BBC News Online
Thursday, 23 January, 2003, 15:12 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2684891.stm


UN war clean-up lacks UK cash
Pancevo's petrochemical plant, one of the hotspots


By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent


The UK is failing to fund a United Nations scheme to put right
environmental damage in Yugoslavia caused by the Nato bombardment of
1999.
It says it is channelling support for the clean-up through a separate
European Union (EU) scheme.
But all EU member states are obliged to support that project, the EU
Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and
Stabilisation.
Funding for the UN's work, which many Nato members are supporting, is
voluntary.
The disclosure that the UK is not backing the UN's work was obtained
by the BBC Radio 4 programme Costing the Earth.
It reported on the way in which countries try to restore their damaged
environments after a conflict, and focussed on Yugoslavia, which was
attacked by Nato four years ago.

Modest means

After years of conflict in the Balkans the UN Environment Programme
set up a dedicated division, the Post-Conflict Assessment Unit (PCAU),
to help countries emerging from war.
In Yugoslavia it identified four hotspots that had been bombed and
needed urgent action.
They were an oil refinery at Novi Sad; a mining centre at Bor; a car
plant in Kragujevac; and a petrochemical plant at Pancevo, near
Belgrade.
The unit's budget for its entire work programme is $11.2m. Pasi Rinne,
from Finland, is the PCAU's senior policy advisor.
He told Costing the Earth: "With the $11.2m we have been able to
reduce environmental risks at all of these locations.
"We've been able to show that the environment is an important thing,
and there are people and governments who care for environmental
issues.
"In all of these locations the co-operation has been very
constructive. The national and local authorities are very involved."
Asked which countries were supporting the unit, Mr Rinne said: "Many
of the Nato countries have given funds, including the Netherlands,
Denmark, Norway and Germany.
"The UK and the US have not yet supported the programme."

No choice

The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) told Costing
the Earth it was "supporting the remediation of hotspot areas" through
its contribution to the EU programme.
What the Department did not say was that all EU member states are
required automatically to support this programme.
Nor did it explain why the UK, unlike many of its Nato allies, had
chosen not to fund the PCAU's work.
Apart from the four hotspots, Mr Rinne is also concerned at the
possible risk to local people from the remains of depleted uranium
(DU) ammunition used by the Nato forces.
DU is 1.7 times denser than lead, and is used in bombs and artillery
rounds to punch a hole through armoured vehicles.
Although it is appreciably less radioactive than ordinary uranium, it
can still be a problem. A DU round turns into a spray of molten dust
on impact, and the dust can cause cancer if it enters the body.

Lingering fears

Jelena Beronja, an environmental campaigner, told Costing the Earth
the prospect frightened her.
She said: "I've talked to people from the Institute of Nuclear
Sciences from Belgrade who've been to these places.
"Maybe it's my own decision that I want to believe what people in the
Institute said, that there are only four affected spots in Serbia and
one in Montenegro.
"At least it's easier to live that way than to be afraid all your
life."
Pasi Rinne said the DU contamination the PCAU had found was not very
high-level, but he feared it posed unnecessary additional risks to
local people, and could harm them in the long term.

IL LAPSUS


--- In This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Radio Città Aperta ha scritto:

SITO: http://www.radiocittaperta.it
MAIL: segreteria@...

QUEL LAPSUS DI BERLUSCONI SULLA GUERRA

Editoriale del 24 gennaio

Siamo sicuri che lo rivedremo anche su Blob, ma quel lapsus scappato
a Berlusconi nell'incontro con i giornalisti, sfuggito in un
telegiornale e prontamente occultato dagli altri, rivela pubblicamente
la situazione nella plancia di comando del nostro paese alla vigilia
della guerra.

Con la faccia tetra dei giorni peggiori, Berlusconi ha dichiarato
che "l'Italia si muoverà nella crisi in Medio oriente secondo le
risoluzioni....degli Stati Uniti", poi, il suggerimento a mezza bocca
di uno dei consiglieri lo ha corretto sussurandogli "dell'ONU,
dell'ONU". E qui il premier si è ripreso parlando di un lapsus
freudiano, anzi di un lapsus e basta.

L'incidente psico-politico e la faccia di Berlusconi, privata del
suo sorriso stampato e perenne, escono dalla società dell'immagine ed
entrano nella storia.

