Jugoinfo
DIECIMILA IN PIAZZA A SOFIA CONTRO LE POLITICHE LIBERISTE E LA POVERTA'
MARCH 22, 10:07 EST
Up to 10,000 Protest in Bulgaria
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Up to 10,000 people gathered in downtown Sofia
on
Wednesday to protest the country's unemployment, poverty and
temporary-employment contracts.
The rally started with 2,000 marching in the capital's main streets,
waving purple union banners with slogans reading: ``No to poverty'' and
``We want jobs and a decent living, not charity.''
The march was organized by the main Confederation of Independent
Unions, which claims over 1 million members.
Bulgaria's government, which has been implementing an International
Monetary Fund-advised austerity program, is facing rising public
resentment because it has failed to raise living standards and deliver a
promised economic growth of 4 to 5 percent a year. Last year's growth in
gross domestic product was 2.5 percent.
State company closures led to massive layoffs. In January, there were
657,100 out of work, or 17.2 percent of the workforce in this country of
8.2 million. That's up from 14.2 percent in September.
Union leader Zhelyazko Hristov argued on state radio that the real
unemployment rate was about 25 percent, because many people without jobs
were not counted in state statistics.
Hristov added that 680,000 employees worked with temporary short-term
employment contracts, which employers may easily refuse to renew if
workers as too demanding about their rights.
---
ATTENTATO NELLA REGIONE ARMENA DEL NAGORNO-KARABACH (AZERBAIDJAN)
Gunmen Wound President of Nagorno-Karabakh, Driver, Bodyguard
8:25 a.m. ET (1325 GMT) March 22, 2000
YEREVAN, Armenia — Gunmen opened fire on the president of
Azerbaijan's separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region early Wednesday,
seriously wounding him, his driver and a bodyguard, officials said.
The gunmen fired at the car carrying Arkady Gukasyan as he was being
driven home through Stepanakert, the enclave's capital, shortly after
midnight, the Nagorno-Karabakh government said.
Gukasyan was seriously wounded in the legs and underwent surgery, but
his life did not appear to be in immediate danger Wednesday, a
Nagorno-Karabakh government spokesman said.
The driver was hit in the head and chest, while one of Gukasyan's two
bodyguards in the car was wounded in the spine, according the spokesman,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman at Nagorno-Karabakh's Interior Ministry said the attackers
shot Gukasyan from a car that pulled up alongside his vehicle.
The spokesman said Nagorno-Karabakh's former defense minister, Samvel
Babyan, and his brother, Stepanakert mayor Karen Babyan, were arrested
along with more than 20 other people in connection with the attack.
Samvel Babyan was dismissed from his Defense Ministry post last December
after a feud with Gukasyan.
The government called the attack an attempt to derail Gukasyan's efforts
at democratic reform.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, declared
independence in 1988, igniting a war in which an estimated 15,000 people
were killed and about 1 million driven from their homes. With help from
Armenia, the separatists drove out Azerbaijan's troops. A truce signed
in 1994 ended the war, but tensions persist and clashes erupt
sporadically.
---
DOCUMENTI DAGLI ARMENI DEL NAKHIJEVAN E DEL CANADA
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA(UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
SPECIAL MEETING BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS HELD ON
MARCH 16TH, 2000, AT 11.A.M. IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Today, at the annniversary date of the Treaty of Moscow, signed on March
16th, 1921, between Soviet Russia and the Turkish government in Ankara,
the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians held a special meeting in
Yerevan, in the presence of prominent members of the Armenian
intelligentsia. The meeting approved two documents to be sent, one to
the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the other, to the president
of the (Majlis) Parliament of the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic. Also
it was decided to send copies of the letter to the Majlis of
Nakhijevan, to the Mejlis of Azerbaijan and to the UNESCO presidency
as well. In the first case, the National Council recommends the State
Duma of the Russian Federation to consider null the clauses of Treaty of
Moscow, pertaining to the Armenians. In the second case, it comes out
with a proposal of cooperation, addressed to the parliament of the
Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic.
Attached is the full text of the two documents above.
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA (UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
THIS TEXT IS ISSUED FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS,
BASED IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Add. : Yerevan-19, Marshgal Baghramian ave. 24 c Tel. : 58-94-31. Fax
:/3742/151 795
PRESS RELEASE
16 MARCH, 2000
SPEECH ADDRESSED TO THE STATE DUMA OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The present Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan corresponds to the Sharur
district of Ayrarat province, to the Nakhijevan and Goghtn (now
Ordoubad) districts of Vaspurakan province, the Yernjak, Shahaponk and
Jahuk districts of Siunik province of Historical Armenia.
In 1828, after the Turkmenchai Treaty, Nakhijevan was incorporated first
into the Armenian province (Armyanskaya oblast) created by Russia
(1828-1840), then after its dissolution, into the province of Yerevan
(1849-1918).
At the end of 1918 and up untill 1920, the territory of Nakhijevan was
part of the First Republic of Armenia. After the establishment of the
Armenian Soviet Republic on December 2, 1921 and until the Kars Treaty
was signed on October 13, 1921, Nakhijevan region was de jure part of
Soviet Armenia. This reality corresponded with the position of the
supreme authorities of Azerbaijan, the Revolutionary Committee, which
on November 30, 1920, declared Nakhijevan and Artsakh (Karabagh) as the
undivided parts of Soviet Armenia. This special declaration of the
Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan was affirmed by leading figures
of Soviet Russia , in December 1920-January 1921.
Trampling on the basic rights of the Armenian people, especially those
of Armenians of Nakhijevan, Russia and Turkey, without participation of
representatives of the Armenian people, signed an illegal and
illegitimate treaty on March 16, 1921, by remitting Nakhijevan under
the ‘protectorate’ of Azerbaijan. This act permitted the annexation by
Soviet Azerbaijan a part of the Armenian homeland.
Under brutal suppression of Bolshevik Russia, this act was reconfirmed
in the Treaty of Kars on October 13, 1921, which was signed between
Turkey and the Transcaucasian republics. This act ratified the partition
of Armenia and the forcible detachment of Nakhijevan region from the
motherland
Thereafter, by an arbitrary decision of the highest leadership of the
soviet empire, and ignoring, at least in appearance, the agreement by
the signatories of this Treaty (Georgia, Turkey and Armenia), Azerbaijan
declares Nakhijevan as an autonomous republic on February 9, 1924. With
this illegitimate decision, the Soviet Union and Soviet Azerbaijan
violated the articles of March 16, 1921 and October 13, 1921 Treaties,
which were themselves illegal, by which the Nakhijevan region was not
annexed to Azerbaijan as a constituent part of that country, but was
put under its ‘protectorate’.
As a result of Azerbaijani aggression in 1918-1920 period, with the
collaboration of Turkey, the demographic picture continued to shift in
favor of the Azerbaijanis. Nevertheless, the Armenians constituted a
substantial part of the population of the Autonomous Republic of
Nakhijevan from 1920 to 1960’s. From 1921 and on, Azerbaijan run a
successive policy of violation of the human and national dignity of the
Armenian population of Nakhijevan, aiming at the ousting of
Nakhijevan Armenians from the land of their ancestors, as a result of
which the region was fully cleaned from its indigenous Armenian
population, between 1921 and 1989.
Today, about 400,000 Armenians of Nakhijevan, deported to the Republic
of Armenia and to many countries of the world, are deprived not only
from the right of resettlement on the land of their ancestors, but also
from the right and possibility of visiting the dwellings, the churches,
the monuments and the cemeteries built by them.
The Russian Federation, being the legal inheritor of Soviet Russia which
forcibly annexed the Nakhijevan region to Azerbaijan by an illegal and
illegitimate treaty, bears direct responsibility for that obvious
injustice.
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS , issued from the Congress
of All-Armenians form Nakhijevan and convened in Yerevan in September
1999, appeals, as the representative body of Nakhijevan Armenians, to
the Russian State Duma to declare NULL articles related to Armenia and
embodied in the illegal Russo-Turkish Treaty of Moscow of March 16,
1921, signed under the name ‘Friendship and Brotherhood’. These
articles hinder the fortification of the Armenian-Russian friendship,
the establishment of confidence and sincere comprehension between the
peoples of the two countries.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC) founded on
January 27th, 2000, is a non-profit organization, affiliated with
the family of « Nakhijevan » Compatriotic Union of Armenia (NCUA).
For further information, please contact M. Antranig Bedrossian at
e-mail: antranig bedrossian <antranig@...>
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA (UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
THIS TEXT IS ISSUED FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS,
BASED IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Add . : Yerevan-19, Marshal Baghramian ave. 24c. Tel :58-94-31 Fax
:/3742/151 795
PRESS RELEASE
16 MARCH, 2000
To the President of Majlis (Parliament) of Nakhijevan Autonomous
Republic,
Honorable Mr. President,
As you know from the mass madia, the Armenians deported from the
Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic, who live in the Republic of Armenia,
have established the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians, which
is aiming to defend the political, economic and human rights of the
Armenians expulsed from the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic.
On behalf of the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians, I refer to
you proposing a meeting which will discuss the following issues.
The National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians pursue to revive the trade
between the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and the Republic of Armenia,
so that villagers of the Autonomous Republic can sell their goods in the
Republic of Armenia, as it has been the case from many decades ago till
the recent past.
We also propose to discuss the following points during the
negotiations:
As it is known, the Christian World is celebrating this year the 2000th
anniversary of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Armenian
people will celebrate next year the 1700th anniversary of the
declaration of Christianity as state religion in Armenia. On these
occasions, the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians intends to
organize pilgrimages to the churches and holy places in the Nakhijevan
Autonomous Republic, beginning from the summer of this year.
We should propose to you to take the necessary procedures, so that the
competent bodies of Nakhijevan Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and
Republic of Armenia jointly prepare the list of the monuments to be
visited.
I am fully optimistic that the result of our meeting will have a
positive feedback both from the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and the
Azerbaijani intelligentsia, as well as from the international
community. This will greatly assist in mutual understanding of the
peoples and the countries of the region and will enhance the solidarity
between them.
ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS
RAPHAYEL HAMPARTSOUMIAN - PRESIDENT
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC) founded on
January 27th, 2000, is a non-profit organization, affiliated with
the family of « Nakhijevan » Compatriotic Union of Armenia (NCUA).
For further information, please contact M. Antranig Bedrossian at
e-mail: antranig bedrossian <antranig@...>
---
LE SS DI NUOVO IN MARCIA IN LETTONIA
Latvia Waffen SS To Hold March
By STEVEN C. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Despite criticism from Jewish and Russian groups,
300 veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS marched today in a procession to
an independence monument to remember their fallen comrades with a
wreath-laying ceremony.
The annual march, held on March 16 to mark a major battle between the
Latvian Waffen SS and the Red Army on the same date in 1944, provoked a
storm of protest at home and abroad the last two years.
Supporters say the Latvian Waffen SS, also known as the Latvian Legion,
was a conscripted, front-line army and wasn't the same thing as
Germany's Waffen SS -- Adolf Hitler's elite force that carried out the
Holocaust and other atrocities.
Russia said the march showed contempt for millions of Soviet war dead.
Members of Latvia's 11,000-strong Jewish community said the march was
insensitive to the memory of 80,000 Latvian Jews massacred during the
1941-44 Nazi occupation.
The former soldiers, most in their 70s and 80s, first gathered in a
church to sing and pray before beginning a slow march across the old
city's cobble-stoned streets to lay flowers at a nearby independence
monument.
Some of the gray-haired veterans clutched bouquets of flowers or carried
Latvian flags as they walked. Two held Latvian Waffen SS flags with
''the 19th division'' and ''15th division'' scrawled across the maroon
and white banners.
Some local residents lined the street to watch, though the crowds were
smaller than last year. The police presence, heavy during last year's
march, was also less noticeable.
''We just want to remember the comrades we lost and teach our children
the truth about what happened to this country in the 20th century,''
Visvaldis Lacis, a 76-year-old Waffen SS veteran, said before the march
started.
Many of the veterans were clearly struggling to walk the short
procession route, some of them using canes. One veteran collapsed from
an apparent heart attack and was rushed to a hospital, the Baltic News
Service reported
But some bystanders, especially members of the former Soviet republic's
million-strong Russian-speaking minority, jeered or sang Soviet war
songs as the procession passed. One elderly women shook her cane at the
passing veterans
''This is unforgivable,'' 78-year-old ethnic Russian Nina Noshina said.
''These men were part of Hitler's fascist army. Why does Latvia
celebrate fascists when they are condemned everywhere else?''
Controversy was heightened last year after parliament declared March 16
an official day of remembrance. But earlier this year, parliament sought
to reduce tensions and international criticism by rescinding that
decision.
Latvians say the controversy stems from a misunderstanding of history.
The Soviets occupied Latvia at the start of the war in 1940, Germany
ruled here from 1941-44, and the Soviets retook it in 1944. Latvia
regained its independence from Moscow in 1991 following the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies, 250,000
Latvians ended up fighting on one side of the conflict or the other,
usually after being conscripted. Some 150,000 Latvian combatants died.
Many Latvians, like Lacis, say they volunteered to fight for Waffen SS
on behalf of Latvian independence from the Soviets, not out of any
sympathy for Nazi ideology.
While privately sympathetic, leaders argue that any official sanction of
the day was sure to draw condemnations from around the world and could
even undermine the nation's bid to win membership in the European Union
and NATO.
Nils Muiznieks, a leading political commentator, said the damage to
Latvia's international image has already been done.
''This is always going to be a black eye for Latvia, regardless of
whether it's a state holiday,'' he said. ''Veterans will march, cameras
will roll ... It's a nightmare from the state's point of view.''
---
MAI PROCESSATO IL MEDICO DI AUSCHWITZ
Saturday, 11 March, 2000, 17:31 GMT
"Auschwitz doctor escapes trial"
Dr Muench boasted of his experiments at Auschwitz
Hans Muench, the last surviving doctor from
the Auschwitz concentration camp, has been
declared unfit to stand trial for murder.
Public prosecutors in the German state of
Hesse have dropped their investigation against
Dr Muench, 88, after medical examiners found
he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Prosecutors had not yet
turned up sufficient
evidence to justify
action against Dr
Muench,
said Job
Tilmann, chief
spokesman in the
Frankfurt prosecutor's
office.
However, he said the investigation has been
called off because Dr Muench's poor health
makes a trial impossible in any case.
Experiments
Dr Muench, who now lives in Bavaria, is the
former director of the Institute of Hygiene for
the Waffen SS.
He was an accomplice of the notorious Nazi
doctor Josef Mengele.
He conducted medical experiments on
Auschwitz inmates between 1943 and 1945
and has been repeatedly cited in media
interviews as being unrepentant about his
past.
He was tried for war crimes at a trial in Poland
in 1947 for his malaria and rheumatism
experiments in which Jews were infected on
purpose to study if they were immune.
He was acquitted after former inmates he had
worked with in the Auschwitz laboratory
testified he had helped save their lives.
Gassed
But a fresh murder investigation was launched
against him in 1998 after he boasted in an
interview of killing Auschwitz internees.
Dr Muench recalled how he had ordered whole
barracks of inmates to be gassed if one person
contracted a contagious disease and said he
had no regrets about conducting grotesque
experiments on the camp's Jewish internees.
"I could conduct experiments on humans that
otherwise are only possible on rabbits," he
said.
He further praised Dr Mengele, whose own
experiments led to countless deaths, as highly
intelligent and cultured.
Dr Mengele, who was never tried, escaped to
Argentina after the war and drowned in 1979.
A Paris court also wants to try Dr Muench in
absentia for approving the murder of gypsies
after he said in a French radio interview that
gassing them "was the only way to handle
them".
You are in: World: Europe (BBC WORLD)
---
NOTEVOLE PEGGIORAMENTO DELLA CONDIZIONE DELLA DONNA ALL'EST
Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Russia)
March 7, 2000
Cinderellas of Perestroika and Market Reform
Summary
On the eve of International Women's Day, it is time to
reflect on working women in Russia. In the Soviet
Union, women were guaranteed equal payment to men for
equal work. In the seventies and eighties, the average
woman's wage accounted for about seventy percent of
the average man's wages. This rate was approximately
the same as in developed countries worldwide.
Perestroika of the late eighties and the subsequent
market reforms brought serious changes to Russia’s
labor market. According to official government
statistics, in 1992, women accounted for 75 percent of
total registered unemployment in Russia. And half of
these unemployed women held degrees from institutions
of higher education.
According to recent studies, the level of women's
unemployment has dropped slightly, primarily due to
the emergence of small business. The more alarming
figure is that women's wages account for only fifty
percent of the average man's wage. Mostwomen in Russia
work in public, state-funded sectors like health care
or education where salaries are half the national
average. Very few women work in wealthy industries
like oil or gas, where wages are 300 to 400 times
higher than the average in Russia.
[7 March 2000, page 1]
Hindustan Times
March 8, 2000
Opinion
Enslaved to the system
(Chanchal Sarkar)
Barely has a new millennium begun with brave words of
doing better in every way than in the one exhausted,
that rends have appeared in the fabric. The Western
world thought that with the stamping out of slavery
from the Atlantic circuit — from the West African
coast to the Americas — it had ended for good. But
neo-slavery is in many ways worse as neo-colonialism
is worse than colonialism proper.
Scholars have the habit and the ability to serve up
the most disquieting and shocking facts. In Index on
Censorship one such scholar, after studying slavery in
several continents, says, “Slaves today are cheaper
than ever in human history... overpopulation has made
slaves plentiful, cheap and disposable.” A slave in
Alabama sold for $ 1,000 ($ 40,000 in today’s money)
and the new owner expected a bill of sale and a title.
Profit made from such a slave varied between five and
10 per cent. Today it costs $ 2,000 to enslave a young
woman in a brothel in Thailand. There she could
generate a profit of as much as $ 75,000 a year.
As India leads in some undesirable directions, the
scholars say (and we know) that a child here can be
placed in bondage for a trifling $ 45. Swami Agnivesh
has said that there are 65 million bonded child
labourers in India. A frightening thought. Devadasis
are slaves of a kind.
Sifting through the various kinds of information, the
scholars roughly divide modern slavery into (i) the
old colonial “chattel slavery” where the slave’s
person was owned by the master; (ii) nuptial slavery;
(iii) sex slavery; (iv) domestic slavery and (v) debt
slavery. Except in some areas like south-western
Sudan, chattel slavery is now uncommon. Not for any
high-minded or moral reason but simply because the
threat and use of violence is enough to subdue the
recalcitrant. Some US missionary organisations have
been buying freedom for Sudanese slaves but there are
allegedly holes in the procedure.
Nuptial slavery is becoming more frequent. In the West
where there are immigrants from the subcontinent,
there are cases of young women being forced by their
families into marriage with men not of their own
choice. These women are often kept in confinement in
their home, roughed up, and sometimes whisked back to
India, Pakistan or Bangladesh and kept there till
their spirit is broken. India also has nuptial slavery
cases of Arabs from West Asia coming to buy and take
woman away after a form of marriage. Our governments
have done precious little to stop this.
Debt and labour-slavery have the cruel falsification
of accounts to go with it as we know only too well
from our rural areas. Pakistan’s feudal landowners are
pastmasters at this kind of slavery.
Sex slavery is now a horrible scourge. Not only in
Thailand, in Japan, Hong Kong and the Arab world,
women from the Philippines, Indonesia, India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are easy prey. Many of these
women are lured by the promise of jobs. Here, too,
countries of their origin do very little for the
enslaved citizens.
Every year about 500,000 women from Central and
Eastern Europe are taken to European Union countries
for prostitution. Our own unworthy share relates to
Nepal, from where there are over 100,000 women in
Indian brothels and 5,000 women are trafficked here
every year. The Nepalese embassy and the Indian
authorities are blind to the suffering and
exploitation of these unfortunate women who are so
poor in their homeland that they have no other way to
make a living.
---
SULLO SCIOPERO DEI FERROVIERI IN SLOVACCHIA
(The...union is demanding a 10% increase in salaries
to match Slovakia's 1999 inflation rate of 11%, while
[Slovak Railways] management has offered a mere
2%....'no bank would give money to a company if it
knew the money would be used to increase the wages of
the company's employees....')
_______________________________________________________
March 6, 2000
Full Stoppage Of All Train Services To Go Into Effect
If Agreement On Wages Not Met
By Peter Barecz
After failing to reach an agreement with management
over a wage increase, employees at Slovak Railways
(ŽSR) are planning a mid-March nationwide strike that
would stop all train transport in the country. The ŽSR
union is demanding a 10% increase in salaries to match
Slovakia`s 1999 inflation rate of 11%, while ŽSR
management has offered a mere 2.4% raise, citing a
lack of funds.
If the strike were called - a possibility that ŽSR
management considers quite likely - both passenger and
freight transport would come to a halt for the first
time in Slovak history, and the rail company would
lose 60 million Slovak crowns ($1.4 million) a day.
Union officials have not said how long the strike
might last.
Although such a strike would cause huge inconveniences
for commuters and even more headaches for companies,
the governmnet hasn`t yet stepped in to mediate
discussions between ŽSR and the railway union."We
support ŽSR management and are consulting with them in
the steps they are taking," said Naïa Ondrišová, a
Transport Ministry spokesperson. "However, we would
only intervene in mutual discussions if there was a
real danger of a strike."
The union has been threatening a strike since the end
of last year, when ŽSR management realised that the
money the company had been allocated from the state
budget for 2000 was not enough to increase wages.
Management had promised a 10% increase before the
state budged was approved at the end of December last
year.
According to Slovak laws, at least 50% of company`s
employees must sign a petition to launch a strike. The
railway union, which launched its petition on February
20, expects to have a sufficient number of signatures
in one week.
"We cannot accept the proposal of ŽSR management for a
2.4% salary increase, because we based our demands on
the level of inflation and that`s why we`re asking for
a 10% wage increase," said Vladimír Pikna,
vice-chairman of the railway union strike committee.
According to Pikna, ŽSR has financial reserves which
could be used to increase employee wages. "This is the
main aim of the strike, and we feel that we will get
it," Pikna said.
However, with a preliminary loss of 5.2 billion crowns
for 1999, ŽSR management is desperately short of cash,
and will get no richer in the coming year. "Our loss
for this year is expected to be about 2.8 billion
crowns, so what reserves are they (the union) talking
about?" asked ŽSR spokesman Miloš Èikovský.
According to Èikovský, ŽSR will take a loan this year
from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development which will be used to buy new trains and
renovate old boxcars and tracks." If this is the
reserve the unions are talking about, then they should
know that we [ŽSR] cannot use this money to increase
the salaries of our employees because the loan serves
as direct investment and no bank would give money to a
company if it knew that the money would be used to
increase the wages of the company`s employees,"
Èikovský said.
The reluctance of either side to compromise has for
the moment ended discussions on wage increases. "At
this point we don`t want to discuss with unions the
figures they have been proposing. We will do everyting
to avert the strike, but at the same we are preparing
for it because if it happens our losses will be huge,"
Èikovský said.
ŽSR is not the only potential loser in any strike; big
companies like eastern Slovak steel-maker VSŽ, where
ŽSR handles 95% of their traffic, also stand to take a
hit. "We`ve already had a negative experience with the
Hungarian Railway strike [in early February]," said
VSŽ spokesman Jozef Marko. "We`re not even talking
about what a future strike would do to ŽSR, when 30.5%
of their total transport is accounted for by us
[VSŽ]."
The average monthly wage of a ŽSR employee, excluding
management, is 7,560 crowns ($180), 3,000 crowns less
than the national average. The company employs about
50,000 people, which makes it the largest employer in
the country.
(C) 2000 Slovak Spectator
---
SUL MALCONTENTO DEGLI AGRICOLTORI IN POLONIA
(Farmers in Poland and Ukraine are fighting for their
livelihoods in the face of large-scale land grabs
orchestrated by the EU and the IMF/World Bank. The
procedure is generally privatization, then sell-off to
foreign concerns....The story following this one on
the site it appears is about Michael Jackson coming to
Warsaw to build a $500 million mega-amusement park. In
lieu of jobs and land the Poles will be offered bread
and circuses - without the bread.)
_______________________________________________________
Polish Police Out In Force To Prevent Road Blocks
WARSAW, Mar 7, 2000 -- (Reuters) Polish police came
out in force Monday to lift some 70 road blocks set up
across the country by farmers from the radical
Samoobrona trade union, a police spokesman said.
Police used force in the southern town of Latoszyn but
neither protestors of police suffered injuries. In
nine other areas, demonstrators themselves dismantled
the road blocks following the arrival of the police.
The populist leader of Samoobrona (Self-defense),
Andrzej Lepper, said the demonstrators had erected 70
road blocks, while about 500 farmers demonstrated in
the northern town of Olsztyn against the government's
agricultural policy.
Lepper nearly one year ago organized several huge
demonstrations by farmers in protest at falling prices
which culminated in some 400 road blocks put up across
the country.
...E PROTESTE ANCHE CONTRO LA SVENDITA DELLE IMPRESE AL CAPITALE
STRANIERO
> STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>
> Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" writes Feb 28/2000 that on March 6 the
> "Samoobrona" (self-defence) movement led by Andrzej Leppert will once again
> block the country's roads and occupy regional government administration and
> parliamentarian offices.
> "We do not intend to seek permissions for the protests," said Leppert.
> He announced that on March 14 there will be picketing of USA and German
> embassies in Warsaw "against buying of Polish enterprises by foreign
> capital."
>
> Peter Bein
>
---
GLI USA DIRIGONO LE PRIVATIZZAZIONI IN ROMANIA
U.S. Department of State
02 March 2000
Text: U.S. Assists Privatization Programs in Romania
(Trade and Development Agency grants $241,250 for
advisor) (380)
The United States Trade and Development Agency (TDA)
has awarded Romania a US$241,250 grant to assist
with strategic industrial privatization, according
to a March 2 TDA press release.
The TDA said the grant will fund an advisor to
provide policy,technical, and executive support to
the
Privatization Management Unit(PMU), which the
Romanian government established to develop
privatization plans for 64 key companies.
Romania has received half of a $300 million World
Bank loan to support privatization programs, and the
second half is contingent on additional reforms and
accelerated privatization, according to theTDA.
Following is a text of the release:
(begin text)
U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA)
(Bucharest)
March 2, 2000
Critical Romanian Privatization Programs to Move
Forward with U.S.Technical Assistance
Bucharest, Romania (2 March 2000) -- The U.S. Trade
and Development Agency (TDA) awarded a $241,250
grant to Romania's Ministry of Transportation to
provide strategic industrial privatization assistance.
The grant was signed today in Bucharest by the U.S.
Ambassador to Romania, James Rosapepe, and the
Romanian Minister of Transportation Traian Basescu.
Paving the path for privatization is a top
developmental priority for Romania. To accomplish
this long-term goal, the Privatization Management
Unit
(PMU) was established by the government to develop
the process for 64 key companies. The PMU is also
responsible for hiring investment bankers to prepare
the companies and help broker deals associated with
privatization. This TDA grant will provide for a
technical advisor to provide policy, technical and
executive support to PMU as it undertakes these
important tasks.
This privatization program is part of a $300 million
World Bank Private Sector Structural Adjustment
Loan.
To date, half of this loan has been administered,
but the second half is contingent upon additional
banking reform, improvements in the business climate,
accelerated privatization and social mitigation
elements.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency, an agency of
the U.S. Government, helps form mutually beneficial
partnerships between U.S.private sector companies
and overseas project sponsors. Last year, TDA
provided
assistance in 67 nations around the world.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web
site: usinfo.state.gov)
This site is produced and maintained by the U.S.
Department of State. Links to other Internet sites
should not be construed as an endorsement of the
views
contained therein.
---
LA QUALITA' DELLA VITA E' PROFONDAMENTE PEGGIORATA IN BULGARIA
"Trud", a daily Bulgarian newspaper, September 28, page 4
People systematically do not eat enough, there are not enough medicines
Tuberculosis Caught 4000 Bulgarians More Only for One Year
New 4000 cases of tuberculosis are registered in Bulgaria only for one
year, doctors from the Clinics for Physiotherapy, Sofia Medical Academy,
announced yesterday. There has not been such a boom of the "Yellow
Lady-Visitor"* at least for 20 years, the doctors declare.
At the moment the general number of people with tuberculosis is 14990.
That is only the registered number, the real one is much greater.
Thousands of infected persons move among the healthy ones and spray
bacteria: some unintentionally, others - out of carelessness. The
statistics show that in 1998 the registered cases had been 1325 new
germ-carriers.
According to the doctors, specialists in lung diseases, everyone of them
infects more than 10 persons. The situation is fearful in the Roma
residential districts where it swarms with TB cases. Children usually
get the disease from their ill parents.
The poverty, the systematic malnutrition recently is the main cause for
the "Yellow Lady-Visitor" invasion. Most of the people do not go to
doctors because of the lack of money for medicine. At the same time they
are keeping a constant temperature in the range of 37,5 to 37,80C,
spitting blood, coughing and losing kilograms. The doctors cannot help
all of them. One X-ray photograph costs 6,5 leva ($1 = 1.87808 on Sept.
28, 99) and a very small number of people can afford that sum. Besides,
there are no X-ray films. There are not enough free of charge medicines
for TB treatment in many regions throughout the country. And when the
treatment course is broken, the infectious bacteria get more
treatment-resisting. The greatest number of TB cases is in Sofia.
---
APPOGGI DALLA BULGARIA PER IL PROGETTO IRREDENTISTA GRANDE-ALBANESE
NOTIZIE EST #304 - BULGARIA 22 febbraio 2000
BULGARIA: SCANDALI 'KOSOVARI', MANOVRE POLITICHE
E UN PONTE CHE UNISCE E DIVIDE
[Segue una serie di aggiornamenti sulla
Bulgaria, tutti tratti dai numeri di gennaio e
febbraio del settimanale "Kapital" (http://www-
us.capital.bg/) e dalla selezione di articoli
dalla stampa bulgara pubblicata da "BGnews"
negli ultimi due mesi
(http://www.db.online.bg/bg/news.main).
