Informazione
(Rivelazioni di un militare della disciolta RF di Jugoslavia, che racconta di essere stato rapito nell'aprile 1999 dall'UCK in Kosovo e di essere stato di qui trasferito... a Mannheim, nelle grinfie degli aggressori NATO. Un "caso-Guantanamo" ante litteram?)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.388255320&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy)
February 20, 2007
SERBIA: SOLDIER TELLS OF HIS ORDEAL INCLUDING CIA CAPTIVITY
Belgade - A Serbian soldier who says he spent over 30
days in a CIA jail in Mannheim air base in Germany
eight years ago, has told his story including how he
was first taken prisoner by members of the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) on the Albanian border in April
1999, taken to a prison in Albania and later handed
transported by plane to Germany and handed over to the
Americans.
Boban Milenkovic, from the southern Serbian town of
Vranje, told Belgrade daily Politika he was tortured,
humiliated, and threatened with a knife by his
interrogators in Albania.
Then he was tied up and blindfolded, and taken to
Manneheim air base, where he was interrogated by
American officers.
"The torturing has stopped, but the threats and
humiliations continued,” Milenkovic said.
He shared a cell with another Serbian soldier Sefko
Tairovic and neither had any idea where they were
being held for several days, until interpreters
revealed to them the location.
He said his parents had been informed that he was
killed and never got any of his letters.
The Americans interrogated him about the positions and
strength of the Serbian army and tried to get out of
him other military secrets which he didn’t know, he
said. In return, they were promising the prisoners to
help them to emigrate to South America, or any country
they choose.
After spending almost a month in a CIA jail,
Milenkovic said he and Tairovic were transported by
plane to Budapest and then by a military vehicle to
the Serbian border. "When I saw the nameplate of my
country at the border, I though I would die from joy,”
he said.
Milenkovic said he decided to break eight years of
silence to let the world know "what has been happening
on the European soil, and is perhaps still happening”
in the name of "the false American democracy."
In 1999 NATO carried out airstrikes against Serbia to
stop the persecution by Serbian forces of ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo.
(source: R. Rozoff through http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato )
Horizons et débats, 19 mars 2007
Sommaire (7e année, n°10, 19 mars 2007)
« L’implication de l’ONU dans des crimes de guerre », entretien avec le Comte Hans-Christof von Sponeck, par Silvia Cattori.
« Objections majeures de droit constitutionnel et de droit interna-tional public ainsi que de droit pénal et de droit pénal international ».
« Manifestations aux Etats-Unis et ailleurs pour le 4e anniversaire de l’invasion de l’Irak ».
« Espagne : vive résistance contre l’OTAN ».
« L’Union européenne est décidée à intervenir militairement au Kosovo », par Jürgen Elsässer.
« Le monde politique allemand affiche une indifférence totale envers le droit », par Karl Müller.
« Aider les Etats-Unis à quitter l’Europe aussi facilement que possible » par William A. M. Buckler.
« Quand les flux monétaires mondiaux cessent d’affluer aux Etats-Unis » par William A. M. Buckler.
« 10 años de negociaciones son cien veces mejor que un dia de guerra civil », entrevista de la Radio Suiza DRS 2 con Prof. Thomas Fleiner.
« Réfléchir sur la guerre en Yougoslavie et ses conséquences », entrevista de la Radio Suiza DRS 2 con Prof. Thomas Fleiner.
« Une guerre nucléaire de faible intensité » par Michel Chossudovsky.
« Les Asturies ont une tradition de combat pour la liberté, la justice et les droits de l’homme » par Rainer Rothe.
« L’Europe devrait faire contrepoids à la politique des Etats-Unis », entretien avec le ministre de la Justice des Asturies, F. Javier Garcia Valledor.
à télécharger en format PDF (1023 ko) : http://www.voltairenet.org/IMG/pdf/Horizons_et_debats_19_mars_2007.pdf
http://www.horizons-et-debats.ch/
(srpskohrvatski / italiano)
1) Intervista a Stevan Mirkovic
2) S. Mirkovic: Dovidjenja na ulici !
=== 1 ===
Intervista a Stevan Mirkovic
Generale del Genio in pensione, Presidente del “Centro Tito” a Belgrado.