Sulla guerra contro l'Iraq, il gioco si sta facendo duro.
L'opposizione franco-tedesca, capace di portarsi dietro la Cina e di
condizionare la Russia dichiara al mondo che la competizione globale
tra Europa e Stati Uniti è ormai palese e non più latente come negli
ultimi cinque anni. Le ambizioni a fare dell'Europa una superpotenza
globale capace di riequilibrare la supremazia mondiale statunitense
sono ormai esplicitate.

Gli Stati Uniti reagiscono rabbiosamente e fanno la lista dei loro
alleati: Gran Bretagna, Canada, Australia, Spagna e Italia ed infine
lasciano trapelare la loro ipoteca politica sui paesi dell'Europa
dell'Est che Bruxelles ha voluto nell'Unione Europea e che Washington
ha imposto di far entrare nella NATO.

Si capiscono meglio adesso le divergenze emerse al vertice NATO di
Praga, lo scontro sull'ingresso della Turchia nell'Unione Europea, i
titoli dell'International Herald Tribune che dichiaravano gli Stati
Uniti come il vero vincitore dell'allargamento a est dell'Unione
Europea.

La situazione internazionale è dunque molto critica. In questa
polarizzazione che attiene alla competizione globale che ha ormai
sostituito la globalizzazione degli anni '90, l'Italia appare
nuovamente terra di frontiera e lacerata al proprio interno.

Il governo Berlusconi fa professione di filo americanismo mentre
gran parte dell'establishment economico e politico spinge per entrare
nel nucleo duro della superpotenza europea. L'aggressione militare
contro l'Iraq e la collocazione operativa dell'Italia in questa
guerra, avranno conseguenze assai più profonde di quanto fino ad oggi
si era riusciti ad immaginare.

--- Fine messaggio inoltrato ---

URL is http://emperors-clothes.com/bosnia/svijet.htm

Join our email list at http://emperor.vwh.net/MailList/index.php
Receive articles from Emperor's Clothes Website

Forward this text to a friend!
======================================================
"Himmler was their Defender!"
How a Bosnian Journal Celebrated the Nazi SS Past
by Petar Makara and Jared Israel
[Posted 9 January 2003]

The photos below were published in the weekly magazine, Svijet, or
World, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1997.

The photos were taken during World War II, but they provide a glimpse
of the truth about what really happened during the recent Bosnia war,
and what is happening today. The truth about Bosnia has immediate
bearing on the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, that is, of the Serbian
people and of the policy of national independence and cohesion, which
Serbian leaders and ordinary people fought for. Moreover, the issue of
what *really* happened in Bosnia is crucial to understanding the role
of aggressive Islam in all parts of the world, and of those who
sponsor it.

During the Bosnian war we were constantly told by the media that the
Serbs were racists who persecuted Muslims and fought against the
supposedly moderate Bosnian Muslim government of Alijah Izetbegovic.
In a soon-to-be-published article we will show that every part of this
media story was a fabrication. The article will be called, "Wolves in
Sheeps' Clothing: The Fictionalization of the Bosnian War." Citizens
in the NATO countries believed the media fiction about Bosnia because
it was all they heard and saw, or thought they saw. And seeing is
believing.

We were told Mr. Izetbegovic was a great moderate, and the Sarajevo
weekly magazine, Svijet, supported Mr. Izetbegovic. So isn't it
curious that Svijet's pictures and captions, scanned and posted below,
fondly remember a World War II Nazi SS Division made up entirely of
Islamic Fundamentalists from Bosnia?

This SS division was called Handzhar, which means Scimitar. The
US-backed Bosnian leader, Mr. Izetbegovic, was enamored of Handzhar.
He even set up an army division, commanded by Islamic terrorists from
Albania, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Arab countries, and called it
Handzar. That is discussed in our forthcoming article, "Wolves in
Sheeps' Clothing." According to a recent Dutch report, the US
sponsored the Islamic terror specialists who traveled to Bosnia to
train and indoctrinate Izetbegovic's troops. (1) There are many
rocks in Bosnia, and when one turns them over one finds ugly things
hiding underneath.

Svijet's Handzhar nostalgia articles were published over the course of
five consecutive weeks: October 26th, and November 2nd, 9th, 16th and
23rd, in 1997. We got hold of three: November 2nd, 16th and 23rd.

The captions have been translated verbatim. In addition we wrote some
explanatory notes which appear in red.

We would like to thank the linguist and culture historian, Peter Maher
(2), for kindly checking the translations and providing information
for the notes.

