Informazione
* La dottrina nucleare della NATO (Group Neutro, Slovenia)
* La guerra biologica degli USA (COUNTERPUNCH, USA)
* La NATO ha intenzionalmente causato una catastrofe ecologica
in Jugoslavia (Michael Chossudovsky)
---
DOTTRINA NUCLEARE DELLA NATO: IL "DIRITTO" AL PRIMO COLPO
Sull'argomento segnaliamo anche un "paginone" di Liberazione dell'11
maggio 2000, con intervista a Isidoro Mortellaro, che spiegava che il
"primo colpo dissuasivo" nucleare potra' essere inferto anche a stati
non nucleari ma provvisti di armi chimiche o biologiche. Tutto questo e'
stato deciso al vertice Nato di Firenze del 24 maggio.
Auguri ...
(luca nencini, enea - casaccia)
-
Subject: FYI: New NATO nuclear arms policy
Date: 15 Jun 2000 11:27:37 PDT
From: Tina.Purnat@... (Tina Purnat)
Public protest regarding the new military doctrine of the NATO alliance
A new military doctrine pf the NATO alliance took effect on May 19,
2000. The document NC-400/2 presents a new military strategy which
authorizes NATO members to use nuclear weapons ofensively. Nucelar
weapons are thus not used as a retaliation to an immediate danger or
attack, but can be used as a "preventive" measure (so-called "first
strike"). The document refers specifically to use of nuclear weapons
against countries that do not posess nuclear wepons technology. Until
now, the use of nuclear weapons was mandated by the principle of
retaliation ( so-called "strike first - die second"), which prevented a
nuclear attack toward a country that does not posess nuclear wepons.
This has now been replaced by the aforementioned "first strike"
principle.
the new doctrine was passed through a special "silent procedure"
protocol of the NATO alliance. The alliance formed a top secret
document which took effect after a specified period of time provided no
member appeals to the content of the document. Since no NATO members
filed appeals or for changes, the doctrine is now binding for all NATO
countries, as well as any future members.
The first information about hte secret document NC-400/2 was aired by
the German TV station ARD. Video clips with commentary can be found at:
-
http://www.tagesschau.de/archiv/2000/05/22/sendungen/ts-1700/meldungen/nato
-
http://www.tagesschau.de/archiv/2000/05/22/sendungen/ts-1700/videos/nato.ram
Existence of the document was also confirmed by the German foreign
minister Joschka Fischer, but refrained form commenting it. At the
recent meeting of the Atlantic summit of the NATO alliance in Florence,
NATO also passed a resolution to protect confidential information. This
resolution prevents "associated members" (form the "Partnership for
Peace", of which Slovenia is also a member) from accesing confidential
information of the NATO alliance. The resolution would prevent the
public from obtaining similar confidential information -- such as the
passing of the new military "first strike" doctrine.
We, the signatories of the public protest, express our disagreement with
the apparent escalation of NATO's agressive tactics. Moreover, we
disagree with the secretive nature of information pertaining to security
and external policies of individual countries. We believe the new NATO
military doctrine is unacceptable for Slovenia, since it contradicts the
124. Article of the Slovenian constitution ("National security shall be
predicated primarily on policies designed to promote peace and an ethic
of peace and nonaggression."). we thus propose that Slovenia
reconsiders its application for membership in NATO.
We propose that the Republic of Slovenia engages more actively in peace
and non-violent policies. We appeal to the Cabinet and the Parliement
of R Slovenia to agian reconsider joining the International initiative
on the use of nuclear weapons. Slovenia has refrained from signing the
initiative under pressure of NATO members.
Signatures (with full names and location) in support of this initiative
can be sent to Neutro@....
We ask for help with dissemination of the petition (it can be found at
the address http://www.ljudmila.org/neutro/protest).
The petition and the signatures will be presented to the leading media,
Parliamentary commission for foreign affairs, the President of R
Slovenia, Ministry of foreign affairs, Ministry of defence, Supreme
court of Slovenia, political parties, and interested non-profit
organizations.
Group Neutro
Krizevniska 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
www.ljudmila.org/neutro
neutro@...
===
LA GUERRA BIOLOGICA DEGLI USA
Subject: COLOMBIA: La Guerra Biologica degli Stati Uniti
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 11:46:34 +0200
From: "Comit. Int.sta Arco Iris" <ale.ramon@...>
A seguire riproduciamo un articolo che racchiude il senso del Campo
Antimperialista che si svolgerà ad Assisi dal 30 Luglio al 6 Agosto. E'
evidente come gli Stati Uniti d'America, nel nome della scienza e del
progresso, stiano preparando lo sterminio dei popoli e della
biodiversità.
A seguire la prova.
Guerra Biologica sulle Ande: La prossima arma segreta della CIA
Ingenieria Genetica e Guerra Chimico-Biologica
Da CounterPunch (numero 11, giugno 2000)
L'"agente azzurro" avanza
All'istituto di genetica del Kazakistan, esperti sovietici della guerra
biologica stanno venendo finanziati dagli Stati Uniti e dalla Gran
Bretagna
per testare micoerbicidi, la famiglia dei "Fusarium oxysporum" che
tendono
ad infettare le piante di coca e che sono estremamente simili ad altri
miceti che attaccano le patate, prodotto principale della dieta andina.
La calamità McCaffery
Accanto alle altre scelleratezze perpetrate in nome della Guerra alla
Droga, gli Stati Uniti si stanno ora attivamente preparando per
impiegare
armi biologiche. Le armi consistono in flora patogena progettata per
attaccare la coca, la cannabis ed i papaveri da oppio.
La ricerca nel progetto ha comportato la risurrezione degli agenti
biologici sviluppati tempo fa a Fort Detrick (Maryland), il centro per
il
programma della guerra biologica chiuso dal Presidente Nixon nel 1969.
Profondamente congelati al momento della chiusura del programma, questi
stanno venendo scongelati e preparati per dare l'assalto ai paesi
produttori, nel terzo mondo. Coinvolti sono anche i veterani della
creazione della guerra biologica sovietica, ora finanziati dagli Stati
Uniti con la connivenza di un oscuro agente dell'agenzia delle Nazioni
Unite, assunto con il proposito di proteggere gli Stati Uniti dalla ben
meritata imputazione di violare la convenzione internazionale sulle armi
biologiche.
Il lavoro procede nonostante la ben certificata evidenza che le armi, se
impiegate, avranno un impatto profondo e disastroso sugli ecosistemi dei
paesi in cui verranno impiegate. Oltretutto, il Dipartimento degli Stati
Uniti per l'Agricoltura (United States Department of Agriculture, USDA)
stà
ora compiendo ricerche sull'utilizzo delle modificazioni genetiche per
accrescere la potenza di queste armi biologiche. I principali agenti che
vengono sviluppati sono i patogeni microbici.
Presso l'Istituto di Genetica del Kazakistan, gli ex esperti di guerra
biologica vengono finanziati dagli Stati Uniti per testare
funghi-micoerbicidi, in particolare la Pleospora, per uccidere i
papaveri
da oppio e le piante di marijuana.
Nelle Ande e nell'Amazzonia occidentale, gli Stati Uniti stanno
programmando di testare e diffondere l'applicazione del "fusarium
oxysporum", un fungo anti-coca. Il budget per quest'anno (Fiscal Year
2000)
contiene almeno 23 milioni di dollari (46 miliardi di lire) per questi
programmi, sebbene altri contributi verranno certamente bruciati nella
copertura dei preventivi per spese militari e di controspionaggio.
La prospettiva di ricevere un attacco biologico non sembra però
entusiasmare paesi come il Peru', la Bolivia e la Colombia. Il governo
peruviano ha già bandito la possibilità di testare o utilizzare
micoerbicidi. Il governo colombiano sembra altrettanto contrario, ma è
stato abilmente ammonito dai sostenitori del progetto del Conresso
Statunitense che se la Colombia vuole il suo pacchetto di aiuti da 1,8
miliardi di dollari (36.000 miliardi di lire), farebbe bene ad accettare
anche i funghi.
Lo scorso marzo, Il presidente del Comitato per gli Affari Esteri della
Casa Bianca, Benjamin Gilman, ha aggiunto un emendamento al disegno di
legge per l'aiuto colombiano, richiedendo al Presidente Clinton di
certificare che il governo colombiano "abbia accettato e stia
sviluppando
una strategia per eliminare tutta la produzione colombiana di coca e di
papaveri oppiacei" utilizzando, tra gli altri mezzi, "micoerbicidi
testati
ed ecologicamente sicuri". L'emendamento è ancora presente nel disegno
di
legge (che stà venendo discusso al senato) nonostante una subcommissione
di
scienziati colombiani del Tribunale Civile per l'Ambiente abbia
affermato
che l'uso di agenti micoerbicidi rappresenta "un grande pericolo sia per
gli umani che per l'ambiente e la biodiversità della Colombia".
E' facile capire perché i colombiani sono spaventati. La condizione
necessaria per questo tipo di armi sarebbe che queste dovrebbero essere
"host specific", cioè che dovrebbero attaccare solo l'obiettivo
designato e
nulla di più.
Secondo Ed Hammond del Progetto "Sunshine", che ricercava e
pubblicizzava
questa scelleratezza, i tests condotti dai ricercatori della USDA nel
1994
e 1995, utilizzando il fungo "fusarium oxysporum" (EN4), hanno dato come
risultato l'infezione di due specie di piante, diverse da quella della
coca.
Inoltre, la famiglia dei "Fusarium oxysporum", che tende ad infettare le
piante di coca, è estremamente simile ad altri miceti che attaccano le
patate, prodotto principale nella dieta andina.
Questo non è molto sorprendente perchè, come sottolinea Hammond, l'EN4 è
stato ideato per attaccare diverse specie di piante di coca ed inoltre
non
può essere interamente "host specific".
Così le rare e belle farfalle agrias potranno presto sparire
nell'ennesima
casualità della Guerra alla Droga, dal momento che le loro larve
nascono e
maturano nelle imparentate piante selvagge della coca. Una delle poche
aree
dove le agria possono essere trovate è la zona a nord della regione del
fiume Putumayo, un centro sia della attività della guerriglia che della
coltivazione della coca in Colombia ed inoltre, uno dei primi obiettivi
della campagna di fumigazione al fungo, da parte degli Stati Uniti.
Nel frattempo, tornando nei laboratori, i ricercatori dell'USDA stanno
lavorando per creare specie di funghi geneticamente modificati, compresa
la
clonazione di famiglie del fusarium che attaccano le patate, per
produrre
così qualcosa di ancora più perverso.
Tuttavia, nella loro ricerca per strumenti di ciò che ufficialmente si
conosce come "bio-controllo", i ricercatori del governo sono tornati,
così
sembra, indietro al passato.
Infatti, prima del 1949, secondo i documenti dati ad Hammond in base
all'Atto di Libertà dell'Informazione (Freedom of Information Act,
FOIA),
una squadra del Servizio di Ispezione sulle Piante e sugli Animali
dell'USDA (Animal and Plant Inspection Service, APHIS) ha trovato un
virus
in un albero Datura, importato dal Cauca (Colombia). Qualcuno, non è
ancora
chiaro chi, ha determinato che il virus potrebbe essere utile come
agente
anti-oppiacee, ed è stato quindi inviato al centro per la guerra
biologica
di Fort Detrick (Maryland), con l'etichetta D-437.
Sulla base dell'ordine di Nixon di chiudere il centro, il D-437 non è
stato
distrutto ma messo in un luogo ad alto congelamento, dimenticato da
tutti
ma non dai ricercatori che avevano lavorato così felicemente a Detrick.
Il 12 Aprile di quest'anno, Hammond ha raccolto una breve citazione del
D-437 in una pagina web dell'Esercito degli Stati Uniti, per il fatto
che
questo era stato studiato da tale Dottor Vernon Damsteegt, lui stesso
uno
dei veterani di Detrick.
Alle successive inchieste di Hammond, ogni menzione del virus e della
sua
custodia venivano rimosse dal sito, che riportava la fraudolenta
notificazione che l'ultimo aggiornamento fosse avvenuto il giorno 6
Aprile.
Il 1969 è stato l'anno in cui Richard Nixon lanciò la sua guerra alla
droga, utilizzando per questo la sua forza di polizia segreta, la DEA
(Drug
Enforcement Agency), una storia raccontata nel grande libro di Edward J.
Epstein, "l'Agenzia della Paura" (Agency of Fear).
La guerra biologica era integrale per gli Stati Uniti contro il Vietnam.
CounterPunchers ricorda l'"agente arancione", il disgustoso infuso
impiegato per defoliare la giungla.
L'"agente azzurro", lanciato sulla produzione di riso, è un po' meno
conosciuto. Lo scopo era privare il Fronte di Liberazione Nazionale
dall'approvigionamento di cibo. Le piantagioni di riso che si riteneva
servissero al nemico, venivano pesantemente irrorate e distrutte.
Il professor Matthew Meselsen ricorda come, nell'anno 1970, venne
prelevato
da un colonnello del Reparto Chimico dell'Esercito degli Stati Uniti per
sorvolare una vallata di un altopiano che era stato irrorato con
l'"agente
azzurro", alcune settimane prima. Come volarono sopra la valle
devastata,
il colonnello coraggiosamente spiegò a Meselsen che questa era stata
ovviamente una fonte di approvigionamento di cibo per l'FLN, dal momento
che non si erano viste abitazioni nella zona.
Successivamente, essi atterrarono in un vicino villaggio che scoprirono
essere popolato da rifugiati della vicina valle. I rifugiati spiegarono
di
essere scappati perché gli americani avevano appena distrutto la loro
piantagione di riso. Analizzando fotografie che aveva preso dal cielo,
Meselsen successivamente scoprì numerose case che erano rimaste
invisibili
mentre si volava sopra le stesse velocemente.
Un semplice calcolo rivelava che la quantità di riso era sufficiente
solo
per alimentare la popolazione locale, senza nessun avanzo per l'affamata
guerriglia vietnamita.
Meselsen scrisse un rapporto che forniva qualche dubbio politico sul
comando statunitense in Vietnam, nel quale si raccomandava a Washington
di
porre fine all'"agente azzurro". La raccomandazione venne fatta filtrare
dal Washington Post e fu allora che Nixon cancellò immediatamente il
programma.
Questa è una misura della barbarie della presente generazione di
guerrieri
della droga che fanno sì che Richard Nixon sembri assennato. Nonostante
l'evidenza dei pericoli dello sviluppo delle armi biologiche come il
fungo,
gli Stati Uniti sembrano determinati ad andare avanti.
------------------------------------------------------
| Fonte: CounterPunch |
| 3220 N. St., NW, PMB 346 Washington, DC, 20007-2829 |
| 1-800-840-3683 (phone) 1-800-967-3620 (fax) |
| http://www.counterpunch.org |
| http://www.purefood.org/corp/biowar.cfm |
------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________
*) Per chi non volesse continuare a ricevere nostre notizie, è
semplicemente necessario scrivere allo stesso indirizzo, specificando
"unsubscribe" nel titolo (subject) del messaggio e l'indirizzo che deve
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____________________________________
Comitato Internazionalista Arco Iris
Via Don Minzoni 33
25082 Botticino Sera (BS)
E-mail: ale.ramon@...
Tel/Fax 030-2190006
===
LA CATASTROFE ECOLOGICA IN JUGOSLAVIA
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM
Emperor's New Clothes
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm
NATO Willfully Triggered An Environmental Catastrophe In Yugoslavia
by Michel Chossudovsky (6-18-00)
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, author of "The
Globalization of Poverty, Third World Network, Penang, Zed Books,
London, 1997.
By using thermal images, NATO was able to identify which of the tanks
were still filled with toxic chemicals. If NATO's objective were to
solely disable the plant without the risk of "collateral" environmental
damage, they could have done it by smart bombing the equipment and
machinery. Why did they also need to hit with utmost accuracy the tanks
containing noxious liquids? The "smart bombs" were not dumb; they knew
where to go. NATO had singled out the containers, tanks and reservoirs,
which still contained toxic materials. According to the Pancevo plant
director, NATO did not hit a single empty container. "This was not
accidental; they chose to hit those that were full and these chemicals
spilled into the canal leading to the Danube."
The air raids on the Pancevo industrial complex located in the outskirts
of Belgrade started on April 4th 1999 and continued relentlessly until
the 7th of June. The Pancevo complex included an oil refinery facility
(built with technical support from Texaco) and a Nitrogen Processing
Plant producing fertilizer for Yugoslav agriculture. The petrochemical
plant was bombed extensively (41 bombs and 7 missile attacks). The
bombed areas of the complex were less than two hundred meters from
residential buildings.
At the outset of the "humanitarian air raids -- in a well-led public
relations stunt -- NATO had reassured World opinion " that "precise
targeting" using sophisticated weaponry was intended to avoid
"collateral damage" including environmental hazards:
"We do everything we possibly can to avoid unnecessary collateral
damage. We take it very seriously, work very hard at doing that, spend a
lot of time planning for the missions."1
At Pancevo, however, exactly the opposite occurred. "State of the art"
aerial surveillance and thermal detection systems were not only used to
disable and destroy Yugoslavia's petrochemical industry; they were
willfully applied to trigger an environmental disaster.
At the beginning of the war, workers at the plant had been actively
involved in removing toxic materials from the site, emptying several
large tanks and containers of toxic chemicals precisely to avert the
risks of "collateral damage." They did not realize NATO was watching
them through air-to-ground surveillance systems as well as satellite
images. Using thermal detection, NATO military planners knew which of
the containers had been emptied and which remained full. How does that
work? All objects including the containers of toxic chemicals in the
Pancevo plant emit infrared radiation. A thermal imager from a spy
satellite or an aircraft can detect infrared radiation and convert its
readings into a high-resolution video or snap picture.
The thermal imager can detect temperature differentials as small as 0.1
degrees centigrade which enables it to distinguish without difficulty
between full and empty containers. The thermal images can be generated
from a device installed on the fuselage of an aircraft. NATO warplanes
were equipped with various advanced imaging systems including just such
infrared/electro-optical sensors.
Moreover, multispectral thermal imaging satellite systems routinely used
during the Gulf war were also used by NATO in Yugoslavia. Thermal
satellite images were relayed to the Combined Air Operations Centre
(CAOC) in Vicenza, Italy where the bombing raids weere carefully
planned. U2 spy planes were also used: In the words of a Pentagon
spokesman, the U2 "snaps a picture from very high altitude, beams it
back in what we call a reach-back, to the States where it is very
quickly analyzed." And from there, "the right targeting data" is relayed
to the CAOC base in Vincenza which then "passes [it] on to people in the
cockpit". 2
NATO planners also had detailed information on the layout of the plant,
which had been built on contract with a US multinational engineering
company Foster Wheeler (a firm specializing in the construction of
petrochemical and polymer plants). NATO knew exactly where things were.
In a cruel irony, US investment in Yugoslavia (financed with loans from
the World Bank) was being demolished by Uncle Sam. Did the pilots
sitting in the cockpit know that they were bombing a plant which was
"Made in America?"
A large number of the containers had been emptied. By using thermal
images, NATO was able to identify which of the tanks were still filled
with toxic chemicals. Among these noxious liquids were containers of
ethylene-dichloride (EDC), ethylene, chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen,
propylene and vinyl chloride monomers (VCM). Well documented by
environmentalists, the VCM monomer used to produce plastics (eg. PVC
resin) is a dangerous cancerogenic groundwater contaminant (see photo
2). Vinyl chloride also has the potential to cause neurological and
liver damage, as well as damage to the fetus causing birth defects.
If NATO's objective were to solely disable the plant without the risk of
"collateral" environmental damage, they could have done it by smart
bombing the equipment and machinery. Why did they also need to hit with
utmost accuracy the tanks containing noxious liquids? The "smart bombs"
were not dumb; they knew where to go. NATO had singled out the
containers, tanks and reservoirs, which still contained toxic materials.
According to the Pancevo plant director, NATO did not hit a single empty
container. "This was not accidental; they chose to hit those that were
full and these chemicals spilled into the canal leading to the Danube".
The containers that contained deadly chemicals were deliberately blown
up.
When the smart bombs hit their targets at Pancevo with impressive
accuracy (see photos below), noxious fluids and fumes were released into
the atmosphere, water and soil.
According to the petrochemical plant director, the ethylene-dichloride
(EDC) spillovers had contaminated 10 hectares of land on and in the
vicinity of the plant. 3
The soil is still soaked with toxic ethylene-dichloride. According to a
report of the Regional Environment Center for Central and Eastern Europe
(REC) "more than one thousand tons of ethylene dichloride spilled from
the Pancevo petrochemical complex into the Danube [through the canal
which links the plant to the river]. Over a thousand tonnes of natrium
hydroxide were spilled from the Pancevo petrochemical complex. Nearly
1,000 tons of hydrogen chloride spilled from Pancevo into the Danube
River"4
Eight tons of mercury escaped from the petrochemical complex spilling
into the soil. The wastewater treatment plant was also bombed thereby
exacerbating the ecological impact.
NATO military strategists knew precisely what they were doing and what
would be the likely consequences. On April 4, at the neighboring oil
refinery, two NATO missiles had hit the refinery's control rooms killing
three staff members. The strikes set the plant on fire, reducing it to a
toxic wreck. The objective was not to avoid an environmental disaster
but to create one (see photos). NATO expected that by ruthlessly bombing
Pancevo among other civilian sites, they would intimidate Belgrade into
accepting the Rambouillet Agreement including the infamous Military
Appendix under which NATO would occupy all of Yugoslavia.
The Greens from Germany and experts from the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) as well as other groups visited the plant
after the War. The UNEP report minimizes the environmental impacts while
casually underscoring in its main conclusions that Pancevo was an
environmental hazard before the bombings. 5 The UNEP report is a
carefully worded cover-up. It downplays the seriousness of the
environmental catastrophe, while placing the blame (without supporting
evidence) on the Yugoslav authorities. Tacitly upholding the legitimacy
of the Western military alliance, UNEP's findings are in overt
contradiction with those of other scientific studies including that of
the Regional Environment Center for Central And Eastern Europe (REC)
prepared for the European Commission (see footnote 4). The complicity of
UNEP, a specialized agency of the UN with a track record of integrity is
yet another symptom of the ambivalent role of the United Nations system
in upholding the Western Military Alliance.
Smart bomb hit container with meticulous accuracy (Pancevo petrochemical
complex, March 2000, ©Michel Chossudovsky)
VCM tank containing toxic cancerogenic chemicals hit by NATO
(© Michel Chossudovsky, March 2000)
FOOTNOTES
Statement of General Charles Wold of the Pentagon, Department of Defense
Press Briefing, Washington, 12 April 1999.
Department of Defense Press Briefing, Washington, May 14th, 1999.
Interview conducted by the author in Pancevo, March 2000.