Intervista radiofonica per “Voce jugoslava”, in onda il 13 marzo scorso su Radio Città Aperta.
Salve Stevo! Sono passati un paio di mesi dalle elezioni in Serbia, dopo le quali si aspettava la soluzione dello status del Kosmet (Kosovo e Metohija, N.d.t.) Ancora non si e’ formato il nuovo governo. La risoluzione di Marti Ahtisaari non ha soddisfatto gli albanesi del Kosovo e tantomeno i serbi. Cosa rimane ora…?
Noi praticamente non abbiamo un nostro Esercito. Il nostro Esercito e’ stato sciolto. L’ Esercito della NATO – Americano puo’ attraversare tutto il nostro territorio, indisturbato... >>
Attraversare per andare dove?
<< Per andare nel Kosovo. Dunque possiamo contare soltanto sulla popolazione che e’, in maggioranza, al 90%, contro l’ indipendenza del Kosovo. La nostra forza piu’ consistente sono quei 100.000 serbi rimasti nella Regione che sono decisi a rischiare la propria vita per difendere il Kosovo.
Noi stiamo organizzando riunioni su tutto il territorio, manifestazioni varie. Abbiamo stampato un opuscolo sul Kosovo che stiamo distribuendo su tutto il territorio della Serbia. In esso esponiamo e spieghiamo perche’ gli americani sono contro la Serbia, perche’ hanno bombardato, perche’ vogliono il Kosovo. Essi cercano di nascondere le loro vere mire. Si tratta di una guerra ideologica contro la Serbia. Perche’ la Serbia e’ ancora l’unico Stato socialista sui Balcani, almeno per quello che riguarda la popolazione. E questo il vero obiettivo, distruggere la Serbia come paese socialista, ma questo non andra’ cosi’ facilmente. Ci sono anche altri partiti che cominciano ad aderire a queste manifestazioni.
Noi chiediamo che venga ricostituito l’ Esercito Popolare. Perche’ il comandante dello Stato Maggiore, il ministro Difesa sono ora ufficiali della NATO. Percio’ ritengo che questa primavera e l'estate saranno molto calde da queste parti. Naturalmente contiamo sull’aiuto della Cina e della Russia. Ma questa non e’ la cosa piu’ importante. Dobbiamo contare sulle nostre forze.
La questione non si risolvera’ a New York, ma a Kosovska Mitrovica. Due anni fa li c’e’ stato uno scontro armato tra i serbi e gli albanesi separatisti. In quello scontro sono morti 11 albanesi e 8 serbi.
Percio’ sono tutte chiacchiere quando dicono che la questione del Kosovo e Metohija sara’ risolta fuori. Noi non lo accettiamo perche’ il destino del Kosovo e Metohija e’ qui. Per noi e’ benvenuto ogni sostegno dei compagni italiani, anche lì sul terreno, sul Kosovo innanzitutto. Non ci interessano queste chiacchiere sull'entrare nell’ UE, sulle cooperazioni economiche bilaterali con l’Italia, l'amicizia... La questione primaria ora e’ il Kosovo. I nostri veri amici sono soltanto quelli che ci aiutano, ci sostengono a difendere il Kosovo. Gli altri non li riconosciamo e non ci interessano. Sappiamo che la strada e’ dura. Sappiamo che non sara’ facile, ma spero che riusciremo nel nostro intento. >>
Stevo, mi rimangono ancora alcuni minuti per chiudere la trasmissione. Vuoi aggiungere ancora qualcosa?
Sulla questione di formare il Governo... qualunque governo si formi non puo’ essere un governo del popolo. Noi abbiamo gia’ un governo. Esso governa da Bruxelles, questo qui soltanto esegue gli ordini di quello. Percio’ questa storia di formare il governo, i processi al Tribunale dell’Aia, tutto serve soltanto a distrarre l’attenzione, a mascherare il vero obiettivo, come ti ho detto prima: distruggere il socialismo in Serbia. Perche’ qui e’ ancora vivo. Non come sistema, ma come idea, come esperienza. Perche’ la gente sempre di piu’ si ricorda di come si viveva molto meglio prima. >>
Grazie ed a risentirci!