Selezione di A. Ferrario]
HASHIM THACI E ARBEN XHAFERRI A SOFIA
L'anno politico e' cominciato in Bulgaria con
uno scandalo di vasta eco, trascinatosi per piu'
di due settimane, conseguente all'incontro
svoltosi a Sofia il 29 gennaio tra i leader
albanesi, rispettivamente del Kosovo e della
Macedonia, Hashim Thaci e Arben Xhaferri, e il
premier bulgaro Ivan Kostov. Le modalita'
dell'incontro sono state del tutto atipiche.
Infatti non solo la visita non e' stata una
visita di stato e i due si sono incontrati con
Kostov come leader del partito SDS, presso la
sede di quest'ultimo, ma oltretutto l'arrivo dei
due leader albanesi era previsto, almeno
ufficialmente, per una loro visita al congresso
del partito della minoranza turca della
Bulgaria, il DPS, al quale ne' Thaci ne'
Xhaferri invece si sono fatti vedere. Si tratta
della seconda visita di Thaci in un paese
balcanico nelle ultime settimane, la precedente
essendo stata quella a Sarajevo. Da parte
bulgara, l'incontro con i due leader albanesi ha
seguito di una settimana esatta la conferenza
dei primi ministri dei paesi balcanici tenutasi
sempre in Bulgaria su iniziativa dello stesso
Kostov, con la presenza del "ministro degli
esteri" europeo Solana e di alti funzionari
della NATO. Il tentativo di Kostov di giungere,
alla fine di tale conferenza, a una
dichiarazione dei paesi dei Balcani per la
cancellazione delle sanzioni contro la
Jugoslavia e' fallito a causa del veto
dell'Albania e dell'opposizione della Romania.
L'incontro tra Kostov, Thaci e Xhaferri e'
durato due ore e alla fine si e' tenuta una
conferenza stampa (alla quale non ha partecipato
Kostov, per la parte bulgara, bensi' un alto
funzionario del suo partito, Gocev), nella quale
Gocev ha affermato che Kostov visitera' Pristina
in una data ancora da stabilirsi e che la
Bulgaria ha "ribadito l'intangibilita' dei
confini nei Balcani" e "la necessita' che la
maggioranza albanese in Kosovo rispetti i
diritti della minoranza serba", aggiungendo la
contrarieta' a ogni progetto di "Grande
Albania". Thaci ha detto, tra le altre cose, che
"lo status del Kosovo non puo' essere vincolato
alle sorti dell'attuale regime di Belgrado o a
quelle dell'opposizione serba" e che
"l'indipendenza del Kosovo non significa un
cambiamento di confini, perche' il Kosovo aveva
gia' dei propri confini". Fin qui nulla che
andasse al di la' delle frasi di prammatica
pronunciate regolarmente dalle due parti anche
in altre occasioni. Il vero scandalo e'
scoppiato due giorni dopo, il 31 gennaio, quando
Asen Agov, parlamentare della SDS, che aveva
anch'egli assistito all'incontro tra Kostov e i
due leader albanesi e che riveste l'importante
carica di capo della commissione esteri della
camera, ha dichiarato al quotidiano "Standard"
quanto segue: "Le cose si evolvono, perche'
dobbiamo essere realisti. In una situazione in
cui i leader del Kosovo dicono in modo chiaro e
categorico che sono per l'indipendenza del loro
paese, quello che noi pensiamo ha un importanza
minima. Perche' se siamo davvero democratici,
dobbiamo lasciare che sia la gente a decidere da
sola il proprio futuro. Perche' dobbiamo imporre
le nostre opinioni?". Queste affermazioni hanno
scatenato reazioni durissime da parte
dell'opposizione e di tutti i media, con
l'eccezione di quelli controllati direttamente
dal governo, che hanno accusato il governo di
appoggiare l'indipendenza del Kosovo. Immediate
sono arrivate anche le reazioni internazionali,
come quella russa che ha chiesto immediati
chiarimenti al governo di Sofia. Ma la reazione
piu' energica di tutte e' stata quella degli
USA. L'ambasciatore statunitense a Sofia Richard
Miles, che ha ripreso a svolgere un importante
ruolo nella politica balcanica degli USA dopo
essere stato "congelato" durante i bombardamenti
[e' uno dei maggiori esponenti della lobby che
vede la Serbia come perno dei Balcani], ha
chiesto di essere immediatamente ricevuto dal
premier Kostov, un fatto che non ha precedenti
da quando Miles occupa la propria posizione.
L'ambasciatore ha ripetuto a chiare lettere che
gli USA e la comunita' internazionale sono
contrari all'indipendenza del Kosovo e ha
chiesto al premier bulgaro di fare altrettanto.
Kostov lo ha fatto (addirittura sul
"Pravitelstven Bjuletin", organo ufficiale del
governo), ha lanciato un attacco contro i due
leader albanesi, accusandoli esplicitamente di
raccontare falsita' sull'incontro (sia Thaci che
Xhaferri hanno successivamente dichiarato di
avere ribadito a Kostov, durante l'incontro, la
propria posizione favorevole all'indipendenza
per il Kosovo, mentre i bulgari hanno negato che
si sia parlato dell'argomento), ha rivolto un
invito ufficiale ai leader serbi del Kosovo a
visitare Sofia e non ha mancato di lanciarsi in
paranoiche accuse contro i servizi segreti serbi
che, secondo lui, avrebbero lanciato una
campagna disinformativa attraverso giornali che
offrono loro canali privilegiati (anche se tali
giornali esistono in Bulgaria, lo scandalo non
e' stato certo attribuibile a loro). Non si puo'
non notare che, a differenza di USA e Russia, i
paesi UE, almeno ufficialmente, non hanno
reagito alle dichiarazioni di Agov. Lo scandalo
si e' trascinato per numerosi giorni, fino a un
accesso dibattito parlamentare. Nonostante le
chiare prese di distanza di Kostov da Agov, il
fatto che la dichiarazione non sia stata solo
una gaffe lo dimostra la pubblicazione da parte
dell'organo del partito di Kostov,
"Demokracija", dopo che le acque si erano
parzialmente calmate, di un lungo articolo,
molto sfumato e diplomatico, nel quale tuttavia
si lascia nuovamente intendere in maniera
implicita che e' necessari sapere prendere atto
delle nuove realta' nei Balcani.
---
BULGARIA: KOSTOV VATTENE!!!
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Dear Friends,
I sent that letter in Bulgarian to almost all Bulgarian newspapers on
Sunday.
No reaction whatsoever till now.
I have sent its English translation to the THRACE List.
Today I am sending it to you too.
That is what I can - still - do!
Blagovesta
Encl.
Kostov*, Hand Your Resignation!
The end of January in Bulgaria has been marked with a remarkable event:
the Premier of a country with 13 century history met a proved fascist,
racist, terrorist, killer, a fireraiser and a drug merchant,
representing only himself and an ethnical minority in a neighbouring
country!
I do not believe somebody could reject HashiSH Taci - the Snakes
personal responsibility for the horror that has been raging in the Serb
province Kosovo since he and his cut-throats settled there under the
benevolent protection of Kushner and of their main mentor, The Stripes
and Stars.
More than 75 churches and monasteries in Kosovo have been burned and
demolished since the end of the criminal US-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia!
(See www.emperors-clothes.com!)
Serbs, Gypsies, Jews, Turks and people of other NON-ALBANIAN
nationalities have been tortured, killed and driven away!
If that is not a clear demonstration of a proven FASCISM and RACISM,
what is it then?
The meeting in the Minister Council building on January 29 is very
tragic in the eyes of the ordinary Bulgarians.
It has demonstrated the Bulgarian governments terrible dependence on a
third country.
Premier, ministers and members of the Parliament informed us without any
traces of uneasiness, that they are nothing more than service boys!
Shameful, sad, humiliating!
And some half-forgotten past events have suddenlty surfaced.
As an activist of the Union of Democratic Forces (which I name the Union
of the Bulgarian Secret Police), I took part in all its undertakings and
protests.
Mr. Saul Polanski, the US ambassador in Bulgaria in 1990, spent much of
his time in the streets, watching, appearing suddenly here and there.
On June 11 1990 Mr. Polanski came on foot to the UDF Party Building and
stayed there several hours (!), discussing the first "democratic"
election results with the UDF leadership then.
While the UDF 1997January Show was running, his successor, energetic
Mrs. Bowlen** tirelessly was hurrying to and fro among the brave UDF
warriors in the Parliament. (As a result of their common efforts, the
last Bulgarian national government had been forced to resign)
Then the memorable date, January 29 2000 comes and our government people
meet and talk for several hours with a notorious contemporary Racist,
Fascist, Drug Merchant and a Thug!
Nobody could accept that horrible event as a result of an independent
decision in a moment of a temporary insanity!
Then the new US ambassador, Mr Miles filled up the TV screen to tell us
how surprised he was at the talks about "independent" Kosovo. The
performance was laughable. (People talk that he had even taken part in
the meeting!)
The Bulgarian Socialist Party, that calls itself "opposition" (nobody
knows why) was dumb and deaf for two days. (Maybe they had been waiting
for instructions either from the UDF Party Building or from a well-known
Embassy in Sofia Center!). Then they tried to focus the public attention
on Mr. Agov, the MP who announced the Bulgarian government changed
position on Kosovo.
(Mr. Agov is only an insignificant detail of that tragic play: he used
to fulfill special tasks before 1989 when he was a privileged child of
the regime too; he was doing the same after 1989. He could not do
anything else, poor man: that is his level.)
The essence of the problem is in the person who has humiliated us as a
people and a country by meeting and talking from the position of a
premier with a Racist, a Fascist and a Murderer!
Kostov, you have many times demonstrated that you cannot behave with
dignity at that responsible position!
You DO NOT EVEN TRY to ward off - partly at least! - the foreign
countries aspirations!
You have no sense of a state, no responsibility for people and country!
You have no sense of proportion!
KOSTOV, HAND YOUR RESIGNATION!
Blagovesta Doncheva
Sofia,
Bulgaria
the Balkans
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
MARCH 22, 10:07 EST
Up to 10,000 Protest in Bulgaria
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Up to 10,000 people gathered in downtown Sofia
on
Wednesday to protest the country's unemployment, poverty and
temporary-employment contracts.
The rally started with 2,000 marching in the capital's main streets,
waving purple union banners with slogans reading: ``No to poverty'' and
``We want jobs and a decent living, not charity.''
The march was organized by the main Confederation of Independent
Unions, which claims over 1 million members.
Bulgaria's government, which has been implementing an International
Monetary Fund-advised austerity program, is facing rising public
resentment because it has failed to raise living standards and deliver a
promised economic growth of 4 to 5 percent a year. Last year's growth in
gross domestic product was 2.5 percent.
State company closures led to massive layoffs. In January, there were
657,100 out of work, or 17.2 percent of the workforce in this country of
8.2 million. That's up from 14.2 percent in September.
Union leader Zhelyazko Hristov argued on state radio that the real
unemployment rate was about 25 percent, because many people without jobs
were not counted in state statistics.
Hristov added that 680,000 employees worked with temporary short-term
employment contracts, which employers may easily refuse to renew if
workers as too demanding about their rights.
---
ATTENTATO NELLA REGIONE ARMENA DEL NAGORNO-KARABACH (AZERBAIDJAN)
Gunmen Wound President of Nagorno-Karabakh, Driver, Bodyguard
8:25 a.m. ET (1325 GMT) March 22, 2000
YEREVAN, Armenia — Gunmen opened fire on the president of
Azerbaijan's separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region early Wednesday,
seriously wounding him, his driver and a bodyguard, officials said.
The gunmen fired at the car carrying Arkady Gukasyan as he was being
driven home through Stepanakert, the enclave's capital, shortly after
midnight, the Nagorno-Karabakh government said.
Gukasyan was seriously wounded in the legs and underwent surgery, but
his life did not appear to be in immediate danger Wednesday, a
Nagorno-Karabakh government spokesman said.
The driver was hit in the head and chest, while one of Gukasyan's two
bodyguards in the car was wounded in the spine, according the spokesman,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman at Nagorno-Karabakh's Interior Ministry said the attackers
shot Gukasyan from a car that pulled up alongside his vehicle.
The spokesman said Nagorno-Karabakh's former defense minister, Samvel
Babyan, and his brother, Stepanakert mayor Karen Babyan, were arrested
along with more than 20 other people in connection with the attack.
Samvel Babyan was dismissed from his Defense Ministry post last December
after a feud with Gukasyan.
The government called the attack an attempt to derail Gukasyan's efforts
at democratic reform.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, declared
independence in 1988, igniting a war in which an estimated 15,000 people
were killed and about 1 million driven from their homes. With help from
Armenia, the separatists drove out Azerbaijan's troops. A truce signed
in 1994 ended the war, but tensions persist and clashes erupt
sporadically.
---
DOCUMENTI DAGLI ARMENI DEL NAKHIJEVAN E DEL CANADA
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA(UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
SPECIAL MEETING BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS HELD ON
MARCH 16TH, 2000, AT 11.A.M. IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Today, at the annniversary date of the Treaty of Moscow, signed on March
16th, 1921, between Soviet Russia and the Turkish government in Ankara,
the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians held a special meeting in
Yerevan, in the presence of prominent members of the Armenian
intelligentsia. The meeting approved two documents to be sent, one to
the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the other, to the president
of the (Majlis) Parliament of the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic. Also
it was decided to send copies of the letter to the Majlis of
Nakhijevan, to the Mejlis of Azerbaijan and to the UNESCO presidency
as well. In the first case, the National Council recommends the State
Duma of the Russian Federation to consider null the clauses of Treaty of
Moscow, pertaining to the Armenians. In the second case, it comes out
with a proposal of cooperation, addressed to the parliament of the
Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic.
Attached is the full text of the two documents above.
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA (UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
THIS TEXT IS ISSUED FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS,
BASED IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Add. : Yerevan-19, Marshgal Baghramian ave. 24 c Tel. : 58-94-31. Fax
:/3742/151 795
PRESS RELEASE
16 MARCH, 2000
SPEECH ADDRESSED TO THE STATE DUMA OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The present Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan corresponds to the Sharur
district of Ayrarat province, to the Nakhijevan and Goghtn (now
Ordoubad) districts of Vaspurakan province, the Yernjak, Shahaponk and
Jahuk districts of Siunik province of Historical Armenia.
In 1828, after the Turkmenchai Treaty, Nakhijevan was incorporated first
into the Armenian province (Armyanskaya oblast) created by Russia
(1828-1840), then after its dissolution, into the province of Yerevan
(1849-1918).
At the end of 1918 and up untill 1920, the territory of Nakhijevan was
part of the First Republic of Armenia. After the establishment of the
Armenian Soviet Republic on December 2, 1921 and until the Kars Treaty
was signed on October 13, 1921, Nakhijevan region was de jure part of
Soviet Armenia. This reality corresponded with the position of the
supreme authorities of Azerbaijan, the Revolutionary Committee, which
on November 30, 1920, declared Nakhijevan and Artsakh (Karabagh) as the
undivided parts of Soviet Armenia. This special declaration of the
Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan was affirmed by leading figures
of Soviet Russia , in December 1920-January 1921.
Trampling on the basic rights of the Armenian people, especially those
of Armenians of Nakhijevan, Russia and Turkey, without participation of
representatives of the Armenian people, signed an illegal and
illegitimate treaty on March 16, 1921, by remitting Nakhijevan under
the ‘protectorate’ of Azerbaijan. This act permitted the annexation by
Soviet Azerbaijan a part of the Armenian homeland.
Under brutal suppression of Bolshevik Russia, this act was reconfirmed
in the Treaty of Kars on October 13, 1921, which was signed between
Turkey and the Transcaucasian republics. This act ratified the partition
of Armenia and the forcible detachment of Nakhijevan region from the
motherland
Thereafter, by an arbitrary decision of the highest leadership of the
soviet empire, and ignoring, at least in appearance, the agreement by
the signatories of this Treaty (Georgia, Turkey and Armenia), Azerbaijan
declares Nakhijevan as an autonomous republic on February 9, 1924. With
this illegitimate decision, the Soviet Union and Soviet Azerbaijan
violated the articles of March 16, 1921 and October 13, 1921 Treaties,
which were themselves illegal, by which the Nakhijevan region was not
annexed to Azerbaijan as a constituent part of that country, but was
put under its ‘protectorate’.
As a result of Azerbaijani aggression in 1918-1920 period, with the
collaboration of Turkey, the demographic picture continued to shift in
favor of the Azerbaijanis. Nevertheless, the Armenians constituted a
substantial part of the population of the Autonomous Republic of
Nakhijevan from 1920 to 1960’s. From 1921 and on, Azerbaijan run a
successive policy of violation of the human and national dignity of the
Armenian population of Nakhijevan, aiming at the ousting of
Nakhijevan Armenians from the land of their ancestors, as a result of
which the region was fully cleaned from its indigenous Armenian
population, between 1921 and 1989.
Today, about 400,000 Armenians of Nakhijevan, deported to the Republic
of Armenia and to many countries of the world, are deprived not only
from the right of resettlement on the land of their ancestors, but also
from the right and possibility of visiting the dwellings, the churches,
the monuments and the cemeteries built by them.
The Russian Federation, being the legal inheritor of Soviet Russia which
forcibly annexed the Nakhijevan region to Azerbaijan by an illegal and
illegitimate treaty, bears direct responsibility for that obvious
injustice.
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS , issued from the Congress
of All-Armenians form Nakhijevan and convened in Yerevan in September
1999, appeals, as the representative body of Nakhijevan Armenians, to
the Russian State Duma to declare NULL articles related to Armenia and
embodied in the illegal Russo-Turkish Treaty of Moscow of March 16,
1921, signed under the name ‘Friendship and Brotherhood’. These
articles hinder the fortification of the Armenian-Russian friendship,
the establishment of confidence and sincere comprehension between the
peoples of the two countries.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC) founded on
January 27th, 2000, is a non-profit organization, affiliated with
the family of « Nakhijevan » Compatriotic Union of Armenia (NCUA).
For further information, please contact M. Antranig Bedrossian at
e-mail: antranig bedrossian <antranig@...>
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC)
UNION COMPATRIOTIQUE ARMENIENNE « NAKHIJEVAN » DU CANADA (UCANC)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
THIS TEXT IS ISSUED FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS,
BASED IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
Add . : Yerevan-19, Marshal Baghramian ave. 24c. Tel :58-94-31 Fax
:/3742/151 795
PRESS RELEASE
16 MARCH, 2000
To the President of Majlis (Parliament) of Nakhijevan Autonomous
Republic,
Honorable Mr. President,
As you know from the mass madia, the Armenians deported from the
Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic, who live in the Republic of Armenia,
have established the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians, which
is aiming to defend the political, economic and human rights of the
Armenians expulsed from the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic.
On behalf of the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians, I refer to
you proposing a meeting which will discuss the following issues.
The National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians pursue to revive the trade
between the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and the Republic of Armenia,
so that villagers of the Autonomous Republic can sell their goods in the
Republic of Armenia, as it has been the case from many decades ago till
the recent past.
We also propose to discuss the following points during the
negotiations:
As it is known, the Christian World is celebrating this year the 2000th
anniversary of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Armenian
people will celebrate next year the 1700th anniversary of the
declaration of Christianity as state religion in Armenia. On these
occasions, the National Council of Nakhijevan Armenians intends to
organize pilgrimages to the churches and holy places in the Nakhijevan
Autonomous Republic, beginning from the summer of this year.
We should propose to you to take the necessary procedures, so that the
competent bodies of Nakhijevan Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and
Republic of Armenia jointly prepare the list of the monuments to be
visited.
I am fully optimistic that the result of our meeting will have a
positive feedback both from the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and the
Azerbaijani intelligentsia, as well as from the international
community. This will greatly assist in mutual understanding of the
peoples and the countries of the region and will enhance the solidarity
between them.
ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NAKHIJEVAN ARMENIANS
RAPHAYEL HAMPARTSOUMIAN - PRESIDENT
« NAKHIJEVAN » ARMENIAN COMPATRIOTIC UNION OF CANADA(NACUC) founded on
January 27th, 2000, is a non-profit organization, affiliated with
the family of « Nakhijevan » Compatriotic Union of Armenia (NCUA).
For further information, please contact M. Antranig Bedrossian at
e-mail: antranig bedrossian <antranig@...>
---
LE SS DI NUOVO IN MARCIA IN LETTONIA
Latvia Waffen SS To Hold March
By STEVEN C. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Despite criticism from Jewish and Russian groups,
300 veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS marched today in a procession to
an independence monument to remember their fallen comrades with a
wreath-laying ceremony.
The annual march, held on March 16 to mark a major battle between the
Latvian Waffen SS and the Red Army on the same date in 1944, provoked a
storm of protest at home and abroad the last two years.
Supporters say the Latvian Waffen SS, also known as the Latvian Legion,
was a conscripted, front-line army and wasn't the same thing as
Germany's Waffen SS -- Adolf Hitler's elite force that carried out the
Holocaust and other atrocities.
Russia said the march showed contempt for millions of Soviet war dead.
Members of Latvia's 11,000-strong Jewish community said the march was
insensitive to the memory of 80,000 Latvian Jews massacred during the
1941-44 Nazi occupation.
The former soldiers, most in their 70s and 80s, first gathered in a
church to sing and pray before beginning a slow march across the old
city's cobble-stoned streets to lay flowers at a nearby independence
monument.
Some of the gray-haired veterans clutched bouquets of flowers or carried
Latvian flags as they walked. Two held Latvian Waffen SS flags with
''the 19th division'' and ''15th division'' scrawled across the maroon
and white banners.
Some local residents lined the street to watch, though the crowds were
smaller than last year. The police presence, heavy during last year's
march, was also less noticeable.
''We just want to remember the comrades we lost and teach our children
the truth about what happened to this country in the 20th century,''
Visvaldis Lacis, a 76-year-old Waffen SS veteran, said before the march
started.
Many of the veterans were clearly struggling to walk the short
procession route, some of them using canes. One veteran collapsed from
an apparent heart attack and was rushed to a hospital, the Baltic News
Service reported
But some bystanders, especially members of the former Soviet republic's
million-strong Russian-speaking minority, jeered or sang Soviet war
songs as the procession passed. One elderly women shook her cane at the
passing veterans
''This is unforgivable,'' 78-year-old ethnic Russian Nina Noshina said.
''These men were part of Hitler's fascist army. Why does Latvia
celebrate fascists when they are condemned everywhere else?''
Controversy was heightened last year after parliament declared March 16
an official day of remembrance. But earlier this year, parliament sought
to reduce tensions and international criticism by rescinding that
decision.
Latvians say the controversy stems from a misunderstanding of history.
The Soviets occupied Latvia at the start of the war in 1940, Germany
ruled here from 1941-44, and the Soviets retook it in 1944. Latvia
regained its independence from Moscow in 1991 following the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies, 250,000
Latvians ended up fighting on one side of the conflict or the other,
usually after being conscripted. Some 150,000 Latvian combatants died.
Many Latvians, like Lacis, say they volunteered to fight for Waffen SS
on behalf of Latvian independence from the Soviets, not out of any
sympathy for Nazi ideology.
While privately sympathetic, leaders argue that any official sanction of
the day was sure to draw condemnations from around the world and could
even undermine the nation's bid to win membership in the European Union
and NATO.
Nils Muiznieks, a leading political commentator, said the damage to
Latvia's international image has already been done.
''This is always going to be a black eye for Latvia, regardless of
whether it's a state holiday,'' he said. ''Veterans will march, cameras
will roll ... It's a nightmare from the state's point of view.''
---
MAI PROCESSATO IL MEDICO DI AUSCHWITZ
Saturday, 11 March, 2000, 17:31 GMT
"Auschwitz doctor escapes trial"
Dr Muench boasted of his experiments at Auschwitz
Hans Muench, the last surviving doctor from
the Auschwitz concentration camp, has been
declared unfit to stand trial for murder.
Public prosecutors in the German state of
Hesse have dropped their investigation against
Dr Muench, 88, after medical examiners found
he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Prosecutors had not yet
turned up sufficient
evidence to justify
action against Dr
Muench,
said Job
Tilmann, chief
spokesman in the
Frankfurt prosecutor's
office.
However, he said the investigation has been
called off because Dr Muench's poor health
makes a trial impossible in any case.
Experiments
Dr Muench, who now lives in Bavaria, is the
former director of the Institute of Hygiene for
the Waffen SS.
He was an accomplice of the notorious Nazi
doctor Josef Mengele.
He conducted medical experiments on
Auschwitz inmates between 1943 and 1945
and has been repeatedly cited in media
interviews as being unrepentant about his
past.
He was tried for war crimes at a trial in Poland
in 1947 for his malaria and rheumatism
experiments in which Jews were infected on
purpose to study if they were immune.
He was acquitted after former inmates he had
worked with in the Auschwitz laboratory
testified he had helped save their lives.
Gassed
But a fresh murder investigation was launched
against him in 1998 after he boasted in an
interview of killing Auschwitz internees.
Dr Muench recalled how he had ordered whole
barracks of inmates to be gassed if one person
contracted a contagious disease and said he
had no regrets about conducting grotesque
experiments on the camp's Jewish internees.
"I could conduct experiments on humans that
otherwise are only possible on rabbits," he
said.
He further praised Dr Mengele, whose own
experiments led to countless deaths, as highly
intelligent and cultured.
Dr Mengele, who was never tried, escaped to
Argentina after the war and drowned in 1979.
A Paris court also wants to try Dr Muench in
absentia for approving the murder of gypsies
after he said in a French radio interview that
gassing them "was the only way to handle
them".
You are in: World: Europe (BBC WORLD)
---
NOTEVOLE PEGGIORAMENTO DELLA CONDIZIONE DELLA DONNA ALL'EST
Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Russia)
March 7, 2000
Cinderellas of Perestroika and Market Reform
Summary
On the eve of International Women's Day, it is time to
reflect on working women in Russia. In the Soviet
Union, women were guaranteed equal payment to men for
equal work. In the seventies and eighties, the average
woman's wage accounted for about seventy percent of
the average man's wages. This rate was approximately
the same as in developed countries worldwide.
Perestroika of the late eighties and the subsequent
market reforms brought serious changes to Russia’s
labor market. According to official government
statistics, in 1992, women accounted for 75 percent of
total registered unemployment in Russia. And half of
these unemployed women held degrees from institutions
of higher education.
According to recent studies, the level of women's
unemployment has dropped slightly, primarily due to
the emergence of small business. The more alarming
figure is that women's wages account for only fifty
percent of the average man's wage. Mostwomen in Russia
work in public, state-funded sectors like health care
or education where salaries are half the national
average. Very few women work in wealthy industries
like oil or gas, where wages are 300 to 400 times
higher than the average in Russia.
[7 March 2000, page 1]
Hindustan Times
March 8, 2000
Opinion
Enslaved to the system
(Chanchal Sarkar)
Barely has a new millennium begun with brave words of
doing better in every way than in the one exhausted,
that rends have appeared in the fabric. The Western
world thought that with the stamping out of slavery
from the Atlantic circuit — from the West African
coast to the Americas — it had ended for good. But
neo-slavery is in many ways worse as neo-colonialism
is worse than colonialism proper.
Scholars have the habit and the ability to serve up
the most disquieting and shocking facts. In Index on
Censorship one such scholar, after studying slavery in
several continents, says, “Slaves today are cheaper
than ever in human history... overpopulation has made
slaves plentiful, cheap and disposable.” A slave in
Alabama sold for $ 1,000 ($ 40,000 in today’s money)
and the new owner expected a bill of sale and a title.
Profit made from such a slave varied between five and
10 per cent. Today it costs $ 2,000 to enslave a young
woman in a brothel in Thailand. There she could
generate a profit of as much as $ 75,000 a year.
As India leads in some undesirable directions, the
scholars say (and we know) that a child here can be
placed in bondage for a trifling $ 45. Swami Agnivesh
has said that there are 65 million bonded child
labourers in India. A frightening thought. Devadasis
are slaves of a kind.
Sifting through the various kinds of information, the
scholars roughly divide modern slavery into (i) the
old colonial “chattel slavery” where the slave’s
person was owned by the master; (ii) nuptial slavery;
(iii) sex slavery; (iv) domestic slavery and (v) debt
slavery. Except in some areas like south-western
Sudan, chattel slavery is now uncommon. Not for any
high-minded or moral reason but simply because the
threat and use of violence is enough to subdue the
recalcitrant. Some US missionary organisations have
been buying freedom for Sudanese slaves but there are
allegedly holes in the procedure.
Nuptial slavery is becoming more frequent. In the West
where there are immigrants from the subcontinent,
there are cases of young women being forced by their
families into marriage with men not of their own
choice. These women are often kept in confinement in
their home, roughed up, and sometimes whisked back to
India, Pakistan or Bangladesh and kept there till
their spirit is broken. India also has nuptial slavery
cases of Arabs from West Asia coming to buy and take
woman away after a form of marriage. Our governments
have done precious little to stop this.
Debt and labour-slavery have the cruel falsification
of accounts to go with it as we know only too well
from our rural areas. Pakistan’s feudal landowners are
pastmasters at this kind of slavery.
Sex slavery is now a horrible scourge. Not only in
Thailand, in Japan, Hong Kong and the Arab world,
women from the Philippines, Indonesia, India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are easy prey. Many of these
women are lured by the promise of jobs. Here, too,
countries of their origin do very little for the
enslaved citizens.
