition for a
sturdy, free-standing citizenry. They understand that there is a
connection between living in an independent state and living
independently from the state. They have no more desire to submit to
international than to national regulation. That attitude has made them
the happiest, freest and wealthiest people on earth." (The Spectator,
Oct. 9, 2004)
Why is this so difficult to understand?
What's Next?
Cohen's commentary is just the latest in a continuum of fiction, but
perhaps the most forthright since Richard Holbrooke's memoir. Only the
deliberately dim can claim ignorance now: Serbia is to be dismembered,
starting with Kosovo and ending who-knows-where, in the interest of
"Balkan stability."
Rhetoric notwithstanding, the current crop of politicians in Serbia is
either oblivious to this threat, or believes it inevitable and
therefore not worth fighting. If the Serbian people lack the will to
resist the fate Empire has chosen for them, it is very hard to argue
they don't deserve it. Is something truly a crime if the victim
consents?
But then, from Dayton to Kumanovo, such "consent" is just what the
Empire has been after all along.
---
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3584
Withdraw From the Balkans And End a Disastrous Intervention!
Thursday, September 16, 2004 -- BALKAN EXPRESS
by Nebojsa Malic
When Napoleon ordered the abduction and murder of a political opponent
in 1804, his foreign minister, Count Talleyrand, commented: "That was
worse than a crime; it was a mistake." Apparently, the wisdom of
Talleyrand was not limited to the time. The public opinion in the U.S.
and its "willing allies" may have successfully ignored the fact that
the Iraq war was a crime – under Nuremberg Principle VI (a) – but it
can hardly close its eyes to the mounting evidence that it was a
colossal mistake.
Britain's Financial Times floated the heretofore unspeakable idea in an
editorial Monday, offering a scenario in which the Washington might
save face and still extricate itself from the nightmare that is Babylon:
"The time has therefore come to consider whether a structured
withdrawal of U.S. and remaining allied troops, in tandem with a
workable handover of security to Iraqi forces and a legitimate and
inclusive political process, can chart a path out of the current chaos."
The advice may well be too little, too late, as the situation in Iraq
deteriorates rapidly. Even so, there doesn't seem to be any readiness
in the U.S. to take it. On the same day, two American "national
security consultants" published an opinion piece in the International
Herald Tribune, claiming that the difference between a "success" in
Bosnia and failure in Iraq was the insufficient number of troops for
the latter. It is an utterly misplaced comparison; the occupation of
Bosnia took place at the end of a brutal civil war, with the three
sides hating each other more than they hated the foreigners. It does,
however, provide an occasion to reflect on the alleged "success" of
Imperial intervention in the Balkans, compared to the obvious failure
of Iraq.
The Final Solution
Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, with the vocal support of
Germany, Austria, the Vatican, and somewhat less pronounced backing
from the United States. Contrary to popular perception, the crumbling
federal government did not try to crush the secession. It did, however,
support the native Serb population that remained loyal to Yugoslavia,
resented being erased from the Croatian Constitution, and remembered
all too well a genocide perpetrated by the pro-Nazi Croat authorities
in World War Two – whose "legacy" the new authorities eagerly embraced.
A UN plan for ending the bloody conflict established an armistice in
early 1992, putting the Serb-inhabited territories under UN protection.
Though this status quo supposedly benefited the Serbs, the EU plan for
Yugoslavia's dissolution ruled out any changes to the Communist-drawn
borders, effectively recognizing Croatia's claim to these territories.
As the negotiations dragged on to no avail, Croatia's military was
being armed and trained by the United States, as an asset to be used in
the Bosnian War. After several probing attacks, such as the Medak
incident (1993), Croatian forces assaulted Serb zones in May and August
1995, in full sight of impotent UN troops. It was the largest single
instance of ethnic cleansing in the modern Balkans wars, and it went
completely unpunished.
Croatian authorities have recently demolished monuments to Nazi leaders
from its dark past, but the largest monument to their legacy still
stands: the Serbs who lived along the old Military Frontier since the
late 1600s are now gone.
Jihad Unleashed
In neighboring Bosnia, outside involvement created even greater
calamities. Though it became obvious as early as 1991 that the ongoing
survival of Bosnia as an entity (independent or otherwise) depended on
the three main ethnic communities finding a modus vivendi, Bosnian
Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic repeatedly sabotaged various attempts
at compromise. Supported by the United States, Izetbegovic chose to
declare Bosnian independence unilaterally, sparking a conflict first
with the Serbs, then the Croats. In the resulting mayhem, no one was
innocent. But Izetbegovic's backers blamed everything on the Serbs,
using their alleged "genocide" as a pretext to involve NATO in a combat
operation (for the first time since the Alliance's inception) and
impose a "peace" on Bosnia that has been anything but.
The root of all problems in Bosnia is the notion of ethnic politics,
promoted by democracy, and the ensuing question of which community will
hold power over others. This caused the war, not "ancient hatreds" or
religious differences. Under Imperial occupation, ethnic politics have
become an institution and the ethnic autonomy guaranteed by the peace
agreement has steadily fallen prey to efforts at centralization.
The very worst consequence of the Bosnian War was the unleashing of
Islamic jihad on Europe, as thousands of militant Muslims fought on the
side of Izetbegovic's forces and settled in post-war Bosnia.
Izetbegovic himself authored in 1971 the Islamic Declaration (.pdf), a
manifesto for Islamic revolutionaries worldwide, and has never
renounced his beliefs. But the unreserved support he received from
Washington enabled him to continue the pretense of being a secular
democrat until the day he died.
Aggression and Pogroms
In 1998, the U.S. intervened again, this time on the side of Albanian
militants seeking to separate the province of Kosovo from Serbia and
carve out an ethnically pure "Greater Albania." After a staged massacre
and an ultimatum designed to be rejected, NATO began bombing Serbia on
March 23, 1999.
The attack was clearly illegal, and the attackers knew it. But the
bombing went on for 78 days, justified daily by the vilest lies from
the NATO propaganda mill. In the end Belgrade backed down, signed an
armistice, and allowed the NATO/KLA occupation of Kosovo. All of the
accusations were proven false; there was no "genocide." On the other
hand, the KLA expelled hundreds of thousands of non-Albanians, looted
and torched their homes, and demolished over 100 Serbian Orthodox
churches, chapels and monasteries, often in the presence of NATO troops.
In the most recent pogrom, the biggest so far, 50,000 Albanians
rampaged through the province for two days, destroying thirty churches
and expelling 4,000 Serbs. The perpetrators were never caught, let
alone punished.
Even after five years, the Empire persists in denying the reality of
its occupation of Kosovo, while Albanian criminal clans rule the
province and everyone, especially non-Albanians, suffers.
Surrender to Terrorism
The occupation of Kosovo soon had tragic consequences in Macedonia, as
the KLA mounted another terrorist land-grab. When Macedonian
authorities tried to fight, the U.S. and EU interfered, pressuring the
government to capitulate to KLA demands. The same propaganda that so
thoroughly mislabeled the Bosnian War and justified the aggression in
Kosovo now spun terrorism as a fight for "greater rights," which in
practice actually meant special privileges.
As willing as Macedonian politicians were to take orders from the
Empire to surrender to terrorism, their people are somewhat different.
They have won a right to organize a referendum on the redistricting of
the country – the last phase of the capitulation that would have given
Albanians disproportionate political power. Naturally, the EU and
Washington condemned the referendum, and continue to pressure Skopje to
cancel it, or ignore its results.
Destruction of Justice
Last, but not least, the Empire has sought to justify its intervention,
aggression and occupations by establishing a "war crimes tribunal" for
the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, with the mission to judge people
suspected of war crimes.
Resembling the Inquisition or a Star Chamber in its methods and
practices, obeying no law but its own, always serving at the pleasure
of the Empire, the "International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia" has become a paragon of injustice and persecution in this
modern world. Led by mad prosecutors and chaired by arrogant "judges,"
petty tyrants who often trample law whenever convenient, it is a
circus, not a court. Its chief purpose is to fabricate a version of
recent history that would cast former president Slobodan Milosevic and
the entire Serb political leadership as a vast conspiracy against peace
and humanity – an insane argument if there ever was one.
Presented as a legitimate UN court, it is instead a mockery of justice,
a factory of lies, a cancer on the established body of international
law.
Empire Out!
Everyone who advocated intervention in the Balkans invoked humanitarian
reasons and moral obligations. They wanted to stop "humanitarian
catastrophe," and "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide," but actually
promoted – even caused – them all. They proclaimed their devotion to
justice as they were busily destroying every vestige of the rules of
conduct painstakingly crafted to prevent the very sort of barbarism
they habitually engaged in for the cause of "benevolent global
hegemony." Even the claims of fighting terrorism rang hollow as they
actually helped terrorists. Its authors may claim success – indeed they
must, in order to survive in Imperial politics – but reality belies
their rhetoric.
Worse yet, the Balkans adventures helped create the American Empire as
it exists today. It was a triumph of belligerent social engineers and
power-hungry bureaucrats over the danger of peace posed by the abrupt
ending of the Cold War.
Some would argue that the United States and its satellites – the
self-proclaimed "international community" – have a responsibility to
help undo the damage they have done in the southeastern corner of
Europe. This is impossible. What has been destroyed by force cannot be
repaired or rebuilt by force – and force is the only tool at
governments' disposal. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely the Empire
will itself recover from the demons unleashed by its misguided and
malicious meddling; it can hardly help anyone else.
Not just the best, but the only way the Empire can help the Balkans now
is to depart from it, forever.
commentatore serbo-statunitense Nebojsa Malic sa descrivere con
profondita' e colore la attuale situazione nei Balcani. In questi due
editoriali che qui riportiamo, egli da una parte si chiede quali
confini debba/possa mai avere la Serbia, dall'altra chiede il ritiro
delle truppe di occupazione occidentali dall'area... ]
Two commentaries by Nebojsa Malic
SEE ALSO:
Imperial Balkans: A Legacy of Lies and Disasters (23/9/2004)
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3640
Electing to Abstain (10/7/2004)
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3721
(go to the original URLs to find many useful hyperlinks)
---
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/
Solving the 'Serbian Question: Empire's Sinister Plans'
Thursday, October 14, 2004 -- Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
It was only a matter of time before someone said it: "[A]n old question
haunts the continent: Where should the borders of Serbia lie?" So began
Roger Cohen's commentary in the International Herald Tribune on
Tuesday, titled "The Serbian Question, Still on Europe's Plate."
Though the wars of the 1990s – which he blames squarely on Slobodan
Milosevic's "destructive vision" – are over, the "issues behind the
killing are not yet resolved," Cohen says. "Fundamental decisions will
have to be made soon – about the nature of Bosnian society, about
Kosovo, and about the future of the truncated federation of Serbia and
Montenegro."
Cohen is carefully vague, but the article makes it obvious what the
"solution" is likely to be. Total centralization of Bosnia and the
separation of Kosovo and Montenegro – the Morton Abramowitz platform,
to the letter – are presented as almost inevitable.
Kosovo as Paradigm
Cohen, like the rest of the Western press, frames Kosovo in simple
terms: "Serb minority" versus the "overwhelming Albanian majority" that
demands independence. One conclusion clearly follows from the
terminology: "An adjustment of borders may have to come one day."
The only thing shocking here is Cohen's admission. The Empire's
official propaganda arm, Voice of America, considers Washington
"sympathetic towards independence" in a report indicating all Albanians
are united on the issue. In just a few days, the Albanians will come
out and vote for a new provisional government, an institution created
under the "constitutional framework" by a UN viceroy in 2001.
Some may argue that the UN had no mandate to create a virtual state in
occupied territory where it was only authorized to provide "substantial
autonomy." That's true. It is also true that the armistice signed by
NATO and the Yugoslav military was not an act of unconditional
surrender, though NATO treated it as such. It is also true that NATO
and the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) are in violation of the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244, which provides cover for the
occupation that resulted from an illegal war of aggression. And it is
also true that nobody cares – especially not the UN and NATO. The
Empire does not obey treaties; it creates them to demand the obedience
of others.
When the beleaguered Kosovo Serbs announced they would disobey the
Empire and not participate in the elections, both they and the
government in Belgrade faced enormous pressure. Prime Minister
Kostunica declined to coerce his compatriots in Kosovo, but President
Tadic caved in.
Not surprisingly, UNMIK praised Tadic's choice. So did the UN, Brussels
and Washington. "Participation will allow the minority community to
have its voice heard," said viceroy Jessen-Petersen last Wednesday, and
was echoed by the State Department spokesman the following weekend.
Of course, the reason Kosovo Serbs are boycotting the election –
Tadic's plea notwithstanding – is that their voice has not been heard
since 1999, despite them bending over backwards to collaborate with the
UN/NATO occupiers. Serb participation is not really about anyone having
a voice, but about lending legitimacy to the occupation regime.
Absence of Resistance
In the remainder of Serbia, official resistance to the rape of Kosovo
is virtually nonexistent. Serbia's dominant political parties all come
from the same bloc supported by the Empire in the fall of 2000 to
overthrow the government of Slobodan Milosevic. They know the Empire's
definition of "reformers": those who stay bought; all others are
denounced as "ultra-nationalists."
President Boris Tadic is a reformer, all right. The Empire has doubts
about Prime Minister Kostunica, but then no one can say for sure where
he stands – probably not even Kostunica himself. The AP casts Tadic as
a brave pro-Western voice and Kostunica as part of "those supporting
the hardline policies of confrontation by Milosevic and his loyalists."
But the truth is rather less dramatic. Kostunica's political quarrel
with Tadic is "over how far to bend to Western wishes" (Reuters), not
whether.
Last week, Tadic condemned Kostunica's policies of "not doing anything"
as "extremely inefficient and dangerous for our national interests."
That implies his policy of unquestioned obedience is beneficial. But is
it? It does not seem to appease the Hague Inquisition. It only
emboldens the advocates of Kosovo independence. Satisfying one set of
demands only brings out another: that's the way with successful
extortion.
Is there no one in Serbia who would pursue a logical policy: defend the
country's integrity and independence, demand that the Empire cease
meddling and return the illegally occupied Kosovo? Seems not. Such a
policy would serve Serbia, and the present leadership serves only
Brussels and Washington. This is why European and American policymakers
can engage in plotting "solutions" to the "Serbian question." The Serbs
don't seem inclined to stop them.
"Thesis Reversal"
Roger Cohen's article ends with a comparison that is ominous, yet
entirely consistent with the way the Empire has been casting the
Balkans conflict:
"An attempt to keep [Kosovo] within Serbia may in the end merely
prolong the Serbian question. It was only with the resolution of the
German question that peace came to Central Europe. As long as the
Serbian question festers, the Balkans will remain unstable."
What Cohen is referring to here as the "resolution of the German
question" is somewhat unclear. He could be talking about the
reunification of Germany in 1991, but it neither brought peace (since
Germany immediately fomented conflict in Yugoslavia), nor does it fit
into the theme of the article; partition, not unification, is on
Cohen's mind.
The other option is the horrendous ethnic cleansing of almost 12
million Germans after 1945, often from lands they had inhabited for
centuries. The victors justified this as "revenge" for Nazi atrocities;
the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo in 1999 and the subsequent
terror against the remnant has been consistently described as "revenge
attacks" by Cohen's colleagues in the press. In the eyes of the Empire,
Serbs can never be victims of ethnic cleansing – only perpetrators.
But while Hitler's Germany claimed territories in Eastern Europe
(including, interestingly enough, Serbia) by the "right" of conquest,
the Serbs did no such thing in Yugoslavia. They actually had rights,
both as founders of the first Yugoslavia and oft-abused partners in the
second, guaranteed by the Yugoslav Constitution and a host of
international treaties and conventions. These rights were flagrantly
violated by the seceding regimes in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo, and
their EU and U.S. sponsors.
How is it not "aggression" to forcibly separate territories from a
country (again, in violation of international treaties) but it is
"aggression" when the two million people living in those territories
object? How can it be considered "aggression" to defend one's country
against a terrorist separatist movement, as Slobodan Milosevic did in
Kosovo, but entirely legitimate to actually start a war and occupy
Kosovo on behalf of that terrorist movement, as NATO did?
And yet, most of the mainstream Imperial view of the Balkans is one
gigantic "thesis reversal" of this kind.
One Alternative
After the projected amputations, Cohen would see the resulting Serbia
handed over to the EU: "Where empires – Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian or
communist – once ruled, the EU would step in, a benign deflator of
nationalist extremes." However, the EU is an empire, or an adjunct to
one, and has a record of maliciously inflating nationalist extremes in
the Balkans.
Although the EU is being forced on Serbia as the "only choice,"
becoming a tributary to the Brussels Leviathan does have alternatives.
Take for example Iceland, the wealthiest place in Europe despite its
small size, population and scarcity of natural resources (which is not
a problem for Serbia): it has grown prosperous precisely because it has
not joined the EU.
"Icelanders believe that self-government is the natural condition for a
sturdy, free-standing citizenry. They understand that there is a
connection between living in an independent state and living
independently from the state. They have no more desire to submit to
international than to national regulation. That attitude has made them
the happiest, freest and wealthiest people on earth." (The Spectator,
Oct. 9, 2004)
Why is this so difficult to understand?
What's Next?
Cohen's commentary is just the latest in a continuum of fiction, but
perhaps the most forthright since Richard Holbrooke's memoir. Only the
deliberately dim can claim ignorance now: Serbia is to be dismembered,
starting with Kosovo and ending who-knows-where, in the interest of
"Balkan stability."