<< Grazie a voi, un saluto a tutti i compagni. >>
=== 2 ===
Di Mirkovic riceviamo ed inoltriamo anche l'articolo:
A rivederci sulla strada!
---
Dovidjenja na ulici !
Vlada Srbije raspravlja o Kosovu i Metohiji kao da je na nekom simpozijumu. A zemlja je fakticki pred agresijom NATO. Svi ucesnici predstojeceg “ kosovskog boja “ doneli su svoje odluke , sem jednog – vlade Srbije.
SAD su bile prve : nezavisno Kosovo, upucujuci odmah nova vojna pojacanja na Kosovo polje , medju kojima i trupe Ceske i Slovenije zeljne vojnicke slave i tradicija, koje jos nemaju.SAD zure da dokrajce Srbiju a time i socijalizam na Balkanu.Treba zaista biti glup pa ne videti da SAD nemaju nameru za bilo kakav razgovor o Kosovu.Shefer je vise u Beogradu i Pristini nego u Brislu. Nesto se “ uzvrtio”.
Srbi na Kosovu su rekli na trgu u K.Mitrovici 17.marta 2006. godine “ Ne – nezavisnom Kosovu i po cenu nasih zivota”. Da se ne sale, videli smo 17.marta 2004.godine , kada su se od podivljalih balista branili i oruzjem: poginulo ih je osmoro ali i 11 balista . Tada je i Stojan Arsic “ kasikarom” naterao u beg iz svog dvorista grupu bandita, ranivsi dvojicu.
Gradjani Srbije su na referendumu o Ustavu takodje rekli “ne” nezavisnom Kosovu.
28 odsto izbeglih sa Kosova izjasnilo se za “ aktivno nezadovoljstvo” u slucaju proglasenja nezavisnosti Kosova ( veci procenat nego kod Albanaca u slucaju ostanka Kosova u Srbiji) – ispitivanje Strateskog marketinga maja 2006., sto sigurno nije obradovalo narucioca USAID ( Americka agencija za medjunarodni razvoj).
Sedmogodisnja propaganda i psiholoski pritisci da se odreknemo Kosova jer ce nam “ biti bolje bez njega” a dobicemo i neku paru, “prosli su” kod nove kapitalisticke klase Srbije ali ne i kod srpskog naroda.
Sada je na redu drzava Srbija i njena vlada. Ne trazi se rezolucija , u cijem je sastavljanju ,inace, ova vlada nedostizna, vec odluka : da Srbiji nije preostalo nista drugo nego da se brani oruzjem . I to naoruzanim narodom– sto je najbolja strategija za male zemlje. A to trazi obnovu narodne vojske .To nece biti problem jer obucenih i svesnih ljudi i lakog naoruzanja imamo, hvala bogu, i za izvoz!A toga se Amerikanci najvise plase, vise nego Putinovih raketa.. Nije Kosovo jos niko izgubio – ova ga vlast moze izgubiti ili sacuvati. Ona treba da ohrabri Srbe na Kosovu i kaze im: “Ne idite nikuda. Mi dolazimo tamo”.
Samo kukavice i prozapadni trtiguzi ne razmisljaju o svom ucescu u odbrani Kosova vec pronalaze razloge zasto ga nije moguce odbraniti i time umiruju sopstvenu savest, licitirajucu usput cenu njegove prodaje u evrima i dolarima.
Ovo je i vreme odluke svakog od nas pojedinacno jer cemo s tim ziveti do kraja nasih zivota.To ce biti nasa biografija. S tim ce ziveti i nasa deca. Tu rehabilitacije nema.
Onda mozemo racunati na podrsku Rusije, Kine, Indije, Kube, Severne Koreje, Vijetnama i svih nesvrstanih zemalja, koje smo mi podrzavali kada su branili svoju zemlju od americkih gangstera. I podrsku progresivnih ljudi i partija u zapadnim zemljama.
