Informazione
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From : Rick Rozoff
Date : Wed, 11 Dec 2002 03:46:58 -0800 (PST)
Subject : Balkan Syndrome Resurrected
http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=4&NrArticle=8027
Transitions Online (Open Society Institute)
December 10, 2002
Balkan Syndrome Resurrected
-During NATO’s 1994 and 1995 bombings of Bosnian Serb
positions around Sarajevo, NATO aircraft used
munitions containing depleted uranium, a slightly
radioactive heavy metal that is effective in piercing
armor. Most of those bombs were fired in Hadzici. In
one day in October 1995 alone, NATO planes fired 300
projectiles into the Sarajevo suburb. According to the
Bosnian government, NATO forces fired some 10,800
rounds of 30mm armor-piercing projectiles during the
war.
-In her report, Jovanovic wrote that since the end of
the war, 25 percent of wartime Hadzici residents have
died of various cancers, tumors, and heart attacks. In
Bratunac alone in the last four years, 500 of the
5,000 Hadzici refugees have died. One Hadzici refugee
dies every three to four days, and every second one
dies from cancer.
The UN releases a study that lends credence to health
experts’ cries that NATO’s wartime uranium-tipped
weapons have left behind a deadly, cancerous legacy.
by Anes Alic and Dragan Stanimirovic
SARAJEVO and BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina--After
two years of silence, Balkan Syndrome--better known as
the depleted uranium affair--is getting its due
attention. The United Nations Environmental Protection
Agency (UNEP) in November confirmed the dangerous
presence of depleted uranium in areas of Bosnia bombed
by NATO aircraft in 1994 and 1995, which Bosnian
officials say has led to a shocking increase in
cancer-related deaths.
UN experts confirmed the discovery of two locations
containing a high level of radiation from depleted
uranium from NATO bombings: the Sarajevo suburb of
Hadzici, where a munitions warehouse and a tank-repair
facility are located, and a Bosnian Serb army barracks
in Han-Pijesak, also near Sarajevo. Investigators
discovered uranium materials and dust inside the
buildings.
The UNEP task force says that depleted uranium can
create an increase in uranium concentration 100 times
the natural levels contained in groundwater.
Upon the release of the November UN expert study on
depleted uranium, health officials from Republika
Srpska confirmed that uranium has indeed caused many
civilian deaths in those two regions. Health officials
say that civilian deaths in those regions are double
what they are in other, unaffected regions.
Earlier this year, the Bosnian government invited 17
international experts to investigate rumors that
depleted uranium is still present in the environment
and may be adversely affecting the health not only of
the local population but also of international
peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia.
The team of experts investigated 14 separate locations
over a one-month period, finding traces of radiation
in three places. Investigators were not able to
examine eight other locations--four small towns near
Sarajevo and four others in eastern Bosnia--deemed to
be too risky due to the presence of land mines.
Pekka Haavisto, who heads the UNEP task force, told
the daily Oslobodjenje: “We are concerned about the
situation at the Hadzici tank-repair facility and the
Han-Pijesak barracks and the health condition of the
citizens.” Haavisto said that after being analyzed in
Western European laboratories, the final results would
be released in March 2003.
Recent years have brought growing concern among
experts that shrapnel from depleted uranium-tipped
weapons from could cause cancer or other
radiation-related problems. According to health
experts, dust particles from depleted uranium could be
inhaled, or the substance could leach into the ground
and the water supply.
AFTEREFFECTS
During NATO’s 1994 and 1995 bombings of Bosnian Serb
positions around Sarajevo, NATO aircraft used
munitions containing depleted uranium, a slightly
radioactive heavy metal that is effective in piercing
armor. Most of those bombs were fired in Hadzici. In
one day in October 1995 alone, NATO planes fired 300
projectiles into the Sarajevo suburb. According to the
Bosnian government, NATO forces fired some 10,800
rounds of 30mm armor-piercing projectiles during the
war.
Under the November 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, some
Sarajevo suburbs held by Serbs during the war came
under the control of the mostly Bosniak and Bosnian
Croat federation entity of Bosnia. One of those
suburbs was Hadzici. Most of the approximately 30,000
Bosnian Serbs who lived there fled their homes and
moved as refugees to other parts of the Republika
Srpska entity of Bosnia and to Yugoslavia.
Some 5,000 civilians from Hadzici fled to Bratunac, in
eastern Republika Srpska. Medical analysis conducted
by the local Institute for Health in 1998 showed that
the mortality of Hadzici refugees was double the
mortality rate for the rest of Bratunac’s residents.
The study’s author, Dr. Slavica Jovanovic, told the
SRNA news agency that she has no doubt that depleted
uranium is responsible for the increased death rate of
those people.
“We can say that the mortality rate of the refugee
population is greater because of high stress, poor
nutrition, and bad living conditions. But we were
shocked to discover that deaths among Hadzici’s
refugees are much more numerous than [among] other
[refugees],” Jovanovic told SRNA. She blamed those
deaths on the fact that the refugees from Hadzici were
exposed to radiation because they lived close to the
bombed locations.
In her report, Jovanovic wrote that since the end of
the war, 25 percent of wartime Hadzici residents have
died of various cancers, tumors, and heart attacks. In
Bratunac alone in the last four years, 500 of the
5,000 Hadzici refugees have died. One Hadzici refugee
dies every three to four days, and every second one
dies from cancer.
Jovanovic said that she could not say for sure how
many Hadzici refugees have cancer because many do not
check themselves into hospitals since they cannot
afford medical treatment. The doctor said she is
hoping that the international community will step in
and find some way to examine the town’s refugee
population and help provide treatment.
After the UNEP report was released, the Republika
Srpska army evacuated soldiers from its barracks in
Han-Pijesak. Officials say that organized medical
exams will soon begin for soldiers who were in the
barracks during the past seven years.
At the same time, medical workers from the federation
entity are also sending out warnings to people still
living in Hadzici--but they are expanding their
warning to the general public, which they fear could
also be affected by the presence of depleted uranium.
Federation health officials say they are also worried
that that radiation has caused an increase in the
number of diseases such as cancers--especially
leukemia--tumors, cerebral palsy, and others.
After the reintegration of Hadzici into the federation
entity, prewar Bosniak and Croat workers began
cleaning out the munitions warehouse and tank-repair
facility, removing more than 1,000 truckloads of
garbage and munitions
Now those workers fear they too have been
contaminated. Unfortunately, they will have to wait to
find out. Workers have begun undergoing medical
examinations, but the results will not be available
until April 2003. What’s more, despite UNEP warnings
to immediately evacuate all workers because of danger
of inhaling depleted uranium dust, some workers from
Hadzici are still on duty.
“Believe me, I am very afraid. But if I have been
inhaling radiation for the past seven years, I can do
it until they publish the final results,” Zijad
Fazlic, director of the Hadzici tank-repair facility,
told TOL on November 24. “All we can do now is to wait
for the results. I don’t know what we are going to do,
but if I had known this, I would never have come here
to work. Families of workers also live here,” he said.
Soon after the UNEP report was published, federation
medical officials started to speculate that it is
possible that depleted uranium is the cause for the
shocking jump in cases of leukemia in children.
“It has not yet been proven, but we cannot see
anything else except uranium,” Edo Hasanbegovic,
director of the ontological department in Sarajevo’s
Kosevo clinic, told the daily Oslobodjenje on 21
November.
Hasanbegovic said that research is set to begin soon
to find out whether a connection can be made between
the increase in diseases and depleted uranium. But he
said he is certain that depleted uranium is one of the
elements that causes leukemia in Bosnia. “That we can
claim without medical research. Every year we have a
50 percent to 70 percent increase in the number of new
underage patients,” said Hasanbegovic.
PLAYING CATCH-UP
Lejla Saracevic, chief of radiobiology at Sarajevo
University, told TOL on 29 November that before the
depleted uranium affair was made known to the public,
local experts had asked the government to allow them
to conduct research in potentially contaminated areas.
The government, however, refused, saying there was
insufficient money in the budget for such
research--research Saracevic said costs little.
Saracevic said that once the most critical locations
have been decontaminated, it is necessary to find out
how much of the rest of the region is radioactive. “It
has been a long time. In seven years the uranium has
migrated into the ground and through the water. It is
very possible that it now exists in our vegetation and
possibly in our food. Our priority is to check that
now,” she said.
Before the war in Bosnia, the annual number of new
cases of children with leukemia was never greater than
13. Since the end of the war, that number has grown
every year: Last year it was 26. The situation is the
same with other cancers: Every year the number grows.
