Zakaj se niste priključili TO Sloveniji oziroma Janši? Zakaj nobeden od generalov JLA ni hotel sodelovati z njim oziroma z RŠTO?

Končno, »Janševa vojna« (po Zimmermannu) sploh ni bila prava vojna (politiki iz Italije so govorili o mali in operetni vojni). S tisto »trapasto« akcijo JLA (po dr. Bogdanu Deniću) slovenska TO res ni imela resnejših težav (ker general Kolšek ni hotel »udariti« z vso močjo!). Končno, slovenske (in vse druge) častnike so usposobili prav generali z beograjsko vojaško akademijo. Usposobili so jih vedno vrhunsko, saj je bila ravno slovenska TO deležna najvišjih ocen in pohval vojaških inšpekcij iz Beograda.

Slovenski vojaki – mornarji, podčastniki, častniki in generali – admirali smo bili tudi individualno med najboljšimi v vseh tujerodnih vojskah, pa tudi v JLA! Tega se nismo nikdar sramovali, pa tudi ne beograjske vojaške akademije. Svoje pač nismo imeli!  Zakaj se to očita samo generalom? Zakaj se to ne očita množici znanstvenikov, ki so po razne nazive in doktorate hodili v južne republike! Ali pa politikom, ki so prav radi hodili proti Beogradu, pa so še vedno na oblasti!?

Zakaj se nisem pridružil Janši? In seveda vsi ostali generali in polkovniki? Tudi Janša se je že večkrat javno vprašal, zakaj se je od tridesetih Slovencev – polkovnikov in generalov JLA, samo en polkovnik (pravnik?) priključil njemu oziroma Ršto. Kakšni so pravi vzroki takšnega nedomoljubnega odnosa večine visokih predstavnikov slovenske vojaške inteligence? Vse bivše republike so angažirale generale JLA za vodenje svojih nacionalnih armad, le Slovenija se je temu zavestno odpovedala! Zakaj? 

Po mojem mnenju bodo zgodovinarji morali upoštevati dva vzroka. Prvi je psihološke narave – sam Janša, kot idejni vodja napadov na JLA in član procesuirane četverice, obramboslovec, pa republiški sekretar za LO in potem še prvi obrambni minister RS! Trdim: če bi bil  na njegovo mesto postavljen dr. Anton Bebler, kakor smo mnogi pričakovali, za načelnika Ršto pa generalmajor Milovan Zorc, bi vsi aktivni  generali in drugi častniki  JLA takoj prestopili na slovensko stran! O tem smo takrat zaupno razpravljali v ožjih krogih, pa tudi vse naknadne ankete bi potrdile to predpostavko! 

Drugi razlog sega v obdobje začetka in sredine 1990, ko so Janša in njegovi pomočniki (sicer vsi moji dobri »znanci«) nestrokovno začeli in vodili, doslej nepoznano operativno akcijo "vrbovanja" oziroma pridobivanja slovenskih generalov in višjih častnikov, da so nas vse skupaj prav hitro spravili pod kontrolo Varnostne službe JLA! Vsak je doživel glede tega kar grenke pa tudi neprijetne trenutke. Naj navedem zato svoj primer: sredi 1990  je Politična uprava Zslo (seveda, ob sodelovanjuvarnostne) iz Beograda poslala vsem poveljnikom korpusov strogo zaupno depešo z nalogo, da naj osebno in takoj opravijo temeljite pogovore z vsemi slovenskim generali, častniki in podčastniki, in ugotovijo, koga so "janševci" že pridobili za slovensko republiško armado!

Seveda, organi vojaške varnosti so nad vsemi Slovenci takoj vzpostavili operativno kontrolo! Torej, tudi nad menoj! Ker sem bil v bitoljskem korpusu edini Slovenec, obenem pa tudi načelnik štaba korpusa, poveljnik ni imel veliko dela, še posebej, ker so pred tem beograjske Večernje novosti objavile grobi napad Janševe in Bavčarjeve Demokracije na mene osebno, da sem celo od Zslo zahteval pravno zaščito! Poveljnik korpusa je zato zapisal in sporočil v Beograd: "Generalmajor Kranjc ne bi nikdar sprejel sodelovanja v kakršnikolih republiških armadah, in kot sam pravi, genetsko ne bi mogel služiti novokomponiranim belogardistom, ustašem, četnikom in drugim!"

Bil sem prvi slovenski general, ki je takrat uspel zapustiti JLA, ker pač nisem želel sodelovati pri podiranju domin. Vedno mi je bil v podzavesti opomin Vidoja Žarkovića! V kasnejšem razbijanju Jugoslavije (po Mesiću) so pripadniki JLA doživljali največje travme in osebne drame: na pozive svojih nacionalnih liderjev in republiških voditeljev (še vsi so na oblasti!) so se morali na hitro opredeljevati in uperiti orožje proti svojim dovčerajšnjim tovarišem in prijateljem. Trilogija Vojna izljubezni Marije Vogrič je izjemen dokaz tega časa, predvsem pa krivde politikov in njihovih pomagačev iz tujine. 

Nemški novinar in raziskovalec Erich Schmidt - Eeboom v svoji knjigi Schattenkrieger na strani 229 jasno zapiše, da so zahodnonemški obveščevalci imeli tesne kontakte s »skoraj vsemi osebnostmi, ki so po letu 1990 v Sloveniji in Hrvaški zasedli pomembne politične, publicistične in varnostne funkcije«. Zgodovina bo seveda neusmiljena sodnica. Za sodelavce tujih obveščevalnih služb, kakor tudi za medijske pogrome (napade na JLA) in razne manipulacije, desettisoče  pohabljenih, zaklanih in ubitih, na milijone razseljenih in s sovraštvom ožganih duš! Sramota!

Ko je nič krivi šolski tovariš in makedonski general Pavlov kot zadnji pripadnik »agresorske« vojske zapuščal v Kopru slovensko ozemlje, verjetno ni mogel dojeti, kako so nas nacionalistični politiki grdo prevarali in začeli razdruževati svoje podanike in narode z vojno, namesto da so to storili na kulturen in sporazumen način! Mesec dni prej mi je rekel: "Vedi, da proti Slovencem ne bi nikdar vodil prave vojne! O ničemer nisem odločal! Vsi načrti so prišli iz Beograda v zaprtih ovojnicah. Skrbel sem samo, da ne bi bilo žrtev na obeh straneh... Vsi vojaki so bili naši otroci!"

Ali Vas je bilo kdaj sram kot oficirja, da ste Slovenec?

Samo enkrat! Takrat, ko je po kulturnem mitingu, 2l. junija 1988 okrog 23.00, večja skupina precej razgretih demonstrantov hrupno prišla pred vojašnico na Metelkovi! Ker sem pričakoval tudi kakšen izgred, sem naročil, naj se dogodek javno dokumentira z videokamero. Kopijo smo poslali tudi republiškemu vodstvu! Vendar o tem dogodku mediji niso poročali, pa čeprav so bili na kraju dogodka. Torej, ni bilo sram samo mene!

Ali Vas je bilo kdaj sram kot načelnika varnostne službe 9. armade oziroma ali ste kdaj morali delovati proti slovenskim interesom?

V varnostni službi JLA sem bil v Sloveniji bil od 1969 do 1987, še prej pa sem bil od 1959 v Šibeniku, Odredu JNA na Sinaju, Splitu in Puli, pa sem tako 1985. prejel tudi Plaketo varnosti za 25-letno delo v Vs JLA. Nikdar nisem deloval proti slovenskim, pa tudi ne proti interesom drugih narodov in narodnosti. Pretežno sem delal v specializiranih protiobveščevalnih organih (Kog), kjer smo se izključno ukvarjali z odkrivanjem tuje obveščevalne in druge agenture. Seveda smo pri tem dokaj tesno sodelovali z organi Sdv na terenu. Glede tega imam čisto vest, saj smo se vedno in povsod dosledno držali ustavnih in zakonskih pooblastil! 

Bil sem odločno proti podiranju domin in agresivnemu nacionalizmu, tudi slovenskemu (predvsem iz vrst slovenske politične emigracije, ker sem vedel, da za njimi stojijo določeni interesi tujih obveščevalnih služb). Vsi smo zelo dobro vedeli za krvave zgodovinske izkušnje pri reševanju nacionalnih vprašanj, prekrajanju meja in razbijanju skupne države! Samo neodgovorni vodje in ideologi raznih ekstremnih skupin, tudi razumniških, ne pomislijo na človeške žrtve, ki jih navadno povzročijo tudi povsem »navadni« apeli, peticije in protesti!

Zgodovinarji naj preverijo ... Resnica bo prej ali slej prišla na dan! Kakor prihajajo na dan razne zgodbe o osamosvajanju, mentorjih, tujih botrih in podobnih rečeh!