Nisu ni SAD vise ono sto su bile. Do 11.septembra 2001. i uragana Katrin svet je u Amerikancima gledao supermene. Od tada vidimo da su ,kao i svi drugi ljudi na planeti, nejač pred prirodnim i drustvenim silama koje oblikuju nase zivote. I Amerikanci “igraju” kako one “sviraju “. SAD jesu velika, zahuktala drzava ali to je sada huk odlazeceg u depo istorije. Njih smenjuje novi svetski ideoloski i politicki pokret , koji buducnost covecanstva ne vidi u “americkom snu” vec u stvarnoj slobodi, jednakosti i bratstvu pojedinca i naroda. Nisu to teroristi vec borci za novi bolji svet. Srbija je bila i ostala deo te borbe.
Sudbina Kosova ne resava se na Ist Riveru vec na mostu na Ibru! I nije pitanje dana ili meseci vec godina . Predstoji nam nova NOB.Nece lukavi Finac Ahtisari biti tvorac nove Srbije i dobiti Nobelovu nagradu za mir, niti ce Bus dobiti ulicu u Beogradu kao Klinton u Pristini.
Srbija je vec bila u slicnoj situaciji, i jos tezoj. Samo u XX veku tri puta je oslobadjala Kosovo: od Turske, Austrije ,Bugarske , Nemacke i Italije .
Najteze je bilo 1941.Nemci i Italijani su okupirali i anektirali Kosovo i predali ga Albaniji. Nastao je teror nad srpskim stanovnistvom i njegovo raseljavanje s Kosova. Balisti su vracali “ milo za drago” Srbima zbog progona i prisilnog iseljavanja Albanaca u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji. To se, inace, smenjivalo vekovima. A onda su na scenu stupili KPJ I Tito, Bora i Ramiz.. Verovatno da nigde na svetu nisu bili tezi uslovi za organizovanje i vodjenje NOB protiv okupatora i domacih izdajnika nego na Kosovu. Mogli su je voditi samo Herkuli! Rezultat je poznat: NOV I POJ, u kojoj su i Srbi i Albanci, oslobadja Kosovo novembra 1944.godine i vraca ga u sastav Srbije. Srbi i Albanci zajedno guse i pobunu balista pocetkom 1945. i zapocinju miran i plodonosan zajednicki zivot u oslobodjenoj zemlji. Kosovari* su tada i prvi put sami odlucivali o svom zivotu u pokrajini.Sve do 1991. kada ih nacionalisti oba naroda, uz pomoc SAD, ponovo zavadjaju i guraju u bratoubilacki rat i propisuju kako da zive.
Iskustvo NOB i revolucije 1941 – 1991. je osnova za izlaz iz sadasnje situacije.Srbi i Albanci nisu neprijatelji jedni drugima. Amerikanci su, kao nekada Turci I Nemci, oboma neprijatelji. Otuda paktiranje danasnjih vodja i Srba i Albanaca sa SAD nije u interesu ni jednih ni drugih. Ako su mogli sami urediti svoje odnose i biti zadovoljni s tim 50 godina – to mogu i danas.Ustav iz 1974 . odgovarao je i Srbima i Albancima. To je bilo stabilno resenje trazeno vekovima. Ali nije odgovaralo domacim nacionalistima i Amerikancima.
To je opet jedini put. Tim putem vec idu Srbi na Kosovu i Albanci, istina retki, koji im pomazu i koji Srbiju dozivljavaju kao svoju drzavu. Njihov broj ce biti sve veci jer su svesni da ih ponovno otcepljenje Kosova od Srbije opet vraca u doba medjunacionalnih sukoba i stradanja.
Ne treba nama resenje kojim ce se “ spasti obraz Srbije”. Nama treba Kosovo.Vlada Srbije mora raskinuti sve ugovore i sporazume s NATO kojima je dozvoljeno stacioniranje i kretanje jedinica ovog vojnog monstruma Srbijom i preuzeti kontrolu nad citavom svojom granicom i teritorijom. Nije NATO bas takva sila kakvim se prikazuje.Natovci su gluvi za reci “ pravo i pravda”, ali dobro cuju pucanj puske.Ucestale pretnje silom Srbima od strane KFOR I NATO, u slucaju da oni ne prihvate mirno otimanje Kosova , izraz su njihovog straha . To su pokazali i dogadjaji marta 2004. kada su neke jedinice KFOR, dok je trajao sukob Srba i Albanaca, pobegle “u misju rupu”.Zbog tog kukavicluka su , na primer, nemacke trupe osudjene od sopstvene javnosti u zemlji. Ako su Nemci takvi junaci kakvi su tek Italijani, Slovenci, Cesi?