4. See the report of the REC entitled Assessment of the Environmental
Impact of Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict at
http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/background.html)
5. The UNEP report entitled The Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the
Environment & Human Settlements prepared for the European Commission can
be consulted at http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf/final/index.html
© by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2000. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to post this text on "community Internet sites"
provided the essay and the pictures remain intact and the copyright note
is displayed. For community postings, kindly send a short message to
emperors1000@.... To publish this text on commercial Internet sites,
in printed and/or in other forms (including excerpts), contact the
author by fax at:1-514-4256224.
www.emperors-clothes.com
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* La guerra biologica degli USA (COUNTERPUNCH, USA)
* La NATO ha intenzionalmente causato una catastrofe ecologica
in Jugoslavia (Michael Chossudovsky)
---
DOTTRINA NUCLEARE DELLA NATO: IL "DIRITTO" AL PRIMO COLPO
Sull'argomento segnaliamo anche un "paginone" di Liberazione dell'11
maggio 2000, con intervista a Isidoro Mortellaro, che spiegava che il
"primo colpo dissuasivo" nucleare potra' essere inferto anche a stati
non nucleari ma provvisti di armi chimiche o biologiche. Tutto questo e'
stato deciso al vertice Nato di Firenze del 24 maggio.
Auguri ...
(luca nencini, enea - casaccia)
-
Subject: FYI: New NATO nuclear arms policy
Date: 15 Jun 2000 11:27:37 PDT
From: Tina.Purnat@... (Tina Purnat)
Public protest regarding the new military doctrine of the NATO alliance
A new military doctrine pf the NATO alliance took effect on May 19,
2000. The document NC-400/2 presents a new military strategy which
authorizes NATO members to use nuclear weapons ofensively. Nucelar
weapons are thus not used as a retaliation to an immediate danger or
attack, but can be used as a "preventive" measure (so-called "first
strike"). The document refers specifically to use of nuclear weapons
against countries that do not posess nuclear wepons technology. Until
now, the use of nuclear weapons was mandated by the principle of
retaliation ( so-called "strike first - die second"), which prevented a
nuclear attack toward a country that does not posess nuclear wepons.
This has now been replaced by the aforementioned "first strike"
principle.
the new doctrine was passed through a special "silent procedure"
protocol of the NATO alliance. The alliance formed a top secret
document which took effect after a specified period of time provided no
member appeals to the content of the document. Since no NATO members
filed appeals or for changes, the doctrine is now binding for all NATO
countries, as well as any future members.
The first information about hte secret document NC-400/2 was aired by
the German TV station ARD. Video clips with commentary can be found at:
-
http://www.tagesschau.de/archiv/2000/05/22/sendungen/ts-1700/meldungen/nato
-
http://www.tagesschau.de/archiv/2000/05/22/sendungen/ts-1700/videos/nato.ram
Existence of the document was also confirmed by the German foreign
minister Joschka Fischer, but refrained form commenting it. At the
recent meeting of the Atlantic summit of the NATO alliance in Florence,
NATO also passed a resolution to protect confidential information. This
resolution prevents "associated members" (form the "Partnership for
Peace", of which Slovenia is also a member) from accesing confidential
information of the NATO alliance. The resolution would prevent the
public from obtaining similar confidential information -- such as the
passing of the new military "first strike" doctrine.
We, the signatories of the public protest, express our disagreement with
the apparent escalation of NATO's agressive tactics. Moreover, we
disagree with the secretive nature of information pertaining to security
and external policies of individual countries. We believe the new NATO
military doctrine is unacceptable for Slovenia, since it contradicts the
124. Article of the Slovenian constitution ("National security shall be
predicated primarily on policies designed to promote peace and an ethic
of peace and nonaggression."). we thus propose that Slovenia
reconsiders its application for membership in NATO.
We propose that the Republic of Slovenia engages more actively in peace
and non-violent policies. We appeal to the Cabinet and the Parliement
of R Slovenia to agian reconsider joining the International initiative
on the use of nuclear weapons. Slovenia has refrained from signing the
initiative under pressure of NATO members.
Signatures (with full names and location) in support of this initiative
can be sent to Neutro@....
We ask for help with dissemination of the petition (it can be found at
the address http://www.ljudmila.org/neutro/protest).
The petition and the signatures will be presented to the leading media,
Parliamentary commission for foreign affairs, the President of R
Slovenia, Ministry of foreign affairs, Ministry of defence, Supreme
court of Slovenia, political parties, and interested non-profit
organizations.
Group Neutro
Krizevniska 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
www.ljudmila.org/neutro
neutro@...
===
LA GUERRA BIOLOGICA DEGLI USA
Subject: COLOMBIA: La Guerra Biologica degli Stati Uniti
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 11:46:34 +0200
From: "Comit. Int.sta Arco Iris" <ale.ramon@...>
A seguire riproduciamo un articolo che racchiude il senso del Campo
Antimperialista che si svolgerà ad Assisi dal 30 Luglio al 6 Agosto. E'
evidente come gli Stati Uniti d'America, nel nome della scienza e del
progresso, stiano preparando lo sterminio dei popoli e della
biodiversità.
A seguire la prova.
Guerra Biologica sulle Ande: La prossima arma segreta della CIA
Ingenieria Genetica e Guerra Chimico-Biologica
Da CounterPunch (numero 11, giugno 2000)
L'"agente azzurro" avanza
All'istituto di genetica del Kazakistan, esperti sovietici della guerra
biologica stanno venendo finanziati dagli Stati Uniti e dalla Gran
Bretagna
per testare micoerbicidi, la famiglia dei "Fusarium oxysporum" che
tendono
ad infettare le piante di coca e che sono estremamente simili ad altri
miceti che attaccano le patate, prodotto principale della dieta andina.
La calamità McCaffery
Accanto alle altre scelleratezze perpetrate in nome della Guerra alla
Droga, gli Stati Uniti si stanno ora attivamente preparando per
impiegare
armi biologiche. Le armi consistono in flora patogena progettata per
attaccare la coca, la cannabis ed i papaveri da oppio.
La ricerca nel progetto ha comportato la risurrezione degli agenti
biologici sviluppati tempo fa a Fort Detrick (Maryland), il centro per
il
programma della guerra biologica chiuso dal Presidente Nixon nel 1969.
Profondamente congelati al momento della chiusura del programma, questi
stanno venendo scongelati e preparati per dare l'assalto ai paesi
produttori, nel terzo mondo. Coinvolti sono anche i veterani della
creazione della guerra biologica sovietica, ora finanziati dagli Stati
Uniti con la connivenza di un oscuro agente dell'agenzia delle Nazioni
Unite, assunto con il proposito di proteggere gli Stati Uniti dalla ben
meritata imputazione di violare la convenzione internazionale sulle armi
biologiche.
Il lavoro procede nonostante la ben certificata evidenza che le armi, se
impiegate, avranno un impatto profondo e disastroso sugli ecosistemi dei
paesi in cui verranno impiegate. Oltretutto, il Dipartimento degli Stati
Uniti per l'Agricoltura (United States Department of Agriculture, USDA)
stà
ora compiendo ricerche sull'utilizzo delle modificazioni genetiche per
accrescere la potenza di queste armi biologiche. I principali agenti che
vengono sviluppati sono i patogeni microbici.
Presso l'Istituto di Genetica del Kazakistan, gli ex esperti di guerra
biologica vengono finanziati dagli Stati Uniti per testare
funghi-micoerbicidi, in particolare la Pleospora, per uccidere i
papaveri
da oppio e le piante di marijuana.
Nelle Ande e nell'Amazzonia occidentale, gli Stati Uniti stanno
programmando di testare e diffondere l'applicazione del "fusarium
oxysporum", un fungo anti-coca. Il budget per quest'anno (Fiscal Year
2000)
contiene almeno 23 milioni di dollari (46 miliardi di lire) per questi
programmi, sebbene altri contributi verranno certamente bruciati nella
copertura dei preventivi per spese militari e di controspionaggio.
La prospettiva di ricevere un attacco biologico non sembra però
entusiasmare paesi come il Peru', la Bolivia e la Colombia. Il governo
peruviano ha già bandito la possibilità di testare o utilizzare
micoerbicidi. Il governo colombiano sembra altrettanto contrario, ma è
stato abilmente ammonito dai sostenitori del progetto del Conresso
Statunitense che se la Colombia vuole il suo pacchetto di aiuti da 1,8
miliardi di dollari (36.000 miliardi di lire), farebbe bene ad accettare
anche i funghi.
Lo scorso marzo, Il presidente del Comitato per gli Affari Esteri della
Casa Bianca, Benjamin Gilman, ha aggiunto un emendamento al disegno di
legge per l'aiuto colombiano, richiedendo al Presidente Clinton di
certificare che il governo colombiano "abbia accettato e stia
sviluppando
una strategia per eliminare tutta la produzione colombiana di coca e di
papaveri oppiacei" utilizzando, tra gli altri mezzi, "micoerbicidi
testati
ed ecologicamente sicuri". L'emendamento è ancora presente nel disegno
di
legge (che stà venendo discusso al senato) nonostante una subcommissione
di
scienziati colombiani del Tribunale Civile per l'Ambiente abbia
affermato
che l'uso di agenti micoerbicidi rappresenta "un grande pericolo sia per
gli umani che per l'ambiente e la biodiversità della Colombia".
E' facile capire perché i colombiani sono spaventati. La condizione
necessaria per questo tipo di armi sarebbe che queste dovrebbero essere
"host specific", cioè che dovrebbero attaccare solo l'obiettivo
designato e
nulla di più.
Secondo Ed Hammond del Progetto "Sunshine", che ricercava e
pubblicizzava
questa scelleratezza, i tests condotti dai ricercatori della USDA nel
1994
e 1995, utilizzando il fungo "fusarium oxysporum" (EN4), hanno dato come
risultato l'infezione di due specie di piante, diverse da quella della
coca.
Inoltre, la famiglia dei "Fusarium oxysporum", che tende ad infettare le
piante di coca, è estremamente simile ad altri miceti che attaccano le
patate, prodotto principale nella dieta andina.
Questo non è molto sorprendente perchè, come sottolinea Hammond, l'EN4 è
stato ideato per attaccare diverse specie di piante di coca ed inoltre
non
può essere interamente "host specific".
Così le rare e belle farfalle agrias potranno presto sparire
nell'ennesima
casualità della Guerra alla Droga, dal momento che le loro larve
nascono e
maturano nelle imparentate piante selvagge della coca. Una delle poche
aree
dove le agria possono essere trovate è la zona a nord della regione del
fiume Putumayo, un centro sia della attività della guerriglia che della
coltivazione della coca in Colombia ed inoltre, uno dei primi obiettivi
della campagna di fumigazione al fungo, da parte degli Stati Uniti.
Nel frattempo, tornando nei laboratori, i ricercatori dell'USDA stanno
lavorando per creare specie di funghi geneticamente modificati, compresa
la
clonazione di famiglie del fusarium che attaccano le patate, per
produrre
così qualcosa di ancora più perverso.
Tuttavia, nella loro ricerca per strumenti di ciò che ufficialmente si
conosce come "bio-controllo", i ricercatori del governo sono tornati,
così
sembra, indietro al passato.
Infatti, prima del 1949, secondo i documenti dati ad Hammond in base
all'Atto di Libertà dell'Informazione (Freedom of Information Act,
FOIA),
una squadra del Servizio di Ispezione sulle Piante e sugli Animali
dell'USDA (Animal and Plant Inspection Service, APHIS) ha trovato un
virus
in un albero Datura, importato dal Cauca (Colombia). Qualcuno, non è
ancora
chiaro chi, ha determinato che il virus potrebbe essere utile come
agente
anti-oppiacee, ed è stato quindi inviato al centro per la guerra
biologica
di Fort Detrick (Maryland), con l'etichetta D-437.
Sulla base dell'ordine di Nixon di chiudere il centro, il D-437 non è
stato
distrutto ma messo in un luogo ad alto congelamento, dimenticato da
tutti
ma non dai ricercatori che avevano lavorato così felicemente a Detrick.
Il 12 Aprile di quest'anno, Hammond ha raccolto una breve citazione del
D-437 in una pagina web dell'Esercito degli Stati Uniti, per il fatto
che
questo era stato studiato da tale Dottor Vernon Damsteegt, lui stesso
uno
dei veterani di Detrick.
Alle successive inchieste di Hammond, ogni menzione del virus e della
sua
custodia venivano rimosse dal sito, che riportava la fraudolenta
notificazione che l'ultimo aggiornamento fosse avvenuto il giorno 6
Aprile.
Il 1969 è stato l'anno in cui Richard Nixon lanciò la sua guerra alla
droga, utilizzando per questo la sua forza di polizia segreta, la DEA
(Drug
Enforcement Agency), una storia raccontata nel grande libro di Edward J.
Epstein, "l'Agenzia della Paura" (Agency of Fear).
La guerra biologica era integrale per gli Stati Uniti contro il Vietnam.
CounterPunchers ricorda l'"agente arancione", il disgustoso infuso
impiegato per defoliare la giungla.
L'"agente azzurro", lanciato sulla produzione di riso, è un po' meno
conosciuto. Lo scopo era privare il Fronte di Liberazione Nazionale
dall'approvigionamento di cibo. Le piantagioni di riso che si riteneva
servissero al nemico, venivano pesantemente irrorate e distrutte.
Il professor Matthew Meselsen ricorda come, nell'anno 1970, venne
prelevato
da un colonnello del Reparto Chimico dell'Esercito degli Stati Uniti per
sorvolare una vallata di un altopiano che era stato irrorato con
l'"agente
azzurro", alcune settimane prima. Come volarono sopra la valle
devastata,
il colonnello coraggiosamente spiegò a Meselsen che questa era stata
ovviamente una fonte di approvigionamento di cibo per l'FLN, dal momento
che non si erano viste abitazioni nella zona.
Successivamente, essi atterrarono in un vicino villaggio che scoprirono
essere popolato da rifugiati della vicina valle. I rifugiati spiegarono
di
essere scappati perché gli americani avevano appena distrutto la loro
piantagione di riso. Analizzando fotografie che aveva preso dal cielo,
Meselsen successivamente scoprì numerose case che erano rimaste
invisibili
mentre si volava sopra le stesse velocemente.
Un semplice calcolo rivelava che la quantità di riso era sufficiente
solo
per alimentare la popolazione locale, senza nessun avanzo per l'affamata
guerriglia vietnamita.
Meselsen scrisse un rapporto che forniva qualche dubbio politico sul
comando statunitense in Vietnam, nel quale si raccomandava a Washington
di
porre fine all'"agente azzurro". La raccomandazione venne fatta filtrare
dal Washington Post e fu allora che Nixon cancellò immediatamente il
programma.
Questa è una misura della barbarie della presente generazione di
guerrieri
della droga che fanno sì che Richard Nixon sembri assennato. Nonostante
l'evidenza dei pericoli dello sviluppo delle armi biologiche come il
fungo,
gli Stati Uniti sembrano determinati ad andare avanti.
------------------------------------------------------
| Fonte: CounterPunch |
| 3220 N. St., NW, PMB 346 Washington, DC, 20007-2829 |
| 1-800-840-3683 (phone) 1-800-967-3620 (fax) |
| http://www.counterpunch.org |
| http://www.purefood.org/corp/biowar.cfm |
------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________
*) Per chi non volesse continuare a ricevere nostre notizie, è
semplicemente necessario scrivere allo stesso indirizzo, specificando
"unsubscribe" nel titolo (subject) del messaggio e l'indirizzo che deve
essere eliminato dalla lista di distribuzione.
____________________________________
Comitato Internazionalista Arco Iris
Via Don Minzoni 33
25082 Botticino Sera (BS)
E-mail: ale.ramon@...
Tel/Fax 030-2190006
===
LA CATASTROFE ECOLOGICA IN JUGOSLAVIA
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM
Emperor's New Clothes
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm
NATO Willfully Triggered An Environmental Catastrophe In Yugoslavia
by Michel Chossudovsky (6-18-00)
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, author of "The
Globalization of Poverty, Third World Network, Penang, Zed Books,
London, 1997.
By using thermal images, NATO was able to identify which of the tanks
were still filled with toxic chemicals. If NATO's objective were to
solely disable the plant without the risk of "collateral" environmental
damage, they could have done it by smart bombing the equipment and
machinery. Why did they also need to hit with utmost accuracy the tanks
containing noxious liquids? The "smart bombs" were not dumb; they knew
where to go. NATO had singled out the containers, tanks and reservoirs,
which still contained toxic materials. According to the Pancevo plant
director, NATO did not hit a single empty container. "This was not
accidental; they chose to hit those that were full and these chemicals
spilled into the canal leading to the Danube."
The air raids on the Pancevo industrial complex located in the outskirts
of Belgrade started on April 4th 1999 and continued relentlessly until
the 7th of June. The Pancevo complex included an oil refinery facility
(built with technical support from Texaco) and a Nitrogen Processing
Plant producing fertilizer for Yugoslav agriculture. The petrochemical
plant was bombed extensively (41 bombs and 7 missile attacks). The
bombed areas of the complex were less than two hundred meters from
residential buildings.
At the outset of the "humanitarian air raids -- in a well-led public
relations stunt -- NATO had reassured World opinion " that "precise
targeting" using sophisticated weaponry was intended to avoid
"collateral damage" including environmental hazards:
"We do everything we possibly can to avoid unnecessary collateral
damage. We take it very seriously, work very hard at doing that, spend a
lot of time planning for the missions."1
At Pancevo, however, exactly the opposite occurred. "State of the art"
aerial surveillance and thermal detection systems were not only used to
disable and destroy Yugoslavia's petrochemical industry; they were
willfully applied to trigger an environmental disaster.
At the beginning of the war, workers at the plant had been actively
involved in removing toxic materials from the site, emptying several
large tanks and containers of toxic chemicals precisely to avert the
risks of "collateral damage." They did not realize NATO was watching
them through air-to-ground surveillance systems as well as satellite
images. Using thermal detection, NATO military planners knew which of
the containers had been emptied and which remained full. How does that
work? All objects including the containers of toxic chemicals in the
Pancevo plant emit infrared radiation. A thermal imager from a spy
satellite or an aircraft can detect infrared radiation and convert its
readings into a high-resolution video or snap picture.
The thermal imager can detect temperature differentials as small as 0.1
degrees centigrade which enables it to distinguish without difficulty
between full and empty containers. The thermal images can be generated
from a device installed on the fuselage of an aircraft. NATO warplanes
were equipped with various advanced imaging systems including just such
infrared/electro-optical sensors.
Moreover, multispectral thermal imaging satellite systems routinely used
during the Gulf war were also used by NATO in Yugoslavia. Thermal
satellite images were relayed to the Combined Air Operations Centre
(CAOC) in Vicenza, Italy where the bombing raids weere carefully
planned. U2 spy planes were also used: In the words of a Pentagon
spokesman, the U2 "snaps a picture from very high altitude, beams it
back in what we call a reach-back, to the States where it is very
quickly analyzed." And from there, "the right targeting data" is relayed
to the CAOC base in Vincenza which then "passes [it] on to people in the
cockpit". 2
NATO planners also had detailed information on the layout of the plant,
which had been built on contract with a US multinational engineering
company Foster Wheeler (a firm specializing in the construction of
petrochemical and polymer plants). NATO knew exactly where things were.
In a cruel irony, US investment in Yugoslavia (financed with loans from
the World Bank) was being demolished by Uncle Sam. Did the pilots
sitting in the cockpit know that they were bombing a plant which was
"Made in America?"
A large number of the containers had been emptied. By using thermal
images, NATO was able to identify which of the tanks were still filled
with toxic chemicals. Among these noxious liquids were containers of
ethylene-dichloride (EDC), ethylene, chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen,
propylene and vinyl chloride monomers (VCM). Well documented by
environmentalists, the VCM monomer used to produce plastics (eg. PVC
resin) is a dangerous cancerogenic groundwater contaminant (see photo
2). Vinyl chloride also has the potential to cause neurological and
liver damage, as well as damage to the fetus causing birth defects.
If NATO's objective were to solely disable the plant without the risk of
"collateral" environmental damage, they could have done it by smart
bombing the equipment and machinery. Why did they also need to hit with
utmost accuracy the tanks containing noxious liquids? The "smart bombs"
were not dumb; they knew where to go. NATO had singled out the
containers, tanks and reservoirs, which still contained toxic materials.
According to the Pancevo plant director, NATO did not hit a single empty
container. "This was not accidental; they chose to hit those that were
full and these chemicals spilled into the canal leading to the Danube".
The containers that contained deadly chemicals were deliberately blown
up.
When the smart bombs hit their targets at Pancevo with impressive
accuracy (see photos below), noxious fluids and fumes were released into
the atmosphere, water and soil.
According to the petrochemical plant director, the ethylene-dichloride
(EDC) spillovers had contaminated 10 hectares of land on and in the
vicinity of the plant. 3
The soil is still soaked with toxic ethylene-dichloride. According to a
report of the Regional Environment Center for Central and Eastern Europe
(REC) "more than one thousand tons of ethylene dichloride spilled from
the Pancevo petrochemical complex into the Danube [through the canal
which links the plant to the river]. Over a thousand tonnes of natrium
hydroxide were spilled from the Pancevo petrochemical complex. Nearly
1,000 tons of hydrogen chloride spilled from Pancevo into the Danube
River"4
Eight tons of mercury escaped from the petrochemical complex spilling
into the soil. The wastewater treatment plant was also bombed thereby
exacerbating the ecological impact.
NATO military strategists knew precisely what they were doing and what
would be the likely consequences. On April 4, at the neighboring oil
refinery, two NATO missiles had hit the refinery's control rooms killing
three staff members. The strikes set the plant on fire, reducing it to a
toxic wreck. The objective was not to avoid an environmental disaster
but to create one (see photos). NATO expected that by ruthlessly bombing
Pancevo among other civilian sites, they would intimidate Belgrade into
accepting the Rambouillet Agreement including the infamous Military
Appendix under which NATO would occupy all of Yugoslavia.
The Greens from Germany and experts from the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) as well as other groups visited the plant
after the War. The UNEP report minimizes the environmental impacts while
casually underscoring in its main conclusions that Pancevo was an
environmental hazard before the bombings. 5 The UNEP report is a
carefully worded cover-up. It downplays the seriousness of the
environmental catastrophe, while placing the blame (without supporting
evidence) on the Yugoslav authorities. Tacitly upholding the legitimacy
of the Western military alliance, UNEP's findings are in overt
contradiction with those of other scientific studies including that of
the Regional Environment Center for Central And Eastern Europe (REC)
prepared for the European Commission (see footnote 4). The complicity of
UNEP, a specialized agency of the UN with a track record of integrity is
yet another symptom of the ambivalent role of the United Nations system
in upholding the Western Military Alliance.
Smart bomb hit container with meticulous accuracy (Pancevo petrochemical
complex, March 2000, ©Michel Chossudovsky)
VCM tank containing toxic cancerogenic chemicals hit by NATO
(© Michel Chossudovsky, March 2000)
FOOTNOTES
Statement of General Charles Wold of the Pentagon, Department of Defense
Press Briefing, Washington, 12 April 1999.
