Jugoinfo
>
> http://www.antiwar.com/szamuely/pf/p-sz101300.html
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Decline of The West
> by George Szamuely
> Antiwar.com
>
> October 13, 2000
>
> Kostunica's Coup Unravels
>
> Last week’s coup d’etat in Yugoslavia is unraveling rapidly. President
> Vojislav Kostunica is emerging as a new type of President. He waves to
> the cameras; he gives interviews to the media; he meets foreign
> dignitaries. Yet he is in charge of nothing. He has no political party
> and no political base. He does not control the Federal Parliament. He
> does not control the Serbian Parliament. He does not control
> Montenegro. He does not control any Ministry. He does not control the
> police. Above all, he does not control Yugoslavia’s armed forces. And,
> as he reveals in an interview with the New York Times (October 12), he
> does not even control his own coalition. Kostunica won 50 percent of
> the vote – if that – in an election with a 60 percent turnout. The
> Yugoslav Presidency is essentially a powerless institution, important
> only because Slobodan Milosevic occupied it. The Yugoslav President,
> for example, is not the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The
> Supreme Defense Council commands the armed forces. This body comprises
> the President of Yugoslavia, the President of Serbia, the President of
> Montenegro, the Yugoslav Defense Minister and the Yugoslav Army Chief
> of Staff. Since Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic is likely to
> continue boycotting the Supreme Defense Council, Kostunica is
> outnumbered 3 to 1 by Milosevic loyalists.
>
> The United States and the European Union poured hundreds of millions
> of dollars into Yugoslavia over the years trying to oust Slobodan
> Milosevic. They ended up with no popular, national hero in the Lech
> Walesa or Vaclav Havel mould; rather a not terribly bright, pedantic
> protégé, one who can only achieve power by thuggery, media attention,
> and large infusions of foreign cash. As ever, the NATO project is
> failing. Since last week throughout the country drunken mobs have been
> storming the offices of factories, coalmines, banks and universities
> and forcing people to resign. Armed gangs seized the National Bank as
> well as the Customs’ office. The managers of Yugoslavia’s largest gold
> mine and smelter were kicked out, as were the managers at Zastava, the
> country’s giant carmaker. The Director of the Kolubara coalmining
> complex was thrown out, as was the Director of Yugoslav Coal
> Production.
>
> This lawlessness has not escaped the attention of the Yugoslav
> military. Last Sunday Kostunica met the Yugoslav Army General Staff.
> At the meeting, according to the Serbian Ministry of Information,
> "concern was expressed over certain events in the country, in
> post-election period, that are not in accordance with the Constitution
> and the laws, and the position and role of the Yugoslav Army in
> resolving problems had also been considered." Sounds like a clear
> warning to Kostunica not to engage in mob rule. Zoran Djindjic,
> unquestionably the real leader of the Democratic Opposition, evidently
> decided that the time had come to try to use the same bullying tactics
> with the army. Djindjic began telling reporters about the need to
> replace Army Chief of Staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic with Momcilo
> Perisic, a former general sacked by Milosevic in 1998. "We can expect
> not only the resignation of the present chief of general staff Nebojsa
> Pavkovic, but also a wind of fresh air throughout the top ranks,"
> Djindjic said. On Wednesday Kostunica went to army headquarters – a
> highly revealing act leaving no one in any doubt as to who really
> wields power in Yugoslavia. Following the meeting, the army issued an
> ominous statement: "The army leadership drew the President’s attention
> to possible negative consequences which might result from increasingly
> violent attacks on and efforts to discredit individual Army officers
> and the Army as an institution of vital importance to national
> security and defense." Kostunica made it clear that Pavkovic was
> staying on, that he had never had the slightest intention of replacing
> him and that Djindjic does not speak for him. Like Al Gore, Kostunica
> is "his own man."
>
> On Monday, the Democratic Opposition was boasting that it had bullied
> the Serbian President Milan Milutinovic into holding elections for the
> Serbian Parliament in December and into ceding power to a transitional
> Government in the interim. Now, it looks as if there will be no
> elections until September of next year, when Parliament’s term is due
> to end. Members of Milosevic’s Socialist Party and those of Vojislav
> Seselj’s Radical Party walked out of talks earlier this week on
> forming a new government in Serbia. They vowed not to come back until
> the "end of riots, violence and lawlessness against the citizens of
> Serbia." The Radicals complained of people were being "lynched by mobs
> belonging to the illegal regime of the Democratic Opposition."
>
> The response of the Democratic Opposition was to threaten more
> violence. Djindjic issued an ultimatum. Either the Serbian Government
> sets a date for new elections by Friday or the Opposition will call
> its followers out into the streets. One senior Democratic Opposition
> official, Cedomir Jovanovic, warned the Socialists, that they will
> face "non-constitutional" pressure. Jovanovic said that the DOS would
> ask for the help of people in the streets to force the Serbian
> Government into holding early elections and to cede power to a
> "transitional government." The "people’s patience is exhausted," said
> Velimir Ilic, the Mayor of Cacak. "Serbs are so eager to see changes,
> and I do not know who…will protect Socialists if they continue to drag
> their feet."
>
> Meanwhile, the Democratic Opposition is trying to bring the Serbian
> police under its control. Serbia’s Interior Minister resigned this
> week citing a conflict of interest on account of having been elected
> to the Federal Parliament. The media reported this as a major triumph
> for Kostunica. No sooner had they done so, than Serbian Prime Minister
> Mirko Marjanovic announced that he was taking over the Interior
> Ministry himself and thereby assuming control of the police.
>
> Kostunica wants to ignore elected bodies and to set up so-called
> "crisis committees" to run the country. But no one is buying into the
> idea. According to Branislav Ivkovic, a senior figure in Milosevic’s
> Party, the "government [of Serbia] will…ignore all the decisions of
> the so-called ‘crisis committees’." In addition, all managers of state
> companies dismissed by the Democratic Opposition will be reinstated.
> The Serbian Government, he explains, "was elected on a four-year
> mandate, and it is the only one which can make legal decisions."
>
> This week Zoran Djindjic announced that the new Federal Prime Minister
> would be G17 Plus Chief Executive Miroljub Labus. Djindjic has long
> been an advocate of putting Yugoslavia into the receivership of the
> IMF. G17 Plus drew up the Democratic Opposition’s economic program,
> with all its promises to abide by IMF demands. Apparently this was all
> news to Kostunica. He announced that he had promised the job of Prime
> Minister to a member of Montenegro’s Socialist People’s Party, which
> is aligned with Milosevic. The Socialist People’s Party has, however,
> rejected the notion of establishing a "government of experts" in the
> interim. Kostunica intends to travel to Montenegro on Friday to meet
> local party leaders as well as Milo Djukanovic. Note that once again
> it is Kostunica who has to do the traveling and the paying of
> respects, not the politicians of Montenegro.
>
> Kostunica continues on his clueless and sycophantic way. "The United
> States has done too much meddling in our internal affairs," he says in
> the Times interview as if he were still running for office, "Now it’s
> meddling less than usual, so this will have a positive influence."
> "Less than usual"? The United States manipulated an election, and
> engineered his seizure of power. What does he mean by "usual"? On
> improving relations with the United States, the Times says: "If
> re-establishing diplomatic relations is in his competence as Federal
> President, he said, he will do it quickly." An extraordinary
> statement, first, in its revelation about Kostunica’s lack of
> knowledge as to what falls within his competence. Second, in its
> revelation as to the kind of "nationalism" espoused by this supposed
> "Serbian nationalist." He literally pants to win the approval of the
> very power that was bombing his country to smithereens last year.
> Third, if even diplomatic relations do not fall within his competence,
> what does?
>
> What happened in Yugoslavia was the overthrow of a legitimate
> Government by a combination of brute force and US threats and dollars.
> The people who have been hoisted into power are no democrats, but the
> servants of foreign interests. They have no power, and their attempts
> at circumventing democratic institutions are meeting ferocious
> resistance in the country. The media hacks, robbed of their "fall of
> the Berlin Wall" and "people power" story are unable to understand any
> of this. Convinced that the Democratic Opposition leaders are the
> "good guys," and that the United States is self-evidently on the side
> of democracy and freedom, they have only one explanation as to why
> events are not following the approved script: the old standby,
> "Milosevic is causing mischief." But this is an old story now, and an
> increasingly unconvincing one. By stepping down last week and not
> resorting to violence, Milosevic may well have outmaneuvered the
> Americans once again. The fight for Yugoslav sovereignty will
> continue.
>
> Please Support Antiwar.com
>
> Send contributions to
>
> Antiwar.com
> 520 S. Murphy Avenue, #202
> Sunnyvale, CA 94086
>
> or Contribute Via our Secure Server
> Credit Card Donation Form
> [Image]
>
> Your Contributions are now Tax-Deductible
>
> Back to Antiwar.com Home Page | Contact Us
---
Insitute for War and Peace Reporting
http://www.iwpr.net
THE CACAK PLOT
Veterans of the Belgrade demonstrations which toppled Milosevic claim
the
protests were planned with military precision
By Milenko Vasovic in Belgrade
The opening blows of the Yugoslav Revolution were highly coordinated
operations backed by a core of armed and committed soldiers, war
veterans
and police officers, claims one of the organisers of the uprising.
The mayor of Cacak, Velimir Ilic, a key figure in the overthrow of
Slobodan
Milosevic, told the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti that the seizure of the
federal parliament and state broadcaster, RTS, had been "carefully
prepared"
over a long period of time.
"For months we were laying down our plans," he said." Each demonstrator
was
allocated a specific task. We knew which group was in charge for each
part
of the city and what they had to do."
Ilic said utmost secrecy surrounded the preparations. He had recruited
army
personnel, retired and serving special police officers, as well as
veterans
from the Bosnian war. Leaders from the Democratic Opposition of Serbia,
DOS,
the coalition behind Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica,
were
left in the dark about the plans, the mayor said.
"Not even the policemen and special forces who took part in this action
knew
of each others existence until the very end," Ilic said.
"It's either victory or death!" Ilic told around 10,000 people who
gathered
in Cacak, before setting out in a 20-mile long convoy of buses and
vehicles
for the showdown in the capital on October 5.
People from Uzice, Nis, Gornji Milanovac, Smederevo joined the column as
it
approached Belgrade. As they converged on the city centre, their number
was
swollen by hundreds of thousands of local protesters.
The throngs of demonstrators waged a psychological war against the
police
trying to protect key buildings. One young man walked up to an officer
outside the parliament building and opened his jacket to reveal an
automatic
rifle. "I have nothing to lose," he yelled. "You have to decide for
yourself." The policeman was speechless.
Among the thousands of demonstrators who descended on the federal
parliament
and RTS building were groups armed with guns and petrol bombs and gangs
of
youths. Prominent among the latter were Red Star Belgrade football fans
keen
to take revenge for police beatings.
Ilic claims he had at his disposal ten officers from the elite 63rd
Parachute Brigade, several former state security secret agents and about
half a dozen members of elite police units. Team leaders were provided
with
walkie-talkies - some were unfortunately attacked by demonstrators who
mistook them for plainclothes policemen.
The parliament building was finally breached when the protesters
succeeded
in tricking police outside into posing for souvenir photographs,
allowing
another group to slip by the cordon and storm the entrance.
Next to fall to the protesters was the RTS building. Petrol bombs set it
ablaze forcing police inside to surrender. In the final push, a
bulldozer
was driven through the front door.
Vladan Dugonjic, a mechanical engineer from Sabac, was one of the first
to
get inside the RTS studios. Sabac, who took part in the March 1991
clashes
with police, said he had waited ten years to realise his dream - the end
of
communism in Serbia. Despite the clouds of tear gas, he said, he managed
to
get into the building and snatch a microphone away from Spomenka Jovic,
a
pro-regime journalist.
"I fell down many times, I rushed through the flames," he said. "My
sleeve
caught fire, but I was determined to get into RTS, even if that meant
losing
my sight. That building generated so much evil."
Rumours around Belgrade say another veteran of the wars in former
Yugoslavia, Dragan Vasiljevic, alias Captain Dragan, took part in the
capture of the hated state broadcaster.
Vasiljevic led a unit of Serbian volunteers during the Krajina conflict.
People under his command, it is said, captured vital RTS transmitters,
enabling the opposition to begin broadcasting over the network.
Some claim many of the protesters were paid for a 'good day's work'. One
of
Ilic's security men, Ivan Stragarevic, vehemently denies this: "We
joined
with all our heart, we didn't do it for money."
Many of the Cacak protesters had left their hometown as if going to war,
saying final farewells to their families. "We dared not return home
without
completing the job, because the police would have beaten us and put us
into
jail on the way back," said one protester.
Milenko Vasovic is a regular IWPR contributor.
> http://www.antiwar.com/szamuely/pf/p-sz101300.html
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Decline of The West
> by George Szamuely
> Antiwar.com
>
> October 13, 2000
>
> Kostunica's Coup Unravels
>
> Last week’s coup d’etat in Yugoslavia is unraveling rapidly. President
> Vojislav Kostunica is emerging as a new type of President. He waves to
> the cameras; he gives interviews to the media; he meets foreign
> dignitaries. Yet he is in charge of nothing. He has no political party
> and no political base. He does not control the Federal Parliament. He
> does not control the Serbian Parliament. He does not control
> Montenegro. He does not control any Ministry. He does not control the
> police. Above all, he does not control Yugoslavia’s armed forces. And,
> as he reveals in an interview with the New York Times (October 12), he
> does not even control his own coalition. Kostunica won 50 percent of
> the vote – if that – in an election with a 60 percent turnout. The
> Yugoslav Presidency is essentially a powerless institution, important
> only because Slobodan Milosevic occupied it. The Yugoslav President,
> for example, is not the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The
> Supreme Defense Council commands the armed forces. This body comprises
> the President of Yugoslavia, the President of Serbia, the President of
> Montenegro, the Yugoslav Defense Minister and the Yugoslav Army Chief
> of Staff. Since Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic is likely to
> continue boycotting the Supreme Defense Council, Kostunica is
> outnumbered 3 to 1 by Milosevic loyalists.