Rhetoric notwithstanding, the current crop of politicians in Serbia is
either oblivious to this threat, or believes it inevitable and
therefore not worth fighting. If the Serbian people lack the will to
resist the fate Empire has chosen for them, it is very hard to argue
they don't deserve it. Is something truly a crime if the victim
consents?
But then, from Dayton to Kumanovo, such "consent" is just what the
Empire has been after all along.
---
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=3584
Withdraw From the Balkans And End a Disastrous Intervention!
Thursday, September 16, 2004 -- BALKAN EXPRESS
by Nebojsa Malic
When Napoleon ordered the abduction and murder of a political opponent
in 1804, his foreign minister, Count Talleyrand, commented: "That was
worse than a crime; it was a mistake." Apparently, the wisdom of
Talleyrand was not limited to the time. The public opinion in the U.S.
and its "willing allies" may have successfully ignored the fact that
the Iraq war was a crime – under Nuremberg Principle VI (a) – but it
can hardly close its eyes to the mounting evidence that it was a
colossal mistake.
Britain's Financial Times floated the heretofore unspeakable idea in an
editorial Monday, offering a scenario in which the Washington might
save face and still extricate itself from the nightmare that is Babylon:
"The time has therefore come to consider whether a structured
withdrawal of U.S. and remaining allied troops, in tandem with a
workable handover of security to Iraqi forces and a legitimate and
inclusive political process, can chart a path out of the current chaos."
The advice may well be too little, too late, as the situation in Iraq
deteriorates rapidly. Even so, there doesn't seem to be any readiness
in the U.S. to take it. On the same day, two American "national
security consultants" published an opinion piece in the International
Herald Tribune, claiming that the difference between a "success" in
Bosnia and failure in Iraq was the insufficient number of troops for
the latter. It is an utterly misplaced comparison; the occupation of
Bosnia took place at the end of a brutal civil war, with the three
sides hating each other more than they hated the foreigners. It does,
however, provide an occasion to reflect on the alleged "success" of
Imperial intervention in the Balkans, compared to the obvious failure
of Iraq.
The Final Solution
Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, with the vocal support of
Germany, Austria, the Vatican, and somewhat less pronounced backing
from the United States. Contrary to popular perception, the crumbling
federal government did not try to crush the secession. It did, however,
support the native Serb population that remained loyal to Yugoslavia,
resented being erased from the Croatian Constitution, and remembered
all too well a genocide perpetrated by the pro-Nazi Croat authorities
in World War Two – whose "legacy" the new authorities eagerly embraced.
A UN plan for ending the bloody conflict established an armistice in
early 1992, putting the Serb-inhabited territories under UN protection.
Though this status quo supposedly benefited the Serbs, the EU plan for
Yugoslavia's dissolution ruled out any changes to the Communist-drawn
borders, effectively recognizing Croatia's claim to these territories.
As the negotiations dragged on to no avail, Croatia's military was
being armed and trained by the United States, as an asset to be used in
the Bosnian War. After several probing attacks, such as the Medak
incident (1993), Croatian forces assaulted Serb zones in May and August
1995, in full sight of impotent UN troops. It was the largest single
instance of ethnic cleansing in the modern Balkans wars, and it went
completely unpunished.
Croatian authorities have recently demolished monuments to Nazi leaders
from its dark past, but the largest monument to their legacy still
stands: the Serbs who lived along the old Military Frontier since the
late 1600s are now gone.
Jihad Unleashed
In neighboring Bosnia, outside involvement created even greater
calamities. Though it became obvious as early as 1991 that the ongoing
survival of Bosnia as an entity (independent or otherwise) depended on
the three main ethnic communities finding a modus vivendi, Bosnian
Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic repeatedly sabotaged various attempts
at compromise. Supported by the United States, Izetbegovic chose to
declare Bosnian independence unilaterally, sparking a conflict first
with the Serbs, then the Croats. In the resulting mayhem, no one was
innocent. But Izetbegovic's backers blamed everything on the Serbs,
using their alleged "genocide" as a pretext to involve NATO in a combat
operation (for the first time since the Alliance's inception) and
impose a "peace" on Bosnia that has been anything but.
The root of all problems in Bosnia is the notion of ethnic politics,
promoted by democracy, and the ensuing question of which community will
hold power over others. This caused the war, not "ancient hatreds" or
religious differences. Under Imperial occupation, ethnic politics have
become an institution and the ethnic autonomy guaranteed by the peace
agreement has steadily fallen prey to efforts at centralization.
The very worst consequence of the Bosnian War was the unleashing of
Islamic jihad on Europe, as thousands of militant Muslims fought on the
side of Izetbegovic's forces and settled in post-war Bosnia.
Izetbegovic himself authored in 1971 the Islamic Declaration (.pdf), a
manifesto for Islamic revolutionaries worldwide, and has never
renounced his beliefs. But the unreserved support he received from
Washington enabled him to continue the pretense of being a secular
democrat until the day he died.
Aggression and Pogroms
In 1998, the U.S. intervened again, this time on the side of Albanian
militants seeking to separate the province of Kosovo from Serbia and
carve out an ethnically pure "Greater Albania." After a staged massacre
and an ultimatum designed to be rejected, NATO began bombing Serbia on
March 23, 1999.
The attack was clearly illegal, and the attackers knew it. But the
bombing went on for 78 days, justified daily by the vilest lies from
the NATO propaganda mill. In the end Belgrade backed down, signed an
armistice, and allowed the NATO/KLA occupation of Kosovo. All of the
accusations were proven false; there was no "genocide." On the other
hand, the KLA expelled hundreds of thousands of non-Albanians, looted
and torched their homes, and demolished over 100 Serbian Orthodox
churches, chapels and monasteries, often in the presence of NATO troops.
In the most recent pogrom, the biggest so far, 50,000 Albanians
rampaged through the province for two days, destroying thirty churches
and expelling 4,000 Serbs. The perpetrators were never caught, let
alone punished.
Even after five years, the Empire persists in denying the reality of
its occupation of Kosovo, while Albanian criminal clans rule the
province and everyone, especially non-Albanians, suffers.
Surrender to Terrorism
The occupation of Kosovo soon had tragic consequences in Macedonia, as
the KLA mounted another terrorist land-grab. When Macedonian
authorities tried to fight, the U.S. and EU interfered, pressuring the
government to capitulate to KLA demands. The same propaganda that so
thoroughly mislabeled the Bosnian War and justified the aggression in
Kosovo now spun terrorism as a fight for "greater rights," which in
practice actually meant special privileges.
As willing as Macedonian politicians were to take orders from the
Empire to surrender to terrorism, their people are somewhat different.
They have won a right to organize a referendum on the redistricting of
the country – the last phase of the capitulation that would have given
Albanians disproportionate political power. Naturally, the EU and
Washington condemned the referendum, and continue to pressure Skopje to
cancel it, or ignore its results.
Destruction of Justice
Last, but not least, the Empire has sought to justify its intervention,
aggression and occupations by establishing a "war crimes tribunal" for
the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, with the mission to judge people
suspected of war crimes.
Resembling the Inquisition or a Star Chamber in its methods and
practices, obeying no law but its own, always serving at the pleasure
of the Empire, the "International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia" has become a paragon of injustice and persecution in this
modern world. Led by mad prosecutors and chaired by arrogant "judges,"
petty tyrants who often trample law whenever convenient, it is a
circus, not a court. Its chief purpose is to fabricate a version of
recent history that would cast former president Slobodan Milosevic and
the entire Serb political leadership as a vast conspiracy against peace
and humanity – an insane argument if there ever was one.
Presented as a legitimate UN court, it is instead a mockery of justice,
a factory of lies, a cancer on the established body of international
law.
Empire Out!
Everyone who advocated intervention in the Balkans invoked humanitarian
reasons and moral obligations. They wanted to stop "humanitarian
catastrophe," and "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide," but actually
promoted – even caused – them all. They proclaimed their devotion to
justice as they were busily destroying every vestige of the rules of
conduct painstakingly crafted to prevent the very sort of barbarism
they habitually engaged in for the cause of "benevolent global
hegemony." Even the claims of fighting terrorism rang hollow as they
actually helped terrorists. Its authors may claim success – indeed they
must, in order to survive in Imperial politics – but reality belies
their rhetoric.
Worse yet, the Balkans adventures helped create the American Empire as
it exists today. It was a triumph of belligerent social engineers and
power-hungry bureaucrats over the danger of peace posed by the abrupt
ending of the Cold War.
Some would argue that the United States and its satellites – the
self-proclaimed "international community" – have a responsibility to
help undo the damage they have done in the southeastern corner of
Europe. This is impossible. What has been destroyed by force cannot be
repaired or rebuilt by force – and force is the only tool at
governments' disposal. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely the Empire
will itself recover from the demons unleashed by its misguided and
malicious meddling; it can hardly help anyone else.
Not just the best, but the only way the Empire can help the Balkans now
is to depart from it, forever.
[ in italiano:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3895
en francais:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3879 ]
Do we still have the right to criticize Bush?
Wolfowitz (the Pentagon) Tries to Bankrupt Michel Collon's Publisher
VANESSA STOJILKOVIC
265,000 Euros! (300.000 $) This is the enormous sum of money Hasbro is
demanding from EPO, the publisher of Michel Collon's book, Monopoly -
NATO in Search of World Conquest. Hasbro has initiated legal action in
Paris for alleged « copyright infringement » of their board game,
Monopoly. But who is pulling the strings at Hasbro ? Paul Wolfowitz.
Yes, the number 2 man in the Pentagon, Undersecretary of Bush's war
program. There are various indications that the attack is politically
motivated...
US multinational Hasbro suited the publisher EPO before the Court of
Justice in Paris. Demanding 150.000 Euros for the damage made to its
marks, 100.000 Euros for 'parasitism' and 15.000 Euros for costs. Why
in Paris since the publisher is Belgian ? Because French courts are
more repressive concerning freedom of speech and right to parody. On
July 9th 2004, EPO was condemned to pay 20.000 Euros. He decided to go
in appeal.
Is this a simple lawsuit about commercial and legal questions ? Not at
all :
1° The « legal pretext » is scurrilous : Hasbro alleges that it is « a
victim of copyright infringement » because Michel Collon published his
masterly analysis of the US global strategy under the title of Monopoly
- NATO in Search of World Conquest.
The maneuver is legally awkward. Because prohibitions concerning the
use of commercial trademarks exist to prevent actions that can be
described as 'unfair competition'. However, a book of political
analysis obviously does not compete with the sales of a board game.
Michel Collon's book bothered US leadership circles by exposing its
strategy of global warfare and unmasking their pretexts. But who can
claim with a straight face that this book would subtract from global
sales of the Monopoly board game ? They have something else in mind.
2° If we look at the board of directors of Hasbro, we find Paul
Wolfowitz among them. Vice-minister of War, he is the 'thinker'
preparing sinc 1991 the US strategy of 'global war'. He was the man who
first pushed Bush to war.
He, of course, resigned this lucrative position after he was named in
this Bush administration. (Hasbro, along with Mattel, is one of the two
global giants that dominate the toy industry). But business and
politics in the USA are « communicating » with frequent exchanges. Dick
Cheney, also, resigned from his position at Halliburton, but he
continues to pull some strings.
In the board of directors of Hasbro, we also find Marie-Helen Kravis.
Her name is not well known, but she happens to be the wife of one of
the world's riches men. The couple is tied in to the
military-industrial complex and to Israel, as well, via the secret
services and the global Jewish lobby in Congress. (Look the articles
that follow here: « Who's Hiding Behind Hasbro ? » and « Wolfowitz, the
'Brains' behind the Global War ».
3° It is clear that their goal is to bankrupt the publisher. EPO,
active in France and in Belgium, distinguished itself over the past few
years by publishing numerous books devoted to exposing US imperialism.
The following titles are only a sample: « September 11» by Franssen; «
Palestine » by Lucas Catherine; and the works of Calvo Ospina on the
CIA - Bacardi - Cuban Mafia connection. Or Hassan & Pestieau on the
occupation or Iraq. (See www.epo.be)
The publisher of EPO is fighting courageously in order to maintain his
independence in the wake of mergers that have put large publishers in
the hands of industrial and financial interests. To demand such an
exorbitant sum from him is clearly meant to prevent him from continuing
his publishing activities.
4° The problem is Monopoly's politically charged contents. In this
book, published in 2000, Michel Collon delivered a masterful
presentation that showed the war against Yugoslavia was not at all
humanitarian in nature, but, instead, announced other wars to come,
most notably the war against Iraq and against Afghanistan, which has
since been confirmed. He revealed that Washington is fighting for the
control of petroleum routes (projects for oil pipelines that will
traverse the Balkans), which will permit it to eventually block
European energy supplies. The real crime of Collon is to have exposed
with evidence the global war US strategy.
5° Michel Collon unmasked Wolfowitz in his book "Liar's Poker". The
Belgian author nailed Wolfowitz with a little-noticed report that dated
from 1992. Since 1992, Wolfowitz has been demanding that the Pentagon
do everything possible to prevent the appearance of a European army. At
a time when it seemed that the USA and Europe were marching in step,
Collon has shown that this report was a barely concealed declaration of
war against the USA's European 'friends'. The analysis was confirmed by
subsequent events and the opposition between USA and EU. (See Collon's
Liar's Poker, p. 116.)
6° Michel Collon : a man to destroy ? For the last twelve years, the
Belgian author has been leading original political actions that have
contributed a great deal in unmasking US imperialism. Since the
celebrated Attention, médias ! appeared in 1992, his books, frequently
republished in new editions and translated into numerous languages,
combine a strategic analysis that is at once global and trenchant; his
original contribution of the « media test » concept established his
reputation as a man who « outed media-lies ». Co-director with Vanessa
Stojilkovic of the film, The Damned of Kosovo, which has been
translated into six languages, Collon has been invited to hundreds of
conferences and debates throughout Europe and around the world.
An analyst, but also militantly anti-war, Collon has led important
international missions that studied the consequences of US aggressions
: « 15 Belgians under the bombs of Nato » (Yugoslavia, 1999) and the
120 « Inspectors for Peace» (Irak, 2002). This accounts for
Washington's fury. (soon at www.michelcollon-info/bio)
7° But it is most of all because of his « war crimes » lawsuit, which
he filed in Bruxelles against US General Tommy Franks that unleashed
Washington's wrath. Michel Collon is one of the leaders of the movement
"Stop USA," which has helped the families of 17 Iraqi victims file a
complaint in Brussels in 2003 against General Franks, Commander in
Chief of the US Army, for war crimes. It is a solid case that is based
on numerous witness testimonies. The complaint stood an excellent
chance of putting him away for good. But threats from Washington forced
Brussels to suppress its own law of « universal competence ».
'Coincidence' : The Hasbro firm went on the offensive a few days after
the filing of this complaint, but ... three years after the publication
of Monopoly. Vengeance is clearly the motive.
All of these signs show that the Hasbro - Wolfowitz attack is
politically motivated. The attack also involves major representatives
of US imperialism, who provide a perfect example of the personal fusion
of economic and political interests. The loathsome wars of US
imperialism have broadened into a war against freedom of expression in
favour of monopolies, Bill Gates and CNN.
The Publisher EPO Must Be Saved !
EPO must be saved. There are fewer and fewer independent publishers in
the world today who have the means to publish testimonies, revelations,
and serious analyses on US militarism, on the conduct of the Great
Powers, and on important social questions.
At the very moment when the whole world is mobilizing against the war,
the Hasbro - Wolfowitz attack is part of an initiative made by the Bush
administration to silence all protest. But, just as Michael Moore did
not yield when they tried to stop the distribution of his film,
Fahrenheit 9/11, Michel Collon and the publisher of EPO have decided to
continue fighting. They refuse to be silenced, whatever pretexts may be
used against them.
How can you support them during this lawsuit ?
1. By broadcasting this information (which is also available in
Spanish, Italian and Dutch : soon at http://www.michelcollon.info
2. By sending a protest letter to Hasbro www.hasbro.com Or Hasbro, 1027
Newport Avenue Pawtucket, Rhode island, 02862, USA)
3. By making the titles that EPO publishes known, by inviting their
authors to debates, by helping EPO find new channels of distribution
Contact : jos.hennes@ epo.be
4. By buying, in solidarity, one or more copies of Monopoly for
yourself or for resale (sales have not yet been banned). Editions have
been published in French, English, Spanish, Serbo - Croat and Dutch.
Your support will enable us to cover important legal fees.
TO ORDER IN ENGLISH (Monopoly under a new title) :
Milo Yelesiyevich serbianclassics@ hotmail.com
TO ORDER IN FRENCH : nessa.kovic@ indymedia.be who will forward
TO ORDER IN SPANISH : Eva Forest : hiru@ clientes.euskaltel.es
FOR INFORMATION IN ITALIAN : andreamartocchia@ libero.it
TO ORDER IN DUTCH : Jos Hennes : jos.hennes@ epo.be
Who Is Hiding behind Hasbro,
a 'Respectable' Toy Manufacturer ?
MICHEL COLLON
It's about toys, but it is not about a nice and sweet little world. The
global toy market is today in the hands of two mastodons who have
succeeded in eliminating or buying out nearly all the other companies
engaged in toy manufacturing: Mattel controls Barbie, Fisher-Price and
Scrabble... And as far as Hasbro is concerned, this little family
business (the Hassenfeld Brothers) took off in the 1960s by launching a
militaristic action figure, G.I. Joe. Then, numerous take-overs allowed
them to become the owners of the trademarks for Monopoly, Trivial
Pursuit, Playskool, Pictionary, Cluedo, Atari, Teletubbies, knock-offs
of Pokemon and Star Wars, numerous computer games, candy manufacturers
and plenty of other firms.