After we finished laying out this page, Prof. Maher pointed out that
we hadn't explained the significance of the fez, the hat which was
part of the Handzhar uniform. The fez was widely worn in the Ottoman
Empire and symbolized both Muslim fanaticism and Ottoman power, under
which Bosnian Muslims ruled over Orthodox Christian Serbs and Jews.
These Christians and Jews were what is known under Muslim religious
law as dhimmi people; their inferior status was legally sanctified. By
setting up a Division of Muslim troops wearing the fez the Nazis were
appealing to Islamic fanaticism, and promising a return to the Ottoman
spirit. (To show how seriously Himmler and Hitler took their alliance
with Islamic fanatics, one of the captions makes a special point that
even the Handzhar division's commanding officer was "required" to wear
the fez.)

Regarding the Handzhar division, the "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"
writes:

"These Muslim volunteer units, called Hanjar (sword), were put in
Waffen-SS units, fought Yugoslav partisans in Bosnia, and carried out
police and security duties in Hungary. They participated in the
massacre of civilians in Bosnia and volunteered to join in the hunt
for Jews in Croatia..."
-- Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Edition 1990, Volume 2, page 707

The civilians whom Handzhar massacred were mainly Serbs and Roma
('Gypsies').

When Mr. Izetbegovic resurrected this Waffen SS division he was
telling Serbs, Roma and Jews: "Achtung! Handzhar is back!"

-- Petar Makara and Jared Israel

*To See the Pictures and Read the Captions and Our Notes, go to*
http://emperors-clothes.com/bosnia/svijet.htm

**Footnotes & Further Reading Follow the Fundraising Appeal**
=======================================
Please Consider Making a
Contribution to Emperor's Clothes
=======================================
If you have been reading Emperor Clothes and find our articles useful
but haven't made a contribution in some time (or ever) please consider
doing so now. We're experiencing economic difficulties and we can only
produce this work if you help us.

When you contribute your hard-earned money to Emperor's Clothes you
are taking a stand against the lies that make war possible.

Here's how you can help:

You can make a credit card donation by going to our secure server at
https://emperor.securesites.com/transactions/index.php

You can use PayPal at
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=emperors1000@...&no_shipping=1

You can mail a check to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton,
MA 02461-0321. (USA)

Or donate by phone by calling us in the U.S. at
1 617 916-1705

Note: If you donate by mail, please let us know at
emperors1000@...

Thanks!

*********************************
Footnotes & Further Reading:
*********************************
1) "Dutch Report: Us Sponsored Foreign Islamists In Bosnia," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/used.htm

2) Peter Maher, Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus, Northeastern
Illinois University, is author of "'Kosovo' or 'Kosova'? What's in a
Name?" at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/maher/inaname.htm

3) Author: Germany. Auswärtiges Amt. [Foreign Office] Title: Documents
on German foreign policy, 1918-1945, from the archives of the German
Foreign Ministry. Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik. English
Publisher: Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949- Description: Book
v. fold. maps. 24 cm.; Series D, Vol. XIII no. 515. NOTE: You may read
the entire document at
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/~fjgil/muftihitler.htm

4) For more on the Nazi-Hamas connection, see "'Palestine Is Our Land
And The Jews Our Dogs': Anti-Semitism, Misinformation, And The
Whitewashing Of The
Palestinian Leadership," by Francisco Gil-White at
http://emperors-clothes.com/gilwhite/Israel.htm

ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA by www.artel.co.yu
office@...
Date: 12 January 2003

Zivadin Jovanovic: THE END OF YUGOSLAVIA

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF A NON - STATE
Belgrade, 12 December 2002
Medija Center - Belgrade

Final Intervention on the round table of BELGRADE FORUM FOR THE WORLD
OF EQUALS

I thank to the professor Smilja Avramov for her brilliant, historical
retrospective bringing us to the present developments and helping us
to understand better possible consequences of the same.
Thanks also to the distinguish professors, scientists and public
figures who have all made great efforts and gave exceptional
contribution to the enlightening the meaning of the Constitutional
Charter and the dangers of accelerating of the state and social
crisis.

Allow me, please, in closing of this Round table, to bring to your
attention only a few brief comments based on the presentations of my
distinguish colleagues.

The present Constitutional Charter and the Initial Basis should be
considered as a whole. Those are not the documents on safeguarding,
even less on establishing of any common state of Serbia
and Monte Negro. Those are unique documents entering the history as
the documents on abolishment of the state of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. Those documents do legalize and
consolidate separation of Monte Negro from Serbia. In addition, they
are proofs of the dislocation of the sovereignty of the State out of
its borders.
.