>
> The United States and the European Union poured hundreds of millions
> of dollars into Yugoslavia over the years trying to oust Slobodan
> Milosevic. They ended up with no popular, national hero in the Lech
> Walesa or Vaclav Havel mould; rather a not terribly bright, pedantic
> protégé, one who can only achieve power by thuggery, media attention,
> and large infusions of foreign cash. As ever, the NATO project is
> failing. Since last week throughout the country drunken mobs have been
> storming the offices of factories, coalmines, banks and universities
> and forcing people to resign. Armed gangs seized the National Bank as
> well as the Customs’ office. The managers of Yugoslavia’s largest gold
> mine and smelter were kicked out, as were the managers at Zastava, the
> country’s giant carmaker. The Director of the Kolubara coalmining
> complex was thrown out, as was the Director of Yugoslav Coal
> Production.
>
> This lawlessness has not escaped the attention of the Yugoslav
> military. Last Sunday Kostunica met the Yugoslav Army General Staff.
> At the meeting, according to the Serbian Ministry of Information,
> "concern was expressed over certain events in the country, in
> post-election period, that are not in accordance with the Constitution
> and the laws, and the position and role of the Yugoslav Army in
> resolving problems had also been considered." Sounds like a clear
> warning to Kostunica not to engage in mob rule. Zoran Djindjic,
> unquestionably the real leader of the Democratic Opposition, evidently
> decided that the time had come to try to use the same bullying tactics
> with the army. Djindjic began telling reporters about the need to
> replace Army Chief of Staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic with Momcilo
> Perisic, a former general sacked by Milosevic in 1998. "We can expect
> not only the resignation of the present chief of general staff Nebojsa
> Pavkovic, but also a wind of fresh air throughout the top ranks,"
> Djindjic said. On Wednesday Kostunica went to army headquarters – a
> highly revealing act leaving no one in any doubt as to who really
> wields power in Yugoslavia. Following the meeting, the army issued an
> ominous statement: "The army leadership drew the President’s attention
> to possible negative consequences which might result from increasingly
> violent attacks on and efforts to discredit individual Army officers
> and the Army as an institution of vital importance to national
> security and defense." Kostunica made it clear that Pavkovic was
> staying on, that he had never had the slightest intention of replacing
> him and that Djindjic does not speak for him. Like Al Gore, Kostunica
> is "his own man."
>
> On Monday, the Democratic Opposition was boasting that it had bullied
> the Serbian President Milan Milutinovic into holding elections for the
> Serbian Parliament in December and into ceding power to a transitional
> Government in the interim. Now, it looks as if there will be no
> elections until September of next year, when Parliament’s term is due
> to end. Members of Milosevic’s Socialist Party and those of Vojislav
> Seselj’s Radical Party walked out of talks earlier this week on
> forming a new government in Serbia. They vowed not to come back until
> the "end of riots, violence and lawlessness against the citizens of
> Serbia." The Radicals complained of people were being "lynched by mobs
> belonging to the illegal regime of the Democratic Opposition."
>
> The response of the Democratic Opposition was to threaten more
> violence. Djindjic issued an ultimatum. Either the Serbian Government
> sets a date for new elections by Friday or the Opposition will call
> its followers out into the streets. One senior Democratic Opposition
> official, Cedomir Jovanovic, warned the Socialists, that they will
> face "non-constitutional" pressure. Jovanovic said that the DOS would
> ask for the help of people in the streets to force the Serbian
> Government into holding early elections and to cede power to a
> "transitional government." The "people’s patience is exhausted," said
> Velimir Ilic, the Mayor of Cacak. "Serbs are so eager to see changes,
> and I do not know who…will protect Socialists if they continue to drag
> their feet."
>
> Meanwhile, the Democratic Opposition is trying to bring the Serbian
> police under its control. Serbia’s Interior Minister resigned this
> week citing a conflict of interest on account of having been elected
> to the Federal Parliament. The media reported this as a major triumph
> for Kostunica. No sooner had they done so, than Serbian Prime Minister
> Mirko Marjanovic announced that he was taking over the Interior
> Ministry himself and thereby assuming control of the police.
>
> Kostunica wants to ignore elected bodies and to set up so-called
> "crisis committees" to run the country. But no one is buying into the
> idea. According to Branislav Ivkovic, a senior figure in Milosevic’s
> Party, the "government [of Serbia] will…ignore all the decisions of
> the so-called ‘crisis committees’." In addition, all managers of state
> companies dismissed by the Democratic Opposition will be reinstated.
> The Serbian Government, he explains, "was elected on a four-year
> mandate, and it is the only one which can make legal decisions."
>
> This week Zoran Djindjic announced that the new Federal Prime Minister
> would be G17 Plus Chief Executive Miroljub Labus. Djindjic has long
> been an advocate of putting Yugoslavia into the receivership of the
> IMF. G17 Plus drew up the Democratic Opposition’s economic program,
> with all its promises to abide by IMF demands. Apparently this was all
> news to Kostunica. He announced that he had promised the job of Prime
> Minister to a member of Montenegro’s Socialist People’s Party, which
> is aligned with Milosevic. The Socialist People’s Party has, however,
> rejected the notion of establishing a "government of experts" in the
> interim. Kostunica intends to travel to Montenegro on Friday to meet
> local party leaders as well as Milo Djukanovic. Note that once again
> it is Kostunica who has to do the traveling and the paying of
> respects, not the politicians of Montenegro.
>
> Kostunica continues on his clueless and sycophantic way. "The United
> States has done too much meddling in our internal affairs," he says in
> the Times interview as if he were still running for office, "Now it’s
> meddling less than usual, so this will have a positive influence."
> "Less than usual"? The United States manipulated an election, and
> engineered his seizure of power. What does he mean by "usual"? On
> improving relations with the United States, the Times says: "If
> re-establishing diplomatic relations is in his competence as Federal
> President, he said, he will do it quickly." An extraordinary
> statement, first, in its revelation about Kostunica’s lack of
> knowledge as to what falls within his competence. Second, in its
> revelation as to the kind of "nationalism" espoused by this supposed
> "Serbian nationalist." He literally pants to win the approval of the
> very power that was bombing his country to smithereens last year.
> Third, if even diplomatic relations do not fall within his competence,
> what does?
>
> What happened in Yugoslavia was the overthrow of a legitimate
> Government by a combination of brute force and US threats and dollars.
> The people who have been hoisted into power are no democrats, but the
> servants of foreign interests. They have no power, and their attempts
> at circumventing democratic institutions are meeting ferocious
> resistance in the country. The media hacks, robbed of their "fall of
> the Berlin Wall" and "people power" story are unable to understand any
> of this. Convinced that the Democratic Opposition leaders are the
> "good guys," and that the United States is self-evidently on the side
> of democracy and freedom, they have only one explanation as to why
> events are not following the approved script: the old standby,
> "Milosevic is causing mischief." But this is an old story now, and an
> increasingly unconvincing one. By stepping down last week and not
> resorting to violence, Milosevic may well have outmaneuvered the
> Americans once again. The fight for Yugoslav sovereignty will
> continue.
>
> Please Support Antiwar.com
>
> Send contributions to
>
> Antiwar.com
> 520 S. Murphy Avenue, #202
> Sunnyvale, CA 94086
>
> or Contribute Via our Secure Server
> Credit Card Donation Form
> [Image]
>
> Your Contributions are now Tax-Deductible
>
> Back to Antiwar.com Home Page | Contact Us
---
Insitute for War and Peace Reporting
http://www.iwpr.net
THE CACAK PLOT
Veterans of the Belgrade demonstrations which toppled Milosevic claim
the
protests were planned with military precision
By Milenko Vasovic in Belgrade
The opening blows of the Yugoslav Revolution were highly coordinated
operations backed by a core of armed and committed soldiers, war
veterans
and police officers, claims one of the organisers of the uprising.
The mayor of Cacak, Velimir Ilic, a key figure in the overthrow of
Slobodan
Milosevic, told the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti that the seizure of the
federal parliament and state broadcaster, RTS, had been "carefully
prepared"
over a long period of time.
"For months we were laying down our plans," he said." Each demonstrator
was
allocated a specific task. We knew which group was in charge for each
part
of the city and what they had to do."
Ilic said utmost secrecy surrounded the preparations. He had recruited
army
personnel, retired and serving special police officers, as well as
veterans
from the Bosnian war. Leaders from the Democratic Opposition of Serbia,
DOS,
the coalition behind Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica,
were
left in the dark about the plans, the mayor said.
"Not even the policemen and special forces who took part in this action
knew
of each others existence until the very end," Ilic said.
"It's either victory or death!" Ilic told around 10,000 people who
gathered
in Cacak, before setting out in a 20-mile long convoy of buses and
vehicles
for the showdown in the capital on October 5.
People from Uzice, Nis, Gornji Milanovac, Smederevo joined the column as
it
approached Belgrade. As they converged on the city centre, their number
was
swollen by hundreds of thousands of local protesters.
The throngs of demonstrators waged a psychological war against the
police
trying to protect key buildings. One young man walked up to an officer
outside the parliament building and opened his jacket to reveal an
automatic
rifle. "I have nothing to lose," he yelled. "You have to decide for
yourself." The policeman was speechless.
Among the thousands of demonstrators who descended on the federal
parliament
and RTS building were groups armed with guns and petrol bombs and gangs
of
youths. Prominent among the latter were Red Star Belgrade football fans
keen
to take revenge for police beatings.
Ilic claims he had at his disposal ten officers from the elite 63rd
Parachute Brigade, several former state security secret agents and about
half a dozen members of elite police units. Team leaders were provided
with
walkie-talkies - some were unfortunately attacked by demonstrators who
mistook them for plainclothes policemen.
The parliament building was finally breached when the protesters
succeeded
in tricking police outside into posing for souvenir photographs,
allowing
another group to slip by the cordon and storm the entrance.
Next to fall to the protesters was the RTS building. Petrol bombs set it
ablaze forcing police inside to surrender. In the final push, a
bulldozer
was driven through the front door.
Vladan Dugonjic, a mechanical engineer from Sabac, was one of the first
to
get inside the RTS studios. Sabac, who took part in the March 1991
clashes
with police, said he had waited ten years to realise his dream - the end
of
communism in Serbia. Despite the clouds of tear gas, he said, he managed
to
get into the building and snatch a microphone away from Spomenka Jovic,
a
pro-regime journalist.
"I fell down many times, I rushed through the flames," he said. "My
sleeve
caught fire, but I was determined to get into RTS, even if that meant
losing
my sight. That building generated so much evil."
Rumours around Belgrade say another veteran of the wars in former
Yugoslavia, Dragan Vasiljevic, alias Captain Dragan, took part in the
capture of the hated state broadcaster.
Vasiljevic led a unit of Serbian volunteers during the Krajina conflict.
People under his command, it is said, captured vital RTS transmitters,
enabling the opposition to begin broadcasting over the network.
Some claim many of the protesters were paid for a 'good day's work'. One
of
Ilic's security men, Ivan Stragarevic, vehemently denies this: "We
joined
with all our heart, we didn't do it for money."
Many of the Cacak protesters had left their hometown as if going to war,
saying final farewells to their families. "We dared not return home
without
completing the job, because the police would have beaten us and put us
into
jail on the way back," said one protester.
Milenko Vasovic is a regular IWPR contributor.
> http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation.htm
> http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation2.htm
German Foreign Minister Calls for Permanent German Troop
Occupation of Yugoslavia
Fischer Warns: Yugoslavs Must Acquire Democratic Culture to Relate to
Germany
Prof. Chossudovsky Comments: US Accepts German Domination in Yugoslavia
Berlin (AP)Oct. 11, 2000
[Emperor's Clothes note: The following has been translated from the
printout of a German
language 'Associated Press' dispatch. For more details, see end of
article]
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, addressing Parliament on
Wednesday, expressed
his opinion that Germany should not only provide material help to
Yugoslavia but that the
Bundeswehr and non-military organizations should establish a permanent
presence there. He
declared that this was a unique chance to create a democracy in the
context of further
European unification.
Reunited Germany has a special responsibility for stabilizing democracy
in Serbia. Democracy,
said Mr. Fischer, is the basis for a lasting peace in the Balkans. But
the priority is for the
moment that the democratic changes be carried out peacefully and that
justice prevail. The
Western Balkans is a part of the European comprehensive responsibility.
It was truly correct at the time to stop Slobodan Milosevich's policy of
Greater Serbia and to
engage oneself on the side of the democratic opposition, says Joschka
Fischer. Now the bloody
murdering in the Balkans can be stopped. The Stability Pact has to be
used, among other things,
for the clearing of the Danube. Also democratic culture has to be built
up [in Serbia] to make
possible the normalization of relations between Germany and Serbia. The
first steps have been
taken through the lifting of the oil and the flight embargoes by the
European Union. Now
Serbia can be accompanied on its route toward Europe. In the words of
Fischer, all those who
have made themselves guilty of grave crimes have to be brought to
justice.
[Note: Original German text will be posted as soon as possible at
http://emperors-clothes.com/german/bundeswehr.htm ]
German Domination Slated for Yugoslavia
Interview with Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics, University
of
Ottawa. Prof. Chossudovsky studies and writes about the effects of
International Monetary
Fund/NATO penetration of countries in transition.
Interview conducted by Max Sinclair
Sinclair: Some supporters of Kostunica are arguing, or hoping, that
somehow he can maneuver
around the United States because he has ties to Europe. That Europe is
getting away from US
domination and wants to be independent.
Chossudovsky: I think they're very naïve in that belief. Berlin and
Washington are working
hand in hand in this situation. They coordinate their respective foreign
policy initiatives.
Germany's secret service, the Bbundesnachrichten Dienst (BND)
collaborated closely with the
CIA in the various stages of the 78 day bombing of Yugoslavia, and also
after the bombing.
Everything indicates that what they want is to transform Yugoslavia into
a German
protectorate with German troops (and the Deutschmark) stationed on
Yugoslav soil, within
Germany's "lebensraum". This has been the fate of the other former
republics of Yugoslavia
including Macedonia and Croatia.
In Montenegro and Kosovo the Deutschmark has been established as legal
tender. In Kosovo
Germany's Commerzbank controls the entire commercial banking system. At
the same time it
is the Washington Group, which is a US Transnational linked up with the
US defence industry,
which controls the Trepca mines in northern Kosovo.