Seveda obsojam vse množične maščevalne in izvensodne poboje domobrancev in drugihkolaborantov in kvizlingov, kakor tudi njihovih simpatizerjev in sodelavcev – civilistov, kakor tudi zločinske poboje ujetih in ranjenih partizanov, sodelavcev in simpatizerjev NOV, edinih zgodovinsko priznanih zavezniških sil na Slovenskem! Krivdo naj ne izrekajo politiki, njo bo najbolj pravično opredelila zgodovina!

Zanima me, kaj menite o vlogi admirala Broveta in generala Kolška?

Verjetno bo odgovor presenetljiv! Ko bodo zgodovinarji razgrnili vse relevantne činitelje osamosvajanja Slovenije, bodo zanamci obema v zahvalo postavili tudi spomenik! Kajti: admiral Brovet je v Zslo miril »jastrebe« in podpisal Brionsko deklaracijo, general Kolšek pa je s svojim ravnanjem rešil Slovenijo vojnih grozot in razdejanja, z njegovo odstavitvijo pa se je de facto začel razpad JLA! Zdaj pa mu celo kratijo socialne pravice... 

Danes zlasti oficirji iz drugih jugoslovanskih republik skušajo doumeti, kako je pravzaprav prišlo do razpada Jugoslavije. Vi ste lahko spremljali razvoj dogodkov »od znotraj« (opravljali ste visoke dolžnosti v varnostni službi JLA), obenem pa svoje ugotovitve tudi oblikujete v besedilu (knjigi), ki ga pripravljate za objavo. Ali lahko v kontekstu globalnega ideološkega spopada med zahodom in vzhodom, kapitalizmom in socializmom, opredelite svoj pogled na razpad Jugoslavije?

Čeprav imamo spominska pričevanja skoraj vseh glavnih akterjev razpada Jugoslavije, je skoraj sigurno, da bo lahko stroka (zgodovinska) šele z določene časovne razdalje in na podlagi podatkov iz tajnih arhivov (sedaj zaprtih) razjasnila prave vzroke, pa tudi krivce tega razpada.

Vsekakor pričevanja treh zadnjih predsednikov Predsedstva SFRJ – Stipeta Mesića, Borivoja Jovića in dr. Janeza Drnovška, zlasti pa armadnega generala Veljka Kadijevića, 1993 (Moje vidjenje raspada) in poslednjega ameriškega ambasadorja v Beogradu, Warrena Zimmermanna, 1997 (Izvori jedne katastrofe), predstavljajo dobro osnovo in fond podatkov za podrobne študije in analize, seveda če odmislimo prizadevanja avtorjev, da polepšajo svojo »resnico«oziroma namerno plasirajo neresnice! Zdi se, da je najbolj iskreno priznal svojo »razbijaško« vlogo Stipe Mesić, medtem ko je ameriški ambasador Zimmermann, ki je koordiniral to razbijanje »od zunaj«, cinično prevalil krivdo na »notranje« faktorje, predvsem na nacionalistične republiške voditelje ali kakor jih imenuje »podleže, ki so krivi za rušenje multietnične Jugoslavije, za izzivanje treh vojn in nesreče dvajset milijonov ljudi …«  Sprenevedanje pa tako!

Njegova teza, da jugoslovanska katastrofa ni rezultat propada komunizma na koncu hladne vojne, verjetno ne bo držala! Namreč, ko bodo čez nekaj desetletij odpirali ameriške tajne arhive, bodo morali zgodovinarji preveriti tudi velik del »zunanje«, torej tudi ameriške (zahodne) podpore in krivde, in sicer:

obstoj tajnih protokolov in dodatkov k Jaltskemu sporazumu in način njihove realizacije;

elemente »Načrta  X«, sprejetega 1948 v Vatikanu o preprečevanju širjenja komunizma na Zahod;

elemente  načrta  »Dan – D« (posttitovsko obdobje) o destabilizaciji Jugoslavije (in balkanske regije);

dokumentacijo ameriške ambasade v Beogradu, predvsem analitična poročila in

dokumentacijo ameriških obveščevalnih in drugih specializiranih služb o agenturnih in drugih pozicijah v Jugoslaviji in med pripadniki politične emigracije.

Ker sem imel vpogled v mnoge operativne dokumente in agenturne podatke, seveda ne morem iz etičnih razlogov podrobneje obravnavati to problematiko, pa čeprav jo delno potrjujejo že objavljena publicistična dela. Tako sem imel priložnost brati interno knjigo »Špijun u mantiji«, izpoved katoliškega duhovnika dr. Krunoslava Draganovića, enega najbolj sposobnih agentov (Cie in Vatikana) na svetu, ki je 1967 prisilno priveden iz Italije v Slovenijo in predan Sdv  BiH. Zaradi zgodovinske vrednosti njegovih  izpovedi posebej o delovanju Cie proti Jugoslaviji in o vatikanskem »podganskem kanalu« (po katerem so ustaši in drugi nacisti odhajali v Južno Ameriko), Draganović ni bil sojen in je 1982 umrl v Sarajevu. Nekateri poznavalci menijo, da je to bil, poleg še vedno prikrite vloge Kurta Walheima, eden od največjih uspehov jugoslovanske varnostne službe! Menijo namreč, da je bil Draganović najboljši tajni sodelavec Ozne!

Če je Cia že 1980 risala »mape« o razkosanju Jugoslavije in  1990 v analitični študiji predvidela »krvavi razpad Jugoslavije v naslednjih 18 mesecih«, potem je tudi nedvoumno jasno, da je morala imeti izvrstne agenturne in prijateljske vire (nekateri člani Predsedstva SFRJ in voditelji posameznih republik so to tudi javno povedali, pa tudi ambasador Zimmermann ni skrival vseh svojih virov)! Iz obveščevalne prakse pa dobro vemo, kakšne načrte innaloge je imela Cia, da bi realizirala globalne načrte in naloge ameriške politike po razpadu Sovjetske zveze in Varšavskega pakta! Za takšno dejavnost so seveda potrebni podrobni scenariji, načrti in  konkretne naloge, da denarja ne omenjam!. 

Šlo je torej za vodeno ali dirigirano destabilizacijo Jugoslavije! Razkroj Romunije smo lahko celo spremljali preko CNN! Tudi ostale tuje obveščevalne službe niso držale prekrižanih rok. Nemški raziskovalni novinar Erich Schmitd - Eenboom je celo zapisal, da je Kinkel, bivši šef Bnd in sedanji zunanji minister, imel v Sloveniji in naHrvaškem izvrstne pozicije na »politični, publicistični in obveščevalni« ravni! Torej, zgodovinarje čakajo številne naloge, ko se bodo odpirali tuji diplomatski in obveščevalni arhivi!

Mnogi jugoslovanski generali, predvsem iz partizanske generacije, menijo, da je šlo za nepotrebno in brezsmisleno bojevanje (generalpolkovnik v pok. Ilija Radaković), ki je narodom Jugoslavije prineslo samo nesrečo in zlo za nekaj prihodnjih generacij (dr. Fadil Ademović). Tudi sam sem bil za miren razhod, razvezo, po zgledu Makedonije ali pa Slovaške! Šele zgodovina bo dokazala kdo je podrl prvo domino oziroma kdo je bil kriv za razpad Jugoslavije: ali nacionalistično usmerjeni republiški voditelji (po Zimmermannu) ali pa interesi tujih sil in sosedov, kakor tudi kapitala in vojaško-tehnološkega kompleksa (Partnerstvo za mir, širitev Nata na vzhod in podobno).

Kako bi strokovno označili osamosvojitveno vojno v Sloveniji?

Politično je izraz posrečen inovativni nadomestek za secesijsko ali odcepitveno vojno. Da ni šlo za pravo vojno, so potrdili priznani tuji in domači vojaški strokovnjaki (pokojni generalpolkovnik Stane Potočar). Zlonamerneži so celo govorili o operetni, mali ali tudi samo psihološki vojni. Osebno menim, da je šlo za najbolj »trapasto vojno« (dr. Bogdan Denić) po načrtih »jastrebov« v GŠ JLA, pa čeprav tudi ambasador Zimmerman pravi, da je bila JLA izprovocirana! Kdo jo je vseeno vsilil, bodo pokazali domači in tuji arhivi.

Po novejših vojaških doktrinah (ameriški LIC) je najbolj ustrezen izraz »notranja (desetdnevna) vojna« ali »vojaško-policijski spopad« (po vrsti oboroženih enot) oziroma še bolj natančno: »mejno-carinski spopad«, ker je po cilju in karakterju šlo za mejno – carinske zadeve. Dejansko tudi ni bilo nobenega večjega operativno-taktičnega boja, temveč je šlo za manjše spopade za stražnice in objekte na komunikacijah. 