Department of Defense Press Briefing, Washington, May 14th, 1999.
Interview conducted by the author in Pancevo, March 2000.
4. See the report of the REC entitled Assessment of the Environmental
Impact of Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict at
http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/background.html)
5. The UNEP report entitled The Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the
Environment & Human Settlements prepared for the European Commission can
be consulted at http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf/final/index.html
© by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2000. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to post this text on "community Internet sites"
provided the essay and the pictures remain intact and the copyright note
is displayed. For community postings, kindly send a short message to
emperors1000@.... To publish this text on commercial Internet sites,
in printed and/or in other forms (including excerpts), contact the
author by fax at:1-514-4256224.
www.emperors-clothes.com
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
ROMA 27/6
BARI 27/6
CAMPI DI LAVORO S.C.I. IN JUGOSLAVIA - scadenza 30/6/2000
CAMPEGGIO INTERNAZIONALISTA - una iniziativa su ECHELON
OLANDA - iniziative a luglio
SEGNALAZIONE: un libro di Franz Neumann da riproporre
---
ROMA 27/6
il Convoglio di solidarieta' Internazionalista Giorgiana Masi e Radio
Citta' Aperta organizzano una cena
MARTEDI 27 GIUGNO 2000 alle 20:30
presso il Ristorante della CACCIARELLA, a Roma, via di Casalbruciato 11
(Tiburtino). La cena ha un costo di lire.25.000 che saranno destinate
alla costruzione di alcune case per i rifugiati invisibili della
Slavonia, delle Krajine e del Kosovo/Metohia che vivono in condizioni
drammatiche nella citta' di Backa Topola in Jugoslavia.
Info: 06/40801623 - 06/4393512
---
BARI 27/6
Most za Beograd - un ponte per Belgrado in terra di Bari
Associazione culturale di solidarietà con la popolazione jugoslava
c/o RdB, via M. Cristina di Savoia 40, 70126 BARI
tel/fax 0805562663 - e-mail: ponte@...
martedì 27 giugno ore 18.30
Giardini di Atrebil
via Brigata Bari (accanto al Conservatorio)
assemblea annuale di Most za Beograd
bilancio dell'attività culturale e di solidarietà dell'associazione
e programma di iniziative future
-
Stiamo organizzando per l'ultima decade di luglio un "viaggio della
solidarietà e dell'amicizia"a Kragujevac e nelle principali città
jugoslave
(da Belgrado a Novi Sad).
Sarà un modo per conoscere di persona i bambini e le famiglie cui
inviamo
il sostegno, e anche per visitare un paese così vicino geograficamente e
così poco conosciuto. Molti aspetti organizzativi dipendono dal numero
di
adesioni.
Per la Jugoslavia sono necessari il passaporto e il visto.
-
ADOZIONI A DISTANZA DEI FIGLI DEI LAVORATORI DELLA ZASTAVA DI KRAGUJEVAC
BOMBARDATA DALLA NATO.
SONO 169 I BAMBINI CHE LA NOSTRA ASSOCIAZIONE ATTUALMENTE SOSTIENE.
L'INIZIATIVA CONSISTE NELL'INVIARE 50.000 LIRE AL MESE ALLE FAMIGLIE
(SELEZIONATE IN BASE AD UNA GRADUATORIA DI BISOGNI DAL SINDACATO
UNITARIO
DELLA DELLA ZASTAVA, I CUI DELEGATI, RAJKA, SRETEN, MILAN, SONO STATI
PIU'
VOLTE IN ITALIA.
Aderire al progetto è molto semplice. Basta mettersi in contatto con la
nostra associazione (conto corrente postale n. 12350724 intestato ad
Andrea Catone via F. Campione 68, 70124 Bari, indicando sul retro la
causale)
-
Attraverso la distribuzione militante sono state sinora diffuse a Bari e
in
diverse città d'Italia quasi 1150 copie del libro di "poeti dilettanti
contro la guerra"Gli assassini della tenerezza,illustrato con disegni
dei
bambini di Kragujevac e con prefazione di Fulvio Grimaldi (edizioni La
città del Sole, Napoli, 1999, L. 15.000). Tutti i costi (editoriali, di
grafica, di stampa) per la produzione del libro - promosso dalla nostra
associazione Most za Beograddi Bari e dal comitato di solidarietà con la
popolazione jugoslava di Napoli - sono stati sostenuti dall'editore
Sergio
Manes, che ha voluto così dare un consistentissimo contributo di
solidarietà agli operai della Zastava, ai quali va integralmente il
ricavato delle vendite.Una parte dell'incasso (9.030.000) è stata già
consegnata. Il rimanente verrà dato a luglio, in occasione del nostro
viaggio a Kragujevac. Ci auguriamo per quella data di raggiungere le
1500
copie vendute.
---
CAMPI DI LAVORO NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
Ultimo annuncio: il 30 giugno scade la possibilita' di partecipare.
leggere ATTENTAMENTE e mandare mail a ponac@...
=====================
Il Servizio Civile Internazionale, in collaborazione con Un Ponte per
Belgrado organizza due campi di lavoro in Jugoslavia per il mese di
Agosto.
- CAMPO DI LAVORO A KRALJEVO. DUE TURNI a AGOSTO
Il primo campo si svolgerebbe a Kraljevo. Il campo si inserisce in un
progetto che Un Ponte per Belgrado sta svolgendo da tempo. A ottobre '99
e' stato consegnato un furgone per la distribuzione del cibo e adesso
abbiamo consegnato oltre 40.000 marchi in aiuti umanitari acquistati sul
luogo (compresi piu' di 4.000 marchi raccolti dal SCI).
Riferimento locale e' la Croce rossa di Kraljevo che gestisce i vari
centri di raccolta collettivi e non dove sono ospitati oltre 20.000
profughi provenienti dal Kosovo.
Il lavoro da fare e' quello di aiutare la croce rossa nella
distribuzione di cibo e di aiuti umanitari ai profughi e di fare
animazione con i profughi stessi. Oltre a fare animazione con i bambini
si vogliono raccogliere testimonianze e parlare con i profughi per
conoscere le loro storie e le loro vicissitudini pre-durante-post
bombardamenti. L'atteggiamento dei profughi e' molto variegato e va
dalla diffidenza completa alla incazzatura per quello che hanno subito
da tutte le parti in gioco (e lo spettro e' molto ampio: sicuramente
hanno da dire molto sul governo jugoslavo, sull'UCK, sulla KFOR e molti,
specialmente quelli privenienti da Pec, delle forze italiane "di pace").
Il materiale raccolto andra' a finire in una raccolta tipo libretto o
pubblicazione o CD audio/video. In aggiunta si raccogliera' anche il
materiale da far elaborare dai bambini (7-12 anni) nelle modalita' con
cui viene raccolto il materiale per i gemellaggi scolastici gia' avviati
(disegni, lettere, oggetti vari ecc) e che andra' a finire anche questo
nella pubblicazione insieme alle testimonianze.
Date: 1° turno: 1-15 Agosto 2000; 2° turno: 16-31 Agosto 2000
N. Volontari: 4/5 + coordinatore
Requisiti per i vols: almeno due per ogni turno che conoscano il serbo,
questo per rendere piu' efficace il lavoro di raccolta del materiale.
IMPORTANTE: il campo puo' subire delle riduzioni se non siamo in grado
di garantire la presenza di un coordinatore per tutto il tempo.
Le date possono subire delle variazioni per situazioni contingenti
attualmente imprevedibili.
Riguardo il num. dei vols, questo non e' invalicabile. Se il numero
delle persone che parlano serbo dovesse essere grande (si spera tanto)
allora anche il numero dei vols potrebbe aumentare di conseguenza. La
scelta di 4/5 + 1 e' stata fatto immaginando una certa difficolta' a
trovare persone che conoscano la lingua.
Costi previsti: A carico del partecipante
iscrizione: lire 60.000 piu' tessera SCI per il 2000 (L.30.000)
viaggio fino a Kraljevo (A/R): in treno circa 350.000; in aereo
(alitalia) circa 700.000 (partenze lu, ve, sab)
vitto: un po' ci si arrangia con il cibo distribuito, un po' con
ristorantini, un po' cucinando, se l'appartamento lo consentira'.
Il costo di un pasto in Jugoslavia non supera i 5-6 marchi a pasto
(quando ci si abbuffa!); organizzando una cucina nella casa si potrebbe
ancora essere piu' economi.
alloggio: si spera di contenere il tutto nei 100 marchi a settimana a
testa.
Naturalmente il preventivo di spesa puo' subire modifiche in funzione di
vari fattori, non ultimo il tiupo di appartamento che si trova.
- CAMPO DI LAVORO A BELGRADO - ORFANOTROFIO J.JOVANOVIC ZMAJ
Il secondo campo e' un "ritorno": ho parlato con Nikola Popovic
dell'orfanotrofio Jovan Jovanovic Zmai di Belgrado e anche li' c'e' la
disponibilita' di massima per fare animazione per un paio di settimane.
anche qui l'alloggio sara' a cura dei partecipanti in un appartamento da
affittare (si spera entro i 100 marchi a settimana; vitto come per il
campo a Kraljievo). Il numero di volontari dovra' essere contenuto a 4
piu' il coordinatore. Anche in questo caso bisognerebbe reperire il
coordinatore rapidamente e selezionare i volontari accuratamente.
Date: 10-24 Agosto 2000
N. Volontari: 4/5 + coordinatore
Requisiti per i vols: conoscenza almeno dell'inglese e preferenza per
chi conosce il serbo.
IMPORTANTE: il campo puo' subire delle riduzioni se non siamo in grado
di garantire la presenza di un coordinatore per tutto il tempo. Le date
possono subire delle variazioni per situazioni contingenti attualmente
imprevedibili.
Costi previsti: A carico del partecipante
iscrizione: lire 60.000 piu' tessera SCI per il 2000 (L.30.000)
viaggio fino a Belgrado (A/R): in treno circa 350.000; in aereo
(alitalia) circa 700.000 (partenze lu, ve, sab)- a carico del
partecipante.
vitto: un po' con ristorantini, un po' cucinando, se l'appartamento lo
consentira', un po' con il vitto dell'orfanotrofio.
Il costo di un pasto in Jugoslavia non supera i 5-6 marchi a pasto
(quando ci si abbuffa!); organizzando una cucina nella casa si potrebbe
ancora essere piu' economi.
alloggio: si spera di contenere il tutto nei 100 marchi a settimana a
testa.
Naturalmente il preventivo di spesa puo' subire modifiche in funzione di
vari fattori, non ultimo il tiupo di appartamento che si trova.
=============================
INFORMAZIONI PRATICHE:
Scadenza per adesioni:
Kraljevo 1° turno: 30 Giugno 2000
Kraljevo 2° turno: 15 luglio 2000
Belgrado: 15 luglio
l'anticipo e' dovuto al fatto che per avere il visto bisogna avere una
lettera d'invito NOMINATIVA e per il fatto che le persone interessate
saranno chiamate a un incontro di (in)formazione obbligatorio prima
della partenza e prima della selezione dei volontari che partiranno.
L'incontro potrebbe essere programmato all'inizio di luglio e a meta'
luglio per i due scaglioni principali. QUINDI: NON ATTARDATEVI.
Tutte le richieste vanno inviate a ponac@...
indicando, oltre ai vostri dati personali, il numero di passaporto
valido, una lettera di motivazione e un breve curriculum.
ciao a tutti
carlo
---
ASSISI: CAMPO 2000
Assisi 30 Luglio - 6 Agosto
NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE!
Da Seattle a San Vicente,
la ribellione contro l'impero dell'ingiustizia avanza!
<< AD ASSISI IL PIU' GRANDE ESPERTO DEL
SISTEMA DI SPIONAGGIO GLOBALE (ECHELON) >>
Nicky Hager, il ricercatore neozelandese autore di "Secret Power"
(1996),
dopo aver letto l'appello del Campo Antiimperialista ed il relativo
programma, ci ha manifestato la sua disponibilità a partecipare a questa
nostra iniziativa.
Nicky Hager, vale la pena sottolinearlo, è l'autore dell'unico libro
pubblicato in tutto il pianeta, che tratti la questione del sistema di
controllo globale, noto col nome di "Echelon", attraverso testimonianze
dirette.
Hager è stato, infatti, fino ad ora l'unico ricercatore ad essere
riuscito
ad intervistare personale che abbia lavorato all'interno del progetto
Echelon. Nel suo libro "Potere Segreto, il ruolo della Nuova Zelanda
nella
Rete Internazionale di Spionaggio", Hager intervista una cinquantina di
ex
agenti segreti neozelandesi (ma non solo) che hanno abbandonato il
"Security Bureau" per motivi che restano tutt'ora oscuri e che forse
vanno
rintracciati in complessi giochi di spionaggio e diplomazia tra Stati
Uniti
e Nuova Zelanda.
ECHELON, semplificando molto, è un sistema di intercettazione orientato
su
quella ventina di satelliti Intelsat (International Telecommunications
Satellite Organisation), disposti lungo l'asse dell'equatore e che
funzionano da ponte per quasi tutte le telefonate e messaggi via fax,
e-mail, telex ecc..
Le basi principali del sistema Echelon si trovano a Sugar Grove e Yakima
(Stati Uniti), a Waihopai (Nuova Zelanda), a Geraldton (Australia), ad
Hong
Kong e a Morwenstow (Inghilterra). La potenza di elaborazione (o
“scanning
and screening”) di Echelon dichiarata dalla NSA era, nel 1992, di
2.000.000
di comunicazioni all’ora.
I primi due capitoli del libro di Hager sono riprodotti in questa pagina
internet:
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/sp/index.html
-----------------------------
<< Estratto dal rapporto della Fondazione Omega
di Manchester, presentato al Parlamento Europeo
[atto PE 166.499 in data Settembre 1998] >>
All'interno dell'Europa tutte le e-mail, le chiamate telefoniche e le
comunicazioni via fax sono intercettate quotidianamente dalla National
Security Agency (NSA), quindi tutta l'informazione utile è trasferita
dall'Europa, attraverso il nodo di Londra, via satellite, a Fort Meade
(Maryland) ed attraverso il nodo cruciale di Menwith Hill (North York
Moors, Inghilterra).
Il sistema di Echelon forma parte del sistema di spionaggio degli Stati
Uniti/Gran Bretagna ma, a differenza di altri sistemi di spionaggio
sviluppati durante la guerra fredda, ECHELON è stato ideato
principalmente
per obiettivi non militari: governi, organizzazioni e questioni
commerciali
di ogni paese.
Il sistema di ECHELON lavora indicriminatamente intercettando una grande
quantità di comunicazioni ed estraendo, attraverso l'aiuto
dell'intelligenza artificiale come quella di Memex (nome di uno dei
computers utilizzati per questa funzione), informazioni sulla base di
parole chiavi.
Cinque nazioni condividono i risultati ottenuti dagli Stati Uniti, sulla
base di un accordo del 1948: Gran Bretagna, Canada, Nuova Zelanda ed
Australia....
---------------------------------
Sempre Hager intervistò i responsabili del GCHQ [Government
Communications
Headquarters] di Londra. Il GCHQ ammise l'intercettazione di tre entità
morali, comprese Amnesty International ed Christian Aid. "In qualsiasi
momento si possono verificare le loro comunicazioni, sulla base di una
semplice richiesta di informazioni".
Il Sunday Times (11 Maggio del 1998) dettaglia che presso la stazione di
Menwith Hill (stazione della NSA numero F83) nel North Yorkshire, si
diede
compito di intercettare tutte le comunicazioni ordinarie commerciali.
Gli
impiegati passarono quindi da 400 (negli anni ottanta) a più di 1400 (ai
quali vanno aggiunti 370 di altra impresa che lì lavora).
Lo stesso Sunday racconta del fatto che la Thompson-CSF, compagnia
elettronica francese, ha perso 1,4 miliardi di dollari per fornire
sistemi
radar al Brasile, dal momento che i nordamericani intercettarono i
dettagli
delle negoziazioni e passarono l'informazione alla compagnia
nordamericana
Raytheon, che vinse quindi il contratto di fornitura.
O ancora, quando nel 1990 il colosso nordamericano della telefonia, la
AT&T, concorreva ad una gara d’appalto contro la giapponese NEC, per la
fornitura di strutture di telecomunicazioni all’Indonesia. Gli USA
spiarono
le trattative e l’appalto fu vinto dalla AT&T ed oggi, così, le
centraline
telefoniche nazionali ed internazionali a Jakarta sono nordamericane.
Nicky Hager si è offerto di venire a parlare di Echelon, ma anche dei
legami tra sicurezza e potere. Nel suo più recente libro, pubblicato
l'anno
scorso (solamente a maggio di quest'anno negli USA) espone poi le
tattiche
utilizzate dalle compagnie di pubbliche relazioni (per conto delle
multinazionali) per danneggiare le campagne di pubblico interesse (e
cosa
possono fare i movimenti per contrarrestare queste tattiche).
PERCHE' HAGER POSSA ARRIVARE IN ITALIA, ABBIAMO BISOGNO DI TUTTI VOI, DI
CONTRIBUTI ECONOMICI VOLONTARI, DELLA VOSTRA PARTECIPAZIONE AL CAMPO
D'ASSISI!!!!
QUALORA CI FOSSERO REALTA' INTERESSATE AD ORGANIZZARE UNA INIZIATIVA
PROPRIA CON NICKY HAGER, VI PREGHIAMO DI CONTATTARCI IMMEDIATAMENTE.
OVVIAMENTE LE INIZIATIVE DOVRANNO ESSERE A RIDOSSO DEL CAMPO
ANTIMPERIALISTA (indicativamente dal 23 luglio fino al 14 agosto).
SE FOSTE IN GRADO DI DARE QUALCHE CONTRIBUTO ECONOMICO AL CAMPO
ANTIMPERIALISTA << NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE >>, CONTATTATECI
IMMEDIATAMENTE:
ale.ramon@..., campo2000@..., allo 0349-3650834 o ancora
allo 030-2190006
SMASCHERIAMO LA GLOBALIZZAZIONE !
! TOD@S JUNT@S !
Comitato Internazionalista Arco Iris
(parte integrante del Comitato Promotore del Campo Antimperialista)
--------------------------------------------------------
| Assisi 30 Luglio - 6 Agosto |
| NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE! |
| Da Seattle a San Vicente, |
| la ribellione contro l'impero dell'ingiustizia avanza! |
| info: ale.ramon@... |
--------------------------------------------------------
---
OLANDA
From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
To: office@...
Subject: Balkan peace actions The Netherlands
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 18:48:03 +0200
Balkan peace actions The Netherlands, July 2000:
Saturday 1 July, The Hague, buurthuis [community center] Boerenplein,
Mandelaplein, 19 u.30: public meeting of committee NATO No. Author
Michel
Collon speaks and shows his video on the bombing of Yugoslavia. One can
get
to the venue with tramway 11 or 12 from the railway station.
Thursday 6 July, 12 u.30, Amsterdam, Courthouse [Paleis van Justitie],
Prinsengracht 434: verdict in the public court case of Yugoslav war
victims
against Dutch government ministers Kok, Van Aartsen en De Grave [time
provisional; court may need more time]. The courthouse is not far from
tram
stop Leidseplein.
Thursday 6 July, 20 u., Utrecht, Oudegracht 36: meeting. Discussion and
information for public and press on why people oppose the
"Megafestatie".
This is a trade fair/exhibition aimed at young people. Main exhibitors
are
the Dutch military, aiming to get teenagers into the Dutch army,
military
police, and Marines. The propaganda slogan of the armed forces is:
"[Like]
a nanny; but differently." People killed or wounded by NATO armed forces
in
the Balkans and elsewhere might differ. So, during the whole
Megafestatie,
visitors will get counter information to the official propaganda.
Saturday 8 - Sunday 16 July Utrecht, Jaarbeurs: actions against the
Megafestatie. Starting every day at 12 o'clock.
Saturday 8 July: demonstrators will gather at Smakkelaarsveld [Central
Station side, opposite to Jaarbeurs]
Sunday 9 July: demonstrators will gather at entrance of Jaarbeurs
Monday 10 July: demonstrators will gather at Central Station exit,
escalators, Jaarbeursplein
etc.
More info on the actions at e-mail address: onkruit@...
On Tuesday 11 July in Den Bosch ['s Hertogenbosch; The Netherlands],
five
peace activists will be on trial for opposing NATO bombs during the 1999
war against Yugoslavia. They cut perimeter barbed wire of Volkel
military
air base, where F16 aircraft then took off for Kosovo. In all
probability
[the public may not know], there are also still US nuclear bombs at
Volkel
air base.
The case starts Tuesday 11 July , 13.30 o'clock at the "Gerechtshof
[court
house]", Leeghwaterlaan 8 in Den Bosch, near the back entrance of Den
Bosch
central railway station. The court case is public. So, other peace
activists are welcome.
Before the case starts, at 13 o'clock, here peace activists will gather.
More info on the case at e-mail address: onkruit@...
Please pass this info on to others.
Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
---
UN LIBRO DA RIPROPORRE
Subject: Urgent
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 13:42:41 PDT
From: "Dragan Pavlovic"
Dear friends,
Would you please find, retype, scan, put on the Web chapter 5 of the
book:
Franz Neumann: Behemouth, Structure and Praxis of National - Socialism
1933
- 1944, Oxford University Press, 1942; 1944.
We live in an interesting but unsecure time. The times were of course
never
secure enough, but twice in Europe insecurity reached the point of no
return. Neither social scientist and even less politicians were able to
recognize when the critical point was too close. We are not in better
position today either.
You are the people who are probably as anxious as I am that the point of
no
return may be very close and are trying, as much as you can, prevent the
worst happen.
In the forties the book was published describing international politics
of
Germany. Many of you must have read it. Those who have not, if by any
chance
read it today would think it to be of much recant date, a parody written
by
some "crazy" opponent of Western (NATO) ideology. That excellent book
is,
unfortunately, no parody, as the time we live is not. It was real and is
real.
Again:
Franz Neumann: Behemouth, Structure and Praxis of National - Socialism
1933
- 1944, Oxford University Press, 1942; 1944. It was translated later in
German, may be in French, I do not know.
If you would get it, reed it, republish it, and put it on the Web.
Particularly Chapter 5. Write an essay on it, or make your students do
it
(if you are social scientist, what I am not, and my students neither).
Help
them understand what is happening today. It may help. Please.
Dragan Pavlovic
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
BARI 27/6
CAMPI DI LAVORO S.C.I. IN JUGOSLAVIA - scadenza 30/6/2000
CAMPEGGIO INTERNAZIONALISTA - una iniziativa su ECHELON
OLANDA - iniziative a luglio
SEGNALAZIONE: un libro di Franz Neumann da riproporre
---
ROMA 27/6
il Convoglio di solidarieta' Internazionalista Giorgiana Masi e Radio
Citta' Aperta organizzano una cena
MARTEDI 27 GIUGNO 2000 alle 20:30
presso il Ristorante della CACCIARELLA, a Roma, via di Casalbruciato 11
(Tiburtino). La cena ha un costo di lire.25.000 che saranno destinate
alla costruzione di alcune case per i rifugiati invisibili della
Slavonia, delle Krajine e del Kosovo/Metohia che vivono in condizioni
drammatiche nella citta' di Backa Topola in Jugoslavia.