The Americans and their British allies have their eyes on Central Asia;
that is the deal. The
Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia are American territory. BP-AMOCO and
ARCO, the
world's largest Anglo-American oil consortium, is the major player in
the Caspian oil fields.
NATO's role, through GUUAM, the NATO-sponsored military alliance in this
area, is to
protect the pipeline routes from the Caucasus through the Balkans.
Germany is not an important player in the oil business. In return for
the US and Britain getting
the Caspian Sea Basin and Central Asia, Germany gets the Balkans and
parts of Eastern
Europe. The US and Germany seem to have agreed on this division of
territory and their
respective spheres of influence.
Sinclair: So they are fully united?
Chossudovsky: United in some regards, divided in others. There is a
major split between
Germany and the US in the defence industry. We see two competing defence
conglomerates.
The powerful Deutsche Aerospace which is part of Daimler is now allied
with France's
Aerospatiale Matra. In turn, British Aerospace is integrated into the US
military industrial
complex. It is in close relationship with major US defence contractors.
In other words the Western defence industry is split in two; the
Anglo-American axis and the
Franco-German axis. Incidentally in the oil business the Anglo-Americans
are also
competing with the French-Belgian-Italian consortium,
El-Aquitaine-Petrofina-ENI, which
also has links to the Iranian and Russian Oil companies.
Dinkic Attempts to Control Central Bank for the IMF
Chossudovsky: With regard to Yugoslavia, what they want is to impose the
Deutschmark,
which means Germany would dominate the monetary system. This requires
controlling the
Central Bank.
I think the biggest stake in Yugoslavia right now is over who does
control the Central Bank.
It appears that Mr. Mladjan Dinkic of the G17 group of economists has
assumed control of the
Bank. He has done this on behalf of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF)
If Yugoslavia is to retain national sovereignty, it is absolutely
essential that it regains
sovereignty over its bank and therefore its monetary policy. If
Kostunica and Dinkic and the
G-17 can hand over the Central Bank to the IMF, then the German banks
will come in as they
did in Kosovo and Bosnia . The IMF then acquires de facto control and
then we have a colonial
situation regardless of what might happen in the arena of party
politics. In other words, if the
IMF, through the G-17 economists, has control of the Central Bank in the
person of Mr.
Dinkic, then they control part of the key power in the country. If they
also get the position of
Finance Minister they have it all.
Mr. Dinkic appears to have assumed the functions of a Central Bank
governor without the
legally required parliamentary assent. There is evidence, publicly
available, that the IMF has
already begun wrecking the monetary system. For Yugoslavia to retain
sovereignty, its
monetary policy must be controlled by those answerable to parliament,
not to the IMF. This
means removing the Central Bank from Dinkic and his associates.
With regard to Yugoslavia the US, Germany and France collaborate.
Sinclair: The other day I read an article which suggested that Kostunica
has the backing of
France and so he can therefore play an independent role.
Chossudovsky: France and German go together. As I mentioned, their
defense industries are
fully integrated now. There's very close collaboration between the two.
That is the new axis.
France, Germany and Italy, on one side, and Britain and America on the
other.
Sinclair: So does this mean there is hope that the Serbs will be
protected from the U.S. by
France and Germany?
Chossudovsky: They won't; no no, they won't. Of course, there are many
disagreements and
conflicts between Germany and the US. In Albania, the Germans supported
the Democrats
and the US supported the Socialists. The Germans lost out. Germany's
giant mining
consortium Preussag, lost out to an Anglo-American mining company when
the Socialists
came in. Albania is one of the world's largest producers of chrome, you
see.
But with regard to Yugoslavia the US and German sides fully collaborate.
And mind you, the International Monetary Fund is run by a German now.
Let's be clear: in the
Balkans and Eastern Europe, the IMF is just as much an instrument of
German domination as
it is of American domination.
And then of course there are the historical implications of Germany once
more occupying
Yugoslavia. This of course has been an established goal of the German
Empire, including
during W.W.II.
Sinclair: Before we conclude could you talk a bit more about United
States and Central Asia?
Chossudovsky: Well the United States has extended into the Caucasus and
the Central Asian
Republics of the former Soviet Union; it also has its eyes on China.
Since the Asian crisis and
the IMF bailout in 1997, South Korea is becoming into a full fledged
colony of the US. The
powerful Korean business conglomerates (Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo, Kia)
are being taken
over by U.S. financial interests. The Germans, including Deutsche Bank
and Commerzbank,
are also present in Korea, picking up the pieces. The US has 38,000
troops in Korea. The
Korean economy is being ransacked.
***
The Case of the Reluctant News Report
As far as we know, the 'AP' dispatch posted above was only distributed
in German. A reader
spotted it at Yahoo.com's German language site and emailed us his
English translation of an
excerpt as well as the web address where he'd found it. Following his
instructions we went to
http://de.news.yahoo.com/4/ and did a search for "Fischer will
Jugoslawien mit Bundeswehr
helfen" [Fischer wants Army to help Yugoslavia]. This took us to the web
address
"http://de.news.yahoo.com/001011/12/14aun.html" The url we there had the
right title, but the
link didn't work. The other links on the page worked fine. We contacted
a friend in Germany
who has access to 'AP' . He got a printout of the actual news dispatch
and sent us the text in
German and translated it to English. We will post the original German
soon.
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www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
Further Reading
'U.S. Arrogance and Yugoslav Elections' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/engl.htm
'The International Monetary Fund And The Yugoslav Elections' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/1.htm
'Yugoslav Coup Unravels' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/szamuely/unravels.htm
Two interviews relate first hand experience with the DOS terror:
* These Dindjic people are brown shirts' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/djindjic.htm
An interview conducted after the Oct. 5 coup
* 'On the list, they had me marked as a nationalist' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/onthelist.htm
Interview conducted before the Oct. 5 coup
---
COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA: STRUGGLE CONTINUES
DESPITE
SETBACK IN BELGRADE
By Sara Flounders and John Catalinotto
11 Oct 2000--Faced with enormous pressure from the United States and its
NATO allies, a demonstration of 200,000 people in Belgrade demanding
that
he step down, and violent attacks by smaller organized paramilitary
units,
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resigned Oct. 6.
These events pose two questions of vital importance for the
working-class,
anti-war and progressive movements around the world.
The first is: Which side are you on? Was this a people's victory, as
the
corporate media claim, or a setback for the working class in Yugoslavia
and
worldwide?
The second question determines the outcome of this ongoing struggle:
Which
class will control the state--that is, the army, the police, the laws
and
the courts? Will the international capitalist class that controls the
World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the big investment banks and
the
multinational corporations also control all the levers of economic and
political life in Yugoslavia?
The mass demonstration gave the developments the appearance of a
revolutionary uprising. But it was a false appearance, for the event
was a
NATO-backed counter-revolutionary coup that is still incomplete and can
be
resisted.
NATO LEADERS CHEER KOSTUNICA
The most obvious indication of the character of what happened came from
the
leaders of the NATO countries that carried out the brutal 11-week
bombing
campaign against Yugoslavia last year. The wild cheering by U.S.
President
Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, British Prime
Minister
Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Green Party
Foreign
Minister Joshka Fischer should clarify the significance of last week's
events for anyone who thought that the vote for Vojislav Kostunica or
the
upheaval in Belgrade was a victory for democracy.
Drunk with their apparent success and anxious to take credit for it,
politicians from Washington to Berlin are now bragging about their
organized efforts to overturn the Milosevic government.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
"Oct. 7, 2000 (Reuters)--Germany said on Saturday it had supported the
Yugoslav opposition with millions of marks in financial aid.
"Norway also said it had helped fund the Yugoslav opposition's election
campaign, which led to victory by opposition candidate Vojislav
Kostunica
and soon afterwards to the overthrow of strongman President Slobodan
Milosevic.
"[The German weekly] Der Spiegel said around $30 million, mostly from
the
United States, was channeled through an office in Budapest.
"Another 45 million marks ($20 million) from Germany and other Western
states went to cities that were under opposition control. Der Spiegel
said
the Foreign Ministry sent around 17 million marks through 16 German
towns,
which also contributed."
"Oct. 9, 2000 (Agence France Presse)--The chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs
of Staff, General Henry Shelton, praised Bulgaria on Monday for helping
bring about the downfall of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic."
Their tactics included pumping tens of millions of dollars into
opposition
parties in a starving economy distorted by eight years of sanctions.
Behind
this were open military threats to use NATO bombs and troops stationed
in
surrounding countries if Milosevic won, and well-advertised promises to
end
the sanctions and begin an era of peace and prosperity if Kostunica was
elected.
Kostunica is a minor anti-communist politician and professor of
constitutional law backed by 18 small and completely divergent parties
that
Washington cobbled together into the "Democratic Opposition of Serbia"
with
funds and arm- twisting. Kostunica ran on the economic program of the
Group
of 17, drafted by economists in Yugoslavia who work for the IMF and
World
Bank. Their "solutions" for Yugoslavia involve ending free medical care
and
all subsidies for rent, food and transportation.
They would transform the whole economy, with most industries rapidly
privatized and the profitable ones sold cheaply to foreign investors.
Even
in far more prosperous economies, this shock treatment has resulted in
massive layoffs.
One can look at how the living standards for the workers of
Yugoslavia's
neighbors, Romania and Bulgaria, plummeted after they opened their
economies to the imperialist banks and followed IMF rules.
But that seems to be exactly what Kostunica's forces have in mind.
Reuters
reported Oct. 10 that DOS economist Miroljub Labus said the IMF would
allow
Yugoslavia into the fold by Dec. 14 if the opposition forms its
government
soon.
ROLE OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY
Despite many concessions and compromises, Milosevic's Socialist Party
of
Serbia has struggled to maintain the independence of Yugoslavia. This
earned it the animosity of imperialist reaction worldwide. For 10 years
the
U.S. and European Union imperialists made every possible effort to
dismember the Yugoslav Socialist Federation and wipe out even the
memory of
this multinational state--while the SPS and its partner, the Yugoslav
United Left, resisted.
The corporate media demonized Milosevic, calling him a dictator. But he
and
his party were elected to their leadership role in Yugoslavia, won
respect
for leading the heroic Yugoslav people during the 11 weeks of fighting
NATO
aggression, and defended the Yugoslav economy from imperialist
penetration.
It's true that the SPS lost the active support of the working class,
its
original base. The party has so far been unable to mobilize street
demonstrations to defend itself while under attack. Still, Milosevic
won 2
million votes and the SPS still legally leads important parliamentary
bodies, including the Federal Yugoslav and Serb parliaments.
But it would be foolish to believe that Washington and its clients in
Yugoslavia will limit their tactics to parliamentary legality.
BATTLE FOR STATE POWER
In a period of peaceful competition and discussion, the 18 DOS parties
backing Kostunica would rapidly split apart. Kostunica is a monarchist
and
Serb nationalist, while other parties in the coalition are
anti-monarchist
and fight for independence for the provinces of Vojvodina and Sandja
from
Serbia.
In addition, any long period of peaceful political competition would
prove
Kostunica's economic program a bigger disaster for the Yugoslav workers
than the sanctions. And the inevitable evaporation of Yugoslav and Serb
sovereignty would outrage many of his current supporters.
That's why Washington and its agents are switching rapidly to
extralegal
methods to take over the whole state apparatus. They have targeted
essential government ministries, especially state security, police and
banking, and the entire media apparatus, while violently attacking the
SPS
and other left parties.
In the elections the Socialist Party and the United Left won control of
both houses of the Federal Parliament. Under the Yugoslav Constitution,
Parliament is legally more important than the presidency, a figurehead
position. Even more influential is the left-led Serb Parliament, which
the
DOS government has now maneuvered into calling new elections for
December.
The imperialist strategists are pushing to move quickly to command the
whole state, which also means purging the leadership of the police and
destroying the Yugoslav Army, which is rooted in the 1945 socialist
revolution and the anti-Nazi Partisan struggle.
Without an armed apparatus to defend themselves, the people and
especially
the workers of Yugoslavia will be at the mercy of the imperialist
bankers
and industrialists, who have NATO forces in Kosovo and surrounding
countries and their own agents in Belgrade.
IMPERIALISM'S EXTRALEGAL GANGS
The anti-Milosevic gangs have also attacked left parties and government
centers. Velimir Ilic, the mayor of Cacac and a deserter who refused to
cooperate with the Yugoslav Army during last year's resistance to NATO,
boa
sted to the New York Times that he organized anti-Milosevic commandos.
Ilic said: "We established a team of young professionals, paratroopers
from
the Yugoslav Army and young policemen, and we coordinated this with the
most elite units of the Interior Ministry Police in Belgrade. We got
martial arts experts and professional boxers to join us. We even had
plainclothes police coordinating with nearby towns."
Ilic told Agence France-Presse he had 2,000 people and that some were
armed. "A number of us had bulletproof vests and arms," he said. "Our
goal
was very clear, take control of the key institutions of the regime,
including parliament and the television." He didn't say if they were
paid,
and if so, where he got the money. But he claimed his forces, dressed
in
police uniforms, opened Parliament and sowed confusion in the police
ranks.
Inside, he introduced his gang to Zoran Djindjic, Kostunica's campaign
manager.
According to Michel Collon, correspondent of the Belgian weekly
Solidaire
reporting from Belgrade, Djindjic coordinated the attacks on Parliament
and
Serbian television. Djindjic used threats and pressure against
journalists
to take over the major public television, radio and print media,
including
the daily newspaper Politika.
Djindjic's gangsters also vandalized and wrecked the Belgrade
headquarters
of the SPS and the smaller New Communist Party of Yugoslavia shortly
after
the seizure of Parliament. In addition, homes of SPS activists have
been
burned in and near Belgrade, and there have been even more serious
incidents in the provinces.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
On Oct. 10, the DOS leadership made an agreement with the Socialist
People's Party of Montenegro to make that party's leader, Pedrag
Bulatovic,
the new premier in the Federal Parliament of Yugoslavia. Bulatovic said
his
party, which had been aligned with Milosevic's SPS, wanted to form a
government with the DOS which "balances political forces in the federal
parliament."