No, to je njihov problem. Nas problem je nasa neodlucna i na dva dela pocepana vlada Kostunica – Tadic, u kojoj je ova druga polovina vec “ presla na stranu neprijatelja”, a druga ceka da nam velike sile sacuvaju Kosovo (Rusija,Kina). Siguran sam da ce je narod prisiliti da sledi put Srba na Kosovu ili ce i ona doziveti svoj 27.mart 1941. , sto je verovatnije. Onda, dovidjenja na ulici!
* Kosovari – stanovnici Kosova
Stevan Mirkovic, predsednik CENTRA TITO, 11040 Beograd, Palackova 4a
L'ITALIA VA ALLA GUERRA
La aggressione della NATO contro la RF di Jugoslavia costituì un
passaggio chiave per le politiche belliciste ed imperialiste
occidentali, e fu centrale nello stesso dipanarsi della crisi
jugoslava, iniziata nel 1991 e tuttora drammaticamente aperta. Dal
giugno '99 ad oggi si sono susseguiti gli omicidi su base razziale e
politica e centinaia di migliaia di persone - intere famiglie di
serbi, rom, askalija, goranzi, albanesi antinazionalisti sono
scappate dal Kosovo "liberato", vittime della violenza degli
irredentisti e di strategie geopolitiche spietate i cui danni sono
sotto agli occhi di tutti. Il Kosovo, che la NATO ha trasformato in un
dedalo di ghetti "etnici" dove dominano l'insicurezza e la criminalità
e dove nemmeno i tesori dell'arte medioevale sono al sicuro, è tuttora
in bilico per una cinica operazione di ridefinizione dei confini in
Europa.
L'Italia partecipava nel 1999 a quei bombardamenti su Serbia e
Montenegro e poi occupava militarmente, insieme ad altre potenze,
anche quei territori. Quale lo scopo, quali i risvolti di queste
missioni militari? I governi di centrodestra e di centrosinistra
praticano strategie davvero diverse rispetto a crisi come quella
jugoslava? La ricetta della "Guerra Umanitaria" con il suo contorno di
disinformazione mediatica è diventata la regola nell'affrontare queste
crisi?
INIZIATIVA - DIBATTITO
BOLOGNA 24 MARZO 2007
ORE 18:00
INTERVENGONO:
Andrea Martocchia
Responsabile politico del
Coord. Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
Jean Toschi Marazzani Visconti
collaboratrice de Il Manifesto, liMes, Avvenimenti, Maiz
autrice del libro-testimonianza
IL CORRIDOIO - Viaggio nella Jugoslavia in guerra
(introduzione di Alexander Zinov'ev - Ed. La Città del Sole, 2005)
Presso:
Associazione marxista "Politica e classe"
Via G.Barbieri n.95
(quartiere Bolognina)
promuovono:
Disarmiamoli! Bologna
www.disarmiamoli.org - disarmiamoli.bologna @...
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
www.cnj.it - jugocoord @...
aderiscono:
Un ponte per... gruppo di Bologna, Comitato Cittadino contro la
guerra, Confederazione Cobas, CUB, Movimento per il Partito Comunista
dei Lavoratori
Napolitano e le foibe
Perché Napolitano non ha ragione
Foibe. Neorevisionismo, foibe e imperialismo fascista
Una lettera di Eros Barone
Egregio direttore,
non vi è peggior fanatico di un apostata. Questa è la considerazione che mi viene di getto nell’assistere, con crescente stupore e non poca vergogna, ad esternazioni presidenziali, riguardanti le ‘foibe’, i cui toni sono così veementi e le cui modalità sono talmente “irrituali” (trovo, in questo caso, assai calzante l’aggettivo di cui si è servito il ministro della difesa Parisi per definire la grossolana ingerenza nella politica estera italiana compiuta con la famosa ‘lettera degli ambasciatori’) da aprire una crisi internazionale fra il nostro paese e la Croazia e la Slovenia.