Info: 06/40801623 - 06/4393512
---
BARI 27/6
Most za Beograd - un ponte per Belgrado in terra di Bari
Associazione culturale di solidarietà con la popolazione jugoslava
c/o RdB, via M. Cristina di Savoia 40, 70126 BARI
tel/fax 0805562663 - e-mail: ponte@...
martedì 27 giugno ore 18.30
Giardini di Atrebil
via Brigata Bari (accanto al Conservatorio)
assemblea annuale di Most za Beograd
bilancio dell'attività culturale e di solidarietà dell'associazione
e programma di iniziative future
-
Stiamo organizzando per l'ultima decade di luglio un "viaggio della
solidarietà e dell'amicizia"a Kragujevac e nelle principali città
jugoslave
(da Belgrado a Novi Sad).
Sarà un modo per conoscere di persona i bambini e le famiglie cui
inviamo
il sostegno, e anche per visitare un paese così vicino geograficamente e
così poco conosciuto. Molti aspetti organizzativi dipendono dal numero
di
adesioni.
Per la Jugoslavia sono necessari il passaporto e il visto.
-
ADOZIONI A DISTANZA DEI FIGLI DEI LAVORATORI DELLA ZASTAVA DI KRAGUJEVAC
BOMBARDATA DALLA NATO.
SONO 169 I BAMBINI CHE LA NOSTRA ASSOCIAZIONE ATTUALMENTE SOSTIENE.
L'INIZIATIVA CONSISTE NELL'INVIARE 50.000 LIRE AL MESE ALLE FAMIGLIE
(SELEZIONATE IN BASE AD UNA GRADUATORIA DI BISOGNI DAL SINDACATO
UNITARIO
DELLA DELLA ZASTAVA, I CUI DELEGATI, RAJKA, SRETEN, MILAN, SONO STATI
PIU'
VOLTE IN ITALIA.
Aderire al progetto è molto semplice. Basta mettersi in contatto con la
nostra associazione (conto corrente postale n. 12350724 intestato ad
Andrea Catone via F. Campione 68, 70124 Bari, indicando sul retro la
causale)
-
Attraverso la distribuzione militante sono state sinora diffuse a Bari e
in
diverse città d'Italia quasi 1150 copie del libro di "poeti dilettanti
contro la guerra"Gli assassini della tenerezza,illustrato con disegni
dei
bambini di Kragujevac e con prefazione di Fulvio Grimaldi (edizioni La
città del Sole, Napoli, 1999, L. 15.000). Tutti i costi (editoriali, di
grafica, di stampa) per la produzione del libro - promosso dalla nostra
associazione Most za Beograddi Bari e dal comitato di solidarietà con la
popolazione jugoslava di Napoli - sono stati sostenuti dall'editore
Sergio
Manes, che ha voluto così dare un consistentissimo contributo di
solidarietà agli operai della Zastava, ai quali va integralmente il
ricavato delle vendite.Una parte dell'incasso (9.030.000) è stata già
consegnata. Il rimanente verrà dato a luglio, in occasione del nostro
viaggio a Kragujevac. Ci auguriamo per quella data di raggiungere le
1500
copie vendute.
---
CAMPI DI LAVORO NELLA RF DI JUGOSLAVIA
Ultimo annuncio: il 30 giugno scade la possibilita' di partecipare.
leggere ATTENTAMENTE e mandare mail a ponac@...
=====================
Il Servizio Civile Internazionale, in collaborazione con Un Ponte per
Belgrado organizza due campi di lavoro in Jugoslavia per il mese di
Agosto.
- CAMPO DI LAVORO A KRALJEVO. DUE TURNI a AGOSTO
Il primo campo si svolgerebbe a Kraljevo. Il campo si inserisce in un
progetto che Un Ponte per Belgrado sta svolgendo da tempo. A ottobre '99
e' stato consegnato un furgone per la distribuzione del cibo e adesso
abbiamo consegnato oltre 40.000 marchi in aiuti umanitari acquistati sul
luogo (compresi piu' di 4.000 marchi raccolti dal SCI).
Riferimento locale e' la Croce rossa di Kraljevo che gestisce i vari
centri di raccolta collettivi e non dove sono ospitati oltre 20.000
profughi provenienti dal Kosovo.
Il lavoro da fare e' quello di aiutare la croce rossa nella
distribuzione di cibo e di aiuti umanitari ai profughi e di fare
animazione con i profughi stessi. Oltre a fare animazione con i bambini
si vogliono raccogliere testimonianze e parlare con i profughi per
conoscere le loro storie e le loro vicissitudini pre-durante-post
bombardamenti. L'atteggiamento dei profughi e' molto variegato e va
dalla diffidenza completa alla incazzatura per quello che hanno subito
da tutte le parti in gioco (e lo spettro e' molto ampio: sicuramente
hanno da dire molto sul governo jugoslavo, sull'UCK, sulla KFOR e molti,
specialmente quelli privenienti da Pec, delle forze italiane "di pace").
Il materiale raccolto andra' a finire in una raccolta tipo libretto o
pubblicazione o CD audio/video. In aggiunta si raccogliera' anche il
materiale da far elaborare dai bambini (7-12 anni) nelle modalita' con
cui viene raccolto il materiale per i gemellaggi scolastici gia' avviati
(disegni, lettere, oggetti vari ecc) e che andra' a finire anche questo
nella pubblicazione insieme alle testimonianze.
Date: 1° turno: 1-15 Agosto 2000; 2° turno: 16-31 Agosto 2000
N. Volontari: 4/5 + coordinatore
Requisiti per i vols: almeno due per ogni turno che conoscano il serbo,
questo per rendere piu' efficace il lavoro di raccolta del materiale.
IMPORTANTE: il campo puo' subire delle riduzioni se non siamo in grado
di garantire la presenza di un coordinatore per tutto il tempo.
Le date possono subire delle variazioni per situazioni contingenti
attualmente imprevedibili.
Riguardo il num. dei vols, questo non e' invalicabile. Se il numero
delle persone che parlano serbo dovesse essere grande (si spera tanto)
allora anche il numero dei vols potrebbe aumentare di conseguenza. La
scelta di 4/5 + 1 e' stata fatto immaginando una certa difficolta' a
trovare persone che conoscano la lingua.
Costi previsti: A carico del partecipante
iscrizione: lire 60.000 piu' tessera SCI per il 2000 (L.30.000)
viaggio fino a Kraljevo (A/R): in treno circa 350.000; in aereo
(alitalia) circa 700.000 (partenze lu, ve, sab)
vitto: un po' ci si arrangia con il cibo distribuito, un po' con
ristorantini, un po' cucinando, se l'appartamento lo consentira'.
Il costo di un pasto in Jugoslavia non supera i 5-6 marchi a pasto
(quando ci si abbuffa!); organizzando una cucina nella casa si potrebbe
ancora essere piu' economi.
alloggio: si spera di contenere il tutto nei 100 marchi a settimana a
testa.
Naturalmente il preventivo di spesa puo' subire modifiche in funzione di
vari fattori, non ultimo il tiupo di appartamento che si trova.
- CAMPO DI LAVORO A BELGRADO - ORFANOTROFIO J.JOVANOVIC ZMAJ
Il secondo campo e' un "ritorno": ho parlato con Nikola Popovic
dell'orfanotrofio Jovan Jovanovic Zmai di Belgrado e anche li' c'e' la
disponibilita' di massima per fare animazione per un paio di settimane.
anche qui l'alloggio sara' a cura dei partecipanti in un appartamento da
affittare (si spera entro i 100 marchi a settimana; vitto come per il
campo a Kraljievo). Il numero di volontari dovra' essere contenuto a 4
piu' il coordinatore. Anche in questo caso bisognerebbe reperire il
coordinatore rapidamente e selezionare i volontari accuratamente.
Date: 10-24 Agosto 2000
N. Volontari: 4/5 + coordinatore
Requisiti per i vols: conoscenza almeno dell'inglese e preferenza per
chi conosce il serbo.
IMPORTANTE: il campo puo' subire delle riduzioni se non siamo in grado
di garantire la presenza di un coordinatore per tutto il tempo. Le date
possono subire delle variazioni per situazioni contingenti attualmente
imprevedibili.
Costi previsti: A carico del partecipante
iscrizione: lire 60.000 piu' tessera SCI per il 2000 (L.30.000)
viaggio fino a Belgrado (A/R): in treno circa 350.000; in aereo
(alitalia) circa 700.000 (partenze lu, ve, sab)- a carico del
partecipante.
vitto: un po' con ristorantini, un po' cucinando, se l'appartamento lo
consentira', un po' con il vitto dell'orfanotrofio.
Il costo di un pasto in Jugoslavia non supera i 5-6 marchi a pasto
(quando ci si abbuffa!); organizzando una cucina nella casa si potrebbe
ancora essere piu' economi.
alloggio: si spera di contenere il tutto nei 100 marchi a settimana a
testa.
Naturalmente il preventivo di spesa puo' subire modifiche in funzione di
vari fattori, non ultimo il tiupo di appartamento che si trova.
=============================
INFORMAZIONI PRATICHE:
Scadenza per adesioni:
Kraljevo 1° turno: 30 Giugno 2000
Kraljevo 2° turno: 15 luglio 2000
Belgrado: 15 luglio
l'anticipo e' dovuto al fatto che per avere il visto bisogna avere una
lettera d'invito NOMINATIVA e per il fatto che le persone interessate
saranno chiamate a un incontro di (in)formazione obbligatorio prima
della partenza e prima della selezione dei volontari che partiranno.
L'incontro potrebbe essere programmato all'inizio di luglio e a meta'
luglio per i due scaglioni principali. QUINDI: NON ATTARDATEVI.
Tutte le richieste vanno inviate a ponac@...
indicando, oltre ai vostri dati personali, il numero di passaporto
valido, una lettera di motivazione e un breve curriculum.
ciao a tutti
carlo
---
ASSISI: CAMPO 2000
Assisi 30 Luglio - 6 Agosto
NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE!
Da Seattle a San Vicente,
la ribellione contro l'impero dell'ingiustizia avanza!
<< AD ASSISI IL PIU' GRANDE ESPERTO DEL
SISTEMA DI SPIONAGGIO GLOBALE (ECHELON) >>
Nicky Hager, il ricercatore neozelandese autore di "Secret Power"
(1996),
dopo aver letto l'appello del Campo Antiimperialista ed il relativo
programma, ci ha manifestato la sua disponibilità a partecipare a questa
nostra iniziativa.
Nicky Hager, vale la pena sottolinearlo, è l'autore dell'unico libro
pubblicato in tutto il pianeta, che tratti la questione del sistema di
controllo globale, noto col nome di "Echelon", attraverso testimonianze
dirette.
Hager è stato, infatti, fino ad ora l'unico ricercatore ad essere
riuscito
ad intervistare personale che abbia lavorato all'interno del progetto
Echelon. Nel suo libro "Potere Segreto, il ruolo della Nuova Zelanda
nella
Rete Internazionale di Spionaggio", Hager intervista una cinquantina di
ex
agenti segreti neozelandesi (ma non solo) che hanno abbandonato il
"Security Bureau" per motivi che restano tutt'ora oscuri e che forse
vanno
rintracciati in complessi giochi di spionaggio e diplomazia tra Stati
Uniti
e Nuova Zelanda.
ECHELON, semplificando molto, è un sistema di intercettazione orientato
su
quella ventina di satelliti Intelsat (International Telecommunications
Satellite Organisation), disposti lungo l'asse dell'equatore e che
funzionano da ponte per quasi tutte le telefonate e messaggi via fax,
e-mail, telex ecc..
Le basi principali del sistema Echelon si trovano a Sugar Grove e Yakima
(Stati Uniti), a Waihopai (Nuova Zelanda), a Geraldton (Australia), ad
Hong
Kong e a Morwenstow (Inghilterra). La potenza di elaborazione (o
“scanning
and screening”) di Echelon dichiarata dalla NSA era, nel 1992, di
2.000.000
di comunicazioni all’ora.
I primi due capitoli del libro di Hager sono riprodotti in questa pagina
internet:
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/sp/index.html
-----------------------------
<< Estratto dal rapporto della Fondazione Omega
di Manchester, presentato al Parlamento Europeo
[atto PE 166.499 in data Settembre 1998] >>
All'interno dell'Europa tutte le e-mail, le chiamate telefoniche e le
comunicazioni via fax sono intercettate quotidianamente dalla National
Security Agency (NSA), quindi tutta l'informazione utile è trasferita
dall'Europa, attraverso il nodo di Londra, via satellite, a Fort Meade
(Maryland) ed attraverso il nodo cruciale di Menwith Hill (North York
Moors, Inghilterra).
Il sistema di Echelon forma parte del sistema di spionaggio degli Stati
Uniti/Gran Bretagna ma, a differenza di altri sistemi di spionaggio
sviluppati durante la guerra fredda, ECHELON è stato ideato
principalmente
per obiettivi non militari: governi, organizzazioni e questioni
commerciali
di ogni paese.
Il sistema di ECHELON lavora indicriminatamente intercettando una grande
quantità di comunicazioni ed estraendo, attraverso l'aiuto
dell'intelligenza artificiale come quella di Memex (nome di uno dei
computers utilizzati per questa funzione), informazioni sulla base di
parole chiavi.
Cinque nazioni condividono i risultati ottenuti dagli Stati Uniti, sulla
base di un accordo del 1948: Gran Bretagna, Canada, Nuova Zelanda ed
Australia....
---------------------------------
Sempre Hager intervistò i responsabili del GCHQ [Government
Communications
Headquarters] di Londra. Il GCHQ ammise l'intercettazione di tre entità
morali, comprese Amnesty International ed Christian Aid. "In qualsiasi
momento si possono verificare le loro comunicazioni, sulla base di una
semplice richiesta di informazioni".
Il Sunday Times (11 Maggio del 1998) dettaglia che presso la stazione di
Menwith Hill (stazione della NSA numero F83) nel North Yorkshire, si
diede
compito di intercettare tutte le comunicazioni ordinarie commerciali.
Gli
impiegati passarono quindi da 400 (negli anni ottanta) a più di 1400 (ai
quali vanno aggiunti 370 di altra impresa che lì lavora).
Lo stesso Sunday racconta del fatto che la Thompson-CSF, compagnia
elettronica francese, ha perso 1,4 miliardi di dollari per fornire
sistemi
radar al Brasile, dal momento che i nordamericani intercettarono i
dettagli
delle negoziazioni e passarono l'informazione alla compagnia
nordamericana
Raytheon, che vinse quindi il contratto di fornitura.
O ancora, quando nel 1990 il colosso nordamericano della telefonia, la
AT&T, concorreva ad una gara d’appalto contro la giapponese NEC, per la
fornitura di strutture di telecomunicazioni all’Indonesia. Gli USA
spiarono
le trattative e l’appalto fu vinto dalla AT&T ed oggi, così, le
centraline
telefoniche nazionali ed internazionali a Jakarta sono nordamericane.
Nicky Hager si è offerto di venire a parlare di Echelon, ma anche dei
legami tra sicurezza e potere. Nel suo più recente libro, pubblicato
l'anno
scorso (solamente a maggio di quest'anno negli USA) espone poi le
tattiche
utilizzate dalle compagnie di pubbliche relazioni (per conto delle
multinazionali) per danneggiare le campagne di pubblico interesse (e
cosa
possono fare i movimenti per contrarrestare queste tattiche).
PERCHE' HAGER POSSA ARRIVARE IN ITALIA, ABBIAMO BISOGNO DI TUTTI VOI, DI
CONTRIBUTI ECONOMICI VOLONTARI, DELLA VOSTRA PARTECIPAZIONE AL CAMPO
D'ASSISI!!!!
QUALORA CI FOSSERO REALTA' INTERESSATE AD ORGANIZZARE UNA INIZIATIVA
PROPRIA CON NICKY HAGER, VI PREGHIAMO DI CONTATTARCI IMMEDIATAMENTE.
OVVIAMENTE LE INIZIATIVE DOVRANNO ESSERE A RIDOSSO DEL CAMPO
ANTIMPERIALISTA (indicativamente dal 23 luglio fino al 14 agosto).
SE FOSTE IN GRADO DI DARE QUALCHE CONTRIBUTO ECONOMICO AL CAMPO
ANTIMPERIALISTA << NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE >>, CONTATTATECI
IMMEDIATAMENTE:
ale.ramon@..., campo2000@..., allo 0349-3650834 o ancora
allo 030-2190006
SMASCHERIAMO LA GLOBALIZZAZIONE !
! TOD@S JUNT@S !
Comitato Internazionalista Arco Iris
(parte integrante del Comitato Promotore del Campo Antimperialista)
--------------------------------------------------------
| Assisi 30 Luglio - 6 Agosto |
| NO ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE! |
| Da Seattle a San Vicente, |
| la ribellione contro l'impero dell'ingiustizia avanza! |
| info: ale.ramon@... |
--------------------------------------------------------
---
OLANDA
From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
To: office@...
Subject: Balkan peace actions The Netherlands
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 18:48:03 +0200
Balkan peace actions The Netherlands, July 2000:
Saturday 1 July, The Hague, buurthuis [community center] Boerenplein,
Mandelaplein, 19 u.30: public meeting of committee NATO No. Author
Michel
Collon speaks and shows his video on the bombing of Yugoslavia. One can
get
to the venue with tramway 11 or 12 from the railway station.
Thursday 6 July, 12 u.30, Amsterdam, Courthouse [Paleis van Justitie],
Prinsengracht 434: verdict in the public court case of Yugoslav war
victims
against Dutch government ministers Kok, Van Aartsen en De Grave [time
provisional; court may need more time]. The courthouse is not far from
tram
stop Leidseplein.
Thursday 6 July, 20 u., Utrecht, Oudegracht 36: meeting. Discussion and
information for public and press on why people oppose the
"Megafestatie".
This is a trade fair/exhibition aimed at young people. Main exhibitors
are
the Dutch military, aiming to get teenagers into the Dutch army,
military
police, and Marines. The propaganda slogan of the armed forces is:
"[Like]
a nanny; but differently." People killed or wounded by NATO armed forces
in
the Balkans and elsewhere might differ. So, during the whole
Megafestatie,
visitors will get counter information to the official propaganda.
Saturday 8 - Sunday 16 July Utrecht, Jaarbeurs: actions against the
Megafestatie. Starting every day at 12 o'clock.
Saturday 8 July: demonstrators will gather at Smakkelaarsveld [Central
Station side, opposite to Jaarbeurs]
Sunday 9 July: demonstrators will gather at entrance of Jaarbeurs
Monday 10 July: demonstrators will gather at Central Station exit,
escalators, Jaarbeursplein
etc.
More info on the actions at e-mail address: onkruit@...
On Tuesday 11 July in Den Bosch ['s Hertogenbosch; The Netherlands],
five
peace activists will be on trial for opposing NATO bombs during the 1999
war against Yugoslavia. They cut perimeter barbed wire of Volkel
military
air base, where F16 aircraft then took off for Kosovo. In all
probability
[the public may not know], there are also still US nuclear bombs at
Volkel
air base.
The case starts Tuesday 11 July , 13.30 o'clock at the "Gerechtshof
[court
house]", Leeghwaterlaan 8 in Den Bosch, near the back entrance of Den
Bosch
central railway station. The court case is public. So, other peace
activists are welcome.
Before the case starts, at 13 o'clock, here peace activists will gather.
More info on the case at e-mail address: onkruit@...
Please pass this info on to others.
Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
---
UN LIBRO DA RIPROPORRE
Subject: Urgent
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 13:42:41 PDT
From: "Dragan Pavlovic"
Dear friends,
Would you please find, retype, scan, put on the Web chapter 5 of the
book:
Franz Neumann: Behemouth, Structure and Praxis of National - Socialism
1933
- 1944, Oxford University Press, 1942; 1944.
We live in an interesting but unsecure time. The times were of course
never
secure enough, but twice in Europe insecurity reached the point of no
return. Neither social scientist and even less politicians were able to
recognize when the critical point was too close. We are not in better
position today either.
You are the people who are probably as anxious as I am that the point of
no
return may be very close and are trying, as much as you can, prevent the
worst happen.
In the forties the book was published describing international politics
of
Germany. Many of you must have read it. Those who have not, if by any
chance
read it today would think it to be of much recant date, a parody written
by
some "crazy" opponent of Western (NATO) ideology. That excellent book
is,
unfortunately, no parody, as the time we live is not. It was real and is
real.
Again:
Franz Neumann: Behemouth, Structure and Praxis of National - Socialism
1933
- 1944, Oxford University Press, 1942; 1944. It was translated later in
German, may be in French, I do not know.
If you would get it, reed it, republish it, and put it on the Web.
Particularly Chapter 5. Write an essay on it, or make your students do
it
(if you are social scientist, what I am not, and my students neither).
Help
them understand what is happening today. It may help. Please.
Dragan Pavlovic
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
L'IGNORANZA / 2.
"La capacita' critica e' la maggiore delle necessita' umane. Sapere,
conoscere, e' il primo dei diritti e il primo dovere dell'essere umano,
verso se stesso e verso gli altri. Vivere senza sapere e' condannarsi a
essere vittima, a vivere come una paglia al vento o a commettere atroci
errori di giudizio. Dal sapere o non sapere dipende se la vita fa di noi
un eroe, un criminale o una vittima."
Filippo Gaia,
dall'introduzione a "Il Secolo Corto", Maquis editore, Milano 1994
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
"La capacita' critica e' la maggiore delle necessita' umane. Sapere,
conoscere, e' il primo dei diritti e il primo dovere dell'essere umano,
verso se stesso e verso gli altri. Vivere senza sapere e' condannarsi a
essere vittima, a vivere come una paglia al vento o a commettere atroci
errori di giudizio. Dal sapere o non sapere dipende se la vita fa di noi
un eroe, un criminale o una vittima."
Filippo Gaia,
dall'introduzione a "Il Secolo Corto", Maquis editore, Milano 1994
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* Verso un "nuovo Kosovo"... (Sabac Online)
* Armi USA per l'UCK (Tanjug / Emperors Clothes)
* 1995-1997: "preistoria" delle forniture di armi all'UCK... (BTA,
Albanian Daily News)
* Il terrorismo ceceno ha radici in Kosovo? (Albanian Daily News)
* BALKAN - ALBANIA - KOSOVO - HEROIN - JIHAD (Center for Peace in the
Balkans)
* Sui piani di stanziamento permanente USA in Kosovo (LA Times, Le
Figaro, SerbiaInfo)
* Un articolo sull'UCK da Foreign Affairs (link)
---
TOWARDS A "NEW KOSOVO"
http://www.sabac.co.yu/e-zine/social_politics/txt/english/n_arvanites_towards_new_kosovo_062000.html
Text: Nick Arvanites , expert for geopolitics
© Sabac OnLine, June 2000.