Another dozen paragraphs would be needed to explain all the possible
parliamentary maneuvering. But this is really secondary. Washington and
its
agents will use every kind of pressure on individuals, political
parties
and the population as a whole to keep peaceful democratic competition
from
reversing its counter-revolution.
Collon and other reporters in Belgrade have noted that the population
was
disgusted by the burning of Parliament and the other violence. "Even
the
Kostunica supporters say they voted for a better life, not for
revenge."
But if the police and army withdraw from keeping order, only the active
organization of the left can defend its positions.
Yugoslavia's defense minister, Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, urged the SPS to
rally. In an open letter, Ojdanic warned the Serbs might otherwise face
extinction as a people. He said that "disunity among the Serbs is
inciting
the plans of our proven enemies" to occupy the country, referring to
NATO's
ties to the DOS.
Here in the United States it's important first that the left understand
that what happened Oct. 5-6 was a setback for the workers and for
Yugoslavia's sovereignty. What is called for is active solidarity with
those in Yugoslavia who continue to resist these counter-revolu tionary
developments, whether they be in the SPS, the other left parties, the
unions, or the army and the police.
Imperialism has ripped and clawed its way into a position of
considerable
power in Yugoslavia today. But the struggle continues.
The writers were organizers of this year's June 10 International War
Crimes
Tribunal in New York that exposed U.S./NATO crimes during the 78-day
bombing of Yugoslavia.
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
---
PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA FAVORS NAME SERBIAMONTENEGRO INSTEAD OF
YUGOSLAVIA
PARIS, Oct 14 (Tanjug). Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
said
in an interview to FigaroMagazine that he would like to have the name
Yugoslavia replaced by SerbiaMontenegro.
"Back in 1992, when (former president Slobodan) Milosevic used
the
name Yugoslavia, I thought that name had become meaningless since the
Croats and Slovenes had left the community of South Slavs. If the
Serbian
and Montenegrin peoples want, we shall annul the name Yugoslavia",
Kostunica told the magazine's Saturday issue.
Kostunica himself favors the name SerbiaMontenegro. "It is a
rather long name, but it is shorter than the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland", he noted.
President Kostunica advocates amending the national
Constitution.
"All aspects of this should be examined keeping in mind the difficulties
in
organizing a community of two members of very different sizes. Perhaps
the
term confederation would be more appropriate", Kostunica said.
"The values of traditional relations between France and Serbia
have been reborn", Kostunica said, adding that "providence itself has
placed France at the head of the European Union precisely at this
decisive
moment for us and Europe".
---
GROUP17PLUS CAN ENTER FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ONLY AS TEAM
BELGRADE, Oct 14 (Tanjug). The Group17plus can enter the future
federal government only as a team and this stance is not open to
negotiations, one of the leaders of this nongovernmental organization of
experts Miroljub Labus said.
Group17plus management board director and "acting" federal
prime
minister told Belgrade daily Blic that his thinktank would not bargain
on
this issue and that it would be no tragedy not to be a part of state
institutions.
"If we get an opportunity to form a government and take part in
reforms we shall do so as a team. If not, we shall continue to work
as a nongovernmental organization", Labus said.
According to Labus, the goal of the Group17plus is not to get
premiership or ministerial posts, but to open the country and create
normal
economic conditions as soon as possible to help people have a better
standard of living.
Labus described as rather successful the results the group has
achieved so far, adding that its present activities are geared for
maintaining a stable economic system. He underlined, however, that the
formation of a new government is a top priority, regardless of the
identity
of the future prime minister.
---
DS OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA NEED GOVERNMENTS OF EXPERTS
BELGRADE, Oct 13 (Tanjug) The Democratic Opposition of Serbia
(DOS) will not give up efforts to form governments of experts in Serbia
and
Yugoslavia capable of dealing with the accumulated problems, according
to a
DOS official on Friday.
"Yugoslavia must get a new government soon, if it is to be
included in international institutions, such as the International
Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the Balkan Stability Pact", Boris Tadic, vicepresident of
the Democratic Party (DS), which is a member of DOS, told a news
conference.
Tadic explained that, in this way, the state would regulate its
foreign indebtedness and obtain new credits necessary for
reconstruction.
"Foreign investors are showing great interest in the Yugoslav
economy. If we delay and procrastinate, they will turn away," he warned.
He added that those who are obstructing the formation of new
governments are blocking the start of economic reforms and of settling
numerous problems.
He went on to say that the deadline set by DOS to the Socialist
Party of Serbia (SPS) to resume talks on forming governments expires on
Friday, and warned that DOS would again organise protests "not to
destroy,
but to show that we have started building a civic society".
Speaking about cadre changes in the SPS, he said conservatives
and
hardliners had carried the day, as evident from Serbian Premier Mirko
Marjanovic's asking that the SPS, the leading party in this Yugoslav
republic's ruling coalition, keep its grip on the interior ministry.
He said that police officials with whom he had discussed
Marjanovic's request had dismissed it as "tragicomic", the Serbian
premier
having lost all political credibility.
---
YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA MEETS FRENCH PRESIDENT CHIRAC
BIARRITZ, Oct 14 (Tanjug). Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica
conferred with French President Jacques Chirac Saturday in Biarritz, on
the
sidelines of the European Union summit.
On his arrival in Biarritz, Kostunica was welcomed by French
Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who currently chairs the EU.
The informal EU summit has ended with the postponement of a
debate
on key institutional reforms of the EU and amidst uncertain prospects
for
the Middle East peace process.
The arrival of President Kostunica to a working lunch with the
European heads of state or government is considered by the French media
to
be an outstanding event in the otherwise gloomy political atmosphere of
a
conference without any great ambitions or results.
The presence of the Yugoslav president in Biarritz at the
invitation of President Chirac constitutes the first true recognition by
the EU after the lifting of the antiYugoslav sanctions, the French media
said.
On Friday, the first day of the summit, the participants
released
a sum of 200 million euros as emergency aid to Yugoslavia.
---
YUGOSLAVIA -US
O'BRIEN: ENTIRE REGION CAN NOW MOVE FORWARD
PODGORICA, Oct 14 (Tanjug). The special advisor of the US
president for the Balkans James O'Brien said at the end of his brief
visit
to Montenegro that the recent changes in Serbia had removed the
principal
sources of problems and that the entire region can now move forward
towards
building democracy, economic prosperity and integration with Europe.
Following a visit to Belgrade and talks with Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica, O'Brien visited Montenegro's capital Podgorica late
Friday and conferred with President Milo Djukanovic on the current
developments after the change of power in Belgrade.
Djukanovic and O'Brien pointed to the importance of that change
for the transition process and democratization in Serbia, underlining
that
all this would have positive effects also on the reforms underway in
Montenegro and on the stability of the entire region.
It is now essential that the democratic authorities in
Montenegro
and the international community also contribute to the consolidation of
the
new authorities in Belgrade and to channelling the positive democratic
energy to the state institutions in Serbia, they said.
O'Brien said that the talks also focused on the prospects for
negotiating the future status of Montenegro and the future relations
between Serbia and Montenegro.
That process will take time and it will be carried out
simultaneously with the consolidation of democracy in Serbia. It is
essential that democratic Serbia play a role in that process too, he
said.
Asked by the press about a possible referendum on Montenegro's
independence, O'Brien said that Presidents Kostunica and Djukanovic had
both expressed readiness for talks and that both sides have shown
readiness
and will for examining all options for the future of the federation.
The US does not favour independence for Montenegro, as
possibilities exist for talks with the democratic forces in Belgrade,
which
are ready for an open and sincere dialogue. It will take time to iron
out
all differences, but democracy now exists on both sides, paving the way
for
resolving all problems in a democratic spirit, O'Brien said.
---
BULGARIA TODAY – YUGOSLAVIA TOMORROW!
“…and you will pick the fruit of grapevine and of olive tree you have
not
planted…”
The Old Testament
Today “SEGA”* screams from its first page: “EVERY SECOND BULGARIAN
MOTHER
BANISHES HER CHILD ABROAD”.
At one of his regular star-performances on the Bulgarian TV only some
days
ago, the USA deputy in Bulgaria, Governor Richard Miles, consoled
fatherly
the Bulgarians advising them not to cry about the young emigrants. “They
will come back, enriched with the experience, accumulated in the USA
when
life in Bulgaria gets better.”
Who drives the children of Bulgaria away?
The one who turned our life in hell the last ten years!
The young emigrants were the hope of our country, they are its
intellectual
treasure, created by their parents efforts and the efforts of the whole
society! That unique human potential has been built in the course of the
years through the Bulgarian social, health and educational systems –
deliberately and thouroughly annihilated today!
And now that same insatiate cannibal, who has plundered our country and
life, is most cynically consuming the children of Bulgaria without
having
invested even half a cent or a minimal effort to give them birth, to
raise
or educate them!
And later he will use them as janissaries for the full extermination of
their birth cradle – Bulgaria!
The cynicism of Governor Miles can be measured only with that of a rich
slave-owner from the South states – The United States now are acquiring
a
quality offspring raised in a foreign farm!
Why should Governor Miles “improve” life in the USA protectorate
Bulgaria?
And for whom, in fact, the USA Special Forces, IMF and WB, are
conducting
here their deadly “reforms” ruining both our people and Homeland?
After some years there will not be any young people here – there will
not be
children! And the old ones will be dead…
Don’t deceive yourselves: the rape of our Homeland is carried out only
and
solely in the interest of the Metropolis Beyond the Ocean and the
colonial
servants here, called a “political elite” – nobody knows why!
Madlen Kircheva, Blagovesta Doncheva
October 9, 2000 - Sofia, Bulgaria
(We have sent it to ALL Bulgarian media.
It was not published.
Surely the Slave-merchant Miles has said: "No! No! No!")
> http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation2.htm
German Foreign Minister Calls for Permanent German Troop
Occupation of Yugoslavia
Fischer Warns: Yugoslavs Must Acquire Democratic Culture to Relate to
Germany
Prof. Chossudovsky Comments: US Accepts German Domination in Yugoslavia
Berlin (AP)Oct. 11, 2000
[Emperor's Clothes note: The following has been translated from the
printout of a German
language 'Associated Press' dispatch. For more details, see end of
article]
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, addressing Parliament on
Wednesday, expressed
his opinion that Germany should not only provide material help to
Yugoslavia but that the
Bundeswehr and non-military organizations should establish a permanent
presence there. He
declared that this was a unique chance to create a democracy in the
context of further
European unification.
Reunited Germany has a special responsibility for stabilizing democracy
in Serbia. Democracy,
said Mr. Fischer, is the basis for a lasting peace in the Balkans. But
the priority is for the
moment that the democratic changes be carried out peacefully and that
justice prevail. The
Western Balkans is a part of the European comprehensive responsibility.
It was truly correct at the time to stop Slobodan Milosevich's policy of
Greater Serbia and to
engage oneself on the side of the democratic opposition, says Joschka
Fischer. Now the bloody
murdering in the Balkans can be stopped. The Stability Pact has to be
used, among other things,
for the clearing of the Danube. Also democratic culture has to be built
up [in Serbia] to make
possible the normalization of relations between Germany and Serbia. The
first steps have been
taken through the lifting of the oil and the flight embargoes by the
European Union. Now
Serbia can be accompanied on its route toward Europe. In the words of
Fischer, all those who
have made themselves guilty of grave crimes have to be brought to
justice.
[Note: Original German text will be posted as soon as possible at
http://emperors-clothes.com/german/bundeswehr.htm ]
German Domination Slated for Yugoslavia
Interview with Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics, University
of
Ottawa. Prof. Chossudovsky studies and writes about the effects of
International Monetary
Fund/NATO penetration of countries in transition.
Interview conducted by Max Sinclair
Sinclair: Some supporters of Kostunica are arguing, or hoping, that
somehow he can maneuver
around the United States because he has ties to Europe. That Europe is
getting away from US
domination and wants to be independent.
Chossudovsky: I think they're very naïve in that belief. Berlin and
Washington are working
hand in hand in this situation. They coordinate their respective foreign
policy initiatives.
Germany's secret service, the Bbundesnachrichten Dienst (BND)
collaborated closely with the
CIA in the various stages of the 78 day bombing of Yugoslavia, and also
after the bombing.
Everything indicates that what they want is to transform Yugoslavia into
a German
protectorate with German troops (and the Deutschmark) stationed on
Yugoslav soil, within
Germany's "lebensraum". This has been the fate of the other former
republics of Yugoslavia
including Macedonia and Croatia.
In Montenegro and Kosovo the Deutschmark has been established as legal
tender. In Kosovo
Germany's Commerzbank controls the entire commercial banking system. At
the same time it
is the Washington Group, which is a US Transnational linked up with the
US defence industry,
which controls the Trepca mines in northern Kosovo.
The Americans and their British allies have their eyes on Central Asia;
that is the deal. The
Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia are American territory. BP-AMOCO and
ARCO, the
world's largest Anglo-American oil consortium, is the major player in
the Caspian oil fields.
NATO's role, through GUUAM, the NATO-sponsored military alliance in this
area, is to
protect the pipeline routes from the Caucasus through the Balkans.
Germany is not an important player in the oil business. In return for
the US and Britain getting
the Caspian Sea Basin and Central Asia, Germany gets the Balkans and
parts of Eastern
Europe. The US and Germany seem to have agreed on this division of
territory and their
respective spheres of influence.
Sinclair: So they are fully united?
Chossudovsky: United in some regards, divided in others. There is a
major split between
Germany and the US in the defence industry. We see two competing defence
conglomerates.
The powerful Deutsche Aerospace which is part of Daimler is now allied
with France's
Aerospatiale Matra. In turn, British Aerospace is integrated into the US
military industrial
complex. It is in close relationship with major US defence contractors.
In other words the Western defence industry is split in two; the
Anglo-American axis and the
Franco-German axis. Incidentally in the oil business the Anglo-Americans
are also
competing with the French-Belgian-Italian consortium,
El-Aquitaine-Petrofina-ENI, which
also has links to the Iranian and Russian Oil companies.