Mi sia permesso, dunque, esprimere quattro considerazioni:
a) tali prese di posizione di carattere neorevisionista, di stampo revanscista e di sapore imperialista, ieri sulla falsa equiparazione fra antisionismo e antisemitismo e oggi sul presunto sterminio delle popolazioni italiane dell’Istria e della Dalmazia, non hanno natura storiografica, ma soltanto politica: in altri termini, tendono, da un lato, a legittimare la bestiale politica israeliana verso i palestinesi e, dall’altro, a rimettere in discussione il trattato di Osimo del 1975 e, quindi, i confini tra l’Italia, la Slovenia e la Croazia;
b) l’accertamento della verità sulle origini, sulle cause, sulle dimensioni e sul significato del presunto sterminio degli italiani dell’Istria e della Dalmazia compete agli storici ed è degno dei peggiori regimi autoritari voler imporre come ‘verità di Stato’ quello che è unicamente un giudizio politico-ideologico: ciò significa che la rappresentazione demonizzante dei comunisti jugoslavi che sadicamente uccidono gl’innocenti ‘patrioti’ italiani non ha maggior credibilità dell’aberrante propaganda democristiana sui comunisti che “mangiano i bambini”;
c) in realtà, la criminalizzazione dei comunisti jugoslavi come responsabili delle ‘foibe’ mira a cancellare i crimini commessi dall’imperialismo fascista nei Balcani e, segnatamente, in Jugoslavia;
d) sarei curioso di sapere che cosa pensi lo storico marxista Eric Hobsbawm, che ha firmato assieme al premio Nobel Harold Pinter il recente manifesto degli ebrei antisionisti e che a suo tempo pubblicò per la casa editrice Laterza un’intervista a Giorgio Napolitano sul socialismo europeo, circa la conversione del suo intervistato da “comunista migliorista” in “liberale nazionalista e anticomunista”.
(Message over 64 KB, truncated)
When Slobodan Milosevic died, more than four years into his trial for war crimes, newspapers around the world said that he had cheated justice. It would have been more accurate to say that he had cheated injustice. Had he lived, the judges would have been faced with an unpleasant dilemma: either to find him not guilty, thus casting a lurid light upon the past activities of their employers, the powers that had brought the tribunal into being in the first place, or to find him guilty and to sentence him to a long prison term on evidence that would not have justified a fine for illegal parking.
As John Laughland shows in this short, lucid and well-written book, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague was little more than a kangaroo court, though without the very real advantages of that kind of legal establishment, namely speed and economy. The trial of Milosevic cost about $60 million, and the transcript ran to 50,000 pages. These facts alone irresistibly bring to mind Einstein’s remark when he was told that 100 Aryan scientists had signed a letter condemning his theory of relativity: if they were right, he said, one would have been enough.
The tribunal made up its own rules as it went along, and then broke them if they proved inconvenient to the prosecution. The judges were men plucked from well-merited obscurity into the world limelight. It allowed the merest tittle-tattle, of the I-heard-it-from-Smith-who-had-it-from-Jones variety, as evidence. When the presiding judge, Sir Richard May, fell ill and resigned four years after the trial started (he may not even have been compos mentis at the end of his reign), the trial was not stopped, as the court’s procedure required, but another judge was drafted in who could not possibly have mastered the evidence, if for no other reason that, in the adversarial system, it is not only the verbal, but the non-verbal communication of the witnesses that is taken into account.
Milosevic was, at a very late date, refused the right, fundamental according to conventions on human rights, to defend himself, though he had a degree in law and had demonstrated, with an intelligence and grasp of the issues far superior to that of his accusers, that he was well able to do so. To force counsel upon him towards the end of the trial was little short of denying him the right to a defence, again in violation of the court’s own rules.
I think Laughland is mistaken when he says that the ‘joint criminal enterprise’, part of the indictment against Milosevic, was an inherently trumped-up charge. A man who orders another to murder and supplies him with the gun to do it cannot hide behind the fact that he did not himself pull the trigger. However, the tribunal played fast and loose with the concept of joint criminal enterprise.