Every year about 500,000 women from Central and
Eastern Europe are taken to European Union countries
for prostitution. Our own unworthy share relates to
Nepal, from where there are over 100,000 women in
Indian brothels and 5,000 women are trafficked here
every year. The Nepalese embassy and the Indian
authorities are blind to the suffering and
exploitation of these unfortunate women who are so
poor in their homeland that they have no other way to
make a living.
---
SULLO SCIOPERO DEI FERROVIERI IN SLOVACCHIA
(The...union is demanding a 10% increase in salaries
to match Slovakia's 1999 inflation rate of 11%, while
[Slovak Railways] management has offered a mere
2%....'no bank would give money to a company if it
knew the money would be used to increase the wages of
the company's employees....')
_______________________________________________________
March 6, 2000
Full Stoppage Of All Train Services To Go Into Effect
If Agreement On Wages Not Met
By Peter Barecz
After failing to reach an agreement with management
over a wage increase, employees at Slovak Railways
(ŽSR) are planning a mid-March nationwide strike that
would stop all train transport in the country. The ŽSR
union is demanding a 10% increase in salaries to match
Slovakia`s 1999 inflation rate of 11%, while ŽSR
management has offered a mere 2.4% raise, citing a
lack of funds.
If the strike were called - a possibility that ŽSR
management considers quite likely - both passenger and
freight transport would come to a halt for the first
time in Slovak history, and the rail company would
lose 60 million Slovak crowns ($1.4 million) a day.
Union officials have not said how long the strike
might last.
Although such a strike would cause huge inconveniences
for commuters and even more headaches for companies,
the governmnet hasn`t yet stepped in to mediate
discussions between ŽSR and the railway union."We
support ŽSR management and are consulting with them in
the steps they are taking," said Naïa Ondrišová, a
Transport Ministry spokesperson. "However, we would
only intervene in mutual discussions if there was a
real danger of a strike."
The union has been threatening a strike since the end
of last year, when ŽSR management realised that the
money the company had been allocated from the state
budget for 2000 was not enough to increase wages.
Management had promised a 10% increase before the
state budged was approved at the end of December last
year.
According to Slovak laws, at least 50% of company`s
employees must sign a petition to launch a strike. The
railway union, which launched its petition on February
20, expects to have a sufficient number of signatures
in one week.
"We cannot accept the proposal of ŽSR management for a
2.4% salary increase, because we based our demands on
the level of inflation and that`s why we`re asking for
a 10% wage increase," said Vladimír Pikna,
vice-chairman of the railway union strike committee.
According to Pikna, ŽSR has financial reserves which
could be used to increase employee wages. "This is the
main aim of the strike, and we feel that we will get
it," Pikna said.
However, with a preliminary loss of 5.2 billion crowns
for 1999, ŽSR management is desperately short of cash,
and will get no richer in the coming year. "Our loss
for this year is expected to be about 2.8 billion
crowns, so what reserves are they (the union) talking
about?" asked ŽSR spokesman Miloš Èikovský.
According to Èikovský, ŽSR will take a loan this year
from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development which will be used to buy new trains and
renovate old boxcars and tracks." If this is the
reserve the unions are talking about, then they should
know that we [ŽSR] cannot use this money to increase
the salaries of our employees because the loan serves
as direct investment and no bank would give money to a
company if it knew that the money would be used to
increase the wages of the company`s employees,"
Èikovský said.
The reluctance of either side to compromise has for
the moment ended discussions on wage increases. "At
this point we don`t want to discuss with unions the
figures they have been proposing. We will do everyting
to avert the strike, but at the same we are preparing
for it because if it happens our losses will be huge,"
Èikovský said.
ŽSR is not the only potential loser in any strike; big
companies like eastern Slovak steel-maker VSŽ, where
ŽSR handles 95% of their traffic, also stand to take a
hit. "We`ve already had a negative experience with the
Hungarian Railway strike [in early February]," said
VSŽ spokesman Jozef Marko. "We`re not even talking
about what a future strike would do to ŽSR, when 30.5%
of their total transport is accounted for by us
[VSŽ]."
The average monthly wage of a ŽSR employee, excluding
management, is 7,560 crowns ($180), 3,000 crowns less
than the national average. The company employs about
50,000 people, which makes it the largest employer in
the country.
(C) 2000 Slovak Spectator
---
SUL MALCONTENTO DEGLI AGRICOLTORI IN POLONIA
(Farmers in Poland and Ukraine are fighting for their
livelihoods in the face of large-scale land grabs
orchestrated by the EU and the IMF/World Bank. The
procedure is generally privatization, then sell-off to
foreign concerns....The story following this one on
the site it appears is about Michael Jackson coming to
Warsaw to build a $500 million mega-amusement park. In
lieu of jobs and land the Poles will be offered bread
and circuses - without the bread.)
_______________________________________________________
Polish Police Out In Force To Prevent Road Blocks
WARSAW, Mar 7, 2000 -- (Reuters) Polish police came
out in force Monday to lift some 70 road blocks set up
across the country by farmers from the radical
Samoobrona trade union, a police spokesman said.
Police used force in the southern town of Latoszyn but
neither protestors of police suffered injuries. In
nine other areas, demonstrators themselves dismantled
the road blocks following the arrival of the police.
The populist leader of Samoobrona (Self-defense),
Andrzej Lepper, said the demonstrators had erected 70
road blocks, while about 500 farmers demonstrated in
the northern town of Olsztyn against the government's
agricultural policy.
Lepper nearly one year ago organized several huge
demonstrations by farmers in protest at falling prices
which culminated in some 400 road blocks put up across
the country.
...E PROTESTE ANCHE CONTRO LA SVENDITA DELLE IMPRESE AL CAPITALE
STRANIERO
> STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>
> Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" writes Feb 28/2000 that on March 6 the
> "Samoobrona" (self-defence) movement led by Andrzej Leppert will once again
> block the country's roads and occupy regional government administration and
> parliamentarian offices.
> "We do not intend to seek permissions for the protests," said Leppert.
> He announced that on March 14 there will be picketing of USA and German
> embassies in Warsaw "against buying of Polish enterprises by foreign
> capital."
>
> Peter Bein
>
---
GLI USA DIRIGONO LE PRIVATIZZAZIONI IN ROMANIA
U.S. Department of State
02 March 2000
Text: U.S. Assists Privatization Programs in Romania
(Trade and Development Agency grants $241,250 for
advisor) (380)
The United States Trade and Development Agency (TDA)
has awarded Romania a US$241,250 grant to assist
with strategic industrial privatization, according
to a March 2 TDA press release.
The TDA said the grant will fund an advisor to
provide policy,technical, and executive support to
the
Privatization Management Unit(PMU), which the
Romanian government established to develop
privatization plans for 64 key companies.
Romania has received half of a $300 million World
Bank loan to support privatization programs, and the
second half is contingent on additional reforms and
accelerated privatization, according to theTDA.
Following is a text of the release:
(begin text)
U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA)
(Bucharest)
March 2, 2000
Critical Romanian Privatization Programs to Move
Forward with U.S.Technical Assistance
Bucharest, Romania (2 March 2000) -- The U.S. Trade
and Development Agency (TDA) awarded a $241,250
grant to Romania's Ministry of Transportation to
provide strategic industrial privatization assistance.
The grant was signed today in Bucharest by the U.S.
Ambassador to Romania, James Rosapepe, and the
Romanian Minister of Transportation Traian Basescu.
Paving the path for privatization is a top
developmental priority for Romania. To accomplish
this long-term goal, the Privatization Management
Unit
(PMU) was established by the government to develop
the process for 64 key companies. The PMU is also
responsible for hiring investment bankers to prepare
the companies and help broker deals associated with
privatization. This TDA grant will provide for a
technical advisor to provide policy, technical and
executive support to PMU as it undertakes these
important tasks.
This privatization program is part of a $300 million
World Bank Private Sector Structural Adjustment
Loan.
To date, half of this loan has been administered,
but the second half is contingent upon additional
banking reform, improvements in the business climate,
accelerated privatization and social mitigation
elements.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency, an agency of
the U.S. Government, helps form mutually beneficial
partnerships between U.S.private sector companies
and overseas project sponsors. Last year, TDA
provided
assistance in 67 nations around the world.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web
site: usinfo.state.gov)
This site is produced and maintained by the U.S.
Department of State. Links to other Internet sites
should not be construed as an endorsement of the
views
contained therein.
---
LA QUALITA' DELLA VITA E' PROFONDAMENTE PEGGIORATA IN BULGARIA
"Trud", a daily Bulgarian newspaper, September 28, page 4
People systematically do not eat enough, there are not enough medicines
Tuberculosis Caught 4000 Bulgarians More Only for One Year
New 4000 cases of tuberculosis are registered in Bulgaria only for one
year, doctors from the Clinics for Physiotherapy, Sofia Medical Academy,
announced yesterday. There has not been such a boom of the "Yellow
Lady-Visitor"* at least for 20 years, the doctors declare.
At the moment the general number of people with tuberculosis is 14990.
That is only the registered number, the real one is much greater.
Thousands of infected persons move among the healthy ones and spray
bacteria: some unintentionally, others - out of carelessness. The
statistics show that in 1998 the registered cases had been 1325 new
germ-carriers.
According to the doctors, specialists in lung diseases, everyone of them
infects more than 10 persons. The situation is fearful in the Roma
residential districts where it swarms with TB cases. Children usually
get the disease from their ill parents.
The poverty, the systematic malnutrition recently is the main cause for
the "Yellow Lady-Visitor" invasion. Most of the people do not go to
doctors because of the lack of money for medicine. At the same time they
are keeping a constant temperature in the range of 37,5 to 37,80C,
spitting blood, coughing and losing kilograms. The doctors cannot help
all of them. One X-ray photograph costs 6,5 leva ($1 = 1.87808 on Sept.
28, 99) and a very small number of people can afford that sum. Besides,
there are no X-ray films. There are not enough free of charge medicines
for TB treatment in many regions throughout the country. And when the
treatment course is broken, the infectious bacteria get more
treatment-resisting. The greatest number of TB cases is in Sofia.
---
APPOGGI DALLA BULGARIA PER IL PROGETTO IRREDENTISTA GRANDE-ALBANESE
NOTIZIE EST #304 - BULGARIA 22 febbraio 2000
BULGARIA: SCANDALI 'KOSOVARI', MANOVRE POLITICHE
E UN PONTE CHE UNISCE E DIVIDE
[Segue una serie di aggiornamenti sulla
Bulgaria, tutti tratti dai numeri di gennaio e
febbraio del settimanale "Kapital" (http://www-
us.capital.bg/) e dalla selezione di articoli
dalla stampa bulgara pubblicata da "BGnews"
negli ultimi due mesi
(http://www.db.online.bg/bg/news.main).
Selezione di A. Ferrario]
HASHIM THACI E ARBEN XHAFERRI A SOFIA
L'anno politico e' cominciato in Bulgaria con
uno scandalo di vasta eco, trascinatosi per piu'
di due settimane, conseguente all'incontro
svoltosi a Sofia il 29 gennaio tra i leader
albanesi, rispettivamente del Kosovo e della
Macedonia, Hashim Thaci e Arben Xhaferri, e il
premier bulgaro Ivan Kostov. Le modalita'
dell'incontro sono state del tutto atipiche.
Infatti non solo la visita non e' stata una
visita di stato e i due si sono incontrati con
Kostov come leader del partito SDS, presso la
sede di quest'ultimo, ma oltretutto l'arrivo dei
due leader albanesi era previsto, almeno
ufficialmente, per una loro visita al congresso
del partito della minoranza turca della
Bulgaria, il DPS, al quale ne' Thaci ne'
Xhaferri invece si sono fatti vedere. Si tratta
della seconda visita di Thaci in un paese
balcanico nelle ultime settimane, la precedente
essendo stata quella a Sarajevo. Da parte
bulgara, l'incontro con i due leader albanesi ha
seguito di una settimana esatta la conferenza
dei primi ministri dei paesi balcanici tenutasi
sempre in Bulgaria su iniziativa dello stesso
Kostov, con la presenza del "ministro degli
esteri" europeo Solana e di alti funzionari
della NATO. Il tentativo di Kostov di giungere,
alla fine di tale conferenza, a una
dichiarazione dei paesi dei Balcani per la
cancellazione delle sanzioni contro la
Jugoslavia e' fallito a causa del veto
dell'Albania e dell'opposizione della Romania.
L'incontro tra Kostov, Thaci e Xhaferri e'
durato due ore e alla fine si e' tenuta una
conferenza stampa (alla quale non ha partecipato
Kostov, per la parte bulgara, bensi' un alto
funzionario del suo partito, Gocev), nella quale
Gocev ha affermato che Kostov visitera' Pristina
in una data ancora da stabilirsi e che la
Bulgaria ha "ribadito l'intangibilita' dei
confini nei Balcani" e "la necessita' che la
maggioranza albanese in Kosovo rispetti i
diritti della minoranza serba", aggiungendo la
contrarieta' a ogni progetto di "Grande
Albania". Thaci ha detto, tra le altre cose, che
"lo status del Kosovo non puo' essere vincolato
alle sorti dell'attuale regime di Belgrado o a
quelle dell'opposizione serba" e che
"l'indipendenza del Kosovo non significa un
cambiamento di confini, perche' il Kosovo aveva
gia' dei propri confini". Fin qui nulla che
andasse al di la' delle frasi di prammatica
pronunciate regolarmente dalle due parti anche
in altre occasioni. Il vero scandalo e'
scoppiato due giorni dopo, il 31 gennaio, quando
Asen Agov, parlamentare della SDS, che aveva
anch'egli assistito all'incontro tra Kostov e i
due leader albanesi e che riveste l'importante
carica di capo della commissione esteri della
camera, ha dichiarato al quotidiano "Standard"
quanto segue: "Le cose si evolvono, perche'
dobbiamo essere realisti. In una situazione in
cui i leader del Kosovo dicono in modo chiaro e
categorico che sono per l'indipendenza del loro
paese, quello che noi pensiamo ha un importanza
minima. Perche' se siamo davvero democratici,
dobbiamo lasciare che sia la gente a decidere da
sola il proprio futuro. Perche' dobbiamo imporre
le nostre opinioni?". Queste affermazioni hanno
scatenato reazioni durissime da parte
dell'opposizione e di tutti i media, con
l'eccezione di quelli controllati direttamente
dal governo, che hanno accusato il governo di
appoggiare l'indipendenza del Kosovo. Immediate
sono arrivate anche le reazioni internazionali,
come quella russa che ha chiesto immediati
chiarimenti al governo di Sofia. Ma la reazione
piu' energica di tutte e' stata quella degli
USA. L'ambasciatore statunitense a Sofia Richard
Miles, che ha ripreso a svolgere un importante
ruolo nella politica balcanica degli USA dopo
essere stato "congelato" durante i bombardamenti
[e' uno dei maggiori esponenti della lobby che
vede la Serbia come perno dei Balcani], ha
chiesto di essere immediatamente ricevuto dal
premier Kostov, un fatto che non ha precedenti
da quando Miles occupa la propria posizione.
L'ambasciatore ha ripetuto a chiare lettere che
gli USA e la comunita' internazionale sono
contrari all'indipendenza del Kosovo e ha
chiesto al premier bulgaro di fare altrettanto.
Kostov lo ha fatto (addirittura sul
"Pravitelstven Bjuletin", organo ufficiale del
governo), ha lanciato un attacco contro i due
leader albanesi, accusandoli esplicitamente di
raccontare falsita' sull'incontro (sia Thaci che
Xhaferri hanno successivamente dichiarato di
avere ribadito a Kostov, durante l'incontro, la
propria posizione favorevole all'indipendenza
per il Kosovo, mentre i bulgari hanno negato che
si sia parlato dell'argomento), ha rivolto un
invito ufficiale ai leader serbi del Kosovo a
visitare Sofia e non ha mancato di lanciarsi in
paranoiche accuse contro i servizi segreti serbi
che, secondo lui, avrebbero lanciato una
campagna disinformativa attraverso giornali che
offrono loro canali privilegiati (anche se tali
giornali esistono in Bulgaria, lo scandalo non
e' stato certo attribuibile a loro). Non si puo'
non notare che, a differenza di USA e Russia, i
paesi UE, almeno ufficialmente, non hanno
reagito alle dichiarazioni di Agov. Lo scandalo
si e' trascinato per numerosi giorni, fino a un
accesso dibattito parlamentare. Nonostante le
chiare prese di distanza di Kostov da Agov, il
fatto che la dichiarazione non sia stata solo
una gaffe lo dimostra la pubblicazione da parte
dell'organo del partito di Kostov,
"Demokracija", dopo che le acque si erano
parzialmente calmate, di un lungo articolo,
molto sfumato e diplomatico, nel quale tuttavia
si lascia nuovamente intendere in maniera
implicita che e' necessari sapere prendere atto
delle nuove realta' nei Balcani.
---
BULGARIA: KOSTOV VATTENE!!!
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Dear Friends,
I sent that letter in Bulgarian to almost all Bulgarian newspapers on
Sunday.
No reaction whatsoever till now.
I have sent its English translation to the THRACE List.
Today I am sending it to you too.
That is what I can - still - do!
Blagovesta
Encl.
Kostov*, Hand Your Resignation!
The end of January in Bulgaria has been marked with a remarkable event:
the Premier of a country with 13 century history met a proved fascist,
racist, terrorist, killer, a fireraiser and a drug merchant,
representing only himself and an ethnical minority in a neighbouring
country!
I do not believe somebody could reject HashiSH Taci - the Snakes
personal responsibility for the horror that has been raging in the Serb
province Kosovo since he and his cut-throats settled there under the
benevolent protection of Kushner and of their main mentor, The Stripes
and Stars.
More than 75 churches and monasteries in Kosovo have been burned and
demolished since the end of the criminal US-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia!
(See www.emperors-clothes.com!)
Serbs, Gypsies, Jews, Turks and people of other NON-ALBANIAN
nationalities have been tortured, killed and driven away!
If that is not a clear demonstration of a proven FASCISM and RACISM,
what is it then?
The meeting in the Minister Council building on January 29 is very
tragic in the eyes of the ordinary Bulgarians.
It has demonstrated the Bulgarian governments terrible dependence on a
third country.
Premier, ministers and members of the Parliament informed us without any
traces of uneasiness, that they are nothing more than service boys!
Shameful, sad, humiliating!
And some half-forgotten past events have suddenlty surfaced.
As an activist of the Union of Democratic Forces (which I name the Union
of the Bulgarian Secret Police), I took part in all its undertakings and
protests.
Mr. Saul Polanski, the US ambassador in Bulgaria in 1990, spent much of
his time in the streets, watching, appearing suddenly here and there.
On June 11 1990 Mr. Polanski came on foot to the UDF Party Building and
stayed there several hours (!), discussing the first "democratic"
election results with the UDF leadership then.
While the UDF 1997January Show was running, his successor, energetic
Mrs. Bowlen** tirelessly was hurrying to and fro among the brave UDF
warriors in the Parliament. (As a result of their common efforts, the
last Bulgarian national government had been forced to resign)
Then the memorable date, January 29 2000 comes and our government people
meet and talk for several hours with a notorious contemporary Racist,
Fascist, Drug Merchant and a Thug!
Nobody could accept that horrible event as a result of an independent
decision in a moment of a temporary insanity!
Then the new US ambassador, Mr Miles filled up the TV screen to tell us
how surprised he was at the talks about "independent" Kosovo. The
performance was laughable. (People talk that he had even taken part in
the meeting!)
The Bulgarian Socialist Party, that calls itself "opposition" (nobody
knows why) was dumb and deaf for two days. (Maybe they had been waiting
for instructions either from the UDF Party Building or from a well-known
Embassy in Sofia Center!). Then they tried to focus the public attention
on Mr. Agov, the MP who announced the Bulgarian government changed
position on Kosovo.
(Mr. Agov is only an insignificant detail of that tragic play: he used
to fulfill special tasks before 1989 when he was a privileged child of
the regime too; he was doing the same after 1989. He could not do
anything else, poor man: that is his level.)
The essence of the problem is in the person who has humiliated us as a
people and a country by meeting and talking from the position of a
premier with a Racist, a Fascist and a Murderer!
Kostov, you have many times demonstrated that you cannot behave with
dignity at that responsible position!
You DO NOT EVEN TRY to ward off - partly at least! - the foreign
countries aspirations!
You have no sense of a state, no responsibility for people and country!
You have no sense of proportion!
KOSTOV, HAND YOUR RESIGNATION!
Blagovesta Doncheva
Sofia,
Bulgaria
the Balkans
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* Il documentario della BBC e gli articoli dell'"Observer" e del "Sunday
Times" rivelano la strategia della tensione della NATO per il Kosovo
("Il Manifesto", "World Socialist Web Site"
* Un'altra conquista dell'amministrazione UCKFOR: boom della
prostituzione in Kosmet (Nezavisne Novine, 16/2/2000)
* La KFOR premia i narcotrafficanti UCK (Original sources 29/3/2000)
* Il mito della repressione antialbanese (The New Republic)
=====================================================================
IL DOCUMENTARIO DELLA BBC...
"Il Manifesto" del 24/3/2000:
BBC-CANALE 5
E la Nato sferrò il suo moral combat
- GIUSEPPE MASCOLI - LONDRA
I eri sera è andato in onda su Canale 5 un documentario della Bbc sulla
guerra del Kossovo, titolo
originale "Moral combat". Parafrasando un altro videogioco lo si sarebbe
potuto chiamare missione
indicibile. Il documentario spiega come l'intervento della Nato in
Jugoslavia è stato provocato
dall'amministrazione americana, con qualche resistenza francese, e
qualche screzio con i cugini
inglesi, fra l'indifferenza degli altri paesi Nato. Il primo passo
americano è la manipolazione del
Kossovo Verification Mission (Kvm), un anno prima dell'intervento Nato.
Quel che doveva essere
un organismo autonomo di controllo per gli accordi internazionali in
Kossovo è controllato dagli
americani. A capo del Kvm viene messo William Walker, uomo del
dipartimento di stato. A
giudizio del capitano Roland Keith, anche egli parte del Kvm, Walker ha
per obiettivo la
demonizzazione dei serbi e di Milososevic e appoggia l'Uck al quale, in
barba a quanto stipulato in
sede Onu, viene progressivamente consegnato il Kossovo. Dal voluto
fallimento della missione
Kvm si arriva a Rambouillet. Il documentario della Bbc spiega subito che
gli americani, anche qui,
arrivano con una agenda segreta. Il sottosegretario alla difesa Rubin
non ha difficoltà a raccontare
che l'obiettivo è quello di fare un documento accettato dalla
delegazione kossovaro-albanese e
rifiutato dai serbi così da spianare la via all'intervento militare.
Iniziano i bombardamenti, sorge qualche divergenza fra i paesi della
alleanza e fra alcuni dei
protagonisti sul teatro di guerra. Lo scontro più plateale è fra il
generale Jackson e il capo supremo
delle forze Nato, il generale Clark. Il britannico Jackson sfodera una
flemma devastante contro un
generale Clark che vuole inviarlo con le sue truppe contro i Russi
arrivati all'aeroporto di Pristina.
Il generale Jackson disubbidisce: "Non mi sembrava il caso di scatenare
la terza guerra mondiale".
Ancora peggio vanno le cose fra americani e francesi. Dice Short, il
generale Usa capo della
aviazione Nato: i francesi hanno creato enorme sconquasso. Iniziano, a
suo giudizio, impedendogli
di bombardare il ponte a Belgrado dove si riuniscono folti gruppi di
cittadini per protestare contro i
bombardamenti. Cosa che invece per gli americani andava fatta: "gli
avrebbe dato un bel colpo
demoralizzante", dice Short. Dopo che obiettivi civili vengono
ripetutamente colpiti i francesi
impongono un supervisore che vaglia le operazioni americane e frustra
ulteriormente il generale
Short. In linea di massima, il capo dell'aeronautica ce l'ha su con la
pantomima della guerra
umanitaria. Colpire obiettivi militari dagli aerei è difficile, colpire
i mezzi usati in Kossovo da
Milosevic è impossibile. Su questo sono d'accordo sia il generale Short
che il generale serbo
Pavkovic. E' inevitabile quindi spostare il raggio d'azione
dall'esercito serbo in Kossovo alle
strutture civili in Serbia.
Alla fine, conclude il documentario, la guerra "non fu fatta per
questioni morali, né per il Kossovo.
Ma per salvare la Nato".
---
"Il manifesto" del 18 Marzo 2000
KOSOVO/ITALIA INTERROGAZIONE AL GOVERNO SULLE IMPRESE NATO
La Cia preparò il terreno, e le bombe piovvero
I senatori chiedono ragione di azioni passate e presenti Kosovo
- FRANCESCA LONGO -
Q uali iniziative intende intraprendere la Nato - anche in seguito alla
decisione italiana di rafforzare il proprio contingente - per
controllare
le frontiere del Kosovo, onde evitare infiltrazioni e far fronte
all'aumento degli attacchi contro le poche famiglie serbe rimaste? E
quali
iniziative intende intraprendere il governo italiano onde evitare che
forze
supportate dalle Nazioni unite si prestino ad attività criminali? Come
riportare i componenti del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo al loro
mandato,
al fine del ripristino della legalità, gravemente minacciata? E ancora:
s'è
chiesto il governo quale sia la posizione dell'Amministrazione Usa nei
riguardi degli attuali rischi, legati all'estremismo albanese, segnalati
recentemente anche dall'inviato del Dipartimento di stato James Rubin? E
per finire: il governo italiano è a conoscenza di un impegno,
antecedente
gli attacchi Nato dell'anno scorso, dei servizi americani
nell'addestramento dell'Uck - impegno che ha favorito l'evoluzione verso
l'intervento armato, a danno dei tentativi di arrivare a una soluzione
pacifica del conflitto - e della distorsione dei compiti dell'Osce?
A tutte queste domande, poste in un'interrogazione a risposta orale che
ha
come primi firmatari i senatori diessini Fulvio Camerini e Tana de
Zulueta
(cui si sono associati altri otto senatori), dovrà rispondere il
ministro
degli Esteri. I senatori in questione hanno ricostruito, partendo da
notizie fornite dal Sunday Times e dall'Observer il 12 marzo scorso,
un'altra inquietante pagina del conflitto in Kosovo.
Agenti dei servizi segreti americani hanno ammesso di aver contribuito
all'addestramento dell'Uck, prima dei bombardamenti Nato, mentre
americani
implicati nell'attività della Cia hanno dichiarato, in un documentario
della Bbc2, di aver operato clandestinamente. Agenti del Central
Intelligence Service - nel '98 e '99 in Kosovo col compito di monitorare
la
zona per il cessate il fuoco - avevano stabilito legami con l'Uck,
fornendo
anche manuali americani di addestramento militare e consigli sul campo.
L'Osce, abbandonando ilKosovo una settimana prima dell'inizio dei raid
aerei, consegnò segretamente all'Uck molti dei telefoni satellitari e i
sistemi di posizionamento globale, al fine di permettere i contatti dei
capi guerriglia con la Nato e Washington. Inoltre, diplomatici europei
dell'Organizzazione per la sicurezza e cooperazione sostengono che la
stessa è stata tradita dalla politica americana che aveva reso i raid
aerei
inevitabili.
Come se ciò non bastasse, le esportazioni di fucili, finanziate dalla
diaspora albanese, provenivano dagli Usa, in base a una legge federale
che
ne permetteva l'esportazione a "circoli della caccia".
Un capitolo a sé riguarda poi il rapporto confidenziale delle Nazioni
unite
al segretario generale Kofi Annan, nel quale il Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo (Kpc) - forza di protezione civile di 5.000 uomini finanziata
dalle
Nazioni unite - viene accusato di "attività criminali, uccisioni,
maltrattamenti e torture, attività illegali, abuso di autorità,
intimidazioni, rottura della neutralità politica e eccitamento
all'odio".
Molti dei membri del Kpc pare provenissero dalle file dell'Uck, e alcuni
di
loro avrebbero realizzato un vero e proprio racket con richiesta di
"contributi" per la "protezione" di negozianti, uomini d'affari, ecc.
Così
come è pure probabile che il Kpc abbia creato un vero e proprio racket
per
la gestione della prostituzione. Per inciso, il Kpc non è forza di
polizia
ma i suoi membri si comportano come se fossero al di sopra delle leggi.
Una denuncia coraggiosa, questa dei senatori, che attende e merita, a
tempi
brevi, un'altrettanto coraggiosa risposta.
---
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkans
British documentary substantiates US-KLA collusion in provoking
war
with Serbia
Related Sunday Times article alleges CIA role
By Chris Marsden
16 March 2000
Use this version to print
On Sunday, March 12, Britain's BBC2 television channel ran a
documentary by Alan Little entitled "Moral Combat: NATO At War". The
program
contained damning evidence of how the Clinton administration set out to
create a pretext for declaring war against the Milosevic regime in
Serbia by
sponsoring the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), then pressed
this
decision on its European allies. The revelations in the documentary were
reinforced by an accompanying article in the Sunday Times.
Little conducted frank interviews with leading players in the
Kosovo
conflict, the most pertinent being those with US Secretary of State
Madeline
Albright, Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin, US Envoy Richard
Holbrooke, William Walker, head of the UN Verification Mission, and KLA
leader Hashim Thaci. These were supplemented by many others.
The documentary set out to explain how "a shared enmity towards
Milosevic" made "allies of a shadowy band of guerrillas and the most
powerful nations on earth".
Ever since the Bosnian war of 1995, the KLA, seeking to capitalise
on
popular resentment among Kosovan Albanians against the regime in
Belgrade,
had pursued a strategy of destabilising the Serbian province of Kosovo
by
acts of terrorism, in the hope that the US and NATO would intervene.
They
ambushed Serb patrols and killed policemen.