Dinkic Attempts to Control Central Bank for the IMF
Chossudovsky: With regard to Yugoslavia, what they want is to impose the
Deutschmark,
which means Germany would dominate the monetary system. This requires
controlling the
Central Bank.
I think the biggest stake in Yugoslavia right now is over who does
control the Central Bank.
It appears that Mr. Mladjan Dinkic of the G17 group of economists has
assumed control of the
Bank. He has done this on behalf of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF)
If Yugoslavia is to retain national sovereignty, it is absolutely
essential that it regains
sovereignty over its bank and therefore its monetary policy. If
Kostunica and Dinkic and the
G-17 can hand over the Central Bank to the IMF, then the German banks
will come in as they
did in Kosovo and Bosnia . The IMF then acquires de facto control and
then we have a colonial
situation regardless of what might happen in the arena of party
politics. In other words, if the
IMF, through the G-17 economists, has control of the Central Bank in the
person of Mr.
Dinkic, then they control part of the key power in the country. If they
also get the position of
Finance Minister they have it all.
Mr. Dinkic appears to have assumed the functions of a Central Bank
governor without the
legally required parliamentary assent. There is evidence, publicly
available, that the IMF has
already begun wrecking the monetary system. For Yugoslavia to retain
sovereignty, its
monetary policy must be controlled by those answerable to parliament,
not to the IMF. This
means removing the Central Bank from Dinkic and his associates.
With regard to Yugoslavia the US, Germany and France collaborate.
Sinclair: The other day I read an article which suggested that Kostunica
has the backing of
France and so he can therefore play an independent role.
Chossudovsky: France and German go together. As I mentioned, their
defense industries are
fully integrated now. There's very close collaboration between the two.
That is the new axis.
France, Germany and Italy, on one side, and Britain and America on the
other.
Sinclair: So does this mean there is hope that the Serbs will be
protected from the U.S. by
France and Germany?
Chossudovsky: They won't; no no, they won't. Of course, there are many
disagreements and
conflicts between Germany and the US. In Albania, the Germans supported
the Democrats
and the US supported the Socialists. The Germans lost out. Germany's
giant mining
consortium Preussag, lost out to an Anglo-American mining company when
the Socialists
came in. Albania is one of the world's largest producers of chrome, you
see.
But with regard to Yugoslavia the US and German sides fully collaborate.
And mind you, the International Monetary Fund is run by a German now.
Let's be clear: in the
Balkans and Eastern Europe, the IMF is just as much an instrument of
German domination as
it is of American domination.
And then of course there are the historical implications of Germany once
more occupying
Yugoslavia. This of course has been an established goal of the German
Empire, including
during W.W.II.
Sinclair: Before we conclude could you talk a bit more about United
States and Central Asia?
Chossudovsky: Well the United States has extended into the Caucasus and
the Central Asian
Republics of the former Soviet Union; it also has its eyes on China.
Since the Asian crisis and
the IMF bailout in 1997, South Korea is becoming into a full fledged
colony of the US. The
powerful Korean business conglomerates (Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo, Kia)
are being taken
over by U.S. financial interests. The Germans, including Deutsche Bank
and Commerzbank,
are also present in Korea, picking up the pieces. The US has 38,000
troops in Korea. The
Korean economy is being ransacked.
***
The Case of the Reluctant News Report
As far as we know, the 'AP' dispatch posted above was only distributed
in German. A reader
spotted it at Yahoo.com's German language site and emailed us his
English translation of an
excerpt as well as the web address where he'd found it. Following his
instructions we went to
http://de.news.yahoo.com/4/ and did a search for "Fischer will
Jugoslawien mit Bundeswehr
helfen" [Fischer wants Army to help Yugoslavia]. This took us to the web
address
"http://de.news.yahoo.com/001011/12/14aun.html" The url we there had the
right title, but the
link didn't work. The other links on the page worked fine. We contacted
a friend in Germany
who has access to 'AP' . He got a printout of the actual news dispatch
and sent us the text in
German and translated it to English. We will post the original German
soon.
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Thanks for reading Emperor's Clothes. And thanks for helping. It's a
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www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
Further Reading
'U.S. Arrogance and Yugoslav Elections' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/engl.htm
'The International Monetary Fund And The Yugoslav Elections' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/1.htm
'Yugoslav Coup Unravels' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/szamuely/unravels.htm
Two interviews relate first hand experience with the DOS terror:
* These Dindjic people are brown shirts' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/djindjic.htm
An interview conducted after the Oct. 5 coup
* 'On the list, they had me marked as a nationalist' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/onthelist.htm
Interview conducted before the Oct. 5 coup
---
COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA: STRUGGLE CONTINUES
DESPITE
SETBACK IN BELGRADE
By Sara Flounders and John Catalinotto
11 Oct 2000--Faced with enormous pressure from the United States and its
NATO allies, a demonstration of 200,000 people in Belgrade demanding
that
he step down, and violent attacks by smaller organized paramilitary
units,
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resigned Oct. 6.
These events pose two questions of vital importance for the
working-class,
anti-war and progressive movements around the world.
The first is: Which side are you on? Was this a people's victory, as
the
corporate media claim, or a setback for the working class in Yugoslavia
and
worldwide?
The second question determines the outcome of this ongoing struggle:
Which
class will control the state--that is, the army, the police, the laws
and
the courts? Will the international capitalist class that controls the
World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the big investment banks and
the
multinational corporations also control all the levers of economic and
political life in Yugoslavia?
The mass demonstration gave the developments the appearance of a
revolutionary uprising. But it was a false appearance, for the event
was a
NATO-backed counter-revolutionary coup that is still incomplete and can
be
resisted.
NATO LEADERS CHEER KOSTUNICA
The most obvious indication of the character of what happened came from
the
leaders of the NATO countries that carried out the brutal 11-week
bombing
campaign against Yugoslavia last year. The wild cheering by U.S.
President
Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, British Prime
Minister
Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Green Party
Foreign
Minister Joshka Fischer should clarify the significance of last week's
events for anyone who thought that the vote for Vojislav Kostunica or
the
upheaval in Belgrade was a victory for democracy.
Drunk with their apparent success and anxious to take credit for it,
politicians from Washington to Berlin are now bragging about their
organized efforts to overturn the Milosevic government.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
"Oct. 7, 2000 (Reuters)--Germany said on Saturday it had supported the
Yugoslav opposition with millions of marks in financial aid.
"Norway also said it had helped fund the Yugoslav opposition's election
campaign, which led to victory by opposition candidate Vojislav
Kostunica
and soon afterwards to the overthrow of strongman President Slobodan
Milosevic.
"[The German weekly] Der Spiegel said around $30 million, mostly from
the
United States, was channeled through an office in Budapest.
"Another 45 million marks ($20 million) from Germany and other Western
states went to cities that were under opposition control. Der Spiegel
said
the Foreign Ministry sent around 17 million marks through 16 German
towns,
which also contributed."
"Oct. 9, 2000 (Agence France Presse)--The chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs
of Staff, General Henry Shelton, praised Bulgaria on Monday for helping
bring about the downfall of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic."
Their tactics included pumping tens of millions of dollars into
opposition
parties in a starving economy distorted by eight years of sanctions.
Behind
this were open military threats to use NATO bombs and troops stationed
in
surrounding countries if Milosevic won, and well-advertised promises to
end
the sanctions and begin an era of peace and prosperity if Kostunica was
elected.
Kostunica is a minor anti-communist politician and professor of
constitutional law backed by 18 small and completely divergent parties
that
Washington cobbled together into the "Democratic Opposition of Serbia"
with
funds and arm- twisting. Kostunica ran on the economic program of the
Group
of 17, drafted by economists in Yugoslavia who work for the IMF and
World
Bank. Their "solutions" for Yugoslavia involve ending free medical care
and
all subsidies for rent, food and transportation.
They would transform the whole economy, with most industries rapidly
privatized and the profitable ones sold cheaply to foreign investors.
Even
in far more prosperous economies, this shock treatment has resulted in
massive layoffs.
One can look at how the living standards for the workers of
Yugoslavia's
neighbors, Romania and Bulgaria, plummeted after they opened their
economies to the imperialist banks and followed IMF rules.
But that seems to be exactly what Kostunica's forces have in mind.
Reuters
reported Oct. 10 that DOS economist Miroljub Labus said the IMF would
allow
Yugoslavia into the fold by Dec. 14 if the opposition forms its
government
soon.
ROLE OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY
Despite many concessions and compromises, Milosevic's Socialist Party
of
Serbia has struggled to maintain the independence of Yugoslavia. This
earned it the animosity of imperialist reaction worldwide. For 10 years
the
U.S. and European Union imperialists made every possible effort to
dismember the Yugoslav Socialist Federation and wipe out even the
memory of
this multinational state--while the SPS and its partner, the Yugoslav
United Left, resisted.
The corporate media demonized Milosevic, calling him a dictator. But he
and
his party were elected to their leadership role in Yugoslavia, won
respect
for leading the heroic Yugoslav people during the 11 weeks of fighting
NATO
aggression, and defended the Yugoslav economy from imperialist
penetration.
It's true that the SPS lost the active support of the working class,
its
original base. The party has so far been unable to mobilize street
demonstrations to defend itself while under attack. Still, Milosevic
won 2
million votes and the SPS still legally leads important parliamentary
bodies, including the Federal Yugoslav and Serb parliaments.
But it would be foolish to believe that Washington and its clients in
Yugoslavia will limit their tactics to parliamentary legality.
BATTLE FOR STATE POWER
In a period of peaceful competition and discussion, the 18 DOS parties
backing Kostunica would rapidly split apart. Kostunica is a monarchist
and
Serb nationalist, while other parties in the coalition are
anti-monarchist
and fight for independence for the provinces of Vojvodina and Sandja
from
Serbia.
In addition, any long period of peaceful political competition would
prove
Kostunica's economic program a bigger disaster for the Yugoslav workers
than the sanctions. And the inevitable evaporation of Yugoslav and Serb
sovereignty would outrage many of his current supporters.
That's why Washington and its agents are switching rapidly to
extralegal
methods to take over the whole state apparatus. They have targeted
essential government ministries, especially state security, police and
banking, and the entire media apparatus, while violently attacking the
SPS
and other left parties.
In the elections the Socialist Party and the United Left won control of
both houses of the Federal Parliament. Under the Yugoslav Constitution,
Parliament is legally more important than the presidency, a figurehead
position. Even more influential is the left-led Serb Parliament, which
the
DOS government has now maneuvered into calling new elections for
December.
The imperialist strategists are pushing to move quickly to command the
whole state, which also means purging the leadership of the police and
destroying the Yugoslav Army, which is rooted in the 1945 socialist
revolution and the anti-Nazi Partisan struggle.
Without an armed apparatus to defend themselves, the people and
especially
the workers of Yugoslavia will be at the mercy of the imperialist
bankers
and industrialists, who have NATO forces in Kosovo and surrounding
countries and their own agents in Belgrade.
IMPERIALISM'S EXTRALEGAL GANGS
The anti-Milosevic gangs have also attacked left parties and government
centers. Velimir Ilic, the mayor of Cacac and a deserter who refused to
cooperate with the Yugoslav Army during last year's resistance to NATO,
boa
sted to the New York Times that he organized anti-Milosevic commandos.
Ilic said: "We established a team of young professionals, paratroopers
from
the Yugoslav Army and young policemen, and we coordinated this with the
most elite units of the Interior Ministry Police in Belgrade. We got
martial arts experts and professional boxers to join us. We even had
plainclothes police coordinating with nearby towns."
Ilic told Agence France-Presse he had 2,000 people and that some were
armed. "A number of us had bulletproof vests and arms," he said. "Our
goal
was very clear, take control of the key institutions of the regime,
including parliament and the television." He didn't say if they were
paid,
and if so, where he got the money. But he claimed his forces, dressed
in
police uniforms, opened Parliament and sowed confusion in the police
ranks.
Inside, he introduced his gang to Zoran Djindjic, Kostunica's campaign
manager.
According to Michel Collon, correspondent of the Belgian weekly
Solidaire
reporting from Belgrade, Djindjic coordinated the attacks on Parliament
and
Serbian television. Djindjic used threats and pressure against
journalists
to take over the major public television, radio and print media,
including
the daily newspaper Politika.
Djindjic's gangsters also vandalized and wrecked the Belgrade
headquarters
of the SPS and the smaller New Communist Party of Yugoslavia shortly
after
the seizure of Parliament. In addition, homes of SPS activists have
been
burned in and near Belgrade, and there have been even more serious
incidents in the provinces.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
On Oct. 10, the DOS leadership made an agreement with the Socialist
People's Party of Montenegro to make that party's leader, Pedrag
Bulatovic,
the new premier in the Federal Parliament of Yugoslavia. Bulatovic said
his
party, which had been aligned with Milosevic's SPS, wanted to form a
government with the DOS which "balances political forces in the federal
parliament."
Another dozen paragraphs would be needed to explain all the possible
parliamentary maneuvering. But this is really secondary. Washington and
its
agents will use every kind of pressure on individuals, political
parties
and the population as a whole to keep peaceful democratic competition
from
reversing its counter-revolution.
Collon and other reporters in Belgrade have noted that the population
was
disgusted by the burning of Parliament and the other violence. "Even
the
Kostunica supporters say they voted for a better life, not for
revenge."
But if the police and army withdraw from keeping order, only the active
organization of the left can defend its positions.
Yugoslavia's defense minister, Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, urged the SPS to
rally. In an open letter, Ojdanic warned the Serbs might otherwise face
extinction as a people. He said that "disunity among the Serbs is
inciting
the plans of our proven enemies" to occupy the country, referring to
NATO's
ties to the DOS.
Here in the United States it's important first that the left understand
that what happened Oct. 5-6 was a setback for the workers and for
Yugoslavia's sovereignty. What is called for is active solidarity with
those in Yugoslavia who continue to resist these counter-revolu tionary
developments, whether they be in the SPS, the other left parties, the
unions, or the army and the police.
Imperialism has ripped and clawed its way into a position of
considerable
power in Yugoslavia today. But the struggle continues.
The writers were organizers of this year's June 10 International War
Crimes
Tribunal in New York that exposed U.S./NATO crimes during the 78-day
bombing of Yugoslavia.