It's classic: the profits earned by these two toy giants went through
the roof when they closed the maximum number of factories in the US and
in Europe after having relocated them to impoverished Third-World
countries. In 2002, Mattel shut down its Kentucky plant. Now it
exploits 39,000 workers in factories in Asia. Hasbro only employs
10,000 people directly, only because it chiefly resorts to slave
trafficking, which has well known advantages. (1)
When You Buy a Board Game or a Toy, You're Making Paul Wolfowitz, the
"Brains behind Bush, Rich
When you buy a toy or a board game for yourself or for your children,
in all likelihood you are making the stockholders of Mattel or Hasbro
rich. And it is necessary to know that the average budget for toys for
a child growing up in the EU is ?250/per annum.
You'll find fashionable society among the board members you are
involuntarily enriching. Or villains. That depends on your point of
view. First of all, Paul Wolfowitz is one of the greatest war mongers
in the United States. Rumsfeld's no. 2 man, Bush's Secretary of War,
which forms a perfect tandem with Cheney, according to Time : "If
Rumsfeld is the face, the mouth and the arm carrying the gun for the
war in Iraq, then Wolfowitz is the intellectual godfather, the heart
and soul." (2) (See the following article on Wolfowitz.)
« The heart and the soul of the war » remained on the Hasbro board of
directors right up until the eve of his nomination by George Bush. Will
he return to Hasbro once his public service is completed, like many
other US personalities, fervent practitioners of this lucrative sport
which is the business-politics yo-yo ? It's likely, but in any case his
ties and their mutual interests remain, whether they remain discrete or
not. Dick Cheney, US vice-president, theoretically has nothing at all
to do with Halliburton's petroleum operations, which he administered
before his current assignment. But the scandal of « inflated orders »
has shown that he has shamelessly used the occupation of Iraq to line
Halliburton's pockets, and in all likelihood, his own too.
Tied to the Military-Industrial Complex and to Israel
But while perusing the list of the Hasbro board of directors, we
discover another very interesting name : Marie-Helen Kravis, who had
served on the board of directors of Ford, Canadian Imperial Bank,
Vivendi Universal and Hollinger. This company is connected to the US
hard right and to the Israeli secret service, whose former director,
Shlomo Ben Gazit, also sat on the board of directors of Hasbro (3). She
controls various British and American newspapers who played a leading
role in the dossier drawn up for Iraq.
Marie-Helen Kravis also sat on the board of directors of Seagrams,
whose founder, Edgar Bronfman Sr., is the president of the influential
lobby 'The World Jewish Congress'. She also has a seat on the board of
directors of the Hudson Institute, a conservative US think thank. Bush
Senior named her as an advisor to the Department of Energy. She is
presented as an « expert » in international economics, public policy
and strategy on the web site of the Council on Foreign Relations, most
important organ that discusses and decides US foreign policy. (4)
Her husband, Henry Kravis, is in 351st place on the list of Forbes
richest people in the world. His fortune is estimated to be at least
$1.3 billion. His firm, KKR, owns or did own outright or in part
numerous important firms: Safeway, Union Texas Petroleum, Duracell,
American Re Insurance, Nabisco...
Finally, for those who would be surprised that a French court would
demonstrate such deference to a US company, we note that KKR is the
principal stockholder of the French electric-power company, Legrand.
Whose president is Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the head of Medef, i.e.,
the most important of all business leaders in France(5). The business
world is, indeed, quite small.
Among the other current members of the board of directors of Hasbro, we
can also find Jack Greenberg (ex-boss of McDonalds), Paula Stern
(former president of the US International Trade Commission), Sylvia
Hassenfeld (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and Alan
Batkin (Vice President of Kissinger Associates). Kissinger Associates
is a consulting firm that helps US multinationals make big profits with
"Doctor Henry's" seasoned advice. Dr. Henry was Pinochet's boss, and he
bossed around a few more of the bloodiest dictators on the planet.
Conclusion : Hasbro is by no means a game. Neither for the tens of
thousands of Third-World workers, exploited for the benefit of
stockholders and the richest of business leaders like Kravis and
Wolfowitz. Nor for its role on behalf of US and Israeli military
aggression. Hasbro is an element in the military-industrial complex
that installed the Bush regime in power and unleashed its global war.
(1) Figures from the International Council of Toy Industry. See also
Thérèse Jeunejean, Le grand jeu de la mondialisation, Le Ligueur
(Belgique), 12/11/2002. Gresea (Belgique), La face cachée du jouet,
juillet 2002.
(2) http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2003/poywolf.html
(3) See Geoffrey Geuens index, Tous pouvoirs confondus, EPO, 2003, whom
we thank for his valuable aid.
(4) Source :
(5) On the importance of the Council on Foreign relations, see Geuens,
idem, p. 84-92.
Paul Wolfowitz, the Brains behind Bush's 'Global War'
This article will be soon on www.michelcollon.info This web site is not
yet open, you will receive a mail.
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3895
en francais:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3879 ]
Do we still have the right to criticize Bush?
Wolfowitz (the Pentagon) Tries to Bankrupt Michel Collon's Publisher
VANESSA STOJILKOVIC
265,000 Euros! (300.000 $) This is the enormous sum of money Hasbro is
demanding from EPO, the publisher of Michel Collon's book, Monopoly -
NATO in Search of World Conquest. Hasbro has initiated legal action in
Paris for alleged « copyright infringement » of their board game,
Monopoly. But who is pulling the strings at Hasbro ? Paul Wolfowitz.
Yes, the number 2 man in the Pentagon, Undersecretary of Bush's war
program. There are various indications that the attack is politically
motivated...
US multinational Hasbro suited the publisher EPO before the Court of
Justice in Paris. Demanding 150.000 Euros for the damage made to its
marks, 100.000 Euros for 'parasitism' and 15.000 Euros for costs. Why
in Paris since the publisher is Belgian ? Because French courts are
more repressive concerning freedom of speech and right to parody. On
July 9th 2004, EPO was condemned to pay 20.000 Euros. He decided to go
in appeal.
Is this a simple lawsuit about commercial and legal questions ? Not at
all :
1° The « legal pretext » is scurrilous : Hasbro alleges that it is « a
victim of copyright infringement » because Michel Collon published his
masterly analysis of the US global strategy under the title of Monopoly
- NATO in Search of World Conquest.
The maneuver is legally awkward. Because prohibitions concerning the
use of commercial trademarks exist to prevent actions that can be
described as 'unfair competition'. However, a book of political
analysis obviously does not compete with the sales of a board game.
Michel Collon's book bothered US leadership circles by exposing its
strategy of global warfare and unmasking their pretexts. But who can
claim with a straight face that this book would subtract from global
sales of the Monopoly board game ? They have something else in mind.
2° If we look at the board of directors of Hasbro, we find Paul
Wolfowitz among them. Vice-minister of War, he is the 'thinker'
preparing sinc 1991 the US strategy of 'global war'. He was the man who
first pushed Bush to war.
He, of course, resigned this lucrative position after he was named in
this Bush administration. (Hasbro, along with Mattel, is one of the two
global giants that dominate the toy industry). But business and
politics in the USA are « communicating » with frequent exchanges. Dick
Cheney, also, resigned from his position at Halliburton, but he
continues to pull some strings.
In the board of directors of Hasbro, we also find Marie-Helen Kravis.
Her name is not well known, but she happens to be the wife of one of
the world's riches men. The couple is tied in to the
military-industrial complex and to Israel, as well, via the secret
services and the global Jewish lobby in Congress. (Look the articles
that follow here: « Who's Hiding Behind Hasbro ? » and « Wolfowitz, the
'Brains' behind the Global War ».
3° It is clear that their goal is to bankrupt the publisher. EPO,
active in France and in Belgium, distinguished itself over the past few
years by publishing numerous books devoted to exposing US imperialism.
The following titles are only a sample: « September 11» by Franssen; «
Palestine » by Lucas Catherine; and the works of Calvo Ospina on the
CIA - Bacardi - Cuban Mafia connection. Or Hassan & Pestieau on the
occupation or Iraq. (See www.epo.be)
The publisher of EPO is fighting courageously in order to maintain his
independence in the wake of mergers that have put large publishers in
the hands of industrial and financial interests. To demand such an
exorbitant sum from him is clearly meant to prevent him from continuing
his publishing activities.
4° The problem is Monopoly's politically charged contents. In this
book, published in 2000, Michel Collon delivered a masterful
presentation that showed the war against Yugoslavia was not at all
humanitarian in nature, but, instead, announced other wars to come,
most notably the war against Iraq and against Afghanistan, which has
since been confirmed. He revealed that Washington is fighting for the
control of petroleum routes (projects for oil pipelines that will
traverse the Balkans), which will permit it to eventually block
European energy supplies. The real crime of Collon is to have exposed
with evidence the global war US strategy.
5° Michel Collon unmasked Wolfowitz in his book "Liar's Poker". The
Belgian author nailed Wolfowitz with a little-noticed report that dated
from 1992. Since 1992, Wolfowitz has been demanding that the Pentagon
do everything possible to prevent the appearance of a European army. At
a time when it seemed that the USA and Europe were marching in step,
Collon has shown that this report was a barely concealed declaration of
war against the USA's European 'friends'. The analysis was confirmed by
subsequent events and the opposition between USA and EU. (See Collon's
Liar's Poker, p. 116.)
6° Michel Collon : a man to destroy ? For the last twelve years, the
Belgian author has been leading original political actions that have
contributed a great deal in unmasking US imperialism. Since the
celebrated Attention, médias ! appeared in 1992, his books, frequently
republished in new editions and translated into numerous languages,
combine a strategic analysis that is at once global and trenchant; his
original contribution of the « media test » concept established his
reputation as a man who « outed media-lies ». Co-director with Vanessa
Stojilkovic of the film, The Damned of Kosovo, which has been
translated into six languages, Collon has been invited to hundreds of
conferences and debates throughout Europe and around the world.
An analyst, but also militantly anti-war, Collon has led important
international missions that studied the consequences of US aggressions
: « 15 Belgians under the bombs of Nato » (Yugoslavia, 1999) and the
120 « Inspectors for Peace» (Irak, 2002). This accounts for
Washington's fury. (soon at www.michelcollon-info/bio)
7° But it is most of all because of his « war crimes » lawsuit, which
he filed in Bruxelles against US General Tommy Franks that unleashed
Washington's wrath. Michel Collon is one of the leaders of the movement
"Stop USA," which has helped the families of 17 Iraqi victims file a
complaint in Brussels in 2003 against General Franks, Commander in
Chief of the US Army, for war crimes. It is a solid case that is based
on numerous witness testimonies. The complaint stood an excellent
chance of putting him away for good. But threats from Washington forced
Brussels to suppress its own law of « universal competence ».
'Coincidence' : The Hasbro firm went on the offensive a few days after
the filing of this complaint, but ... three years after the publication
of Monopoly. Vengeance is clearly the motive.
All of these signs show that the Hasbro - Wolfowitz attack is
politically motivated. The attack also involves major representatives
of US imperialism, who provide a perfect example of the personal fusion
of economic and political interests. The loathsome wars of US
imperialism have broadened into a war against freedom of expression in
favour of monopolies, Bill Gates and CNN.
The Publisher EPO Must Be Saved !
EPO must be saved. There are fewer and fewer independent publishers in
the world today who have the means to publish testimonies, revelations,
and serious analyses on US militarism, on the conduct of the Great
Powers, and on important social questions.
At the very moment when the whole world is mobilizing against the war,
the Hasbro - Wolfowitz attack is part of an initiative made by the Bush
administration to silence all protest. But, just as Michael Moore did
not yield when they tried to stop the distribution of his film,
Fahrenheit 9/11, Michel Collon and the publisher of EPO have decided to
continue fighting. They refuse to be silenced, whatever pretexts may be
used against them.
How can you support them during this lawsuit ?
1. By broadcasting this information (which is also available in
Spanish, Italian and Dutch : soon at http://www.michelcollon.info
2. By sending a protest letter to Hasbro www.hasbro.com Or Hasbro, 1027
Newport Avenue Pawtucket, Rhode island, 02862, USA)
3. By making the titles that EPO publishes known, by inviting their
authors to debates, by helping EPO find new channels of distribution
Contact : jos.hennes@ epo.be
4. By buying, in solidarity, one or more copies of Monopoly for
yourself or for resale (sales have not yet been banned). Editions have
been published in French, English, Spanish, Serbo - Croat and Dutch.
Your support will enable us to cover important legal fees.
TO ORDER IN ENGLISH (Monopoly under a new title) :
Milo Yelesiyevich serbianclassics@ hotmail.com
TO ORDER IN FRENCH : nessa.kovic@ indymedia.be who will forward
TO ORDER IN SPANISH : Eva Forest : hiru@ clientes.euskaltel.es
FOR INFORMATION IN ITALIAN : andreamartocchia@ libero.it
TO ORDER IN DUTCH : Jos Hennes : jos.hennes@ epo.be
Who Is Hiding behind Hasbro,
a 'Respectable' Toy Manufacturer ?
MICHEL COLLON
It's about toys, but it is not about a nice and sweet little world. The
global toy market is today in the hands of two mastodons who have
succeeded in eliminating or buying out nearly all the other companies
engaged in toy manufacturing: Mattel controls Barbie, Fisher-Price and
Scrabble... And as far as Hasbro is concerned, this little family
business (the Hassenfeld Brothers) took off in the 1960s by launching a
militaristic action figure, G.I. Joe. Then, numerous take-overs allowed
them to become the owners of the trademarks for Monopoly, Trivial
Pursuit, Playskool, Pictionary, Cluedo, Atari, Teletubbies, knock-offs
of Pokemon and Star Wars, numerous computer games, candy manufacturers
and plenty of other firms.
It's classic: the profits earned by these two toy giants went through
the roof when they closed the maximum number of factories in the US and
in Europe after having relocated them to impoverished Third-World
countries. In 2002, Mattel shut down its Kentucky plant. Now it
exploits 39,000 workers in factories in Asia. Hasbro only employs
10,000 people directly, only because it chiefly resorts to slave
trafficking, which has well known advantages. (1)
When You Buy a Board Game or a Toy, You're Making Paul Wolfowitz, the
"Brains behind Bush, Rich
When you buy a toy or a board game for yourself or for your children,
in all likelihood you are making the stockholders of Mattel or Hasbro
rich. And it is necessary to know that the average budget for toys for
a child growing up in the EU is ?250/per annum.
You'll find fashionable society among the board members you are
involuntarily enriching. Or villains. That depends on your point of
view. First of all, Paul Wolfowitz is one of the greatest war mongers
in the United States. Rumsfeld's no. 2 man, Bush's Secretary of War,
which forms a perfect tandem with Cheney, according to Time : "If
Rumsfeld is the face, the mouth and the arm carrying the gun for the
war in Iraq, then Wolfowitz is the intellectual godfather, the heart
and soul." (2) (See the following article on Wolfowitz.)
« The heart and the soul of the war » remained on the Hasbro board of
directors right up until the eve of his nomination by George Bush. Will
he return to Hasbro once his public service is completed, like many
other US personalities, fervent practitioners of this lucrative sport
which is the business-politics yo-yo ? It's likely, but in any case his
ties and their mutual interests remain, whether they remain discrete or
not. Dick Cheney, US vice-president, theoretically has nothing at all
to do with Halliburton's petroleum operations, which he administered
before his current assignment. But the scandal of « inflated orders »
has shown that he has shamelessly used the occupation of Iraq to line
Halliburton's pockets, and in all likelihood, his own too.
Tied to the Military-Industrial Complex and to Israel
But while perusing the list of the Hasbro board of directors, we
discover another very interesting name : Marie-Helen Kravis, who had
served on the board of directors of Ford, Canadian Imperial Bank,
Vivendi Universal and Hollinger. This company is connected to the US
hard right and to the Israeli secret service, whose former director,
Shlomo Ben Gazit, also sat on the board of directors of Hasbro (3). She
controls various British and American newspapers who played a leading
role in the dossier drawn up for Iraq.
Marie-Helen Kravis also sat on the board of directors of Seagrams,
whose founder, Edgar Bronfman Sr., is the president of the influential
lobby 'The World Jewish Congress'. She also has a seat on the board of
directors of the Hudson Institute, a conservative US think thank. Bush
Senior named her as an advisor to the Department of Energy. She is
presented as an « expert » in international economics, public policy
and strategy on the web site of the Council on Foreign Relations, most
important organ that discusses and decides US foreign policy. (4)
Her husband, Henry Kravis, is in 351st place on the list of Forbes
richest people in the world. His fortune is estimated to be at least
$1.3 billion. His firm, KKR, owns or did own outright or in part
numerous important firms: Safeway, Union Texas Petroleum, Duracell,
American Re Insurance, Nabisco...
Finally, for those who would be surprised that a French court would
demonstrate such deference to a US company, we note that KKR is the
principal stockholder of the French electric-power company, Legrand.
Whose president is Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the head of Medef, i.e.,
the most important of all business leaders in France(5). The business
world is, indeed, quite small.
Among the other current members of the board of directors of Hasbro, we
can also find Jack Greenberg (ex-boss of McDonalds), Paula Stern
(former president of the US International Trade Commission), Sylvia
Hassenfeld (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and Alan
Batkin (Vice President of Kissinger Associates). Kissinger Associates
is a consulting firm that helps US multinationals make big profits with
"Doctor Henry's" seasoned advice. Dr. Henry was Pinochet's boss, and he
bossed around a few more of the bloodiest dictators on the planet.