Ker ste očitno dober analitik, me zanima ali so se kakšne Vaše prognoze tudi uresničile?

Žal. Sredi leta 1990 sem v zahtevi za upokojitev navedel, da bodo na oblast prišle retrogradne desničarske sile (s podporo tujine!. Ko pa se je začela vojna v BiH sem v slučajnem srečanju visokemu cerkvenemu dostojanstveniku napovedal, da bo šlo za versko vojno (to je potem potrdil tudi Dobrica Čosić, jugoslovanski predsednik) in da bo število žrtev progresivno raslo, od 2.000 do 200.000 mrtvih in 2 milijona pregnanih!

Kateri elementi po Vašem mnenju dokazujejo, da je (bil) Balkan na neki način poligon za preverjanje in preizkušanje sodobnih vojaških doktrin, posebno doktrine spopadov nizke intenzivnosti?

Imel sem izjemno priliko, da sem kot drugi kandidat za generalski čin (prvi je bil pokojni generalmajor Miraž Stožinić) dobil nalogo, da podrobno preučim sodobne vojaške doktrine, posebno ameriško doktrino spopadov nizke intenzivnosti. Dobil sem celo na vpogled prevod njihovega doktrinarnega dokumenta in vso drugo literaturo! Naloge sem se lotil temeljito. 

Na podlagi komparativne analize vojaških in drugih spopadov po II. svetovni vojni sem prišel do sklepa da so Američani, Rusi in drugi na podlagi svojih in drugih izkušenj koncipirali sodobno in ofenzivno vojaško doktrino, s katero je mogoče doseči strateške cilje tudi in predvsem z nebojnim delovanjem. Inovativno sem celo predlagal t. i. nestična delovanja za vsa bojno-elektronska delovanja z razdalje (pametne rakete, laserski in satelitski sistemi).

Zaradi vse hitrejšega vojaško-tehnološkega razvoja se doktrine in posamezni podsistemi preverjajo po računalniških modelih, pa tudi na terenu, na poligonih. Teoretične osnove njihove doktrine spopadov nizke intenzivnosti (LIC – Low Intensity Conflict), predvsem pa podrobnosti o notranji obrambi, pomoči, pritiskih in intervencijah, aplicirani na vsa dogajanja v Jugoslaviji in celotnem Balkanu, so me prepričale, da je Balkan pravzaprav poligon za preverjanje in preizkušanje učinkovitosti te sodobne vojaške doktrine! 

Gre predvsem za dva strateška dosežka: Američani (Nato) so brez boja (prek mirovnih operacij) prišli na Balkan (in preprečile Rusiji izhod na Jadransko morje), in drugič, na večjem delu je dosežena ideološka zmaga (poraz socializma, uvajanje kapitalizma in sistema večstrankarske parlamentarne demokracije) – vse to brez večjih žrtev! Drugi dokaz o iniciranju in vodenju – dirigiranju kriznih situacij (notranje obrambe!) po vseh bivših jugoslovanskih republikah pa so jasna in vsem nam znana dejstva iz teoretičnih zasnov te doktrine:

obveščevalno proučevanje, vdori in pomoč;

prihod raznih svetovalcev (tudi emigrantov) in skupin za vojaško, politično in drugo pomoč;

psihološko-propagandna dejavnost, posebno dejavnost t. i. civilne družbe, razumnikov in drugih agitatorjev (za podiranje domin brez odgovornosti za poznejše žrtve svojega in drugih narodov!);

sestop z oblasti, formiranje večstrankarskega sistema, ustavno-pravno konstituiranje in mednarodno priznanje državnosti;

formiranje paravojaških enot ali namestitev svojih ali vojaških enot OZN ali Nato (Makedonija, Kosovo);

tajne nabave orožja in vojaške opreme;

pomoč pri formiranju nacionalnih armad (inštruktorji, vojaška oprema in denarna pomoč) in pri načrtovanju in vodenju vojaških in drugih operacij (hrvaške operacije »Blisk« in »Nevihta«);

direktna vojaška intervencija (elektronska kontrola zračnega prostora, nestična delovanja na srbske cilje z vodenimi raketami in razne druge manj znane operacije);

sodelovanje v mirovnih operacijah (UNPROFOR, SFOR-l, zdaj se pripravlja SFOR-2);

diplomatsko delovanje (Dayton), psihološko-propagandne manipulacije, ekonomski pritiski (sankcije) in podobno.

Ker naši politiki in publicisti bolj malo vedo o doktrini spopadov nizke intenzivnosti (ali tudi nekonvencionalni vojni), naj navedem samo pregled obeh glavnih zvrsti delovanja. 

Tako v nebojno (neoboroženo) delovanje spadajo: diplomatsko, psihološko-propagandno in informativno, politično-ideološko, ekonomsko-finančno in monetarno, znanstveno-tehnološko in ekološko, socialno-humanitarno in karitativno, kulturološko, versko, demografsko-etnično, upravno-administrativno, policijsko-varnostno, obveščevalno-protiobveščevalno in mirovniško (civilno) delovanje (vzpostavljanje – graditev miru in nadzor kriznih žarišč). 

Bojno(oboroženo) delovanje pa obsega: vojaške intervencije, nestične vojaško-tehnološke udare, diverzantsko-teroristično, nenadno-prevratniško, gverilsko-partizansko, protigverilsko in kontra-revolucionarno, protidiverzantsko-teroristično in ostrostrelsko, demonstrativno-provokativno, reševalno-evakuacijsko, obveščevalno-izvidniško in mirovniško (oboroženo) delovanje (ohranjanje in krepitev miru). 

March 23, 2007

What's Really Going On in Zimbabwe

Mugabe Gets the Milosevic Treatment

By STEPHEN GOWANS

Arthur Mutambara, the leader of one faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the MDC, and one of the principals in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign that's at the centre of a storm of controversy over the Mugabe government's crackdown on opposition, boasted a year ago that he was "going to remove Robert Mugabe, I promise you, with every tool at my disposal." (1)

Educated at Oxford, the former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. was asked in early 2006 whether "his plans might include a Ukrainian-style mass mobilization of opponents of Mugabe's regime." (2)

"We're going to use every tool we can get to dislodge this regime," he replied. "We're not going to rule out or in anything the sky's the limit." (3)

Last year Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of an opposing MDC faction, and eight of his colleagues, were thrown out of Zambia after attending a meeting arranged by the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, with representatives of Freedom House, a US ruling class organization that promotes regime change in countries that aren't sufficiently committed to free markets, free trade and free enterprise. (4)

Funded by the billionaire speculator George Soros, USAID, the US State Department and the US Congress's National Endowment for Democracy (whose mission has been summed up as doing overtly what the CIA used to do covertly), Freedom House champions the rights of journalists, union leaders and democracy activists to organize openly to bring down governments whose economic policies are against the profit-making interests of US bankers, investors and corporations.

Headed by Wall St. investment banker Peter Ackerman, who produced a 2002 documentary, Bringing Down a Dictator, a follow-up to A Force More Powerful, which celebrates the ouster of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, Freedom House features a rogues' gallery of US ruling class activists on its board of directors: Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Otto Reich, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Steve Forbes, among others.

The campaign to replace Mugabe with the neo-liberal standard bearers of the MDC is rotten with connections to the overthrow of Milosevic. Dell, the US ambassador, prides himself on being one of the architects of Milosevic's ouster. (5) He held a senior diplomatic post in Kosovo when Milosevic was driven out of office in a US-UK engineered uprising.

Dell's mission, it would seem, is to be as provocative as possible, sparing no effort to tarnish the image of the Mugabe government. In early November 2005, Dell declared that "neither drought nor sanctions are at the root of Zimbabwe's decline," an implausible conclusion given that drought has impaired economic performance in neighboring countries, and that sanctions bar Zimbabwe from access to economic and humanitarian aid, while disrupting trade and investment. "The Zimbabwe government's own gross mismanagement of the economy and its corrupt rule has brought on the crisis," Dell charged. (6)

When not disparaging Mugabe's government, Dell can be counted on to be doling out largesse to the opposition (US$1 million, according to one source, to get the Save Zimbabwe Campaign off the ground earlier this year. (7))

Responding to Dell's call for the opposition to unite, Mutambara has declared his new unity of purpose with MDC opponent, Tsvangirai. "Our core business," he announced, after violent clashes with the police earlier this month, "is to drive Mugabe out of town. There is no going back. We are working together against Robert Mugabe and his surrogates." (8)

While Mutambara is certainly working with Tsvangirai to drive Mugabe out of town, what he doesn't explain is what he wants to replace Mugabe with. The opposition, and the powerful Western governments that back it, make it seem as if they're offended by Mugabe's qualities as a leader, not his policies, and that their aim is to restore good governance, not to impose their own program on Zimbabwe.