For the charge to stick, there must be evidence of the quality that would convict on any other charge, and the court played fast and loose with the very concept of joint criminal enterprise. This is the basic point of the book: no evidence worthy of the name was ever produced against Milosevic, despite huge expenditure and despite the arbitrary extensions of time the prosecution was granted in the hope that something really damning would turn up to prove its case. Nothing ever did. Does anyone doubt that, had there been knock-down evidence against Milosevic, it would not have been trumpeted around the world? In the event, many of the prosecution’s star witnesses gave evidence that exculpated Milosevic entirely.
I think this is a very important book — far more important than its immediate subject matter might suggest — because it exposes the very odd, unpleasant, combination of unctuous self-righteousness on the one hand and lack of scruple on the other of the current Western political classes, of all political stripes, which itself is a reflection of a deep malaise in society. It is a spiritual sickness that extends far beyond The Hague tribunal: it has entered the fabric of our daily lives.
=== 2 ===
=== 3 ===
The international court of justice (ICJ) did condemn Serbia on Monday for failing to act to prevent Srebrenica, on the basis that Belgrade failed to use its influence over the Bosnian Serb army. But this is small beer compared to the original allegations. Serbia's innocence of the central charge is reflected in the court's ruling that Serbia should not pay Bosnia any reparations - supplying an armed force is not the same as controlling it. Yugoslavia had no troops in Bosnia and greater guilt over the killings surely lies with those countries that did, notably the Dutch battalion in Srebrenica itself. Moreover, during the Bosnian war, senior western figures famously fraternised with the Bosnian Serb leaders now indicted for genocide, including the US general Wesley Clark and our own John Reid. Should they also be condemned for failing to use their influence?
However, Monday's ruling is about far more than Milosevic. Ever since the end of the cold war, the US and its allies have acted like vigilantes, claiming the right to bomb other countries in the name of humanity. The Kosovo war was the most important action taken on this basis and, as such, the curtain-raiser for Iraq. Fought, like the Iraq war, without UN approval, it was waged partly because the international community felt it should have intervened more robustly against Yugoslavia over Bosnia. It now turns out that Serbia was not in control in Bosnia after all. The ruling therefore punctures a decade-and-a-half of lies in support of the doctrine of military and judicial interventionism.
The ICJ, indeed, operates on a radically different philosophy of international relations than that which inspires the ICTY. Unlike the ICTY, the ICJ is not a criminal court and claims no power of constraint over states. Its jurisprudence is based on the anti-war sovereignty-based philosophy of the Nuremberg trial and the UN charter. In the international system, born out of the second world war, war is illegal except in a very restricted cases. States have no right to attack other states, not even on human rights abuse claims. This position is based on the understanding that there are no war crimes without war, and that war always makes things worse.
Mere anarchy was loosed upon the world when the cold war ended and the US sought to create a unipolar world system by destroying the old one. After the 1991 Iraq war, the US and Britain claimed the right to bomb Iraq to protect the Kurds and Shias, which they did for 12 years. Nato bombed the Bosnian Serbs in 1995 and Yugoslavia in 1999. The ICTY, created in 1993, operates on the basis of this doctrine of interventionism, which has come to its ghastly conclusion in the bloodbaths of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Created and controlled by the Great Powers, the ICTY, like its sister courts for Rwanda and the new international criminal court, corrupts the judicial process for political ends, the most important of which is to support the US's supposed right to act as the world's policeman. The new ICC, created by Britain, also seems to operate on the basis that white men do not commit war crimes: its prosecutors are currently investigating two local wars in Africa while turning a blind eye to Iraq. Only when that hideous strength which flows from the hypocrisy of interventionism is sapped, will the world stand any chance of returning to lawfulness and peace.