It started with the "ethnic cleansing" of the Kosovo Albanians[1], but
one year after the entry of peacekeeping forces into
Kosovo, the tables have turned.
The KFOR peace force entered Kosovo on the 13th of June 1999 with the
aim of guaranteeing peace and security to all the
citizens of the Serbian southern province with the support of the UN
civil authority as well as a number of humanitarian
and non-government organizations[2]. Since then over 180,000 Serbs and
other non-Albanians have fled or have been
driven out of the province, 3,688 terrorist attacks have been
perpetrated, 739 people have been killed, 611 injured, 688
kidnapped and over 70 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries
destroyed or damaged. According to journalistic data
the majority of Kosovo's towns have been all but cleansed of Serbs.
About 2,500 Serbs have remained in Orahovac and Velika Hoca, while from
the village of Brecja near Kosovo Polje, across
Drenica and Metohija to the Albanian border not more than a few tens of
Serbs remain. Around a hundred Serbian families
have remained in Prizren, six old women have found shelter in the
Djakovica church, and two women in the Pec
Patriarchy. A larger number of Serbs, about 100,000 have remained in the
Kosovo basin, the Morava valley of Kosovo and
in Sririnik region of the Sar mountains.[3]
Obviously, the state of affairs in Kosovo after the arrival of
peacekeeping forces has been deteriorating constantly. Some
of the UN representatives also think that there are no positive trends
in this region. For example, the German paper,
BERLINER ZEITUNG, quotes an active UN representative in Kosmet, Tom
Kenings, who says that "the murders of
Serbs and Romas have not stopped there" and concludes that "the idea of
the creation of multiethnic Kosovo has dismally
failed".[4]
Some[5] believe that Kenings' statements contradict statements issuing
from NATO's military and political leadership,
that the Alliance is presently the only credible and effective force for
the containment of conflict anywhere in the world
especially when having in mind that, as a the result of the same NATO
policy, the Albanian authorities in the region are
caving in under the pressure from the criminal clans of Hasim Taci and
other KLA leaders who receive extra profit from
narcobusiness and the arms trade.
Four months after the bombardment of Yugoslavia, secret documents,
signed by the general secretary of NATO, Javier
Solana, were leaked. These documents analyze the manner in which the KLA
is financed and comment on its Mafia
connections and the routes by which arms reach Kosovo. All NATO members
were familiar with the contents of the
documents dated 10.02.1999[6]. However, this did not stop them from
launching the air-campaign against Yugoslavia
only 45 days later.
According to the precise, secret data in the document, the KLA received
arms and financial support from the Albanian
Diaspora and different criminal groups. Traffic in narcotics provides
the basic part of income. A significant role is played
by the Mafia from Croatia, consisting of Croats who left Kosovo from
1989 to 1990. It controls the drugs traffic in
Zagreb and gives economic support to the KLA. The routes along which
arms travel to Kosovo are the same ones used by
humanitarian organizations, and arms are hidden in the same trucks
carrying food and medicine. Besides some
internationally known humanitarian organizations, this is true of
Albanian humanitarian organizations such as "Help for
Kosovo" with central offices in Tirana. According to a further NATO
report the largest help to the KLA comes from
Europe, but also from North America and the Middle East. The arms routes
go through Bosnia, Italy, Croatia, Macedonia
and Montenegro. The countries from which the KLA has bought arms are:
Rumania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus,
China, Israel, Bosnia, Croatia, South Africa and Switzerland. The
center of economic operations is in Switzerland and the
money is transferred further via banks. Bosnia has become the center of
arms trade due to its special position . After the
war in Croatia and Bosnia a large quantity of arms has remained there,
while SFOR "... allows smugglers freedom of
movement...". In one part, the report suggests measures to be used to
prevent the arms trade, arms delivery and financial
support to the KLA, but in the same breath it continues: "these measures
should be taken if this is the result we require".
The Kosmet "gray zone" which is more and more in the state of collapse,
due to the lack of infrastructure, political
corruption, the international community's lack of success and the loss
of legitimacy and control over certain factions, has
become the resort of criminal syndicates and terrorist groups which are
the centers of local power and money acquired
through smuggling, the development of low and middle level narcobusiness
and other illegal activities[7]. At the same
time a part of the KLA incorporates in the Albanian narcomafia[8] from
the harbor of Valona to Drac, the old training
centers of the KLA in northern Albania in Kukes, in Tropoja to the
Adriatic with transit zones through Prokletije or via
the Skadar lake channel. At the local level, former KLA structures aim
to create an ethnically cleansed Kosmet with the
forms of government of the Sicilian, Albanian or Colombian type, where
the Mafia controls local and other policies
primarily through influencing local administration and the management
of large firms, and by infiltrating the local
police and the UN and KFOR structures, primarily by means of supplying
luxury goods, drugs and prostitution[9].
More than 10,000 prostitutes are thought to be working in Kosmet,
recruited from Kosmet, Albania, Macedonia,
Bulgaria and the interior of Serbia and Montenegro with a calculated
profit of 600 to 700 million marks a year[10].
Counterfeit money and documents originating from Kosmet are also
expected to appear. It is clear that this is a highly
criminalized corner of southeast Europe, the potential victims of which
could also be the KFOR mission and the total
UN presence in Kosmet. The power of money can be used to bribe
influential individuals from the UN, OSCE, EU and
NATO administration.
According to the statements of OSCE mission co-workers in Kosovo, the
takeover of one of the largest energy
complexes, OBILIC, by the Kosmet Albanians the Thaci clan has secured
another source of riches. At this moment the
power station produces at least 700mWATTs of electrical energy, but only
150mWATTs reach the consumers. This
means that the rest of the energy is illegally exported to Macedonia,
Albania and possibly to Serbia, and the income thus
gained ends up in the pockets of the Thaci family. According to the UN
experts, this source of income is second in
importance after drugs trafficking but the present administration cannot
halt it due to an apparent lack of evidence. In the
UN and OSCE mission some believe that the UN mission chief Bernard
Koucner takes his cut of this profit, via Thaci.
Such rumors were be heard in Kosmet particularly after the release of
Thaci's brother who had been arrested at the
beginning of January this year because of illegal possession of arms and
released only a couple of hours later, following
the personal intervention of Kouchner[11].
Thus the Thaci clan and their associates can expand their influence on
political developments, the organization of local
government and the police, the distribution of humanitarian aid and the
expansion of crime while, at the same time,
carrying out terrorist acts against the non-Albanian population, thus
forcing them to flee the province. There are
additional indications that the KLA is preparing for the physical
liquidation of persons on the KLA lists[12]. Those
targeted would be politicians, journalists, members of the Yugoslav Army
and Police force, undesirable for the KLA but
also for the "underground diplomacy" of Albania and some countries of
the KFOR mission. Taci's intention seems to be to
launch terrorism within Serbia proper, everywhere where Albanians live,
primarily in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja
where Albanians constitute a significant presence[13]. The resistance of
the Albanian village militias is also to be
expected, since they are against KLA plundering and enforcement of their
will in ethnically pure Albanian environments.
In this context the possibility of activating a part of the KLA in
Macedonia should not be excluded, and this would be
within "Brigade KLA 121"[14].
However, the Albanian "civil option" in Kosmet and other ordinary
citizens have reacted against the Thaci clan on a
number of occasions, some of them even say that "it was better at the
time of Serbs"[15], but those political players have
no room for maneuver at present. They are awaiting another phase with a
clearer form of KLA transformation and
probably a more stable picture of political actors in Belgrade who have
to understand that the solution exists only from
inside, and not outside, and that it is high time speeches about
Kosmet's and country's fate were delivered inside the
Serbian territory rather than in neighboring countries or luxurious
offices and hotels in abroad.
Nick Arvanites,
May, 2000.
© Saba c OnLine
[1] Raport mbi shkeljen e të drejtave e të lirive të njeriut në Kosovë
gjatë vitit 1999: DHUNA E TERRORI I
INSTITUCIONALIZUAR SERB MORI DIMENSIONIN E HAPUR SHFAROSËS GJENOCIDAL TË
SHQIPTARËVE
[2] Joska Fiser, Kosovo: Izazovi i Sanse, autorski tekst za BLIC,
24/3/2000- Ambassador Alexander Vershbow , European Security Post-Kosovo
,
Oxford's Konigswinter Conference 23/3/2000.
[3] Crucified Kosovo, Destroyed and Desecrated Serbian Orthodox Churches
in Kosovo and Metohia (June-October 1999), Media and Publishing
Center of Raska and Prizren Orthodox Eparchy- Zoran Andjelkovic, Days of
Terror,Center for Peace and Tolerance, Belgrade 2000-Teroristicki
Akti Albanskih Teroristickih Grupa na Kosovu i Metohiji, Dokumenta i
Dokazi 1/1/1998-10/6/1999, III&IV, SMIP, Beograd, Mart 2000- Sefko
Alomerovic, Postoje li Logori na Kosovu?, AIM, 31/3/2000- Gordana
Janicijevic, Otimaju Bebe, Zene, Starce, DUGA, No 1736Natasa Kandic, The
Lesson of Orahovac: The International Administration in KosovoEncourages
Violence Against Serbs, HLC Belgrade- Human Rights Watch, FRY:
Abuses Against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo, August 1999, Vol. 11,
No 10 (D)
[4] 18/1/2000
[5] N.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan: Organizovani Kriminal i Novi
Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd 2000, p. 41-44
[6] IMS Assesment of UCK Arms Trafficking from Secretary General to
Permanent Representatives (Council) & Head of Mission of the Three
Invited Countries, SG (99) 0170, 10 February 1999- RIZOSPASTIS, 22
August 1999- STRATFOR Special Report, Kosovo: One Year Later,
3/3/2000- DUGA, Tajno Pismo Clanicama o Ilegalnom Naoruzavanju OVK,
No1721- N.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan: Organizovani Kriminal
i Novi Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd 2000,p. 19-22, 29-32,
75-86
[7]Budimir Babovic, Iz Dosijea Interpola, Beograd 1991- Kosovo: Zona
bez Zakona, DANAS, 23/2/2000- Barry James, War Zone Turns to
Crime:Kosovo and Albania Are Cited for Lawlessness, International
Herald Tribune, 15/3/2000-Nikolaj Chavdarov, Kosovo Narco-Mafia Invading
Bulgaria, Sega, Sofia- Maggie O'Kane, Kosovo Drug Mafia Supply Heroin to
Europe, The Guardian, 13/3/2000- Imer Mushkolaj, KOSOVO DRUG
THREAT:Albanian drug dealers and traffickers are flourishing in post-war
Kosovo, IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 142, 23/5/2000
[8] Goran Draskovic, Osnovni Pravci Medjnarodnog Tranzita Opojnih Droga-
Ozivljavanje Balkanskog Puta in SPRECAVANJE ZLOUPOTREBE
DROGA, Srpsko Udruzenje Za Krivicno Pravo, 1999, p.123-131
[9] What Happened to the KLA?, International Crisis Group Reports,
3/3/2000
[10] Transfer Devojaka sa Istoka na Zapad, DANAS 18/2/2000- Mlade
Albanke Belo Roblje, GLAS, 18/3/2000- NATO Forces spur Kosovo
Prostitution Boom, AFP, 5/1/2000- Frances Kennedy, Albanians Redraw
Italy's Crime Map, The Independent, 20/2/2000-James Pringle, Sex Slave
Trade Thrives Among Kosovo Troops, The Times, 5/2/2000-Nightclub
shame,24/2/2000, TIMES- FEATURES- Imer Mushkolaj and Mentor
Shala, A Prostitutes Call: We Will Take Over Kosovo, IWPR, No 101,
10/12/1999
[11] Kosovo rebuilds among ruins of thewar that never ends, THE SUNDAY
TIMES, 19/5/2000- Kouchner and Reinhardt pronounce Thaci
untouchable, AFP, 22/1/2000- Vladimir Milovanovic, Kosovska Privreda:
Vlasnistvo Kusnera, VREME, 13/5/2000- on the field reports and
interviews in Kosovo
[12] Radivoje Petrovic, Likcidacije Medju Albanskim Teroristima,
POLITIKA, 11/5/2000- Granit Guri, Elimination of Former KLA Commanders:
"X
File", AIM , 18/5/ 2000
[13] Baton Haxhiu, Pse nuk mund te perseritet UCK-ja?: Pse dallojne
Kosova Lindore dhe Kosova. Ideja per t'i pershtaturPresheves, Bujanocit
dhe
Medvegjes variantin e Kosoves eshte aq errezikshme sa mund te kete
pasoja te renda per Kosoven dhe per politiken nderkombetare karshi ketij
problemi, Revista Klan, Nr 150- Fehim Rexhepi, Presevo, Boujanovac,
Medvedja:Moguca Tacka Sukoba?, AIM,5/2/2000- Vukasin Obradovic, Sta
se Zbiva na Jugu Srbije?, AIM, 4/3/2000- Milorad Pavlovic, Presevo i
Bujanovac ili Prica o Najavi Vrelog Proleca, DUGA, No 1737
[14]Slucaj Aracinovo: Stranskite paruznavaci predupreduvat na "proletno
scenario", START, No 53, 28/1/2000.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan:
Organizovani Kriminal i Novi Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd
2000,p. 23-27, 33-36, 37-39, 45-46, 49-51
[15]Zijadin Gashi, Rugova Pridobija Birace Cuteci, Thaci obustavlja
Kritike, AIM, 30/1/2000- Lj. Staletovic, Zajednicki Zivot Uslov
Opstanka,
GLAS, 18/3/2000-Srpsko-Albanski Dijalog, Helsniski Odbor za Ljudska
Prava u Srbiji, I, Beograd 1997/ II, Beograd 1999
---
ARMI USA ALL'UCK
From: http://emperors-clothes.com/indexe.htm
U.S Arms 3,500 Albanian Terrorists
By the Yugoslav press agency, Tanjug
With extensive comments by Jared Israel (05/0500)
The following is based on an article from Tanjug (pronounced tanyug),
the
press service of the Yugoslav government. Given the admittedly partisan
source some might be inclined to poo-poo the charges made here, so I
added
some quotes from pro-NATO media. These and my own analysis suggest that,
if
anything, Tanjug understates its case, sparing us some of the more
unbelievable details.
TANJUG: The US administration recently secretly armed more than 3.500
Albanian extremists who are acting under the wing of the Kosovo
Protection
Corps (KPC). The US government has continually supplied Albanian
terrorists
in Kosovo-Metohija with arms since the arrival of the UN Peace Mission
in
the southern Serbian province, in spite of verbal public condemnations
of
terrorism, and unknown to its allies in KFOR.
Jared comments: In Why is the KLA shooting at KFOR? we noted that recent
fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army and French troops in
northern
Kosovo (Mitrovica) was really a proxy war between the US and France.
Well,
during that fighting, French troops seized a KLA ambulance stuffed with,
we
kid you not, "14 anti-tank rocket launchers, more than 180
high-explosive
grenades, and more than 3,000 cartridges for guns, (Bergen County
Record,
2-16-00) and "including a US-made 'street sweeper' grenade launcher..."
(AFP, 2-15-00)
Got that? Pretty amazing?
Here's more amazing. Gen. Shelton, boss of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
immediately held a press conference commenting on the ambulance. Why
would a
big-shot like him comment on an incident like that? But OK, did he at
least
denounce the KLA for violating the UN agreement under which NATO tries
to
justify its occupation of Kosovo? Did he chastise the KLA for planning
to
slaughter even more local people and now French troops as well? No sir,
he
talked about the difficulties of preventing arms smuggling from Serbia.
>From Serbia?
The ambulance was seized as it was being driven north towards not away
from
inner Serbia. And these were US-made weapons stashed inside, and this
was a
KLA ambulance.
So what was the point of Shelton's statement? I think the intention was
clear. By first taking the unheard of step of commenting on a minor
incident, and then pointing the finger at Yugoslavia instead of the KLA,
Shelton was affirming, at the highest level, that the US government
supported the KLA arms buildup. What reason do we have to doubt that the
US
also covertly supplies the KLA with weapons? The only question is: why
would
the US equip only 3500 terrorists? has the CIA gotten cheap?
Back to TANJUG: The Kosovo Protection Corps, officially formed Sept 20,
1999
as a civilian institution...is actually the so-called Kosovo Liberation
Army
(KLA)...an extreme grouping of Albanian separatists but repackaged in a
manner that NATO experts hope will be acceptable to the international
public, that is, in a manner that creates the illusion of respecting
Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council.
Jared comments: The Kosovo Protection Corps is openly run by the same
thugs
who led the KLA. It's a name change. The KPC remains a racist, crazy,
terrorist-gangster organization. Just read the following mind boggling
account from the Albanian Daily News of 4-19-00. If I were editing the
Albanian Daily News, I would have called the story:
"THE RIGHT TO BEAR ROCKET LAUNCHERS.."
Forgive me but I peppered the Daily News text with comments, in
brackets.
Here's the story:
"United Nations police have detained a suspect in the murder of a
high-ranking officer of the Kosovo Protection Force (KPC), spokesman
Charlie
Johnson said Tuesday... They are also searching for another man
suspected of
involvement in the slaying in central Pristina Monday of Besim Mala, a
former commander of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)...gunned
down in broad daylight in a restaurant in what was thought to be a
property
dispute, Johnson said.
The suspect was detained several hours later. The killing was condemned
by
the commander of the KPC, General Agim Ceku who described it as an
attack on
the "freedom and future of Kosovo."
[Jared's note: Ceku is a former (?) KLA top leader, that is, war
criminal.
He has also been charged with war crimes for his role five years ago
helping
lead the slaughter and expulsion of over 200,000 Serbian residents of
the
Krajina section of what is now Croatias. It is clear from Ceku's remark
about the murder being "an attack on the 'freedom and future of
Kosovo.'"
that this killing resulted from a leadership fight within the KPC. These
guys conduct elections in the style of Al Capone: "Bang! Youse guys is
dead.
My guys is elected!"]
The KPC is a civil emergency organization formed out of the
demilitarized
KLA. [Jared's note: Demilitarized? This is nightmare-comedy. Read on...]
Johnson said UN police had also released a man held late Monday in
connection with another attack in central Prishtina just a few hundred
meters from the restaurant where Mala was shot. The man had been
detained by
KFOR peacekeeping troops at a vehicle checkpoint for having two rocket
warheads in his car shortly after unidentified attackers fired a
rocket-propelled grenade into a building in the city center. The blast
injured two ethnic Albanians but was thought to have been targeted at a
neighboring apartment occupied by Serbian journalists, Johnson said. He
[Johnson] said the explosive had apparently been fired from a rocket
launcher from a nearby rooftop. The firing tube was found some 200
meters
from the rooftop, Johnson said.
The detainee was released after explosives experts established the
rockets
he was carrying were of a different type to the one used in the attack.
[Jared's note: Is any comment necessary?]
Back to TANJUG: Since the arrival of KFOR in Kosovo-Metohija, members of
"Kosovo Protection Corps" have brutally liquidated more than 1.000
civilians.
Jared comments: KFOR, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,
Kosovapress, and the Internatioanl Crisis Group, who are to different
degrees either NATO or pro-NATO, have each admitted the KLA/KPC killed
hundreds of people in Kosovo. There is no question that, in NATO's
interest,
these groups have understated the numbers murdered.
The Orthodox Church, the Pristina Center for Tolerance and the Yugoslav
government have documented hundreds more deaths. Aside from that, many
have
been kidnapped and may be dead. In any case, the most important point is
not
the exact number of murders - which probably exceed 1000 - but the
situation.
Over 300,000 people have been driven from Kosovo. This includes most
Serbs,
Slavic Muslims, about 150,000 non-KLA Albanians and tens of thousands of
Roma ("Gypsies"). They did not leave out of fear of NATO bombs and they
did
not leave in order to make a political statement, to make the KLA look
bad.
They left because of the following:
"Murder, torture and extortion: these are the extraordinary charges made
against the UN's own Kosovo Protection Corps in a confidential United
Nations report written for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The KPC stands accused in the document, drawn up on 29 February, of
'criminal activities - killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal
policing,
abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and
hate-speech'.
The 5,000-strong corps, funded by UN members including Britain, has a
£30
million aid budget for Kosovo. It was set up to provide 'disaster
response
services'; instead, says the UN, it has been murdering and torturing
people." (From London Observer, 3/12/00 quoted in How will you plead at
the
trial, Mr.Annan?)
In other words, the cause of the huge exodus is gangsterism and racist
terror. As you may recall, NATO said it was taking over Kosovo in order
to
produce racial harmony. So what is NATo's reaction to the destruction of
multietnic life in Kosovo, to the transformation of Kosovo into a
nightmare
of fascist gangsterism? Here is the answer from the outgoing NATO
Commander
in Kosovo, Gen. Wesley Clark:
"On Monday, he visited Kosovo and said there was an 'increasing sense of
security, the indicators of recovery from strong-arm ethnic cleansing
and
even some first budding signs of willingness to tolerate ethnic
differences
and cooperate among ethnic groups.'"
TANJUG: The Corps comprises 5.000 men and is under the direct command of
the
KFOR...in keeping with the policy of the UN Secretary-General's special
envoy... Bernard Kouchner of France.
The fact that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recently ordered
Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, to strike leader
Hashim
Thaci (of the officially disbanded terrorist KLA) from the list of
persons
indicted for war crimes, is perhaps the best confirmation that Albanian
extremists are in fact favorites and protégés of the US administration.
Jared comments: Maybe the Thaci cover-up is the best evidence that the
murderous KLA racists are US administration proteges. But it's as we
have
seen, it is not the only evidence.
Let me close with a quote from an op ed article in the NY Times by
William
Clinton. It is inconceivable that when Clinton wrote this op ed piece
last
May he was unaware of the nature of the KLA, which US covert agencies
had
helped to create and for whom the US had been the key sponsor at least
since
the Verification Teams went to Kosovo in the Fall of 1998. He understood
the
nature of the monster the US had chosen as its proxy force; he knew the
KLA's dreams:
"He, like many KLA officers, says openly that he dreams of a Kosovo
without
Serbs." (Description of KLA death squad commander "The Teacher", Agence
France Presse, August 19, 1999, quoted in The roots of Kosovo fascism by
George Thompson.)