"Any armed action we undertook would bring retaliation against
civilians," KLA leader Thaci explained. "We knew we were endangering a
great
number of civilian lives." The benefits of this strategy were made plain
by
Dug Gorani, a Kosovo Albanian negotiator not tied to the KLA: "The more
civilians were killed, the chances of international intervention became
bigger, and the KLA of course realised that. There was this foreign
diplomat
who once told me, 'Look, unless you pass the quota of five thousand
deaths
you'll never have anybody permanently present in Kosovo from foreign
diplomacy.'"
Albright was receptive to the KLA's strategy because the US was
anxious to stage a military conflict with Serbia. Her series of
interviews
began chillingly with the words: "I believed in the ultimate power, the
goodness of the power of the allies and led by the United States." The
KLA's
campaign of provocations was seized upon as the vehicle through which
the
use of this power could be sanctioned.
A March 5, 1998 attack by the Serbian army on the home in Prekaz
of a
leading KLA commander, Adem Jashari, in which 53 people died, became the
occasion for a meeting of the Contact group of NATO powers four days
later.
Albright pushed for a tough anti-Serbian response. "I thought it behoved
me
to say to my colleagues that we could not repeat the kinds of mistakes
that
had happened over Bosnia, where there was a lot of talk and no action,"
she
told Little.
NATO threatened Belgrade with a military response for the first
time.
"The ambitions of the KLA, and the intentions of the NATO allies, were
converging," Little commented. He then showed how a subsequent public
meeting between US Envoy Richard Holbrooke and KLA personnel at Junik
angered Belgrade and gave encouragement to the Albanian separatists.
General
Nebojsa Pavkovic, the commander of the Yugoslav army in Kosovo, states,
"When the official ambassador of another country arrives here, ignores
state
officials, but holds a meeting with the Albanian terrorists, then it's
quite
clear they are getting support."
Lirak Cejal, a KLA soldier, went further, "I knew that since then,
that the USA, NATO, will put us in their hands. They were looking for
the
head of the KLA, and when they found it they will have it in their hand,
and
then they will control the KLA."
By October 1998 NATO had succeeded in imposing a cease-fire
agreement,
partly by threat of force and partly because of Serbia's success in
routing
the KLA. A cease-fire monitoring force [the Kosovo Verification Mission]
was
sent into the province under the auspices of the Organisation for
Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and headed by William Walker.
The interview with Cejal is the only reference to US control of
the
KLA in Little's documentary, and then it is only anecdotal. It seems
that
the BBC for its own reasons chose to back-pedal on this issue, given the
article in the Sunday Times that ran the same day Little's documentary
was
aired.
Times journalists Tom Walker and Aidan Laverty wrote: "Several
Americans who were directly involved in CIA activities or close to them
have
spoken to the makers of Moral Combat, a documentary to be broadcast on
BBC2
tonight, and to The Sunday Times about their clandestine roles 'in
giving
covert assistance to the KLA' before NATO began its bombing campaign in
Kosovo."
The Sunday Times explained that the anonymous sources "admitted
they
helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army". They add that CIA officers
were
"cease-fire monitors in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, developing ties with
the
KLA and giving American military training manuals and field advice on
fighting the Yugoslav army and Serbian police."
The Times article continued: "When the Organisation for Security
and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which co-ordinated the monitoring, left
Kosovo a week before airstrikes began a year ago, many of its satellite
telephones and global positioning systems were secretly handed to the
KLA,
ensuring that guerrilla commanders could stay in touch with NATO and
Washington. Several KLA leaders had the mobile phone number of General
Wesley Clark, the NATO commander."
The article goes on to cite unnamed "European diplomats then
working
for the OSCE" who "claim it was betrayed by an American policy that made
air
strikes inevitable." They cite a European envoy accusing OSCE head of
mission Walker of running a CIA operation: "The American agenda
consisted of
their diplomatic observers, aka the CIA, operating on completely
different
terms to the rest of Europe and the OSCE."
Walker was the American ambassador to El Salvador when the US was
helping to suppress leftist rebels there and is widely suspected of
being a
CIA operative. He denies this, but admitted to the Sunday Times that the
CIA
was almost certainly involved in the countdown to air strikes:
"Overnight we
went from having a handful of people to 130 or more. Could the agency
have
put them in at that point? Sure they could. It's their job."
The newspaper cites the more candid comments of its CIA sources:
"It
was a CIA front, gathering intelligence on the KLA's arms and
leadership,"
one says. "I'd tell them [the KLA] which hill to avoid, which wood to go
behind, that sort of thing," said another.
To back up these claims, the Sunday Times notes that Shaban Shala,
a
KLA commander now active in the campaign to destabilise ethnic Albanian
areas in Serbia, claims to have met British, American and Swiss agents
in
northern Albania in 1996.
Little's BBC documentary makes no such explicit suggestion of CIA
backing for the KLA, but it does put flesh on the bones of how the
cease-fire became the occasion for strengthening the separatists' grip
on
Kosovo. He explains that wherever the Serbs withdrew their forces in
compliance with the agreement, the KLA moved in. KLA military leader
Agim
Ceku says, "The cease-fire was very useful for us, it helped us to get
organised, to consolidate and grow." Nothing was done to prevent this,
despite Serbian protests.
Little explains that the BBC has obtained confidential minutes of
the
North Atlantic Council or NAC, NATO's governing body, which state that
the
KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that privately Walker
called its actions a "deliberate campaign of provocation". It was this
covert backing for the KLA by the US which provoked Serbia into ending
its
cease-fire and sending the army back into Kosovo.
The next major turn of events leading up to NATO's war against
Serbia
was the alleged massacre of ethnic Albanians at Racek on January 15,
1999.
To this day, the issue of whether Serbian forces killed civilians in
revenge
attacks at Racek is hotly contested by Belgrade, which claims that the
KLA
staged the alleged massacre, using corpses from earlier fighting.
It is certainly the case that when the Serb forces pulled out
after
announcing the killing of 15 KLA personnel, international monitors who
entered the village reported nothing unusual. It was not until the
following
morning, after the KLA had retaken control of the village, that Walker
made
a visit and announced that a massacre by the Serbian police and the
Yugoslav
army had occurred. Little confirms that Walker had contacted both
Holbrooke
and General Clarke before making his announcement.
Racek was to prove the final pretext for a declaration of war, but
first Washington had to make sure that the European powers, which, aside
from Britain, were still pushing for a diplomatic solution, would come
on
board. Talks were convened at Rambouillet, France backed by the threat
of
war.
Little explains: "The Europeans, some reluctant converts to the
threat
of force, earnestly pressed for an agreement both the Serbs and the
Albanians could accept. But the Americans were more sceptical. They had
come
to Rambouillet with an alternative outcome in mind."
Both Albright and Rubin are extraordinarily candid about what they
set
out to accomplish at Rambouillet. They presented an ultimatum that the
Serbian government could not possibly accept, because it demanded a NATO
occupation of not just Kosovo, but unrestricted access to the whole of
Serbia. As Serbian General Pavcovic comments: "They would have unlimited
rights of movement and deployment, little short of occupation. Nobody
could
accept it."
This was the US's intention. Albright told the BBC: "If the Serbs
would not agree [to the Rambouillet ultimatum], and the Albanians would
agree, then there was a very clear cause for using force." Rubin added,
"Obviously, publicly, we had to make clear we were seeking an agreement,
but
privately we knew the chances of the Serbs agreeing were quite small."
KLA leader Thaci was the only problem, because he was demanding
the
inclusion of a referendum on independence. So Albright was despatched on
St.
Valentines Day to take charge of winning him over. Veton Suroi, a
political
rival of the KLA involved in the talks, gives a candid description of
Albright's message to Thaci: "She was saying, you sign, the Serbs don't
sign, we bomb. You sign, the Serbs sign, you have NATO in. So it's up to
you."
After three weeks of discussions, Thaci finally agreed to sign the
Rambouillet Accord. The path was cleared for the US to begin an open war
against Serbia, a war that had been prepared with the aid of CIA dirty
tricks and political manoeuvring with terrorist forces.
See Also:
KLA provocations in Mitrovica and southwest Serbia
[10 March 2000]
After the Slaughter: Political Lessons of the Balkan War
[14 June 1999]
Why is NATO at war with Yugoslavia?
World power, oil and gold
[24 May 1999]
=====================================================================
IL BOOM DELLA PROSTITUZIONE
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
To: Dekani-25484
Date sent: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 3:55 PM
Subject: NN (BL) Flourishing of world's oldest profession
From: Snezana Lazovic
Nezavisne Novine, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska
Issue 203, February 16, 2000
With the arrival of the "peacekeepers" in Kosovo many institutions have
begun to transform into classic bordellos. The cafes and bars which were
first in securing "their" girls were quickly joined by many private
houses
THE FLOURISHING OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION IN
KOSOVO
By Joco NIKOLIN
In Kosmet there is too much of everything that is bad: violence, running
wild, inefficacy of the peacekeepers, and various forms of crime - from
drugs to prostitution.
All appeals to date that this evil stop have fallen through and how long
things will remain like this is unknown. No one wants to get involved in
prognoses of this kind because law and order disappeared a long time
ago,
and it appears that there is no real wish on the part of the forces
responsible for peace and order to contain the rapists and rape.
What is flourishing the most, probably because of the scent of the
approaching spring, is prostitution. There are more and more girls for
entertainment, as well as places in which they "work". Some come of
their
own free will; others are forced to do so. Some are locals, Albanian
women, while others are from abroad, mainly from the Eastern bloc
countries: from the Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria...
The inventory is world-class, from novices under the age of majority to
ladies with extensive experience in the world's oldest profession. Under
the "red lanterns" the competition is increasing, and the pimps are
turning over more and more money. Because the price of half an hour of
"entertainment" has risen to approximately 100 marks.
The main customers are, of course, soldiers from the peacekeeping forces
of the United Nations who arrived in Kosmet in the middle of last year.
The ladies of the evening followed them here like seagulls following
ships
at sea. To lighten their leisure hours and their nostalgia for their
homeland.
"Here one can earn good money," declared Katarina, a 22 year-old Ukraine
woman.
She also confided to the reporter that she came to Kosmet, where she had
never been before, from Bulgaria. In the meanwhile she worked in
Macedonia
for a short while.
Her friend, and slightly older countrywoman, Ljudmila, was, she says,
sold
five times during her illustrious career. She arrived in Kosmet from
Istanbul.
The price of girls varies but it is generally between four and five
thousand marks. The Czech agency CTK recently published that, besides
Albanian criminals, some Serbs are participating in this business. "This
is one domain in which the Serbs and Albanians are working together,"
claims a person with good knowledge of the situation.
The girls generally arrive as strippers or dancers and later "change
professions".
The arrival of the "peacekeepers" last July changed much in the life of
Kosmet and its residents.
"Then, very quickly, many institutions began to transform into classic
bordellos. The cafes and bars which were first in securing "their" girls
were quickly joined by many private houses. And it has not stopped,"
stated an officer from the Italian military contingent.
He also claims that crime and prostitution have become most rampant in
the
south of Kosovo which borders on Macedonia and Albania. Many prostitutes
have come from "the land of the eagles" and there is a large number of
pimps there, as well, who have international reputations. These are
employers who, besides Kosmet, send girls to the European West. This
was
recently confirmed by the Brussels press which claimed that in their
country there are already several hundred Albanian prostitutes.
In the prostitution business there are few rules but one is strictly
followed: the lion's share of the income goes to the pimps. Always more
than half. The girls are satisfied if they are left with 40 percent of
the
amount paid for "service".
"The white slave trade" is not abating. Most probably it will continue
because this problem is not a priority for us," says Roma Batacaraja
(sp?)
from UNMIK, in charge of woman's issues.
According to Yugoslav law prostitution is forbidden. However, because
anarchy rules in Kosmet, there is no one to put out the "red lanterns".
Their light, in itself, is the symbol of a state of chaos which has
lasted
for years.
A few days ago Italian soldiers freed twelve girls from one house near
the
airport of Slatina. They were kept as sex slaves, and their main clients
were "peacekeepers". The majority of the ladies were from Eastern Europe
and arrived in Kosmet from another destination, that is, they were
"guests" in two other European countries before arriving here.
It is clear that an international division of approximately 50,000
soldiers wearing the insignia of the world organization is very
attractive to the prostitutes. In Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilane and other
cities there can be shortages of everything except "girls for just one
night". When some leave, others take their place. And so on in a circle.
The soldiers pay, because their wallets are so deep that it is
unimaginable for the local Albanians and the remaining, rare Serbs. That
is where the price of 100 marks and more for less than an hour of
"relaxation" at one of the bordellos comes from.
The chief of the UN mission for migration in Pristina, who freed the
above-mentioned prostitutes, says that they are terrified of revenge by
their respective pimps. These "employers" are even threatening members
of
the mission because of what they have done. Their messages are more than
clear: no one is allowed to get involved in their business.
"The Times", at the same time, discovered that the most frequent guests
of
the bordellos are Americans and Italians whose rules of service are more
liberal than those in effect for Russians and the British. It is
interesting that deals are achieved very easily and that there is no
fear
of AIDS or sexually transmitted diseased. Evidently, these do exist.
Many foreign reporters, writing on this matters, recorded that the
prostitutes in Kosmet have "no medical protection" unlike their
colleagues in the West.
The Albanian pimps in Kosmet are wholeheartedly assisted in procuring
"fresh meat" by their countrymen from western Macedonia and Albania. A
large number of "ladies of the evening" arrived from these areas to
Kosmet
for lower prices than those outside the Balkan region.
For all "imported" girls the rule is that first they must be paid off,
and
then they begin to take some of the money for themselves. How long the
pay
off period is going to last is never known in advance. Everything is in
the hands of the pimps and various criminal gangs.
Translated by Snezana Lazovic (February 20, 2000)
==============================================================
IL PREMIO DELLA KFOR PER GLI ALLEATI NARCOTRAFFICANTI:
LE MINIERE DI TREPCA
KFOR Gives Kosovo's "Glittering Prize" to KLA Drug
Dealers
"Most Valuable Piece of Real Estate in Balkans" Now
Under KLA Direction
by: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources,
(www.originalsources.com)
March 29, 2000
On February 24th my analysis was subtitled: "The
Battle of Mitrovica is Not About Visiting Cousins -
its About the Trepca Mine." (See:
http://www.originalsources.com/OS2-00MQC/2-24-2000.1.html)
Somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 ethnic Albanians
had marched for miles through the snow to attempt to
get across the bridge in to Mitrovica, which was being
guarded by French peacekeepers. The marchers told
gullible Western journalists that "all they wanted"
was to "be able to visit their cousins on the other
side of the river."
Over the weekend the real issue of Kosovo finally
emerged in a press release from KFOR headquarters in
Pristina, Kosovo which was entitled: Mining Industry -
A Great Asset For Kosovo, written by Maj. Kristian
Kahrs.
The e-mail to me and other members of the media said:
"Dear friends of KFOR Online We can now offer an
article from the Stari Trg Mine just east of
Mitrovica. KFOR Polish soldiers gave 500 uniforms and
safety equipment to the mine, and the mine has a great
potential. According to mine director Mr. Burhan
Kavaja, they can exploit 16 million metric tons of
zinc, lead and silver, and there are enough metals to
have work for 20 years. Read more on KFOR Online,
http://kforonline.com."
Only one month ago I asked in my analysis of the
conflict at the Mitrovica bridge "How come none of
these reports are mentioning another minor little fact
concerning Mitrovica - the Trepca Mine? The mine is
owned by the Serbs and a Greek mining firm,
Mytilinaios SA who signed a contract with Serbian
agency of foreign trade in 1998 to invest $519 Billion
in the mine."
Now, all the sudden, KFOR is claiming some kind of
"humanitarian" giveaway program to "help" the mine?
What's going on? In February I quoted from an article
written by Chris Hedges in the New York Times in July
1998 entitled: "Kosovo War's Glittering Prize Rests
Underground" in which he pointed out that the real
issue in Kosovo was control of the mine. In that
article Hedges quotes "Burhan Kavaja, an Albanian, who
was the former director of the Stari Tng mine, who was
dismissed and imprisoned after the first strike.
...This conflict will only end now with our
independence."
And just who is it that KFOR is giving the free
miner's helmets to? Is it the director put in place by
the owner of both the mine, the Belgrade government,
Novak Bjelic, who Hedges interviewed? It wasn't. It
was no other than the Albanian, Burhan Kavaja, the
former director of the Stari Tng Mine who led the
illegal efforts to seize control of the mine by force.
Hedges wrote, "The ethnic Albanian miners, who made up
75 percent of the 23,000 employees, shut down the
mines and organized a 30-mile-long protest march to
Pristina. They carried photos of the late communist
leader, Josip Broz Tito, and Yugoslav flags adorned
with the communist red star." What the miners wanted
was not only independence, but control of the most
valuable piece of real estate in Kosovo - the Trepca
Mines - the only thing in the area that Adolf Hitler
wanted.
"When the Nazis seized this corner of the Balkans in
1941, they handed over the hovels in Pristina, the
provincial capital, to the Italian fascists," Hedges
observed. "But they kept the British-built Trepca
mines for the Reich, shipping out wagonloads of
minerals for weapons and producing the batteries that
powered the U-boats. Submarine batteries, along with
ammunition, are still produced in the Trepca mines.
The mining history reaches back to the Romans, who
hacked out silver from the quarries."
Before their destruction under KFOR "protection"
Kosovo was covered with ancient Serbia Orthodox Church
monasteries and religious sites. Some of those now
destroyed Churches were built in the 13th and 14th
centuries. Kosovo is the cradle of the Serb culture.
Even throughout 500 years of Ottoman Turk occupation,
the Serbs were a majority in Kosovo.
The "real worth of Kosovo", Hedges said, are the mines
- especially the which contains the minerals needed to
wage war - even back in the time of the Romans. "The
fighting between the rebels of the Kosovo Liberation
Army, with their intoxicating visions of an
independent state, and the 50,000 Serbian soldiers and
special policemen. ...There is over 30 percent lead
and zinc in the ore," said Novak Bjelic, the mine's
beefy director. "The war in Kosovo is about the mines,
nothing else. This is Serbia's Kuwait -- the heart of
Kosovo. We export to France, Switzerland, Greece,
Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia and Belgium. "We
export to a firm in New York, but I would prefer not
to name it. And in addition to all this Kosovo has 17
billion tons of coal reserves. Naturally, the
Albanians want all this for themselves."
The Trepca mining complex "the most valuable piece of
real estate in the Balkans," is worth billions of
dollars. "The Stari Tng mine, with its warehouses, is
ringed with smelting plants, 17 metal treatment sites,
freight yards, railroad lines, a power plant and the
country's largest battery plant.
"In the last three years we have mined 2,538,124 tons
of lead and zinc crude ore," Novak Bjelic, 58, the
Serb director of the mine in July 1998 told Hedges,
"and produced 286,502 tons of concentrated lead and
zinc and 139,789 tons of pure lead, zinc, cadmium,
silver and gold."
The battle for control of that silver and gold, lead,
zinc, and cadminum, began in the late 1980s with a
series of hunger strikes in which the Albanian miners
occupied the mines. The mine protests led to general
strikes throughout Kosovo, making Trepca the nerve
center of the resistance movement. Serbian special
policemen eventually seized the mine, carrying
weakened miners out on stretchers. The Albanians'
drive to seize the mines, declare independence to
create a "greater Albania" of course would switch the
proceeds of the mines from the government of
Yugoslavia to the Albanians under the KLA, which
controls much of the heroin trade in Europe. Milosevic
declared a state of emergency and the ethnic Albanian
miners were replaced with Poles, Czechs and Serbs. In
1998 there were 15,000 mine workers, about 15% of whom
were of Albanian origin.
Less than a year after Hedges wrote that, US Bombers
began to wreak havoc on both Kosovo and Belgrade,
supposedly to "stop" a "genocide" of Albanians. The
bombing raids, under the direction of Bill Clinton,
drove out half the Albanian population and sixty
percent of the Serb population of Kosovo.
After the bombing stopped, thousands of forensic
experts from several countries searched for the "mass
graves" the KLA kept telling the world contained "up
to 100,000" Albanians slaughtered by the Serbs. Only
about 2108 bodies were found, some of them Serbs,
others prisoners in a prison bombed by NATO and NO
proof of ANY genocide.
Throughout the world the word is getting out. We were
lied to. The KLA, which was listed as a terrorist
group by the U.S. State Department in 1998 and known
to Interpol as the major supplier of illegal drugs and
prostitutes in Europe, is now in control of Kosovo,
anarchy reigns, just as it does in Northern Albanian
under the clan warlords, and KFOR has reinstalled the
Albanian manager of the Stari Tng mine who tried to
deliver the mine to the KLA in 1998.
Contacts in Yugoslavia told me, via e-mail, when
Clinton ordered the bombing, that the bombing was
really all about control of Kosovo mineral assets. I
didn't print that in 1999. I couldn't believe at that
time that America would be a party to such a thing.
The KFOR e-mail and their report on the Stari Tng mine
on the Internet is irrefutable proof that the Serbs
were right.
Will Belgrade stand by and do nothing as the Serbs of
Mitrovica are driven out so the Albanians can have
total control over mineral resources the Serbs need to
survive? Thirty-four percent of the coal used to heat
Belgrade comes from the same region of Kosovo. Will
they stand by, with their intact army, and do nothing
as a seizure of assets comparable, in the words of the
Serb director of the mine, to Iraq's seizure of
Kuwait's life blood - their oil wells, takes place?
Will the Russians and the Chinese, who are friends of
the Serbs, allow those assets to be controlled by the
KLA drug dealers as the region deteriorates into
anarchy?
And, will the candidates for the U.S. Presidency
continue to pretend that nothing is happening as
America implements such a glaring piece of
imperialism? Will the next U.S. leader and the
American people really continue to be content with
spending billions of American dollars to shore up the
KLA and its drive to create a Greater Albania and
secure its near monopoly of heroin sales in Europe?
Time will tell.
To comment: mmostert@...
===================================================================
IL MITO DELLA REPRESSIONE ANTIALBANESE
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38da8bc025fa.htm
The Myth of Albanian Repression in 1990s Kosovo
Foreign Affairs Opinion Keywords: KOSOVO; YUGOSLAVIA; SERBIA; KLA
Source: Columbia University
Published: March 23, 2000 Author: Max Sinclair
Posted on 03/23/2000 13:25:20 PST by Gael
The Myth of Albanian Repression
One by one, the myths about Kosovo have been falling. The notion that
Yugoslavs were engaged in genocide against Albanians was debunked by the
absence of corpses in anything close to the numbers claimed by the NATO
countries as justification for their air assault. The idea that the KLA
was
merely seeking redress of political grievances has died along with the
hundreds of post-"peace" victims of the KLA. And, the romantic fiction
that
the war would lead to a multiethnic paradise was debunked by "Kosova's"
incarnation as a mono-ethnic state. In their anniversary reviews of the
war's commencement, even NATO and its compliant press have recognized
these
truths.
However, one lie remains unrebutted, and is repeated to this day. That
is
the assertion that in 1989, after Slobodan Milosevic "revoked" Kosovo's
autonomy, the Albanian population was fired from jobs and otherwise
discriminated against. Various sources, including the Washington Post,
Human
Rights Watch, and NATO's gauleiter Bernard Kouchner, use the word
"apartheid" to describe the Yugoslav-Albanian relationship. Various news
stories reporting the return of Albanians -- doctors, teachers, miners
-- to
previous places of employment invariably stated, without any
documentation
whatever, that these workers had previously been fired solely because
they
were Albanian.
The truth is otherwise. Albanians were not fired after the modification
(not
revocation) of autonomy because of their ethnicity, as NATO and its
media
acolytes claim. In fact, the modification of autonomy resulted in a
massive
refusal on the part of many Albanians to continue working, particularly
in
the state-owned enterprises that characterize socialist Yugoslavia. They
similarly refused to attend the state schools -- no, they weren't
expelled,
as they claim -- and boycotted the political process by refusing to
exercise
their right to suffrage. For example, the Trepca miners occupied the
mines
in a form of sit-down strike, and subsequently were discharged, not
because
they were Albanian but because they refused to work. This was the same
treatment afforded by Ronald Reagan to the illegally striking air
traffic
controllers.
This self-defeating work boycott was not a campaign of non-violent civil
disobedience. Those Albanians who refused to participate in the boycott
were
the subject of violent reprisals. The KLA's initial list of victims
included
numerous Albanians employed by the Yugoslav federal or Serbian republic
governments. Those in municipal government positions, like Malic Saholi
and
Ramiz Ljeka, or located in isolated rural areas, particularly forestry
workers such as Sadi Morina, Faik Belopolja, Fazil Hassani, and Sejdi
Mujha,
were common targets. The fact that these Albanians were employed by the
state belies the claim of mass firings for ethnic reasons; the fact that
they were killed by the KLA proves that common ethnicity was no bar to
the
KLA's intimidation campaign.
The KLA's victims were not limited to state employees, however.
Albanians
who maintained political loyalty to Yugoslavia, like Zen Durmisi, were
murdered for their political views, as were those such as Ali Raci who
worked at private Yugoslav-owned companies. Even entrepreneurs who
traded
with Yugoslavs were executed after the KLA's ascendancy. As reported by
the
Albanian Daily News, "Kosovo's Secret Deals" (March 3, 2000):
"Throughout
the years of political crisis, Serb middlemen provided their Albanian
business partners with everything from petrol to flour and milk. Their
partnership became very lucrative and close. When war broke out, many
Albanian traders were either killed or forced to flee by the Kosovo
Liberation Army who regarded them as traitors." The bottom line:
cooperating
with Yugoslavs could be fatal. No wonder so many Albanians joined the
job
boycott, when the alternative was death.
In short, the extremist KLA's zeal to establish a minority-free province
led
to withdrawal from civil society, including mass refusal to work, and to
the
violent intimidation of fellow citizens into joining this boycott. If
there
was apartheid in Kosovo, it was self-imposed by the KLA.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
Times" rivelano la strategia della tensione della NATO per il Kosovo
("Il Manifesto", "World Socialist Web Site"
* Un'altra conquista dell'amministrazione UCKFOR: boom della
prostituzione in Kosmet (Nezavisne Novine, 16/2/2000)
* La KFOR premia i narcotrafficanti UCK (Original sources 29/3/2000)
* Il mito della repressione antialbanese (The New Republic)
=====================================================================
IL DOCUMENTARIO DELLA BBC...
"Il Manifesto" del 24/3/2000:
BBC-CANALE 5
E la Nato sferrò il suo moral combat
- GIUSEPPE MASCOLI - LONDRA
I eri sera è andato in onda su Canale 5 un documentario della Bbc sulla
guerra del Kossovo, titolo
originale "Moral combat". Parafrasando un altro videogioco lo si sarebbe
potuto chiamare missione
indicibile. Il documentario spiega come l'intervento della Nato in
Jugoslavia è stato provocato
dall'amministrazione americana, con qualche resistenza francese, e
qualche screzio con i cugini
inglesi, fra l'indifferenza degli altri paesi Nato. Il primo passo
americano è la manipolazione del
Kossovo Verification Mission (Kvm), un anno prima dell'intervento Nato.
Quel che doveva essere
un organismo autonomo di controllo per gli accordi internazionali in
Kossovo è controllato dagli
americani. A capo del Kvm viene messo William Walker, uomo del
dipartimento di stato. A
giudizio del capitano Roland Keith, anche egli parte del Kvm, Walker ha
per obiettivo la
demonizzazione dei serbi e di Milososevic e appoggia l'Uck al quale, in
barba a quanto stipulato in
sede Onu, viene progressivamente consegnato il Kossovo. Dal voluto
fallimento della missione
Kvm si arriva a Rambouillet. Il documentario della Bbc spiega subito che
gli americani, anche qui,
arrivano con una agenda segreta. Il sottosegretario alla difesa Rubin
non ha difficoltà a raccontare
che l'obiettivo è quello di fare un documento accettato dalla
delegazione kossovaro-albanese e
rifiutato dai serbi così da spianare la via all'intervento militare.
Iniziano i bombardamenti, sorge qualche divergenza fra i paesi della
alleanza e fra alcuni dei
protagonisti sul teatro di guerra. Lo scontro più plateale è fra il
generale Jackson e il capo supremo
delle forze Nato, il generale Clark. Il britannico Jackson sfodera una
flemma devastante contro un
generale Clark che vuole inviarlo con le sue truppe contro i Russi
arrivati all'aeroporto di Pristina.
Il generale Jackson disubbidisce: "Non mi sembrava il caso di scatenare
la terza guerra mondiale".
Ancora peggio vanno le cose fra americani e francesi. Dice Short, il
generale Usa capo della
aviazione Nato: i francesi hanno creato enorme sconquasso. Iniziano, a
suo giudizio, impedendogli
di bombardare il ponte a Belgrado dove si riuniscono folti gruppi di
cittadini per protestare contro i
bombardamenti. Cosa che invece per gli americani andava fatta: "gli
avrebbe dato un bel colpo
demoralizzante", dice Short. Dopo che obiettivi civili vengono
ripetutamente colpiti i francesi
impongono un supervisore che vaglia le operazioni americane e frustra
ulteriormente il generale
Short. In linea di massima, il capo dell'aeronautica ce l'ha su con la
pantomima della guerra
umanitaria. Colpire obiettivi militari dagli aerei è difficile, colpire
i mezzi usati in Kossovo da
Milosevic è impossibile. Su questo sono d'accordo sia il generale Short
che il generale serbo
Pavkovic. E' inevitabile quindi spostare il raggio d'azione
dall'esercito serbo in Kossovo alle
strutture civili in Serbia.
Alla fine, conclude il documentario, la guerra "non fu fatta per
questioni morali, né per il Kossovo.
Ma per salvare la Nato".
