Informazione
Miroje Vucinic,17-godisnjak iz Crne Gore, koji se nalazio na lijecenju
od leukemije u bolnici "S. Camillo" u Rimu, preminuo je jutros, 13.
augusta oko 4,30.
Porodici Vucinic, iskreno saucesce. Ivan
Miroje non c'è la fatta.
Miroje Vucinic, il ragazzo diciasettenne di Montenegro, che si curava
di leucemia al "San Camillo" di Roma, è morto questa mattina, 13 agosto
verso le ore 4,30.
Alla famiglia Vucinic condoglianze da tutto il Coordinamento. Ivan.
Nello stesso ospedale si trovano Marko Milanovic, 12 anni, proveniente
dalla Serbia e Lazar Popovic, 4 anni, dal Montenegro.
Rinoviamo l'appello del 7 luglio promosso da "Un ponte per..." e dal
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia, a sostegno di queste
famiglie. Ivan
od leukemije u bolnici "S. Camillo" u Rimu, preminuo je jutros, 13.
augusta oko 4,30.
Porodici Vucinic, iskreno saucesce. Ivan
Miroje non c'è la fatta.
Miroje Vucinic, il ragazzo diciasettenne di Montenegro, che si curava
di leucemia al "San Camillo" di Roma, è morto questa mattina, 13 agosto
verso le ore 4,30.
Alla famiglia Vucinic condoglianze da tutto il Coordinamento. Ivan.
Nello stesso ospedale si trovano Marko Milanovic, 12 anni, proveniente
dalla Serbia e Lazar Popovic, 4 anni, dal Montenegro.
Rinoviamo l'appello del 7 luglio promosso da "Un ponte per..." e dal
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia, a sostegno di queste
famiglie. Ivan
SUL PROCESSO DI UNIONE TRA RUSSIA E BIELORUSSIA
Intervento di V.N. Zakharcenko, primo segretario del CC del Partito
Comunista di Bielorussia, al primo “Congresso dei popoli dello stato
unitario di Belarus e Russia
http://www.kprf.ru/library/zine/13727.shtml
21 giugno 2003
Stimati compagni! Cari amici!
A nome della delegazione bielorussa desidero portare a tutti i
partecipanti al congresso il caloroso saluto dei sostenitori bielorussi
dello Stato unitario.
Della nostra delegazione fanno parte i rappresentanti delle più
autorevoli organizzazioni sociali di massa della repubblica. Quali la
Federazione dei sindacati di Belarus, l’Unione della gioventù
repubblicana bielorussa, l’Unione bielorussa degli ufficiali, l’Unione
bielorussa dei veterani della guerra in Afghanistan, l’Unione
bielorussa delle donne, il Comitato “slavo bielorusso”, l’Associazione
dei cosacchi in Bielorussia, il Comitato sociale repubblicano
bielorusso, la “Camera delle associazioni sociali”. Nella delegazione
ci sono venti deputati della Camera dei rappresentanti e membri del
Consiglio dell’Assemblea nazionale della Repubblica di Belarus, che
sono anche deputati dell’Assemblea parlamentare dell’Unione di Belarus
e Russia o del gruppo parlamentare “Deputato del popolo” del parlamento
della Bielorussia.
Una parte significativa dei partecipanti è rappresentata da membri del
Partito Comunista di Bielorussia, che è promotore e organizzatore del
congresso sul territorio della repubblica.
Penso che anche il solo elenco delle organizzazioni, che hanno delegato
propri rappresentanti al nostro odierno forum, dimostri eloquentemente
quale significato venga attribuito dall’opinione pubblica patriottica
bielorussa alla questione relativa alla creazione dello Stato unitario
di Belarus e Russia.
Come già nel passato essa guarda al proprio futuro solo attraverso il
prisma dell’unità. E ciò non sorprende affatto. Fin dai tempi antichi
lo sviluppo storico dei nostri popoli è lo sviluppo di fratelli di
sangue che vivono fianco a fianco. Insieme abbiamo attraversato anni
difficilissimi, insieme abbiamo condiviso la gioia, insieme abbiamo
edificato una casa comune.