Knowing what the KLA was, knowing what NATO and therefore KLA domination
of
Kosovo would mean, Clinton wrote:
"Freedom, respect for minority rights, and prosperity are powerful
forces
for progress. They give people goals to work for; they elevate hope over
fear and tomorrow over yesterday." (Clinton, op-ed editorial, NY Times,
May
23, 1999)
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---
1995: TRAFFICI DI ARMI IN BULGARIA/FYROM
1997: FURTI DI ARMI IN ALBANIA
BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY
BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA
JUNE 16, 1995
ARM DEALS
The case of the so-called "Albanian deal" will be
tried within a month, "Standart News" writes citing Military
Prosecutor Colonel Mityu Markov. The question is about a
consignment of the Bulgarian Defence Ministry that
consisted of 100 mine-throwers, 10, 000 mines and 250
sniper rifles totalling 670, 000 US dollars which disappeared
in Macedonia on its way to Albania. It is not clear how the
carrier Mario Stoichkov, who in on the Interpol wanted list,
can be made to appear in court, the paper writes. The same
paper writes that eleven days ago Ivan M., a military
intelligence officer who was in charge of was reported
missing foreign currency remittances at the department, was
reported missing.
http://www.albaniannews.com
Albanian Daily News
June 9, 2000
Over 500,000 Albanian Guns Unaccounted For
TIRANA - More than half a million guns looted during
Albania’s civil uprising in 1997 are still at large
despite the government’s efforts to retrieve them, the
Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Minister Spartak Poci said one fifth - or 117,488 guns
- of the 650,000 plundered from army depots have been
collected over the past three years, as well as 84
million bullets from an arsenal of over 1.5 billion.
“A part of the stolen guns has left the country, but
we don’t know how much,” Poci told reporters. The bulk
is thought to have been trafficked to neighbouring
Kosovo to help ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army
guerrillas fight for independence from Belgrade in a
conflict that ended last year.
The 1997 Albanian uprising was sparked by the collapse
of corrupt pyramid investment schemes and lasted
several months. Angry mobs looted army barracks in an
effort to destroy everything related with the state.
Last month the police found in a village in the Lezha
district 19 air-to-air missiles, type P2. The missiles
were in working order and were returned to the nearby
Gjader military air base. Police said 20 missiles had
been stolen from the base in 1997. Only one has not
been found yet.
The government has recently been consistent in its
firm commitment to the disarmament process, but
despite two years of work, the number of weapons and
ammunition collected accounts for no more than 20
percent of those looted. The police has also seized 52
tonnes of TNT, only a small fraction of the explosives
looted.
The government decided earlier this year to create a
500 strong police force to deal specifically with the
disarmament process.
Disarmament campaign “Development instead of Weapons”
is being extended to several districts of Albania
following the success of the Gramsh pilot project. The
United Nations Development Programme, and other
international organisations sponsoring disarming
projects, have pledged to provide investments for the
restructuring of infrastructure and creation of jobs
in return of arms surrender.
---
KOSOVO E CECENIA
http://www.albaniannews.com
Albanian Daily News
June 6, 2000
Russian General Says Terrorism in Chechnya Has Roots
in Kosovo
MOSCOW - The terrorism which Russia is fighting in
Chechnya has some roots in Kosovo, the commander of
Russia’s airborne troops General Georgy Shpak claimed
in a newspaper report published Monday.
In an interview with the daily Vremya Novostei, the
officer discussed Russia’s role in the KFOR
international peacekeeping effort in Kosovo.
“The presence of the Russians is indispensable in this
hot spot of Europe, where we have political and
economic interests and our ancient traditions,” he
said.
“Apart from that, the terrorism against which we are
fighting in Chechnya has certain roots in Kosovo,”
Shpak added, without elaborating.
Terrorism is the official Moscow terminology for the
activities of Chechen separatist fighters.
General Valery Manilov, number two in the military
hierarchy, threatened last month to withdraw Russian
forces from KFOR if Yugoslavia’s integrity was
threatened. Some 3,600 Russian troops serve with KFOR,
which has a multinational total of 40,000 under NATO
leadership.
Russian and German soldiers with KFOR came under
anti-tank, machine gun and automatic fire last week in
the latest in a series of incidents. Russian soldiers
are frequent targets of Kosovar Albanians who believe
the Russians support the Serbian ruling power in
Belgrade.
---
BALKAN - ALBANIA - KOSOVO - HEROIN - JIHAD
The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
www.balkanpeace.org
scontact@...
Research Analysis
May 2000
The biggest paradox in the international war on drugs is connected to
the Balkans and the explosion of terrorist activities in that troubled
area. However, it relates less to drugs and arms and more to the major
participants in this deadly game.
Terrorist organizations at the top of America's most wanted list are
receiving tacit support in the Balkans from the Clinton administration.
The "most wanted" terrorist in the world today, Osama bin Laden, who
declared a "fatwa" against the US, is being abetted by the Clinton
doctrine. In the Balkans, we are witnessing a true paradox where several
mortal enemies - Iranian revolutionary guards, Osama bin Laden and the
CIA - are standing shoulder to shoulder while pursuing diametrically
opposite goals.
Drugs Finance Terrorism
Earlier reporting has confirmed that terrorism in the Balkans has been
primarily financed through narcotics trafficking. Heroin - worth 12
times its weight in gold - is by far the most profitable commodity on
the markets. A kilogram of heroin, worth $1,000 in Thailand, wholesales
for $110,000 in Canada with a street value of $800,000.
In fact, heroin trafficking has become so beneficial to the cause of
Albanian separatism that the predominantly Albanian-inhabited towns of
Veliki Trnovac and Blastica in Serbia, Vratnica and Gostivar in FYR
Macedonia, and Shkoder and Durres in Albania have become known as the
"new Medellins" of the Balkans. Via the Balkan Route, heroin travels
through Turkey, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania en route to western
European markets. The value of the heroin shipped is $400-billion (US) a
year. As early as 1996, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) detailed
the Balkan Route in its annual report. In 1998, the DEA stated that
Kosovo Albanians had become the second most important traffickers on the
Balkan Route.
These predominantly Albanian drug barons from Kosovo ship heroin
exclusively from Asia's Golden Crescent, an apparently inexhaustible
source. At one end of the crescent lies Afghanistan, which in 1999
surpassed Burma as the world's largest producer of opium poppies. From
there, the heroin base passes through Iran to Turkey, where it is
refined, and then placed into the hands of the Albanians who operate out
of the lawless towns bordering FYR Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia.
According to the US State Department, four to six tons of heroin move
through Turkey every month.
"Not very much is stopped", says one official. "We get just a fraction
of the total". Not surprisingly, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has
flourished along the route. Its dependence on the drug lords is
difficult to prove, but the evidence is impossible to overlook.
In 1998, German Federal Police froze two bank accounts belonging to the
"United Kosova" organization at a Dusseldorf bank after it was
discovered that several hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into
those accounts by a convicted Kosovo Albanian drug trafficker. According
to at least one published report, Bujar Bukoshi, Prime Minister of the
"Kosova" Government in Exile, also allegedly controlled the accounts.
In early 1999 an Italian court in Brindisi convicted an Albanian heroin
trafficker named Amarildo Vrioni, who admitted obtaining weapons for the
KLA from the Mafia in exchange for drugs.
Last February 23, Czech police arrested Princ Dobroshi, the head of an
Albanian Kosovo drug gang. While searching his apartment, they
discovered evidence that he had placed orders for light infantry weapons
and rocket systems. No one had questioned what a small-time dealer would
be doing with rockets. Only later did Czech police reveal he was
shipping them to the KLA. The Czechs extradited Dobroshi to Norway where
he had escaped from prison in 1997 while serving a 14-year sentence for
heroin trafficking.
It's therefore not surprising, say European law enforcement officials,
that the faction that ultimately seized power in Kosovo -- the KLA under
Hashim Thaci -- was the group that maintained the closest links to
traffickers.
In its report about the KLA and heroin smuggling, the Montreal Gazette
wrote: "...Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the DEA (US Drug
Enforcement Agency) who left in 1990, said he believes there is no
question that US intelligence knew about the KLA's drug ties. "They (the
CIA) protected them (the KLA) in every way they could. As long as the
CIA is protecting the KLA, you've got major drug pipelines protected
from any police investigation", said Levine, who teaches undercover
tactics and informer handling to US and Canadian police forces,
including the RCMP. "The evidence is irrefutable," he said, explaining
that his information comes from "sources inside the DEA".
The Albanian Medellin connection is particularly strong in Italy where
it is operating in conjunction with the "Sacra Corona Unita," or the
fourth mafia. The group controls the drug trade in the regions of
Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto.
The tentacles of the Albanian mafia stretch across Europe. According to
Interpol, Albanian-speaking drug dealers accounted for 14% of those
arrested for heroin smuggling in 1997. While the average trafficker was
apprehended with two grams of heroin, the Albanians had an average of
120 grams in their possession. Scandinavian countries claim that
Albanians control 80% of the heroin market there. Switzerland says 90%
of the drug trafficking in that country is connected to Albanians.
German law enforcement agencies claim that Albanians form the largest
group involved in heroin trafficking.
German Federal Police now say that Kosovo Albanians import 80 percent of
Europe's heroin. So dominant is the Kosovo Albanian presence in
trafficking that many European users refer to illicit drugs in general
as "Albanka", or Albanian lady.
Terrorism, Spies and Albanians
Osama bin Laden's activities in Albania are well known and documented.
The presence of his network in that country is so powerful that US
Defence Secretary William Cohen cancelled a scheduled visit last July
out of fear of being assassinated.
The Albanian national security organization SHIK confirmed that plans
exist to target US objects in Albania. SHIK is the offspring of the
notorious communist security apparatus the "Sigurimi." The former head
of the Sigurimi, Irakli Kocollari, is advisor to the current head of
SHIK, Fatos Klosi. In 1997 the CIA sent a team of experts to modernize
and reorganize SHIK. The other major patron of SHIK is the German
intelligence agency Bundensnachrichtendienst (BND) which opened one of
its largest stations in Tirana. A review of BND personnel is revealing.
While the terrorist Albanian organization Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosove -
UCK (KLA) was being formed, the BND was headed by Hansjorg Geiger whose
deputy was Rainer Kesselring, the son of the Luftwaffe general who
bombed Belgrade during the Second World War.
Mr. Kesselring was given the job of training KLA terrorists at a Turkish
base near Izmir where he was head of the BND station in 1978. French
sources confirmed that members of the German commando unit, Kommando
Spezialkrafte (KSK), participated in the KLA training program. Gen.
Klaus Neumann, the outgoing head of NATO's occupational forces in Kosovo
and Metohija, formed the German commando unit.
The relationship between the CIA and SHIK is one of master and servant.
At the CIA's "request" last year, Albania expelled three "humanitarian"
workers, two Syrians and an Iranian. Acting on another request, SHIK
arrested an Albanian national, Maksim Ciciku, for spying on the US
embassy. Ciciku was educated in Saudi Arabia. In Albania he worked for a
private security company which provided bodyguards for visiting Arabs.
He was accused of following embassy employees on behalf of Osama bin
Laden. Albania also expelled four Egyptians who were suspected of ties
to bin Laden. Two others were arrested and handed over to US agents,
along with a van full of documents and computer equipment, all of which
belonged to Osama bin Laden's organization.
At about the same time, Iran, through its embassy in Rome and it's
operative Mahmut Nuranija, began to organize an intelligence-gathering
sector in Albania. Their involvement in Albania was based on two levels:
economic-financial through the Albanian Arab Islamic Bank, and
humanitarian through organizations which have become standard covers for
subversive activities. At the beginning of 1998 Iran began the serious
consolidation of its most important European strongholds, Sarajevo and
Tirana. According to Yossef Bodansky, terrorism and unconventional
warfare analyst, Iran aided the KLA by providing military plans drawn up
by Zaim Bersa, a former colonel in the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), and
another Kosovo Albanian, Ejup Dragaj.
One of the leaders of an elite KLA unit was Muhammed al-Zawahiri, the
brother of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader in an Egyptian Jihad
organization and a military commander of Osama bin Laden. Once again
Kosovo becomes a paradox where several mortal enemies - Iranian
revolutionary guards, Osama bin Laden and the CIA - are standing
shoulder to shoulder training the KLA.
It is believed that bin Laden solidified his organization in Albania in
1994 with the help of then premier Sali Berisha. Albania's ties to
Islamic terrorist blossomed during Berisha's rule when the main KLA
training base was on Berisha's property in northern Albania. During the
"honeymoon" period between the CIA and Jihad holy warriors, Fatos Klosi,
the head of SHIK, said he had reliable information that four groups of
Jihad warriors from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algiers, Tunisia and Sudan were
in northern Albania and fighting with the KLA. Klosi recently stated
that there is an attempt to destabilize the country, alluding primarily
to former premier Sali Berisha.
Jihad and Serbia
In 1994 in Lebanon, a radical Sunni Muslim group, Takfir wal Hijra,
attempted to blow up a convoy of Serbian priests who were on their way
Koura. The priests avoided death when the suicide bomber detonated the
explosive device prematurely.
This attempt on the lives of Serbian priests preceded a more ambitious
plan. At the 18th Islamic conference, Al-Jama'ah al-Islaiyyah, held in
Pakistan (October 23-25, 1998), Albanian separatism in Kosovo and
Metohija was characterized as a Jihad. The same definition was given to
Muslim battles in India (Kashmir), Israel (Palestine) and Eritrea. By
defining armed battles as a "holy war" or Jihad, an obligation is placed
on the Muslim world to do everything in its power - economically,
politically and diplomatically - to aid the fight for freedom in
occupied Muslim territories". This gave legitimacy to terrorist acts
carried out by Allah's holy warriors. Referring to a Jihad, the
terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden announced terrorist attacks
against "infidel nations", namely Great Britain, United States, France,
Israel, Russia, India and Serbia.
The Bosnian Jihad Connection
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the influence of the ruling Islamic party, Party
of Democratic Action (SDA), has brought out the recently born again
"true believers". Recognized by their long beards and short-legged
pants, large numbers of them participated in KLA terrorist activities in
Kosovo and Metohija. The transport of these Jihad warriors was conducted
under the patronage of the SDA which provided them with passports. Visas
were issued for a "haj," or pilgrimage, to Mecca. Dr. Nauman Balic, head
of the Kosovo SDA and now a minister in Hashim Thaci's government", was
responsible for their transit to Albania. The Bosnian Muslims were
provided with journalists' credentials and 2,000 DM for travel costs. It
is not known how many returned from Kosovo, but a number of these Jihad
warriors lost their lives in Chechnya.
The Sarajevo authorities were active in the training of terrorists. In
1993 Saudi Arabia provided $1 million to build a refugee camp for
Bosnian Muslims in Albania. One of the main political leaders of the
Muslim authorities in Sarajevo admitted to Misha Glenny that the base
was used to train saboteurs sent to Kosovo because their Serbian was
flawless.
Kosovo under NATO - A Virtual Narco-State (1)
The benefits of the drug trade are evident around Pristina -- more so
than the benefits of Western aid. "The new buildings, the better roads,
and the sophisticated weapons -- many of these have been bought with
drugs," says Michel Koutouzis, the Balkans region expert for the Global
Drugs Monitor (OGD), a Paris-based think tank. The repercussions of this
drug connection are only now emerging, and many Kosovo observers fear
that the province could be evolving into a virtual narco-state under the
noses of 49,000 peacekeeping troops.
It was the disparate structure of the KLA, Koutouzis says, that
Facilitated the drug-smuggling explosion. "It permitted a
democratization of drug trafficking where ordinary people get involved,
and everyone contributes a part of his profit to his clan leader in the
KLA," he explains. "The more illegal the activity, the more money the
clan gets from the traffickers. So it's in the interest of the clan to
promote drug trafficking".
According to Marko Nicovic, the former chief of police in Belgrade, now
an investigator who works closely with Interpol, the international
police agency, 400 to 500 Kosovo Albanians move shipments in the 20-kilo
range, while about 5,000 Kosovo Albanians are small-timers, handling
shipments of less than two kilos. At one point in 1996, he says, more
than 800 ethnic Albanians were in jail in Germany on narcotics charges.
In many places, Kosovo Albanians traffickers gained a foothold in the
Illicit drug trade through raw violence. According to a 1999 German
Federal Police report, "The ethnic Albanian gangs have been involved in
drugs, weapons trafficking blackmail, and murder. They are increasingly
prone to violence".
Tony White of the United Nations Drug Control Program agrees with this
assessment. "They are more willing to use violence than any other
group," he says. "They have confronted the established order throughout
Europe and pushed out the Lebanese, Pakistani, and Italian cartels".
Few gangs are willing to tangle with the Kosovo Albanians. Those that do
often pay the ultimate price. In January 1999, Kosovo Albanians killed
Nine people in Milan, Italy during a two-week bloodbath between rival
heroin groups.
Now free of the war and the Yugoslav police, drug traffickers have
Reopened the old Balkan Road. With the KLA in power -- and in the
spotlight - the top trafficking families have begun to seek relative
respectability without decreasing their heroin shipments. "The Kosovo
Albanians are trying to position themselves in the higher levels of
trafficking", says the U.N.'s Tony White. "They want to get away from
the violence of the streets and attract less attention. Criminals like
to move up like any other business, and the Kosovo Albanians are
becoming business leaders. They have become equal partners with the
Turks".
Italian national police discovered this new Kosovo Albanian outreach
last year when they undertook "Operation Pristina". The carabinieri
(Italian Police) uncovered a chain of connections that originated in
Kosovo and stretched through nine European countries, extending into
Central Asia, South America and the United States.
White House officials deny a whitewashing of KLA activities. "We do care
about (KLA drug trafficking)", says Agresti. "It's just that we've got
our hands full trying to bring peace there".
The DEA is equally reticent to address the issue. According to Michel
Koutouzis, the DEA's website once contained a section detailing Kosovo
Albanians trafficking, but a week before the US-led bombings began, the
section disappeared. "The DEA doesn't want to talk publicly (about the
KLA)", says OGD director Alain Labrousse. "It's embarrassing to them".
High-ranking US officials are dismayed that the KLA was installed in
power without public discussion or a thorough check of its background.
"I don't think we're doing anything there to stem the drugs", says a
senior State Department official. "It's out of control. It should be a
high priority. We've warned about it".
Even if it tried to stop the Kosovo Albanian heroin trade, the US would
be hard-pressed to do so. "Nobody's in control in Kosovo", adds the
State Department official. "They don't even have a police force".
Regardless of what it says, there's little indication that the
administration wants to do anything with the intelligence available
about its newest ally. "There is no doubt that the KLA is a major
trafficking organization", said a congressional expert who monitors the
drug trade and requested anonymity. "But we have a relationship with the
KLA, and the administration doesn't want to damage (its) reputation. We
are partners.
The attitude is: The drugs are not coming here, so let others deal with
it".
Conclusion
Indeed the biggest paradox in the world war on drugs is connected to the
Balkans and the outburst of terrorist activities in that troubled area.
What is the reason for this unusual co-relation between US policy in
Balkans, the most wanted terrorist in the world today, Osama bin y en,
and this enormous KLA drug trafficking.
As Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the DEA (US Drug Enforcement
Agency) stated: "They (the CIA) protected them the KLA) in every way
they could". McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin, said the Afghan
Mujahideen rebels were one of the first US-backed rebel groups to get
into the heroin trade in a big way. The anti-Communist Mujahideen were
backed by the US in their opposition to the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan in 1979. They started exporting massive amounts of opium to
raise money, with the knowledge and protection of the CIA and Pakistani
intelligence, according to McCoy. "That produced a massive traffic in
the '80s to Europe and the U.S.," he said.
Other recipients of US support were Nicaraguan Contras, Panama's General
Noriega, Afghan Taliban, Indonesia (remember massacres by their special
units in Timor), and Burma's Khun Sa. Another US-backed rebel army, the
Nicaraguan contras, raised money for their war against the leftist
Sandinista government in the 1980s by flooding U.S. cities with crack -
all with the knowledge and assistance of the CIA and the DEA, according
to the book Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb.
Webb's allegations were initially denied by the CIA, but a CIA
inspector-general's report in October 1998 revealed that 58 contras were
linked to drug allegations.
Early in 1999, as the war against Serbia raged, Congress voted to fund
the KLA's drive for independence. One tear later the US embrace of the
KLA may come as an embarrassment, but not a precedent.
Quo Vadis America?
1 - Material from "Mother Jones" Heroin Heroes, January/February 2000
used without permission, for academic and research purposes only.
The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
www.balkanpeace.org
---
SUI PIANI DI STANZIAMENTO PERMANENTE USA NELLA BASE DI CAMP BONDSTEEL
U.S. in Kosovo for the Long Haul
http://www.latimes.com/news/front/20000610/t000055108.html
Saturday, June 10, 2000
U.S. in Kosovo for the Long Haul
-
http;://www.serbia-info.com/news
"Le Figaro": American base was the aim of bombing of Yugoslavia
June 13, 2000
Paris, June 12th (Tanjug) - The official French government sticks to the
explanation they offered concerning their involvement in NATO aggression
on Yugoslavia, but they can no longer deceive neither their public nor
the media about the real cause of the criminal bombing of Yugoslavia. It
turned out that Paris and other Europeans "worked" for the benefit of
Washington interests, which is stressed in the latest edition of the
Paris weekly "Le Figaro".
"Allies of the United States start to wonder whether the formation of
American base in Kosmet was real purpose of the war" led, allegedly, on
behalf of the human rights of Kosmet Albanians, and which ended a year
ago. This is the statement by which the Paris weekly announced detailed
story about the American base "Bondsteel" in southern Kosovo.
"Le Figaro" published the information already known by Yugoslav public
and described "Bondsteel" as "large base" or even "military-industrial
complex" which resembled more "a town of 10 000 inhabitants than a
temporary camp provided by the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 a
year ago by which the bombing of Yugoslavia was ended".
The base, for which the weekly said "it was no secret, but was rather
discrete", spreads over the area of 300 hectares, where everything shows
that it was created "to stay for long".
In the base, the weekly said, there were 1600 lodgings, provided with
heating and air conditioners, 24 administration buildings "which were
already constructed and other which are under construction", "two
pharaoh dining rooms" open 24 hours, as well as the infrastructure
objects, including the projection room with 800 seats, football and
other sports fields.
"Everything proves that Americans came there to stay longer. They do not
even hide it, since the officers admit in cold blood that this base is
the most important one outside the US", "Le Figaro" says.
The Paris weekly stressed that the American base position in Kosmet was
"ideally chosen", since it is a "Muslim area where European sentiments
do not exist" and it is also the region where the conflict zones cross:
the Balkans, Mediterranean and the Middle East together with its oil.
"The Crusade for human rights of ethnic Albanians could, as its first
result i.e. its purpose, have (new) arrangement of Americans in the Old
continent", which is actually the creation of mighty "Bondsteel" base,
"Le Figaro" weekly concludes in this week's edition.
---
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/hedges.html/reader/reprints.html
Foreign Affairs May/Junel 1999 (volume 78, number 3)
Kosovo's Next Masters
By Chris Hedges
INSIDE THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* Armi USA per l'UCK (Tanjug / Emperors Clothes)
* 1995-1997: "preistoria" delle forniture di armi all'UCK... (BTA,
Albanian Daily News)
* Il terrorismo ceceno ha radici in Kosovo? (Albanian Daily News)
* BALKAN - ALBANIA - KOSOVO - HEROIN - JIHAD (Center for Peace in the
Balkans)
* Sui piani di stanziamento permanente USA in Kosovo (LA Times, Le
Figaro, SerbiaInfo)
* Un articolo sull'UCK da Foreign Affairs (link)
---
TOWARDS A "NEW KOSOVO"
http://www.sabac.co.yu/e-zine/social_politics/txt/english/n_arvanites_towards_new_kosovo_062000.html
Text: Nick Arvanites , expert for geopolitics
© Sabac OnLine, June 2000.