---
"Il manifesto" del 18 Marzo 2000
KOSOVO/ITALIA INTERROGAZIONE AL GOVERNO SULLE IMPRESE NATO
La Cia preparò il terreno, e le bombe piovvero
I senatori chiedono ragione di azioni passate e presenti Kosovo
- FRANCESCA LONGO -
Q uali iniziative intende intraprendere la Nato - anche in seguito alla
decisione italiana di rafforzare il proprio contingente - per
controllare
le frontiere del Kosovo, onde evitare infiltrazioni e far fronte
all'aumento degli attacchi contro le poche famiglie serbe rimaste? E
quali
iniziative intende intraprendere il governo italiano onde evitare che
forze
supportate dalle Nazioni unite si prestino ad attività criminali? Come
riportare i componenti del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo al loro
mandato,
al fine del ripristino della legalità, gravemente minacciata? E ancora:
s'è
chiesto il governo quale sia la posizione dell'Amministrazione Usa nei
riguardi degli attuali rischi, legati all'estremismo albanese, segnalati
recentemente anche dall'inviato del Dipartimento di stato James Rubin? E
per finire: il governo italiano è a conoscenza di un impegno,
antecedente
gli attacchi Nato dell'anno scorso, dei servizi americani
nell'addestramento dell'Uck - impegno che ha favorito l'evoluzione verso
l'intervento armato, a danno dei tentativi di arrivare a una soluzione
pacifica del conflitto - e della distorsione dei compiti dell'Osce?
A tutte queste domande, poste in un'interrogazione a risposta orale che
ha
come primi firmatari i senatori diessini Fulvio Camerini e Tana de
Zulueta
(cui si sono associati altri otto senatori), dovrà rispondere il
ministro
degli Esteri. I senatori in questione hanno ricostruito, partendo da
notizie fornite dal Sunday Times e dall'Observer il 12 marzo scorso,
un'altra inquietante pagina del conflitto in Kosovo.
Agenti dei servizi segreti americani hanno ammesso di aver contribuito
all'addestramento dell'Uck, prima dei bombardamenti Nato, mentre
americani
implicati nell'attività della Cia hanno dichiarato, in un documentario
della Bbc2, di aver operato clandestinamente. Agenti del Central
Intelligence Service - nel '98 e '99 in Kosovo col compito di monitorare
la
zona per il cessate il fuoco - avevano stabilito legami con l'Uck,
fornendo
anche manuali americani di addestramento militare e consigli sul campo.
L'Osce, abbandonando ilKosovo una settimana prima dell'inizio dei raid
aerei, consegnò segretamente all'Uck molti dei telefoni satellitari e i
sistemi di posizionamento globale, al fine di permettere i contatti dei
capi guerriglia con la Nato e Washington. Inoltre, diplomatici europei
dell'Organizzazione per la sicurezza e cooperazione sostengono che la
stessa è stata tradita dalla politica americana che aveva reso i raid
aerei
inevitabili.
Come se ciò non bastasse, le esportazioni di fucili, finanziate dalla
diaspora albanese, provenivano dagli Usa, in base a una legge federale
che
ne permetteva l'esportazione a "circoli della caccia".
Un capitolo a sé riguarda poi il rapporto confidenziale delle Nazioni
unite
al segretario generale Kofi Annan, nel quale il Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo (Kpc) - forza di protezione civile di 5.000 uomini finanziata
dalle
Nazioni unite - viene accusato di "attività criminali, uccisioni,
maltrattamenti e torture, attività illegali, abuso di autorità,
intimidazioni, rottura della neutralità politica e eccitamento
all'odio".
Molti dei membri del Kpc pare provenissero dalle file dell'Uck, e alcuni
di
loro avrebbero realizzato un vero e proprio racket con richiesta di
"contributi" per la "protezione" di negozianti, uomini d'affari, ecc.
Così
come è pure probabile che il Kpc abbia creato un vero e proprio racket
per
la gestione della prostituzione. Per inciso, il Kpc non è forza di
polizia
ma i suoi membri si comportano come se fossero al di sopra delle leggi.
Una denuncia coraggiosa, questa dei senatori, che attende e merita, a
tempi
brevi, un'altrettanto coraggiosa risposta.
---
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkans
British documentary substantiates US-KLA collusion in provoking
war
with Serbia
Related Sunday Times article alleges CIA role
By Chris Marsden
16 March 2000
Use this version to print
On Sunday, March 12, Britain's BBC2 television channel ran a
documentary by Alan Little entitled "Moral Combat: NATO At War". The
program
contained damning evidence of how the Clinton administration set out to
create a pretext for declaring war against the Milosevic regime in
Serbia by
sponsoring the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), then pressed
this
decision on its European allies. The revelations in the documentary were
reinforced by an accompanying article in the Sunday Times.
Little conducted frank interviews with leading players in the
Kosovo
conflict, the most pertinent being those with US Secretary of State
Madeline
Albright, Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin, US Envoy Richard
Holbrooke, William Walker, head of the UN Verification Mission, and KLA
leader Hashim Thaci. These were supplemented by many others.
The documentary set out to explain how "a shared enmity towards
Milosevic" made "allies of a shadowy band of guerrillas and the most
powerful nations on earth".
Ever since the Bosnian war of 1995, the KLA, seeking to capitalise
on
popular resentment among Kosovan Albanians against the regime in
Belgrade,
had pursued a strategy of destabilising the Serbian province of Kosovo
by
acts of terrorism, in the hope that the US and NATO would intervene.
They
ambushed Serb patrols and killed policemen.
"Any armed action we undertook would bring retaliation against
civilians," KLA leader Thaci explained. "We knew we were endangering a
great
number of civilian lives." The benefits of this strategy were made plain
by
Dug Gorani, a Kosovo Albanian negotiator not tied to the KLA: "The more
civilians were killed, the chances of international intervention became
bigger, and the KLA of course realised that. There was this foreign
diplomat
who once told me, 'Look, unless you pass the quota of five thousand
deaths
you'll never have anybody permanently present in Kosovo from foreign
diplomacy.'"
Albright was receptive to the KLA's strategy because the US was
anxious to stage a military conflict with Serbia. Her series of
interviews
began chillingly with the words: "I believed in the ultimate power, the
goodness of the power of the allies and led by the United States." The
KLA's
campaign of provocations was seized upon as the vehicle through which
the
use of this power could be sanctioned.
A March 5, 1998 attack by the Serbian army on the home in Prekaz
of a
leading KLA commander, Adem Jashari, in which 53 people died, became the
occasion for a meeting of the Contact group of NATO powers four days
later.
Albright pushed for a tough anti-Serbian response. "I thought it behoved
me
to say to my colleagues that we could not repeat the kinds of mistakes
that
had happened over Bosnia, where there was a lot of talk and no action,"
she
told Little.
NATO threatened Belgrade with a military response for the first
time.
"The ambitions of the KLA, and the intentions of the NATO allies, were
converging," Little commented. He then showed how a subsequent public
meeting between US Envoy Richard Holbrooke and KLA personnel at Junik
angered Belgrade and gave encouragement to the Albanian separatists.
General
Nebojsa Pavkovic, the commander of the Yugoslav army in Kosovo, states,
"When the official ambassador of another country arrives here, ignores
state
officials, but holds a meeting with the Albanian terrorists, then it's
quite
clear they are getting support."
Lirak Cejal, a KLA soldier, went further, "I knew that since then,
that the USA, NATO, will put us in their hands. They were looking for
the
head of the KLA, and when they found it they will have it in their hand,
and
then they will control the KLA."
By October 1998 NATO had succeeded in imposing a cease-fire
agreement,
partly by threat of force and partly because of Serbia's success in
routing
the KLA. A cease-fire monitoring force [the Kosovo Verification Mission]
was
sent into the province under the auspices of the Organisation for
Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and headed by William Walker.
The interview with Cejal is the only reference to US control of
the
KLA in Little's documentary, and then it is only anecdotal. It seems
that
the BBC for its own reasons chose to back-pedal on this issue, given the
article in the Sunday Times that ran the same day Little's documentary
was
aired.
Times journalists Tom Walker and Aidan Laverty wrote: "Several
Americans who were directly involved in CIA activities or close to them
have
spoken to the makers of Moral Combat, a documentary to be broadcast on
BBC2
tonight, and to The Sunday Times about their clandestine roles 'in
giving
covert assistance to the KLA' before NATO began its bombing campaign in
Kosovo."
The Sunday Times explained that the anonymous sources "admitted
they
helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army". They add that CIA officers
were
"cease-fire monitors in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, developing ties with
the
KLA and giving American military training manuals and field advice on
fighting the Yugoslav army and Serbian police."
The Times article continued: "When the Organisation for Security
and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which co-ordinated the monitoring, left
Kosovo a week before airstrikes began a year ago, many of its satellite
telephones and global positioning systems were secretly handed to the
KLA,
ensuring that guerrilla commanders could stay in touch with NATO and
Washington. Several KLA leaders had the mobile phone number of General
Wesley Clark, the NATO commander."
The article goes on to cite unnamed "European diplomats then
working
for the OSCE" who "claim it was betrayed by an American policy that made
air
strikes inevitable." They cite a European envoy accusing OSCE head of
mission Walker of running a CIA operation: "The American agenda
consisted of
their diplomatic observers, aka the CIA, operating on completely
different
terms to the rest of Europe and the OSCE."
Walker was the American ambassador to El Salvador when the US was
helping to suppress leftist rebels there and is widely suspected of
being a
CIA operative. He denies this, but admitted to the Sunday Times that the
CIA
was almost certainly involved in the countdown to air strikes:
"Overnight we
went from having a handful of people to 130 or more. Could the agency
have
put them in at that point? Sure they could. It's their job."
The newspaper cites the more candid comments of its CIA sources:
"It
was a CIA front, gathering intelligence on the KLA's arms and
leadership,"
one says. "I'd tell them [the KLA] which hill to avoid, which wood to go
behind, that sort of thing," said another.
To back up these claims, the Sunday Times notes that Shaban Shala,
a
KLA commander now active in the campaign to destabilise ethnic Albanian
areas in Serbia, claims to have met British, American and Swiss agents
in
northern Albania in 1996.
Little's BBC documentary makes no such explicit suggestion of CIA
backing for the KLA, but it does put flesh on the bones of how the
cease-fire became the occasion for strengthening the separatists' grip
on
Kosovo. He explains that wherever the Serbs withdrew their forces in
compliance with the agreement, the KLA moved in. KLA military leader
Agim
Ceku says, "The cease-fire was very useful for us, it helped us to get
organised, to consolidate and grow." Nothing was done to prevent this,
despite Serbian protests.
Little explains that the BBC has obtained confidential minutes of
the
North Atlantic Council or NAC, NATO's governing body, which state that
the
KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that privately Walker
called its actions a "deliberate campaign of provocation". It was this
covert backing for the KLA by the US which provoked Serbia into ending
its
cease-fire and sending the army back into Kosovo.
The next major turn of events leading up to NATO's war against
Serbia
was the alleged massacre of ethnic Albanians at Racek on January 15,
1999.
To this day, the issue of whether Serbian forces killed civilians in
revenge
attacks at Racek is hotly contested by Belgrade, which claims that the
KLA
staged the alleged massacre, using corpses from earlier fighting.
It is certainly the case that when the Serb forces pulled out
after
announcing the killing of 15 KLA personnel, international monitors who
entered the village reported nothing unusual. It was not until the
following
morning, after the KLA had retaken control of the village, that Walker
made
a visit and announced that a massacre by the Serbian police and the
Yugoslav
army had occurred. Little confirms that Walker had contacted both
Holbrooke
and General Clarke before making his announcement.
Racek was to prove the final pretext for a declaration of war, but
first Washington had to make sure that the European powers, which, aside
from Britain, were still pushing for a diplomatic solution, would come
on
board. Talks were convened at Rambouillet, France backed by the threat
of
war.
Little explains: "The Europeans, some reluctant converts to the
threat
of force, earnestly pressed for an agreement both the Serbs and the
Albanians could accept. But the Americans were more sceptical. They had
come
to Rambouillet with an alternative outcome in mind."
Both Albright and Rubin are extraordinarily candid about what they
set
out to accomplish at Rambouillet. They presented an ultimatum that the
Serbian government could not possibly accept, because it demanded a NATO
occupation of not just Kosovo, but unrestricted access to the whole of
Serbia. As Serbian General Pavcovic comments: "They would have unlimited
rights of movement and deployment, little short of occupation. Nobody
could
accept it."
This was the US's intention. Albright told the BBC: "If the Serbs
would not agree [to the Rambouillet ultimatum], and the Albanians would
agree, then there was a very clear cause for using force." Rubin added,
"Obviously, publicly, we had to make clear we were seeking an agreement,
but
privately we knew the chances of the Serbs agreeing were quite small."
KLA leader Thaci was the only problem, because he was demanding
the
inclusion of a referendum on independence. So Albright was despatched on
St.
Valentines Day to take charge of winning him over. Veton Suroi, a
political
rival of the KLA involved in the talks, gives a candid description of
Albright's message to Thaci: "She was saying, you sign, the Serbs don't
sign, we bomb. You sign, the Serbs sign, you have NATO in. So it's up to
you."
After three weeks of discussions, Thaci finally agreed to sign the
Rambouillet Accord. The path was cleared for the US to begin an open war
against Serbia, a war that had been prepared with the aid of CIA dirty
tricks and political manoeuvring with terrorist forces.
See Also:
KLA provocations in Mitrovica and southwest Serbia
[10 March 2000]
After the Slaughter: Political Lessons of the Balkan War
[14 June 1999]
Why is NATO at war with Yugoslavia?
World power, oil and gold
[24 May 1999]
=====================================================================
IL BOOM DELLA PROSTITUZIONE
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
To: Dekani-25484
Date sent: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 3:55 PM
Subject: NN (BL) Flourishing of world's oldest profession
From: Snezana Lazovic
Nezavisne Novine, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska
Issue 203, February 16, 2000
With the arrival of the "peacekeepers" in Kosovo many institutions have
begun to transform into classic bordellos. The cafes and bars which were
first in securing "their" girls were quickly joined by many private
houses
THE FLOURISHING OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION IN
KOSOVO
By Joco NIKOLIN
In Kosmet there is too much of everything that is bad: violence, running
wild, inefficacy of the peacekeepers, and various forms of crime - from
drugs to prostitution.
All appeals to date that this evil stop have fallen through and how long
things will remain like this is unknown. No one wants to get involved in
prognoses of this kind because law and order disappeared a long time
ago,
and it appears that there is no real wish on the part of the forces
responsible for peace and order to contain the rapists and rape.
What is flourishing the most, probably because of the scent of the
approaching spring, is prostitution. There are more and more girls for
entertainment, as well as places in which they "work". Some come of
their
own free will; others are forced to do so. Some are locals, Albanian
women, while others are from abroad, mainly from the Eastern bloc
countries: from the Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria...
The inventory is world-class, from novices under the age of majority to
ladies with extensive experience in the world's oldest profession. Under
the "red lanterns" the competition is increasing, and the pimps are
turning over more and more money. Because the price of half an hour of
"entertainment" has risen to approximately 100 marks.
The main customers are, of course, soldiers from the peacekeeping forces
of the United Nations who arrived in Kosmet in the middle of last year.
The ladies of the evening followed them here like seagulls following
ships
at sea. To lighten their leisure hours and their nostalgia for their
homeland.
"Here one can earn good money," declared Katarina, a 22 year-old Ukraine
woman.
She also confided to the reporter that she came to Kosmet, where she had
never been before, from Bulgaria. In the meanwhile she worked in
Macedonia
for a short while.
Her friend, and slightly older countrywoman, Ljudmila, was, she says,
sold
five times during her illustrious career. She arrived in Kosmet from
Istanbul.
The price of girls varies but it is generally between four and five
thousand marks. The Czech agency CTK recently published that, besides
Albanian criminals, some Serbs are participating in this business. "This
is one domain in which the Serbs and Albanians are working together,"
claims a person with good knowledge of the situation.
The girls generally arrive as strippers or dancers and later "change
professions".
The arrival of the "peacekeepers" last July changed much in the life of
Kosmet and its residents.
"Then, very quickly, many institutions began to transform into classic
bordellos. The cafes and bars which were first in securing "their" girls
were quickly joined by many private houses. And it has not stopped,"
stated an officer from the Italian military contingent.
He also claims that crime and prostitution have become most rampant in
the
south of Kosovo which borders on Macedonia and Albania. Many prostitutes
have come from "the land of the eagles" and there is a large number of
pimps there, as well, who have international reputations. These are
employers who, besides Kosmet, send girls to the European West. This
was
recently confirmed by the Brussels press which claimed that in their
country there are already several hundred Albanian prostitutes.
In the prostitution business there are few rules but one is strictly
followed: the lion's share of the income goes to the pimps. Always more
than half. The girls are satisfied if they are left with 40 percent of
the
amount paid for "service".
"The white slave trade" is not abating. Most probably it will continue
because this problem is not a priority for us," says Roma Batacaraja
(sp?)
from UNMIK, in charge of woman's issues.
According to Yugoslav law prostitution is forbidden. However, because
anarchy rules in Kosmet, there is no one to put out the "red lanterns".
Their light, in itself, is the symbol of a state of chaos which has
lasted
for years.
A few days ago Italian soldiers freed twelve girls from one house near
the
airport of Slatina. They were kept as sex slaves, and their main clients
were "peacekeepers". The majority of the ladies were from Eastern Europe
and arrived in Kosmet from another destination, that is, they were
"guests" in two other European countries before arriving here.
It is clear that an international division of approximately 50,000
soldiers wearing the insignia of the world organization is very
attractive to the prostitutes. In Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilane and other
cities there can be shortages of everything except "girls for just one
night". When some leave, others take their place. And so on in a circle.
The soldiers pay, because their wallets are so deep that it is
unimaginable for the local Albanians and the remaining, rare Serbs. That
is where the price of 100 marks and more for less than an hour of
"relaxation" at one of the bordellos comes from.
The chief of the UN mission for migration in Pristina, who freed the
above-mentioned prostitutes, says that they are terrified of revenge by
their respective pimps. These "employers" are even threatening members
of
the mission because of what they have done. Their messages are more than
clear: no one is allowed to get involved in their business.
"The Times", at the same time, discovered that the most frequent guests
of
the bordellos are Americans and Italians whose rules of service are more
liberal than those in effect for Russians and the British. It is
interesting that deals are achieved very easily and that there is no
fear
of AIDS or sexually transmitted diseased. Evidently, these do exist.
Many foreign reporters, writing on this matters, recorded that the
prostitutes in Kosmet have "no medical protection" unlike their
colleagues in the West.
The Albanian pimps in Kosmet are wholeheartedly assisted in procuring
"fresh meat" by their countrymen from western Macedonia and Albania. A
large number of "ladies of the evening" arrived from these areas to
Kosmet
for lower prices than those outside the Balkan region.
For all "imported" girls the rule is that first they must be paid off,
and
then they begin to take some of the money for themselves. How long the
pay
off period is going to last is never known in advance. Everything is in
the hands of the pimps and various criminal gangs.
Translated by Snezana Lazovic (February 20, 2000)
==============================================================
IL PREMIO DELLA KFOR PER GLI ALLEATI NARCOTRAFFICANTI:
LE MINIERE DI TREPCA
KFOR Gives Kosovo's "Glittering Prize" to KLA Drug
Dealers
"Most Valuable Piece of Real Estate in Balkans" Now
Under KLA Direction
by: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources,
(www.originalsources.com)
March 29, 2000
On February 24th my analysis was subtitled: "The
Battle of Mitrovica is Not About Visiting Cousins -
its About the Trepca Mine." (See:
http://www.originalsources.com/OS2-00MQC/2-24-2000.1.html)
Somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 ethnic Albanians
had marched for miles through the snow to attempt to
get across the bridge in to Mitrovica, which was being
guarded by French peacekeepers. The marchers told
gullible Western journalists that "all they wanted"
was to "be able to visit their cousins on the other
side of the river."
Over the weekend the real issue of Kosovo finally
emerged in a press release from KFOR headquarters in
Pristina, Kosovo which was entitled: Mining Industry -
A Great Asset For Kosovo, written by Maj. Kristian
Kahrs.
The e-mail to me and other members of the media said:
"Dear friends of KFOR Online We can now offer an
article from the Stari Trg Mine just east of
Mitrovica. KFOR Polish soldiers gave 500 uniforms and
safety equipment to the mine, and the mine has a great
potential. According to mine director Mr. Burhan
Kavaja, they can exploit 16 million metric tons of
zinc, lead and silver, and there are enough metals to
have work for 20 years. Read more on KFOR Online,
http://kforonline.com."
Only one month ago I asked in my analysis of the
conflict at the Mitrovica bridge "How come none of
these reports are mentioning another minor little fact
concerning Mitrovica - the Trepca Mine? The mine is
owned by the Serbs and a Greek mining firm,
Mytilinaios SA who signed a contract with Serbian
agency of foreign trade in 1998 to invest $519 Billion
in the mine."
Now, all the sudden, KFOR is claiming some kind of
"humanitarian" giveaway program to "help" the mine?
What's going on? In February I quoted from an article
written by Chris Hedges in the New York Times in July
1998 entitled: "Kosovo War's Glittering Prize Rests
Underground" in which he pointed out that the real
issue in Kosovo was control of the mine. In that
article Hedges quotes "Burhan Kavaja, an Albanian, who
was the former director of the Stari Tng mine, who was
dismissed and imprisoned after the first strike.
...This conflict will only end now with our
independence."
And just who is it that KFOR is giving the free
miner's helmets to? Is it the director put in place by
the owner of both the mine, the Belgrade government,
Novak Bjelic, who Hedges interviewed? It wasn't. It
was no other than the Albanian, Burhan Kavaja, the
former director of the Stari Tng Mine who led the
illegal efforts to seize control of the mine by force.
Hedges wrote, "The ethnic Albanian miners, who made up
75 percent of the 23,000 employees, shut down the
mines and organized a 30-mile-long protest march to
Pristina. They carried photos of the late communist
leader, Josip Broz Tito, and Yugoslav flags adorned
with the communist red star." What the miners wanted
was not only independence, but control of the most
valuable piece of real estate in Kosovo - the Trepca
Mines - the only thing in the area that Adolf Hitler
wanted.
"When the Nazis seized this corner of the Balkans in
1941, they handed over the hovels in Pristina, the
provincial capital, to the Italian fascists," Hedges
observed. "But they kept the British-built Trepca
mines for the Reich, shipping out wagonloads of
minerals for weapons and producing the batteries that
powered the U-boats. Submarine batteries, along with
ammunition, are still produced in the Trepca mines.
The mining history reaches back to the Romans, who
hacked out silver from the quarries."
Before their destruction under KFOR "protection"
Kosovo was covered with ancient Serbia Orthodox Church
monasteries and religious sites. Some of those now
destroyed Churches were built in the 13th and 14th
centuries. Kosovo is the cradle of the Serb culture.
Even throughout 500 years of Ottoman Turk occupation,
the Serbs were a majority in Kosovo.
The "real worth of Kosovo", Hedges said, are the mines
- especially the which contains the minerals needed to
wage war - even back in the time of the Romans. "The
fighting between the rebels of the Kosovo Liberation
Army, with their intoxicating visions of an
independent state, and the 50,000 Serbian soldiers and
special policemen. ...There is over 30 percent lead
and zinc in the ore," said Novak Bjelic, the mine's
beefy director. "The war in Kosovo is about the mines,
nothing else. This is Serbia's Kuwait -- the heart of
Kosovo. We export to France, Switzerland, Greece,
Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia and Belgium. "We
export to a firm in New York, but I would prefer not
to name it. And in addition to all this Kosovo has 17
billion tons of coal reserves. Naturally, the
Albanians want all this for themselves."
The Trepca mining complex "the most valuable piece of
real estate in the Balkans," is worth billions of
dollars. "The Stari Tng mine, with its warehouses, is
ringed with smelting plants, 17 metal treatment sites,
freight yards, railroad lines, a power plant and the
country's largest battery plant.
"In the last three years we have mined 2,538,124 tons
of lead and zinc crude ore," Novak Bjelic, 58, the
Serb director of the mine in July 1998 told Hedges,
"and produced 286,502 tons of concentrated lead and
zinc and 139,789 tons of pure lead, zinc, cadmium,
silver and gold."
The battle for control of that silver and gold, lead,
zinc, and cadminum, began in the late 1980s with a
series of hunger strikes in which the Albanian miners
occupied the mines. The mine protests led to general
strikes throughout Kosovo, making Trepca the nerve
center of the resistance movement. Serbian special
policemen eventually seized the mine, carrying
weakened miners out on stretchers. The Albanians'
drive to seize the mines, declare independence to
create a "greater Albania" of course would switch the
proceeds of the mines from the government of
Yugoslavia to the Albanians under the KLA, which
controls much of the heroin trade in Europe. Milosevic
declared a state of emergency and the ethnic Albanian
miners were replaced with Poles, Czechs and Serbs. In
1998 there were 15,000 mine workers, about 15% of whom
were of Albanian origin.
Less than a year after Hedges wrote that, US Bombers
began to wreak havoc on both Kosovo and Belgrade,
supposedly to "stop" a "genocide" of Albanians. The
bombing raids, under the direction of Bill Clinton,
drove out half the Albanian population and sixty
percent of the Serb population of Kosovo.
After the bombing stopped, thousands of forensic
experts from several countries searched for the "mass
graves" the KLA kept telling the world contained "up
to 100,000" Albanians slaughtered by the Serbs. Only
about 2108 bodies were found, some of them Serbs,
others prisoners in a prison bombed by NATO and NO
proof of ANY genocide.
Throughout the world the word is getting out. We were
lied to. The KLA, which was listed as a terrorist
group by the U.S. State Department in 1998 and known
to Interpol as the major supplier of illegal drugs and
prostitutes in Europe, is now in control of Kosovo,
anarchy reigns, just as it does in Northern Albanian
under the clan warlords, and KFOR has reinstalled the
Albanian manager of the Stari Tng mine who tried to
deliver the mine to the KLA in 1998.
Contacts in Yugoslavia told me, via e-mail, when
Clinton ordered the bombing, that the bombing was
really all about control of Kosovo mineral assets. I
didn't print that in 1999. I couldn't believe at that
time that America would be a party to such a thing.
The KFOR e-mail and their report on the Stari Tng mine
on the Internet is irrefutable proof that the Serbs
were right.
Will Belgrade stand by and do nothing as the Serbs of
Mitrovica are driven out so the Albanians can have
total control over mineral resources the Serbs need to
survive? Thirty-four percent of the coal used to heat
Belgrade comes from the same region of Kosovo. Will
they stand by, with their intact army, and do nothing
as a seizure of assets comparable, in the words of the
Serb director of the mine, to Iraq's seizure of
Kuwait's life blood - their oil wells, takes place?
Will the Russians and the Chinese, who are friends of
the Serbs, allow those assets to be controlled by the
KLA drug dealers as the region deteriorates into
anarchy?
And, will the candidates for the U.S. Presidency
continue to pretend that nothing is happening as
America implements such a glaring piece of
imperialism? Will the next U.S. leader and the
American people really continue to be content with
spending billions of American dollars to shore up the
KLA and its drive to create a Greater Albania and
secure its near monopoly of heroin sales in Europe?
Time will tell.
To comment: mmostert@...
===================================================================
IL MITO DELLA REPRESSIONE ANTIALBANESE
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38da8bc025fa.htm
The Myth of Albanian Repression in 1990s Kosovo
Foreign Affairs Opinion Keywords: KOSOVO; YUGOSLAVIA; SERBIA; KLA
Source: Columbia University
Published: March 23, 2000 Author: Max Sinclair
Posted on 03/23/2000 13:25:20 PST by Gael
The Myth of Albanian Repression
One by one, the myths about Kosovo have been falling. The notion that
Yugoslavs were engaged in genocide against Albanians was debunked by the
absence of corpses in anything close to the numbers claimed by the NATO
countries as justification for their air assault. The idea that the KLA
was
merely seeking redress of political grievances has died along with the
hundreds of post-"peace" victims of the KLA. And, the romantic fiction
that
the war would lead to a multiethnic paradise was debunked by "Kosova's"
incarnation as a mono-ethnic state. In their anniversary reviews of the
war's commencement, even NATO and its compliant press have recognized
these
truths.
However, one lie remains unrebutted, and is repeated to this day. That
is
the assertion that in 1989, after Slobodan Milosevic "revoked" Kosovo's
autonomy, the Albanian population was fired from jobs and otherwise
discriminated against. Various sources, including the Washington Post,
Human
Rights Watch, and NATO's gauleiter Bernard Kouchner, use the word
"apartheid" to describe the Yugoslav-Albanian relationship. Various news
stories reporting the return of Albanians -- doctors, teachers, miners
-- to
previous places of employment invariably stated, without any
documentation
whatever, that these workers had previously been fired solely because
they
were Albanian.
The truth is otherwise. Albanians were not fired after the modification
(not
revocation) of autonomy because of their ethnicity, as NATO and its
media
acolytes claim. In fact, the modification of autonomy resulted in a
massive
refusal on the part of many Albanians to continue working, particularly
in
the state-owned enterprises that characterize socialist Yugoslavia. They
similarly refused to attend the state schools -- no, they weren't
expelled,
as they claim -- and boycotted the political process by refusing to
exercise
their right to suffrage. For example, the Trepca miners occupied the
mines
in a form of sit-down strike, and subsequently were discharged, not
because
they were Albanian but because they refused to work. This was the same
treatment afforded by Ronald Reagan to the illegally striking air
traffic
controllers.
This self-defeating work boycott was not a campaign of non-violent civil
disobedience. Those Albanians who refused to participate in the boycott
were
the subject of violent reprisals. The KLA's initial list of victims
included
numerous Albanians employed by the Yugoslav federal or Serbian republic
governments. Those in municipal government positions, like Malic Saholi
and
Ramiz Ljeka, or located in isolated rural areas, particularly forestry
workers such as Sadi Morina, Faik Belopolja, Fazil Hassani, and Sejdi
Mujha,
were common targets. The fact that these Albanians were employed by the
state belies the claim of mass firings for ethnic reasons; the fact that
they were killed by the KLA proves that common ethnicity was no bar to
the
KLA's intimidation campaign.