Conclusion : Hasbro is by no means a game. Neither for the tens of
thousands of Third-World workers, exploited for the benefit of
stockholders and the richest of business leaders like Kravis and
Wolfowitz. Nor for its role on behalf of US and Israeli military
aggression. Hasbro is an element in the military-industrial complex
that installed the Bush regime in power and unleashed its global war.
(1) Figures from the International Council of Toy Industry. See also
Thérèse Jeunejean, Le grand jeu de la mondialisation, Le Ligueur
(Belgique), 12/11/2002. Gresea (Belgique), La face cachée du jouet,
juillet 2002.
(2) http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2003/poywolf.html
(3) See Geoffrey Geuens index, Tous pouvoirs confondus, EPO, 2003, whom
we thank for his valuable aid.
(4) Source :
(5) On the importance of the Council on Foreign relations, see Geuens,
idem, p. 84-92.
Paul Wolfowitz, the Brains behind Bush's 'Global War'
This article will be soon on www.michelcollon.info This web site is not
yet open, you will receive a mail.
THE FORBIDDEN SREBRENICA REPORT
1. Link to the September 2002 Republika Srpska report about the alleged
massacre in Srebrenica / LINK AL RAPPORTO 2002 DELLA REPUBBLICA SERBA
DI BOSNIA SUL PRESUNTO MASSACRO DI SREBRENICA (15 MB !):
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/srebrenica.pdf
2. Srebrenica Revisited. Reports, Confessions and the Elusive Truth
(June 24, 2004 -- by Nebojsa Malic / Antiwar.com)
VEDI ANCHE nel nostro archivio
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/ :
A proposito di Srebrenica
1. Srebrenica: Una propaganda disperata (P. Teobaldelli)
2. Qualcosa a proposito di Srebrenica (M. Andolina)
JUGOINFO 12 luglio 2004
BAJRO MAHMUTOVIC, MARTIRE DI SREBRENICA ?
JUGOINFO 6 gennaio 2004
Documentazione su Srebrenica
(www.resistenze.org - E. Vigna)
JUGOINFO 10 maggio 2004
Srebrenica (english / deutsch)
1. ISSA: Srebrenica Casualty Numbers Challenged by Experts as
Politicized and Ethnically Divisive
2. W. Langthaler: Clinton in Srebrenica
JUGOINFO 7 ottobre 2003
Return to the Crime Scene. Kosovo and Bosnia Revisited
(by Nebojsa Malic)
JUGOINFO 2 ottobre 2003
Retter, Propheten, Sehide. Bill Clinton wurde in Srebrenica begeistert
empfangen. (Juergen Elsaesser / junge Welt)
JUGOINFO 24 settembre 2003
“Evidence” in the “Milosevic case“: What’ s behind Carla’s promises?
(By Cathrin Schütz)
JUGOINFO 29 agosto 2003
Srebrenica und Karthago. Sommer 1995. Deutschlands meldet sich als
kriegsführende Macht auf der Bühne der Weltpolitik zurück (Juergen
Elsaesser / junge Welt)
JUGOINFO 28 agosto 2003
Srebrenica, lettere di protesta ai giornali (english / italiano)
JUGOINFO 8 agosto 2003
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg-sreb101604.htm
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC.ORG, Saturday, October 16, 2004
THE FORBIDDEN SREBRENICA REPORT
In September of 2002 the Republika Srpska Bureau for Cooperation with
the ICTY issued a report about the alleged massacre in Srebrenica. The
report relied on UN documents, International Red Cross documents, BH
Army documents, and photographic documentation. The report, which had
been destined to be part of a larger final report, exposed the official
Srebrenica story as a fraud.
Needless to say, the Muslims and the so-called "international
community" were furious that the Srebrenica story had been debunked.
The Serbs weren't supposed to expose the story as a fraud, they were
supposed to confess so that nobody would have to try and prove the
Srebrenica story with evidence. The Serbian confession was supposed to
be the proof, and by debunking the story those dastardly Serbs
messed-up everything.
Paddy Ashdown, who is for all intents and purposes Bosnia's dictator,
was furious at the Serbian disobedience. He condemned the report
without even reading it. He sacked the leadership of the commission
that wrote the report, and he demanded that another report be written.
According to a report issued by the International Strategic Studies
Association, Ashdown and his cronies at the OHR demanded that a
fabricated report be issued in which Serbs blindly accepted the all
blame for everything that the Muslims accused them of at Srebrenica.
After hand picking a new commission, and firing everybody who would
dare to question the Muslim version of the Srebrenica story; Ashdown,
not surprisingly, recently got the report that he wanted.
But for Ashdown one problem exists. The original report of September
2002 still exists, and it still proves that the Srebrenica story is a
fraud, and no amount of phony extorted "confessions" can change that.
Ashdown has been lucky so-far, because only 500 copies of the original
report were ever printed. This makes it a very hard document to find,
and keeps it largely inaccessible to the general public.
But Mr. Ashdown's luck has ran out. We have managed to obtain a copy of
the forbidden 139-page report. We have scanned it, and now we are
making it available for you to download and distribute all over the
internet!
SREBRENICA REPORT, September 2002 (15 Mb) PDF File
To Download to your computer right click on link and select "save
target as"
URL of the Srebrenica report is:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/srebrenica.pdf
=== 2 ===
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=2865
ANTIWAR, Thursday, June 24, 2004
Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
Antiwar.com
Srebrenica Revisited
Reports, Confessions and the Elusive Truth
Following the publication of a 42-page report by the Srebrenica
Commission of the Bosnian Serb government, media around the world
carried a variation of this headline on Friday, June 11: "Bosnian Serbs
Admit Srebrenica Massacre!" Many saw this as the final and
incontrovertible proof that what happened in Srebrenica in July 1995
was a planned, systematic genocide of Bosnian Muslims – just as
Sarajevo, the Western press and the Hague Inquisition have asserted all
along.
As with so many things concerning the Balkans, the media was wrong yet
again. The "June 11 Report" was a sham, a coerced confession with a
Stalinist flavor. It was a result of viceroy Ashdown's personal
fixation, and in great part simply repeated the unproven assertions of
the Hague Inquisition. The only tangible good it produced was the
existence of several previously unknown graves with bodies of the
Srebrenica dead. It did not, however, cast a new light on the events of
July 1995 – only on those today who continue to wave them about like a
bloody shirt.
There They Go Again
Here are the opening lines of a BBC news story on June 11, typical of
the general tone of reporting about the Commission's "findings":
"An official Bosnian Serb investigation into the Srebrenica events of
July 1995 has found that several thousand Muslims were murdered by
local Serb forces.
"It is the first time the Bosnian Serb authorities have admitted the
killings which The Hague war crimes tribunal has declared an act of
genocide."
Framed this way, it sounds straightforward: many Muslims were killed;
this was ruled to be genocide; Serbs confessed; end of story – which is
doubtless the way viceroy Ashdown had in mind when he established the
Commission and ordered it to produce a conclusion he would accept, "or
else." What any of that has to do with truth is an entirely different
matter.
The full text of the report is not widely available yet. Though
substantial excerpts were published by regional media, the Western
press remained content to offer its own interpretation, mostly along
the lines of the above-mentioned BBC story. One notable exception is
Nicholas Wood of the New York Times, who provides the most meaningful
quote from the report:
"[S]everal thousand [Bosnian Muslims] were liquidated in a manner which
represents a heavy violation of international human rights."
This is clearly an admission that Serb forces executed POWs, something
the Serbs never really contested. It is not an admission of genocide,
or even a confirmation of the infamous number of "8,000." Those who
have trumpeted both over the past ten years obviously didn't consider
in their interest to note the distinction – but it was there,
nonetheless.
Ashdown's Private War
Crucial for understanding the June 11 report is the role Bosnia's
viceroy Paddy Ashdown played in its creation. Namely, the Commission
was established by Ashdown in October 2003, after the Serb Republic was
forced to fund the building of a Muslim "genocide memorial" in
Potocari. The memorial was opened by Bill Clinton last September,
prompting a rehash of all the propaganda about Srebrenica. A month
later, Ashdown gave the eulogy at the funeral of Muslim leader Alija
Izetbegovic, making no secret of his sympathies in Bosnia.
In April this year, Ashdown vented his anger at the Commission's
apparent inability to follow simple orders and sacked the Bosnian
Serbs' top general as well as one of the key Commission members, Dejan
Miletic. However, Ashdown's vendetta ruffled the wrong feathers.
According to a Washington-based intelligence newsletter, Defense and
Foreign Affairs, SFOR officials intervened, claiming that the sackingof
Miletic"dealt a major blow to counter-terrorism intelligence in
Bosnia-Herzegovina at a critical time." As a result, Miletic's
dismissal was reversed, and he was in fact promoted – the first time
anything like that happened to anyone proscribed by the viceroy.
Commenting on the affair to DFA, one SFOR official said:
"[Ashdown's] only concern is to protect his own reputation and his old
Muslim friends who have turned out to be radical Islamists and not the
democratic moderates he thought them to be."
Ashdown ended up getting his "Srebrenica confession," but he already
had a new demand in store: arrest Radovan Karadzic! And while the
bumbling Serb officials try to appease him but complain that Karadzic
is awfully hard to find (after all, NATO occupation troops have failed
to seize him for over eight years), Ashdown is already scheming to use
this impossible demand as an excuse to further centralize Bosnia. News
from Sarajevo is that Izetbegovic's heir Sulejman Tihic is demanding
the abolition of the Serb Republic altogether.
Echoes of Inquisition
Because of Ashdown, it was virtually impossible for the Commission to
produce an objective report. They went a step further, though, and
simply copied crucial sections from the Hague Inquisition. Here is a
quote from the report, printed in the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti
on June 12:
"Because of time limitations, and to rationalize the proceedings, the
Commission copied the historical context and statement of facts
contained in the verdict 'Prosecution vs. Radislav Krstic,' in which
the accused was convicted by the Appeals chamber of the Hague Tribunal
of aiding and abetting genocide committed in Srebrenica."
There is a major problem with the "facts" from the April 28, 2004
Krstic judgment, hailed as "historic" by the pro-Tribunal press. Even a
cursory analysis reveals that Krstic was never given a fair trial, and
that the judgment was based on assumptions that were (among other
things) self-contradictory. Furthermore, the verdict "established"
genocide in Srebrenica through subterfuge: not only was the concept of
genocide defined so loosely it could encompass just about any number of
people, but:
"[N]o evidence was presented to substantiate the prosecutor's claims
that between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslim men were ever executed in the first
place. The failure of Krstic's defense team to adequately contest that
assertion doesn't by any means prove that it's true."
It would be interesting to compare the Krstic verdict with the text of
the June 11 report, and see how much of it was actually original…
Unfinished Work
In late 2002, eminent Balkans scholar Alex Dragnich wrote a roundup of
various reports on Srebrenica in the South Slav Journal, warning that
"before we can have a final verdict on Srebrenica, a great deal of
arduous work remains to be done." Dragnich argues that a "steady beat"
of propaganda has drowned out actual research on the subject.
There are certainly many unknowns about Srebrenica that are still to be
addressed. The Dutch have done some in-depth work concerning the
presence of their peacekeepers; their 2002 report treats the allegation
that Serbs massacred Muslims as established fact, but it is otherwise
solid. One of the major issues they raise is the incongruity of having
a "safe area" that has never been demilitarized, and is indeed home to
an entire division of the Bosnian Muslim army.
How is it that nearly all commanders of the 28th Division were
evacuated by the Sarajevo government prior to July 1995? Who decided to
conduct a fighting retreat to Tuzla, instead of surrendering and hoping
for an exchange? Why was the Second Corps of the Bosnian [Muslim] Army
sitting idle, when it could have at least launched a spoiling attack?
Did Izetbegovic purposefully let Srebrenica fall and its people suffer,
to score propaganda points? These are the questions asked by several
Bosnian weeklies and a few politicians, as well as war veterans.
There are other questions no one is asking. What of the Srebrenica
Serbs, ethnically cleansed in 1992? What of the great Muslim offensive
that collapsed in April 1993? What about Naser Oric's videotaped
atrocities? One report that tried to put Srebrenica in the wider
context of the war, published in September 2002 by a Bosnian Serb
commission, was harshly denounced by both Muslims and Ashdown. There
has yet to be another.
So, What Happened?
It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that a number of
Bosnian Muslims died in July 1995, between Srebrenica and Tuzla. But
while most media conjure images of unarmed civilians lined up and shot
or slaughtered, most of the dead belonged to the 28th Division of the
BH Army, and were therefore not civilians. While there are civilians
among the bodies exhumed and identified so far, they were among those
who chose to join the 28th in its ill-fated fighting retreat. According
to most sources, anywhere between four and six thousand people made it
to Tuzla; others fell prey to firefights, artillery, landmines,
exhaustion and starvation (it's a 50-mile hike over bad terrain) – and
yes, some were captured and executed by the Bosnian Serbs,
Malmedy-style. The real question is, how many? Forensic experts
examining the exhumed bodies should be able to determine the cause of
death easily – yet their voice has been conspicuously absent.
Bosnian Serbs never denied that their forces killed many Srebrenica
Muslims; indeed, they've admitted killing several thousand in combat.
What they have always contested – and still do, even in the June 11
report (though not explicitly) – was the allegation that they massacred
some 8,000-plus unarmed civilians, and with genocidal intent at that.
So far, the accusation of genocide relies on assertions and conjectures
of the Sarajevo government and the ICTY prosecution. Such a serious
charge demands strong and overwhelming evidence, and there simply isn't
any. If there were, would Ashdown have tried to extort a confession?
Though issues of the victims' identity (POW or civilian) and the manner
of death are entirely legitimate, quibbling about whether 14-year-olds
were combatants is simply in bad taste. Fact is, thousands of families
suffered a grievous loss, and that tragedy is being cruelly manipulated
to achieve political ends. Truth may be the first casualty of war, but
these people are very real victims, too. Not that the list stops there.
Muslims, believing themselves the virtuous victims of "aggression" and
"genocide," find themselves blinded to Izetbegovic's hateful ideology
of domination that tore Bosnia apart. Serbs, targeted by propaganda of
unprecedented proportions accusing them of Nazi-like evil, refuse to
acknowledge any of the atrocities they may have actually committed,
rightly afraid it would be considered an admission of the fabrications
as well. The population of the Empire, deluded by lies of their
governments and media to believe in "humanitarian" and other
interventions, increasingly lose their lives, liberty and property as
Bosnia has led to Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and God knows where else.
All victims: of war and politics.
The only truth about Srebrenica that no one can contest is that war is
a crime against humanity. Trying to present such state-organized murder
as a fight against "evil" by putting enemies on trial for "war crimes"
is simply an attempt to mask that fact.
1. Link to the September 2002 Republika Srpska report about the alleged
massacre in Srebrenica / LINK AL RAPPORTO 2002 DELLA REPUBBLICA SERBA
DI BOSNIA SUL PRESUNTO MASSACRO DI SREBRENICA (15 MB !):
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/srebrenica.pdf
2. Srebrenica Revisited. Reports, Confessions and the Elusive Truth
(June 24, 2004 -- by Nebojsa Malic / Antiwar.com)
VEDI ANCHE nel nostro archivio
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/ :
A proposito di Srebrenica
1. Srebrenica: Una propaganda disperata (P. Teobaldelli)
2. Qualcosa a proposito di Srebrenica (M. Andolina)
JUGOINFO 12 luglio 2004
BAJRO MAHMUTOVIC, MARTIRE DI SREBRENICA ?
JUGOINFO 6 gennaio 2004
Documentazione su Srebrenica
(www.resistenze.org - E. Vigna)
JUGOINFO 10 maggio 2004
Srebrenica (english / deutsch)
1. ISSA: Srebrenica Casualty Numbers Challenged by Experts as
Politicized and Ethnically Divisive
2. W. Langthaler: Clinton in Srebrenica
JUGOINFO 7 ottobre 2003
Return to the Crime Scene. Kosovo and Bosnia Revisited
(by Nebojsa Malic)
JUGOINFO 2 ottobre 2003
Retter, Propheten, Sehide. Bill Clinton wurde in Srebrenica begeistert
empfangen. (Juergen Elsaesser / junge Welt)
JUGOINFO 24 settembre 2003
“Evidence” in the “Milosevic case“: What’ s behind Carla’s promises?
(By Cathrin Schütz)
JUGOINFO 29 agosto 2003
Srebrenica und Karthago. Sommer 1995. Deutschlands meldet sich als
kriegsführende Macht auf der Bühne der Weltpolitik zurück (Juergen
Elsaesser / junge Welt)
JUGOINFO 28 agosto 2003
Srebrenica, lettere di protesta ai giornali (english / italiano)
JUGOINFO 8 agosto 2003
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg-sreb101604.htm
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC.ORG, Saturday, October 16, 2004
THE FORBIDDEN SREBRENICA REPORT
In September of 2002 the Republika Srpska Bureau for Cooperation with
the ICTY issued a report about the alleged massacre in Srebrenica. The
report relied on UN documents, International Red Cross documents, BH
Army documents, and photographic documentation. The report, which had
been destined to be part of a larger final report, exposed the official
Srebrenica story as a fraud.
Needless to say, the Muslims and the so-called "international
community" were furious that the Srebrenica story had been debunked.
The Serbs weren't supposed to expose the story as a fraud, they were
supposed to confess so that nobody would have to try and prove the
Srebrenica story with evidence. The Serbian confession was supposed to
be the proof, and by debunking the story those dastardly Serbs
messed-up everything.