It started with the "ethnic cleansing" of the Kosovo Albanians[1], but
one year after the entry of peacekeeping forces into
Kosovo, the tables have turned.
The KFOR peace force entered Kosovo on the 13th of June 1999 with the
aim of guaranteeing peace and security to all the
citizens of the Serbian southern province with the support of the UN
civil authority as well as a number of humanitarian
and non-government organizations[2]. Since then over 180,000 Serbs and
other non-Albanians have fled or have been
driven out of the province, 3,688 terrorist attacks have been
perpetrated, 739 people have been killed, 611 injured, 688
kidnapped and over 70 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries
destroyed or damaged. According to journalistic data
the majority of Kosovo's towns have been all but cleansed of Serbs.
About 2,500 Serbs have remained in Orahovac and Velika Hoca, while from
the village of Brecja near Kosovo Polje, across
Drenica and Metohija to the Albanian border not more than a few tens of
Serbs remain. Around a hundred Serbian families
have remained in Prizren, six old women have found shelter in the
Djakovica church, and two women in the Pec
Patriarchy. A larger number of Serbs, about 100,000 have remained in the
Kosovo basin, the Morava valley of Kosovo and
in Sririnik region of the Sar mountains.[3]
Obviously, the state of affairs in Kosovo after the arrival of
peacekeeping forces has been deteriorating constantly. Some
of the UN representatives also think that there are no positive trends
in this region. For example, the German paper,
BERLINER ZEITUNG, quotes an active UN representative in Kosmet, Tom
Kenings, who says that "the murders of
Serbs and Romas have not stopped there" and concludes that "the idea of
the creation of multiethnic Kosovo has dismally
failed".[4]
Some[5] believe that Kenings' statements contradict statements issuing
from NATO's military and political leadership,
that the Alliance is presently the only credible and effective force for
the containment of conflict anywhere in the world
especially when having in mind that, as a the result of the same NATO
policy, the Albanian authorities in the region are
caving in under the pressure from the criminal clans of Hasim Taci and
other KLA leaders who receive extra profit from
narcobusiness and the arms trade.
Four months after the bombardment of Yugoslavia, secret documents,
signed by the general secretary of NATO, Javier
Solana, were leaked. These documents analyze the manner in which the KLA
is financed and comment on its Mafia
connections and the routes by which arms reach Kosovo. All NATO members
were familiar with the contents of the
documents dated 10.02.1999[6]. However, this did not stop them from
launching the air-campaign against Yugoslavia
only 45 days later.
According to the precise, secret data in the document, the KLA received
arms and financial support from the Albanian
Diaspora and different criminal groups. Traffic in narcotics provides
the basic part of income. A significant role is played
by the Mafia from Croatia, consisting of Croats who left Kosovo from
1989 to 1990. It controls the drugs traffic in
Zagreb and gives economic support to the KLA. The routes along which
arms travel to Kosovo are the same ones used by
humanitarian organizations, and arms are hidden in the same trucks
carrying food and medicine. Besides some
internationally known humanitarian organizations, this is true of
Albanian humanitarian organizations such as "Help for
Kosovo" with central offices in Tirana. According to a further NATO
report the largest help to the KLA comes from
Europe, but also from North America and the Middle East. The arms routes
go through Bosnia, Italy, Croatia, Macedonia
and Montenegro. The countries from which the KLA has bought arms are:
Rumania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus,
China, Israel, Bosnia, Croatia, South Africa and Switzerland. The
center of economic operations is in Switzerland and the
money is transferred further via banks. Bosnia has become the center of
arms trade due to its special position . After the
war in Croatia and Bosnia a large quantity of arms has remained there,
while SFOR "... allows smugglers freedom of
movement...". In one part, the report suggests measures to be used to
prevent the arms trade, arms delivery and financial
support to the KLA, but in the same breath it continues: "these measures
should be taken if this is the result we require".
The Kosmet "gray zone" which is more and more in the state of collapse,
due to the lack of infrastructure, political
corruption, the international community's lack of success and the loss
of legitimacy and control over certain factions, has
become the resort of criminal syndicates and terrorist groups which are
the centers of local power and money acquired
through smuggling, the development of low and middle level narcobusiness
and other illegal activities[7]. At the same
time a part of the KLA incorporates in the Albanian narcomafia[8] from
the harbor of Valona to Drac, the old training
centers of the KLA in northern Albania in Kukes, in Tropoja to the
Adriatic with transit zones through Prokletije or via
the Skadar lake channel. At the local level, former KLA structures aim
to create an ethnically cleansed Kosmet with the
forms of government of the Sicilian, Albanian or Colombian type, where
the Mafia controls local and other policies
primarily through influencing local administration and the management
of large firms, and by infiltrating the local
police and the UN and KFOR structures, primarily by means of supplying
luxury goods, drugs and prostitution[9].
More than 10,000 prostitutes are thought to be working in Kosmet,
recruited from Kosmet, Albania, Macedonia,
Bulgaria and the interior of Serbia and Montenegro with a calculated
profit of 600 to 700 million marks a year[10].
Counterfeit money and documents originating from Kosmet are also
expected to appear. It is clear that this is a highly
criminalized corner of southeast Europe, the potential victims of which
could also be the KFOR mission and the total
UN presence in Kosmet. The power of money can be used to bribe
influential individuals from the UN, OSCE, EU and
NATO administration.
According to the statements of OSCE mission co-workers in Kosovo, the
takeover of one of the largest energy
complexes, OBILIC, by the Kosmet Albanians the Thaci clan has secured
another source of riches. At this moment the
power station produces at least 700mWATTs of electrical energy, but only
150mWATTs reach the consumers. This
means that the rest of the energy is illegally exported to Macedonia,
Albania and possibly to Serbia, and the income thus
gained ends up in the pockets of the Thaci family. According to the UN
experts, this source of income is second in
importance after drugs trafficking but the present administration cannot
halt it due to an apparent lack of evidence. In the
UN and OSCE mission some believe that the UN mission chief Bernard
Koucner takes his cut of this profit, via Thaci.
Such rumors were be heard in Kosmet particularly after the release of
Thaci's brother who had been arrested at the
beginning of January this year because of illegal possession of arms and
released only a couple of hours later, following
the personal intervention of Kouchner[11].
Thus the Thaci clan and their associates can expand their influence on
political developments, the organization of local
government and the police, the distribution of humanitarian aid and the
expansion of crime while, at the same time,
carrying out terrorist acts against the non-Albanian population, thus
forcing them to flee the province. There are
additional indications that the KLA is preparing for the physical
liquidation of persons on the KLA lists[12]. Those
targeted would be politicians, journalists, members of the Yugoslav Army
and Police force, undesirable for the KLA but
also for the "underground diplomacy" of Albania and some countries of
the KFOR mission. Taci's intention seems to be to
launch terrorism within Serbia proper, everywhere where Albanians live,
primarily in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja
where Albanians constitute a significant presence[13]. The resistance of
the Albanian village militias is also to be
expected, since they are against KLA plundering and enforcement of their
will in ethnically pure Albanian environments.
In this context the possibility of activating a part of the KLA in
Macedonia should not be excluded, and this would be
within "Brigade KLA 121"[14].
However, the Albanian "civil option" in Kosmet and other ordinary
citizens have reacted against the Thaci clan on a
number of occasions, some of them even say that "it was better at the
time of Serbs"[15], but those political players have
no room for maneuver at present. They are awaiting another phase with a
clearer form of KLA transformation and
probably a more stable picture of political actors in Belgrade who have
to understand that the solution exists only from
inside, and not outside, and that it is high time speeches about
Kosmet's and country's fate were delivered inside the
Serbian territory rather than in neighboring countries or luxurious
offices and hotels in abroad.
Nick Arvanites,
May, 2000.
© Saba c OnLine
[1] Raport mbi shkeljen e të drejtave e të lirive të njeriut në Kosovë
gjatë vitit 1999: DHUNA E TERRORI I
INSTITUCIONALIZUAR SERB MORI DIMENSIONIN E HAPUR SHFAROSËS GJENOCIDAL TË
SHQIPTARËVE
[2] Joska Fiser, Kosovo: Izazovi i Sanse, autorski tekst za BLIC,
24/3/2000- Ambassador Alexander Vershbow , European Security Post-Kosovo
,
Oxford's Konigswinter Conference 23/3/2000.
[3] Crucified Kosovo, Destroyed and Desecrated Serbian Orthodox Churches
in Kosovo and Metohia (June-October 1999), Media and Publishing
Center of Raska and Prizren Orthodox Eparchy- Zoran Andjelkovic, Days of
Terror,Center for Peace and Tolerance, Belgrade 2000-Teroristicki
Akti Albanskih Teroristickih Grupa na Kosovu i Metohiji, Dokumenta i
Dokazi 1/1/1998-10/6/1999, III&IV, SMIP, Beograd, Mart 2000- Sefko
Alomerovic, Postoje li Logori na Kosovu?, AIM, 31/3/2000- Gordana
Janicijevic, Otimaju Bebe, Zene, Starce, DUGA, No 1736Natasa Kandic, The
Lesson of Orahovac: The International Administration in KosovoEncourages
Violence Against Serbs, HLC Belgrade- Human Rights Watch, FRY:
Abuses Against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo, August 1999, Vol. 11,
No 10 (D)
[4] 18/1/2000
[5] N.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan: Organizovani Kriminal i Novi
Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd 2000, p. 41-44
[6] IMS Assesment of UCK Arms Trafficking from Secretary General to
Permanent Representatives (Council) & Head of Mission of the Three
Invited Countries, SG (99) 0170, 10 February 1999- RIZOSPASTIS, 22
August 1999- STRATFOR Special Report, Kosovo: One Year Later,
3/3/2000- DUGA, Tajno Pismo Clanicama o Ilegalnom Naoruzavanju OVK,
No1721- N.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan: Organizovani Kriminal
i Novi Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd 2000,p. 19-22, 29-32,
75-86
[7]Budimir Babovic, Iz Dosijea Interpola, Beograd 1991- Kosovo: Zona
bez Zakona, DANAS, 23/2/2000- Barry James, War Zone Turns to
Crime:Kosovo and Albania Are Cited for Lawlessness, International
Herald Tribune, 15/3/2000-Nikolaj Chavdarov, Kosovo Narco-Mafia Invading
Bulgaria, Sega, Sofia- Maggie O'Kane, Kosovo Drug Mafia Supply Heroin to
Europe, The Guardian, 13/3/2000- Imer Mushkolaj, KOSOVO DRUG
THREAT:Albanian drug dealers and traffickers are flourishing in post-war
Kosovo, IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 142, 23/5/2000
[8] Goran Draskovic, Osnovni Pravci Medjnarodnog Tranzita Opojnih Droga-
Ozivljavanje Balkanskog Puta in SPRECAVANJE ZLOUPOTREBE
DROGA, Srpsko Udruzenje Za Krivicno Pravo, 1999, p.123-131
[9] What Happened to the KLA?, International Crisis Group Reports,
3/3/2000
[10] Transfer Devojaka sa Istoka na Zapad, DANAS 18/2/2000- Mlade
Albanke Belo Roblje, GLAS, 18/3/2000- NATO Forces spur Kosovo
Prostitution Boom, AFP, 5/1/2000- Frances Kennedy, Albanians Redraw
Italy's Crime Map, The Independent, 20/2/2000-James Pringle, Sex Slave
Trade Thrives Among Kosovo Troops, The Times, 5/2/2000-Nightclub
shame,24/2/2000, TIMES- FEATURES- Imer Mushkolaj and Mentor
Shala, A Prostitutes Call: We Will Take Over Kosovo, IWPR, No 101,
10/12/1999
[11] Kosovo rebuilds among ruins of thewar that never ends, THE SUNDAY
TIMES, 19/5/2000- Kouchner and Reinhardt pronounce Thaci
untouchable, AFP, 22/1/2000- Vladimir Milovanovic, Kosovska Privreda:
Vlasnistvo Kusnera, VREME, 13/5/2000- on the field reports and
interviews in Kosovo
[12] Radivoje Petrovic, Likcidacije Medju Albanskim Teroristima,
POLITIKA, 11/5/2000- Granit Guri, Elimination of Former KLA Commanders:
"X
File", AIM , 18/5/ 2000
[13] Baton Haxhiu, Pse nuk mund te perseritet UCK-ja?: Pse dallojne
Kosova Lindore dhe Kosova. Ideja per t'i pershtaturPresheves, Bujanocit
dhe
Medvegjes variantin e Kosoves eshte aq errezikshme sa mund te kete
pasoja te renda per Kosoven dhe per politiken nderkombetare karshi ketij
problemi, Revista Klan, Nr 150- Fehim Rexhepi, Presevo, Boujanovac,
Medvedja:Moguca Tacka Sukoba?, AIM,5/2/2000- Vukasin Obradovic, Sta
se Zbiva na Jugu Srbije?, AIM, 4/3/2000- Milorad Pavlovic, Presevo i
Bujanovac ili Prica o Najavi Vrelog Proleca, DUGA, No 1737
[14]Slucaj Aracinovo: Stranskite paruznavaci predupreduvat na "proletno
scenario", START, No 53, 28/1/2000.D.A. Arvanites, Geopolitika i Balkan:
Organizovani Kriminal i Novi Svetski Poredak na Kosovu, BACL, Beograd
2000,p. 23-27, 33-36, 37-39, 45-46, 49-51
[15]Zijadin Gashi, Rugova Pridobija Birace Cuteci, Thaci obustavlja
Kritike, AIM, 30/1/2000- Lj. Staletovic, Zajednicki Zivot Uslov
Opstanka,
GLAS, 18/3/2000-Srpsko-Albanski Dijalog, Helsniski Odbor za Ljudska
Prava u Srbiji, I, Beograd 1997/ II, Beograd 1999
---
ARMI USA ALL'UCK
From: http://emperors-clothes.com/indexe.htm
U.S Arms 3,500 Albanian Terrorists
By the Yugoslav press agency, Tanjug
With extensive comments by Jared Israel (05/0500)
The following is based on an article from Tanjug (pronounced tanyug),
the
press service of the Yugoslav government. Given the admittedly partisan
source some might be inclined to poo-poo the charges made here, so I
added
some quotes from pro-NATO media. These and my own analysis suggest that,
if
anything, Tanjug understates its case, sparing us some of the more
unbelievable details.
TANJUG: The US administration recently secretly armed more than 3.500
Albanian extremists who are acting under the wing of the Kosovo
Protection
Corps (KPC). The US government has continually supplied Albanian
terrorists
in Kosovo-Metohija with arms since the arrival of the UN Peace Mission
in
the southern Serbian province, in spite of verbal public condemnations
of
terrorism, and unknown to its allies in KFOR.
Jared comments: In Why is the KLA shooting at KFOR? we noted that recent
fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army and French troops in
northern
Kosovo (Mitrovica) was really a proxy war between the US and France.
Well,
during that fighting, French troops seized a KLA ambulance stuffed with,
we
kid you not, "14 anti-tank rocket launchers, more than 180
high-explosive
grenades, and more than 3,000 cartridges for guns, (Bergen County
Record,
2-16-00) and "including a US-made 'street sweeper' grenade launcher..."
(AFP, 2-15-00)
Got that? Pretty amazing?
Here's more amazing. Gen. Shelton, boss of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
immediately held a press conference commenting on the ambulance. Why
would a
big-shot like him comment on an incident like that? But OK, did he at
least
denounce the KLA for violating the UN agreement under which NATO tries
to
justify its occupation of Kosovo? Did he chastise the KLA for planning
to
slaughter even more local people and now French troops as well? No sir,
he
talked about the difficulties of preventing arms smuggling from Serbia.
>From Serbia?
The ambulance was seized as it was being driven north towards not away
from
inner Serbia. And these were US-made weapons stashed inside, and this
was a
KLA ambulance.
So what was the point of Shelton's statement? I think the intention was
clear. By first taking the unheard of step of commenting on a minor
incident, and then pointing the finger at Yugoslavia instead of the KLA,
Shelton was affirming, at the highest level, that the US government
supported the KLA arms buildup. What reason do we have to doubt that the
US
also covertly supplies the KLA with weapons? The only question is: why
would
the US equip only 3500 terrorists? has the CIA gotten cheap?
Back to TANJUG: The Kosovo Protection Corps, officially formed Sept 20,
1999
as a civilian institution...is actually the so-called Kosovo Liberation
Army
(KLA)...an extreme grouping of Albanian separatists but repackaged in a
manner that NATO experts hope will be acceptable to the international
public, that is, in a manner that creates the illusion of respecting
Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council.
Jared comments: The Kosovo Protection Corps is openly run by the same
thugs
who led the KLA. It's a name change. The KPC remains a racist, crazy,
terrorist-gangster organization. Just read the following mind boggling
account from the Albanian Daily News of 4-19-00. If I were editing the
Albanian Daily News, I would have called the story:
"THE RIGHT TO BEAR ROCKET LAUNCHERS.."
Forgive me but I peppered the Daily News text with comments, in
brackets.
Here's the story:
"United Nations police have detained a suspect in the murder of a
high-ranking officer of the Kosovo Protection Force (KPC), spokesman
Charlie
Johnson said Tuesday... They are also searching for another man
suspected of
involvement in the slaying in central Pristina Monday of Besim Mala, a
former commander of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)...gunned
down in broad daylight in a restaurant in what was thought to be a
property
dispute, Johnson said.
The suspect was detained several hours later. The killing was condemned
by
the commander of the KPC, General Agim Ceku who described it as an
attack on
the "freedom and future of Kosovo."
[Jared's note: Ceku is a former (?) KLA top leader, that is, war
criminal.
He has also been charged with war crimes for his role five years ago
helping
lead the slaughter and expulsion of over 200,000 Serbian residents of
the
Krajina section of what is now Croatias. It is clear from Ceku's remark
about the murder being "an attack on the 'freedom and future of
Kosovo.'"
that this killing resulted from a leadership fight within the KPC. These
guys conduct elections in the style of Al Capone: "Bang! Youse guys is
dead.
My guys is elected!"]
The KPC is a civil emergency organization formed out of the
demilitarized
KLA. [Jared's note: Demilitarized? This is nightmare-comedy. Read on...]
Johnson said UN police had also released a man held late Monday in
connection with another attack in central Prishtina just a few hundred
meters from the restaurant where Mala was shot. The man had been
detained by
KFOR peacekeeping troops at a vehicle checkpoint for having two rocket
warheads in his car shortly after unidentified attackers fired a
rocket-propelled grenade into a building in the city center. The blast
injured two ethnic Albanians but was thought to have been targeted at a
neighboring apartment occupied by Serbian journalists, Johnson said. He
[Johnson] said the explosive had apparently been fired from a rocket
launcher from a nearby rooftop. The firing tube was found some 200
meters
from the rooftop, Johnson said.
The detainee was released after explosives experts established the
rockets
he was carrying were of a different type to the one used in the attack.
[Jared's note: Is any comment necessary?]
Back to TANJUG: Since the arrival of KFOR in Kosovo-Metohija, members of
"Kosovo Protection Corps" have brutally liquidated more than 1.000
civilians.
Jared comments: KFOR, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,
Kosovapress, and the Internatioanl Crisis Group, who are to different
degrees either NATO or pro-NATO, have each admitted the KLA/KPC killed
hundreds of people in Kosovo. There is no question that, in NATO's
interest,
these groups have understated the numbers murdered.
The Orthodox Church, the Pristina Center for Tolerance and the Yugoslav
government have documented hundreds more deaths. Aside from that, many
have
been kidnapped and may be dead. In any case, the most important point is
not
the exact number of murders - which probably exceed 1000 - but the
situation.
Over 300,000 people have been driven from Kosovo. This includes most
Serbs,
Slavic Muslims, about 150,000 non-KLA Albanians and tens of thousands of
Roma ("Gypsies"). They did not leave out of fear of NATO bombs and they
did
not leave in order to make a political statement, to make the KLA look
bad.
They left because of the following:
"Murder, torture and extortion: these are the extraordinary charges made
against the UN's own Kosovo Protection Corps in a confidential United
Nations report written for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The KPC stands accused in the document, drawn up on 29 February, of
'criminal activities - killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal
policing,
abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and
hate-speech'.
The 5,000-strong corps, funded by UN members including Britain, has a
£30
million aid budget for Kosovo. It was set up to provide 'disaster
response
services'; instead, says the UN, it has been murdering and torturing
people." (From London Observer, 3/12/00 quoted in How will you plead at
the
trial, Mr.Annan?)
In other words, the cause of the huge exodus is gangsterism and racist
terror. As you may recall, NATO said it was taking over Kosovo in order
to
produce racial harmony. So what is NATo's reaction to the destruction of
multietnic life in Kosovo, to the transformation of Kosovo into a
nightmare
of fascist gangsterism? Here is the answer from the outgoing NATO
Commander
in Kosovo, Gen. Wesley Clark:
"On Monday, he visited Kosovo and said there was an 'increasing sense of
security, the indicators of recovery from strong-arm ethnic cleansing
and
even some first budding signs of willingness to tolerate ethnic
differences
and cooperate among ethnic groups.'"
TANJUG: The Corps comprises 5.000 men and is under the direct command of
the
KFOR...in keeping with the policy of the UN Secretary-General's special
envoy... Bernard Kouchner of France.
The fact that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recently ordered
Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, to strike leader
Hashim
Thaci (of the officially disbanded terrorist KLA) from the list of
persons
indicted for war crimes, is perhaps the best confirmation that Albanian
extremists are in fact favorites and protégés of the US administration.
Jared comments: Maybe the Thaci cover-up is the best evidence that the
murderous KLA racists are US administration proteges. But it's as we
have
seen, it is not the only evidence.
Let me close with a quote from an op ed article in the NY Times by
William
Clinton. It is inconceivable that when Clinton wrote this op ed piece
last
May he was unaware of the nature of the KLA, which US covert agencies
had
helped to create and for whom the US had been the key sponsor at least
since
the Verification Teams went to Kosovo in the Fall of 1998. He understood
the
nature of the monster the US had chosen as its proxy force; he knew the
KLA's dreams:
"He, like many KLA officers, says openly that he dreams of a Kosovo
without
Serbs." (Description of KLA death squad commander "The Teacher", Agence
France Presse, August 19, 1999, quoted in The roots of Kosovo fascism by
George Thompson.)