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
---
PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA FAVORS NAME SERBIAMONTENEGRO INSTEAD OF
YUGOSLAVIA
PARIS, Oct 14 (Tanjug). Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
said
in an interview to FigaroMagazine that he would like to have the name
Yugoslavia replaced by SerbiaMontenegro.
"Back in 1992, when (former president Slobodan) Milosevic used
the
name Yugoslavia, I thought that name had become meaningless since the
Croats and Slovenes had left the community of South Slavs. If the
Serbian
and Montenegrin peoples want, we shall annul the name Yugoslavia",
Kostunica told the magazine's Saturday issue.
Kostunica himself favors the name SerbiaMontenegro. "It is a
rather long name, but it is shorter than the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland", he noted.
President Kostunica advocates amending the national
Constitution.
"All aspects of this should be examined keeping in mind the difficulties
in
organizing a community of two members of very different sizes. Perhaps
the
term confederation would be more appropriate", Kostunica said.
"The values of traditional relations between France and Serbia
have been reborn", Kostunica said, adding that "providence itself has
placed France at the head of the European Union precisely at this
decisive
moment for us and Europe".
---
GROUP17PLUS CAN ENTER FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ONLY AS TEAM
BELGRADE, Oct 14 (Tanjug). The Group17plus can enter the future
federal government only as a team and this stance is not open to
negotiations, one of the leaders of this nongovernmental organization of
experts Miroljub Labus said.
Group17plus management board director and "acting" federal
prime
minister told Belgrade daily Blic that his thinktank would not bargain
on
this issue and that it would be no tragedy not to be a part of state
institutions.
"If we get an opportunity to form a government and take part in
reforms we shall do so as a team. If not, we shall continue to work
as a nongovernmental organization", Labus said.
According to Labus, the goal of the Group17plus is not to get
premiership or ministerial posts, but to open the country and create
normal
economic conditions as soon as possible to help people have a better
standard of living.
Labus described as rather successful the results the group has
achieved so far, adding that its present activities are geared for
maintaining a stable economic system. He underlined, however, that the
formation of a new government is a top priority, regardless of the
identity
of the future prime minister.
---
DS OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA NEED GOVERNMENTS OF EXPERTS
BELGRADE, Oct 13 (Tanjug) The Democratic Opposition of Serbia
(DOS) will not give up efforts to form governments of experts in Serbia
and
Yugoslavia capable of dealing with the accumulated problems, according
to a
DOS official on Friday.
"Yugoslavia must get a new government soon, if it is to be
included in international institutions, such as the International
Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the Balkan Stability Pact", Boris Tadic, vicepresident of
the Democratic Party (DS), which is a member of DOS, told a news
conference.
Tadic explained that, in this way, the state would regulate its
foreign indebtedness and obtain new credits necessary for
reconstruction.
"Foreign investors are showing great interest in the Yugoslav
economy. If we delay and procrastinate, they will turn away," he warned.
He added that those who are obstructing the formation of new
governments are blocking the start of economic reforms and of settling
numerous problems.
He went on to say that the deadline set by DOS to the Socialist
Party of Serbia (SPS) to resume talks on forming governments expires on
Friday, and warned that DOS would again organise protests "not to
destroy,
but to show that we have started building a civic society".
Speaking about cadre changes in the SPS, he said conservatives
and
hardliners had carried the day, as evident from Serbian Premier Mirko
Marjanovic's asking that the SPS, the leading party in this Yugoslav
republic's ruling coalition, keep its grip on the interior ministry.
He said that police officials with whom he had discussed
Marjanovic's request had dismissed it as "tragicomic", the Serbian
premier
having lost all political credibility.
---
YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA MEETS FRENCH PRESIDENT CHIRAC
BIARRITZ, Oct 14 (Tanjug). Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica
conferred with French President Jacques Chirac Saturday in Biarritz, on
the
sidelines of the European Union summit.
On his arrival in Biarritz, Kostunica was welcomed by French
Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who currently chairs the EU.
The informal EU summit has ended with the postponement of a
debate
on key institutional reforms of the EU and amidst uncertain prospects
for
the Middle East peace process.
The arrival of President Kostunica to a working lunch with the
European heads of state or government is considered by the French media
to
be an outstanding event in the otherwise gloomy political atmosphere of
a
conference without any great ambitions or results.
The presence of the Yugoslav president in Biarritz at the
invitation of President Chirac constitutes the first true recognition by
the EU after the lifting of the antiYugoslav sanctions, the French media
said.
On Friday, the first day of the summit, the participants
released
a sum of 200 million euros as emergency aid to Yugoslavia.
---
YUGOSLAVIA -US
O'BRIEN: ENTIRE REGION CAN NOW MOVE FORWARD
PODGORICA, Oct 14 (Tanjug). The special advisor of the US
president for the Balkans James O'Brien said at the end of his brief
visit
to Montenegro that the recent changes in Serbia had removed the
principal
sources of problems and that the entire region can now move forward
towards
building democracy, economic prosperity and integration with Europe.
Following a visit to Belgrade and talks with Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica, O'Brien visited Montenegro's capital Podgorica late
Friday and conferred with President Milo Djukanovic on the current
developments after the change of power in Belgrade.
Djukanovic and O'Brien pointed to the importance of that change
for the transition process and democratization in Serbia, underlining
that
all this would have positive effects also on the reforms underway in
Montenegro and on the stability of the entire region.
It is now essential that the democratic authorities in
Montenegro
and the international community also contribute to the consolidation of
the
new authorities in Belgrade and to channelling the positive democratic
energy to the state institutions in Serbia, they said.
O'Brien said that the talks also focused on the prospects for
negotiating the future status of Montenegro and the future relations
between Serbia and Montenegro.
That process will take time and it will be carried out
simultaneously with the consolidation of democracy in Serbia. It is
essential that democratic Serbia play a role in that process too, he
said.
Asked by the press about a possible referendum on Montenegro's
independence, O'Brien said that Presidents Kostunica and Djukanovic had
both expressed readiness for talks and that both sides have shown
readiness
and will for examining all options for the future of the federation.
The US does not favour independence for Montenegro, as
possibilities exist for talks with the democratic forces in Belgrade,
which
are ready for an open and sincere dialogue. It will take time to iron
out
all differences, but democracy now exists on both sides, paving the way
for
resolving all problems in a democratic spirit, O'Brien said.
---
BULGARIA TODAY – YUGOSLAVIA TOMORROW!
“…and you will pick the fruit of grapevine and of olive tree you have
not
planted…”
The Old Testament
Today “SEGA”* screams from its first page: “EVERY SECOND BULGARIAN
MOTHER
BANISHES HER CHILD ABROAD”.
At one of his regular star-performances on the Bulgarian TV only some
days
ago, the USA deputy in Bulgaria, Governor Richard Miles, consoled
fatherly
the Bulgarians advising them not to cry about the young emigrants. “They
will come back, enriched with the experience, accumulated in the USA
when
life in Bulgaria gets better.”
Who drives the children of Bulgaria away?
The one who turned our life in hell the last ten years!
The young emigrants were the hope of our country, they are its
intellectual
treasure, created by their parents efforts and the efforts of the whole
society! That unique human potential has been built in the course of the
years through the Bulgarian social, health and educational systems –
deliberately and thouroughly annihilated today!
And now that same insatiate cannibal, who has plundered our country and
life, is most cynically consuming the children of Bulgaria without
having
invested even half a cent or a minimal effort to give them birth, to
raise
or educate them!
And later he will use them as janissaries for the full extermination of
their birth cradle – Bulgaria!
The cynicism of Governor Miles can be measured only with that of a rich
slave-owner from the South states – The United States now are acquiring
a
quality offspring raised in a foreign farm!
Why should Governor Miles “improve” life in the USA protectorate
Bulgaria?
And for whom, in fact, the USA Special Forces, IMF and WB, are
conducting
here their deadly “reforms” ruining both our people and Homeland?
After some years there will not be any young people here – there will
not be
children! And the old ones will be dead…
Don’t deceive yourselves: the rape of our Homeland is carried out only
and
solely in the interest of the Metropolis Beyond the Ocean and the
colonial
servants here, called a “political elite” – nobody knows why!
Madlen Kircheva, Blagovesta Doncheva
October 9, 2000 - Sofia, Bulgaria
(We have sent it to ALL Bulgarian media.
It was not published.
Surely the Slave-merchant Miles has said: "No! No! No!")
---
> http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/525
---
* German Foreign Minister Calls for Permanent German Troop Occupation of
Yugoslavia (Emperor's Clothes)
- Fischer Warns: Yugoslavs Must Acquire Democratic Culture to Relate to
Germany
- Prof. Chossudovsky Comments: US Accepts German Domination in
Yugoslavia
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation2.htm
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation.htm
Original German text will be posted as soon as possible at
http://emperors-clothes.com/german/bundeswehr.htm>
* COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA: STRUGGLE CONTINUES
DESPITE SETBACK IN BELGRADE
By Sara Flounders and John Catalinotto (IAC)
http://www.workers.org/ww/2000/yugoslavia1019.html
* PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA FAVORS NAME SERBIAMONTENEGRO INSTEAD OF YUGOSLAVIA
- PARIS, Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* GROUP17PLUS CAN ENTER FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ONLY AS TEAM - BELGRADE, Oct
14 (Tanjug)
* DS OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA NEED GOVERNMENTS OF EXPERTS -
BELGRADE, Oct 13 (Tanjug)
* YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA MEETS FRENCH PRESIDENT CHIRAC - BIARRITZ,
Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* YUGOSLAVIA -US: O'BRIEN: ENTIRE REGION CAN NOW MOVE FORWARD -
PODGORICA, Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* BULGARIA TODAY � YUGOSLAVIA TOMORROW!
Madlen Kircheva, Blagovesta Doncheva
October 9, 2000 - Sofia, Bulgaria
---
> http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/524
---
* Kostunica's Coup Unravels
Decline of The West, by George Szamuely
Antiwar.com - October 13, 2000
http://www.antiwar.com/szamuely/pf/p-sz101300.html
* THE CACAK PLOT
Veterans of the Belgrade demonstrations which toppled Milosevic claim
the
protests were planned with military precision
By Milenko Vasovic in Belgrade
(Institute for War and Peace Reporting, della cordata di Soros:
http://www.iwpr.net)
---
Vi alleghiamo qui sotto il comunicato della SKOJ, organizzazione
giovanile Nuovo partito Comunista di Jugoslavia (NKPJ) di Kitanovic.
Alle elezioni sono andati bene ma essi denunciano il furto dei seggi
nonche'
trucchi e brogli da parte delle commissioni elettorali delle quali
facevano
parte sia SPS-JUL che il DOS.
Denunciano anche la congiura sui media durante la campagna elettorale,
congiura in tutte le TV, sia vicine al DOS che quelle di SPS-JUL.
Piu' sotto alleghiamo anche un messaggio del "Movimento Operaio" di
Kraguievac.
(da Voce Operaia)
-
Comrades,
On the elections held on September 24th 2000. for both councils
of Federal
Parliament (Council of Citizens and Council of Republics),
Parliament of
Autonomou Province Vojvodina and local elections for
municipality councils,
SKOJ gave 1/3 of candidates on electoral lists of New Communist
Party of
Yugoslavia.
On the elections for Council of Citizens in 13 electoral units
(out of 27)
NKPJ won 39541 votes. Our opinion is that number of votes is
much bigger but
it is impossible to check results due the fact the DOS
supporters burnt down
all materials of Election Commission who's office was in the
building of
Federal Parliament.
Our candidates and activists were under constant pressure from
both
governmental and "democratic opposition" parties. Election
Commissions,
which consisted mainly SPS, JUL, DOS, SPO and SRS members (left
and right
bourgeois parties) refused to give materials that were
obligated to give
(ie. forms for applying candidates). Using different kinds of
manipulation,
they kept us out of run for Chamber of Republics.
On the elections for Parliament of Vojvodina province NKPJ won
around 15000
votes and won one seat. Suddenly, 40 more votes occurred and
all of them
were for SPS-JUL coalition which changed rate in favor of their
coalition.
On the local elections NKPJ won 12 seats in different
municipality councils.
Candidates of NKPJ had only 35 minutes to present themselves
and programme
of NKPJ on state medias. Private owned local medias were closed
for our
Party because owners are mostly from SPS, JUL or DOS.
If we consider all circumstances and political atmosphere under
which
elections took place we can say that NKPJ won a great support
of voters.
Secretariat of SKOJ for Informations
-
The situation is very confusing and chaotic - it is not clear
how is
the state still functioning nor who is giving the orders.
There is either the struggle within DOS for power or is the
provocation.
Either way, DOS is constantly losing credibility and they know
that.
That is the reason why they are trying to force exceptional
elections
for the republic assembly. There are lots of armed people
everywhere
and bodyguards of different parties. Some "leaders" with their
bodyguards go to the firms and create chaos, and then they
create
"crises headquarters" which takeover the firms and get their
unqualified friends on power. The solution must be found in a
week.
(Z.J., Kragujevac, 12/10/2000)
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
Il tuo sondaggio sul web sugli argomenti che preferisci
Facile da gestire e con rappresentazioni grafiche dei risultati.
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.de/ad190521/www.ecircle.it
> http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/525
---
* German Foreign Minister Calls for Permanent German Troop Occupation of
Yugoslavia (Emperor's Clothes)
- Fischer Warns: Yugoslavs Must Acquire Democratic Culture to Relate to
Germany
- Prof. Chossudovsky Comments: US Accepts German Domination in
Yugoslavia
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation2.htm
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/occupation.htm
Original German text will be posted as soon as possible at
http://emperors-clothes.com/german/bundeswehr.htm>
* COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA: STRUGGLE CONTINUES
DESPITE SETBACK IN BELGRADE
By Sara Flounders and John Catalinotto (IAC)
http://www.workers.org/ww/2000/yugoslavia1019.html
* PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA FAVORS NAME SERBIAMONTENEGRO INSTEAD OF YUGOSLAVIA
- PARIS, Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* GROUP17PLUS CAN ENTER FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ONLY AS TEAM - BELGRADE, Oct
14 (Tanjug)
* DS OFFICIAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIA, SERBIA NEED GOVERNMENTS OF EXPERTS -
BELGRADE, Oct 13 (Tanjug)
* YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA MEETS FRENCH PRESIDENT CHIRAC - BIARRITZ,
Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* YUGOSLAVIA -US: O'BRIEN: ENTIRE REGION CAN NOW MOVE FORWARD -
PODGORICA, Oct 14 (Tanjug)
* BULGARIA TODAY � YUGOSLAVIA TOMORROW!