And almost 80 percent of those new cases are coming
from areas that were exposed to the radiation of
depleted uranium--areas that were bombed during the
war.
The so-called Balkan Syndrome affair first aroused
attention in early 2001, when Italian media published
reports that one Italian soldier who had served in
Bosnia had died of leukemia and that five more were
very ill. The Italian media blamed the sicknesses on
NATO’s use of depleted uranium in its weapons.
At the time, all governments denied that NATO was
using uranium-tipped munitions. Nonetheless, medical
examinations of soldiers were promptly begun, with
many being diagnosed with leukemia and other forms of
cancer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anes Alic is TOL’s correspondent in Sarajevo. Dragan
Stanimirovic is TOL’s correspondent in Banja Luka.
From : Rick Rozoff
Date : Wed, 11 Dec 2002 03:46:58 -0800 (PST)
Subject : Balkan Syndrome Resurrected
http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=4&NrArticle=8027
Transitions Online (Open Society Institute)
December 10, 2002
Balkan Syndrome Resurrected
-During NATO’s 1994 and 1995 bombings of Bosnian Serb
positions around Sarajevo, NATO aircraft used
munitions containing depleted uranium, a slightly
radioactive heavy metal that is effective in piercing
armor. Most of those bombs were fired in Hadzici. In
one day in October 1995 alone, NATO planes fired 300
projectiles into the Sarajevo suburb. According to the
Bosnian government, NATO forces fired some 10,800
rounds of 30mm armor-piercing projectiles during the
war.
-In her report, Jovanovic wrote that since the end of
the war, 25 percent of wartime Hadzici residents have
died of various cancers, tumors, and heart attacks. In
Bratunac alone in the last four years, 500 of the
5,000 Hadzici refugees have died. One Hadzici refugee
dies every three to four days, and every second one
dies from cancer.
The UN releases a study that lends credence to health
experts’ cries that NATO’s wartime uranium-tipped
weapons have left behind a deadly, cancerous legacy.
by Anes Alic and Dragan Stanimirovic
SARAJEVO and BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina--After
two years of silence, Balkan Syndrome--better known as
the depleted uranium affair--is getting its due
attention. The United Nations Environmental Protection
Agency (UNEP) in November confirmed the dangerous
presence of depleted uranium in areas of Bosnia bombed
by NATO aircraft in 1994 and 1995, which Bosnian
officials say has led to a shocking increase in
cancer-related deaths.
UN experts confirmed the discovery of two locations
containing a high level of radiation from depleted
uranium from NATO bombings: the Sarajevo suburb of
Hadzici, where a munitions warehouse and a tank-repair
facility are located, and a Bosnian Serb army barracks
in Han-Pijesak, also near Sarajevo. Investigators
discovered uranium materials and dust inside the
buildings.
The UNEP task force says that depleted uranium can
create an increase in uranium concentration 100 times
the natural levels contained in groundwater.
Upon the release of the November UN expert study on
depleted uranium, health officials from Republika
Srpska confirmed that uranium has indeed caused many
civilian deaths in those two regions. Health officials
say that civilian deaths in those regions are double
what they are in other, unaffected regions.
Earlier this year, the Bosnian government invited 17
international experts to investigate rumors that
depleted uranium is still present in the environment
and may be adversely affecting the health not only of
the local population but also of international
peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia.
The team of experts investigated 14 separate locations
over a one-month period, finding traces of radiation
in three places. Investigators were not able to
examine eight other locations--four small towns near
Sarajevo and four others in eastern Bosnia--deemed to
be too risky due to the presence of land mines.
Pekka Haavisto, who heads the UNEP task force, told
the daily Oslobodjenje: “We are concerned about the
situation at the Hadzici tank-repair facility and the
Han-Pijesak barracks and the health condition of the
citizens.” Haavisto said that after being analyzed in
Western European laboratories, the final results would
be released in March 2003.
Recent years have brought growing concern among
experts that shrapnel from depleted uranium-tipped
weapons from could cause cancer or other
radiation-related problems. According to health
experts, dust particles from depleted uranium could be
inhaled, or the substance could leach into the ground
and the water supply.
AFTEREFFECTS
During NATO’s 1994 and 1995 bombings of Bosnian Serb
positions around Sarajevo, NATO aircraft used
munitions containing depleted uranium, a slightly
radioactive heavy metal that is effective in piercing
armor. Most of those bombs were fired in Hadzici. In
one day in October 1995 alone, NATO planes fired 300
projectiles into the Sarajevo suburb. According to the
Bosnian government, NATO forces fired some 10,800
rounds of 30mm armor-piercing projectiles during the
war.
Under the November 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, some
Sarajevo suburbs held by Serbs during the war came
under the control of the mostly Bosniak and Bosnian
Croat federation entity of Bosnia. One of those
suburbs was Hadzici. Most of the approximately 30,000
Bosnian Serbs who lived there fled their homes and
moved as refugees to other parts of the Republika
Srpska entity of Bosnia and to Yugoslavia.
Some 5,000 civilians from Hadzici fled to Bratunac, in
eastern Republika Srpska. Medical analysis conducted
by the local Institute for Health in 1998 showed that
the mortality of Hadzici refugees was double the
mortality rate for the rest of Bratunac’s residents.
The study’s author, Dr. Slavica Jovanovic, told the
SRNA news agency that she has no doubt that depleted
uranium is responsible for the increased death rate of
those people.
“We can say that the mortality rate of the refugee
population is greater because of high stress, poor
nutrition, and bad living conditions. But we were
shocked to discover that deaths among Hadzici’s
refugees are much more numerous than [among] other
[refugees],” Jovanovic told SRNA. She blamed those
deaths on the fact that the refugees from Hadzici were
exposed to radiation because they lived close to the
bombed locations.
In her report, Jovanovic wrote that since the end of
the war, 25 percent of wartime Hadzici residents have
died of various cancers, tumors, and heart attacks. In
Bratunac alone in the last four years, 500 of the
5,000 Hadzici refugees have died. One Hadzici refugee
dies every three to four days, and every second one
dies from cancer.
Jovanovic said that she could not say for sure how
many Hadzici refugees have cancer because many do not
check themselves into hospitals since they cannot
afford medical treatment. The doctor said she is
hoping that the international community will step in
and find some way to examine the town’s refugee
population and help provide treatment.
After the UNEP report was released, the Republika
Srpska army evacuated soldiers from its barracks in
Han-Pijesak. Officials say that organized medical
exams will soon begin for soldiers who were in the
barracks during the past seven years.
At the same time, medical workers from the federation
entity are also sending out warnings to people still
living in Hadzici--but they are expanding their
warning to the general public, which they fear could
also be affected by the presence of depleted uranium.
Federation health officials say they are also worried
that that radiation has caused an increase in the
number of diseases such as cancers--especially
leukemia--tumors, cerebral palsy, and others.
After the reintegration of Hadzici into the federation
entity, prewar Bosniak and Croat workers began
cleaning out the munitions warehouse and tank-repair
facility, removing more than 1,000 truckloads of
garbage and munitions
Now those workers fear they too have been
contaminated. Unfortunately, they will have to wait to
find out. Workers have begun undergoing medical
examinations, but the results will not be available
until April 2003. What’s more, despite UNEP warnings
to immediately evacuate all workers because of danger
of inhaling depleted uranium dust, some workers from
Hadzici are still on duty.
“Believe me, I am very afraid. But if I have been
inhaling radiation for the past seven years, I can do
it until they publish the final results,” Zijad
Fazlic, director of the Hadzici tank-repair facility,
told TOL on November 24. “All we can do now is to wait
for the results. I don’t know what we are going to do,
but if I had known this, I would never have come here
to work. Families of workers also live here,” he said.
Soon after the UNEP report was published, federation
medical officials started to speculate that it is
possible that depleted uranium is the cause for the
shocking jump in cases of leukemia in children.
“It has not yet been proven, but we cannot see
anything else except uranium,” Edo Hasanbegovic,
director of the ontological department in Sarajevo’s
Kosevo clinic, told the daily Oslobodjenje on 21
November.
Hasanbegovic said that research is set to begin soon
to find out whether a connection can be made between
the increase in diseases and depleted uranium. But he
said he is certain that depleted uranium is one of the
elements that causes leukemia in Bosnia. “That we can
claim without medical research. Every year we have a
50 percent to 70 percent increase in the number of new
underage patients,” said Hasanbegovic.