We should be clear about what the MDC is and what its policies are. While the word "democratic" in the opposition's Movement for Democratic Change moniker evokes pleasant feelings, the party's policies are rooted in the neo-liberal ideology of the Western ruling class. That is, the party's policies are hardly democratic.

The MDC favors economic "liberalization", privatization and a return to the glacial-paced willing buyer/willing seller land-redistribution regimen a status quo ante-friendly policy that would limit the state's ability to redistribute land to only tracts purchased from white farmers who are willing to sell.

Compare that to the Zanu-PF government's direction. Mugabe's government is hardly socialist, but it has implemented social democratic policies that elevate the public interest at least a few notches above the basement level position it occupies under the neo-liberal tyranny favored by the MDC. A Mutambara or Tsvangirai government would jettison policies that demand something from foreign investors in return for doing business in Zimbabwe. Foreign banks, for example, are required to invest 40 percent of their profits in Zimbabwe government bonds. (9) What's more, the MDC leaders would almost certainly end the Mugabe government's policy of favoring foreign investors who partner with local investors to promote indigenous economic development. And Zimbabwe's state-owned enterprises would be sold off to the highest bidder.

Moreover, the land redistribution program would be effectively shelved, delaying indefinitely the achievement of one of the principal goals of Zimbabwe's national liberation struggle reversing the plunder of the indigenous population's land by white settlers. Mugabe, it is sometimes grudgingly admitted in the Western press, is a hero in rural parts of southern Africa for his role in spearheading land reform, something other south African governments have lacked the courage to pursue vigorously. South African president Thabo Mbeki's reluctance to join in the collective excoriation of Mugabe is often attributed to "respect for Mr. Mugabe as a revolutionary hero (he led the fight that ended white rule in Zimbabwe in 1980, and was a key opponent of apartheid) and because the issue of white ownership of land in South African is also sensitive." (10)

Contrast respect for Mugabe with the thin layer of support the US-backed Save Zimbabwe Campaign has been able to muster. It "does not yet have widespread grassroots support," (11) but it does have the overwhelming backing of the US, the UK, the Western media and US ruling class regime change organizations, like Freedom House. Is it any surprise that Zanu-PF regards the controversy swirling around its crackdown on the opposition's latest provocation as an attempt by an oppressor to return to power by proxy through the MDC?

Stephen Gowans is a writer and political activist who lives in Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached at: sr.gowans@...

NOTES

1. Times Online March 5, 2006.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. The Sunday Mail, February 5, 2006.
5. The Herald, October 21, 2005.
6. The Herald, November 7, 2005.
7. The Herald, March 14, 2007.
8. The Observer, March 18, 2007.
9. The Observer, January 28, 2007.
10. Globe and Mail, March 22, 2004.
11. Ibid.

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 19 MAR - Un campo di addestramento di miliziani wahabiti e' stato scoperto e smantellato dalla polizia serba nella provincia per meta' islamica del Sangiaccato (sud del Paese ex jugoslavo), a coronamento di una operazione che ha portato all'arresto di quattro presunti terroristi in erba. Lo riferiscono oggi i media di Belgrado. La base, secondo gli inquirenti locali, era stata impiantata gia' da mesi in un'impervia zona di montagna nei dintorni di Sjenica. Oltre ai quattro miliziani, la polizia ne ha identificato un quinto, che e' riuscito a fuggire. Si calcola pero' che in totale nel campo sia transitata una ventina di giovani, piu' alcuni ''stranieri''. Tutti gli arrestati - ha dichiarato Camil Hibic, presidente della Corte distrettuale di Novi Pazar, capoluogo del Sangiaccato - sono accusati di detenzione di armi e attivita' sovversive e sospettati di coinvolgimento nella ''preparazione di atti terroristici''. Il Sangiaccato, provincia serba colonizzata come marca di confine all'epoca della dominazione turca, e' tuttora popolato da circa un 50% di musulmani. A differenza del vicino Kosovo (albanofono), esso resta tuttavia bene integrato nella cultura serba e poco sensibile a istanze secessioniste, anche se la predicazione fondamentalista sembra cominciare a far breccia in certi ambienti, specialmente tra giovani sbandati. Il ministro dell'interno serbo, Dragan Jocic, ha affermato che l'attivita' dei wahabiti - una minoranza fra i musulmani autoctoni dell'ex Jugoslavia, convertitasi a slogan rigoristi d'importazione saudita e finanziata dall'estero fin dai tempi della guerre degli anni '90 - minaccia in prima battuta gli stessi ''cittadini serbi di fede islamica'', tradizionalmente moderati. Cittadini che ''lo Stato intende proteggere'', ha aggiunto. Sulla stessa lunghezza d'onda il mufti' di Novi Pazar, Muarem Zukorlic, autorita' religiosa dei musulmani tradizionalisti della provincia, il quale si e' detto ''non sorpreso'' della scoperta del campo d'addestramento e ha denunciato i gruppi radicali come ''corpi estranei che mirano a destabilizzare il Sangiaccato e forse l'intera Serbia''. L'escalation di tensioni fra i neofiti del wahabismo balcanico e la maggioranza islamico moderata ha dato luogo mesi fa a Novi Pazar anche a scontri (con feriti) dinanzi a una nuova moschea cittadina costruita con aiuti arabi. (ANSA). LR
19/03/2007 15:21 

La police serbe a démantelé ce week-end un camp d’entraînement de wahhabites armés, situé entre Sjenica et Novi Pazar. Quatre personnes ont été arrêtées, une autre est en fuite. Depuis un an, les wahhabites multiplient les incidents à Novi Pazar, et s’attaquent à la Communauté islamique officielle.

Par Sladjana Novosel

La police a découvert vendredi soir, dans le village de Zabren, dans la montagne de Ninaja, à une trentaine kilomètres de Novi Pazar, un camp qui a servi pour les formations d’un groupe terroriste wahhabite. Ce camp comprenait plusieurs tentes et une caverne. La police a arrêté sur le champ Mirsad Prentic (1977), Fuad Hodzic (1974), Vahid Vejselovic (1984) et Senad Vejselovic (1983), de Novi Pazar, tandis qu’un membre du groupe a réussi à s’échapper. La police a trouvé une grande quantité d’explosif plastique, d’armes et de balles de différents calibres.

La police de Novi Pazar recherche encore deux membres du groupe en fuite. Des mines ont été découvertes dans une propriété privée du village de Razdaginje, sur la commune de Sjenica. La même source confirme la saisie de mitraillettes et de lance-roquettes dans une ferme du village de Vucinice, sur la commune de Novi Pazar.

Trois des wahhabites arrêtés sont soupçonnés de préparation d’actions terroristes et de détention illégale d’armes. Le quatrième membre du groupe est soupçonné d’avoir fait infraction à l’ordre et à la paix publique.

Le juge d’instruction du tribunal communal de Novi Pazar a ordonné une détention de 30 jours pour les quatre wahhabites arrêtés, ainsi que pour Nedzad Memic, qui est toujours en fuite et recherché par la police. Lors de leur interrogatoire, Hodzic, Prentic et Vejselovic ont nié toute responsabilité, affirme le président du Tribunal régional de Novi Pazar, Camil Hubic.

Les sources de Danas au sein de la police indiquent que le groupe découvert comptait une trentaine de membres, qui se déplaçaient en permanence, et qui occupaient le site découvert depuis un mois. Danas a appris de manière non officielle que leur action était surtout dirigée contre le mufti de Novi Pazar, dans l’objectif de provoquer un incident.

Le groupe wahhabite a obtenu des armes au Kosovo. Un des responsables des achats d’armes était Fuad Hodzic, qui a menacé la police de tout faire exploser, affirme notre source.

Le mufti du Sandjak Muamer Zukorlic, réagissant à l’arrestation du groupe des wahhabites, a estimé, dans une déclaration à la presse, que « les structures de l’Etat n’avaient pas compris l’importance du phénomène jusqu’à ce moment ».

« Une Communauté islamique de Serbie unie et stable serait capable des réduire ces phénomènes au minimum », estime le mufti Zukorlic.

Le président du Parti démocrate du Sandjak Rasim Ljajic a déclaré au sujet de l’arrestation du groupe wahhabite que le plus important était de mener l’enquête jusqu’au bout, et qu’il fallait s’abstenir de déclarations précipitées. « Ces événements sont la conséquence de la crise générale du Sandjak ces trois dernières années. La cible des wahhabites est la Communauté islamique du Sandjak, non pas l’Etat ou une autre institution étatique », estime Rasim Ljajic.