Knowing what the KLA was, knowing what NATO and therefore KLA domination
of
Kosovo would mean, Clinton wrote:
"Freedom, respect for minority rights, and prosperity are powerful
forces
for progress. They give people goals to work for; they elevate hope over
fear and tomorrow over yesterday." (Clinton, op-ed editorial, NY Times,
May
23, 1999)
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---
1995: TRAFFICI DI ARMI IN BULGARIA/FYROM
1997: FURTI DI ARMI IN ALBANIA
BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY
BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA
JUNE 16, 1995
ARM DEALS
The case of the so-called "Albanian deal" will be
tried within a month, "Standart News" writes citing Military
Prosecutor Colonel Mityu Markov. The question is about a
consignment of the Bulgarian Defence Ministry that
consisted of 100 mine-throwers, 10, 000 mines and 250
sniper rifles totalling 670, 000 US dollars which disappeared
in Macedonia on its way to Albania. It is not clear how the
carrier Mario Stoichkov, who in on the Interpol wanted list,
can be made to appear in court, the paper writes. The same
paper writes that eleven days ago Ivan M., a military
intelligence officer who was in charge of was reported
missing foreign currency remittances at the department, was
reported missing.
http://www.albaniannews.com
Albanian Daily News
June 9, 2000
Over 500,000 Albanian Guns Unaccounted For
TIRANA - More than half a million guns looted during
Albania’s civil uprising in 1997 are still at large
despite the government’s efforts to retrieve them, the
Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Minister Spartak Poci said one fifth - or 117,488 guns
- of the 650,000 plundered from army depots have been
collected over the past three years, as well as 84
million bullets from an arsenal of over 1.5 billion.
“A part of the stolen guns has left the country, but
we don’t know how much,” Poci told reporters. The bulk
is thought to have been trafficked to neighbouring
Kosovo to help ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army
guerrillas fight for independence from Belgrade in a
conflict that ended last year.
The 1997 Albanian uprising was sparked by the collapse
of corrupt pyramid investment schemes and lasted
several months. Angry mobs looted army barracks in an
effort to destroy everything related with the state.
Last month the police found in a village in the Lezha
district 19 air-to-air missiles, type P2. The missiles
were in working order and were returned to the nearby
Gjader military air base. Police said 20 missiles had
been stolen from the base in 1997. Only one has not
been found yet.
The government has recently been consistent in its
firm commitment to the disarmament process, but
despite two years of work, the number of weapons and
ammunition collected accounts for no more than 20
percent of those looted. The police has also seized 52
tonnes of TNT, only a small fraction of the explosives
looted.
The government decided earlier this year to create a
500 strong police force to deal specifically with the
disarmament process.
Disarmament campaign “Development instead of Weapons”
is being extended to several districts of Albania
following the success of the Gramsh pilot project. The
United Nations Development Programme, and other
international organisations sponsoring disarming
projects, have pledged to provide investments for the
restructuring of infrastructure and creation of jobs
in return of arms surrender.
---
KOSOVO E CECENIA
http://www.albaniannews.com
Albanian Daily News
June 6, 2000
Russian General Says Terrorism in Chechnya Has Roots
in Kosovo
MOSCOW - The terrorism which Russia is fighting in
Chechnya has some roots in Kosovo, the commander of
Russia’s airborne troops General Georgy Shpak claimed
in a newspaper report published Monday.
In an interview with the daily Vremya Novostei, the
officer discussed Russia’s role in the KFOR
international peacekeeping effort in Kosovo.
“The presence of the Russians is indispensable in this
hot spot of Europe, where we have political and
economic interests and our ancient traditions,” he
said.
“Apart from that, the terrorism against which we are
fighting in Chechnya has certain roots in Kosovo,”
Shpak added, without elaborating.
Terrorism is the official Moscow terminology for the
activities of Chechen separatist fighters.
General Valery Manilov, number two in the military
hierarchy, threatened last month to withdraw Russian
forces from KFOR if Yugoslavia’s integrity was
threatened. Some 3,600 Russian troops serve with KFOR,
which has a multinational total of 40,000 under NATO
leadership.
Russian and German soldiers with KFOR came under
anti-tank, machine gun and automatic fire last week in
the latest in a series of incidents. Russian soldiers
are frequent targets of Kosovar Albanians who believe
the Russians support the Serbian ruling power in
Belgrade.
---
BALKAN - ALBANIA - KOSOVO - HEROIN - JIHAD
The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
www.balkanpeace.org
scontact@...
Research Analysis
May 2000
The biggest paradox in the international war on drugs is connected to
the Balkans and the explosion of terrorist activities in that troubled
area. However, it relates less to drugs and arms and more to the major
participants in this deadly game.
Terrorist organizations at the top of America's most wanted list are
receiving tacit support in the Balkans from the Clinton administration.
The "most wanted" terrorist in the world today, Osama bin Laden, who
declared a "fatwa" against the US, is being abetted by the Clinton
doctrine. In the Balkans, we are witnessing a true paradox where several
mortal enemies - Iranian revolutionary guards, Osama bin Laden and the
CIA - are standing shoulder to shoulder while pursuing diametrically
opposite goals.
Drugs Finance Terrorism
Earlier reporting has confirmed that terrorism in the Balkans has been
primarily financed through narcotics trafficking. Heroin - worth 12
times its weight in gold - is by far the most profitable commodity on
the markets. A kilogram of heroin, worth $1,000 in Thailand, wholesales
for $110,000 in Canada with a street value of $800,000.
In fact, heroin trafficking has become so beneficial to the cause of
Albanian separatism that the predominantly Albanian-inhabited towns of
Veliki Trnovac and Blastica in Serbia, Vratnica and Gostivar in FYR
Macedonia, and Shkoder and Durres in Albania have become known as the
"new Medellins" of the Balkans. Via the Balkan Route, heroin travels
through Turkey, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania en route to western
European markets. The value of the heroin shipped is $400-billion (US) a
year. As early as 1996, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) detailed
the Balkan Route in its annual report. In 1998, the DEA stated that
Kosovo Albanians had become the second most important traffickers on the
Balkan Route.
These predominantly Albanian drug barons from Kosovo ship heroin
exclusively from Asia's Golden Crescent, an apparently inexhaustible
source. At one end of the crescent lies Afghanistan, which in 1999
surpassed Burma as the world's largest producer of opium poppies. From
there, the heroin base passes through Iran to Turkey, where it is
refined, and then placed into the hands of the Albanians who operate out
of the lawless towns bordering FYR Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia.
According to the US State Department, four to six tons of heroin move
through Turkey every month.
"Not very much is stopped", says one official. "We get just a fraction
of the total". Not surprisingly, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has
flourished along the route. Its dependence on the drug lords is
difficult to prove, but the evidence is impossible to overlook.
In 1998, German Federal Police froze two bank accounts belonging to the
"United Kosova" organization at a Dusseldorf bank after it was
discovered that several hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into
those accounts by a convicted Kosovo Albanian drug trafficker. According
to at least one published report, Bujar Bukoshi, Prime Minister of the
"Kosova" Government in Exile, also allegedly controlled the accounts.
In early 1999 an Italian court in Brindisi convicted an Albanian heroin
trafficker named Amarildo Vrioni, who admitted obtaining weapons for the
KLA from the Mafia in exchange for drugs.
Last February 23, Czech police arrested Princ Dobroshi, the head of an
Albanian Kosovo drug gang. While searching his apartment, they
discovered evidence that he had placed orders for light infantry weapons
and rocket systems. No one had questioned what a small-time dealer would
be doing with rockets. Only later did Czech police reveal he was
shipping them to the KLA. The Czechs extradited Dobroshi to Norway where
he had escaped from prison in 1997 while serving a 14-year sentence for
heroin trafficking.
It's therefore not surprising, say European law enforcement officials,
that the faction that ultimately seized power in Kosovo -- the KLA under
Hashim Thaci -- was the group that maintained the closest links to
traffickers.
In its report about the KLA and heroin smuggling, the Montreal Gazette
wrote: "...Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the DEA (US Drug
Enforcement Agency) who left in 1990, said he believes there is no
question that US intelligence knew about the KLA's drug ties. "They (the
CIA) protected them (the KLA) in every way they could. As long as the
CIA is protecting the KLA, you've got major drug pipelines protected
from any police investigation", said Levine, who teaches undercover
tactics and informer handling to US and Canadian police forces,
including the RCMP. "The evidence is irrefutable," he said, explaining
that his information comes from "sources inside the DEA".
The Albanian Medellin connection is particularly strong in Italy where
it is operating in conjunction with the "Sacra Corona Unita," or the
fourth mafia. The group controls the drug trade in the regions of
Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto.
The tentacles of the Albanian mafia stretch across Europe. According to
Interpol, Albanian-speaking drug dealers accounted for 14% of those
arrested for heroin smuggling in 1997. While the average trafficker was
apprehended with two grams of heroin, the Albanians had an average of
120 grams in their possession. Scandinavian countries claim that
Albanians control 80% of the heroin market there. Switzerland says 90%
of the drug trafficking in that country is connected to Albanians.
German law enforcement agencies claim that Albanians form the largest
group involved in heroin trafficking.
German Federal Police now say that Kosovo Albanians import 80 percent of
Europe's heroin. So dominant is the Kosovo Albanian presence in
trafficking that many European users refer to illicit drugs in general
as "Albanka", or Albanian lady.
Terrorism, Spies and Albanians
Osama bin Laden's activities in Albania are well known and documented.
The presence of his network in that country is so powerful that US
Defence Secretary William Cohen cancelled a scheduled visit last July
out of fear of being assassinated.
The Albanian national security organization SHIK confirmed that plans
exist to target US objects in Albania. SHIK is the offspring of the
notorious communist security apparatus the "Sigurimi." The former head
of the Sigurimi, Irakli Kocollari, is advisor to the current head of
SHIK, Fatos Klosi. In 1997 the CIA sent a team of experts to modernize
and reorganize SHIK. The other major patron of SHIK is the German
intelligence agency Bundensnachrichtendienst (BND) which opened one of
its largest stations in Tirana. A review of BND personnel is revealing.
While the terrorist Albanian organization Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosove -
UCK (KLA) was being formed, the BND was headed by Hansjorg Geiger whose
deputy was Rainer Kesselring, the son of the Luftwaffe general who
bombed Belgrade during the Second World War.
Mr. Kesselring was given the job of training KLA terrorists at a Turkish
base near Izmir where he was head of the BND station in 1978. French
sources confirmed that members of the German commando unit, Kommando
Spezialkrafte (KSK), participated in the KLA training program. Gen.
Klaus Neumann, the outgoing head of NATO's occupational forces in Kosovo
and Metohija, formed the German commando unit.
The relationship between the CIA and SHIK is one of master and servant.
At the CIA's "request" last year, Albania expelled three "humanitarian"
workers, two Syrians and an Iranian. Acting on another request, SHIK
arrested an Albanian national, Maksim Ciciku, for spying on the US
embassy. Ciciku was educated in Saudi Arabia. In Albania he worked for a
private security company which provided bodyguards for visiting Arabs.
He was accused of following embassy employees on behalf of Osama bin
Laden. Albania also expelled four Egyptians who were suspected of ties
to bin Laden. Two others were arrested and handed over to US agents,
along with a van full of documents and computer equipment, all of which
belonged to Osama bin Laden's organization.
At about the same time, Iran, through its embassy in Rome and it's
operative Mahmut Nuranija, began to organize an intelligence-gathering
sector in Albania. Their involvement in Albania was based on two levels:
economic-financial through the Albanian Arab Islamic Bank, and
humanitarian through organizations which have become standard covers for
subversive activities. At the beginning of 1998 Iran began the serious
consolidation of its most important European strongholds, Sarajevo and
Tirana. According to Yossef Bodansky, terrorism and unconventional
warfare analyst, Iran aided the KLA by providing military plans drawn up
by Zaim Bersa, a former colonel in the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), and
another Kosovo Albanian, Ejup Dragaj.
One of the leaders of an elite KLA unit was Muhammed al-Zawahiri, the
brother of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader in an Egyptian Jihad
organization and a military commander of Osama bin Laden. Once again
Kosovo becomes a paradox where several mortal enemies - Iranian
revolutionary guards, Osama bin Laden and the CIA - are standing
shoulder to shoulder training the KLA.
It is believed that bin Laden solidified his organization in Albania in
1994 with the help of then premier Sali Berisha. Albania's ties to
Islamic terrorist blossomed during Berisha's rule when the main KLA
training base was on Berisha's property in northern Albania. During the
"honeymoon" period between the CIA and Jihad holy warriors, Fatos Klosi,
the head of SHIK, said he had reliable information that four groups of
Jihad warriors from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algiers, Tunisia and Sudan were
in northern Albania and fighting with the KLA. Klosi recently stated
that there is an attempt to destabilize the country, alluding primarily
to former premier Sali Berisha.
Jihad and Serbia
In 1994 in Lebanon, a radical Sunni Muslim group, Takfir wal Hijra,
attempted to blow up a convoy of Serbian priests who were on their way
Koura. The priests avoided death when the suicide bomber detonated the
explosive device prematurely.
This attempt on the lives of Serbian priests preceded a more ambitious
plan. At the 18th Islamic conference, Al-Jama'ah al-Islaiyyah, held in
Pakistan (October 23-25, 1998), Albanian separatism in Kosovo and
Metohija was characterized as a Jihad. The same definition was given to
Muslim battles in India (Kashmir), Israel (Palestine) and Eritrea. By
defining armed battles as a "holy war" or Jihad, an obligation is placed
on the Muslim world to do everything in its power - economically,
politically and diplomatically - to aid the fight for freedom in
occupied Muslim territories". This gave legitimacy to terrorist acts
carried out by Allah's holy warriors. Referring to a Jihad, the
terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden announced terrorist attacks
against "infidel nations", namely Great Britain, United States, France,
Israel, Russia, India and Serbia.
The Bosnian Jihad Connection
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the influence of the ruling Islamic party, Party
of Democratic Action (SDA), has brought out the recently born again
"true believers". Recognized by their long beards and short-legged
pants, large numbers of them participated in KLA terrorist activities in
Kosovo and Metohija. The transport of these Jihad warriors was conducted
under the patronage of the SDA which provided them with passports. Visas
were issued for a "haj," or pilgrimage, to Mecca. Dr. Nauman Balic, head
of the Kosovo SDA and now a minister in Hashim Thaci's government", was
responsible for their transit to Albania. The Bosnian Muslims were
provided with journalists' credentials and 2,000 DM for travel costs. It
is not known how many returned from Kosovo, but a number of these Jihad
warriors lost their lives in Chechnya.
The Sarajevo authorities were active in the training of terrorists. In
1993 Saudi Arabia provided $1 million to build a refugee camp for
Bosnian Muslims in Albania. One of the main political leaders of the
Muslim authorities in Sarajevo admitted to Misha Glenny that the base
was used to train saboteurs sent to Kosovo because their Serbian was
flawless.
Kosovo under NATO - A Virtual Narco-State (1)
The benefits of the drug trade are evident around Pristina -- more so
than the benefits of Western aid. "The new buildings, the better roads,
and the sophisticated weapons -- many of these have been bought with
drugs," says Michel Koutouzis, the Balkans region expert for the Global
Drugs Monitor (OGD), a Paris-based think tank. The repercussions of this
drug connection are only now emerging, and many Kosovo observers fear
that the province could be evolving into a virtual narco-state under the
noses of 49,000 peacekeeping troops.
It was the disparate structure of the KLA, Koutouzis says, that
Facilitated the drug-smuggling explosion. "It permitted a
democratization of drug trafficking where ordinary people get involved,
and everyone contributes a part of his profit to his clan leader in the
KLA," he explains. "The more illegal the activity, the more money the
clan gets from the traffickers. So it's in the interest of the clan to
promote drug trafficking".
According to Marko Nicovic, the former chief of police in Belgrade, now
an investigator who works closely with Interpol, the international
police agency, 400 to 500 Kosovo Albanians move shipments in the 20-kilo
range, while about 5,000 Kosovo Albanians are small-timers, handling
shipments of less than two kilos. At one point in 1996, he says, more
than 800 ethnic Albanians were in jail in Germany on narcotics charges.
In many places, Kosovo Albanians traffickers gained a foothold in the
Illicit drug trade through raw violence. According to a 1999 German
Federal Police report, "The ethnic Albanian gangs have been involved in
drugs, weapons trafficking blackmail, and murder. They are increasingly
prone to violence".
Tony White of the United Nations Drug Control Program agrees with this
assessment. "They are more willing to use violence than any other
group," he says. "They have confronted the established order throughout
Europe and pushed out the Lebanese, Pakistani, and Italian cartels".
Few gangs are willing to tangle with the Kosovo Albanians. Those that do
often pay the ultimate price. In January 1999, Kosovo Albanians killed
Nine people in Milan, Italy during a two-week bloodbath between rival
heroin groups.
Now free of the war and the Yugoslav police, drug traffickers have
Reopened the old Balkan Road. With the KLA in power -- and in the
spotlight - the top trafficking families have begun to seek relative
respectability without decreasing their heroin shipments. "The Kosovo
Albanians are trying to position themselves in the higher levels of
trafficking", says the U.N.'s Tony White. "They want to get away from
the violence of the streets and attract less attention. Criminals like
to move up like any other business, and the Kosovo Albanians are
becoming business leaders. They have become equal partners with the
Turks".
Italian national police discovered this new Kosovo Albanian outreach
last year when they undertook "Operation Pristina". The carabinieri
(Italian Police) uncovered a chain of connections that originated in
Kosovo and stretched through nine European countries, extending into
Central Asia, South America and the United States.
White House officials deny a whitewashing of KLA activities. "We do care
about (KLA drug trafficking)", says Agresti. "It's just that we've got
our hands full trying to bring peace there".
The DEA is equally reticent to address the issue. According to Michel
Koutouzis, the DEA's website once contained a section detailing Kosovo
Albanians trafficking, but a week before the US-led bombings began, the
section disappeared. "The DEA doesn't want to talk publicly (about the
KLA)", says OGD director Alain Labrousse. "It's embarrassing to them".
High-ranking US officials are dismayed that the KLA was installed in
power without public discussion or a thorough check of its background.
"I don't think we're doing anything there to stem the drugs", says a
senior State Department official. "It's out of control. It should be a
high priority. We've warned about it".
Even if it tried to stop the Kosovo Albanian heroin trade, the US would
be hard-pressed to do so. "Nobody's in control in Kosovo", adds the
State Department official. "They don't even have a police force".
Regardless of what it says, there's little indication that the
administration wants to do anything with the intelligence available
about its newest ally. "There is no doubt that the KLA is a major
trafficking organization", said a congressional expert who monitors the
drug trade and requested anonymity. "But we have a relationship with the
KLA, and the administration doesn't want to damage (its) reputation. We
are partners.
The attitude is: The drugs are not coming here, so let others deal with
it".
Conclusion
Indeed the biggest paradox in the world war on drugs is connected to the
Balkans and the outburst of terrorist activities in that troubled area.
What is the reason for this unusual co-relation between US policy in
Balkans, the most wanted terrorist in the world today, Osama bin y en,
and this enormous KLA drug trafficking.
As Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the DEA (US Drug Enforcement
Agency) stated: "They (the CIA) protected them the KLA) in every way
they could". McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin, said the Afghan
Mujahideen rebels were one of the first US-backed rebel groups to get
into the heroin trade in a big way. The anti-Communist Mujahideen were
backed by the US in their opposition to the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan in 1979. They started exporting massive amounts of opium to
raise money, with the knowledge and protection of the CIA and Pakistani
intelligence, according to McCoy. "That produced a massive traffic in
the '80s to Europe and the U.S.," he said.
Other recipients of US support were Nicaraguan Contras, Panama's General
Noriega, Afghan Taliban, Indonesia (remember massacres by their special
units in Timor), and Burma's Khun Sa. Another US-backed rebel army, the
Nicaraguan contras, raised money for their war against the leftist
Sandinista government in the 1980s by flooding U.S. cities with crack -
all with the knowledge and assistance of the CIA and the DEA, according
to the book Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb.
Webb's allegations were initially denied by the CIA, but a CIA
inspector-general's report in October 1998 revealed that 58 contras were
linked to drug allegations.
Early in 1999, as the war against Serbia raged, Congress voted to fund
the KLA's drive for independence. One tear later the US embrace of the
KLA may come as an embarrassment, but not a precedent.
Quo Vadis America?
1 - Material from "Mother Jones" Heroin Heroes, January/February 2000
used without permission, for academic and research purposes only.
The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
www.balkanpeace.org
---
SUI PIANI DI STANZIAMENTO PERMANENTE USA NELLA BASE DI CAMP BONDSTEEL
U.S. in Kosovo for the Long Haul
http://www.latimes.com/news/front/20000610/t000055108.html
Saturday, June 10, 2000
U.S. in Kosovo for the Long Haul
-
http;://www.serbia-info.com/news
"Le Figaro": American base was the aim of bombing of Yugoslavia
June 13, 2000
Paris, June 12th (Tanjug) - The official French government sticks to the
explanation they offered concerning their involvement in NATO aggression
on Yugoslavia, but they can no longer deceive neither their public nor
the media about the real cause of the criminal bombing of Yugoslavia. It
turned out that Paris and other Europeans "worked" for the benefit of
Washington interests, which is stressed in the latest edition of the
Paris weekly "Le Figaro".
"Allies of the United States start to wonder whether the formation of
American base in Kosmet was real purpose of the war" led, allegedly, on
behalf of the human rights of Kosmet Albanians, and which ended a year
ago. This is the statement by which the Paris weekly announced detailed
story about the American base "Bondsteel" in southern Kosovo.
"Le Figaro" published the information already known by Yugoslav public
and described "Bondsteel" as "large base" or even "military-industrial
complex" which resembled more "a town of 10 000 inhabitants than a
temporary camp provided by the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 a
year ago by which the bombing of Yugoslavia was ended".
The base, for which the weekly said "it was no secret, but was rather
discrete", spreads over the area of 300 hectares, where everything shows
that it was created "to stay for long".
In the base, the weekly said, there were 1600 lodgings, provided with
heating and air conditioners, 24 administration buildings "which were
already constructed and other which are under construction", "two
pharaoh dining rooms" open 24 hours, as well as the infrastructure
objects, including the projection room with 800 seats, football and
other sports fields.
"Everything proves that Americans came there to stay longer. They do not
even hide it, since the officers admit in cold blood that this base is
the most important one outside the US", "Le Figaro" says.
The Paris weekly stressed that the American base position in Kosmet was
"ideally chosen", since it is a "Muslim area where European sentiments
do not exist" and it is also the region where the conflict zones cross:
the Balkans, Mediterranean and the Middle East together with its oil.
"The Crusade for human rights of ethnic Albanians could, as its first
result i.e. its purpose, have (new) arrangement of Americans in the Old
continent", which is actually the creation of mighty "Bondsteel" base,
"Le Figaro" weekly concludes in this week's edition.
---
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/hedges.html/reader/reprints.html
Foreign Affairs May/Junel 1999 (volume 78, number 3)
Kosovo's Next Masters
By Chris Hedges
INSIDE THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
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