PLAYING CATCH-UP
Lejla Saracevic, chief of radiobiology at Sarajevo
University, told TOL on 29 November that before the
depleted uranium affair was made known to the public,
local experts had asked the government to allow them
to conduct research in potentially contaminated areas.
The government, however, refused, saying there was
insufficient money in the budget for such
research--research Saracevic said costs little.
Saracevic said that once the most critical locations
have been decontaminated, it is necessary to find out
how much of the rest of the region is radioactive. “It
has been a long time. In seven years the uranium has
migrated into the ground and through the water. It is
very possible that it now exists in our vegetation and
possibly in our food. Our priority is to check that
now,” she said.
Before the war in Bosnia, the annual number of new
cases of children with leukemia was never greater than
13. Since the end of the war, that number has grown
every year: Last year it was 26. The situation is the
same with other cancers: Every year the number grows.
And almost 80 percent of those new cases are coming
from areas that were exposed to the radiation of
depleted uranium--areas that were bombed during the
war.
The so-called Balkan Syndrome affair first aroused
attention in early 2001, when Italian media published
reports that one Italian soldier who had served in
Bosnia had died of leukemia and that five more were
very ill. The Italian media blamed the sicknesses on
NATO’s use of depleted uranium in its weapons.
At the time, all governments denied that NATO was
using uranium-tipped munitions. Nonetheless, medical
examinations of soldiers were promptly begun, with
many being diagnosed with leukemia and other forms of
cancer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anes Alic is TOL’s correspondent in Sarajevo. Dragan
Stanimirovic is TOL’s correspondent in Banja Luka.
"VAFFANCULO"
Riferisco in termini rigorosamente fattuali, necessitato anche dalla
presenza del pubblico, quanto si è verificato ieri, domenica 8
dicembre, al cinema Tibur in Roma, in occasione dell'incontro con
la delegazione di parlamentari italiani di ritorno dall'Iraq.
Sono intervenuti Elettra Dejana, Paolo Cento, Silvana Pisa e,
particolarmente equilibrata e corretta, Loredana De Petris che,
almeno, si è astenuta dal ripetere gli stereotipi della propaganda
imperialista sugli "orrori" di regime. Alcuni interventi -
frutto di appena 3 giorni di presenza in Iraq e di lunghi anni di
intossicazione mediatica - sono risultati più polemici contro il
governo iracheno che contro gli aggressori e sanzionatori
angloamericani. Impressioni superficiali sono diventate
verità incontrovertibili. Solo qualche esempio: "I veli sono
aumentati del 50%", cifra del tutto inventata e senza sapere che a
Baghdad risultano esserci oggi più donne velate soprattutto perchè
ci sono oltre un milione di profughi sciti dal Sud uranizzato e
bombardato giornalmente (e che da sempre portano il velo); "Ai giovani
si inibisce la ricerca di certi siti in internet", totalmente
falso, la navigazione su internet è totalmente libera
e viene praticata in tantissimi "internetcafè" in giro per Baghdad. "Siamo
stati accompagnati in tutti i nostri movimenti e contatti da agenti di
polizia, segno di mancanza di libertà", si trascura che gli interessati
erano una delegazione ufficiale parlamentare e che sarebbero stati
accompagnati in qualsiasi paese del mondo; qualsiasi visitatore
straniero e giornalista è invece liberissimo di girare dove e
come vuole per Baghdad, incontrare chi vuole, fare amicizia,
visitare famiglie, andare allo stadio, frequentare studenti e tutto
il resto, come accertato da me in 25 anni di visite in Iraq
e da chiunque altro. Inoltre, il meccanismo statale per cui
all'85% degli iracheni viene garantito un quantitativo di cibo
sufficiente a sopravvivere all'embargo genocida e che i
responsabili dell'ONU Denis Halliday e Hans Von Sponeck hanno
definito "uno dei più efficienti e meno corrotti del mondo"
viene interpretato da Dejana come strumento per aumentare la
dipendenza del popolo dal regime, la cui iconografia, in
effetti eccessiva (ma non più dell'iconografia cattolica da cui siamo
sommersi da 2000 anni e dei valori consumistico-capitalistici che ci
assediano giorno e notte) viene attribuita a una cultura patologica e
paranoica. Si à anche voluto attribuire a una risorgenza islamica il fatto
che la comunità cattolica caldea sia diminuita in dieci anni di 200.000
unità Invece l'Iraq è riconosciuto da tutte le Chiese (Vaticano compreso)
come uno dei paesi più rispettosi delle varie religioni esistenti al suo
interno. Se tanti cristiani hanno potuto sottrarsi alla disperazione della
fame, delle bombe e della morte da uranio e malattie varie, è perchè i
caldei rappresentavano da sempre un ceto tra i più benestanti del paese e,
diversamente dagli altri, hanno potuto ricorrere alle proprie
disponibilità per emigrare e rifarsi una vita altrove.
Il bello è venuto al termine degli interventi e all'inizio del dibattito.
Notato che milioni di persone in Iraq, come "denunciato" da Elettra Dejana
("società militarizzata"), avessero l'arma in casa facendo parte di una
milizia di difesa territoriale e di resistenza antisraeliana in Palestina,
il moderatore Sergio Cararo ha notato con ironia che un regime che si può
permettere di avere metà della sua popolazione armata non si deve sentire
poi tanto contrastato. La battuta di Cararo è stata salutata da un lungo
applauso il che ha ulteriormente fatto inviperire Elettra Dejana che,
rivoltasi al sottoscritto, pure plaudente alla battuta, ha urlato: "Stai
facendo propaganda pro-Saddam". La mia risposta è stata :"Direi piuttosto
che qui si rasenta la propaganda americana". La risposta della Dejana,
parlamentare di RC come io ne sono militante e dirigente federale, a
volume ancora più sorprendente è stata "Ma va' a fare in culo,
Grimaldi".
Sconcerto generale nel pubblico e poi fischi e proteste. A mia volta
sottolineavo: "Elegante terminologia per una parlamentare". La Deiana
si sottraeva sia a un confronto civile, allontanandosi
rapidamente insieme al suo seguito, sia ai successivi interventi,
continuando a schiammazzare contro di me e, ormai, contro quasi
tutti gli altri.
Mi limito a riferire che nel mio intervento, poi, mi sono limitato a
sottolineare i pericoli di un eurocentrismo anche "di sinistra", con i
suoi rischi di colonialismo politico, e di una evidente
subalternità alle intossicazioni e diffamazioni imperialiste. E' un
film già visto in occasione dello squartamento imperialista della
Jugoslavia, agevolato dall'accettazione passiva da parte di molta
Sinistra delle fandonie inventate su Serbi e Milosevic, successivamente
tutte rigorosamente smentite. Forse c'è una coda di paglia, certo che
la Sinistra non si può permettere un altro tragico errore del genere.
Risulta evidente a chiunque non sia blindato nei suoi pregiudizi e nella
mania di applicare etichette calunniatrici che tutto questo non è
"propaganda pro-Saddam", ma semplice elencazione di fatti
incontrovertibili e accertabili da chiunque non si limiti a tre
giorni di delegazione in un paese, ma si assuma la responsabilità
di una ricerca approfondita e, soprattutto, di una meno pigra
individuazione delle fonti.
Della serie: I favori resi all'imperialismo dalla bomba "diritti umani",
come condivisi da D'Alema, e dal missile "democrazia", come praticato
negli USA.
Fulvio Grimaldi
9/12/2002
Riferisco in termini rigorosamente fattuali, necessitato anche dalla
presenza del pubblico, quanto si è verificato ieri, domenica 8
dicembre, al cinema Tibur in Roma, in occasione dell'incontro con
la delegazione di parlamentari italiani di ritorno dall'Iraq.