The KLA's victims were not limited to state employees, however.
Albanians
who maintained political loyalty to Yugoslavia, like Zen Durmisi, were
murdered for their political views, as were those such as Ali Raci who
worked at private Yugoslav-owned companies. Even entrepreneurs who
traded
with Yugoslavs were executed after the KLA's ascendancy. As reported by
the
Albanian Daily News, "Kosovo's Secret Deals" (March 3, 2000):
"Throughout
the years of political crisis, Serb middlemen provided their Albanian
business partners with everything from petrol to flour and milk. Their
partnership became very lucrative and close. When war broke out, many
Albanian traders were either killed or forced to flee by the Kosovo
Liberation Army who regarded them as traitors." The bottom line:
cooperating
with Yugoslavs could be fatal. No wonder so many Albanians joined the
job
boycott, when the alternative was death.
In short, the extremist KLA's zeal to establish a minority-free province
led
to withdrawal from civil society, including mass refusal to work, and to
the
violent intimidation of fellow citizens into joining this boycott. If
there
was apartheid in Kosovo, it was self-imposed by the KLA.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
LA DELEGAZIONE DELL'ASSIJUG
Di ritorno da Belgrado...
Una delegazione di 6 compagni dell'ASSIJUG (Associazione
Italia-Jugoslavia) di Perugia,
la sera del 23 marzo, dopo un viaggio in macchina di 14 ore è giunta a
Belgrado.
La mattina seguente, giorno dell'anniversario dell'aggressione NATO,
siamo stati
fraternamente ricevuti dai massimi dirigenti sindacali, i quali ci hanno
subito accompagnato
alla manifestazione invitandoci a metterci in prima fila con le nostre
bandiere rosse. Inutile
nascondere che eravamo emozionati, non solo per la calorosa accoglienza,
ma per il
sentirci, anche solo per qualche ora, una particella di quella cosa
viva, consapevolmente
antimperialista, che è il proletariato iugoslavo. Fortissimo l'odio per
la NATO e i suoi servi
dell'UCK, ma nessuna traccia dello "sciovinismo cetnico" e del
"razzismo" con cui l'infame
propaganda occidentale ha bollato il fiero sentimento patriottico dei
proletari serbi.
Emozione ancora più forte quando la piazza ha accolto con un fragoroso
applauso la notizia,
data dal palco, della presenza della nostra delegazione.
Alla fine tanti compagni e compagne hanno voluto abbracciarci,
salutarci, cantare con noi
bandiera rossa e le canzoni partigiane. Abbiamo anche riincontrato i
compagni della Zastava
di Kraguievac, i quali hanno voluto ringraziare tutto quanto è stato
fatto e viene fatto in
Italia per loro.
VERSO IL PRIMO GEMELLAGGIO ANTI-NATO...
L¹altro importante impegno che la delegazione della Associazione
Italia-Iugoslavia ha
portato a termine nel suo viaggio a Belgrado é stato quello di
incontrare il Sindaco della
cittadina di Bogatic che si trova 80 km a nord di Belgrado.
Già da qualche mese, fra la cittadina iugoslava ed il comune di Pizzo
Ferrato della provincia
di Chieti in Abruzzo si sono stabiliti, grazie alla mediazione
determinante della nostra
Associazione, dei preliminari contatti finalizzati alla realizzazione
del gemellaggio fra i due
Comuni . In questo viaggio abbiamo avuto l¹opportunità di approfondire
meglio questi contatti
e realizzare dei concreti passi in avanti nei rapporti con gli
amministratori di Bogatic.
L¹incontro che abbiamo avuto con il Sindaco ha avuto, infatti, un
esito altamente positivo,
sia per le forme con cui é avvenuto che per i contenuti. L¹ospitalità
che l¹Amministrazione di
Bogatic ci ha riservato é stata infatti splendida ed i contenuti della
discussione veramente
interessanti.
Il Sindaco, opportunamente, ci ha illustrato in modo dettagliato le
caratteristiche della
cittadina: la sua struttura sociale ed economica, le sue risorse ed i
suoi pregi artistici che
non sono pochi. Ma principalmente egli ha espresso grande interesse e
disponibilità all¹idea
del gemellaggio con il Comune di Pizzo Ferrato e si é dichiarato
disposto ad attivare per il
futuro, di converso con l¹Amministrazione del Comune italiano, le
pratiche necessarie per
poter espletare tutti i dovuti passaggi burocratico-amministrativi.
Insomma, i fatti sono andati oltre le nostre più rosee aspettative.
Il Sindaco di Bogatic ha colto appieno il significato e l¹importanza
della proposta di
gemellaggio. Egli stesso, denotando una acuta sensibilità ed
intelligenza politica, ha
affermato: ³il gemellaggio che la Giunta Comunale di Pizzo ferrato ci
ha proposto é un
significativo gesto di stima, rispetto ed amicizia che noi apprezziamo
profondamente e di cui
ringraziamo di cuore sia l¹Amministrazione del Comune di Pizzo Ferrato
che gli amici
dell¹Associazione Italia-Iugoslavia che hanno reso possibile con il loro
encomiabile impegno
tutto ciò². ³Questo atto é tanto più importante poiché, anche se
formalmente indirizzato alla
cittadina di Bogatic, esprime solidarietà ed amicizia a tutto il popolo
iugoslavo........²
³...proprio perché viene da un luogo istituzionale (il Comune italiano,
N.d.R.), concordiamo
con gli amici dell¹Assijug che esso sia un gesto coraggioso ed in
controtendenza, vista la
posizione del Governo italiano; ed é per questo motivo che l¹apprezziamo
molto di più ³.
³......Restiamo in attesa che ci arrivi la lettera del Sig. Sindaco di
Pizzo Ferrato che ci avete
preannunciato, per dare l¹inizio formale alle pratiche di gemellaggio
tra le due cittadine; spero
vivamente che esso si possa realizzare con successo e nei tempi dovuti².
Questo stesso augurio il Sindaco lo ha poi ribadito al momento del
congedo che é stato
intenso, da veri fraterni amici.
Come Assijug non possiamo che esprimere tutta la nostra soddisfazione
per l¹esito di
questo incontro che rappresenta un importantissimo passo in avanti per
la concretizzazione
del rapporto di gemellaggio fra Pizzo Ferrato e la cittadina di Bogatic,
a cui teniamo
particolarmente. Riteniamo infatti che esso, se come é prevedibile si
realizzerà,
rappresenterà un esempio altamente significativo qui in Italia che, ci
auguriamo di cuore,
possa poi essere seguito da altri Comuni altrettanto coraggiosi e
democratici come sta
dimostrando di essere quello di Pizzo ferrato.
Anche per questo siamo stati ben felici, nonostante i sacrifici e gli
sforzi compiuti di aver
inviato una nostra delegazione in Iugoslavia, e di essere stati presenti
a Belgrado
nell¹importante anniversario dell¹aggressione della NATO.
Lo stesso giorno, il 24 marzo, un centinaio di persone hanno partecipato
a Perugia al sit-in
organizzato dalla ASSIJUG e dal Comitato Umbro Antimperialista. Oltre
alla comunità degli
iugoslavi residenti in Umbria, hanno portato i loro saluti numerosi
compagni e cittadini, il
Partito della Rifondazione Comunista e Voce Operaia.
Per contatti con l'ASSIJUG: assijug@...
====================================================================
L'IMPERIALISME N'AGIT JAMAIS POUR L'INTERET DES PEUPLES
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dhkc" <dhkc.bruxelles@...>
To: "Tabe Kooistra" <tabe@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2000 11:15 AM
Subject: declaration 108 (French)
FRONT REVOLUTIONNAIRE
DE LIBERATION DU PEUPLE
Date: 24 mars 2000 Déclaration: 108
L'intervention en Yougoslavie a mis une vérité en évidence:
L'INTERVENTION IMPERIALISTE N'APPORTE AUCUN REMEDE
Un an vient de passer depuis l'intervention en Yougoslavie des
impérialistes
européens agissant au sein de l'OTAN, avec à leur tête l'impérialisme
US. Un
an que les peuples de Yougoslavie, Serbes et Albanais subissent des
souffrances accrues, sont victimes sur leur sol des massacres perpétrés
par
les occupants, sont victimes du mépris de ces derniers, victimes
d'humiliation, des fouilles à plat ventre et sont dévisagés comme s'ils
étaient des coupables. Et aujourd'hui, les peuples de Yougoslavie
constatent
ce que signifient la paix et la démocratie des impérialistes. Ils
réalisent
que l'intervention est un euphémisme pour dire "occupation". L'OTAN
allait
prétendument distribuer paix et démocratie aux peuples de Yougoslavie.
Les
Albanais seraient libérés de la tyrannie serbe. Voilà pourquoi les
troupes
d'occupation auraient fait pleuvoir les bombes sur les terres
yougoslaves.
Le nationalisme a accueilli les forces d'occupation en applaudissant
des
deux mains.
Or aujourd'hui, les Albanais comme les Serbes affrontent les soldats de
l'OTAN et d'autre part, ils s'entre-tuent. Voilà le résultat de
l'intervention impérialiste et du nationalisme.
L'IMPERIALISME N'AGIT JAMAIS POUR L'INTERET DES PEUPLES
Sa politique est entièrement déterminée par la chasse au profit et la
quête
de nouveaux débouchés pour ses monopoles.
Il y a de cela un an, nous avions dit ceci: "Pour affaiblir ces pays en
vue
de les conquérir, l'impérialisme recourt à la politique du "diviser pour
régner" en exacerbant les différences nationales et religieuses".
C'est ce qui se produisit en Yougoslavie.
Au nom du Nouvel Ordre Mondial et pour créer de nouveaux marchés,
l'impérialisme agresse, bombarde, assassine et sème le trouble entre le
peuples. Et il repasse à l'offensive chaque fois que sa soif de
domination
n'est pas satisfaite.
On a ainsi largué des tonnes de bombes sur le peuple irakien, puis on a
divisé les terres irakiennes.
Dans les Balkans, on a d'abord veillé à ce que les peuples
s'entre-tuent,
puis on a morcelé la Yougoslavie.
L'impérialisme veut reproduire la même chose dans le Caucase,
c'est-à-dire
contrôler la région en créant des états après avoir préalablement attisé
les
différences nationales et religieuses. La Turquie joue un rôle de
premier
ordre dans ce plan. Mais toutes ces interventions sont patronnées par
l'impérialisme.
Religieux, "démocrates", nationalistes kurdes et compagnie, vous qui
applaudissez l'intervention en Yougoslavie, admirez la démocratie et la
paix
impérialistes! Sang, larmes, boucheries...
Les peuples doivent éviter de tomber dans ces manoeuvres. Il faut
empêcher
que l'impérialisme sème la discorde et la division entre les peuples.
LA LIBERATION DES PEUPLES RESIDE DANS LA LUTTE COMMUNE CONTRE
L'IMPERIALISME
FRONT REVOLUTIONNAIRE DE LIBERATION DU PEUPLE
DEVRÝMCÝ HALK KURTULUÞ CEPHESÝ
====================================================================
2000 SERBI DELLA MACEDONIA IN PIAZZA A SKOPJE PER L'ANNIVERSARIO
2,000 MACEDONIAN SERBS STAGE ANTI-NATO PROTEST IN SKOPJE
SKOPJE, Macedonia, March 26, 2000 (Agence France
Presse)
At least 2,000 people gathered here Friday at
an anti-NATO rally organized by a Macedonian Serb
political party to mark the first anniversary of the
start of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.
The rally was organized by the Democratic Party
of Serbs (DPS) in Macedonia, whose leader Dragisa
Miletic addressed the protesters, gathered at
Skopje's main square Macedonia, criticizing the
"servile attitude" of Skopje and other neighboring
countries towards NATO.
They were also burning leaflets with American
flags where the stars had been replaced by swastikas.
After an hour the protesters started to disperse
peacefully, although under a heavy police presence.
=====================================================================
INAUGURATA UNA MOSTRA SULLA AGGRESSIONE NATO
AL MUSEO DELL'AVIAZIONE JUGOSLAVA
Thursday, March 23 12:02 PM SGT
Yugoslav Airstrikes Museum hunting NATO air strike
"souvenirs"
BELGRADE, Mar 23 (AFP) -
One year after the first NATO bombing raids on
Belgrade, the Yugoslav Aviation Museum is hunting down
everything from bomb parts to aircraft wreckage to
join a collection which has become a major tourist
attraction.
Thousands of people have visited the NATO bombing
exhibition since it opened in December on the first
floor of the Aviation Museum, near Belgrade's
international airport in Surcin, 15 kilometers (nine
miles) northwest of the capital.
Top draws include the wreckage of a sophisticated US
F-117A Stealth fighter, brought down by an Yugoslav
anti-aircraft missile on March 27, 1999, near
Budjanovci, west of Belgrade.
On display are the ejection seat and the plane's
canopy, bearing the inscription "Capt. Ken 'Wizz'
Dwelle".
The exhibition also includes a piece of a bomb that
severely damaged the Chinese embassy in Belgrade,
killing three people -- a gift from the embassy, said
museum director Cedomir Janjic.
The more items put on display, the bigger the crowds,
Janjic noted, adding: "We are still hunting for NATO
bomb parts and airplane wreckages that fell on our
soil during the aggression."
On March 24, 1999, NATO launched a 78-day bombing
campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
order to force Belgrade to accept Alliance troops in
Kosovo and end what it termed Serbian repression
against ethnic Albanians in the province.
The bombing campaign killed up to 2,000 civilians,
according to the official Tanjug news agency, or
around 1,500, according to the G17, a group of
independent Serb economists.
The airstrikes ended on June 10, 1999, with Belgrade's
agreement to withdraw its troops from Kosovo and the
arrival of a NATO-led international force (KFOR) to
ensure security in the province.
Although the Stealth fighter is, in Janjic's words,
"the pride of the collection," the museum also has
wreckage from an F-16 fighter plane, shot down May 2,
1999, near Sabac in western Serbia, displaying the
rear of the cockpit and a vertical stabilizer with an
eagle on it.
An American Predator spy plane shot down near Urosevac
in southern Kosovo on May 13 hangs on the roof of the
exposition hall, which attracts foreign visitors as
well as Yugoslavs.
Remains of radio-locators, CBU-87 cluster bombs and
BLU-114 graphite bombs are displayed in showcases next
to the first Tomahawk cruise missile shot down in the
war, near Kraljevo, in central Serbia, during the
first night of airstrikes.
NATO has given out few details on its losses, although
it acknowledged the downing of the F-117A and the
F-16A on display in the museum. The pilots of both
planes were rescued.
The Yugoslav side claimed to have shot down a total of
61 NATO planes, 30 drones, seven helicopters and 238
cruise missiles, according to Tanjug, but the
authorities did not provide evidence of destroyed
manned aircraft other than the two on display.
Janjic said the displays were only a "small part" of
the 1,500 items the museum has gathered from 90
locations. Thirty other locations were yet to be
inspected, Janjic added.
"Through what we call aero-archaeology -- searching
for remnants of crashed planes -- we had found in the
past wreckages of planes from World War I and II. With
the same process, we expect to find more evidence that
there were many more NATO planes shot than the two
publicly acknowledged" by the Alliance, he said.
Janjic added he expected to find wreckage in rivers
and lakes as well as in the Adriatic Sea.
Many countries are interested in getting items for
their collections, including museums from "aggressor"
NATO countries, he said, without giving details.
=====================================================================
COMMEMORAZIONE IN SUD AFRICA
http://news.24.com/English/South_Africa/South_Africa/ENG_319621_1105108_SEO.asp
South Africa News 24
March 24, 2000
Protestors commemorate Kosovo bombing
Pretoria - About 80 South African citizens and
residents of Yugoslavia held a peaceful protest in
Pretoria on Friday to commemorate the first
anniversary of Nato's bombardment of Yugoslavia.
SABC radio news reported that memorandums were handed
to the British High Commission and the American
Embassy.
The protesters were demanding, among other things, the
rebuilding of their country and also requested a
peaceful resolution of the situation.
Thousands of Yugoslavian civilians were killed and
scores injured on this day when Nato forces attacked
and bombed their country.
In remembrance of all innocent victims, a minute of
silence was observed. - Sapa
======================================================================
SELEZIONE DI ARTICOLI
Current Headlines
http://www.serbianna.com/current_headlines.html
THE GLOBAL TYRANNY
The Balkans:
Yugoslavia Hoped For More Russian Support In War
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=146005
Chasing a Balkan Mirage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=wpni/print&articleid=A17045-2000Mar25
Nato's mistakes
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/03/27/timfeafea02007.html
WAS IT A MISTAKE?
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a38de1ad32112.htm
The Lies Last Time ( by Phil Hammond)
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/hammond/lieslast.htm
British Media Follow Cook's Instructions Not to Commemorate Kosovo War
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-03/26/18059.html
Europe's Dirty Secret (by Rick Rozoff )
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/rozoff/europes.htm
Venice on a sea of bombs
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/veniceon.htm
Ideological Opposites Gather Against War
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/03/25/MN32848.DTL
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
Di ritorno da Belgrado...
Una delegazione di 6 compagni dell'ASSIJUG (Associazione
Italia-Jugoslavia) di Perugia,
la sera del 23 marzo, dopo un viaggio in macchina di 14 ore è giunta a
Belgrado.
La mattina seguente, giorno dell'anniversario dell'aggressione NATO,
siamo stati
fraternamente ricevuti dai massimi dirigenti sindacali, i quali ci hanno
subito accompagnato
alla manifestazione invitandoci a metterci in prima fila con le nostre
bandiere rosse. Inutile
nascondere che eravamo emozionati, non solo per la calorosa accoglienza,
ma per il
sentirci, anche solo per qualche ora, una particella di quella cosa
viva, consapevolmente
antimperialista, che è il proletariato iugoslavo. Fortissimo l'odio per
la NATO e i suoi servi
dell'UCK, ma nessuna traccia dello "sciovinismo cetnico" e del
"razzismo" con cui l'infame
propaganda occidentale ha bollato il fiero sentimento patriottico dei
proletari serbi.
Emozione ancora più forte quando la piazza ha accolto con un fragoroso
applauso la notizia,
data dal palco, della presenza della nostra delegazione.
Alla fine tanti compagni e compagne hanno voluto abbracciarci,
salutarci, cantare con noi
bandiera rossa e le canzoni partigiane. Abbiamo anche riincontrato i
compagni della Zastava
di Kraguievac, i quali hanno voluto ringraziare tutto quanto è stato
fatto e viene fatto in
Italia per loro.
VERSO IL PRIMO GEMELLAGGIO ANTI-NATO...
L¹altro importante impegno che la delegazione della Associazione
Italia-Iugoslavia ha
portato a termine nel suo viaggio a Belgrado é stato quello di
incontrare il Sindaco della
cittadina di Bogatic che si trova 80 km a nord di Belgrado.
Già da qualche mese, fra la cittadina iugoslava ed il comune di Pizzo
Ferrato della provincia
di Chieti in Abruzzo si sono stabiliti, grazie alla mediazione
determinante della nostra
Associazione, dei preliminari contatti finalizzati alla realizzazione
del gemellaggio fra i due
Comuni . In questo viaggio abbiamo avuto l¹opportunità di approfondire
meglio questi contatti
e realizzare dei concreti passi in avanti nei rapporti con gli
amministratori di Bogatic.
L¹incontro che abbiamo avuto con il Sindaco ha avuto, infatti, un
esito altamente positivo,
sia per le forme con cui é avvenuto che per i contenuti. L¹ospitalità
che l¹Amministrazione di
Bogatic ci ha riservato é stata infatti splendida ed i contenuti della
discussione veramente
interessanti.
Il Sindaco, opportunamente, ci ha illustrato in modo dettagliato le
caratteristiche della
cittadina: la sua struttura sociale ed economica, le sue risorse ed i
suoi pregi artistici che
non sono pochi. Ma principalmente egli ha espresso grande interesse e
disponibilità all¹idea
del gemellaggio con il Comune di Pizzo Ferrato e si é dichiarato
disposto ad attivare per il
futuro, di converso con l¹Amministrazione del Comune italiano, le
pratiche necessarie per
poter espletare tutti i dovuti passaggi burocratico-amministrativi.
Insomma, i fatti sono andati oltre le nostre più rosee aspettative.
Il Sindaco di Bogatic ha colto appieno il significato e l¹importanza
della proposta di
gemellaggio. Egli stesso, denotando una acuta sensibilità ed
intelligenza politica, ha
affermato: ³il gemellaggio che la Giunta Comunale di Pizzo ferrato ci
ha proposto é un
significativo gesto di stima, rispetto ed amicizia che noi apprezziamo
profondamente e di cui
ringraziamo di cuore sia l¹Amministrazione del Comune di Pizzo Ferrato
che gli amici
dell¹Associazione Italia-Iugoslavia che hanno reso possibile con il loro
encomiabile impegno
tutto ciò². ³Questo atto é tanto più importante poiché, anche se
formalmente indirizzato alla
cittadina di Bogatic, esprime solidarietà ed amicizia a tutto il popolo
iugoslavo........²
³...proprio perché viene da un luogo istituzionale (il Comune italiano,
N.d.R.), concordiamo
con gli amici dell¹Assijug che esso sia un gesto coraggioso ed in
controtendenza, vista la
posizione del Governo italiano; ed é per questo motivo che l¹apprezziamo
molto di più ³.
³......Restiamo in attesa che ci arrivi la lettera del Sig. Sindaco di
Pizzo Ferrato che ci avete
preannunciato, per dare l¹inizio formale alle pratiche di gemellaggio
tra le due cittadine; spero
vivamente che esso si possa realizzare con successo e nei tempi dovuti².
Questo stesso augurio il Sindaco lo ha poi ribadito al momento del
congedo che é stato
intenso, da veri fraterni amici.
Come Assijug non possiamo che esprimere tutta la nostra soddisfazione
per l¹esito di
questo incontro che rappresenta un importantissimo passo in avanti per
la concretizzazione
del rapporto di gemellaggio fra Pizzo Ferrato e la cittadina di Bogatic,
a cui teniamo
particolarmente. Riteniamo infatti che esso, se come é prevedibile si
realizzerà,
rappresenterà un esempio altamente significativo qui in Italia che, ci
auguriamo di cuore,
possa poi essere seguito da altri Comuni altrettanto coraggiosi e
democratici come sta
dimostrando di essere quello di Pizzo ferrato.
Anche per questo siamo stati ben felici, nonostante i sacrifici e gli
sforzi compiuti di aver
inviato una nostra delegazione in Iugoslavia, e di essere stati presenti
a Belgrado
nell¹importante anniversario dell¹aggressione della NATO.
Lo stesso giorno, il 24 marzo, un centinaio di persone hanno partecipato
a Perugia al sit-in
organizzato dalla ASSIJUG e dal Comitato Umbro Antimperialista. Oltre
alla comunità degli
iugoslavi residenti in Umbria, hanno portato i loro saluti numerosi
compagni e cittadini, il
Partito della Rifondazione Comunista e Voce Operaia.
Per contatti con l'ASSIJUG: assijug@...
====================================================================
L'IMPERIALISME N'AGIT JAMAIS POUR L'INTERET DES PEUPLES
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dhkc" <dhkc.bruxelles@...>
To: "Tabe Kooistra" <tabe@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2000 11:15 AM
Subject: declaration 108 (French)
FRONT REVOLUTIONNAIRE
DE LIBERATION DU PEUPLE
Date: 24 mars 2000 Déclaration: 108
L'intervention en Yougoslavie a mis une vérité en évidence:
L'INTERVENTION IMPERIALISTE N'APPORTE AUCUN REMEDE
Un an vient de passer depuis l'intervention en Yougoslavie des
impérialistes
européens agissant au sein de l'OTAN, avec à leur tête l'impérialisme
US. Un
an que les peuples de Yougoslavie, Serbes et Albanais subissent des
souffrances accrues, sont victimes sur leur sol des massacres perpétrés
par
les occupants, sont victimes du mépris de ces derniers, victimes
d'humiliation, des fouilles à plat ventre et sont dévisagés comme s'ils
étaient des coupables. Et aujourd'hui, les peuples de Yougoslavie
constatent
ce que signifient la paix et la démocratie des impérialistes. Ils
réalisent
que l'intervention est un euphémisme pour dire "occupation". L'OTAN
allait
prétendument distribuer paix et démocratie aux peuples de Yougoslavie.
Les
Albanais seraient libérés de la tyrannie serbe. Voilà pourquoi les
troupes
d'occupation auraient fait pleuvoir les bombes sur les terres
yougoslaves.
Le nationalisme a accueilli les forces d'occupation en applaudissant
des
deux mains.
Or aujourd'hui, les Albanais comme les Serbes affrontent les soldats de
l'OTAN et d'autre part, ils s'entre-tuent. Voilà le résultat de
l'intervention impérialiste et du nationalisme.
L'IMPERIALISME N'AGIT JAMAIS POUR L'INTERET DES PEUPLES
Sa politique est entièrement déterminée par la chasse au profit et la
quête
de nouveaux débouchés pour ses monopoles.
Il y a de cela un an, nous avions dit ceci: "Pour affaiblir ces pays en
vue
de les conquérir, l'impérialisme recourt à la politique du "diviser pour
régner" en exacerbant les différences nationales et religieuses".
C'est ce qui se produisit en Yougoslavie.
Au nom du Nouvel Ordre Mondial et pour créer de nouveaux marchés,
l'impérialisme agresse, bombarde, assassine et sème le trouble entre le
peuples. Et il repasse à l'offensive chaque fois que sa soif de
domination
n'est pas satisfaite.
On a ainsi largué des tonnes de bombes sur le peuple irakien, puis on a
divisé les terres irakiennes.
Dans les Balkans, on a d'abord veillé à ce que les peuples
s'entre-tuent,
puis on a morcelé la Yougoslavie.
L'impérialisme veut reproduire la même chose dans le Caucase,
c'est-à-dire
contrôler la région en créant des états après avoir préalablement attisé
les
différences nationales et religieuses. La Turquie joue un rôle de
premier
ordre dans ce plan. Mais toutes ces interventions sont patronnées par
l'impérialisme.
Religieux, "démocrates", nationalistes kurdes et compagnie, vous qui
applaudissez l'intervention en Yougoslavie, admirez la démocratie et la
paix
impérialistes! Sang, larmes, boucheries...
Les peuples doivent éviter de tomber dans ces manoeuvres. Il faut
empêcher
que l'impérialisme sème la discorde et la division entre les peuples.
LA LIBERATION DES PEUPLES RESIDE DANS LA LUTTE COMMUNE CONTRE
L'IMPERIALISME
FRONT REVOLUTIONNAIRE DE LIBERATION DU PEUPLE
DEVRÝMCÝ HALK KURTULUÞ CEPHESÝ
====================================================================
2000 SERBI DELLA MACEDONIA IN PIAZZA A SKOPJE PER L'ANNIVERSARIO
2,000 MACEDONIAN SERBS STAGE ANTI-NATO PROTEST IN SKOPJE
SKOPJE, Macedonia, March 26, 2000 (Agence France
Presse)
At least 2,000 people gathered here Friday at
an anti-NATO rally organized by a Macedonian Serb
political party to mark the first anniversary of the
start of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.
The rally was organized by the Democratic Party
of Serbs (DPS) in Macedonia, whose leader Dragisa
Miletic addressed the protesters, gathered at
Skopje's main square Macedonia, criticizing the
"servile attitude" of Skopje and other neighboring
countries towards NATO.
They were also burning leaflets with American
flags where the stars had been replaced by swastikas.
After an hour the protesters started to disperse
peacefully, although under a heavy police presence.
=====================================================================
INAUGURATA UNA MOSTRA SULLA AGGRESSIONE NATO
AL MUSEO DELL'AVIAZIONE JUGOSLAVA
Thursday, March 23 12:02 PM SGT
Yugoslav Airstrikes Museum hunting NATO air strike
"souvenirs"
BELGRADE, Mar 23 (AFP) -
One year after the first NATO bombing raids on
Belgrade, the Yugoslav Aviation Museum is hunting down
everything from bomb parts to aircraft wreckage to
join a collection which has become a major tourist
attraction.
Thousands of people have visited the NATO bombing
exhibition since it opened in December on the first
floor of the Aviation Museum, near Belgrade's
international airport in Surcin, 15 kilometers (nine
miles) northwest of the capital.
Top draws include the wreckage of a sophisticated US
F-117A Stealth fighter, brought down by an Yugoslav
anti-aircraft missile on March 27, 1999, near
Budjanovci, west of Belgrade.
On display are the ejection seat and the plane's
canopy, bearing the inscription "Capt. Ken 'Wizz'
Dwelle".
The exhibition also includes a piece of a bomb that
severely damaged the Chinese embassy in Belgrade,
killing three people -- a gift from the embassy, said
museum director Cedomir Janjic.
The more items put on display, the bigger the crowds,
Janjic noted, adding: "We are still hunting for NATO
bomb parts and airplane wreckages that fell on our
soil during the aggression."
On March 24, 1999, NATO launched a 78-day bombing
campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
order to force Belgrade to accept Alliance troops in
Kosovo and end what it termed Serbian repression
against ethnic Albanians in the province.
The bombing campaign killed up to 2,000 civilians,
according to the official Tanjug news agency, or
around 1,500, according to the G17, a group of
independent Serb economists.
The airstrikes ended on June 10, 1999, with Belgrade's
agreement to withdraw its troops from Kosovo and the
arrival of a NATO-led international force (KFOR) to
ensure security in the province.