· John Laughland is the author of Travesty: the Trial of Slobodan Milosevic and the Corruption of International Justice
(english / italiano / francais)
Crimini contro i serbi di Bosnia / 1: Atif Dudakovic
1) SERBIA WEBSITE POSTS VIDEO OF 1995 MURDER OF SERB POWS BY CROATIAN PARAMILITARY
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 4, 2006 Friday
2) CROATIAN OFFICIALS SAY BOSNIAN ARMY BEHIND WAR CRIME ON KRAJINA SERB TAPE
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - August 9, 2006
4) Serbia seeks justice for ex-commander
5) WAR, CRIMES AND VIDEOTAPES
10) BOSNIA: SERB LEADER SLAMS AUTHORITIES FOR IGNORING MUSLIM CRIMES
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - January 16, 2007
LINKS:
Download the Atif Dudakovic video at:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/oluja.rm [33 MB RealVideo File]
http://balkans.courriers.info/article6929.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/b92080406.htm
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/hrt080706.htm
=== 3 ===
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.329078520&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - August 9, 2006
SERBIA: VIDEO PROMPTS REQUEST FOR ARREST OF BOSNIAN GENERAL
Belgrade - The government of Serbia has urged Bosnian
authorities to arrest General Atif Dudakovic for
crimes allegedly committed against Serb civilians in a
military operation “Storm” in August 1995.
Dudakovic was the commander of the Fifth corps of the
Bosnian Muslim army, which helped Croatian forces in
crushing Serb rebellion in Croatia’s Krajina region in
August 1995.
Last Friday Belgrade television station B92 broadcast
a video showing members of a military unit “Hamza”,
under Dudakovic’s command, killing a Serb civilian
after he had thrown his arms up in surrender and the
burning of Serbian villages.
The video caused a commotion among the Serbian public,
which generally believes that the International
Tribunal for War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
has neglected Serbian victims of last decade's Balkan
wars which were triggered by the disintegration of
former Yugoslavia.
Out of some 150 people indicted by the Tribunal most
were Serbs, and of the 22 sentenced so far, 18 are
Serbs.
A Serbian war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic,
has sent the video to The Hague, but also to his
Croatian and Bosnian colleagues, demanding punishment
of the culprits.
The ICTY has concluded its list of indictees and all
new cases are being turned to local courts.
Vukcevic’s spokesman Bruno Vekaric has proposed a
creation of a regional body for coordinating the new
indictments and trials, suggesting that local courts
might obstruct justice.
Belgrade television on Monday night showed another
video, showing Dudakovic commanding his forces in the
field near the town of Bosanski Petrovac and ordering
them to burn Serbian villages.
“It is all Serbian, burn it,” the video showed
Dudakovic ordering his forces.
“Atif Dudakovic and other war criminals who committed
crimes against Serbs must be arrested and face justice
for their crimes,” the Serbian government said in a
sharply worded statement Tuesday night.
....
The video's showing has promtped Milorad Dodik, Prime
Minister of Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska,
demanded that Bosnian authorities press criminal
charges against Dudakovic and others responsible.
“Everything but a quick investigation and arrest of
those responsible will be a proof that the crimes
committed during the war were measured by two
different yardsticks,” Dodik said. “These crimes
unambiguously crumble the aura of a hero that
Dudakovic has built about himself and put him were he
belongs – among those responsible for war crimes."
=== 4 ===
http://www.localnewswatch.com/benton/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=210037
Associated Press - August 11, 2006
Serbia seeks justice for ex-commander
By MISHA SAVIC
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbia has demanded that Bosnia
prosecute a wartime Muslim commander allegedly seen in
recently released video footage ordering the
destruction of Serb homes in 1995 in western Bosnia.
More than 200,000 Serbs fled during the offensive —
the biggest single exodus in the Balkan wars of the
1990s.
Many of them crossed through parts of western Bosnia
in search of safety, and more than a hundred were
killed. [Numbers of those expelled and killed
generally estimated to be far larger - RR]
The footage — first aired by Belgrade-based B92
television, then by Serbia‘s state television —
triggered outrage among many Serbs, who often accuse
the U.N. tribunal of being biased against them and
unwilling to investigate cases in which Serbs were the
victims.
"The recordings, which beyond any doubt testify about
Dudakovic‘s misdeeds, represent evidence that must be
taken as the basis for immediate action by police and
judiciary," the government said, urging Bosnia‘s
authorities to "act to bring war criminals to
justice."
....
Serbian prosecutors said they have handed over copies
of the tapes to their colleagues in Bosnia and
Croatia, as well as to the Netherlands-based U.N. war
crimes court for the former Yugoslavia.
=== 5 ===
Il generale nella tempesta
(Message over 64 KB, truncated)