Il a déclaré à l’agence Beta que la découverte du camp donnait à Novi Pazar une image de paradis pour la criminalité, la corruption et les différentes formes du radicalisme religieux. Il estime que c’est très regrettable pour le Sandjak et pour Novi Pazar, et a appelé les autorités politiques de la région à faire tout leur possible pour changer cette image.

L’adjoint du mufti du Sandjak, Mevlud Dudic, rappelle que cela fait deux ans qu’il met en garde contre les tentatives de déstabilisation de la Communauté islamique et de tout le Sandjak.

« Ce n’est que la poursuite de tout ce qu’il font depuis des années, et nous l’avons dit », précise Mevlud Dudic, dans un communiqué de presse du mesihat de la Communauté islamique du Sandjak.

Il s’agit du troisième incident impliquant les wahhabites de la région depuis neuf mois. Début juillet de l’année dernière, le groupe wahhabite de Novi Pazar a empêché l’organisation du concert du groupe Balkanika à Novi Pazar. Ils ont également provoqué un incident dans la mosquée centrale de la ville, Arap-dzamija, début novembre 2006. Ce dernier épisode a provoqué un incident armé, et 17 personnes ont été punies par des sanctions pénales ou civiles. Dimanche, l’absence des wahhabites se remarquait fortement dans les rues de Novi Pazar, surtout autour de leurs lieux de rassemblement habituels, la mosquée Arap-dzamija et à l’entrée de la vieille ville.

=== ALTRI LINK:

Omicidio al seggio elettorale

WAHHABISM FUELS NOVI PAZAR RELIGIOUS TENSIONS

With their baggy pants, long beards and extreme opinions, most local Muslims feel startled by this Saudi import. By Amela Bajrovic in Novi Pazar (Balkan Insight, 7 Dec 06)

Sectarian divisions among Muslims in Novi Pazar have resurfaced since a recent incident in which three worshippers were wounded in front of a mosque...

http://www.birn.eu.com/en/62/10/1844/

NATO attack on the civilian population on 30 May 1999 in broad daylight

by Hans Wallow*, Germany

Sanja Milenkovic was only 15 years old. She died on a glorious spring day, the religious holiday celebrating the Holy Trinity, when on 30 May 1999 NATO fighter jets destroyed a militarily insignificant bridge across the Morava in Sanjy’s Serbian hometown Varvarin, connecting two parts of the town. Together with her another 10 civilians died in the massacre in the small Serbian province town. 27 Varvarin citizens were severely injured.

Sanja’s mother, Vesna Milenkovic, is one the family of dead or affected persons, who demanded compensation of the Federal Republic of Germany – acting for NATO – before the Federal High Court in Karlsruhe. For the first time after Germany had participated without reservation in a combat mission that was not UN covered and contrary to international law, civilian victims demanded compensation.

“Many people still want to know today, how Princess Diana died, I want to know, why my innocent child had to die”, says Vesna Milenkovic: “We are very concerned about justice and that the truth becomes known and the responsible persons are named. Nobody can reüplace my daughter.”

Although the Federal High Court in Karlsruhe took the same view as in the case of the massacre committed by the SS in the Greek village of Distomo, that war results were to be regulated only among states, the Federal High Court Judges then expressly left open – due to the strengthening of the individual in international law – whether for the example this is also true for combat missions of the German Federal Armed Forces abroad.

The air raid was contrary to international law and thus a war crime

This was what the Varvarin citizens, represented by the Karlsruhe lawyer Professor Dr. iur. Norbert Gross, had hoped for. In the reasons of appeal he states, “that individual civil claims of aggrieved persons deriving from their national right are not excluded beside any claim in international law by their mother country”.

The air raid was contrary to international law for the people of Varvarin and thus a war crime. But the judges in the red robes did not risk anything, they did not want to get involved neither in the contradictory statements of the War Ministry nor in the global liability of the individual war waging NATO states and remained with the dominant opinion. Thus they fell behind the principles of the valid Afghan Islamic tribal law, according to which an act of murder can be atoned for by the “Talnion”, an adequate compensation, as the regulations in the “Sachsenspiegel”, the oldest form of written law in Germany, say.

The 10 dead and 27 severely wounded persons were simply interpreted away. Now the Varvarin citizens decided to appeal with the Federal Constitutional Court.

What happened on 30 May 1999? The day began in the Serbian town of Varvarin at the river Morava like all over Europe as a young, glorious spring day. Very early the anglers sat at the river bank. It was market day, and the celebration of the Holy Trinity was celebrated with a procession. At noon there were many people around the single-lane makeshift bridge, which had been established by the Germans after the Second World War as a compensation. The fifteen-year old student and daughter of the mayor, Sanja Milenkovic, ran with her two friends Marina Jovanovic and Marijana Stojanovic across the bridge.

Murderous attack on civilians

Marina Jovanovic, who appears before the Karlsruhe High Court as claimant, reports about the most terrible moment of her life: “At 1.00 o’clock we came from church and from the market in good mood and went on our way home for lunch, our way leading us across the bridge back to Donji Katun, a borough of Varvarin. We were already close to the other side of the river, and we were not in a hurry, because it was a beautiful, sunny day in May. Suddenly there was a hissing, a dreadful impact hurled us through the air, and I heard my friends screaming. All around there was a terrible heat, I felt like glowing and then floating in the air.”

Marina falls down with the bridge, faints for two or three minutes and then realizes her bleeding hand, hears Marijanas calls for help and sees nothing but the central pillar of the bridge rising before her. Her right leg is totally smashed below the knee, the lower leg seems only be connected to the body by pure flesh. Like the two other girls she is lying on the diagonally hanging down footpath of the bridge.

Sanja seems heavily injured, has the hand on her chest and wants to say something, but she does not succeed. She breathes heavily. After the first impact, she is sitting with her back to the railing, about 1 to 2 meters away from her, then after approximately five minutes the airplanes come back. She sees their trace and also the projectile that dashes towards her. Suddenly Sanja slips away downward and loses consciousness. She now hangs with her head in the water. Marina creeps down, in order to hold her head above water. She slips along on her elbow, because she cannot use her legs, and calls for help. On the back she carries a backpack, which probably saved her life, because a fragment of a kilo had penetrated it. From the backpack she gets a water bottle and moistens the face of the unconscious Sanja. Now it seems, as if Sanja was smiling at her. Marina stands in the water up to the hip, she can hardly keep upright because of the strong current, and she fears that her leg could be amputated completely. Therefore, she gets out of the water again.

Marijana, who is heavily hurt as well, tries to pull herself up at the railing, then sees to her astonishment that from the upper arm a bone protrudes, and at the same moment she is at the end of her tether. With the second impact she sees, how Sanja continues to slip downward. It is dark, sticky, the eyes burn, and both friends lose consciousness repeatedly. The collapsed bridge makes the water level rise, so that the girls lie now with their body in the river. Marijana gets more frightened, she fears for Sanja, and for herself, because she cannot swim. Marijana sees her friend Marina creeping with the water bottle to Sanja, in order to wash to her face and so bring her back to consciousness. Both call it for help and scream loudly: “Take care of Sanja!”

Second attack kills 8 helpers

When the first rockets meet the bridge across the Morava, panic breaks out among 3500 people on the market in Varvarin, and immediately chaos prevails on the roads. Some people scream: “Away, just get away! They are coming back!” There are also calls that girls were on the destroyed bridge and a red car had fallen into the water. Others do not behave so egoistically, for example Milan Savic. He insults his friends in the café saying they were cowards: “But we have to help the wounded!” His decision to save others cost the lives of the 28 year-old man and 7 more helpers, among them the priest Milvoje Ciric.

A second air raid on the almost completely destroyed bridge followed. Sanja did not have a chance to live because of her heavy injuries. She died some hours later under the eyes of her mother in the hospital. Marijana remains crippled for the rest of her life. Marina, who studies medicine in Belgrade today, is still tormented by over 40 bomb fragments in her body, which cannot be removed in an operation. She says: “From that day on I have never been a light-hearted young person any more. I think of the cruel events again and again.”

German Tornadoes take part in attacks

In all lawsuits, from the regional court in Bonn to the Higher Regional Court in Cologne and up to the Federal High Court, the representatives of the Federal Government denied the participation of the German Air Forces in the attack on the bridge of Varvarin. That is very doubtful at least, as the German ECR Tornadoes as well as the reconnaissance tornadoes, which filmed the targets, flew from Italy to deployments in Yugoslavia about 484 times. The ECR bombers alone fired 244 AGM-88-Harm-Missiles at a price of 200 000 Dollars each. The Squadron Commander A. Schulte [name changed] said about the attacks of the German tornadoes before the defence committee of the German Bundestag: “We fired eight missiles per flight – thus eight times we ‘lighted’. Then the world awoke and shot at us.”