Although the Stealth fighter is, in Janjic's words,
"the pride of the collection," the museum also has
wreckage from an F-16 fighter plane, shot down May 2,
1999, near Sabac in western Serbia, displaying the
rear of the cockpit and a vertical stabilizer with an
eagle on it.
An American Predator spy plane shot down near Urosevac
in southern Kosovo on May 13 hangs on the roof of the
exposition hall, which attracts foreign visitors as
well as Yugoslavs.
Remains of radio-locators, CBU-87 cluster bombs and
BLU-114 graphite bombs are displayed in showcases next
to the first Tomahawk cruise missile shot down in the
war, near Kraljevo, in central Serbia, during the
first night of airstrikes.
NATO has given out few details on its losses, although
it acknowledged the downing of the F-117A and the
F-16A on display in the museum. The pilots of both
planes were rescued.
The Yugoslav side claimed to have shot down a total of
61 NATO planes, 30 drones, seven helicopters and 238
cruise missiles, according to Tanjug, but the
authorities did not provide evidence of destroyed
manned aircraft other than the two on display.
Janjic said the displays were only a "small part" of
the 1,500 items the museum has gathered from 90
locations. Thirty other locations were yet to be
inspected, Janjic added.
"Through what we call aero-archaeology -- searching
for remnants of crashed planes -- we had found in the
past wreckages of planes from World War I and II. With
the same process, we expect to find more evidence that
there were many more NATO planes shot than the two
publicly acknowledged" by the Alliance, he said.
Janjic added he expected to find wreckage in rivers
and lakes as well as in the Adriatic Sea.
Many countries are interested in getting items for
their collections, including museums from "aggressor"
NATO countries, he said, without giving details.
=====================================================================
COMMEMORAZIONE IN SUD AFRICA
http://news.24.com/English/South_Africa/South_Africa/ENG_319621_1105108_SEO.asp
South Africa News 24
March 24, 2000
Protestors commemorate Kosovo bombing
Pretoria - About 80 South African citizens and
residents of Yugoslavia held a peaceful protest in
Pretoria on Friday to commemorate the first
anniversary of Nato's bombardment of Yugoslavia.
SABC radio news reported that memorandums were handed
to the British High Commission and the American
Embassy.
The protesters were demanding, among other things, the
rebuilding of their country and also requested a
peaceful resolution of the situation.
Thousands of Yugoslavian civilians were killed and
scores injured on this day when Nato forces attacked
and bombed their country.
In remembrance of all innocent victims, a minute of
silence was observed. - Sapa
======================================================================
SELEZIONE DI ARTICOLI
Current Headlines
http://www.serbianna.com/current_headlines.html
THE GLOBAL TYRANNY
The Balkans:
Yugoslavia Hoped For More Russian Support In War
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=146005
Chasing a Balkan Mirage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=wpni/print&articleid=A17045-2000Mar25
Nato's mistakes
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/03/27/timfeafea02007.html
WAS IT A MISTAKE?
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a38de1ad32112.htm
The Lies Last Time ( by Phil Hammond)
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/hammond/lieslast.htm
British Media Follow Cook's Instructions Not to Commemorate Kosovo War
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-03/26/18059.html
Europe's Dirty Secret (by Rick Rozoff )
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/rozoff/europes.htm
Venice on a sea of bombs
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/veniceon.htm
Ideological Opposites Gather Against War
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/03/25/MN32848.DTL
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY
BELGRADE, 24 March 2000 No. 2969
S P E C I A L I S S U E
ADDRESS OF FOREIGN MINISTER ZIVADIN JOVANOVIC
AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "CONSEQUENCES OF
THE NATO AGGRESSION AGAINST F.R. YUGOSLAVIA"
(Belgrade, 24 March 2000.)
Dear friends,
Distinguished guests,
It is my great pleasure and honor to greet you and wish all participants
of today's meeting a fruitful exchange of views and enjoyable stay in
Yugoslavia.
Today, exactly a year ago, the eyes of the world public were on the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because the NATO military machine
spearheaded by the United States, launched a brutal aggression against
the
FR of Yugoslavia, an independent and sovereign country, a founding
member
of the United Nations and of other international organizations.
The aggression was perpetrated because Yugoslavia, as a sovereign
country,
with deep freedom-loving roots, did not want to accept the disgraceful
diktat of Rambouillet and Paris based on the deception of an alleged
violation of human rights. Yugoslavia rejected the diktat which demanded
the capitulation and occupation of the entire country.
If the eyes of the world were on Yugoslavia a year ago because of the
outset of aggression looking with apprehension and uncertainty as to
whether this country and its people will succeed in defending freedom,
whether David will overpower the Goliath of the post-industrialist era,
than there is no longer such a dilemma. Yugoslavia succeeded in
defending
dignity, it confirmed its freedom-loving traditions and gave hope to
others
that there is no force which can defeat a nation which is united and
determined to defend its own at any cost.
We believe that today, a year later, the eyes of the world public are
again on Belgrade and on this meeting, but now in recognition of courage
and support for rebuilding what was destroyed, for building new and
modern.
Many eyes are precisely on this high meeting in which the most famous
creators from all parts of the world take part, those who represent the
conscious of mankind and its noblest humanistic values. The people in
this
hall in the heart of freedom-loving Belgrade expect fresh encouragement
and
an inspiration for a better future.
Distinguished guests,
How come that it was the FR of Yugoslavia that was chosen to be the
proving ground for testing the model of the "New World Order"? First, in
the analysis of the strategists of the New World Order, Yugoslavia is
treated as a "real problem", as a physical obstacle standing in the way
of
achievement of the goal of expansion into Eastern Europe and of
mastering
natural resources and sources of energy in the rich regions of the
Middle
East, the Caucasus and Central Asia which is a key to Europe and
Euroasia
and an access to Russia and China from the West. Second, if it is true
that
during the period of the bloc division of the world Yugoslavia was seen
as
a buffer zone and that it valorized its geostrategic importance on that
basis, then it is also true that today, at a time of integration
processes
Yugoslavia with its known geostrategic advantages is becoming a bridge
linking north and south, eastern and western Europe. Third, Yugoslavia
was
chosen as a target of aggression, because by "bringing to its knees" of
countries which on a world scale symbolize freedom and independence it
was
meant to intimidate all other countries and peoples and to discourage
their
opposition to hegemony and imperialism. NATO and the US administration
mind
even the very existence of Yugoslavia and what it stands for today - a
multiethnic, multicultural State, which is, despite the pressures and
sanctions and despite a million refugees, developing faster and more
comprehensively than its neighbors which, at least in words, enjoy every
assistance and support of the rich NATO members, the United States in
particular.
The NATO aggression against the FR of Yugoslavia was a culmination of
the
American aspirations to establish, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a
new
unipolar world order in which the United States will be the pivot and
the
NATO alliance its chief instrument. In conditions when NATO has lost its
global adversary and any national justification for its existence, the
aggression should have assigned a new role for NATO and confirmed the
global supremacy of the United States. It was an arrogant demonstration
of
the fact that the new masters of the world are making their own rules
and
taking into their own hands the role of the judge, the jury and
executioner.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,
The consequences of the NATO aggression may be viewed at several levels.
The first level is Yugoslavia as a direct victim of crimes and
destruction.
The second is a regional one as part of South Eastern Europe. The third
is
a European one, the fourth global or the world level.
Although they are all mutually closely related, it is difficult to
analyze
them in isolation. However, for this occasion the basic facts should be
recalled about the consequences at each individual level.
NATO has caused a humanitarian, economic and environmental disaster in
Yugoslavia by using the most destructive means, including cluster bombs,
depleted uranium ammunition, carbon fiber bombs. Leaders of NATO
countries,
the US administration in the first place, are responsible for the
killing
of several thousand inhabitants of Yugoslavia, including women,
children,
babies, refugees, travelers on the busses and international passenger
trains, for the destruction of hospitals, schools, the water supply
system,
the power system, heating of larger cities, residential areas, bridges,
railways and roads. The damage caused by war is estimated at more than
US$
100 billion. Such losses and civilian destruction cynically explained by
the NATO propaganda as "collateral damage" were the core of the NATO
strategy, especially after promises made in public that Serbia will be
brought to its knees within 3 or 7 days at the latest, proved to be at
least narrow-minded arrogance. By systematically bombing civilian
targets
and causing a massive loss of human life, NATO targeted the people and
its
morale, to which it obviously paid very little attention in its
calculations. In particular, they underestimated the determination,
patriotic feelings and unity of the people and leadership of the
country.
At the regional level, the aggression drastically halted and set back
the
processes of normalization, the development of good-neighborly relations
and promotion of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in South
Eastern Europe, whose prospects were opened up by the signing of the
Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement in 1995, by the Royaumont initiative and
the
Crete Summit in 1997. By combining the dirtiest methods of pressure and
promises, the US administration drew Yugoslavia's neighbors to take part
in
one way or another in the aggression. Through the policy of divide and
rule
and by encouraging even territorial claims of some neighbors against
Yugoslavia, the US administration not only undermined the important
results
of the regional cooperation and all known regional initiatives, but
attempted to sow as much division and as much mistrust in the region as
possible by involving the neighboring countries in the criminal
aggression.
In this way, it clearly revealed that its real purpose was longer term
destabilization of the region aimed at justifying the movement of its
troops from Central to South Eastern Europe and Eastern Europe through
the
establishment and interconnection of the new chain of its military
bases.
What the pro-American governments in neighboring countries did not or
dared
not understand was very well understood by the broadest public in these
countries namely that the goal of the American policy was total
domination
and colonialization of the peoples and countries of South Eastern
Europe,
exploitation of their human and economic resources, provision of a
bridge
head to the Caspian region, Central Asia and western borders of Russia
and
China.
The model of an alliance between NATO and the separatist and terrorist
organization such as the so called "KLA" - in which the roles were so
assigned that the criminal, mafia and terrorist gangs acted as the foot
soldiers to NATO and conversely in which NATO served as an air support
to
the terrorists - is very important for understanding not only regional
but
also less European and global consequences of the aggression. It remains
for military analysts to study such pearls of NATO strategists as
provision
of protection to terrorist gangs by a squadron of B-52 strategic bombers
in
their attempts to infiltrate from Albania into Serbia in the regions of
Mt.
Pa{trik and Ko{are. This alliance was created even during the so called
Rambouillet and Paris talks, at Thaci-Clark meetings and even much
earlier
at the meetings of US representatives with the seasoned terrorists and
criminals at Junik, Davos and London. These are only the most drastic
forms
of abuse of separatism and terrorism which are incidentally resorted to
by
US intelligence and administration in one way or the other, ranging from
South Eastern Asia, Tibet, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Dagestan,
Kosovo
and Metohija to Gibraltar and from the North Sea to the Cape of Good
Hope.
To force on Europe attrition, to slow down the process of its
integration
and access of the developed West and to resources of rich Russia is the
strategic goal of the US administration in order to preserve its
economic
and technological domination over the whole world. That goal was
reflected
even during the work of the so called Contact Group which served the
United
States gradually to draw Europe into the preparations for and later on
the
perpetration of the aggression itself. This was testified to by the
destruction of transport routes on Europe's corridor E-10, the bridges
over
the Danube near Novi Sad so as to prevent the use of economic lifelines,
especially important for the profitability and competitiveness of
European
products and services, for links between northern and southern parts of
the
European Union, between Europe and the Caspian Basin, between the Middle
East and Central Asia. The NATO aggression against Yugoslavia inflicted
enormous long-term damage on Europe, both economically and politically
as
well as security and culture-wise. It revealed the major weaknesses of
Europe, and a striking lack of political leaders who care about breaking
away from American blackmail and projecting their own vision of European
identity. This is borne out, for instance, by the fact that neither the
parliaments nor the governments of Italy, France, Germany, Britain or
Spain
and many other European countries respected their own constitutions in
deciding to take part in the aggression, whereas the parliaments and
governments of some of them like Italy never had the issue of
participation
in the aggression on its agenda. If these are democratic societies, than
the question arises as to who made the decisions in the first place and
who
committed these countries to rain destruction on Yugoslavia and to kill
its
citizens? Or is it not that important for the quality of democracy to
decide on the participation in aggression against a sovereign country.
Whereas it is more or less clear that the US administration made
political
decisions on the participation of European countries in the aggression
against Yugoslavia, more and more facts come to light confirming that
the
American diktat in the decisions taken within NATO itself during the
aggression was effectively accepted as a fait accompli. Clearly, such
experiences and treatment of the allies will not strengthen NATO nor
will
it open up the prospect of its development. Quite the opposite. Only
some
newly admitted members and those from Eastern Europe who lack confidence
in
their own people and look for a bulwark in their NATO masters have faith
in
NATO and vow to it.
There are signs that there is a growing awareness in Europe of an
increasing violation of European interests due to the blind following of
the US administration. It is a fact, however, that such trends of
concern
and readiness for greater attention to the European interests, if the
impression is not wrong, are more present in public opinion in Europe
than
in its administrative structures which grew accustomed to US blackmail
and
drawing very often personal benefits from it. We hope that Europe will
finally find the strength to put together its own European, rather than
the
now prevailing US agenda. We believe that this is an inevitable trend
although we harbor no illusions that it will be a fast and easy process.
Europe has not yet given a clear answer to the share of responsibilities
according to the American prescription: we destroyed by the bombs and
aircraft, so it is now up to you, the Europeans, to build what was
destroyed and to repair the consequences, if you have any use of it!
As far as the global consequences of the NATO aggression are concerned,
they are simply though understandably not sufficiently concretely
reflected
in an assessment made during the aggression itself: after the aggression
the world and world relations will in no way be the same after 24 March
1999. The NATO alliance called its game by the aggression - instead of
the
criterion of equality, the criterion of hierarchy is forced upon the
world.
Forces above the law, above the principles and the UN Charter
consequently,
NATO is above the UN Security Council and the United States above NATO
and
Europe.
The architects of such a strategy gave a special place to the right to a
so-called "humanitarian intervention". By establishing a monopoly over
judging where and how human rights are violated, the US administration
opens the door wide for gross interference in the internal affairs of
other
countries even for military intervention using its monopoly of the most
influential global media. Thus, the US administration has developed a
technology of indoctrinating the American and world public in order to
justify by its care for human rights and the lofty democratic ideals
interference in internal affairs, arbitrary proclamation of certain
areas
in the world the "zones of US vital interest" and preparations for armed
aggression by covering up its true hegemonistic and colonialist goals
such
as control over energy sources, strategic resources, large markets and
important geopolitical regions. It goes without saying that the
arrogance
of the proponents of this policy leaves no scope for asking questions
about
the massive violation of basic human rights in the United States itself
and
the world at large through an arbitrary imposition of US sanctions which
have at this very moment been in place for 87 countries or for 42 per
cent
of the population on this planet. An accompanying lever of this
hegemonistic strategy is the doctrine of limited sovereignty which is
attempted to be imposed, above all on the non-aligned and developing
countries.
The proponents of this doctrine do not mind seeing and reacting by
threats
even to the non-existent and imagined interference in US internal
affairs,
demanding absolute respect for its hyper-sovereignty. At the same time,
the
sovereignty of other countries has no worth to them. They adopt a racist
attitude towards developing countries, maintaining that they are
conservative and that they do not understand that limitation of their
sovereignty is in the interest of their modern democratic development.
The fact is that the global messages and dangers of the NATO aggression
against Yugoslavia are understood well in the world. An overwhelming
majority of the Member States of the World organization strongly rejects
the concept of interventionism, the doctrine of limited sovereignty and
the
American pretension to act as the world policeman. This was clearly
demonstrated on numerous occasions so far, including at the 54th session
of
the UN General Assembly.
By its successful defense from the aggression, Yugoslavia has made a
historic contribution to the protection of the rights and principles of
international relations in confrontation with the brute force. It has
thus,
at the same time, restored confidence in the lasting values of the UN
Charter and in the sustainability of the system of international
relations
based on the equality, sovereignty, territorial integrity and
non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States. What
seemed
impossible or highly unlikely before the NATO aggression, Yugoslavia
proved
not only possible but a must: it resolutely resisted the most powerful
military machine and the strategy of bringing other peoples into
submission, and it succeeded in defending its freedom, dignity and
independence.
Distinguished guests,
All hopes that the Cold War era will be followed by the democratization
of
international relations and that we shall enter a period of a stable and
durable peace, have been betrayed. Unfortunately, we are witness to the
opposite processes of a radical revision of the system of international
relations established after the Second World War of a conscious and
intentional violation of the fundamental principles enshrined in the
Charter of the United Nations and attempts at imposing the New World
Order
and "globalization" of international relations. This trend is followed
by
attempts at sociological and cultural globalization, that is of basing
the
whole world on the same type of a society, namely on liberal democratic
capitalism of the West through a kind of "liberal imperialism" and a new
totalitarianism. The stories of a free trade, free circulation of goods
and
capital is only a cover for the imposition of a global economic order in
which to ensure complete control over markets, most important
geostrategic
regions, raw materials and resources. The bottom line is to ensure the
right to prosperity and riches for an exclusive group of countries and
to
condemn the rest of them to the role of colonies, vassals and permanent
impoverishment.
The policy pursued by the US administration and by NATO Member States,
based on its economic and military power and on control of the money
flows,
is a dangerous one because it leads to the rich getting richer and the
poor
getting poorer. There is a conscious effort to disrupt the entire system
of
international relations, to produce destabilization and fragmentation of
independent countries. The United Nations and its Security Council have
been further marginalized while senior US representatives openly issue
threats that they will finance the United Nations only if it works in
its,
that is, US interest. We have come to the situation where delegations of
the Security Council negotiate with lower-rank US officials only because
they are threatening to tighten the screws on the finances of the UN.
The chief protagonist of the new world unipolar order is the Anglo-Saxon
axis. It is not accidental at all that the United Kingdom appears to be
the
most ardent executor of the US policy and a country which is always
ready
to block any more independent action of the EU and to prevent it from
acting as an independent political factor. It is not an exaggeration to
say
that basically one of the main activities of the Anglo-Saxon axis is
directed precisely against the idea of unification of Europe which along
with China, Russia and India could be a serious counter-weight and a
factor
of curbing the uncontrolled power of the new world supreme power.
In this so called "New World Order", through permanent destabilization
and
civil wars as well as through creation and management and regional
crises,
encouragement of separatism and terrorism, force as the only criterion
in
international relations is being promoted and excuses are being found
for
domination and rule over less developed and smaller States and peoples.
The
aggressive policy of the United States is particularly focused on the
ethnically mixed communities and countries through an undisguised
encouragement of separatism, religious and ethnic exclusiveness and
production of terrorists, through arbitrary interpretation and abuse of
such categories as human and minority rights. Organized campaigns of
"public lies" and creation of realities by the use of the enormous newly
created power of the world media is in the function of domination of the
world. The tendum of world power centers and the world media has created
a
"virtual reality" which is then presented as the final truth all over
the
world. As part of regular preparations for the conduct of an aggressive
policy towards a particular region is also a systematic demonization of
the
whole nations and individual cultures. The example of the FR of
Yugoslavia
is the best illustration of it, since in the last ten years a nation
which
has made an enormous contribution to the struggle against Fascism and
for
the freedom of Europe and the world has been portrayed in the most
influential world media as an uncivilized criminal nation whose victims
are
unworthy of sympathy.
Distinguished guests,
It should be recalled that until the spring of 1998 the situation in the
southern Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija was calm irrespective
of
the problems which existed as a result of the boycott of the State
institutions by a part of the Albanian separatists. The separatist
movement
was not caused by any repression or violation of human or minority
rights
of the Albanian ethnic minority, but primarily by constant outside
encouragement with a view to weakening opposition to the spread of
hegemony
and the new NATO strategy. By separating Kosovo and Metohija from the
Republic of Serbia as its integral part and the creation of the so
called
"Greater Albania" from parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and
Greece,
NATO aims to reshape international borders and cause longer term
destabilization of the entire South Eastern Europe and thus justify its
movement from Central Europe and the expansion to the East.
It is indicative that parallel with prospects for improved relations
between Yugoslavia and Albania following the Crete meeting between
President Milosevic and Prime Minister Nano and later for the solution
of
an important segment of outstanding issues in Kosovo and Metohija that
is
an understanding on the implementation of the Education agreement that
would provide an opportunity for the resolution of other open issues as
well - there emerged all of a sudden in early spring 1998 the so called
"Kosovo Liberation Army". Through intimidation and by employing other
proven methods of terrorists, the so called "KLA" took all the
population
of Kosovo and Metohija practically hostage and rendered more difficult
political settlement of unresolved issues and afforded an excuse for
internationalization and an interference of the so called "international
community".
Equipped and funded by the secret service of Albania, the US, Germany
and
the United Kingdom, with the great assistance of the international narco
mafia and Islamic terrorists and extremists, the so called "KLA" killed
several hundred citizens and committed scores of terrorist attacks
during
the course of 1998 and 1999.
"KLA" terrorism was an excuse to step up pressure on Serbia and the FR
of
Yugoslavia, which accepted even the deployment of OSCE monitors in
Kosovo
and Metohija and the opening of negotiations with the participation of
foreign mediators concerning a substantial future autonomy for the
Province, all in good faith and the hope that it would be possible to
find
a just and durable solution to all open issues. Regrettably, very soon
it
turned out that some western countries above all the United States,
regardless of the fact that immediately prior to that it publicly
declared
the so called "KLA" as a terrorist organization, directly stood behind
the
terrorists and bandits and that their real goal was not to arrive at any
just and acceptable political solution but to occupy Kosovo and Metohija
militarily and to fragment the FR of Yugoslavia further.
Parallel with these activities directed towards the "KLA", the US and
its
allies continued to exercise ever more blunt pressure and threats
against
the FR of Yugoslavia, offering more and more unacceptable frameworks for
a
political settlement of issues in Kosovo and Metohija culminating in the
shameful and unprecedented ultimatum at Rambouillet, calculating in
advance
that it would not be accepted and being so designed as to make it
unacceptable to any country.
The so-called "negotiations" in Rambouillet and Paris in fact never took
place. The US did not allow any direct talks between the delegations
which
never met and talked. The draft agreement was kept by the US delegation
as
top secret and was not known even to the international mediators or the
other delegations of Contact Group countries which were supposed to
mediate
in the negotiations. The very draft document was badly disguised prelude
in
the legalization of secession of Kosovo and Metohija with simultaneous
provision of a massive military presence and occupation of all territory
of
the FR of Yugoslavia by the NATO forces. This was actually a tactic of
buying time in order to prepare the public for the aggression on which
decisions were made even before the simulation of talks in Rambouillet
and
Paris.
Upon rejection of the ultimatum, there followed NATO's military
aggression
which was presented to the public as preventing a "humanitarian crisis"
in
Kosovo and Metohija.
Dear friends,
In its barbarian aggression, NATO has committed serious crimes against
humanity, violated virtually all rules of international law: from the UN
Charter banning a war of aggression and the use of force without the
authorization of the Security Council to all more important
international
conventions. The total war imposed on the FR of Yugoslavia and
calculated
to destroy completely its economic potential, to cause the mass killing
of
its population and genocide, is amoral and illegal by all standards -
according to international law, according to the founding act of NATO as
a
"defensive organization" and according to the constitutions of the NATO
Member States themselves. True, the NATO aggression, by its barbarity
and
massacre of civilians is more horrible, in many ways than the crimes of
W.W.II. NATO member States have committed serious international crimes:
crimes against peace through aggression and unauthorized use of armed
force; crimes against humanity, a crime of genocide and war crimes
through
the use of prohibited means such as cluster and depleted uranium
munitions,
chemical weapons and massive killing of civilians. The FR of Yugoslavia
has
instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice, for
determination of the responsibility of States participating in the
aggression as well as before the national courts of the aggressor States
for determination of responsibility of individuals and governments of
these
States for violation of the constitutional and criminal law of these
very
States. In the States taking part in the aggression people's courts
consisting of individuals and non-governmental organizations have been
spontaneously set up to condemn morally individuals bearing the greatest
responsibility for these crimes.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The heroic defense and resistance of Yugoslavia to the aggression was a
serious moral and political defeat for the aggressor which was prevented
in
its intention to impose its own will as a fait accmpli and to prove its
power in the world. Once again, Yugoslavia has demonstrated that no
power,
however technologically superior in weapons, is capable of defeating the
numbers and the equipment of a people determined and united to defend
its
freedom. NATO has achieved none of its military and political goals and
the
doctrine of the "right to a humanitarian intervention", which was to be
triumphantly inaugurated at the current session of the UN General
Assembly
after the aggression on the FR of Yugoslavia, was condemned in general
terms by the Member States of the World organization. Instead of
contributing to the prestige of NATO and of scaring the world of the
enormous military and political machine, the aggression has had an
opposite
effect. It encouraged the countries true to their freedom and policy of
independence to join their efforts in fighting more effectively this
hegemonistic neo-imperialist and neo-colonialist policy.
Yugoslavia has succeeded in returning the resolution of the Kosovo
problem
to the framework of the United Nations, insisting that the UN only has
the
mandate to maintain international peace and security. By the Belgrade
peace
document, the Military-Technical Agreement of Kumanovo and ultimately
its
resolution 1244 (1999), the UN Security Council temporarily took
responsibility for the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija. At the
same time, the Security Council reaffirmed guarantees of the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the FR of Yugoslavia, a political solution
on
the basis of equality of citizens and all ethnic communities within the
framework of an autonomy. The international community has established
its
presence in the province through the UNMIK and KFOR missions entrusted
with
a task of ensuring the security of the population. It is clear that a
political settlement for Kosovo and Metohija must be based on an
autonomy
within the Republic of Serbia guaranteeing the equality of all citizens,
and ethnic communities in the southern Serbian province.
Regretfully, the situation in the Province is characterized by the daily
terror of the so called "KLA", killings, an ethnic cleansing of Serbs,
Roma, Muslims, Goranci and non-Albanians in general as well as by total
lawlessness. The Province has thus been turned into a center of
terrorism
and organized international crime in Europe. This clearly shows that the
missions mandated by the United Nations have not fulfilled their basic
task
of guaranteeing a safe environment, public order and peace and return of
refugees and displaced persons almost nine months from their deployment.
The terrorist "KLA", instead of being disarmed and disbanded, has been
renamed into the so-called "Kosovo Protection Corps", with which
international representatives closely cooperate. These decisions, which
are
in direct violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), are a
clear indication of open links between the leadership of the UN civil
mission and KFOR on the one hand, and terrorists and separatists on the
other.
The consequence of such an attitude of international civil and security
presences is the exodus of about 350,000 non-Albanians, close to 5,000
terrorist attacks made since 12 June 1999, of which more than 4,000
against
the non-Albanian population. Since the deployment of international
representatives, over 933 persons (more than 800 Serbs and Montenegrins)
have been killed, over 800 have been kidnapped and more than 50,000
homes
have been destroyed or burned down, 85 Christian churches and
monasteries
as well as cultural monuments have been destroyed.
More than 200,000 foreign nationals are currently illegally present in
Kosovo and Metohija. The terrorists from Albania walk the length and
breath
of Kosovo and Metohija. Islamic extremists arrive from various parts of
the
world and the whole province is in the hands of mafia clans and
terrorists.
The government of the FR of Yugoslavia has addressed more than 50
communications to the Security Council drawing attention to the
deterioration of the general situation in Kosovo and Metohija and
calling
for the taking of appropriate measures, including determination of the
responsibility for the continued genocide of the Serbian and
non-Albanian
population in Kosovo and Metohija perpetrated under the auspices of the
UN.
All this is confirmation that the aggression against the FR of
Yugoslavia
continues by other means - through sanctions and attempts at wearing out
and exhausting the Yugoslav economy and halting the economic development
of
the FR of Yugoslavia through subversive activity and attempted
destabilization of Serbia and the FRY, through fresh military threats,
all
the way to the media aggression and deliberate sabotage and violation of
the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo and Metohija.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Clearly, Yugoslavia as the victim of a brutal aggression, cannot nor has
it the right to forget the crimes for which the leaders of the US
administration and NATO are responsible. No one can forget nor has he
the
right to forget the responsibility of those who have in any way
participated in the preparation or the perpetration of aggression.
Thousands of innocent human losses, including women, elderly people,
children, even babies on the maternity wards make us bound not to
forget.
We insist on the identification of every responsibility of the
aggressors
for the crimes against peace and humanity as well as on the compensation
for the damage caused by war, in respect of which the government of the
FR
of Yugoslavia submitted a Memorial to the International Court of Justice
in
the Hague. Just as we heroically defended our freedom and dignity, we
say
to the aggressors' forces that we will be equally successful in
defending
ourselves from all forms of an extended aggression through sanctions,
interference in the internal affairs, encouragement of separatism and
destabilization and systematic violation of the decisions of the
Security
Council concerning the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. We
continue
equally united and efficiently with our reconstruction and economic
development that you will, we hope, have the opportunity to see
firsthand
at least partly.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,
Yugoslavia has a long tradition of openness for equitable cooperation
with
respect for the common interests of all our partners and
non-interference
in the internal affairs. With such a policy it has been and remains to
be
an indispensable constructive factor of peace, stability and cooperation
in
the Balkans, in Europe and the world.
Allow me to say a few words now about the priorities of Yugoslavia's
policy.
The foremost priority is the protection of the sovereignty and
territorial
integrity of Yugoslavia, i.e. prevention of any separatism and
terrorism,
removal of all threats, pressure and outside interference.
Second, ensuring conditions for the reconstruction and rebuilding of the
country, encouragement of the participation of foreign partners.
Third, strengthening of the reputation and international position of
Yugoslavia on the international scene by developing cooperation on an
equal
basis and friendly relations with all countries respecting Yugoslavia as
an
equal partner.
Fourth, normalization of its membership status in international,
political, economic and other organizations and the lifting of
sanctions.