NON STARTER SOLUTION

The interpretations of the officials, particularly of those who have
participated in the Belgrade - Podgorica negotiations, are that the
Charter just reflects realism, opens the way to
democratization and Euro-Atlantic institutions. The participants of
this Round table have presented abundance of the facts to the
opposite. Such facts are available in all presentations especially
in the statements of the university professors Ph.D. Ratko Markovic,
Ph. D. Oskar Kovac, and Ph. D. Smilja Avramov. They have clearly
proved that the current developments in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia that solutions offered by the Constitutional
Charter are contrary to the trends of integration Europe wide.
Therefore, this is not getting closer but further away of the main
processes in Europe. The Charter is without precedent in the
constitutional praxes in the world and proposed solutions without
prospects of functioning.

The European Union, organization that will soon have 25 member states,
is currently preparing own constitution. The authorities in Belgrade
and Podgorica at the same time are abolishing the
Constitution of the country, renouncing of the country's name and
history. Thus, regulation of the state functioning and organization
they have lowered from the Constitution to the provisional
three years Charter. Paradoxically all this is accomplished with the
direct engagement of the High Representative of the European Union.
How convincing it may be that realism, the way to
Euro-Atlantic organizations and democratization require the end of
Yugoslavia, unconstitutional abolition of the Country's Constitution,
disintegration of the country, amnesty of terrorists
and alike? Who would believe that citizens of this country, that
Serbian people, consider Yugoslavia, its Constitution, its name and
history to be more of an obstacle to the development and
better life than separatism, for example?


TERRITORIAL FRAGMENTATION OBSTACLE TO THE DEVELOPMENT


Divisions and fragmentation in the course of the last decade have
turned substantial part of the Serbian nation in national minorities,
refugees, and displaced parsons. Its economic and cultural
development has been harshly hindered. Firstly, by violent
separations, then by sanctions and finally by NATO bombardment in
l999. Passing of the time will certainly uncover what and whose
interest have propped up such developments and possibly confirm that
the same interest shaped the present Constitutional Charter abolishing
Yugoslavia.

It is quite clear that the Charter will further encourage separatism,
not only Montenegrin separation from Serbia, but also other separatism
in Serbia itself and in Montenegro. All this will cause
further deterioration of economic, technological and cultural
development in the region.

Why Constitutional Charter and not Constitution, why so many backward,
counter-logic solutions, built in blockades of decision making. Why
the three years grace period same as in the case of
Kosovo and Metohija. Referendum in Montenegro is prescribed by the
Constitutional Charter and the final political solution in Kosovo and
Metohija by the document called Constitutional
Frameworks. In first instance with predominant role of Xavier Solana,
the EU High Representative in the second of Hans HAKERUP, Chief of
UNMIK. In both documents, separatist provisions
are easily recognizable.

The whole procedure of long negotiations about the content of the
Charter was semi secretive, kept away of the domestic public.
Foreigners probably were better informed about what was going on
in ad hoc composed Constitutional Commission and Sub-Commission
drafting the Charter than domestic public which had no opportunity to
express own opinion and preferences about proposed
provisional arrangements supposed to last three years.

Prospects for Yugoslavia to become a member of the Council of Europe
(Council) has been exploited as an instrument of unprecedented
pressure to adopt the Charter with all obvious nonsense, to
accept abolishment of Yugoslavia both as a state and as a name.

It is about two years now since the Council had issued a list totaling
over 30 conditionalities to be fulfilled by the Yugoslav authorities.
Only recently, the Council officials have rather unexpectedly
added a new precondition - adoption of the Charter of Serbia and
Montenegro.


It is not clear who or what was prompting the Council to advance this
new precondition. This put many Belgrade politicians in awkward
position how to explain to the public why the country could
not be welcomed to the Council regardless to the Charter, under the
name of Yugoslavia, under which the country has already enjoyed the
status of the invited guest. For the time being it appears
that for the Council it was very important, to have the Charter
adopted. The Charter however marks the end of the state and the name
of Yugoslavia and establishes organization, which obviously
has no chances of functioning at all (separate banking and money,
separate customs, taxes, police etc.). It may not be necessary to
await the whole three years transition period to see that this
endeavor was non-starter from the beginning. The truth will be known.
Unfortunately, too late and without retroactive validity. Perhaps it
will be sort of repetition of the case of the second
Yugoslavia (SFRY) in Maastricht.