Paddy Ashdown, who is for all intents and purposes Bosnia's dictator,
was furious at the Serbian disobedience. He condemned the report
without even reading it. He sacked the leadership of the commission
that wrote the report, and he demanded that another report be written.
According to a report issued by the International Strategic Studies
Association, Ashdown and his cronies at the OHR demanded that a
fabricated report be issued in which Serbs blindly accepted the all
blame for everything that the Muslims accused them of at Srebrenica.
After hand picking a new commission, and firing everybody who would
dare to question the Muslim version of the Srebrenica story; Ashdown,
not surprisingly, recently got the report that he wanted.
But for Ashdown one problem exists. The original report of September
2002 still exists, and it still proves that the Srebrenica story is a
fraud, and no amount of phony extorted "confessions" can change that.
Ashdown has been lucky so-far, because only 500 copies of the original
report were ever printed. This makes it a very hard document to find,
and keeps it largely inaccessible to the general public.
But Mr. Ashdown's luck has ran out. We have managed to obtain a copy of
the forbidden 139-page report. We have scanned it, and now we are
making it available for you to download and distribute all over the
internet!
SREBRENICA REPORT, September 2002 (15 Mb) PDF File
To Download to your computer right click on link and select "save
target as"
URL of the Srebrenica report is:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/srebrenica.pdf
=== 2 ===
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=2865
ANTIWAR, Thursday, June 24, 2004
Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
Antiwar.com
Srebrenica Revisited
Reports, Confessions and the Elusive Truth
Following the publication of a 42-page report by the Srebrenica
Commission of the Bosnian Serb government, media around the world
carried a variation of this headline on Friday, June 11: "Bosnian Serbs
Admit Srebrenica Massacre!" Many saw this as the final and
incontrovertible proof that what happened in Srebrenica in July 1995
was a planned, systematic genocide of Bosnian Muslims – just as
Sarajevo, the Western press and the Hague Inquisition have asserted all
along.
As with so many things concerning the Balkans, the media was wrong yet
again. The "June 11 Report" was a sham, a coerced confession with a
Stalinist flavor. It was a result of viceroy Ashdown's personal
fixation, and in great part simply repeated the unproven assertions of
the Hague Inquisition. The only tangible good it produced was the
existence of several previously unknown graves with bodies of the
Srebrenica dead. It did not, however, cast a new light on the events of
July 1995 – only on those today who continue to wave them about like a
bloody shirt.
There They Go Again
Here are the opening lines of a BBC news story on June 11, typical of
the general tone of reporting about the Commission's "findings":
"An official Bosnian Serb investigation into the Srebrenica events of
July 1995 has found that several thousand Muslims were murdered by
local Serb forces.
"It is the first time the Bosnian Serb authorities have admitted the
killings which The Hague war crimes tribunal has declared an act of
genocide."
Framed this way, it sounds straightforward: many Muslims were killed;
this was ruled to be genocide; Serbs confessed; end of story – which is
doubtless the way viceroy Ashdown had in mind when he established the
Commission and ordered it to produce a conclusion he would accept, "or
else." What any of that has to do with truth is an entirely different
matter.
The full text of the report is not widely available yet. Though
substantial excerpts were published by regional media, the Western
press remained content to offer its own interpretation, mostly along
the lines of the above-mentioned BBC story. One notable exception is
Nicholas Wood of the New York Times, who provides the most meaningful
quote from the report:
"[S]everal thousand [Bosnian Muslims] were liquidated in a manner which
represents a heavy violation of international human rights."
This is clearly an admission that Serb forces executed POWs, something
the Serbs never really contested. It is not an admission of genocide,
or even a confirmation of the infamous number of "8,000." Those who
have trumpeted both over the past ten years obviously didn't consider
in their interest to note the distinction – but it was there,
nonetheless.
Ashdown's Private War
Crucial for understanding the June 11 report is the role Bosnia's
viceroy Paddy Ashdown played in its creation. Namely, the Commission
was established by Ashdown in October 2003, after the Serb Republic was
forced to fund the building of a Muslim "genocide memorial" in
Potocari. The memorial was opened by Bill Clinton last September,
prompting a rehash of all the propaganda about Srebrenica. A month
later, Ashdown gave the eulogy at the funeral of Muslim leader Alija
Izetbegovic, making no secret of his sympathies in Bosnia.
In April this year, Ashdown vented his anger at the Commission's
apparent inability to follow simple orders and sacked the Bosnian
Serbs' top general as well as one of the key Commission members, Dejan
Miletic. However, Ashdown's vendetta ruffled the wrong feathers.
According to a Washington-based intelligence newsletter, Defense and
Foreign Affairs, SFOR officials intervened, claiming that the sackingof
Miletic"dealt a major blow to counter-terrorism intelligence in
Bosnia-Herzegovina at a critical time." As a result, Miletic's
dismissal was reversed, and he was in fact promoted – the first time
anything like that happened to anyone proscribed by the viceroy.
Commenting on the affair to DFA, one SFOR official said:
"[Ashdown's] only concern is to protect his own reputation and his old
Muslim friends who have turned out to be radical Islamists and not the
democratic moderates he thought them to be."
Ashdown ended up getting his "Srebrenica confession," but he already
had a new demand in store: arrest Radovan Karadzic! And while the
bumbling Serb officials try to appease him but complain that Karadzic
is awfully hard to find (after all, NATO occupation troops have failed
to seize him for over eight years), Ashdown is already scheming to use
this impossible demand as an excuse to further centralize Bosnia. News
from Sarajevo is that Izetbegovic's heir Sulejman Tihic is demanding
the abolition of the Serb Republic altogether.
Echoes of Inquisition
Because of Ashdown, it was virtually impossible for the Commission to
produce an objective report. They went a step further, though, and
simply copied crucial sections from the Hague Inquisition. Here is a
quote from the report, printed in the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti
on June 12:
"Because of time limitations, and to rationalize the proceedings, the
Commission copied the historical context and statement of facts
contained in the verdict 'Prosecution vs. Radislav Krstic,' in which
the accused was convicted by the Appeals chamber of the Hague Tribunal
of aiding and abetting genocide committed in Srebrenica."
There is a major problem with the "facts" from the April 28, 2004
Krstic judgment, hailed as "historic" by the pro-Tribunal press. Even a
cursory analysis reveals that Krstic was never given a fair trial, and
that the judgment was based on assumptions that were (among other
things) self-contradictory. Furthermore, the verdict "established"
genocide in Srebrenica through subterfuge: not only was the concept of
genocide defined so loosely it could encompass just about any number of
people, but:
"[N]o evidence was presented to substantiate the prosecutor's claims
that between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslim men were ever executed in the first
place. The failure of Krstic's defense team to adequately contest that
assertion doesn't by any means prove that it's true."
It would be interesting to compare the Krstic verdict with the text of
the June 11 report, and see how much of it was actually original…
Unfinished Work
In late 2002, eminent Balkans scholar Alex Dragnich wrote a roundup of
various reports on Srebrenica in the South Slav Journal, warning that
"before we can have a final verdict on Srebrenica, a great deal of
arduous work remains to be done." Dragnich argues that a "steady beat"
of propaganda has drowned out actual research on the subject.
There are certainly many unknowns about Srebrenica that are still to be
addressed. The Dutch have done some in-depth work concerning the
presence of their peacekeepers; their 2002 report treats the allegation
that Serbs massacred Muslims as established fact, but it is otherwise
solid. One of the major issues they raise is the incongruity of having
a "safe area" that has never been demilitarized, and is indeed home to
an entire division of the Bosnian Muslim army.
How is it that nearly all commanders of the 28th Division were
evacuated by the Sarajevo government prior to July 1995? Who decided to
conduct a fighting retreat to Tuzla, instead of surrendering and hoping
for an exchange? Why was the Second Corps of the Bosnian [Muslim] Army
sitting idle, when it could have at least launched a spoiling attack?
Did Izetbegovic purposefully let Srebrenica fall and its people suffer,
to score propaganda points? These are the questions asked by several
Bosnian weeklies and a few politicians, as well as war veterans.
There are other questions no one is asking. What of the Srebrenica
Serbs, ethnically cleansed in 1992? What of the great Muslim offensive
that collapsed in April 1993? What about Naser Oric's videotaped
atrocities? One report that tried to put Srebrenica in the wider
context of the war, published in September 2002 by a Bosnian Serb
commission, was harshly denounced by both Muslims and Ashdown. There
has yet to be another.
So, What Happened?
It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that a number of
Bosnian Muslims died in July 1995, between Srebrenica and Tuzla. But
while most media conjure images of unarmed civilians lined up and shot
or slaughtered, most of the dead belonged to the 28th Division of the
BH Army, and were therefore not civilians. While there are civilians
among the bodies exhumed and identified so far, they were among those
who chose to join the 28th in its ill-fated fighting retreat. According
to most sources, anywhere between four and six thousand people made it
to Tuzla; others fell prey to firefights, artillery, landmines,
exhaustion and starvation (it's a 50-mile hike over bad terrain) – and
yes, some were captured and executed by the Bosnian Serbs,
Malmedy-style. The real question is, how many? Forensic experts
examining the exhumed bodies should be able to determine the cause of
death easily – yet their voice has been conspicuously absent.
Bosnian Serbs never denied that their forces killed many Srebrenica
Muslims; indeed, they've admitted killing several thousand in combat.
What they have always contested – and still do, even in the June 11
report (though not explicitly) – was the allegation that they massacred
some 8,000-plus unarmed civilians, and with genocidal intent at that.
So far, the accusation of genocide relies on assertions and conjectures
of the Sarajevo government and the ICTY prosecution. Such a serious
charge demands strong and overwhelming evidence, and there simply isn't
any. If there were, would Ashdown have tried to extort a confession?
Though issues of the victims' identity (POW or civilian) and the manner
of death are entirely legitimate, quibbling about whether 14-year-olds
were combatants is simply in bad taste. Fact is, thousands of families
suffered a grievous loss, and that tragedy is being cruelly manipulated
to achieve political ends. Truth may be the first casualty of war, but
these people are very real victims, too. Not that the list stops there.
Muslims, believing themselves the virtuous victims of "aggression" and
"genocide," find themselves blinded to Izetbegovic's hateful ideology
of domination that tore Bosnia apart. Serbs, targeted by propaganda of
unprecedented proportions accusing them of Nazi-like evil, refuse to
acknowledge any of the atrocities they may have actually committed,
rightly afraid it would be considered an admission of the fabrications
as well. The population of the Empire, deluded by lies of their
governments and media to believe in "humanitarian" and other
interventions, increasingly lose their lives, liberty and property as
Bosnia has led to Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and God knows where else.
All victims: of war and politics.
The only truth about Srebrenica that no one can contest is that war is
a crime against humanity. Trying to present such state-organized murder
as a fight against "evil" by putting enemies on trial for "war crimes"
is simply an attempt to mask that fact.
Il Kosmet dai pogrom alle nuove elezioni-farsa (1)
(collezione di documenti e segnalazioni in lingua italiana)
1. Holbrooke e Thaci pianificarono il terrore (Blic 25/3/2004) /
KOSOVO: USA, PER HOLBROOKE VIOLENZA PREVEDIBILE (ANSA - 24/3/2004)
2. Le testimonianze oculari degli operatori di ICS ed AssoPace
3. Rugova reclama l'indipendenza (Il Manifesto, 10/9/2004)
4. Segnalazioni e link a vari articoli, spec. di Osservatorio Balcani
=== 1 ===
http://www.blic.co.yu/ -- 25.03.2004
("Tajna vecera u Vašingtonu":
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3353 )
Holbrooke e Thaci pianificarono il terrore (Blic)
Meno di una settimana prima degli scontri in Kosovo e Metohija, un
gruppo di lobbisti Albanesi in USA ebbero un meeting in cui decisero di
aiutare i Kosovo-Albanesi a forzare la comunità internazionale a
fornire l'indipendenza al Kosovo.
Blic ricevette tale informazione da fonti ben-informate negli USA. Come
Blic scoprì in seguito, tale informale meeting si ebbe su iniziativa di
David Philips, direttore del Center for preventive action
dell'International
Relations Council a New York.
Il meeting si ebbe in una casa dopo una cena leggera. A parte Philips,
noto al nostro pubblico per aver offerto alle autorità Serbe di
comprare il Kosovo per tre miliardi di euro, Richard Holbrooke,
ex-inviato USA nei Balcani era presente. Vi erano anche Randy Bears,
vecchio consigliere politico del Senatore John Kerry, l'attuale
candidato presidenziale USA, e molte persone dell'ex amministrazione di
Clinton, vicini alla lobby Albanese.
Ospite d'onore della cena era Hashim Thaci, ex leader del KLA, in
visita negli USA all'epoca. Secondo nostre fonti ufficiose Richard
Holbrooke affermò, nel meeting, che l'indipendenza del Kosovo e i suoi
membri nell'UE era il miglior modo per stabilire la pace nei Balcani.
L'ospite discusse le possibilità per una campagna mediatica e accettò
certe linee guida per azioni future.
Fonti di Blic dicono che gli ospiti erano d'accordo che la prima buona
opportunità dovrebbe essere attesa all'inizio dell'attacco. Con una
opportunità che si ebbe per molti giorni dopo che gli Albanesi usarono
la tragica scomparsa di loro tre bambini come una scusa per iniziare la
campagna di terrore contro i Serbi.
Thaci informò la pubblica opinione che "interruppe la sua visita negli
USA per ritornare e calmare la situazione."
Mentre Holbrooke e Thaci erano ben noti alla nostra pubblica opinione,
Philips e Bears sono persone ignote, che vengono dall'ombra. Un fatto
su Bears è che è di origini Albanesi. Si crede che in caso che John
Kerry vinca le elezioni presidenziali, Bear prenderebbe la carica di
Segretario di Stato USA. Riguardo Philips, il sito Internet ufficiale
dell'influente ONG USA Council for international Relations, è descritto
come direttore del Center for preventive
action del CFR.
Il centro studia i conflitti e i modi per prevenirli. Il suo articolo
sui Balcani, in cui ha presentato soprattutto istanze anti-Serbe, venne
pubblicato su importanti quotidiani, inclusi The New York Times, The
Christian Science Monitor, e The International Herald Tribune.
Le fonti di Blic, vicine all'amministrazione USA, affermano in
condizione di anonimato che Philips aveva avuto a che fare con i
Balcani per molto tempo e che era regolarmente presente in tutti i
meeting relativi alle questioni balcaniche.
Nel periodo precedente la crisi, Philips era assai vicino al regime
dell'ex presidente Slobodan Milosevic così come a molti leader
dell'opposizione. Presiedette il team di esperti e ufficiali USA che
lavorò sulla cosiddetta questione Albanese negli anni '90.
Nel Dicembre 1995, David Philips e altri sei statunitensi giunsero a
Belgrado e si incontrarono con il presidente Serbo Milosevic. Ottenne,
in quell'occasione, il permesso da Milosevic di aprire l'American
information office di Pristina. Da Belgrado Philips andò a Pristina e
incontrò dei politici Albanesi. Quindi andò a
Skopje e, infine, a Washington dove incontrò Richard Holbrooke e
l'informò sulle impressioni del viaggio in Serbia.
Poco dopo, tali impressioni vennero pubblicate in un rapporto chiamato
Towards Permanent Peace in Southeast Europe. In questo rapporto era
richiesto che le sanzioni contro Belgrado dovessero rimanere e che si
doveva lavorare per rafforzare l'American office di Pristina. Solo otto
mesi dopo, nell'agosto 1996, Philips andò nuovamente a Belgrado,
assieme ai suoi soci e incontrò Milosevic. All'epoca cercava di far
aprire delle scuole in Kosovo e iniziò dei negoziati per un meeting
Milosevic-Rugova. I seguito, Philips si occupò dell'opposizione Serba
che attivamente partecipava nei meeting in cui i più importanti
politici Serbi partecipavano.
Uno dei più importanti meetings, senza dubbio, si ebbe nell'Aprile 1997
a New York quando una tavola rotonda sulle relazioni Serbe-Albanesi si
ebbe presso una organizzazione per le relazioni etniche, PER. Gli
Albanesi erano guidati da Fehmi Agani, Mahmut Bakali, Adem Demaci,
Hidajet Hiseni e Veton Suroi.
David Philips guidava gli statunitensi. Cyrus Vance, Rudolph Perina e
alcuni altri esperti dei Balcani erano presenti. I Serbi erano
rappresentati da Vuk Draskovic, Miroljub Labus, Dragoljub Micunovic,
Vesna Pesic e Dusan Janjic.
Si concordò che un trattato sul Kosovo tra Albanesi e Serbi sarebbe
stato raggiunto attraverso i negoziati. Si concordò anche che i
principi di Helsinki sull'inviolabilità dei confini dovevano essere
rispettati. La vendita del Kosovo, per quello che ne sappiamo, non
venne discussa.
traduzione di Alessandro Lattanzio
e-mail:alexlattanzio@ yahoo.it
URL: www.aurora03.da.ru
---
KOSOVO: USA, PER HOLBROOKE VIOLENZA PREVEDIBILE
(ANSA) - WASHINGTON, 24 MAR - L'esplosione di violenza nel Kosovo era
prevedibile perche' la comunita' internazionale non ha mai risolto la
questione dello status definitivo della provincia serba, secondo l'ex
ambasciatore americano all'Onu Richard Holbrooke. Secondo
Holbrooke, architetto degli accordi di Dayton del 1995, l'Unione
europea, le Nazioni Unite e gli Stati Uniti dovranno affrontare il
problema della definizione giuridica del Kosovo ''ma solo se la
violenza si diminuira' in entrambi le parti''. In un'intervista
telefonica con l'agenzia di stampa Reuters, Holbrooke ha detto di aver
messo in guardia Harry Holkeri, il governatore Onu per il Kosovo,
circa l'inevitabilita' della recrudescenza delle violenze se si
continuava a rinviare una soluzione definitiva della provincia durante
una visita a Pristina nell'ottobre scorso. ''Purtroppo Holkeri non
ha preso provvedimenti per accelerare i colloqui sullo status perche'
non si e' reso conto che il tempo non stava dalla sua parte'', ha
detto Holbrooke. Secondo l'ambasciatore all'Onu
dell'Amministrazione dell'ex presidente Bill Clinton, gli Stati Uniti
''abbandonarono la questione del Kosovo quando George W. Bush divenne
presidente, relegandola in un livello basso della burocrazia''.