In our neighborhood and in South Eastern Europe, we continue to pursue
an
active, open and principled policy of normalization of relations with
the
former Yugoslav republics, development of good-neighborliness with all
our
neighbors while respecting the principle of sovereignty and territorial
integrity as well as respect for mutual interests and non-interference
in
the internal affairs.
This implies that all countries of the region should respect the rights
of
ethnic minorities in accordance with the European standards, notably the
right to use one's own language, to education in one's native language,
to
foster one's own cultural heritage on a national identity and customs.
We are in favor of strengthening in economic integration processes
dismantling all customs, administrative and other barriers to free
movement
of people, capital, goods, services, scientific, cultural and other
values,
including the creation of free trade areas.
The development of a multilateral regional cooperation with an equal
participation of all countries and respect for the original interests of
peoples and States of the region is our major commitment. The more so
since
the process of this cooperation was inaugurated in Belgrade in 1988 at
the
First Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Balkan countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The people of Yugoslavia aspires for peace and cooperation with its
neighbors, wishing a developed and upright Balkans, which will not serve
as
a testing ground for inhuman experiments of the architects of the New
World
Order, desirous of a Europe and a world where common sense and
understanding among people and nations will prevail. We are aware of all
the dangers and challenges on that road just as we are aware of the fact
that this was not going to be an easy struggle. In our efforts for a
better
and happier future of all the world, all the people and all nations, we
are
ready to cooperate with all those who care about equality, peace and
understanding among people. We are convinced that a large majority of
mankind shares our goals and convictions.
Therefore, if it is true that the NATO aggression has had global
hegemonistic aims, then it is equally true that the defense of
Yugoslavia
from that aggression has had global freedom values.
Thank you.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
YUGOSLAV DAILY SURVEY
BELGRADE, 24 March 2000 No. 2969
S P E C I A L I S S U E
ADDRESS OF FOREIGN MINISTER ZIVADIN JOVANOVIC
AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "CONSEQUENCES OF
THE NATO AGGRESSION AGAINST F.R. YUGOSLAVIA"
(Belgrade, 24 March 2000.)
Dear friends,
Distinguished guests,
It is my great pleasure and honor to greet you and wish all participants
of today's meeting a fruitful exchange of views and enjoyable stay in
Yugoslavia.
Today, exactly a year ago, the eyes of the world public were on the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because the NATO military machine
spearheaded by the United States, launched a brutal aggression against
the
FR of Yugoslavia, an independent and sovereign country, a founding
member
of the United Nations and of other international organizations.
The aggression was perpetrated because Yugoslavia, as a sovereign
country,
with deep freedom-loving roots, did not want to accept the disgraceful
diktat of Rambouillet and Paris based on the deception of an alleged
violation of human rights. Yugoslavia rejected the diktat which demanded
the capitulation and occupation of the entire country.
If the eyes of the world were on Yugoslavia a year ago because of the
outset of aggression looking with apprehension and uncertainty as to
whether this country and its people will succeed in defending freedom,
whether David will overpower the Goliath of the post-industrialist era,
than there is no longer such a dilemma. Yugoslavia succeeded in
defending
dignity, it confirmed its freedom-loving traditions and gave hope to
others
that there is no force which can defeat a nation which is united and
determined to defend its own at any cost.
We believe that today, a year later, the eyes of the world public are
again on Belgrade and on this meeting, but now in recognition of courage
and support for rebuilding what was destroyed, for building new and
modern.
Many eyes are precisely on this high meeting in which the most famous
creators from all parts of the world take part, those who represent the
conscious of mankind and its noblest humanistic values. The people in
this
hall in the heart of freedom-loving Belgrade expect fresh encouragement
and
an inspiration for a better future.
Distinguished guests,
How come that it was the FR of Yugoslavia that was chosen to be the
proving ground for testing the model of the "New World Order"? First, in
the analysis of the strategists of the New World Order, Yugoslavia is
treated as a "real problem", as a physical obstacle standing in the way
of
achievement of the goal of expansion into Eastern Europe and of
mastering
natural resources and sources of energy in the rich regions of the
Middle
East, the Caucasus and Central Asia which is a key to Europe and
Euroasia
and an access to Russia and China from the West. Second, if it is true
that
during the period of the bloc division of the world Yugoslavia was seen
as
a buffer zone and that it valorized its geostrategic importance on that
basis, then it is also true that today, at a time of integration
processes
Yugoslavia with its known geostrategic advantages is becoming a bridge
linking north and south, eastern and western Europe. Third, Yugoslavia
was
chosen as a target of aggression, because by "bringing to its knees" of
countries which on a world scale symbolize freedom and independence it
was
meant to intimidate all other countries and peoples and to discourage
their
opposition to hegemony and imperialism. NATO and the US administration
mind
even the very existence of Yugoslavia and what it stands for today - a
multiethnic, multicultural State, which is, despite the pressures and
sanctions and despite a million refugees, developing faster and more
comprehensively than its neighbors which, at least in words, enjoy every
assistance and support of the rich NATO members, the United States in
particular.
The NATO aggression against the FR of Yugoslavia was a culmination of
the
American aspirations to establish, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a
new
unipolar world order in which the United States will be the pivot and
the
NATO alliance its chief instrument. In conditions when NATO has lost its
global adversary and any national justification for its existence, the
aggression should have assigned a new role for NATO and confirmed the
global supremacy of the United States. It was an arrogant demonstration
of
the fact that the new masters of the world are making their own rules
and
taking into their own hands the role of the judge, the jury and
executioner.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,
The consequences of the NATO aggression may be viewed at several levels.
The first level is Yugoslavia as a direct victim of crimes and
destruction.
The second is a regional one as part of South Eastern Europe. The third
is
a European one, the fourth global or the world level.
Although they are all mutually closely related, it is difficult to
analyze
them in isolation. However, for this occasion the basic facts should be
recalled about the consequences at each individual level.
NATO has caused a humanitarian, economic and environmental disaster in
Yugoslavia by using the most destructive means, including cluster bombs,
depleted uranium ammunition, carbon fiber bombs. Leaders of NATO
countries,
the US administration in the first place, are responsible for the
killing
of several thousand inhabitants of Yugoslavia, including women,
children,
babies, refugees, travelers on the busses and international passenger
trains, for the destruction of hospitals, schools, the water supply
system,
the power system, heating of larger cities, residential areas, bridges,
railways and roads. The damage caused by war is estimated at more than
US$
100 billion. Such losses and civilian destruction cynically explained by
the NATO propaganda as "collateral damage" were the core of the NATO
strategy, especially after promises made in public that Serbia will be
brought to its knees within 3 or 7 days at the latest, proved to be at
least narrow-minded arrogance. By systematically bombing civilian
targets
and causing a massive loss of human life, NATO targeted the people and
its
morale, to which it obviously paid very little attention in its
calculations. In particular, they underestimated the determination,
patriotic feelings and unity of the people and leadership of the
country.
At the regional level, the aggression drastically halted and set back
the
processes of normalization, the development of good-neighborly relations
and promotion of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in South
Eastern Europe, whose prospects were opened up by the signing of the
Dayton/Paris Peace Agreement in 1995, by the Royaumont initiative and
the
Crete Summit in 1997. By combining the dirtiest methods of pressure and
promises, the US administration drew Yugoslavia's neighbors to take part
in
one way or another in the aggression. Through the policy of divide and
rule
and by encouraging even territorial claims of some neighbors against
Yugoslavia, the US administration not only undermined the important
results
of the regional cooperation and all known regional initiatives, but
attempted to sow as much division and as much mistrust in the region as
possible by involving the neighboring countries in the criminal
aggression.
In this way, it clearly revealed that its real purpose was longer term
destabilization of the region aimed at justifying the movement of its
troops from Central to South Eastern Europe and Eastern Europe through
the
establishment and interconnection of the new chain of its military
bases.
What the pro-American governments in neighboring countries did not or
dared
not understand was very well understood by the broadest public in these
countries namely that the goal of the American policy was total
domination
and colonialization of the peoples and countries of South Eastern
Europe,
exploitation of their human and economic resources, provision of a
bridge
head to the Caspian region, Central Asia and western borders of Russia
and
China.
The model of an alliance between NATO and the separatist and terrorist
organization such as the so called "KLA" - in which the roles were so
assigned that the criminal, mafia and terrorist gangs acted as the foot
soldiers to NATO and conversely in which NATO served as an air support
to
the terrorists - is very important for understanding not only regional
but
also less European and global consequences of the aggression. It remains
for military analysts to study such pearls of NATO strategists as
provision
of protection to terrorist gangs by a squadron of B-52 strategic bombers
in
their attempts to infiltrate from Albania into Serbia in the regions of
Mt.
Pa{trik and Ko{are. This alliance was created even during the so called
Rambouillet and Paris talks, at Thaci-Clark meetings and even much
earlier
at the meetings of US representatives with the seasoned terrorists and
criminals at Junik, Davos and London. These are only the most drastic
forms
of abuse of separatism and terrorism which are incidentally resorted to
by
US intelligence and administration in one way or the other, ranging from
South Eastern Asia, Tibet, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Dagestan,
Kosovo
and Metohija to Gibraltar and from the North Sea to the Cape of Good
Hope.
To force on Europe attrition, to slow down the process of its
integration
and access of the developed West and to resources of rich Russia is the
strategic goal of the US administration in order to preserve its
economic
and technological domination over the whole world. That goal was
reflected
even during the work of the so called Contact Group which served the
United
States gradually to draw Europe into the preparations for and later on
the
perpetration of the aggression itself. This was testified to by the
destruction of transport routes on Europe's corridor E-10, the bridges
over
the Danube near Novi Sad so as to prevent the use of economic lifelines,
especially important for the profitability and competitiveness of
European
products and services, for links between northern and southern parts of
the
European Union, between Europe and the Caspian Basin, between the Middle
East and Central Asia. The NATO aggression against Yugoslavia inflicted
enormous long-term damage on Europe, both economically and politically
as
well as security and culture-wise. It revealed the major weaknesses of
Europe, and a striking lack of political leaders who care about breaking
away from American blackmail and projecting their own vision of European
identity. This is borne out, for instance, by the fact that neither the
parliaments nor the governments of Italy, France, Germany, Britain or
Spain
and many other European countries respected their own constitutions in
deciding to take part in the aggression, whereas the parliaments and
governments of some of them like Italy never had the issue of
participation
in the aggression on its agenda. If these are democratic societies, than
the question arises as to who made the decisions in the first place and
who
committed these countries to rain destruction on Yugoslavia and to kill
its
citizens? Or is it not that important for the quality of democracy to
decide on the participation in aggression against a sovereign country.
Whereas it is more or less clear that the US administration made
political
decisions on the participation of European countries in the aggression
against Yugoslavia, more and more facts come to light confirming that
the
American diktat in the decisions taken within NATO itself during the
aggression was effectively accepted as a fait accompli. Clearly, such
experiences and treatment of the allies will not strengthen NATO nor
will
it open up the prospect of its development. Quite the opposite. Only
some
newly admitted members and those from Eastern Europe who lack confidence
in
their own people and look for a bulwark in their NATO masters have faith
in
NATO and vow to it.
There are signs that there is a growing awareness in Europe of an
increasing violation of European interests due to the blind following of
the US administration. It is a fact, however, that such trends of
concern
and readiness for greater attention to the European interests, if the
impression is not wrong, are more present in public opinion in Europe
than
in its administrative structures which grew accustomed to US blackmail
and
drawing very often personal benefits from it. We hope that Europe will
finally find the strength to put together its own European, rather than
the
now prevailing US agenda. We believe that this is an inevitable trend
although we harbor no illusions that it will be a fast and easy process.
Europe has not yet given a clear answer to the share of responsibilities
according to the American prescription: we destroyed by the bombs and
aircraft, so it is now up to you, the Europeans, to build what was
destroyed and to repair the consequences, if you have any use of it!
As far as the global consequences of the NATO aggression are concerned,
they are simply though understandably not sufficiently concretely
reflected
in an assessment made during the aggression itself: after the aggression
the world and world relations will in no way be the same after 24 March
1999. The NATO alliance called its game by the aggression - instead of
the
criterion of equality, the criterion of hierarchy is forced upon the
world.
Forces above the law, above the principles and the UN Charter
consequently,
NATO is above the UN Security Council and the United States above NATO
and
Europe.
The architects of such a strategy gave a special place to the right to a
so-called "humanitarian intervention". By establishing a monopoly over
judging where and how human rights are violated, the US administration
opens the door wide for gross interference in the internal affairs of
other
countries even for military intervention using its monopoly of the most
influential global media. Thus, the US administration has developed a
technology of indoctrinating the American and world public in order to
justify by its care for human rights and the lofty democratic ideals
interference in internal affairs, arbitrary proclamation of certain
areas
in the world the "zones of US vital interest" and preparations for armed
aggression by covering up its true hegemonistic and colonialist goals
such
as control over energy sources, strategic resources, large markets and
important geopolitical regions. It goes without saying that the
arrogance
of the proponents of this policy leaves no scope for asking questions
about
the massive violation of basic human rights in the United States itself
and
the world at large through an arbitrary imposition of US sanctions which
have at this very moment been in place for 87 countries or for 42 per
cent
of the population on this planet. An accompanying lever of this
hegemonistic strategy is the doctrine of limited sovereignty which is
attempted to be imposed, above all on the non-aligned and developing
countries.
The proponents of this doctrine do not mind seeing and reacting by
threats
even to the non-existent and imagined interference in US internal
affairs,
demanding absolute respect for its hyper-sovereignty. At the same time,
the
sovereignty of other countries has no worth to them. They adopt a racist
attitude towards developing countries, maintaining that they are
conservative and that they do not understand that limitation of their
sovereignty is in the interest of their modern democratic development.
The fact is that the global messages and dangers of the NATO aggression
against Yugoslavia are understood well in the world. An overwhelming
majority of the Member States of the World organization strongly rejects
the concept of interventionism, the doctrine of limited sovereignty and
the
American pretension to act as the world policeman. This was clearly
demonstrated on numerous occasions so far, including at the 54th session
of
the UN General Assembly.
By its successful defense from the aggression, Yugoslavia has made a
historic contribution to the protection of the rights and principles of
international relations in confrontation with the brute force. It has
thus,
at the same time, restored confidence in the lasting values of the UN
Charter and in the sustainability of the system of international
relations
based on the equality, sovereignty, territorial integrity and
non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States. What
seemed
impossible or highly unlikely before the NATO aggression, Yugoslavia
proved
not only possible but a must: it resolutely resisted the most powerful
military machine and the strategy of bringing other peoples into
submission, and it succeeded in defending its freedom, dignity and
independence.
Distinguished guests,
All hopes that the Cold War era will be followed by the democratization
of
international relations and that we shall enter a period of a stable and
durable peace, have been betrayed. Unfortunately, we are witness to the
opposite processes of a radical revision of the system of international
relations established after the Second World War of a conscious and
intentional violation of the fundamental principles enshrined in the
Charter of the United Nations and attempts at imposing the New World
Order
and "globalization" of international relations. This trend is followed
by
attempts at sociological and cultural globalization, that is of basing
the
whole world on the same type of a society, namely on liberal democratic
capitalism of the West through a kind of "liberal imperialism" and a new
totalitarianism. The stories of a free trade, free circulation of goods
and
capital is only a cover for the imposition of a global economic order in
which to ensure complete control over markets, most important
geostrategic
regions, raw materials and resources. The bottom line is to ensure the
right to prosperity and riches for an exclusive group of countries and
to
condemn the rest of them to the role of colonies, vassals and permanent
impoverishment.
The policy pursued by the US administration and by NATO Member States,
based on its economic and military power and on control of the money
flows,
is a dangerous one because it leads to the rich getting richer and the
poor
getting poorer. There is a conscious effort to disrupt the entire system
of
international relations, to produce destabilization and fragmentation of
independent countries. The United Nations and its Security Council have
been further marginalized while senior US representatives openly issue
threats that they will finance the United Nations only if it works in
its,
that is, US interest. We have come to the situation where delegations of
the Security Council negotiate with lower-rank US officials only because
they are threatening to tighten the screws on the finances of the UN.
The chief protagonist of the new world unipolar order is the Anglo-Saxon
axis. It is not accidental at all that the United Kingdom appears to be
the
most ardent executor of the US policy and a country which is always
ready
to block any more independent action of the EU and to prevent it from
acting as an independent political factor. It is not an exaggeration to
say
that basically one of the main activities of the Anglo-Saxon axis is
directed precisely against the idea of unification of Europe which along
with China, Russia and India could be a serious counter-weight and a
factor
of curbing the uncontrolled power of the new world supreme power.
In this so called "New World Order", through permanent destabilization
and
civil wars as well as through creation and management and regional
crises,
encouragement of separatism and terrorism, force as the only criterion
in
international relations is being promoted and excuses are being found
for
domination and rule over less developed and smaller States and peoples.
The
aggressive policy of the United States is particularly focused on the
ethnically mixed communities and countries through an undisguised
encouragement of separatism, religious and ethnic exclusiveness and
production of terrorists, through arbitrary interpretation and abuse of
such categories as human and minority rights. Organized campaigns of
"public lies" and creation of realities by the use of the enormous newly
created power of the world media is in the function of domination of the
world. The tendum of world power centers and the world media has created
a
"virtual reality" which is then presented as the final truth all over
the
world. As part of regular preparations for the conduct of an aggressive
policy towards a particular region is also a systematic demonization of
the
whole nations and individual cultures. The example of the FR of
Yugoslavia
is the best illustration of it, since in the last ten years a nation
which
has made an enormous contribution to the struggle against Fascism and
for
the freedom of Europe and the world has been portrayed in the most
influential world media as an uncivilized criminal nation whose victims
are
unworthy of sympathy.
Distinguished guests,
It should be recalled that until the spring of 1998 the situation in the
southern Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija was calm irrespective
of
the problems which existed as a result of the boycott of the State
institutions by a part of the Albanian separatists. The separatist
movement
was not caused by any repression or violation of human or minority
rights
of the Albanian ethnic minority, but primarily by constant outside
encouragement with a view to weakening opposition to the spread of
hegemony
and the new NATO strategy. By separating Kosovo and Metohija from the
Republic of Serbia as its integral part and the creation of the so
called
"Greater Albania" from parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and
Greece,
NATO aims to reshape international borders and cause longer term
destabilization of the entire South Eastern Europe and thus justify its
movement from Central Europe and the expansion to the East.
It is indicative that parallel with prospects for improved relations
between Yugoslavia and Albania following the Crete meeting between
President Milosevic and Prime Minister Nano and later for the solution
of
an important segment of outstanding issues in Kosovo and Metohija that
is
an understanding on the implementation of the Education agreement that
would provide an opportunity for the resolution of other open issues as
well - there emerged all of a sudden in early spring 1998 the so called
"Kosovo Liberation Army". Through intimidation and by employing other
proven methods of terrorists, the so called "KLA" took all the
population
of Kosovo and Metohija practically hostage and rendered more difficult
political settlement of unresolved issues and afforded an excuse for
internationalization and an interference of the so called "international
community".
Equipped and funded by the secret service of Albania, the US, Germany
and
the United Kingdom, with the great assistance of the international narco
mafia and Islamic terrorists and extremists, the so called "KLA" killed
several hundred citizens and committed scores of terrorist attacks
during
the course of 1998 and 1999.
"KLA" terrorism was an excuse to step up pressure on Serbia and the FR
of
Yugoslavia, which accepted even the deployment of OSCE monitors in
Kosovo
and Metohija and the opening of negotiations with the participation of
foreign mediators concerning a substantial future autonomy for the
Province, all in good faith and the hope that it would be possible to
find
a just and durable solution to all open issues. Regrettably, very soon
it
turned out that some western countries above all the United States,
regardless of the fact that immediately prior to that it publicly
declared
the so called "KLA" as a terrorist organization, directly stood behind
the
terrorists and bandits and that their real goal was not to arrive at any
just and acceptable political solution but to occupy Kosovo and Metohija
militarily and to fragment the FR of Yugoslavia further.
Parallel with these activities directed towards the "KLA", the US and
its
allies continued to exercise ever more blunt pressure and threats
against
the FR of Yugoslavia, offering more and more unacceptable frameworks for
a
political settlement of issues in Kosovo and Metohija culminating in the
shameful and unprecedented ultimatum at Rambouillet, calculating in
advance
that it would not be accepted and being so designed as to make it
unacceptable to any country.
The so-called "negotiations" in Rambouillet and Paris in fact never took
place. The US did not allow any direct talks between the delegations
which
never met and talked. The draft agreement was kept by the US delegation
as
top secret and was not known even to the international mediators or the
other delegations of Contact Group countries which were supposed to
mediate
in the negotiations. The very draft document was badly disguised prelude
in
the legalization of secession of Kosovo and Metohija with simultaneous
provision of a massive military presence and occupation of all territory
of
the FR of Yugoslavia by the NATO forces. This was actually a tactic of
buying time in order to prepare the public for the aggression on which
decisions were made even before the simulation of talks in Rambouillet
and
Paris.
Upon rejection of the ultimatum, there followed NATO's military
aggression
which was presented to the public as preventing a "humanitarian crisis"
in
Kosovo and Metohija.
Dear friends,
In its barbarian aggression, NATO has committed serious crimes against
humanity, violated virtually all rules of international law: from the UN
Charter banning a war of aggression and the use of force without the
authorization of the Security Council to all more important
international
conventions. The total war imposed on the FR of Yugoslavia and
calculated
to destroy completely its economic potential, to cause the mass killing
of
its population and genocide, is amoral and illegal by all standards -
according to international law, according to the founding act of NATO as
a
"defensive organization" and according to the constitutions of the NATO
Member States themselves. True, the NATO aggression, by its barbarity
and
massacre of civilians is more horrible, in many ways than the crimes of
W.W.II. NATO member States have committed serious international crimes:
crimes against peace through aggression and unauthorized use of armed
force; crimes against humanity, a crime of genocide and war crimes
through
the use of prohibited means such as cluster and depleted uranium
munitions,
chemical weapons and massive killing of civilians. The FR of Yugoslavia
has
instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice, for
determination of the responsibility of States participating in the
aggression as well as before the national courts of the aggressor States
for determination of responsibility of individuals and governments of
these
States for violation of the constitutional and criminal law of these
very
States. In the States taking part in the aggression people's courts
consisting of individuals and non-governmental organizations have been
spontaneously set up to condemn morally individuals bearing the greatest
responsibility for these crimes.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The heroic defense and resistance of Yugoslavia to the aggression was a
serious moral and political defeat for the aggressor which was prevented
in
its intention to impose its own will as a fait accmpli and to prove its
power in the world. Once again, Yugoslavia has demonstrated that no
power,
however technologically superior in weapons, is capable of defeating the
numbers and the equipment of a people determined and united to defend
its
freedom. NATO has achieved none of its military and political goals and
the
doctrine of the "right to a humanitarian intervention", which was to be
triumphantly inaugurated at the current session of the UN General
Assembly
after the aggression on the FR of Yugoslavia, was condemned in general
terms by the Member States of the World organization. Instead of
contributing to the prestige of NATO and of scaring the world of the
enormous military and political machine, the aggression has had an
opposite
effect. It encouraged the countries true to their freedom and policy of
independence to join their efforts in fighting more effectively this
hegemonistic neo-imperialist and neo-colonialist policy.
Yugoslavia has succeeded in returning the resolution of the Kosovo
problem
to the framework of the United Nations, insisting that the UN only has
the
mandate to maintain international peace and security. By the Belgrade
peace
document, the Military-Technical Agreement of Kumanovo and ultimately
its
resolution 1244 (1999), the UN Security Council temporarily took
responsibility for the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija. At the
same time, the Security Council reaffirmed guarantees of the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the FR of Yugoslavia, a political solution
on
the basis of equality of citizens and all ethnic communities within the
framework of an autonomy. The international community has established
its
presence in the province through the UNMIK and KFOR missions entrusted
with
a task of ensuring the security of the population. It is clear that a
political settlement for Kosovo and Metohija must be based on an
autonomy
within the Republic of Serbia guaranteeing the equality of all citizens,
and ethnic communities in the southern Serbian province.
Regretfully, the situation in the Province is characterized by the daily
terror of the so called "KLA", killings, an ethnic cleansing of Serbs,
Roma, Muslims, Goranci and non-Albanians in general as well as by total
lawlessness. The Province has thus been turned into a center of
terrorism
and organized international crime in Europe. This clearly shows that the
missions mandated by the United Nations have not fulfilled their basic
task
of guaranteeing a safe environment, public order and peace and return of
refugees and displaced persons almost nine months from their deployment.
The terrorist "KLA", instead of being disarmed and disbanded, has been
renamed into the so-called "Kosovo Protection Corps", with which
international representatives closely cooperate. These decisions, which
are
in direct violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), are a
clear indication of open links between the leadership of the UN civil
mission and KFOR on the one hand, and terrorists and separatists on the
other.
The consequence of such an attitude of international civil and security
presences is the exodus of about 350,000 non-Albanians, close to 5,000
terrorist attacks made since 12 June 1999, of which more than 4,000
against
the non-Albanian population. Since the deployment of international
representatives, over 933 persons (more than 800 Serbs and Montenegrins)
have been killed, over 800 have been kidnapped and more than 50,000
homes
have been destroyed or burned down, 85 Christian churches and
monasteries
as well as cultural monuments have been destroyed.
More than 200,000 foreign nationals are currently illegally present in
Kosovo and Metohija. The terrorists from Albania walk the length and
breath
of Kosovo and Metohija. Islamic extremists arrive from various parts of
the
world and the whole province is in the hands of mafia clans and
terrorists.
The government of the FR of Yugoslavia has addressed more than 50
communications to the Security Council drawing attention to the
deterioration of the general situation in Kosovo and Metohija and
calling
for the taking of appropriate measures, including determination of the
responsibility for the continued genocide of the Serbian and
non-Albanian
population in Kosovo and Metohija perpetrated under the auspices of the
UN.
All this is confirmation that the aggression against the FR of
Yugoslavia
continues by other means - through sanctions and attempts at wearing out
and exhausting the Yugoslav economy and halting the economic development
of
the FR of Yugoslavia through subversive activity and attempted
destabilization of Serbia and the FRY, through fresh military threats,
all
the way to the media aggression and deliberate sabotage and violation of
the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo and Metohija.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Clearly, Yugoslavia as the victim of a brutal aggression, cannot nor has
it the right to forget the crimes for which the leaders of the US
administration and NATO are responsible. No one can forget nor has he
the
right to forget the responsibility of those who have in any way
participated in the preparation or the perpetration of aggression.
Thousands of innocent human losses, including women, elderly people,
children, even babies on the maternity wards make us bound not to
forget.
We insist on the identification of every responsibility of the
aggressors
for the crimes against peace and humanity as well as on the compensation
for the damage caused by war, in respect of which the government of the
FR
of Yugoslavia submitted a Memorial to the International Court of Justice
in
the Hague. Just as we heroically defended our freedom and dignity, we
say
to the aggressors' forces that we will be equally successful in
defending
ourselves from all forms of an extended aggression through sanctions,
interference in the internal affairs, encouragement of separatism and
destabilization and systematic violation of the decisions of the
Security
Council concerning the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. We
continue
equally united and efficiently with our reconstruction and economic
development that you will, we hope, have the opportunity to see
firsthand
at least partly.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,
Yugoslavia has a long tradition of openness for equitable cooperation
with
respect for the common interests of all our partners and
non-interference
in the internal affairs. With such a policy it has been and remains to
be
an indispensable constructive factor of peace, stability and cooperation
in
the Balkans, in Europe and the world.
Allow me to say a few words now about the priorities of Yugoslavia's
policy.
The foremost priority is the protection of the sovereignty and
territorial
integrity of Yugoslavia, i.e. prevention of any separatism and
terrorism,
removal of all threats, pressure and outside interference.
Second, ensuring conditions for the reconstruction and rebuilding of the
country, encouragement of the participation of foreign partners.
Third, strengthening of the reputation and international position of
Yugoslavia on the international scene by developing cooperation on an
equal
basis and friendly relations with all countries respecting Yugoslavia as
an
equal partner.
Fourth, normalization of its membership status in international,
political, economic and other organizations and the lifting of
sanctions.
In our neighborhood and in South Eastern Europe, we continue to pursue
an
active, open and principled policy of normalization of relations with
the
former Yugoslav republics, development of good-neighborliness with all
our
neighbors while respecting the principle of sovereignty and territorial
integrity as well as respect for mutual interests and non-interference
in
the internal affairs.
This implies that all countries of the region should respect the rights
of
ethnic minorities in accordance with the European standards, notably the
right to use one's own language, to education in one's native language,
to
foster one's own cultural heritage on a national identity and customs.
We are in favor of strengthening in economic integration processes
dismantling all customs, administrative and other barriers to free
movement
of people, capital, goods, services, scientific, cultural and other
values,
including the creation of free trade areas.
The development of a multilateral regional cooperation with an equal
participation of all countries and respect for the original interests of
peoples and States of the region is our major commitment. The more so
since
the process of this cooperation was inaugurated in Belgrade in 1988 at
the
First Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Balkan countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The people of Yugoslavia aspires for peace and cooperation with its
neighbors, wishing a developed and upright Balkans, which will not serve
as
a testing ground for inhuman experiments of the architects of the New
World
Order, desirous of a Europe and a world where common sense and
understanding among people and nations will prevail. We are aware of all
the dangers and challenges on that road just as we are aware of the fact
that this was not going to be an easy struggle. In our efforts for a
better
and happier future of all the world, all the people and all nations, we
are
ready to cooperate with all those who care about equality, peace and
understanding among people. We are convinced that a large majority of
mankind shares our goals and convictions.
Therefore, if it is true that the NATO aggression has had global
hegemonistic aims, then it is equally true that the defense of
Yugoslavia
from that aggression has had global freedom values.
Thank you.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
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