Sono intervenuti Elettra Dejana, Paolo Cento, Silvana Pisa e,
particolarmente equilibrata e corretta, Loredana De Petris che,
almeno, si è astenuta dal ripetere gli stereotipi della propaganda
imperialista sugli "orrori" di regime. Alcuni interventi -
frutto di appena 3 giorni di presenza in Iraq e di lunghi anni di
intossicazione mediatica - sono risultati più polemici contro il
governo iracheno che contro gli aggressori e sanzionatori
angloamericani. Impressioni superficiali sono diventate
verità incontrovertibili. Solo qualche esempio: "I veli sono
aumentati del 50%", cifra del tutto inventata e senza sapere che a
Baghdad risultano esserci oggi più donne velate soprattutto perchè
ci sono oltre un milione di profughi sciti dal Sud uranizzato e
bombardato giornalmente (e che da sempre portano il velo); "Ai giovani
si inibisce la ricerca di certi siti in internet", totalmente
falso, la navigazione su internet è totalmente libera
e viene praticata in tantissimi "internetcafè" in giro per Baghdad. "Siamo
stati accompagnati in tutti i nostri movimenti e contatti da agenti di
polizia, segno di mancanza di libertà", si trascura che gli interessati
erano una delegazione ufficiale parlamentare e che sarebbero stati
accompagnati in qualsiasi paese del mondo; qualsiasi visitatore
straniero e giornalista è invece liberissimo di girare dove e
come vuole per Baghdad, incontrare chi vuole, fare amicizia,
visitare famiglie, andare allo stadio, frequentare studenti e tutto
il resto, come accertato da me in 25 anni di visite in Iraq
e da chiunque altro. Inoltre, il meccanismo statale per cui
all'85% degli iracheni viene garantito un quantitativo di cibo
sufficiente a sopravvivere all'embargo genocida e che i
responsabili dell'ONU Denis Halliday e Hans Von Sponeck hanno
definito "uno dei più efficienti e meno corrotti del mondo"
viene interpretato da Dejana come strumento per aumentare la
dipendenza del popolo dal regime, la cui iconografia, in
effetti eccessiva (ma non più dell'iconografia cattolica da cui siamo
sommersi da 2000 anni e dei valori consumistico-capitalistici che ci
assediano giorno e notte) viene attribuita a una cultura patologica e
paranoica. Si à anche voluto attribuire a una risorgenza islamica il fatto
che la comunità cattolica caldea sia diminuita in dieci anni di 200.000
unità Invece l'Iraq è riconosciuto da tutte le Chiese (Vaticano compreso)
come uno dei paesi più rispettosi delle varie religioni esistenti al suo
interno. Se tanti cristiani hanno potuto sottrarsi alla disperazione della
fame, delle bombe e della morte da uranio e malattie varie, è perchè i
caldei rappresentavano da sempre un ceto tra i più benestanti del paese e,
diversamente dagli altri, hanno potuto ricorrere alle proprie
disponibilità per emigrare e rifarsi una vita altrove.
Il bello è venuto al termine degli interventi e all'inizio del dibattito.
Notato che milioni di persone in Iraq, come "denunciato" da Elettra Dejana
("società militarizzata"), avessero l'arma in casa facendo parte di una
milizia di difesa territoriale e di resistenza antisraeliana in Palestina,
il moderatore Sergio Cararo ha notato con ironia che un regime che si può
permettere di avere metà della sua popolazione armata non si deve sentire
poi tanto contrastato. La battuta di Cararo è stata salutata da un lungo
applauso il che ha ulteriormente fatto inviperire Elettra Dejana che,
rivoltasi al sottoscritto, pure plaudente alla battuta, ha urlato: "Stai
facendo propaganda pro-Saddam". La mia risposta è stata :"Direi piuttosto
che qui si rasenta la propaganda americana". La risposta della Dejana,
parlamentare di RC come io ne sono militante e dirigente federale, a
volume ancora più sorprendente è stata "Ma va' a fare in culo,
Grimaldi".
Sconcerto generale nel pubblico e poi fischi e proteste. A mia volta
sottolineavo: "Elegante terminologia per una parlamentare". La Deiana
si sottraeva sia a un confronto civile, allontanandosi
rapidamente insieme al suo seguito, sia ai successivi interventi,
continuando a schiammazzare contro di me e, ormai, contro quasi
tutti gli altri.
Mi limito a riferire che nel mio intervento, poi, mi sono limitato a
sottolineare i pericoli di un eurocentrismo anche "di sinistra", con i
suoi rischi di colonialismo politico, e di una evidente
subalternità alle intossicazioni e diffamazioni imperialiste. E' un
film già visto in occasione dello squartamento imperialista della
Jugoslavia, agevolato dall'accettazione passiva da parte di molta
Sinistra delle fandonie inventate su Serbi e Milosevic, successivamente
tutte rigorosamente smentite. Forse c'è una coda di paglia, certo che
la Sinistra non si può permettere un altro tragico errore del genere.
Risulta evidente a chiunque non sia blindato nei suoi pregiudizi e nella
mania di applicare etichette calunniatrici che tutto questo non è
"propaganda pro-Saddam", ma semplice elencazione di fatti
incontrovertibili e accertabili da chiunque non si limiti a tre
giorni di delegazione in un paese, ma si assuma la responsabilità
di una ricerca approfondita e, soprattutto, di una meno pigra
individuazione delle fonti.
Della serie: I favori resi all'imperialismo dalla bomba "diritti umani",
come condivisi da D'Alema, e dal missile "democrazia", come praticato
negli USA.
Fulvio Grimaldi
9/12/2002
ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA by www.artel.co.yu
office@...
Datum: 10 decembar 2002
Ustavna povelja :KORAK NAZAD - DVA KORAKA NAPRED
Prof. Dr Oskar Kovac
Beograd, 10 decembar 2002. godine
Uvodno izlaganje pripremljeno za:
okrugli sto Beogradskog foruma za svet ravnopravnih
"Medija centar" Beograd. Makedonska 5/II
Cetvrtak 12. decembra 2002. g. u 11,oo h.
Jugoslavija se nalazi pred provalijom svog nestanka. Mnogi joj
preporucuju da ucini korak nazad, a zatim dva koraka napred!
Predlog Ustavne povelje je u svakom pogledu korak nazad. Ceo
svet zna da se ona donosi samo zato sto SAD i Evropska unija
zele privremeno da odloze secesiju Crne Gore. Zato sto se jos
nisu odlucili kako da u(ne)rede ovaj preostali deo prethodne
Jugoslavije. Otcepljenje Crne Gore sada im ne odgovara zato
sto bi sledilo otcepljenje Kosova i Metohije sa ciljem stvaranja
velike Albanije. To bi im u okviru NATO pakta izazvalo velike
probleme u Grckoj i Bivsoj jugoslovenskoj republici Makedoniji,
a okupirani juzni deo "zapadnog Balkana" definitivno bi se
pretvorio u kloaku Evrope. Zato su uzeli time out od tri godine
i za Kosovo i Metohiju i za Crnu Goru.
Ustavna povelja je od pocetka koncipirana tako da predvidjena
toboznja drzavna zajednica ne moze da funkcionise, ali da se
sa njom prihvati vec ostvareni visok stepen separacije Crne
Gore i unapred legalizuje njeno "eventualno" otcepljenje posle
tri godine.
U Ustavnu povelju su ugradjene konstrukcione greske zbog kojih
buduca zajednica ne moze ekonomski da se odrzi.
Ustavna povelja predvidja dva odvojena privredna sistema i samo
njihovu harmonizaciju. Dva privredna sistema imaju razlicite
nacionalne valute, sopstve centralne banke, sopstvena carinska
podrucja (i carinske prihode) i sopstvene fiskalne sisteme.
Ustavna povelja deklarativno predvidja "zajednicko trziste"
ali ga u konkretnim resenjima onemogucava. Zajednicko trziste
ne postoji bez carinske unije (jednog carinskog podrucja, jedne
carinske tarife i zajednickih carinskih prihoda). Sa sopstvenim
carinskim podrucjima Srbija i Crna Gora nisu u zajednickom
trzistu nego u zoni slobodne trgovine. U toj zoni kretanje
robe poreklom iz Srbije u Crnu Goru i obratno bilo bi bez carine.
Takve zone slobodne trgovine Jugoslavija vec ima sa BiH,
Madjarskom i Ruskom federacijom, a da sa njima nema nikakvu
"drzavnu zajednicu". Da se roba iz trecih zemalja ( za koju
bi carinu naplatila i za sebe zadrzala jedna drzava) ne bi
bez carine pojavila u drugoj drzavi, izmedju Srbije i Crne
Gore bi se morala postaviti carinska granica. Na njoj bi se
kontrolisala uverenja o poreklu robe kao bi bescarinski pristup
imala samo roba pretezno proizvedena u Srbiji, odnosno Crnoj
Gori.