Madlen Kircheva, Blagovesta Doncheva
October 9, 2000 - Sofia, Bulgaria
---
> http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/524
---
* Kostunica's Coup Unravels
Decline of The West, by George Szamuely
Antiwar.com - October 13, 2000
http://www.antiwar.com/szamuely/pf/p-sz101300.html
* THE CACAK PLOT
Veterans of the Belgrade demonstrations which toppled Milosevic claim
the
protests were planned with military precision
By Milenko Vasovic in Belgrade
(Institute for War and Peace Reporting, della cordata di Soros:
http://www.iwpr.net)
---
Vi alleghiamo qui sotto il comunicato della SKOJ, organizzazione
giovanile Nuovo partito Comunista di Jugoslavia (NKPJ) di Kitanovic.
Alle elezioni sono andati bene ma essi denunciano il furto dei seggi
nonche'
trucchi e brogli da parte delle commissioni elettorali delle quali
facevano
parte sia SPS-JUL che il DOS.
Denunciano anche la congiura sui media durante la campagna elettorale,
congiura in tutte le TV, sia vicine al DOS che quelle di SPS-JUL.
Piu' sotto alleghiamo anche un messaggio del "Movimento Operaio" di
Kraguievac.
(da Voce Operaia)
-
Comrades,
On the elections held on September 24th 2000. for both councils
of Federal
Parliament (Council of Citizens and Council of Republics),
Parliament of
Autonomou Province Vojvodina and local elections for
municipality councils,
SKOJ gave 1/3 of candidates on electoral lists of New Communist
Party of
Yugoslavia.
On the elections for Council of Citizens in 13 electoral units
(out of 27)
NKPJ won 39541 votes. Our opinion is that number of votes is
much bigger but
it is impossible to check results due the fact the DOS
supporters burnt down
all materials of Election Commission who's office was in the
building of
Federal Parliament.
Our candidates and activists were under constant pressure from
both
governmental and "democratic opposition" parties. Election
Commissions,
which consisted mainly SPS, JUL, DOS, SPO and SRS members (left
and right
bourgeois parties) refused to give materials that were
obligated to give
(ie. forms for applying candidates). Using different kinds of
manipulation,
they kept us out of run for Chamber of Republics.
On the elections for Parliament of Vojvodina province NKPJ won
around 15000
votes and won one seat. Suddenly, 40 more votes occurred and
all of them
were for SPS-JUL coalition which changed rate in favor of their
coalition.
On the local elections NKPJ won 12 seats in different
municipality councils.
Candidates of NKPJ had only 35 minutes to present themselves
and programme
of NKPJ on state medias. Private owned local medias were closed
for our
Party because owners are mostly from SPS, JUL or DOS.
If we consider all circumstances and political atmosphere under
which
elections took place we can say that NKPJ won a great support
of voters.
Secretariat of SKOJ for Informations
-
The situation is very confusing and chaotic - it is not clear
how is
the state still functioning nor who is giving the orders.
There is either the struggle within DOS for power or is the
provocation.
Either way, DOS is constantly losing credibility and they know
that.
That is the reason why they are trying to force exceptional
elections
for the republic assembly. There are lots of armed people
everywhere
and bodyguards of different parties. Some "leaders" with their
bodyguards go to the firms and create chaos, and then they
create
"crises headquarters" which takeover the firms and get their
unqualified friends on power. The solution must be found in a
week.
(Z.J., Kragujevac, 12/10/2000)
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
Il tuo sondaggio sul web sugli argomenti che preferisci
Facile da gestire e con rappresentazioni grafiche dei risultati.
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.de/ad190521/www.ecircle.it
After the Rain - How the West Lost the East -
http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/after.html
Courtesy Bill
World Bank Development News Thursday, October 12, 2000
WORLD BANK BACKS EARLY INVOLVEMENT WITH YUGOSLAVIA.
The World Bank said yesterday it supports early involvement with the new
Yugoslavian government, including setting up donor trusts to help the
fledgling democracy ahead of its becoming a member of the World Bank,
reports Reuters.
The World Bank board of directors "expressed their support for an early
involvement of the World Bank in supporting the positive response of the
international community" to the recent changes in Yugoslavia, the Bank
said in a statement.
"As a first step, once the new government has expressed its interest,
the
Bank would initiate preparations for Yugoslavia's membership by
assessing
the economic situation and exploring with the government options for the
settlement of (arrears)," the Bank added in its statement. Yugoslavia's
arrears at the World Bank amount to $1.7 billion and total $128 million
at
the IMF. The World Bank said those arrears would have to be cleared and
the nation would have to rejoin the IMF before it could rejoin the Bank.
Agence France-Presse and the Wall Street Journal also report.
Yugoslavia, led by strongman President Slobodan Milosevic, was cut off
by
the IMF in 1992 and the World Bank in 1993 for its role in a series of
Balkan wars and for refusing to pay money it owed on loans, Reuters
notes.
While paying arrears of more than $1.8 billion might seem insurmountable
to a cash-starved nation, the World Bank and the IMF have in the past
welcomed nations back as members by providing a fresh loan to help pay
arrears.
In its statement, the Bank gave no estimate of how long it might take to
negotiate new membership for Yugoslavia, except that it "will likely
take
some time."
Initially, the Bank plans to offer analytical and advisory support in
cooperation with the EU, the IMF and others, while it helps coordinate
assistance and works on a medium-term reform plan. Once arrears were
cleared and membership was in place, the Bank said it could provide new
loans to help the country work toward a lasting economic recovery after
more than a decade of strife, NATO bombings last year and sanctions.
"The
World Bank's possible role in (Yugoslavia) is based on the assumption
that
further internal politi cal consolidation is quickly achieved ... and
that this leads to the removal of international sanctions," the Bank
said.
A fresh injection of cash from the two international lenders after years
of isolation could prove invaluable in helping rebuild the country's
battered economy, which contracted by more than 20 percent last year.
Inflation in Yugoslavia topped 50 percent this year and unemployment is
close to 30 percent.
With a plunging currency, sky-high inflation and a crumbling
infrastructure, Yugoslavia would be a prime contender to benefit from
help
by the IMF and the World Bank, says the story. The two bodies not only
dispense loans, but also offer technical advice and pointers on building
solid foundations to make economies attractive to outside investors.
The news comes as the New York Times (p. A1) reports that US President
Bill Clinton will announce today that he is lifting many of the trade
and
economic sanctions against Yugoslavia. Citing senior administration
officials as their source, the NYT said Clinton will immediately end the
ban on American flights and an oil embargo against Yugoslavia.
Additional
sanctions will be lifted over the next several weeks. But
administration
officials said they would retain the so-called "outer wall" of sanctions
that prevent Yugoslavia from receiving aid from the IMF and the World
Bank, as well as some which prevent Milosevic and his cronies from
sending
assets overseas.
Meanwhile, reports the Financial Times (p.2), Yugoslavia is aiming to
raise up to $500 million from international donors to help finance
imports
of fuel and other essentials over the difficult winter months, according
to Miroljub Labus, head of the interim federal government. But more
important than the final sum is the speed with which aid can be
delivered,
he said.
Speaking a day after meeting French Foreign Minister Hubert V�drine and
moments before welcoming Bodo Hombach, head of the Southeast Europe
Stability Pact, Labus said, "It is important that this message is heard
everywhere. Much better we have $100 million right now than $500
million
in a year's time." It was vital that links were created quickly, he
said,
and that people saw the benefits [of a democratic regime].
German officials last night suggested that the EU could agree immediate
help worth some $100 million at the EU leaders summit in Biarritz this
weekend.
Labus, who is expected to remain head of the government if a multi-party
team is established, said the economy would be his priority. He wants
to
liberalize and create a market economy open to foreign aid, loans and
investment, and would not be dogmatic.
The news comes as AFP reports that the UN war crimes tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia said yesterday it would give Yugoslovia's new
leadership
some time to consolidate democracy-but still expected Belgrade to
eventually hand over Milosevic for trial. "I think we have to be
prepared
to give Kostunica time provided that in the end of the day all the
indictees are going to be surrendered to this tribunal," said Graham
Blewitt, deputy prosecutor of Hague-based International Criminal
Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Further, a New York Times editorial (p. A30) notes Yugoslavia's economy
is now more than a decade behind the rest of Central and Eastern Europe
in
making the transition to market capitalism. Most of the privatizations
carried out in the Milosevic era consisted of handouts to political
supporters. Long before tough investment sanctions were imposed last
year, foreign businesses were avoiding Yugoslavia, put off by its
politicized courts, poor fiscal management and rusting industries.
Under
the best of circumstances, Yugoslavia will have a hard time catching up
with those countries that have gone through a decade of generally
successful reforms, like Poland and the Baltic states. At worst
Yugoslavia's economy could follow Russia's path to corruption and
decline.
To avoid that, the editorial says, Kostunica will have to temper his
Serbian nationalism with pragmatism and welcome substantial foreign
investment.
Remaining state-controlled businesses should be rapidly sold off.
Milosevic-era privatizations should be investigated and corrupt deals
renegotiated. The United States can help Kostunica by following
Europe's
lead and lifting most of the economic sanctions imposed during the
Milosevic years, a step President Clinton plans to take today.
Substantial emergency assistance will also be needed this winter.
Washington should be generous, the editorial concludes.
Commenting in the FT (p.17), Wolfgang Petritsch, high representative of
the Western nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes that international
aid should not go to new Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica unless
he extradites suspected Bosnian Serb criminals and gives full
recognition
and cooperation to the multi-ethnic Bosnian state.
Also commenting, Sheryle Bagwell writes in the Australian Financial
Review
that the West is likely to give Kostunica some breathing space to
demonstrate his democratic credentials.
Meanwhile, EBRD Chief Economist Willem Buiter writes in the Guardian
that
foreign financial support will depend heavily on direct investment with
significant support needed from international financial institutions
such
as the World Bank, the IMF and the EBRD. The EBRD has been active in
all
other countries of southeastern Europe. The expertise gained in other
post-war arenas such as Bosnia and Herzegovina can be useful in
Yugoslavia. It is a public institution using private sector projects as
its principal instrument. It has also played an important role in the
funding of public infrastructure. Basic infrastructure will have to be
initially funded with sovereign guarantees and blending multilateral and
bilateral concessionary finance. However, ultimately some sectors will
also have to be financed with private funding and participation.
---
IL NUOVO REGIME IN JUGOSLAVIA APRE LE PORTE ALLE
OPPORTUNITA' D'AFFARI
di Monica Larner - ("Italy Daily", supplemento dell'edizione italiana
dell''"International Herald Tribune" del 10 ottobre 2000)
[Le opportunita' d'affari per le aziende italiane in Jugoslavia, di cui
parla l'articolo qui sotto, non sono poi cosi' nuove. Tra i nomi di
grandi aziende che vi compaiono, Fiat, ENEL, Telecom e Impregilo
avevano gia' effettuato grandi investimenti, o trattato eventuali
affari,
con il regime di Milosevic. Ora hanno buone prospettive di
raccogliere i frutti di tali loro contatti passati]
Dopo la rivoluzione, arriva la ricostruzione - con tutto il suo
strascico di opportunita' d'affari. [...] Per l'Italia - il secondo
maggiore partner commerciale della Jugoslavia dopo la Germania -
la prossimita' geografica e i legami commerciali storici potrebbero
costituire un trampolino rispetto alla concorrenza. Se gli eventi
politici procederanno in Jugoslavia in maniera liscia, il futuro del
paese promette di essere ricco di provatizzazioni, con l'apertura
delle barriere commerciali e la stabilizzazione della valuta. Fino a
quando l'aspra situazione politica nel paese non si raffreddera',
molti membri della comunita' d'affari europea adotteranno un
approccio impostato all' "aspettiamo e vediamo", ma le prospettive
sembrano buone. "Dovra' passare molta acqua sotto i ponti prima
di sapere cosa accadra'", ha affermato il presidente dell'ICE,
Fabrizio Onida in un'intervista a "Italy Daily". "C'e' tuttavia
ottimismo". Egli ha aggiunto che le esportazioni italiane di prodotti
come scarpe, prodotti tessili e generi alimentari saranno le prime a
sfruttare l'occasione. "Gli investitori italiani in genere sono un po'
piu' lenti degli altri", ha affermato. "Ma l'avvio di privatizzazioni in
Jugoslavia potrebbe accendere la scintilla dell'interesse".
Alcune delle piu' note aziende italiane hanno gia' una presenza in
Jugoslavia, come la Fiat, la Iveco, l'Alitalia, la Telecom Italia,
Diesel
e Ferrero. Il Prodotto Interno Lordo della Jugoslavia e' stato stimato
come pari a 22 trilioni di lire dopo la guerra nel 1999, con una
diminuzione del 22% rispetto all'anno precedente. L'ICE prevede
che nel 2000 il PIL raggiungera' 26 trilioni di lire. Nel 1997 la
Telecom Italia aveva comprato una quota del 29% - che ora
corrisponde a un valore di 548 miliardi di lire - della Telecom
Serbia. A causa della guerra in Kosovo, il gigante italiano delle
telecomunicazioni ha perso circa un quarto del valore del suo
investimento iniziale, ma ora si trova di fronte a un mercato ad alta
crescita, che sicuramente continuera' a salire. La Telecom Italia
potrebbe infine vedere il suo investimento iniziale, che gli esperti a
suo tempo avevano definito "rischioso, ma coraggioso", fruttare
ricchi rendimenti. La Jugoslavia ha 2,2 milioni di clienti di linee
telefoniche fisse e solo 350.000 clienti che utilizzano telefonia
mobile, cifre che rendono molto forte il potenziale di nuovi
abbonamenti. Come richiede la legge, il 51% delle quote della
Telecom Serbia e' posseduto dal governo jugoslavo. [...]