But even if German Federal Armed Forces pilots were not involved in bombardment, in the sense of a global liability Germany, too, is responsible for the events in Varvarin. Beyond that, the modern war machine is based on the division of labour to a high extent. Thus, it was a task of the reconnaissance tornadoes of the German Air Force to photograph the targets with the help of 60-mm-infrared cameras in Kosovo and in the Serbian hinterland. The targets were then judged and transferred to the combat bombers of other NATO states to be stored in their satellite-based control systems (GPS). The bomber crews then focussed their targets with the help of these videos.

The first NATO statement after the attack that the bridge of Varvarin had been a secondary target, which the pilots themselves had looked for, has meanwhile been disproved, because in a documentation of NATO of 31 October 1999 headed “Strategic target” as well as in an added target list the “highway bridge of Varvarin” is marked on a map. This “highway bridge” had already been mentioned before as one of 11 targets in Serbia and declared a bomb target. However, in Varvarin there is none. There was only the single-lane makeshift bridge, which led into a local borough. Even judge Sonnenberg in the Bonn regional court had realized this. One does not have to be military personnel in order to exclude this bridge as one of eleven “strategic targets”.

“Pushing the release button required great willpower”

Experts assume that this target had meant the four-lane freeway bridge about 15 km from Varvarin leading from Belgrade to Kosovo and that it was not meant to be the local bridge without military any meaning in the town of Varvarin. A mistake, which led to the “misthrow”?

According to one of the pilots of the reconnaissance squad, pushing the release button for the anti-radar missiles in the ECR or the camera button in the reconnaissance aircraft always requires great willpower. Thus the tornado pilots of the German Federal Armed Forces smooth the way for the following attack formations and that thereby in all probability people are killed – at least indirectly – had a deep effect on him, the soldier said.

The military expert and lieutenant colonel Juergen Rose has not doubt about it, he refers however to the US Air Force aerial war doctrine of the so-called five rings used by NATO, according to which the “target priority” ranks the “civilian population” even before the opposing military. – Did the German generals contribute to an aerial war contrary to international law?

NATO alone could throw a light on the matter, but it has remained silent until today. The existing action plans are still a military secret. Why so? NATO has rejected all accusations to offend against humanitarian international law. However, the defensive alliance admits tragic events, whereas these were not only inevitable incidents.

Air Force General Walter Jertz, once combat pilot and military speaker of NATO writes in his book “Im Dienste des Friedens – Tornados über dem Balkan” (In the name of peace – tornadoes on the Balkans): “Besides deliberately destroyed factories and infrastructure facilities, residential buildings and hospitals were always damaged and destroyed, too, – in the technical wars of the 20th century this often happens widely and intentionally in order to break the moral of the population.”

We certainly hope that the “Varvarin” case at the Federal High Court in Karlsruhe will contribute to disprove the statement of the Federal Government Schroeder/Fischer that it was pushed into the Kosovo war by the Clinton administration in Washington. According to a report in the “International Herald Tribune” the election winner Gerhard Schroeder explained immediately before he presented his credentials with President Clinton together with the delegates Fischer, Vollmer and Verheugen on 9 October 1998 in Washington: “Nobody, not even the president of Yugoslavia, is to hope that we follow a less decisive course than the past administration”.

“The way into war” – the red-green government was bent on doing so

According to Matthias Küntzel in “Der Weg zum Krieg” (Way into war), the war of intervention was assured even before the vote in the German Bundestag on 16 October 1998 of the designated government. The motive was that the red-green government was keen on being taken serious on the international stage in order to be granted a constant seat in the Security Council. The siding in this brutal civil war between Serbs and Albanians with its expulsions on both sides was sold to the good delegates of the Bundestag of the running out electoral period (legislative period between 1994 and 1998), to the homeland media front and to the German public as a crusade for human rights. Particularly the public television channels reacted with blind obedience. It is close to self-censorship that until today no documentation about the 2000 civilian victims of bombardment on Serbian side has been published.

Although Germany joined the Humanitarian International Law, experts in international law still argue about the conformity of the war against Yugoslavia with international law. It is clear that the bombardment of the hinterland of Serbia, including the bridge of Varvarin, was out of proportion. Professor Dr jur Reinhard Merkel said after the Kosovo war at the Evangelische Akademie in Arnoldshain: “Those who want to help someone else by letting indifferent third people pay with their life for the recovery, although this could have been avoided by accepting the risks for one’s own life and body, pursue a shabby maxim. They disavow the standard, to which he appeals for their own actions. – I fear that history will recall not only to the acts of the Mr. Milosevic, but also to the war of his opponents as a reminiscence of horror.”

* For three electoral periods, Hans Wallow served as a Member of Parliament in the German Bundestag. He lives as a writer in Bonn and wrote a theatre documentary about the attack on the bridge of Varvarin, which was played in three German theatres.

One single day out of 78 days...

Update of a strategy to bomb Yugoslavia back to Stone Age

NATO Headquarters, May 31, 1999, 9:30
Operation Allied Force Update

In one of the most intense days of Operation Allied Force, NATO aircraft struck far and wide at strategic and tactical targets throughout Serbia, further reducing the military capability and effectiveness of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia military and police apparatus.

NATO flew 772 sorties, the second highest mission total of the campaign. This included 323 strike and 92 suppression of air defence missions. This strike/SEAD combination of 415 is the highest strike rate of Operation Allied Force.

Regarding ground forces deployed in Kosovo, NATO aircraft successfully located, identified and struck significant numbers of weapons and equipment. These attacks included 12 tanks, seven artillery pieces, six armoured personnel carriers, two mortar positions, 10 revetted positions, a radar site and other military vehicle and troop positions.

The list of strategic targets hit is one of the largest in the 68 days of Operation Allied Force. Targets included [...] Highway bridge at [...] Varvarin.

Source: http://www.solidnet.org 

CP of Bohemia & Moravia, Statement On The Danger of Breaking of Serbian
Republic’s Territory Integration
-------------------------------------------------
From: Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia, Monday, March 26, 2007
http://www.kscm.cz  , mailto:leftnews@ kscm.cz
==================================================

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia on the danger of breaking of Serbian Republic’s territory
integration

In the present dispute over the future of Kosovo and Metohija, which has
acquired an international dimension, the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia stands on the side of law, and on the side of support of Serbian
statehood in its full integrity, and for the rejection of the plans to
promote and to achieve a break-up of the Serbian state in favour of a
local separatism from so-called Kosovo´s Albanians.

Both the cases of 1938 Munich and NATO aggression in 1999 represent the
reminders, that every violence poses harm, which is worthy of disdain
and condemnation.

The Kosovo and Metohija region remains an integral part of the Serbian
state territory, even though it can be currently considered to be a
protectorate under an international administration. This fact is
anchored in the constitution and in international documents by which the
international borders of the Serbian state have been ratified; it is
also included in the UN Security Council Resolution No. 1244 of June,
1999, by which has been established the current regime in the region.
Unfortunately, after almost 8 years, that regime always shows a dramatic
deficit in observance of the Resolution No. 1244 as a security standards
for all citizens, for their freedom of movement, for returning of
Serbian exiles back to their homes, for the rights of both the Serbians
and the Non-Albanians to use their personal properties. It follows, that
no advance has been achieved since summer 1999 in anything for which the
Serbian side is neither guilty nor responsible, in conditions of
multiethnic coexistence, but in which the Serbian side is in the
position of victim.

The Central Committee of the CPBM entrusts the group of its Members of
Parliament to strive on the parliamentary grounds for a government of
the Czech Republic’s presentation of an official statement on the
situation in Kosovo and Metohija, and on the manner of solution of that
situation, and strives to achieve that the Czech government will
undertake and not to allow Czech troops in Kosovo to be unilaterally
abused for actions, which could be out of accordance with an official
standing of the Serbian Republic and out of accordance with the UN
Charter.