Nije jasno zasto posrednici iz Evropske unije pristaju na
ovakvu zloupotrebu termina "zajednicko trziste" ? Zemlje
EU su taj pojam jasno definisale pre pola veka u Rimskom
ugovoru o stvaranju Evropske ekonomske zajednice, a carinsku
uniju su ostvarile pre roka! Od carinske unije presle su u
jedinstveno trziste, ekonomsku i monetarnu uniju. Vec dve
godine pripremaju svoj Ustav, a ne Ustavnu povelju!
Principi Ustavne povelje povecavaju konfuziju i time sto
izme|u Srbije i Crne Gore predvidjaju "slobodno kretanje
kapitala". S obzirom na postojanje razlicitih nacionalnih
valuta i finansijskih trzista (Crna Gora ima svoju drzavnu
Komisiju za hartije od vrednosti), jasno je da ne moze biti
ni potpuno slobodnog kretanja kapitala izmedju njih. Hartije
od vrednosti koje glase na stranu valutu su inostrane hartije,
kretanje kapitala u tudjoj valuti takodje. To u svakoj drzavi
regulise Zakon o deviznom poslovanju, a konvertibilnost ne
vazi za kapitalne transakcije. Uostalom, nije ni dozvoljeno
da se evro iz Crne Gore bilo gde tretira povoljnije nego evro
iz zemalja koje su ga stvorile!
Kada su zemlje EU ukinule svoje nacionalne valute i uvele
evro, glavno obrazlozenje bilo je: "jedno trziste - jedna
valuta". To sto EU podrzava besmisleno resenje o jednoj
drzavi sa dve valute, objektivno znaci da priznaje da buduca
Srbija i Crna Gora nije ni jedno trziste, niti jedna drzava.
Ustavna povelja predvidja jedno clanstvo Srbije i Crne Gore
u medjunarodnim finansijskim organizacijama ali to prakticno
onemogucava. Po statutima Medjunarodnog monetarnog fonda i
Svetske banke, svaku drzavu predstavlja guverner centralne
banke, odnosno ministar finansija. Po Ustavnoj povelji,
Srbija i Crna Gora nece imati nijednu od tih institucija.
Nije verovatno da ce MMF i SB promeniti svoje statute zbog
Srbije i Crne Gore.
Cinjenica da Srbija i Crna Gora nece imati svoju imovinu
(izuzev male imovine u inostranstvu i administrativnih
zgrada u Beogradu i Podgorici), nece imati devizne rezerve
niti drzavni budzet, ugrozavace mogucnosti njenog pristupa
medjunarodnim finansijskim trzistima. Zato sto nece imati
sta da ponudi kao materijalnu garanciju za obaveze koje
preuzima. Bez drzavnog budzeta, centralne banke i deviznih
rezervi ona nece uzivati poverenje u sposobnost urednog
otplacivanja spoljnog duga.
Bez tih uslova stranim investitorima nece biti jasno ko
ce im garantovati njihova prava i uslove privredjivanja.
Sudeci po Ustavnoj povelji, to nije ni predvidjeno! Ko
nema centralnu banku niti ministarstvo finansija sa
drzavnim budzetom i sopstvenim izvorima prihoda (carine,
porezi) nema instrumenata monetarne i fiskalne politike.
Bez tih instrumenata nema ni makroekonomske politike Srbije
i Crne Gore.
Uostalom, nece biti ni drugih neophodnih segmenata makroekonomske
politike. Samo na prvi pogled dva ministra u Savetu ministara
imaju neke veze sa privredom. Ustavna povelja odredjuje da je
ministar za ekonomske odnose sa inostranstvom "odgovoran za
pregovaranje i koordinaciju implementacije medjunarodnih
sporazuma, ukljucujuci ugovorne odnose sa EU i koordinaciju
odnosa sa medjunarodnim finansijskim institucijama" i to
samo "nakon konsultacija sa nadleznim ministrima drzava
clanica". Ni reci o tome da predlaze zakone iz oblasti
ekonomskih odnosa sa inostranstvom! Ministar za unutrasnje
ekonomske odnose takodje samo koordinira harmonizaciju
odvojenih "ekonomskih sistema drzava clanica" a ni na koji
nacin ne vodi ekonomsku politiku niti predlaze zakone.
Jasno je da na nivou zajednice drzava Srbije i Crne Gore
nije predvidjeno donosenje zakona iz oblasti privrede, kao
sto su zakon o preduzecima, devizni zakon, poreski zakoni,
zakon o bankama, hartijama od vrednosti i finansijskom trzistu.
Nakon svega, postavlja se pitanje: kakva je to drzava koja
nema svoje ime, svoj Ustav, svoju imovinu, nema jedinstveni
privredni prostor, svoju nacionalnu valutu i centralnu banku,
budzet, ekonomsku i razvojnu politiku?
Odgovor je: nikakva!
office@...
Datum: 10 decembar 2002
Ustavna povelja :KORAK NAZAD - DVA KORAKA NAPRED
Prof. Dr Oskar Kovac
Beograd, 10 decembar 2002. godine
Uvodno izlaganje pripremljeno za:
okrugli sto Beogradskog foruma za svet ravnopravnih
"Medija centar" Beograd. Makedonska 5/II
Cetvrtak 12. decembra 2002. g. u 11,oo h.
Jugoslavija se nalazi pred provalijom svog nestanka. Mnogi joj
preporucuju da ucini korak nazad, a zatim dva koraka napred!
Predlog Ustavne povelje je u svakom pogledu korak nazad. Ceo
svet zna da se ona donosi samo zato sto SAD i Evropska unija
zele privremeno da odloze secesiju Crne Gore. Zato sto se jos
nisu odlucili kako da u(ne)rede ovaj preostali deo prethodne
Jugoslavije. Otcepljenje Crne Gore sada im ne odgovara zato
sto bi sledilo otcepljenje Kosova i Metohije sa ciljem stvaranja
velike Albanije. To bi im u okviru NATO pakta izazvalo velike
probleme u Grckoj i Bivsoj jugoslovenskoj republici Makedoniji,
a okupirani juzni deo "zapadnog Balkana" definitivno bi se
pretvorio u kloaku Evrope. Zato su uzeli time out od tri godine
i za Kosovo i Metohiju i za Crnu Goru.
Ustavna povelja je od pocetka koncipirana tako da predvidjena
toboznja drzavna zajednica ne moze da funkcionise, ali da se
sa njom prihvati vec ostvareni visok stepen separacije Crne
Gore i unapred legalizuje njeno "eventualno" otcepljenje posle
tri godine.
U Ustavnu povelju su ugradjene konstrukcione greske zbog kojih
buduca zajednica ne moze ekonomski da se odrzi.
Ustavna povelja predvidja dva odvojena privredna sistema i samo
njihovu harmonizaciju. Dva privredna sistema imaju razlicite
nacionalne valute, sopstve centralne banke, sopstvena carinska
podrucja (i carinske prihode) i sopstvene fiskalne sisteme.
Ustavna povelja deklarativno predvidja "zajednicko trziste"
ali ga u konkretnim resenjima onemogucava. Zajednicko trziste
ne postoji bez carinske unije (jednog carinskog podrucja, jedne
carinske tarife i zajednickih carinskih prihoda). Sa sopstvenim
carinskim podrucjima Srbija i Crna Gora nisu u zajednickom
trzistu nego u zoni slobodne trgovine. U toj zoni kretanje
robe poreklom iz Srbije u Crnu Goru i obratno bilo bi bez carine.
Takve zone slobodne trgovine Jugoslavija vec ima sa BiH,
Madjarskom i Ruskom federacijom, a da sa njima nema nikakvu
"drzavnu zajednicu". Da se roba iz trecih zemalja ( za koju
bi carinu naplatila i za sebe zadrzala jedna drzava) ne bi
bez carine pojavila u drugoj drzavi, izmedju Srbije i Crne
Gore bi se morala postaviti carinska granica. Na njoj bi se
kontrolisala uverenja o poreklu robe kao bi bescarinski pristup
imala samo roba pretezno proizvedena u Srbiji, odnosno Crnoj
Gori.
Nije jasno zasto posrednici iz Evropske unije pristaju na
ovakvu zloupotrebu termina "zajednicko trziste" ? Zemlje
EU su taj pojam jasno definisale pre pola veka u Rimskom
ugovoru o stvaranju Evropske ekonomske zajednice, a carinsku
uniju su ostvarile pre roka! Od carinske unije presle su u
jedinstveno trziste, ekonomsku i monetarnu uniju. Vec dve
godine pripremaju svoj Ustav, a ne Ustavnu povelju!