La storia recente ha rafforzato ancora di più l’affetto reciproco.
Solo l’unità ha permesso ai nostri popoli di resistere nella sanguinosa
lotta con il fascismo negli anni della Grande Guerra Patriottica. E
solo il sostegno fraterno ha fornito la possibilità di creare il
sistema economico e le infrastrutture sociali della Bielorussia dopo il
passaggio dell’invasione nemica.
Oggi sempre meno ci si ricorda delle conseguenze della guerra e del
costo delle distruzioni operate dagli occupanti fascisti. Che sono
state tremende. In Bielorussia sono stati inceneriti e distrutti dai
fascisti 209 città e centri regionali su 270, annientati 9200 villaggi
e più di 10000 imprese. Gli invasori tedeschi hanno trasferito fuori
dalla repubblica il 90% delle attrezzature. In complesso la
Bielorussia, negli anni della guerra, ha perso il 50% della ricchezza
nazionale.
Ancora più terribili sono state le perdite umane. Negli anni
dell’occupazione sono morti 2,2 milioni di nostri concittadini e più di
380 mila sono stati deportati in Germania. E occorre tener conto che,
prima della guerra, la popolazione era di 9 milioni di abitanti.
Per lunghi decenni il popolo bielorusso non sarebbe stato in grado di
curare le ferite più gravi inferte dalla guerra, se non fosse
intervenuto il sostegno fraterno delle repubbliche sovietiche e, prima
di tutto, della Federazione Russa.
Ecco la ragione per cui nel referendum del marzo 1991, di fronte al
quesito relativo al mantenimento dell’URSS, il 90% dei cittadini della
Bielorussia abbia affermato: l’Unione Sovietica deve vivere. Ecco
perché nel referendum nazionale del 14 maggio 1995 il popolo di Belarus
ha ratificato in modo schiacciante la ferma aspirazione all’unità con
la Russia. Tale convinzione si mantiene anche oggi.
Quando il 26 maggio 1995, ponendo fine al processo di separazione, nel
villaggio bielorusso di Recka, venivano simbolicamente rimossi i
segnali di confine e, in seguito, quando il 2 aprile 1996 dai
presidenti dei nostri stati veniva siglato il trattato che avviava la
formazione della Comunità di Belarus e Russia, a molti cittadini da
ambedue le parti della frontiera, sembrò che la verità storica fosse
stata ristabilita, che l’unità si fosse realizzata.
Ed effettivamente, in tempi brevi, è stata formata e ha cominciato a
funzionare l’Assemblea parlamentare. Dopo un anno dalla firma
dell’accordo sulla creazione della Comunità, questa è stata trasformata
in Unione con l’acquisizione di nuovi poteri speciali. Sono stati
formati i Comitati doganale e frontaliero e il Comitato per le
questioni della sicurezza. E’ stato anche redatto un bilancio
dell’unione. Sulla base di tale bilancio si è dato avvio al lavoro
congiunto di imprese, istituzioni e organizzazioni di ambedue gli stati
con programmi nell’industria, nell’agricoltura, nella scienza, nel
settore della difesa e nella sfera sociale.
Nel dicembre 1999 si è passati ad una nuova tappa dell’unificazione,
perfezionata dalla sigla del Trattato sulla creazione di uno Stato
unitario e dal varo del Programma di azione della Federazione Russa e
della Repubblica di Belarus per la messa in pratica del trattato.
Come risultato si sono rafforzati i processi di integrazione, prima di
tutto nell’economia. L’anno scorso, ad esempio, l’interscambio tra
Russia e Bielorussia ammontava a 11 miliardi di dollari, dietro solo
all’interscambio tra Russia e Germania (14 miliardi di dollari), e
prima di quello tra Russia e Cina (10 miliardi di dollari) e tra Russia
e Ucraina (4,7 miliardi di dollari).
Il processo di integrazione dei complessi energetico e dei combustibili
dei nostri stati, a parere degli specialisti, ha raggiunto il 95% ,
quello della costruzione di macchinari l’85%. Interagiscono
strettamente – fattore importantissimo – le imprese russe e bielorusse
dell’industria automobilistica, settore che in una qualche misura
rappresenta l’indicatore del potenziale industriale degli stati.