(ANSA). FS 24/03/2004 00:12
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
=== 2 ===
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date forwarded: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:31:20 +0100
Date sent: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:45:15 +0100
To: news@ peacelink.it
From: "Catherine Dickehage" (by way of Carlo Gubitosa)
Subject: ICS: ULTIMORA KOSOVO
Forwarded by: news@ peacelink.it
ULTIMORA DAL KOSOVO
“Tramite telefono siamo riusciti a contattare colleghi e amici
sparsi per il Kosovo durante la serata di ieri. E la situazione non e’
per niente bella”. Così ci racconta Marco Bruccoleri, responsabile ICS
in Kosovo. “Qui a Pristina ci sono stati colpi di armi da fuoco fino a
notte tarda, hanno assaltato la sede generale delle nazioni unite che
e’ stata evacuata ma questa mattina la situazione appare calma anche
se la citta’ e’ blindata”. A Mitrovica tutti gli internazionali sono
stati evacuati dentro la Jugobanka a sud della citta’ “protetti” dalle
forze di polizia internazionale e della KFOR. “A Prizren, purtroppo, la
folla scatenata ha dato alle fiamme “Il Bogoslovia” - il
piu’grande seminiario ortodosso del Kosovo – già Rifugio Collettivo
Temporaneo (TCS) riabilitato e gestito da ICS dopo la guerra del 1999”
prosegue Bruccoleri. Inoltre, sono state date alle fiamme la parte alta
della citta’ vecchia dove c’erano le case serbe, tutte le chiese
ortodosse della citta’, sfasciate le vetrate del palazzo delle NU e
bruciato parecchie vetture sempre delle NU. A Caglavica dove era stato
ferito il ragazzo serbo lunedi’ notte ci sono stati scontri violenti
fino a notte tarda e i serbi sono stati evacuati. “Delle altre citta’
(Giljane, Urosevac, Pec) sappiamo di certo che sono successe le stesse
cose anche se siamo in attesa di riscontri diretti” conferma sempre
Bruccoleri. I morti sembra siano saliti a 22 di cui 8 a Mitrovica e 12
nelle altre aree coinvolte dagli scontri; i feriti salgono a circa 600.
Per interviste sul campo:
Catherine Dickehage
348 5814954
--
Catherine Dickehage
Relazioni Esterne / Fund raising
ICS - Via Salaria 89 00198 Roma
Tel +39 06 85355081 Fax +39 06 85355083
www.icsitalia.org
--
Catherine Dickehage
Responsabile Ufficio Stampa
ICS - Via Salaria 89, 00198 Roma
Tel +39 06 85355081 Fax +39 06 85355083
Cell. +39 38 5814954
www.icsitalia.org
-----
Resent-From: balcani@ peacelink.it
Da: Associazione per la Pace
Data: Gio 25 Mar 2004 10:30:47 Europe/Rome
A: balcani@ peacelink.it
Oggetto: Kosovo:ultime notizie dall'Associazione per la Pace
primi giorni di scontri a Mitrovica
Dal nostro collaboratore Giambattista Pace
*Pristina*. Qualcuno mi chiedeva di scrivere degli appunti su quel che
accadeva. Gli appunti ci sono, tutti segnati, per sempre, sul bloc
notes della memoria. Le penne quelle non c'erano, rimaste con tutto il
resto nella mia casa a Mitrovica sud.
Finalmente siamo liberi, noi comodi e privilegiati profughi di questa
battaglia che non volevamo, non speravamo e di cui siamo stati inermi
testimoni.
Mercoledi' 17 marzo era una mattina di splendida primavera a Mitrovica,
nessuno avrebbe potuto immaginare l'imminente cambio di stagione verso
il torrido non estivo ma infernale.
Contavano solo 6 giorni dal mio arrivo in questa terra tormentata, il
Kossovo.
Ero riuscito con circospezione e cautela a vivere qualche giorno di
normalita': lunedi' avevo conosciuto i nostri operatori locali,
proposto loro il mio progetto di comunicazione verso il quale sembrava
esserci un bell'entusiasmo, martedi' avevo partecipato alle prime
attivita' con i bambini nel quartiere misto a nord di Bosniak Mahala.
Tutto sembrava maledettamente normale, come quando avevo per la prima
volta messo piede in quella citta' e mi aveva colpito quella maledetta
normalita'. Dusan, Daniel, Sokol, Naser, Advje (che aveva subito preso
a chiamarmi Giovanni risultandole il mio nome piuttosto ostico) ora
posso solo collegare i loro nomi ai volti grazie alle premurose
comunicazioni che Simona, il mio capo progetto, mantiene con loro per
assicurarsi che stiano bene, loro che hanno creduto nell'integrazione,
in una Mitrovica migliore, in un Kossovo migliore.
Siamo ancora qui, non ce ne siamo andati, solo a poca distanza da voi,
per dire che la costruzione della pace e' un cammino difficile e che
non vi faremo mancare il nostro appoggio.
Noi non fuggiamo nelle nostre comode case o a riabbracciare i nostri
premurosi cari perche' se un mondo migliore e' possibile lo e' qui e
subito, non domani, non per conto di chissa' chi.
La notizia dell'annegamento dei bambini albanesi ci era giunta in
ufficio in mattinata, una mattinata apparentemente normale, sarebbe
stata l'ultima. Ci avevano riportato che erano stati i serbi a spingere
i bambini nel fiume. In seguito sarebbe arrivata prima la smentita del
portavoce UNMIK, Chapell, poi la conferma della mancanza di prove
<http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/mar04/hed6307.shtml> che
dimostrasse l'accaduto. Ci siamo precipitati in strada poco dopo
sentendo il vociare dalla strada, la scena ci si e' subito presentata
per quello che era: una sommossa, e il gas dei lacrimogeni sparati dal
carro UN ce lo confermava. Solo dopo avremmo saputo dai testimoni
privilegiati (gli UNMIK di Jugobanka, finestre vista ponte) che le
manifestazioni albanesi in mattinata erano state ben 3: due pacifiche
(la seconda con una corposa presenza di bambini), la terza violenta.
Di li' a poco il ponte metallico di Mitrovica si e' messo a suonare,
scosso dalle pietre che da una parte all'altra avevano cominciato a
volare, un triste preludio alle pietre di metallo che sputate dalle
armi da fuoco qualche istante dopo avrebbero ucciso. E in tutto questo
le pochissime forze KFOR ci sembravano inermi e impreparate ad
affrontare la situazione, curioso per un paese militarizzato ormai da
anni. Per noi giusto il tempo di attraversare la passerella pedonale
che permette
l'accesso alle tre torri abitate dagli albanesi nella parte nord,
nessuno ce lo ha impedito, nonostante la zona sia presidiata dai
soldati francesi (ce ne erano 4 in quel momento), tutto avveniva sul
ponte principale a pochi metri, e noi volevamo incontrare il nostro
operatore serbo che ci attendeva per quella che doveva essere la nostra
attivita' giornaliera nel quartiere di Bajnska. Non c'e' stato tempo
per quella attivita', perche' era iniziata la battaglia, che intanto si
era estesa anche alle torri con una fitta sassaiola da parte serba e
una donna a urlare la sua disperazione: "perche' ci tirate le pietre,
noi non siamo colpevoli". Lo stesso grido di dolore che sara' risuonato
poco dopo nei villaggi serbi in fiamme e dalle pietre, se solo avessero
la parola, dei monasteri e delle case ormai perduti per sempre. Noi, il
cuore in gola, iniziavamo il nostro piccolo calvario rifugiandoci prima
in casa dell'operatore Sokol, poi sarebbe stata la volta della
Jugobanka, per continuare con il Belvedere francese, l'abitazione di
una nostra funzionaria presso la rappresentanza diplomatica a Pristina
e infine quella di alcuni amici.
Cominciava la ridda di rumors, indiscrezioni, notizie carpite, ma non
avremmo piu' visto.
Purtroppo l'udito non ci ha impedito, per la prima volta in vita mia,
di ascoltare la guerra, gli spari che ci hanno accompagnato per due
notti intere, senza sapere dove fossero diretti ne' da chi fossero
sparati.
*Giambattista Pace*
*Collaboratore Assopace*
***
*La scelta di rimanere in Kosovo*
A quasi una settimana dagli scontri che hanno scatenato l'ondata di
violenza in tutto il Kosovo, la situazione ad oggi sembra essersi
tranquilizzata in tutta l'area.
Oggi sono previsti i funerali dei morti durante gli scontri a
Mitrovica, c'è tensione ma si spera non ci sia una risposta violenta
durante la cerimonia funebre. I nostri operatori sabato sono usciti da
Mitrovica per ragioni di sicurezza, così come tutti gli internazionali
delle Ong presenti ancora in questa città. Insieme a Simona e
Giambattista, abbiamo deciso di non tornare in Italia ma aspettare che
la situazione si "calmasse" per poter ritornare a Mitrovica e
riprendere il lavoro.
Adesso i nostri operatori si trovano a Pristina e domani andranno a
Mitrovica per capire quando poter ritornare definitivamente.
Perché siamo rimasti.
Ce lo hanno chiesto in diversi, a partire dal Consolato Italiano che ha
provveduto alla nostra "evacuazione" dalla città. Rispetto ai giorni
scorsi, la situazione é "visibilmente" migliorata, ma questo credo non
deve farci "rilassare" troppo come spesso in passato si é fatto. Il mio
non vuol essere allarmismo, ma semplicemente un monito, la tensione
rimane e sarebbe ingenuo pensare che il ricordo di quanto appena
accaduto possa essere presto "dimenticato" . A testimoniare ciò ci
sono, oltre le persone che hanno dovuto rivivere per l'ennesima volta
il clima di violenza e terrore, qualcuno rimanendone anche vittima, i
villaggi serbi bruciati e 3.600 serbi evacuati dalle loro case (molte
presumibilmente distrutte) e accampati nelle basi militari della Kfor,
oltre ai monasteri ortodossi e alle moschee incendiate che non
rappresentavano solo un luogo di culto ma soprattutto la storia, la
cultura dell'intera Regione.
Siamo rimasti e continueremo a rimanere in Kosovo, a Mitrovica, perché
abbiamo un lavoro da portare avanti, che non é solo il progetto da
finire (tra l'altro i pochi soldi che ci rimangono dovrebbero
garantirci la presenza in loco solo per altri 3 o 4 mesi) ma bisogna,
adesso COME prima portare avanti il lavoro di riconciliazione e
mediazione che stavamo seguendo con le comunità locali. La ricerca
della pace non deve avere adesso più importanza di prima, questo stiamo
cercando di dire da diverso tempo, non bisogna aspettare che riscoppi
la violenza, quella più "visibile" come quella di questi giorni. Siamo
ancora lì e continueremo a starci, perchè Advjia, Zoltan, Sokol,
Daniel, Dusan, Nasser, Francika e tutti i nostri amici ci hanno chiesto
d farlo.
Perchè anche nel Kosovo di questi giorni ci sono persone di entrambe le
comunità che continuano a chiedere pace, democrazia e giustizia.
*Associazione per la Pace
Responsabile Area Balcani*
*Monica D'angelo*
---
Quel ponte che segna il confine
In questo momento il personale italiano dell'Associazione per la Pace,
una cooperante ed un volontario, sono rinchiusi all'interno della base
militare della Kfor francese a Kosovska Mitrovica. Non sono stati
"evacuati" come molto altro personale internazionale in queste ultime
ore in Kossovo, ma semplicemente "riallocati" in un luogo più sicuro
rispetto al quartier generale dell'Onu. Le condizioni di sicurezza per
trasportare il personale internazionale lontano dagli scontri non
c'erano. Sono stati scortati dai blindati ieri notte e ora si trovano
al sicuro all'interno della base miltare ma ancora vicini a quella
linea di confine geografico, politico ed etnico che è il fiume Ibar.
Quante volte abbiamo attraversato quel ponte dopo il 1999 non lo so.
Una volta non ci hanno permesso di attraversarlo con l'auto perché
c'era il coprifuoco, costringendoci a lasciare l'auto a sud e
trasportare i bagagli fino a casa nella parte nord. Eravamo presenti
l'ultima volta che si sono verificati scontri di una certa gravità,
nell'aprile del 2002, e in quell'occasione lo attraversammo solo dopo
24 ore di attesa, qualche serbo e un soldato francese feriti. Poi siamo
riusciti ad attraversarlo insieme al primo gruppo di turisti italiani
nel Kossovo del dopo-guerra, nell'estate di quello stesso anno. E siamo
riusciti a farlo attraversare per la prima volta anche ai bambini serbi
e rom per recarsi a realizzare il circo della pace a sud, nell'estate
2003, prima attività multi-etnica dopo anni di lavoro parallelo con le
comunità.
Lo abbiamo attraversato l'inverno scorso, quando una granata è stata
lanciata contro la sede della polizia dell'Unmik, e lo abbiamo
attraversato questo inverno quando neanche controllavano più i
documenti (e sembrava quasi una città normale), se non fosse che i
serbi a nord avevano già cominciato a bruciare le case dove si
apprestavano a ritornare gli albanesi, e gli albanesi a sud ogni tanto
ammazzavano qualche serbo tanto per scoraggiare ogni tentativo di
ritorno. I rom continuavano a bruciare solo vecchi legni e copertoni
per riscaldarsi, troppo poco coperti con i dieci gradi sotto zero delle
serate invernali.
Dopo di noi e insieme a noi hanno cominciato ad attraversarlo anche gli
operatori locali, serbi che con molta prudenza si sono spinti
dall'altra parte, albanesi e rom che con altrettanta prudenza hanno
messo il naso al di fuori delle loro enclave. Sono questi i segnali
"pericolosi" che hanno convinto le forze nazionaliste a imprimere
un'accelerata all'escalation di violenza da tempo programmata per
raggiungere la tanto agognata soluzione definitiva?
Anche questi.
Fanno paura, a chi fomenta i disordini, a chi guadagna con il traffico
di armi, a chi si arricchisce in un sistema economico poco trasparente,
a chi si autolegittima con le armi, tutti i segnali di ripresa del
dialogo e di democratizzazione. Le ultime dichiarazioni di Rexhepi e
Ivanovic andavano in questo senso. La gente lo voleva.
Abbiamo incontrato decine e decine di giovani durante questi anni e in
tutti era forte l'esigenza di tornare alla normalità, anche se questo
significava lavorare con la controparte. I fatti dimostrano il
contrario? No, i fatti dimostrano semplicemente che non appena queste
esigenze si manifestano vengono stroncate sul nascere. E' questa la
prima guerra che si combatte in Kosovo come in altri territori non
pacificati come la Bosnia. Troppi interessi economici e politici dietro
il conflitto per consentire il ritorno alla normalità.
Quali mezzi abbiamo messo in campo per condurre questa guerra? Pochi ed
inadeguati. Distolti verso nuove emergenze, Afghanistan prima, Iraq
dopo. Chi come noi è rimasto a Mitrovica, lo ha fatto con pochi
spiccioli della cooperazione decentrata (grazie al Comune e alla
Provincia di Venezia). Il grosso della cooperazione internazionale ha
finanziato la ricostruzione delle case (ora ridistrutte), delle strade
(che i mezzi cingolati pesanti distruggeranno nuovamente), o degli
ospedali (ancora divisi etnicamente), oppure il ritorno dei profughi
(prima discriminati, poi sfollati, poi vittime) ma solo una piccola
parte la formazione al dialogo e alla tolleranza, l'empowerment dei
gruppi nonviolenti, la democratizzazione diffusa e dal basso, il
disarmo delle milizie di entrambe le parti. L'Uck non solo è stato
tollerato (tranne alcuni esponenti di spicco incriminati dal Tpi con
conseguenti proteste dei nazionalisti) ma è stato trasformato in
formazione di polizia ufficiale, i paramilitari serbi tollerati per par
condicio. Si dice ora: "il fallimento dei tentativi di dialogo", "il
fallimento delle politiche inter-etniche": si tenta di costruire (sul
terreno paludoso dei bombardamenti Nato) un palazzo con dieci sacchi di
sabbia e uno di cemento, il palazzo crolla e si da la colpa al cemento.
*Associazione per la Pace *
*Coordinatore Nazionale *
*Davide Berruti
=== 3 ===
il manifesto - 10 Settembre 2004
KOSOVO
Rugova reclama l'indipendenza
«Gli Stati uniti e l'Unione europea dovrebbero risconoscere
direttamente l'indipendenza del Kosovo che per noi e' una questione
esistenziale e non tecnica». Lo ha detto il leader kosovaro-albanese
Ibrahim Rugova a Tirana. Rugova e' giunto in Albania per la prima volta
in 7 anni. Il presidente kosovaro ha incontrato il capo dello stato
albanese Alfres Moisiu e avra' colloqui con il premier Fatos Nano, con
il leader dell'opposizione Sali Berisha e con il pretendente al trono
Leka Zogu.