Principi Ustavne povelje povecavaju konfuziju i time sto
izme|u Srbije i Crne Gore predvidjaju "slobodno kretanje
kapitala". S obzirom na postojanje razlicitih nacionalnih
valuta i finansijskih trzista (Crna Gora ima svoju drzavnu
Komisiju za hartije od vrednosti), jasno je da ne moze biti
ni potpuno slobodnog kretanja kapitala izmedju njih. Hartije
od vrednosti koje glase na stranu valutu su inostrane hartije,
kretanje kapitala u tudjoj valuti takodje. To u svakoj drzavi
regulise Zakon o deviznom poslovanju, a konvertibilnost ne
vazi za kapitalne transakcije. Uostalom, nije ni dozvoljeno
da se evro iz Crne Gore bilo gde tretira povoljnije nego evro
iz zemalja koje su ga stvorile!
Kada su zemlje EU ukinule svoje nacionalne valute i uvele
evro, glavno obrazlozenje bilo je: "jedno trziste - jedna
valuta". To sto EU podrzava besmisleno resenje o jednoj
drzavi sa dve valute, objektivno znaci da priznaje da buduca
Srbija i Crna Gora nije ni jedno trziste, niti jedna drzava.
Ustavna povelja predvidja jedno clanstvo Srbije i Crne Gore
u medjunarodnim finansijskim organizacijama ali to prakticno
onemogucava. Po statutima Medjunarodnog monetarnog fonda i
Svetske banke, svaku drzavu predstavlja guverner centralne
banke, odnosno ministar finansija. Po Ustavnoj povelji,
Srbija i Crna Gora nece imati nijednu od tih institucija.
Nije verovatno da ce MMF i SB promeniti svoje statute zbog
Srbije i Crne Gore.
Cinjenica da Srbija i Crna Gora nece imati svoju imovinu
(izuzev male imovine u inostranstvu i administrativnih
zgrada u Beogradu i Podgorici), nece imati devizne rezerve
niti drzavni budzet, ugrozavace mogucnosti njenog pristupa
medjunarodnim finansijskim trzistima. Zato sto nece imati
sta da ponudi kao materijalnu garanciju za obaveze koje
preuzima. Bez drzavnog budzeta, centralne banke i deviznih
rezervi ona nece uzivati poverenje u sposobnost urednog
otplacivanja spoljnog duga.
Bez tih uslova stranim investitorima nece biti jasno ko
ce im garantovati njihova prava i uslove privredjivanja.
Sudeci po Ustavnoj povelji, to nije ni predvidjeno! Ko
nema centralnu banku niti ministarstvo finansija sa
drzavnim budzetom i sopstvenim izvorima prihoda (carine,
porezi) nema instrumenata monetarne i fiskalne politike.
Bez tih instrumenata nema ni makroekonomske politike Srbije
i Crne Gore.
Uostalom, nece biti ni drugih neophodnih segmenata makroekonomske
politike. Samo na prvi pogled dva ministra u Savetu ministara
imaju neke veze sa privredom. Ustavna povelja odredjuje da je
ministar za ekonomske odnose sa inostranstvom "odgovoran za
pregovaranje i koordinaciju implementacije medjunarodnih
sporazuma, ukljucujuci ugovorne odnose sa EU i koordinaciju
odnosa sa medjunarodnim finansijskim institucijama" i to
samo "nakon konsultacija sa nadleznim ministrima drzava
clanica". Ni reci o tome da predlaze zakone iz oblasti
ekonomskih odnosa sa inostranstvom! Ministar za unutrasnje
ekonomske odnose takodje samo koordinira harmonizaciju
odvojenih "ekonomskih sistema drzava clanica" a ni na koji
nacin ne vodi ekonomsku politiku niti predlaze zakone.
Jasno je da na nivou zajednice drzava Srbije i Crne Gore
nije predvidjeno donosenje zakona iz oblasti privrede, kao
sto su zakon o preduzecima, devizni zakon, poreski zakoni,
zakon o bankama, hartijama od vrednosti i finansijskom trzistu.
Nakon svega, postavlja se pitanje: kakva je to drzava koja
nema svoje ime, svoj Ustav, svoju imovinu, nema jedinstveni
privredni prostor, svoju nacionalnu valutu i centralnu banku,
budzet, ekonomsku i razvojnu politiku?
Odgovor je: nikakva!
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=2545%c2%a7ionID=18
ZNet | Kosovo
Milosevic at the Hague
Round Two
by Andrej Grubacec; October 27, 2002
In the latest instalment of the cycle of trials at the Hague, where
Milosevic is charged with alleged war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia, the
current president of Croatia Stjepan Mesic and Slobodan Milosevic had a
much anticipated confrontation. According to the Serbian and Croatian
press, the televised verbal duel between Milosevic and Mesic in the
Hague courtroom was closely watched by approximately 90% of the total
population in each state.
As a witness against Milosevic, the choice of Stjepan Mesic seems
somewhat unusual, if not downright bizarre. Most citizens in both Serbia
and Croatia remember all too well his most quoted and notorious
utterance. At the beginning of December 1991, Mesic, the author of the
book "How we brought about the collapse of Yugoslavia", announced in the
Croatian parliament: "I think my mission has been accomplished,
Yugoslavia no longer exists ." Six months later, in May 1992, the late
president Franjo Tudjman reminded those assembled in the Ban Josip
Jelacic Square in Zagreb: "The war could not have happened had Croatia
not wanted it. Had we not done it, had we not armed ourselves, we would
not have achieved our goal!"
The problem of history
So began the Croatian chapter. In the aftermath, history has become so
entangled with the contested questions raised at the Milosevic trial,
that is becoming quite clear to the public that British judge Richard
May and his team (South Korea's Kwan and Jamaica's Robinson) are on
"mission impossible" ..
To date, judge May has consistently antagonized the Serbian and Yugoslav
public with his utter neglect and scorn for historical context. But his
statement that "Jasenovac (a WWII concentration camp in which some 700
000 Serbs were slaughtered by Croatian fascists) is irrelevant to the
fear experienced by Serbs in Croatia" at the outset of the war is
shocking and incomprehensible. Similarly, the claim made by Mesic in his
testimony that during World War II in Yugoslavia "mostly Jews and some
Serbs" met their doom, is ripe for debate (the genocide of the Serbs in
Croatia during the WWII is acknowledged as one of the most horrendous
episodes in the whole war).
May dismissively concluded that fifty years is too distant a history to
account for the fear of Serbs in Krajina at the outbreak of hostilities.
He did not even falter when his own prosecution witness, identified only
as C37 from Pakrac (a village in Croatia), substantiated that during the
time of Tito's rule (the former Yugoslav president for life), he had
learned in "Croatian schools that 700 000 Serbs perished in Jasenovac."
Throughout the first few days of the trial regarding the case of
Croatia, countless such instances occurred in which the prosecution
presented as uncontestable a very partial version of history that is
unacceptable, if not insulting, for the Serbian public. The prosecution
has tried to corroborate this version through their witnesses, a
strategy which has ultimately proved to be very risky. Even their first
witness, C37, testified that his father had perished in a concentration
camp, and that for Serbs in Krajina at the outset of the latest war,
this history had been cause for great fear and insecurity.
Milosevic proficiently exploits these historical inaccuracies that have
been handed to him on a platter by the prosecution, relishing the
opportunity to point out the obvious discrepancies, because they provide
him with the opportunity to portray the entire proceedings as a trial
against the Serbian people. This plays into his strategy, because in
doing so, he is able to portray himself as their "ad hoc" defender.
The Enigma of Karadjordjevo
It became clear very early in the court conversation between Milosevic
and Mesic, two lucid politicians and lawyers, that Stjepan Mesic would
not prove to be an effective witness against Milosevic. When speaking of
the political aspirations of the former president of the neighbouring
state (Serbia), the Croatian president characterized them as a conscious
effort to destroy Yugoslavia, as the homogenization of all Serbs who
inhabited it, and the gradual creation of a "greater Serbia." Mesic
substantiated his claim that Belgrade officials of the nineties were
responsible for the war by citing Milosevic's famous speech in Kosovo,
and the "serbianization" campaign of the JNA (Yugoslav national army)
during the armed rebellion of Serbs in Croatia.
Milosevic immediately countered that this was a case of thesis
substitution. "It turns out that you were for Yugoslavia, while I
contrived to break it up. Well this would be the laughing stock of any
child in Serbia, mister Mesic!" "That may be, but I am not on trial
here, you are!" was the answer. Which was again met by Milosevic's
acerbic: "That is the point, mister Mesic, that is the point!"