Nell’industria automobilistica si sta realizzando il programma
“Diesel”, per un ammontare di circa 37 miliardi di rubli russi. Sono in
funzione programmi per la produzione comune e la ricerca
nell’elettronica, nell’ingegneria genetica, nell’esplorazione del cosmo.
Ma gli ultimi sette anni hanno dimostrato che la strada
dell’unificazione è significativamente più lunga e complicata di quanto
non si potesse prevedere. Come si è venuto chiarendo col passare del
tempo, i processi obiettivi di integrazione nell’economia e nella sfera
sociale non costituiscono ancora la garanzia che la strutturazione
organizzativa di un’unica formazione statale abbia vita facile.
A cominciare dal 2001, la costruzione statale unitaria ha incontrato
degli ostacoli ed è entrata in una fase che presenta elementi di
pericolo.
La principale causa di questo fenomeno va ricercata nella presenza, sia
in Russia che in Bielorussia, di gruppi sociali, per i quali la
creazione di uno Stato unitario costituisce un serio ostacolo alla
realizzazione dei propri egoistici interessi privati.
Sia sul versante della Russia che su quello della Bielorussia
intervengono in tale ruolo gli elementi della destra radicale che
rappresentano il grande capitale, orientati verso l’Occidente,
sostenuti dall’Occidente, ai quali conviene, di conseguenza, la
sottomissione dei nostri popoli agli interessi dell’Occidente. Il loro
slogan era e rimane: “Divide et impera”.
In Bielorussia, nonostante l’enorme sostegno politico, psicologico e
finanziario ai radicali di destra locali da parte degli Stati Uniti
d’America e degli stati europei occidentali dipendenti dagli USA, gli
sforzi tesi a frenare l’integrazione non sono ancora riusciti a
strappare risultati significativi. Ciò è attribuibile, in linea di
massima, da un lato alla ragionevole posizione del popolo della
repubblica e, dall’altro, al gigantesco lavoro assolto dal presidente
della Belarus Aleksandr Grigorjevic Lukashenko e dalle organizzazioni
patriottiche che lo sostengono nel contrastare gli attuali oppositori e
alla tenacia dimostrata dal presidente nella realizzazione degli
obiettivi prefissati.
Nella Federazione Russa, a nostro parere, le strutture radicali di
destra filoccidentali, essendo una forza importante dello schieramento
politico, esercitano un’influenza molto negativa. I sostenitori dello
Stato unitario in Bielorussia capiscono che, nel momento in cui si sta
formando la nuova struttura statale, occorre anche vincere la scontata
resistenza degli USA e dell’Unione Europea.
Profilandosi, dopo il dissolvimento dell’URSS, condizioni estremamente
favorevoli per l’affermazione di un “mondo unipolare”, USA e UE non
desiderano certamente avere concorrenti nell’arena mondiale come il
nuovo Stato unitario di Belarus e Russia, e ancor meno una più poderosa
costruzione statale, che potrebbe avere origine da questa unione. Con
diversi pretesti, le strutture statali degli Stati Uniti d’America e
dei loro satelliti hanno organizzato il boicottaggio dello stato
bielorusso. Senza alcun giustificato motivo essi hanno proclamato la
non legittimità del massimo organo legislativo del paese. E’ in atto,
attraverso i mezzi di comunicazione della maggior parte degli stati
vicini e dei paesi di orientamento filoamericano in altre regioni del
pianeta, una forsennata campagna antibielorussa. Si esercita una
pressione politica sulla dirigenza della Belarus anche attraverso la
proibizione dei visti d’ingresso nei cosiddetti paesi del “mondo
libero”.
Malgrado tutte queste difficoltà, secondo la maggior parte degli indici
di sviluppo economico e della qualità della vita, la Repubblica di
Belarus supera i suoi vicini delle repubbliche ex sovietiche. E ciò è
stato ottenuto grazie esclusivamente ai propri sforzi.