«Solo l'indipendenza del Kosovo calmera' la regione». ha detto Rugova.
In alternativa all'indipendenza proclamata da Usa e Ue, Rugova propone
«un forum internazionale allargato ai paesi confinanti». Rugova ha
esortato la minoranza serba del Kosovo a partecipare alle elezioni
politiche fissate per ottobre: «se i serbi partecipassero al voto
aumenterebbero il loro peso e la loro influenza» nella provincia ha
concluso Rugova, ricordando che i serbi controllano due ministeri nel
governo di Pristina e hanno 20 seggi in parlamento ma dimenticando che
stanno subendo, da quando la provincia - formalmente ancora
appartenente alla Serbia-Montenegro - e' sotto amministrazione Onu e'
in corso una vera pulizia etnica ai loro danni.
=== 4 ===
http://www.limesonline.com/ultimo.htm
LIMES 2/2004 - L'IMPERO SENZA IMPERO
Kosovo roadmap: Stato a stelle e strisce o protettorato europeo
di Fabio MINI
(ex comandante della missione militare KFOR in Kosovo)
Una terra in mano alle mafie e ai razzisti armati. Le responsabilità
delle potenze occidentali e dell'Onu. La pulizia etnica contro i serbi.
Due ipotesi: annettere la regione agli Usa o affidarla alla gestione
Ue. Un percorso per uscire dall'emergenza.
---
Kossovo: boicottare o non boicottare?
Intrappolata tra l’estremismo albanese ed una poco efficace
amministrazione da parte dell’ONU, la minoranza serba in Kossovo è
pronta a boicottare le imminenti elezioni. Un articolo tratto da TOL
(18/08/2004) Di Sasha Grubanovic – corrispondente di TOL da Belgrado
- Traduzione a cura di Daniela Mezzena - Osservatorio sui Balcani
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=3311
---
Nuovo amministratore del Kossovo: è la volta buona?
Una girandola di amministratori. I kossovari guardano con disillusione
all’arrivo di Jessen Petersen, il danese incaricato da Kofi Annan di
fare in modo che il Kossovo non sia più il buco nero sulla mappa dei
Balcani.
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=3327
---
Dopo 7 anni Rugova a Tirana per l’indipendenza
20.09.2004 scrive Indrit Maraku
Dopo sette anni di assenza dalla capitale albanese, il presidente
kosovaro vi fa ritorno alla vigilia delle elezioni in Kosovo, previste
per il 23 ottobre prossimo. Nella sua visita Rugova insiste
sull'indipendenza della provincia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3402/1/51/
---
Kosovo, l’autunno dello scontento
24.09.2004 scrive Andrea Rossini
Il Kosovo a poche settimane dal voto, primo appuntamento importante
dopo le violenze del marzo scorso. Alcuni spunti di approfondimento
sullo stato del Paese dal punto di vista economico e demografico. Il
caso di Mitrovica
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3422/1/51/
---
Lo status del Kosovo
07.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Abbiamo incontrato a Pristina Shkelzen Maliqi, direttore del Centro per
gli Studi Umanistici “Gani Bobi” e noto intellettuale albanese. Maliqi
parteciperà al convegno annuale di Osservatorio sui Balcani, “L’Europa
dei protettorati”, che si terrà il 3 e 4 dicembre prossimi a Venezia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3484/1/51/
---
Pristina: vita da Serbi
08.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Dopo le violenze del 17 marzo scorso, i soli Serbi rimasti a vivere a
Pristina sono una comunità di poche decine di persone. Abitano quasi
tutti nello “Ju program”, un palazzo a pochi minuti dal centro città,
conosciuto anche come “the cage”, la gabbia. Biserka I., serba di
Croazia, a Pristina dal 1995, vive qui. Ci racconta come
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3495/1/51/
---
Viaggio tra i Serbi del Kosovo: “the cage”, la gabbia
16.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Il Kosovo a una settimana dalle elezioni. Pubblichiamo la versione
originale del servizio realizzato da Osservatorio sui Balcani in
collaborazione con “la Repubblica delle Donne” sui Serbi che vivono a
Pristina e nella enclave di Gracanica. Tutte le immagini sono
cortesemente di Gughi Fassino
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3516/1/51/
---
Elezioni in Kosovo: i punti di vista di Belgrado
08.10.2004 Da Belgrado, scrive Danijela Nenadić
Le elezioni in Kosovo del 23 ottobre prossimo dividono la Belgrado
ufficiale, da un lato il premier e dall'altro il presidente della
Repubblica. Nel frattempo si è tenuta nella capitale serba una tavola
rotonda con l'intento di analizzare la situazione della provincia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3497/1/51/
---
Kossovo: confusione elettorale
11.10.2004 scrive Alma Lama
Una corsa affannata contro il tempo. E’ quella della Comunità
internazionale per convincere i serbi del Kossovo ad andare a votare.
Schede elettorali ristampate, continue eccezioni sulla procedura. Ma
sia tra gli albanesi che i serbi del Kossovo sembra regnare lo
scetticismo.
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3502/1/51/
---
UE verso il Kossovo: ma senza strategia
18.10.2004 - Se Bruxelles mira a sostituire le Nazioni Unite nel
protettorato, deve innanzitutto rendere più univoca e significativa la
propria attuale presenza in Kossovo. Un articolo di Markus Bickel,
redatto per IWPR e tradotto a cura di Osservatorio sui Balcani.
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3520/1/51/
(collezione di documenti e segnalazioni in lingua italiana)
1. Holbrooke e Thaci pianificarono il terrore (Blic 25/3/2004) /
KOSOVO: USA, PER HOLBROOKE VIOLENZA PREVEDIBILE (ANSA - 24/3/2004)
2. Le testimonianze oculari degli operatori di ICS ed AssoPace
3. Rugova reclama l'indipendenza (Il Manifesto, 10/9/2004)
4. Segnalazioni e link a vari articoli, spec. di Osservatorio Balcani
=== 1 ===
http://www.blic.co.yu/ -- 25.03.2004
("Tajna vecera u Vašingtonu":
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3353 )
Holbrooke e Thaci pianificarono il terrore (Blic)
Meno di una settimana prima degli scontri in Kosovo e Metohija, un
gruppo di lobbisti Albanesi in USA ebbero un meeting in cui decisero di
aiutare i Kosovo-Albanesi a forzare la comunità internazionale a
fornire l'indipendenza al Kosovo.
Blic ricevette tale informazione da fonti ben-informate negli USA. Come
Blic scoprì in seguito, tale informale meeting si ebbe su iniziativa di
David Philips, direttore del Center for preventive action
dell'International
Relations Council a New York.
Il meeting si ebbe in una casa dopo una cena leggera. A parte Philips,
noto al nostro pubblico per aver offerto alle autorità Serbe di
comprare il Kosovo per tre miliardi di euro, Richard Holbrooke,
ex-inviato USA nei Balcani era presente. Vi erano anche Randy Bears,
vecchio consigliere politico del Senatore John Kerry, l'attuale
candidato presidenziale USA, e molte persone dell'ex amministrazione di
Clinton, vicini alla lobby Albanese.
Ospite d'onore della cena era Hashim Thaci, ex leader del KLA, in
visita negli USA all'epoca. Secondo nostre fonti ufficiose Richard
Holbrooke affermò, nel meeting, che l'indipendenza del Kosovo e i suoi
membri nell'UE era il miglior modo per stabilire la pace nei Balcani.
L'ospite discusse le possibilità per una campagna mediatica e accettò
certe linee guida per azioni future.
Fonti di Blic dicono che gli ospiti erano d'accordo che la prima buona
opportunità dovrebbe essere attesa all'inizio dell'attacco. Con una
opportunità che si ebbe per molti giorni dopo che gli Albanesi usarono
la tragica scomparsa di loro tre bambini come una scusa per iniziare la
campagna di terrore contro i Serbi.
Thaci informò la pubblica opinione che "interruppe la sua visita negli
USA per ritornare e calmare la situazione."
Mentre Holbrooke e Thaci erano ben noti alla nostra pubblica opinione,
Philips e Bears sono persone ignote, che vengono dall'ombra. Un fatto
su Bears è che è di origini Albanesi. Si crede che in caso che John
Kerry vinca le elezioni presidenziali, Bear prenderebbe la carica di
Segretario di Stato USA. Riguardo Philips, il sito Internet ufficiale
dell'influente ONG USA Council for international Relations, è descritto
come direttore del Center for preventive
action del CFR.
Il centro studia i conflitti e i modi per prevenirli. Il suo articolo
sui Balcani, in cui ha presentato soprattutto istanze anti-Serbe, venne
pubblicato su importanti quotidiani, inclusi The New York Times, The
Christian Science Monitor, e The International Herald Tribune.
Le fonti di Blic, vicine all'amministrazione USA, affermano in
condizione di anonimato che Philips aveva avuto a che fare con i
Balcani per molto tempo e che era regolarmente presente in tutti i
meeting relativi alle questioni balcaniche.
Nel periodo precedente la crisi, Philips era assai vicino al regime
dell'ex presidente Slobodan Milosevic così come a molti leader
dell'opposizione. Presiedette il team di esperti e ufficiali USA che
lavorò sulla cosiddetta questione Albanese negli anni '90.
Nel Dicembre 1995, David Philips e altri sei statunitensi giunsero a
Belgrado e si incontrarono con il presidente Serbo Milosevic. Ottenne,
in quell'occasione, il permesso da Milosevic di aprire l'American
information office di Pristina. Da Belgrado Philips andò a Pristina e
incontrò dei politici Albanesi. Quindi andò a
Skopje e, infine, a Washington dove incontrò Richard Holbrooke e
l'informò sulle impressioni del viaggio in Serbia.
Poco dopo, tali impressioni vennero pubblicate in un rapporto chiamato
Towards Permanent Peace in Southeast Europe. In questo rapporto era
richiesto che le sanzioni contro Belgrado dovessero rimanere e che si
doveva lavorare per rafforzare l'American office di Pristina. Solo otto
mesi dopo, nell'agosto 1996, Philips andò nuovamente a Belgrado,
assieme ai suoi soci e incontrò Milosevic. All'epoca cercava di far
aprire delle scuole in Kosovo e iniziò dei negoziati per un meeting
Milosevic-Rugova. I seguito, Philips si occupò dell'opposizione Serba
che attivamente partecipava nei meeting in cui i più importanti
politici Serbi partecipavano.
Uno dei più importanti meetings, senza dubbio, si ebbe nell'Aprile 1997
a New York quando una tavola rotonda sulle relazioni Serbe-Albanesi si
ebbe presso una organizzazione per le relazioni etniche, PER. Gli
Albanesi erano guidati da Fehmi Agani, Mahmut Bakali, Adem Demaci,
Hidajet Hiseni e Veton Suroi.
David Philips guidava gli statunitensi. Cyrus Vance, Rudolph Perina e
alcuni altri esperti dei Balcani erano presenti. I Serbi erano
rappresentati da Vuk Draskovic, Miroljub Labus, Dragoljub Micunovic,
Vesna Pesic e Dusan Janjic.
Si concordò che un trattato sul Kosovo tra Albanesi e Serbi sarebbe
stato raggiunto attraverso i negoziati. Si concordò anche che i
principi di Helsinki sull'inviolabilità dei confini dovevano essere
rispettati. La vendita del Kosovo, per quello che ne sappiamo, non
venne discussa.
traduzione di Alessandro Lattanzio
e-mail:alexlattanzio@ yahoo.it
URL: www.aurora03.da.ru
---
KOSOVO: USA, PER HOLBROOKE VIOLENZA PREVEDIBILE
(ANSA) - WASHINGTON, 24 MAR - L'esplosione di violenza nel Kosovo era
prevedibile perche' la comunita' internazionale non ha mai risolto la
questione dello status definitivo della provincia serba, secondo l'ex
ambasciatore americano all'Onu Richard Holbrooke. Secondo
Holbrooke, architetto degli accordi di Dayton del 1995, l'Unione
europea, le Nazioni Unite e gli Stati Uniti dovranno affrontare il
problema della definizione giuridica del Kosovo ''ma solo se la
violenza si diminuira' in entrambi le parti''. In un'intervista
telefonica con l'agenzia di stampa Reuters, Holbrooke ha detto di aver
messo in guardia Harry Holkeri, il governatore Onu per il Kosovo,
circa l'inevitabilita' della recrudescenza delle violenze se si
continuava a rinviare una soluzione definitiva della provincia durante
una visita a Pristina nell'ottobre scorso. ''Purtroppo Holkeri non
ha preso provvedimenti per accelerare i colloqui sullo status perche'
non si e' reso conto che il tempo non stava dalla sua parte'', ha
detto Holbrooke. Secondo l'ambasciatore all'Onu
dell'Amministrazione dell'ex presidente Bill Clinton, gli Stati Uniti
''abbandonarono la questione del Kosovo quando George W. Bush divenne
presidente, relegandola in un livello basso della burocrazia''.
(ANSA). FS 24/03/2004 00:12
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
=== 2 ===
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date forwarded: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:31:20 +0100
Date sent: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:45:15 +0100
To: news@ peacelink.it
From: "Catherine Dickehage" (by way of Carlo Gubitosa)
Subject: ICS: ULTIMORA KOSOVO
Forwarded by: news@ peacelink.it
ULTIMORA DAL KOSOVO
“Tramite telefono siamo riusciti a contattare colleghi e amici
sparsi per il Kosovo durante la serata di ieri. E la situazione non e’
per niente bella”. Così ci racconta Marco Bruccoleri, responsabile ICS
in Kosovo. “Qui a Pristina ci sono stati colpi di armi da fuoco fino a
notte tarda, hanno assaltato la sede generale delle nazioni unite che
e’ stata evacuata ma questa mattina la situazione appare calma anche
se la citta’ e’ blindata”. A Mitrovica tutti gli internazionali sono
stati evacuati dentro la Jugobanka a sud della citta’ “protetti” dalle
forze di polizia internazionale e della KFOR. “A Prizren, purtroppo, la
folla scatenata ha dato alle fiamme “Il Bogoslovia” - il
piu’grande seminiario ortodosso del Kosovo – già Rifugio Collettivo
Temporaneo (TCS) riabilitato e gestito da ICS dopo la guerra del 1999”
prosegue Bruccoleri. Inoltre, sono state date alle fiamme la parte alta
della citta’ vecchia dove c’erano le case serbe, tutte le chiese
ortodosse della citta’, sfasciate le vetrate del palazzo delle NU e
bruciato parecchie vetture sempre delle NU. A Caglavica dove era stato
ferito il ragazzo serbo lunedi’ notte ci sono stati scontri violenti
fino a notte tarda e i serbi sono stati evacuati. “Delle altre citta’
(Giljane, Urosevac, Pec) sappiamo di certo che sono successe le stesse
cose anche se siamo in attesa di riscontri diretti” conferma sempre
Bruccoleri. I morti sembra siano saliti a 22 di cui 8 a Mitrovica e 12
nelle altre aree coinvolte dagli scontri; i feriti salgono a circa 600.
Per interviste sul campo:
Catherine Dickehage
348 5814954
--
Catherine Dickehage
Relazioni Esterne / Fund raising
ICS - Via Salaria 89 00198 Roma
Tel +39 06 85355081 Fax +39 06 85355083
www.icsitalia.org
--
Catherine Dickehage
Responsabile Ufficio Stampa
ICS - Via Salaria 89, 00198 Roma
Tel +39 06 85355081 Fax +39 06 85355083
Cell. +39 38 5814954
www.icsitalia.org
-----
Resent-From: balcani@ peacelink.it
Da: Associazione per la Pace
Data: Gio 25 Mar 2004 10:30:47 Europe/Rome
A: balcani@ peacelink.it
Oggetto: Kosovo:ultime notizie dall'Associazione per la Pace
primi giorni di scontri a Mitrovica
Dal nostro collaboratore Giambattista Pace
*Pristina*. Qualcuno mi chiedeva di scrivere degli appunti su quel che
accadeva. Gli appunti ci sono, tutti segnati, per sempre, sul bloc
notes della memoria. Le penne quelle non c'erano, rimaste con tutto il
resto nella mia casa a Mitrovica sud.
Finalmente siamo liberi, noi comodi e privilegiati profughi di questa
battaglia che non volevamo, non speravamo e di cui siamo stati inermi
testimoni.
Mercoledi' 17 marzo era una mattina di splendida primavera a Mitrovica,
nessuno avrebbe potuto immaginare l'imminente cambio di stagione verso
il torrido non estivo ma infernale.
Contavano solo 6 giorni dal mio arrivo in questa terra tormentata, il
Kossovo.
Ero riuscito con circospezione e cautela a vivere qualche giorno di
normalita': lunedi' avevo conosciuto i nostri operatori locali,
proposto loro il mio progetto di comunicazione verso il quale sembrava
esserci un bell'entusiasmo, martedi' avevo partecipato alle prime
attivita' con i bambini nel quartiere misto a nord di Bosniak Mahala.
Tutto sembrava maledettamente normale, come quando avevo per la prima
volta messo piede in quella citta' e mi aveva colpito quella maledetta
normalita'. Dusan, Daniel, Sokol, Naser, Advje (che aveva subito preso
a chiamarmi Giovanni risultandole il mio nome piuttosto ostico) ora
posso solo collegare i loro nomi ai volti grazie alle premurose
comunicazioni che Simona, il mio capo progetto, mantiene con loro per
assicurarsi che stiano bene, loro che hanno creduto nell'integrazione,
in una Mitrovica migliore, in un Kossovo migliore.