Hence, the authors of the Charter are on one side the political
oligarchy of ruling parties of Serbia and Montenegro and on the other
Xavier Solana. For the first ones the only aim is to safeguard
the power regardless of the size and viability of the state(s) and for
the second to establish the full control in the region.

Their individual contribution to the Charter is irrelevant for this
moment. However, there are two facts relevant to the present and for
the history. First - those federal and Serbian political
leaders who swore themselves only two years ago to be faithful to the
Constitution of Yugoslavia have now signed the abolishment not only of
the Constitution but of the state of Yugoslavia, in fact
of any common state of Serbia and Montenegro. Second - those who carry
responsibility for the armed NATO aggression against Yugoslavia in
1999, three years later, have received the power of
attorney signed by the highest representatives of Yugoslavia, Serbia,
and Montenegro, to be arbitrators in state and national the most vital
issues. They turned to be e above all state and national
institutions. Paradoxically - this is all interpreted to the public as
one more proof of strengthening the reputation and international
standing of the country.

The solutions provided by the Charter are not solutions. Their
consequences will be the expansion of the crises. The political
oligarchy will use the Charter to divide state territory and stay in
power - for some in Belgrade, for the others in Podgorica. Foreign
actors will secure political, economic and military control in the
region.


FEARING THE SCIENCE AND PUBLIC

While drafting the Charter, the political oligarchy has not respected
the valid Constitution under which it came to power. Political
institutions, the public, nor the science have participated in
shaping of it. In addition, the comparative constitutional law has
been ignored. All this with the purpose to avoid possible obstacles
regarding the abolishment of the state and its name
.
During the last two years, there have been many formal initiatives to
debate in the Federal Assembly, in the parliaments of both republics
and the public, the future of the FRY and the possibility of
drafting the new constitution. Although the Government has formally
accepted such initiatives, they have never been carried out. Now we
understand why. The democratic procedures, the
involvement of the public and the science were not convenient for the
political oligarchy and the foreign representatives, as such
procedures may hinder the abolishment of the state and the name
of Yugoslavia.

This led us to the present situation. The institutions of the
political system, Federal Assembly and the parliaments of member
Republics have been faced with fait accompli: to rubber stamp
previously taken decisions of the political oligarchy and their
foreign bosses. The citizens, the public, and the science have found
themselves grossly ignored. The most of the public has any way
been preoccupied how to cope with 30% of unemployment, low salaries
opposed to high prices and taxation.

"Take it or leave it" method has reached its peak: it has been
upgraded to the essence of democracy and European option!

CONSEQUENCES


The first - it recognizes and consolidates the separatism with all
possible consequences to the peace, stability and development. The
Charter has come on the wings of separatism supported form
the abroad. The equal tree year transition period for the
"reconsideration of the relations" between Serbia and Montenegro
(referendum) and also for the "political solution" in Kosovo and
Metohija is not a mere coincidence. These terms as well as the
temporary solutions have been created in the same power centers and
within the framework of the same strategy.

It may be concluded that the Balkans faces the stage of new redrawing
of international frontiers. The authors of the Constitutional Charter
(Serbia and Montenegro) and of the Constitutional
Frameworks (Kosovo and Metohija) are only seeking the forms of a
phased redrawing of the borders an exercise which hardly could be
limited to the territory of the present FRY.

The second - proposed provisional solutions are full of
contradictions, opposed to the international trends and objectives. On
many occasions in many international conferences, it has been
rightly asserted that Yugoslavia is a key factor of peace, stability,
and development in the Balkans. Provisional non-state called Serbia
and Montenegro caught in prolonged disputes could
hardly carry a part of that role. Institutional obstacles in the
economy, finance, domestic and foreign policy will absorb most o the
energy and time of those who are supposed to care about
development and cooperation. It is therefore almost certain that the
crisis may continue, as well as instability. Therefore, who will fill
the gap?

The third - blocking of decision-making and multiplication of disputes
between Serbia and Montenegro as well as within themselves and the
strengthening of the arbitration role of foreign
factors.

The fourth - decline of the economic and social development, further
deterioration of social and economic conditions.

With such perspectives, it is not difficult to foresee the future
which may not favor so much the state of law and democracy as much
autocracy and dictatorship. In any case, the conditions for the
continuous stability and development shall become even more difficult
and distant.