Le privatizzazioni potrebbero spalancare la Jugoslavia agli
investimenti esteri. Molti settori, ivi inclusi i servizi pubblici per
l'energia, le infrastrutture e la gestione degli aeroporti, potrebbero
presto vedere licenziamenti di dipendenti ed essere ristrutturati per
dare spazio ai nuovi capitali provenienti dall'estero. Per esempio,
l'ENEL, l'ente statale per l'energia elettrica, potrebbe un giorno
prendere in considerazione di entrare in un mercato jugoslavo
dell'energia privatizzato, ha detto Onida. La societa' edile Impregilo
di Milano potrebbe concorrere per contratti per la ricostruzione
delle strade, dei ponti e delle gallerie danneggiati dalla guerra.
Aldo Fumagalli, presidente e amministratore delegato della Sol,
una societa' con sede a Monza che confeziona e distribuisce gas
come l'ossigeno, l'azoto e l'argon, afferma di essere ottimista sul
futuro della sua azienda in Jugoslavia. Con vendite per 400 miliardi
di lire e 1.050 dipendenti in tutto il mondo, la Sol e' gia' attiva
nella
penisola balcanica, ivi incluso il Kosovo. La Sol fornisce i gas
necessari per gli ospedali, le acciaierie, i cantieri navali e altri
settori. Due anni fa, il signor Fumagalli ha creato una rete di
distribuzione in tutta la Jugoslavia, sfruttando la sua rete integrata
gia' operativa nei paesi confinanti, con valute e relazioni
commerciali piu' solide. Cosi' facendo, la sua azienda e' stata tra le
altre cose in grado di aggirare le limitazioni imposte dall'embargo.
[...]
(Fonte: http://www.ecn.org/est/balcani )
---
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,43183,00.html
WORLD
APRIL 24, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 16
The IMF: Dr. Death?
A case study of how the global banker's shock therapy helps economies
but hammers the poor
BY ERIC POOLEY
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Courtesy Bill
World Bank Development News Thursday, October 12, 2000
WORLD BANK BACKS EARLY INVOLVEMENT WITH YUGOSLAVIA.
The World Bank said yesterday it supports early involvement with the new
Yugoslavian government, including setting up donor trusts to help the
fledgling democracy ahead of its becoming a member of the World Bank,
reports Reuters.
The World Bank board of directors "expressed their support for an early
involvement of the World Bank in supporting the positive response of the
international community" to the recent changes in Yugoslavia, the Bank
said in a statement.
"As a first step, once the new government has expressed its interest,
the
Bank would initiate preparations for Yugoslavia's membership by
assessing
the economic situation and exploring with the government options for the
settlement of (arrears)," the Bank added in its statement. Yugoslavia's
arrears at the World Bank amount to $1.7 billion and total $128 million
at
the IMF. The World Bank said those arrears would have to be cleared and
the nation would have to rejoin the IMF before it could rejoin the Bank.
Agence France-Presse and the Wall Street Journal also report.
Yugoslavia, led by strongman President Slobodan Milosevic, was cut off
by
the IMF in 1992 and the World Bank in 1993 for its role in a series of
Balkan wars and for refusing to pay money it owed on loans, Reuters
notes.
While paying arrears of more than $1.8 billion might seem insurmountable
to a cash-starved nation, the World Bank and the IMF have in the past
welcomed nations back as members by providing a fresh loan to help pay
arrears.
In its statement, the Bank gave no estimate of how long it might take to
negotiate new membership for Yugoslavia, except that it "will likely
take
some time."
Initially, the Bank plans to offer analytical and advisory support in
cooperation with the EU, the IMF and others, while it helps coordinate
assistance and works on a medium-term reform plan. Once arrears were
cleared and membership was in place, the Bank said it could provide new
loans to help the country work toward a lasting economic recovery after
more than a decade of strife, NATO bombings last year and sanctions.
"The
World Bank's possible role in (Yugoslavia) is based on the assumption
that
further internal politi cal consolidation is quickly achieved ... and
that this leads to the removal of international sanctions," the Bank
said.
A fresh injection of cash from the two international lenders after years
of isolation could prove invaluable in helping rebuild the country's
battered economy, which contracted by more than 20 percent last year.
Inflation in Yugoslavia topped 50 percent this year and unemployment is
close to 30 percent.
With a plunging currency, sky-high inflation and a crumbling
infrastructure, Yugoslavia would be a prime contender to benefit from
help
by the IMF and the World Bank, says the story. The two bodies not only
dispense loans, but also offer technical advice and pointers on building
solid foundations to make economies attractive to outside investors.
The news comes as the New York Times (p. A1) reports that US President
Bill Clinton will announce today that he is lifting many of the trade
and
economic sanctions against Yugoslavia. Citing senior administration
officials as their source, the NYT said Clinton will immediately end the
ban on American flights and an oil embargo against Yugoslavia.
Additional
sanctions will be lifted over the next several weeks. But
administration
officials said they would retain the so-called "outer wall" of sanctions
that prevent Yugoslavia from receiving aid from the IMF and the World
Bank, as well as some which prevent Milosevic and his cronies from
sending
assets overseas.
Meanwhile, reports the Financial Times (p.2), Yugoslavia is aiming to
raise up to $500 million from international donors to help finance
imports
of fuel and other essentials over the difficult winter months, according
to Miroljub Labus, head of the interim federal government. But more
important than the final sum is the speed with which aid can be
delivered,
he said.
Speaking a day after meeting French Foreign Minister Hubert V�drine and
moments before welcoming Bodo Hombach, head of the Southeast Europe
Stability Pact, Labus said, "It is important that this message is heard
everywhere. Much better we have $100 million right now than $500
million
in a year's time." It was vital that links were created quickly, he
said,
and that people saw the benefits [of a democratic regime].
German officials last night suggested that the EU could agree immediate
help worth some $100 million at the EU leaders summit in Biarritz this
weekend.
Labus, who is expected to remain head of the government if a multi-party
team is established, said the economy would be his priority. He wants
to
liberalize and create a market economy open to foreign aid, loans and
investment, and would not be dogmatic.
The news comes as AFP reports that the UN war crimes tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia said yesterday it would give Yugoslovia's new
leadership
some time to consolidate democracy-but still expected Belgrade to
eventually hand over Milosevic for trial. "I think we have to be
prepared
to give Kostunica time provided that in the end of the day all the
indictees are going to be surrendered to this tribunal," said Graham
Blewitt, deputy prosecutor of Hague-based International Criminal
Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Further, a New York Times editorial (p. A30) notes Yugoslavia's economy
is now more than a decade behind the rest of Central and Eastern Europe
in
making the transition to market capitalism. Most of the privatizations
carried out in the Milosevic era consisted of handouts to political
supporters. Long before tough investment sanctions were imposed last
year, foreign businesses were avoiding Yugoslavia, put off by its
politicized courts, poor fiscal management and rusting industries.
Under
the best of circumstances, Yugoslavia will have a hard time catching up
with those countries that have gone through a decade of generally
successful reforms, like Poland and the Baltic states. At worst
Yugoslavia's economy could follow Russia's path to corruption and
decline.
To avoid that, the editorial says, Kostunica will have to temper his
Serbian nationalism with pragmatism and welcome substantial foreign
investment.
Remaining state-controlled businesses should be rapidly sold off.
Milosevic-era privatizations should be investigated and corrupt deals
renegotiated. The United States can help Kostunica by following
Europe's
lead and lifting most of the economic sanctions imposed during the
Milosevic years, a step President Clinton plans to take today.
Substantial emergency assistance will also be needed this winter.
Washington should be generous, the editorial concludes.
Commenting in the FT (p.17), Wolfgang Petritsch, high representative of
the Western nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes that international
aid should not go to new Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica unless
he extradites suspected Bosnian Serb criminals and gives full
recognition
and cooperation to the multi-ethnic Bosnian state.
Also commenting, Sheryle Bagwell writes in the Australian Financial
Review
that the West is likely to give Kostunica some breathing space to
demonstrate his democratic credentials.
Meanwhile, EBRD Chief Economist Willem Buiter writes in the Guardian
that
foreign financial support will depend heavily on direct investment with
significant support needed from international financial institutions
such
as the World Bank, the IMF and the EBRD. The EBRD has been active in
all
other countries of southeastern Europe. The expertise gained in other
post-war arenas such as Bosnia and Herzegovina can be useful in
Yugoslavia. It is a public institution using private sector projects as
its principal instrument. It has also played an important role in the
funding of public infrastructure. Basic infrastructure will have to be
initially funded with sovereign guarantees and blending multilateral and
bilateral concessionary finance. However, ultimately some sectors will
also have to be financed with private funding and participation.
---
IL NUOVO REGIME IN JUGOSLAVIA APRE LE PORTE ALLE
OPPORTUNITA' D'AFFARI
di Monica Larner - ("Italy Daily", supplemento dell'edizione italiana
dell''"International Herald Tribune" del 10 ottobre 2000)
[Le opportunita' d'affari per le aziende italiane in Jugoslavia, di cui
parla l'articolo qui sotto, non sono poi cosi' nuove. Tra i nomi di
grandi aziende che vi compaiono, Fiat, ENEL, Telecom e Impregilo
avevano gia' effettuato grandi investimenti, o trattato eventuali
affari,
con il regime di Milosevic. Ora hanno buone prospettive di
raccogliere i frutti di tali loro contatti passati]
Dopo la rivoluzione, arriva la ricostruzione - con tutto il suo
strascico di opportunita' d'affari. [...] Per l'Italia - il secondo
maggiore partner commerciale della Jugoslavia dopo la Germania -
la prossimita' geografica e i legami commerciali storici potrebbero
costituire un trampolino rispetto alla concorrenza. Se gli eventi
politici procederanno in Jugoslavia in maniera liscia, il futuro del
paese promette di essere ricco di provatizzazioni, con l'apertura
delle barriere commerciali e la stabilizzazione della valuta. Fino a
quando l'aspra situazione politica nel paese non si raffreddera',
molti membri della comunita' d'affari europea adotteranno un
approccio impostato all' "aspettiamo e vediamo", ma le prospettive
sembrano buone. "Dovra' passare molta acqua sotto i ponti prima
di sapere cosa accadra'", ha affermato il presidente dell'ICE,
Fabrizio Onida in un'intervista a "Italy Daily". "C'e' tuttavia
ottimismo". Egli ha aggiunto che le esportazioni italiane di prodotti
come scarpe, prodotti tessili e generi alimentari saranno le prime a
sfruttare l'occasione. "Gli investitori italiani in genere sono un po'
piu' lenti degli altri", ha affermato. "Ma l'avvio di privatizzazioni in
Jugoslavia potrebbe accendere la scintilla dell'interesse".
Alcune delle piu' note aziende italiane hanno gia' una presenza in
Jugoslavia, come la Fiat, la Iveco, l'Alitalia, la Telecom Italia,
Diesel
e Ferrero. Il Prodotto Interno Lordo della Jugoslavia e' stato stimato
come pari a 22 trilioni di lire dopo la guerra nel 1999, con una
diminuzione del 22% rispetto all'anno precedente. L'ICE prevede
che nel 2000 il PIL raggiungera' 26 trilioni di lire. Nel 1997 la
Telecom Italia aveva comprato una quota del 29% - che ora
corrisponde a un valore di 548 miliardi di lire - della Telecom
Serbia. A causa della guerra in Kosovo, il gigante italiano delle
telecomunicazioni ha perso circa un quarto del valore del suo
investimento iniziale, ma ora si trova di fronte a un mercato ad alta
crescita, che sicuramente continuera' a salire. La Telecom Italia
potrebbe infine vedere il suo investimento iniziale, che gli esperti a
suo tempo avevano definito "rischioso, ma coraggioso", fruttare
ricchi rendimenti. La Jugoslavia ha 2,2 milioni di clienti di linee
telefoniche fisse e solo 350.000 clienti che utilizzano telefonia
mobile, cifre che rendono molto forte il potenziale di nuovi
abbonamenti. Come richiede la legge, il 51% delle quote della
Telecom Serbia e' posseduto dal governo jugoslavo. [...]
Le privatizzazioni potrebbero spalancare la Jugoslavia agli
investimenti esteri. Molti settori, ivi inclusi i servizi pubblici per
l'energia, le infrastrutture e la gestione degli aeroporti, potrebbero
presto vedere licenziamenti di dipendenti ed essere ristrutturati per
dare spazio ai nuovi capitali provenienti dall'estero. Per esempio,
l'ENEL, l'ente statale per l'energia elettrica, potrebbe un giorno
prendere in considerazione di entrare in un mercato jugoslavo
dell'energia privatizzato, ha detto Onida. La societa' edile Impregilo
di Milano potrebbe concorrere per contratti per la ricostruzione
delle strade, dei ponti e delle gallerie danneggiati dalla guerra.
Aldo Fumagalli, presidente e amministratore delegato della Sol,
una societa' con sede a Monza che confeziona e distribuisce gas
come l'ossigeno, l'azoto e l'argon, afferma di essere ottimista sul
futuro della sua azienda in Jugoslavia. Con vendite per 400 miliardi
di lire e 1.050 dipendenti in tutto il mondo, la Sol e' gia' attiva
nella
penisola balcanica, ivi incluso il Kosovo. La Sol fornisce i gas
necessari per gli ospedali, le acciaierie, i cantieri navali e altri
settori. Due anni fa, il signor Fumagalli ha creato una rete di
distribuzione in tutta la Jugoslavia, sfruttando la sua rete integrata
gia' operativa nei paesi confinanti, con valute e relazioni
commerciali piu' solide. Cosi' facendo, la sua azienda e' stata tra le
altre cose in grado di aggirare le limitazioni imposte dall'embargo.
[...]
(Fonte: http://www.ecn.org/est/balcani )
---
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,43183,00.html
WORLD
APRIL 24, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 16
The IMF: Dr. Death?
A case study of how the global banker's shock therapy helps economies
but hammers the poor
BY ERIC POOLEY
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
Il tuo sondaggio sul web sugli argomenti che preferisci
Facile da gestire e con rappresentazioni grafiche dei risultati.
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.de/ad190521/www.ecircle.it