However, Stjepan Mesic's testimony in the Hague did reveal two key
points. The first was the Croatian president's confirmation of the
authenticity of key documents that revealed the modus operandi and
decision making process of the former Presidency of the SFRJ (Social
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav state founded after
WWII).
The second revelation is much more significant for the internal politics
of Croatia - more so than for Serbia. It has to do with the well-known
meeting of Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic in a small place called
Karadjordjevo in March 1991. Stjepan Mesic testified in the Hague that
Tudjman told him at the time that he was going to meet Slobodan
Milosevic alone in Karadjordjevo. According to Mesic's testimony, the
late Croatian president returned to Zagreb a changed man. Mesic claims
that Tudjman had always, until that meeting with Milosevic, supported
the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Hertzegovina. But he returned
from Karadjordjevo convinced that Croatia would be able to return to its
territorial boundaries from 1939 (the province of "Banovina" at the
time). Though the public remained ignorant of this fact for a long time,
the formation of the Serbian Republic and the Croatian Republic of
"Herzeg-Bosnia" soon followed, and it became clear that new borders were
being drawn in Yugoslavia. Stjepan Mesic also stated that "expert
commissions" were appointed for the configuration of those borders, and
convened secret meetings in Belgrade and Zagreb during this period.
Unlike Slobodan Milosevic, who almost completely disregarded the matter
of Karadjordjevo in his cross-examination, Mesic's testimony sent a
shockwave through Croatia, particularly to politicians in Zagreb. The
extreme Croatian right is furious, arguing that that Mesic is betraying
his country cheaply, selling it out and not for the first time.
Meanwhile, war veterans are angrily demanding that he be relieved of his
presidential duties.
The torments of Mesic
The dispute on the nature of the Belgrade regime at the Hague was also
the most sensitive and perilous element of Stjepan Mesic's testimony.
Although, on his first day in court, he gave strong arguments on all of
the circumstances he faced as the last president of the Yugoslav
presidency in the former SFRJ, he failed to respond with precise answers
when cross-examined by Milosevic on the second day of the trial.
Particularly striking was the fact that he could not, nor did he attempt
to, deny the intense climate of fear that the Serbs in Zagreb and the
rest of Croatia were subjected to in the nineties. When Slobodan
Milosevic quoted with astounding precision the racist slogans that were
proclaimed in the Croatian National Parliament in the fall of 1990,
Mesic acknowledged that those statements damaged Croatia's reputation.
But he responded by shifting the blame for them, arguing that Milosevic
was responsible for them, not the authors of these slogans, nor he
himself (since Mesic had been president of the Zagreb parliament at the
time). Soon after, many thousands of Serbs from Croatia lost their jobs
in state management, the media, public companies and industry. When
Milosevic asked whether such a threatening atmosphere in Croatia had the
Serbs in Zagreb worried, and whether Mesic himself returned from
Belgrade in order to instigate a rebellion against the "national
government" (of the SFRY), Mesic acknowledge that incidents such as
those had occurred. Then he immediately returned to the war motive of
"greater Serbian" borders. He claimed that the border was created by the
army and paramilitary formations, along with Serb insurgents in Croatia,
controlled and armed by Milosevic himself.
Though it was expected prior to their confrontation in court that
Milosevic would seek to undermine the moral and political value of the
current Croatian president's testimony, Stjepan Mesic was perceptibly
unnerved by Milosevic's questions about his time in prison between 1975
and 1976. Mesic testified that he had been the mayor of Orahovica at the
time, and that he ended up in jail because of an inflammatory
nationalist statement that "Croats cleared the path to the Adriatic sea
with our swords, while all the others arrived there simply due to our
kindness or our naiveté". He was sentenced to two years in prison, yet
his sentence was soon halved. Slobodan Milosevic attempted to prove or
at least imply that the reduction of his sentence occurred due to
Mesic's collaboration with the departments of national security in
Croatia and Yugoslavia. Mesic denied this, but failed to respond to
Milosevic's direct questions with plausible answers.
The parting with Tudjman
One of the weakest points in Stjepan Mesic's verbal confrontation with
Milosevic was the polemic concerning his rift with Tudjman, the ruling
party of the time, the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Community), and official
Croatian politics in the spring of 1994. Mesic claimed that he parted
with Tudjman based on their disagreement over the division of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, because Tudjman refused to end the state plunder of
Croatia, and because Tudjman was clearly not prone to abide by the law
and a lawful state. Milosevic responded by asking the obvious: why
hadn't he demonstrated those concerns sooner, rather than staying on as
the second most powerful man in the Croatian government during the most
horrible crimes against the Croatian Serbs (many of which still remain
unpunished)? His meaningless reply, that the country had by that time
been exposed to " Serbian aggression", returned the story back to the
beginning.
The initial encounter
After the cross-examination of the strongest Croatian witness against
Milosevic, the prosecution must have been very disappointed. The two
presidents of states once on a war path, the former and the current one,
squabbled endlessly over the country that no longer exists, only to wave
their responsibility for the war in which it perished. Not even twelve
years later, now that borders, states, ethnicities of the population and
the leaders have all changed, none of the protagonists of the Yugoslav
drama is willing to claim their share of the blame for its disappearance
from the political map of Europe and the world. Milosevic wants to be
remembered as its protector, and Mesic refuses to take any blame for the
war.
This was starkly illustrated by Stjepan Mesic's description of his first
personal encounter with Slobodan Milosevic. It was in the spring of
1991, in Belgrade. The then president of Serbia invited Mesic and the
late president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, to his office to discuss the
possible consequences of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Tudjman
carefully examined a map that Milosevic claimed had been drawn up by the
most renowned world experts. Tudjman put the map in his pocket and
carried it with him to Zagreb. There he repeated Milosevic's words, and
some time later, they both met in Karadjordjevo and reached an agreement
on Bosnia. The origin and the real meaning of this unusual map, that
supposedly depicted terrible consequences for Croats and Serbs in case
of Yugoslav disintegration, has never been determined nor confirmed.
Prosecutor Nice showed little concern over the issue. He sarcastically
remarked that he himself could obtain all the necessary maps on
Southeastern Europe. Even if it meant "walking into the nearest Hague
supermarket and buying the first available highway map". So much for law
and sovereignty, states and borders, along with the seriousness of the
Hague "Tribunal."
ZNet | Kosovo
Milosevic at the Hague
Round Two
by Andrej Grubacec; October 27, 2002
In the latest instalment of the cycle of trials at the Hague, where
Milosevic is charged with alleged war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia, the
current president of Croatia Stjepan Mesic and Slobodan Milosevic had a
much anticipated confrontation. According to the Serbian and Croatian
press, the televised verbal duel between Milosevic and Mesic in the
Hague courtroom was closely watched by approximately 90% of the total
population in each state.
As a witness against Milosevic, the choice of Stjepan Mesic seems
somewhat unusual, if not downright bizarre. Most citizens in both Serbia
and Croatia remember all too well his most quoted and notorious
utterance. At the beginning of December 1991, Mesic, the author of the
book "How we brought about the collapse of Yugoslavia", announced in the
Croatian parliament: "I think my mission has been accomplished,
Yugoslavia no longer exists ." Six months later, in May 1992, the late
president Franjo Tudjman reminded those assembled in the Ban Josip
Jelacic Square in Zagreb: "The war could not have happened had Croatia
not wanted it. Had we not done it, had we not armed ourselves, we would
not have achieved our goal!"
The problem of history
So began the Croatian chapter. In the aftermath, history has become so
entangled with the contested questions raised at the Milosevic trial,
that is becoming quite clear to the public that British judge Richard
May and his team (South Korea's Kwan and Jamaica's Robinson) are on
"mission impossible" ..
To date, judge May has consistently antagonized the Serbian and Yugoslav
public with his utter neglect and scorn for historical context. But his
statement that "Jasenovac (a WWII concentration camp in which some 700
000 Serbs were slaughtered by Croatian fascists) is irrelevant to the
fear experienced by Serbs in Croatia" at the outset of the war is
shocking and incomprehensible. Similarly, the claim made by Mesic in his
testimony that during World War II in Yugoslavia "mostly Jews and some
Serbs" met their doom, is ripe for debate (the genocide of the Serbs in
Croatia during the WWII is acknowledged as one of the most horrendous
episodes in the whole war).