*End*

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 16 MAR - E' morto d'infarto al trentanovesimo giorno dichiarato di sciopero della fame un cittadino serbo impegnato in una forma di protesta estrema per denunciare la mancata promessa di un alloggio nuovo alla sua famiglia in sostituzione della casa distrutta fin dai raid Nato del 1999. Lo scrive oggi il tabloid belgradese Kurir. Protagonista della tragedia, Milovoje Stamenkovic, 60 anni, originario della citta' di Nis (sud del Paese ex jugoslavo). L'uomo, senza casa da ormai otto anni, aveva cercato in tutti i modi di ottenere un nuovo alloggio definitivo, ma non era venuto a capo di nulla malgrado le ripetute promesse delle autorita'. Alla fine ha deciso di portare il suo caso all'attenzione dei media con l'arma dello sciopero della fame, senonche', dopo oltre un mese di privazioni, il suo cuore ha ceduto. Secondo i dati riportati dalla stampa, la gran maggioranza dei serbi rimasti privi di un tetto in seguito ai bombardamenti del 1999 - concentrati soprattutto nel sud - e' costretta tuttora ad arrangiarsi in modo precario. L'intervento militare dei Paesi Nato contro la Serbia - risoltosi in due mesi e mezzo di bombardamenti pressoche' ininterrotti - fu giustificato dall'Occidente con la volonta' di fermare la politica repressiva adottata dell'allora regime serbo-jugoslavo di Slobodan Milosevic per fronteggiare la guerriglia separatista nella provincia del Kosovo.(ANSA). LR
16/03/2007 18:07

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=9084&cid=45&p=24.03.2007

Voice of Russia
March 24, 2007

The eighth anniversary of NATO bombings of Yugoslavia

Exactly eight years ago today NATO planes started
raining bombs and missiles on the Federal Yugoslavia
at the start of a 78-day campaign which killed an
estimated 3,000 civilians and nearly a thousand
soldiers of the Yugoslav army.

The material damage is estimated at between 50 billion
and 100 billion dollars.

Participants in the Forum for Peace and Equality that
was held in Belgrade on Friday proposed setting up a
special center to collect documented information about
the US-led aggression.

They also asked the Serbian government to file an
official report on the consequences of the use by NATO
of depleted uranium artillery shells and bombs during
the 1999 campaign. 

---

http://www.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/vest.php?id=32690

Government of Serbia
March 24, 2007

Memorial service held for victims of NATO bombing

Belgrade – Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica
attended today the memorial service for victims of
NATO bombardment against the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia in 1999, which was held in the St. Marko
Church in Belgrade.
The commemoration was served by Bishop Atanasije of
Hvostan, and besides Kostunica, ministers in the
Serbian government and friends and families of those
killed in the 1999 bombing were also present. 
On this day eight years ago the military action
against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by NATO
began, after which an international protectorate was
established in the Serbian province of
Kosovo-Metohija.
During the 78 days long action of air strikes titled
“Merciful Angel” 1,002 members of the Yugoslav Army
and the Serbian police lost their lives; it claimed
the lives of nearly 2,500 civilians, including 89
children and some 10,000 people were left injured and
hurt.
The air campaign consisted of some 2,300 air strikes
on 995 targets throughout the country. 1,150 NATO
fighter planes launched nearly 1,300 cruise missiles
and dropped 2,900 bombs on not just military but also
civilian targets. 
Combined with most deadly weapons, NATO also used
banned weapons against Yugoslavia, dropping 36,000
cluster bombs and 15 tonnes of ammunition with traces
of radioactive elements, which were used for
bombarding 112 locations.
Besides military targets, two convoys of refugees in
Kosovo-Metohija, the Varvarin Bridge, a train in the
Grdelica gorge, and a market place in Nis were also
bombed.
The Dr Dragisa Misovic hospital and the Chinese
embassy in Belgrade were also hit, leaving several
innocent civilians dead. 
Targets in Belgrade also included the building of the
state television Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS)
where 16 workers were killed and four were severely
wounded. 
Wreaths were laid and candles were lit on the monument
for victims of the bombing on the anniversary of the
NATO military action.

---

[ Minor English editing and a couple of clarifications cf. on geography of
the referred to locations are given in brackets. -- PT ]

www.glas-javnosti.co.yu

Glas Javnosti daily, Belgrade

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Today is the eight-year anniversary of the beginning of the bombing of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Suffering and deaths must not be forgotten

Abstract:
During 78 days of air strikes approximately 2,500 people died, including
557 civilians, while some 12,500 were wounded. The administration at that
time estimated that material damage of 100 billion dollars was done
On today's date eight years ago NATO began the bombing of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia because, as then NATO secretary-general Javier
Solana explained, "all efforts to achieve a political solution through
negotiations of the Kosovo crisis have failed".

During [the] 78 days of air strikes approximately 2,500 people died,
including 557 civilians, while some 12,500 were wounded. Various
[pieces of] information have been presented regarding [the] material
damage. The administration at that time estimated that material damage of
100 billion dollars was done, while G17, then a group of independent
economists, assessed the damage at 29.6 billion dollars. The NATO
aggression against Yugoslavia [FRY, later renamed into Serbia-Motenegro]
lasted 11 continuous weeks during which [the country's] infrastructure,
[as well as many] commercial buildings, schools, health institutions,
media houses and cultural monuments were damaged or destroyed.

After unsuccessful negotiations regarding a proposed peace agreement in
Rambouillet near Paris conducted from February 6 to March 19 [1999] by the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Albanians, and the collapse
of negotiations between the FRY president Slobodan Milosevic with U.S.
special envoy Richard Holbrooke, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on
March 23 made the decision to bomb FRY.

Then NATO secretary-general Javier Solana who after the meeting of the
NATO Council issued an order for the initiation of the campaign 'Merciful
Angel' accused the government in Belgrade for the collapse of negotiations
and emphasized that actions would be directed toward "interruption of
violent attacks being carried out by the Serbian Army and special police
forces and the reduction of their capabilities" .

Attacks began on March 24, 1999 just before 8:00 p.m. The Yugoslav
government soon proclaimed a state of war, and on the first night more
than 50 buildings in various parts of the country were targeted, including
in Pristina, Kursumlija, Uzice, Danilovgrad, Novi Sad, Pancevo, Podgorica,
Kraljevo, Kragujevac...

According to communique by the Yugoslav Army General Staff, during the
first night 10 soldiers were killed and 38 were wounded. As the bombing
continued, attacks increased in frequency and became more fierce, and the
targets of the bombers were no longer just military but also civilian
ones.

In addition to air combat in Kosovo and Metohija all 78 days there were
ongoing battles between the Yugoslav Army and the Kosovo Liberation Army,
which received logistical and military support from NATO. The Alliance
carried out attacks from ships in the Adriatic, from four air force bases
in Italy, and some operations involved strategic bombers who took off from
bases in western Europe and even the U.S.A.

By April 1 one of the symbols of Novi Sad, the Varadin Bridge, had been
destroyed; two days later the Liberty Bridge was also destroyed, while the
most resilient, the Zezelj Bridge, long resisted the bombs but also ended
up in the Danube at the end of April. In Kursumlija on April 2, 13
civilians died and 25 were wounded, and in the bombing of Aleksinac on
April 5, 13 died and more than 50 people were wounded.

Cuprija was bombed on April 8 and on that occasion a settlement of about
800 buildings was destroyed. The next day in an attack on the Kragujevac
factory "Zastava" 124 workers were injured. The Grdelica Bridge was bombed
on April 12 at the very moment a train was crossing the bridge: 14
passengers were killed and more than 20 sustained serious injuries. On
April 14 NATO planes bombed two columns of [Kosovo ethnic] Albanian
refugees on the road from Djakovica to Prizren [in southern Kosovo],
killing 75 and wounding more than 100 civilians.

During the bombing of Batajnica [suburb of Belgrade] on April 17, a single
projectile killed three-year old Milica Rakic in her home. In an attack on
Nis on April 19 one civilian was killed and 11 were seriously wounded. A
settlement of refugees from Krajina [the region in today's Croatia that
used to be overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Serbs] located near
Djakovica was also hit: five people were killed and 19 wounded, and the
settlement burned to the ground.

On the thirtieth day of the bombing, April 22, two missiles hit the
residence of FRY president Slobodan Milosevic in Uzicka Street number 15.
The next day at 2:00 a.m. the Radio Television Serbia building in
Aberdareva Street in Belgrade was hit. On that occasion 16 workers died
and four were seriously wounded. After this tragedy then RTS director
Dragoljub Milanovic was later sentenced to a 10 year prison term for
refusing the carry out orders to remove personnel and technology from the
television building.

In the attack on Surdulica on April 27 20 civilians died, including 11
children, and 200 people were wounded. Belgrade survived the fiercest
attack on April 30 when the building of the Yugoslav Army General Staff
and the old building of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs were hit,
the television tower on Mt. Avala was toppled and several private
buildings in the Vracar quarter destroyed. Three people died and 38 were
wounded. In the village of Murino na Limu five people were killed, and
another person later died from sustained injuries.

In the village of Luzane near Pristina on May 1 40 died and 16 passengers
of a bus bombed by NATO aviation were wounded. Two days later another bus
was targeted with a missile on the Pec - Kula - Rozaje road. Twenty
passengers died, many of them children, and 43 people sustained some
degree of injury.

On May 7 NATO bombed the embassy of the People's Republic of china in New
Belgrade "by mistake", it later explained. Three Chinese citizens were
killed and seven seriously wounded. The same night the Hotel Yugoslavia
was targeted with missiles.