Siamo ancora qui, non ce ne siamo andati, solo a poca distanza da voi,
per dire che la costruzione della pace e' un cammino difficile e che
non vi faremo mancare il nostro appoggio.
Noi non fuggiamo nelle nostre comode case o a riabbracciare i nostri
premurosi cari perche' se un mondo migliore e' possibile lo e' qui e
subito, non domani, non per conto di chissa' chi.
La notizia dell'annegamento dei bambini albanesi ci era giunta in
ufficio in mattinata, una mattinata apparentemente normale, sarebbe
stata l'ultima. Ci avevano riportato che erano stati i serbi a spingere
i bambini nel fiume. In seguito sarebbe arrivata prima la smentita del
portavoce UNMIK, Chapell, poi la conferma della mancanza di prove
<http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/mar04/hed6307.shtml> che
dimostrasse l'accaduto. Ci siamo precipitati in strada poco dopo
sentendo il vociare dalla strada, la scena ci si e' subito presentata
per quello che era: una sommossa, e il gas dei lacrimogeni sparati dal
carro UN ce lo confermava. Solo dopo avremmo saputo dai testimoni
privilegiati (gli UNMIK di Jugobanka, finestre vista ponte) che le
manifestazioni albanesi in mattinata erano state ben 3: due pacifiche
(la seconda con una corposa presenza di bambini), la terza violenta.
Di li' a poco il ponte metallico di Mitrovica si e' messo a suonare,
scosso dalle pietre che da una parte all'altra avevano cominciato a
volare, un triste preludio alle pietre di metallo che sputate dalle
armi da fuoco qualche istante dopo avrebbero ucciso. E in tutto questo
le pochissime forze KFOR ci sembravano inermi e impreparate ad
affrontare la situazione, curioso per un paese militarizzato ormai da
anni. Per noi giusto il tempo di attraversare la passerella pedonale
che permette
l'accesso alle tre torri abitate dagli albanesi nella parte nord,
nessuno ce lo ha impedito, nonostante la zona sia presidiata dai
soldati francesi (ce ne erano 4 in quel momento), tutto avveniva sul
ponte principale a pochi metri, e noi volevamo incontrare il nostro
operatore serbo che ci attendeva per quella che doveva essere la nostra
attivita' giornaliera nel quartiere di Bajnska. Non c'e' stato tempo
per quella attivita', perche' era iniziata la battaglia, che intanto si
era estesa anche alle torri con una fitta sassaiola da parte serba e
una donna a urlare la sua disperazione: "perche' ci tirate le pietre,
noi non siamo colpevoli". Lo stesso grido di dolore che sara' risuonato
poco dopo nei villaggi serbi in fiamme e dalle pietre, se solo avessero
la parola, dei monasteri e delle case ormai perduti per sempre. Noi, il
cuore in gola, iniziavamo il nostro piccolo calvario rifugiandoci prima
in casa dell'operatore Sokol, poi sarebbe stata la volta della
Jugobanka, per continuare con il Belvedere francese, l'abitazione di
una nostra funzionaria presso la rappresentanza diplomatica a Pristina
e infine quella di alcuni amici.
Cominciava la ridda di rumors, indiscrezioni, notizie carpite, ma non
avremmo piu' visto.
Purtroppo l'udito non ci ha impedito, per la prima volta in vita mia,
di ascoltare la guerra, gli spari che ci hanno accompagnato per due
notti intere, senza sapere dove fossero diretti ne' da chi fossero
sparati.
*Giambattista Pace*
*Collaboratore Assopace*
***
*La scelta di rimanere in Kosovo*
A quasi una settimana dagli scontri che hanno scatenato l'ondata di
violenza in tutto il Kosovo, la situazione ad oggi sembra essersi
tranquilizzata in tutta l'area.
Oggi sono previsti i funerali dei morti durante gli scontri a
Mitrovica, c'è tensione ma si spera non ci sia una risposta violenta
durante la cerimonia funebre. I nostri operatori sabato sono usciti da
Mitrovica per ragioni di sicurezza, così come tutti gli internazionali
delle Ong presenti ancora in questa città. Insieme a Simona e
Giambattista, abbiamo deciso di non tornare in Italia ma aspettare che
la situazione si "calmasse" per poter ritornare a Mitrovica e
riprendere il lavoro.
Adesso i nostri operatori si trovano a Pristina e domani andranno a
Mitrovica per capire quando poter ritornare definitivamente.
Perché siamo rimasti.
Ce lo hanno chiesto in diversi, a partire dal Consolato Italiano che ha
provveduto alla nostra "evacuazione" dalla città. Rispetto ai giorni
scorsi, la situazione é "visibilmente" migliorata, ma questo credo non
deve farci "rilassare" troppo come spesso in passato si é fatto. Il mio
non vuol essere allarmismo, ma semplicemente un monito, la tensione
rimane e sarebbe ingenuo pensare che il ricordo di quanto appena
accaduto possa essere presto "dimenticato" . A testimoniare ciò ci
sono, oltre le persone che hanno dovuto rivivere per l'ennesima volta
il clima di violenza e terrore, qualcuno rimanendone anche vittima, i
villaggi serbi bruciati e 3.600 serbi evacuati dalle loro case (molte
presumibilmente distrutte) e accampati nelle basi militari della Kfor,
oltre ai monasteri ortodossi e alle moschee incendiate che non
rappresentavano solo un luogo di culto ma soprattutto la storia, la
cultura dell'intera Regione.
Siamo rimasti e continueremo a rimanere in Kosovo, a Mitrovica, perché
abbiamo un lavoro da portare avanti, che non é solo il progetto da
finire (tra l'altro i pochi soldi che ci rimangono dovrebbero
garantirci la presenza in loco solo per altri 3 o 4 mesi) ma bisogna,
adesso COME prima portare avanti il lavoro di riconciliazione e
mediazione che stavamo seguendo con le comunità locali. La ricerca
della pace non deve avere adesso più importanza di prima, questo stiamo
cercando di dire da diverso tempo, non bisogna aspettare che riscoppi
la violenza, quella più "visibile" come quella di questi giorni. Siamo
ancora lì e continueremo a starci, perchè Advjia, Zoltan, Sokol,
Daniel, Dusan, Nasser, Francika e tutti i nostri amici ci hanno chiesto
d farlo.
Perchè anche nel Kosovo di questi giorni ci sono persone di entrambe le
comunità che continuano a chiedere pace, democrazia e giustizia.
*Associazione per la Pace
Responsabile Area Balcani*
*Monica D'angelo*
---
Quel ponte che segna il confine
In questo momento il personale italiano dell'Associazione per la Pace,
una cooperante ed un volontario, sono rinchiusi all'interno della base
militare della Kfor francese a Kosovska Mitrovica. Non sono stati
"evacuati" come molto altro personale internazionale in queste ultime
ore in Kossovo, ma semplicemente "riallocati" in un luogo più sicuro
rispetto al quartier generale dell'Onu. Le condizioni di sicurezza per
trasportare il personale internazionale lontano dagli scontri non
c'erano. Sono stati scortati dai blindati ieri notte e ora si trovano
al sicuro all'interno della base miltare ma ancora vicini a quella
linea di confine geografico, politico ed etnico che è il fiume Ibar.
Quante volte abbiamo attraversato quel ponte dopo il 1999 non lo so.
Una volta non ci hanno permesso di attraversarlo con l'auto perché
c'era il coprifuoco, costringendoci a lasciare l'auto a sud e
trasportare i bagagli fino a casa nella parte nord. Eravamo presenti
l'ultima volta che si sono verificati scontri di una certa gravità,
nell'aprile del 2002, e in quell'occasione lo attraversammo solo dopo
24 ore di attesa, qualche serbo e un soldato francese feriti. Poi siamo
riusciti ad attraversarlo insieme al primo gruppo di turisti italiani
nel Kossovo del dopo-guerra, nell'estate di quello stesso anno. E siamo
riusciti a farlo attraversare per la prima volta anche ai bambini serbi
e rom per recarsi a realizzare il circo della pace a sud, nell'estate
2003, prima attività multi-etnica dopo anni di lavoro parallelo con le
comunità.
Lo abbiamo attraversato l'inverno scorso, quando una granata è stata
lanciata contro la sede della polizia dell'Unmik, e lo abbiamo
attraversato questo inverno quando neanche controllavano più i
documenti (e sembrava quasi una città normale), se non fosse che i
serbi a nord avevano già cominciato a bruciare le case dove si
apprestavano a ritornare gli albanesi, e gli albanesi a sud ogni tanto
ammazzavano qualche serbo tanto per scoraggiare ogni tentativo di
ritorno. I rom continuavano a bruciare solo vecchi legni e copertoni
per riscaldarsi, troppo poco coperti con i dieci gradi sotto zero delle
serate invernali.
Dopo di noi e insieme a noi hanno cominciato ad attraversarlo anche gli
operatori locali, serbi che con molta prudenza si sono spinti
dall'altra parte, albanesi e rom che con altrettanta prudenza hanno
messo il naso al di fuori delle loro enclave. Sono questi i segnali
"pericolosi" che hanno convinto le forze nazionaliste a imprimere
un'accelerata all'escalation di violenza da tempo programmata per
raggiungere la tanto agognata soluzione definitiva?
Anche questi.
Fanno paura, a chi fomenta i disordini, a chi guadagna con il traffico
di armi, a chi si arricchisce in un sistema economico poco trasparente,
a chi si autolegittima con le armi, tutti i segnali di ripresa del
dialogo e di democratizzazione. Le ultime dichiarazioni di Rexhepi e
Ivanovic andavano in questo senso. La gente lo voleva.
Abbiamo incontrato decine e decine di giovani durante questi anni e in
tutti era forte l'esigenza di tornare alla normalità, anche se questo
significava lavorare con la controparte. I fatti dimostrano il
contrario? No, i fatti dimostrano semplicemente che non appena queste
esigenze si manifestano vengono stroncate sul nascere. E' questa la
prima guerra che si combatte in Kosovo come in altri territori non
pacificati come la Bosnia. Troppi interessi economici e politici dietro
il conflitto per consentire il ritorno alla normalità.
Quali mezzi abbiamo messo in campo per condurre questa guerra? Pochi ed
inadeguati. Distolti verso nuove emergenze, Afghanistan prima, Iraq
dopo. Chi come noi è rimasto a Mitrovica, lo ha fatto con pochi
spiccioli della cooperazione decentrata (grazie al Comune e alla
Provincia di Venezia). Il grosso della cooperazione internazionale ha
finanziato la ricostruzione delle case (ora ridistrutte), delle strade
(che i mezzi cingolati pesanti distruggeranno nuovamente), o degli
ospedali (ancora divisi etnicamente), oppure il ritorno dei profughi
(prima discriminati, poi sfollati, poi vittime) ma solo una piccola
parte la formazione al dialogo e alla tolleranza, l'empowerment dei
gruppi nonviolenti, la democratizzazione diffusa e dal basso, il
disarmo delle milizie di entrambe le parti. L'Uck non solo è stato
tollerato (tranne alcuni esponenti di spicco incriminati dal Tpi con
conseguenti proteste dei nazionalisti) ma è stato trasformato in
formazione di polizia ufficiale, i paramilitari serbi tollerati per par
condicio. Si dice ora: "il fallimento dei tentativi di dialogo", "il
fallimento delle politiche inter-etniche": si tenta di costruire (sul
terreno paludoso dei bombardamenti Nato) un palazzo con dieci sacchi di
sabbia e uno di cemento, il palazzo crolla e si da la colpa al cemento.
*Associazione per la Pace *
*Coordinatore Nazionale *
*Davide Berruti
=== 3 ===
il manifesto - 10 Settembre 2004
KOSOVO
Rugova reclama l'indipendenza
«Gli Stati uniti e l'Unione europea dovrebbero risconoscere
direttamente l'indipendenza del Kosovo che per noi e' una questione
esistenziale e non tecnica». Lo ha detto il leader kosovaro-albanese
Ibrahim Rugova a Tirana. Rugova e' giunto in Albania per la prima volta
in 7 anni. Il presidente kosovaro ha incontrato il capo dello stato
albanese Alfres Moisiu e avra' colloqui con il premier Fatos Nano, con
il leader dell'opposizione Sali Berisha e con il pretendente al trono
Leka Zogu.
«Solo l'indipendenza del Kosovo calmera' la regione». ha detto Rugova.
In alternativa all'indipendenza proclamata da Usa e Ue, Rugova propone
«un forum internazionale allargato ai paesi confinanti». Rugova ha
esortato la minoranza serba del Kosovo a partecipare alle elezioni
politiche fissate per ottobre: «se i serbi partecipassero al voto
aumenterebbero il loro peso e la loro influenza» nella provincia ha
concluso Rugova, ricordando che i serbi controllano due ministeri nel
governo di Pristina e hanno 20 seggi in parlamento ma dimenticando che
stanno subendo, da quando la provincia - formalmente ancora
appartenente alla Serbia-Montenegro - e' sotto amministrazione Onu e'
in corso una vera pulizia etnica ai loro danni.
=== 4 ===
http://www.limesonline.com/ultimo.htm
LIMES 2/2004 - L'IMPERO SENZA IMPERO
Kosovo roadmap: Stato a stelle e strisce o protettorato europeo
di Fabio MINI
(ex comandante della missione militare KFOR in Kosovo)
Una terra in mano alle mafie e ai razzisti armati. Le responsabilità
delle potenze occidentali e dell'Onu. La pulizia etnica contro i serbi.
Due ipotesi: annettere la regione agli Usa o affidarla alla gestione
Ue. Un percorso per uscire dall'emergenza.
---
Kossovo: boicottare o non boicottare?
Intrappolata tra l’estremismo albanese ed una poco efficace
amministrazione da parte dell’ONU, la minoranza serba in Kossovo è
pronta a boicottare le imminenti elezioni. Un articolo tratto da TOL
(18/08/2004) Di Sasha Grubanovic – corrispondente di TOL da Belgrado
- Traduzione a cura di Daniela Mezzena - Osservatorio sui Balcani
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=3311
---
Nuovo amministratore del Kossovo: è la volta buona?
Una girandola di amministratori. I kossovari guardano con disillusione
all’arrivo di Jessen Petersen, il danese incaricato da Kofi Annan di
fare in modo che il Kossovo non sia più il buco nero sulla mappa dei
Balcani.
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=3327
---
Dopo 7 anni Rugova a Tirana per l’indipendenza
20.09.2004 scrive Indrit Maraku
Dopo sette anni di assenza dalla capitale albanese, il presidente
kosovaro vi fa ritorno alla vigilia delle elezioni in Kosovo, previste
per il 23 ottobre prossimo. Nella sua visita Rugova insiste
sull'indipendenza della provincia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3402/1/51/
---
Kosovo, l’autunno dello scontento
24.09.2004 scrive Andrea Rossini
Il Kosovo a poche settimane dal voto, primo appuntamento importante
dopo le violenze del marzo scorso. Alcuni spunti di approfondimento
sullo stato del Paese dal punto di vista economico e demografico. Il
caso di Mitrovica
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3422/1/51/
---
Lo status del Kosovo
07.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Abbiamo incontrato a Pristina Shkelzen Maliqi, direttore del Centro per
gli Studi Umanistici “Gani Bobi” e noto intellettuale albanese. Maliqi
parteciperà al convegno annuale di Osservatorio sui Balcani, “L’Europa
dei protettorati”, che si terrà il 3 e 4 dicembre prossimi a Venezia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3484/1/51/
---
Pristina: vita da Serbi
08.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Dopo le violenze del 17 marzo scorso, i soli Serbi rimasti a vivere a
Pristina sono una comunità di poche decine di persone. Abitano quasi
tutti nello “Ju program”, un palazzo a pochi minuti dal centro città,
conosciuto anche come “the cage”, la gabbia. Biserka I., serba di
Croazia, a Pristina dal 1995, vive qui. Ci racconta come
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3495/1/51/
---
Viaggio tra i Serbi del Kosovo: “the cage”, la gabbia
16.10.2004 Da Pristina, scrive Andrea Rossini
Il Kosovo a una settimana dalle elezioni. Pubblichiamo la versione
originale del servizio realizzato da Osservatorio sui Balcani in
collaborazione con “la Repubblica delle Donne” sui Serbi che vivono a
Pristina e nella enclave di Gracanica. Tutte le immagini sono
cortesemente di Gughi Fassino
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3516/1/51/
---
Elezioni in Kosovo: i punti di vista di Belgrado
08.10.2004 Da Belgrado, scrive Danijela Nenadić
Le elezioni in Kosovo del 23 ottobre prossimo dividono la Belgrado
ufficiale, da un lato il premier e dall'altro il presidente della
Repubblica. Nel frattempo si è tenuta nella capitale serba una tavola
rotonda con l'intento di analizzare la situazione della provincia
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3497/1/51/
---
Kossovo: confusione elettorale
11.10.2004 scrive Alma Lama
Una corsa affannata contro il tempo. E’ quella della Comunità
internazionale per convincere i serbi del Kossovo ad andare a votare.
Schede elettorali ristampate, continue eccezioni sulla procedura. Ma
sia tra gli albanesi che i serbi del Kossovo sembra regnare lo
scetticismo.
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3502/1/51/
---
UE verso il Kossovo: ma senza strategia
18.10.2004 - Se Bruxelles mira a sostituire le Nazioni Unite nel
protettorato, deve innanzitutto rendere più univoca e significativa la
propria attuale presenza in Kossovo. Un articolo di Markus Bickel,
redatto per IWPR e tradotto a cura di Osservatorio sui Balcani.
http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/3520/1/51/