May dismissively concluded that fifty years is too distant a history to
account for the fear of Serbs in Krajina at the outbreak of hostilities.
He did not even falter when his own prosecution witness, identified only
as C37 from Pakrac (a village in Croatia), substantiated that during the
time of Tito's rule (the former Yugoslav president for life), he had
learned in "Croatian schools that 700 000 Serbs perished in Jasenovac."
Throughout the first few days of the trial regarding the case of
Croatia, countless such instances occurred in which the prosecution
presented as uncontestable a very partial version of history that is
unacceptable, if not insulting, for the Serbian public. The prosecution
has tried to corroborate this version through their witnesses, a
strategy which has ultimately proved to be very risky. Even their first
witness, C37, testified that his father had perished in a concentration
camp, and that for Serbs in Krajina at the outset of the latest war,
this history had been cause for great fear and insecurity.
Milosevic proficiently exploits these historical inaccuracies that have
been handed to him on a platter by the prosecution, relishing the
opportunity to point out the obvious discrepancies, because they provide
him with the opportunity to portray the entire proceedings as a trial
against the Serbian people. This plays into his strategy, because in
doing so, he is able to portray himself as their "ad hoc" defender.
The Enigma of Karadjordjevo
It became clear very early in the court conversation between Milosevic
and Mesic, two lucid politicians and lawyers, that Stjepan Mesic would
not prove to be an effective witness against Milosevic. When speaking of
the political aspirations of the former president of the neighbouring
state (Serbia), the Croatian president characterized them as a conscious
effort to destroy Yugoslavia, as the homogenization of all Serbs who
inhabited it, and the gradual creation of a "greater Serbia." Mesic
substantiated his claim that Belgrade officials of the nineties were
responsible for the war by citing Milosevic's famous speech in Kosovo,
and the "serbianization" campaign of the JNA (Yugoslav national army)
during the armed rebellion of Serbs in Croatia.
Milosevic immediately countered that this was a case of thesis
substitution. "It turns out that you were for Yugoslavia, while I
contrived to break it up. Well this would be the laughing stock of any
child in Serbia, mister Mesic!" "That may be, but I am not on trial
here, you are!" was the answer. Which was again met by Milosevic's
acerbic: "That is the point, mister Mesic, that is the point!"
However, Stjepan Mesic's testimony in the Hague did reveal two key
points. The first was the Croatian president's confirmation of the
authenticity of key documents that revealed the modus operandi and
decision making process of the former Presidency of the SFRJ (Social
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav state founded after
WWII).
The second revelation is much more significant for the internal politics
of Croatia - more so than for Serbia. It has to do with the well-known
meeting of Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic in a small place called
Karadjordjevo in March 1991. Stjepan Mesic testified in the Hague that
Tudjman told him at the time that he was going to meet Slobodan
Milosevic alone in Karadjordjevo. According to Mesic's testimony, the
late Croatian president returned to Zagreb a changed man. Mesic claims
that Tudjman had always, until that meeting with Milosevic, supported
the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Hertzegovina. But he returned
from Karadjordjevo convinced that Croatia would be able to return to its
territorial boundaries from 1939 (the province of "Banovina" at the
time). Though the public remained ignorant of this fact for a long time,
the formation of the Serbian Republic and the Croatian Republic of
"Herzeg-Bosnia" soon followed, and it became clear that new borders were
being drawn in Yugoslavia. Stjepan Mesic also stated that "expert
commissions" were appointed for the configuration of those borders, and
convened secret meetings in Belgrade and Zagreb during this period.
Unlike Slobodan Milosevic, who almost completely disregarded the matter
of Karadjordjevo in his cross-examination, Mesic's testimony sent a
shockwave through Croatia, particularly to politicians in Zagreb. The
extreme Croatian right is furious, arguing that that Mesic is betraying
his country cheaply, selling it out and not for the first time.
Meanwhile, war veterans are angrily demanding that he be relieved of his
presidential duties.
The torments of Mesic
The dispute on the nature of the Belgrade regime at the Hague was also
the most sensitive and perilous element of Stjepan Mesic's testimony.
Although, on his first day in court, he gave strong arguments on all of
the circumstances he faced as the last president of the Yugoslav
presidency in the former SFRJ, he failed to respond with precise answers
when cross-examined by Milosevic on the second day of the trial.
Particularly striking was the fact that he could not, nor did he attempt
to, deny the intense climate of fear that the Serbs in Zagreb and the
rest of Croatia were subjected to in the nineties. When Slobodan
Milosevic quoted with astounding precision the racist slogans that were
proclaimed in the Croatian National Parliament in the fall of 1990,
Mesic acknowledged that those statements damaged Croatia's reputation.
But he responded by shifting the blame for them, arguing that Milosevic
was responsible for them, not the authors of these slogans, nor he
himself (since Mesic had been president of the Zagreb parliament at the
time). Soon after, many thousands of Serbs from Croatia lost their jobs
in state management, the media, public companies and industry. When
Milosevic asked whether such a threatening atmosphere in Croatia had the
Serbs in Zagreb worried, and whether Mesic himself returned from
Belgrade in order to instigate a rebellion against the "national
government" (of the SFRY), Mesic acknowledge that incidents such as
those had occurred. Then he immediately returned to the war motive of
"greater Serbian" borders. He claimed that the border was created by the
army and paramilitary formations, along with Serb insurgents in Croatia,
controlled and armed by Milosevic himself.
Though it was expected prior to their confrontation in court that
Milosevic would seek to undermine the moral and political value of the
current Croatian president's testimony, Stjepan Mesic was perceptibly
unnerved by Milosevic's questions about his time in prison between 1975
and 1976. Mesic testified that he had been the mayor of Orahovica at the
time, and that he ended up in jail because of an inflammatory
nationalist statement that "Croats cleared the path to the Adriatic sea
with our swords, while all the others arrived there simply due to our
kindness or our naiveté". He was sentenced to two years in prison, yet
his sentence was soon halved. Slobodan Milosevic attempted to prove or
at least imply that the reduction of his sentence occurred due to
Mesic's collaboration with the departments of national security in
Croatia and Yugoslavia. Mesic denied this, but failed to respond to
Milosevic's direct questions with plausible answers.
The parting with Tudjman
One of the weakest points in Stjepan Mesic's verbal confrontation with
Milosevic was the polemic concerning his rift with Tudjman, the ruling
party of the time, the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Community), and official
Croatian politics in the spring of 1994. Mesic claimed that he parted
with Tudjman based on their disagreement over the division of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, because Tudjman refused to end the state plunder of
Croatia, and because Tudjman was clearly not prone to abide by the law
and a lawful state. Milosevic responded by asking the obvious: why
hadn't he demonstrated those concerns sooner, rather than staying on as
the second most powerful man in the Croatian government during the most
horrible crimes against the Croatian Serbs (many of which still remain
unpunished)? His meaningless reply, that the country had by that time
been exposed to " Serbian aggression", returned the story back to the
beginning.
The initial encounter
After the cross-examination of the strongest Croatian witness against
Milosevic, the prosecution must have been very disappointed. The two
presidents of states once on a war path, the former and the current one,
squabbled endlessly over the country that no longer exists, only to wave
their responsibility for the war in which it perished. Not even twelve
years later, now that borders, states, ethnicities of the population and
the leaders have all changed, none of the protagonists of the Yugoslav
drama is willing to claim their share of the blame for its disappearance
from the political map of Europe and the world. Milosevic wants to be
remembered as its protector, and Mesic refuses to take any blame for the
war.
This was starkly illustrated by Stjepan Mesic's description of his first
personal encounter with Slobodan Milosevic. It was in the spring of
1991, in Belgrade. The then president of Serbia invited Mesic and the
late president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, to his office to discuss the
possible consequences of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Tudjman
carefully examined a map that Milosevic claimed had been drawn up by the
most renowned world experts. Tudjman put the map in his pocket and
carried it with him to Zagreb. There he repeated Milosevic's words, and
some time later, they both met in Karadjordjevo and reached an agreement
on Bosnia. The origin and the real meaning of this unusual map, that
supposedly depicted terrible consequences for Croats and Serbs in case
of Yugoslav disintegration, has never been determined nor confirmed.
Prosecutor Nice showed little concern over the issue. He sarcastically
remarked that he himself could obtain all the necessary maps on
Southeastern Europe. Even if it meant "walking into the nearest Hague
supermarket and buying the first available highway map". So much for law
and sovereignty, states and borders, along with the seriousness of the
Hague "Tribunal."