The Cacak industrial zone was bombed on May 10. Four people were killed,
and 13 were wounded. The next day in attack on the Sever industrial zone
in Nis two people were killed, and two high school students in the center
of Vladicin Han. Another column of Albanian refugees was bombed on March
13 near the village of Koris near Prizren. Eighty-one people were killed
and more than 70 wounded.

The penitentiary-rehabilitation center in Istok was bombed the first time
on May 19 and at that time three prisoners were killed and six wounded. In
a second attack two days later 93 prisoners and guards were killed, and
some 200 people were wounded. The following day the Clinical Medical
Center Dr. Dragisa Misovic in Dedinje was hit: three patients and a guard
were killed, and a large number of patients and personnel were wounded.

In an attack on Aleksinac on May 28 three civilians were killed and about
20 were wounded. During the bombing of the bridge on the Velika Morava in
Varvarin on May 30 10 people were killed and more than 40 were seriously
wounded. Surdulica was bombed again on May 31 and on that occasion the
Health Center for Lung Diseases and the Home for the Elderly were hit.
Twenty died and 40 were wounded.

The center of Novi Pazar was bombed on June 1. In a housing building that
was hit 13 people died and 35 were wounded. The last missiles fired at the
FRY were fired on June 9 at 7:30 p.m. near Urosevac, and the next day at
about 1:00 p.m. at the village of Kololec in Kosovska Kamenica
municipality.

The bombing of Yugoslavia ended on June 10 with the adoption of UN Security
Council Resolution 1244. The previous day representatives of the Yugoslav
Army and NATO signed the Military-Technical Agreement in Kosovo detailing
the withdrawal of Yugoslav Army forces from Kosovo and Metohija and the
deployment of international military troops in the province.

Sinisa Dedeic

=== 7 ===

IN MEMORIAM

 
Instead of a requiem to the innocent victims, and in order to prepare

in following three months actions of warning of humanity facing the

challenge of NATO industry of murder, here is a calendar of main crimes

only.

Remember that 80% of all NATO targets were civilian.

CALENDAR OF NATO RAIDS AGAINST FR OF YUGOSLAVIA IN 1999

 24TH March NATO aggression commences

 25th March Leskovac - air raid  to "Zdr avlje"  Chemical industries

 27th March Pancevo - heavily damaged Aeroplanes Factory "Lola-Utva"

 28th March Cacak -  heavily damaged Factory "Sloboda"

 1st April Novi Sad - destroyed "Varadinski bridge"

 3rd April Novi Sad - destroyed bridge "Freedom"

 4th April Novi Belgrade - Heating plant hit, one person killed

  Pancevo - raid on Oil refinery, two persons killed

 5th April Vranje - town attacked, two persons killed

  Aleksinac - town centre attacked, seven civilians killed

  Nis - heavily damaged Tobacco Factory DIN

  Lucani - damaged Chemical Industry "Milan Blagojevic"

 7th April Belgrade - missile attack, heavily damaged building of the

 Government of Serbia

 8th April Cuprija - attack on the town, one person killed

  Tornik - attack on the Sports centre "Cigota", three civilians killed

 9th April Kragujevac - heavily damaged Industries "Crvena zastava"

 11th April Merdare - five civilians killed in a missile attack

 12th April Grdelica Gorge - attack on the international train Belgrade -

 Salonika, twenty passengers killed

 14th April Pavlovac (Vranje) - missile attack, one person killed

  Pancevo - heavily damaged Chemical Factories "Petrohemija" and

 "Azotara"

  Valjevo - damaged structures at "Krusik" Factory

 15th April Rakovica - by missile attack damaged factories "Rekord", DMB,

 IMR, "Minel"

  Krusevac - damaged factory "14. October"

  Smederevo - destroyed bridge Smederevo-Kovin

  Nova Varos - destroyed bridge "Bistrica"

 17th April Batajnica - in a missile attack killed four-years old girl

 Milica Rakic

  Baric - in a missile attack damaged Factory "Prva iskra"

18th April Novi Sad - damaged building of the Provincial Executive

 Council

 19th April Nis -  attack on the city, one person killed

 21st April  Belgrade - heavily damaged building of the Head Committee of

 the Socialist Party of Serbia

 22nd April Belgrade - in an attack heavily damaged official residence of

 the President of FR  of Yugoslavia

  Uzice - destroyed building of the Post &Telecommunications

 23rd April Belgrade - attack on Serbia Broadcasting Corporation (RTS),

 17 civilians killed

 25th April Novi Sad  - destroyed "Zezelj Bridge"

 27th April  Surdulica - missile attack on a housing area, ten civilians

 killed

 29th April Belgrade - in the missile attack heavily damaged buildings of

 : Interior Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ministry of Defence and

 General Staff, Government of the Republic of Serbia

 30th April  Belgrade - attack on housing buildings in the Maxim Gorki

 and Vardarska Streets, one person killed

  Trstenik -  missile attack, on person killed

 2nd May Sremska Mitrovica - missile attack on the town, one civilian

 killed

 7th May Nis - attack on the city centre , fourteen civilians killed

  Novi Belgrade - attack on the building of the Embassy of China

  Novi Belgrade - attack on Hotel "Yugoslavia", four persons killed

 10th May Cacak - attack on the company "Cer", four persons killed

 11th May Nis - missile attack, one person killed

  Doljevac - missile attack, one person killed

 17th May Zajecar - attack on Yugopetrol warehouses, one person killed

 18th May Valjevo - missile attack, one person killed

  Vladicin Han - missile attack, one person killed

 20th  May Belgrade - missile attack to Medical centre "Dragisa Misovic',

 four persons killed

 21st May Sombor - missile attack on town, four civilians killed

 25th May Sabac - missile attack, one person killed

 26th May Ralja, Belgrade - missile attack, three persons killed

 27th May Cekavicki most, Lebane - two persons killed

 28th May Aleksinac - missile attack to the town centre, two killed

 29th May Cerovacki most, Leskovac - one person killed

 30th May Varvarin - nine civilians killed when a bridge attacked

  Novi Sad - missile attack, completely destroyed Serbian Broadcasting

 Corporation building

  Nis - missile attack, two killed

 31st May Belgrade, Ripanj - one person killed

  Obrenovac - one person killed in the attack

  Novi Pazar - missile attack, eleven persons killed

  Surdilica - thirteen persons killed

 7th June Boljevac - thirteen persons killed

 8th June Novi Sad - missile attack, one person killed

Friede, Freude, Krieg

»Wir werden jeden Cent überbringen«

* Rolf Becker ist Schauspieler und Mitglied der Initiative »Dialog von unten statt Bomben von oben – Gewerkschafterinnen und Gewerkschafter gegen den Krieg« sowie Mitinitiator des Berliner Heinrich-Heine-Preises für Peter Handke

An diesem Samstag jährt sich der Jahrestag des NATO-Angriffs auf Jugoslawien zum achten Mal. Ein Datum, das nicht mehr allzu vielen Menschen präsent ist ...

Dem völkerrechtswidrigen Angriffskrieg gegen Jugoslawien konnte kein Einhalt geboten werden. Sind die deutschen »Tornados« in Afghanistan die Folge?

Es gibt auch das Nein von der Linksfraktion im Bundestag. Was halten Sie von deren Versuch, die »Tornados« juristisch zu stoppen?

In zwei Wochen begleiten Sie den Schriftsteller Peter Handke in die serbische Provinz Kosovo, der dort sein Preisgeld für den alternativen Berliner Heinrich-Heine-Preises spenden will. Die offzielle Auszeichnung der Stadt Düsseldorf hatte er abgelehnt, nachdem eine denunziatorische Debatte gegen ihn stattgefunden hatte. Warum wird Handke in Deutschland so angefeindet?

Ihr Ziel war es, 50000 Euro für den alternativen Heinrich-Heine-Preis zu sammeln. Wieviel haben Sie erreicht?

Wofür genau soll das Geld gespendet werden?

Ruinen und Uranstaub

Seit dem 24. März 1999 herrschte erstmals wieder nach 1945 Krieg in Europa. An diesem Tag gegen 20 Uhr erfolgten auf Befehl der NATO-Führung Luftangriffe auf die Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien. Betroffen waren zunächst Ziele in den Städten Belgrad, Pristina, Novi Sad. Eingesetzt wurden Marschflugkörper, abgefeuert von U-Booten in der Adria sowie B-52-Bombern, Kampfflugzeuge und später auch Tarnkappenbomber. Während des Krieges, der am 10. Juni beendet wurde, verschoß die NATO mindestens 35 000 Geschosse mit abgereichertem Uran. Die Opferzahlen auf serbischer Seite liegen bei 5500 getöteten serbischen Zivilisten und Soldaten.

Damals in Jugoslawien