Nella fase attuale di formazione dello Stato unitario ha rappresentato
un passaggio fondamentale il varo dell’atto giuridico, che dà forma
alla nuova struttura statale, che definisce conformemente al Trattato
l’equilibrio nelle relazioni tra i soggetti statali esistenti e le
nascenti strutture sopranazionali del potere e dell’amministrazione, in
materia di sovranità e parità di diritti.
Le ultime riunioni della commissione, creata dai due stati per
l’elaborazione di questo documento, hanno messo in evidenza che esso è
stato ormai definito nei suoi tratti essenziali. Si attende l’esame da
parte dei capi di Stato.
Il Partito Comunista di Bielorussia ritiene che l’attuale situazione
richieda l’attiva espressione della volontà dei popoli in merito alla
costruzione dello Stato unitario. Non c’è dubbio che essi si
pronunceranno a favore del processo di unione. Ne sono testimonianza le
innumerevoli inchieste sociologiche, condotte sia in Bielorussia che in
Russia.
Ma è ancora indispensabile l’organizzazione dell’appoggio dell’opinione
pubblica al processo di creazione dello Stato unitario da parte dei
movimenti e delle istituzioni sociali. Ciò costituirà il fattore
propulsivo in grado di spingere i capi di stato dei nostri paesi a
superare definitivamente ogni ostacolo politico e ad assumere la
decisione di sottoporre a referendum l’Atto costitutivo dello Stato
unitario.
Proponiamo che il nostro odierno congresso dia l’avvio alla campagna di
sostegno da parte delle forze patriottiche alla costruzione statale
unitaria. E’ necessario che la campagna prosegua su tutto il territorio
dello Stato unitario. E’ necessario che l’inizio delle azioni di massa
coincida con il settimo anniversario del “Giorno dell’unificazione” dei
popoli di Belarus e Russia. Un ulteriore sviluppo di tali azioni
potrebbe registrarsi nel corso delle iniziative dedicate al ricordo
della liberazione delle nostre città e regioni dall’occupazione dei
fascisti tedeschi, e delle altre ricorrenze commemorative.
Tali approccio non solo costituisce uno stimolo per le strutture
statali affinché portino a compimento le procedure riguardanti l’Atto
costituzionale ma permette di creare condizioni favorevoli allo
svolgimento del referendum e, in seguito, anche delle elezioni del
parlamento dell’Unione.
E’ chiaro che in tutte le prossime fasi della formazione della base
giuridica delle strutture del potere e della gestione dello Stato
unitario, l’attivismo dell’opinione pubblica continuerà a rappresentare
il fattore decisivo, in grado di influenzare l’esito finale.
Perciò non appare superfluo pensare già da oggi a quali forme il
coordinamento del movimento sociale dovrà assumere nell’ambito della
nascente formazione statale unitaria.
Non si possono avere dubbi sul fatto che il coordinamento delle nostre
azioni rappresenti una necessità vitale. Con il varo dell’Atto
costituzionale dello Stato unitario di Belarus e Russia e, in seguito,
con l’elezione del supremo organo legislativo dell’unione, i processi
di interazione dei soggetti che vi saranno coinvolti subiranno
un’accelerazione. E si può prevedere che, nello sviluppo di tali
processi, possano manifestarsi anche momenti di difficoltà, legati ai
cambiamenti dei rapporti sociali in tutte le sfere della vita civile
dei nostri popoli.
Già ora emergono preoccupazioni in merito ai possibili tentativi dei
rappresentanti del grande capitale della Russia di avviare l’assalto
alle aziende dei settori trainanti in Bielorussia, con lo scopo di
prenderne possesso, senza dover operare alcun investimento. A quali
conseguenze portino tali azioni, si può osservare chiaramente in alcune
regioni della Federazione Russa. Nella Federazione Russa stessa è in
corso un seria lotta per il trasferimento alla proprietà privata del
sistema energetico. Le conseguenze di un simile passo sono prevedibili,
come è successo con la privatizzazione delle ferrovie della Repubblica
di Polonia. Lo scorporo del sistema ferroviario e la subordinazione
agli interessi privati ha arrecato una drastica riduzione delle sue
potenzialità. Il risultato è stato, ad esempio, che, alla frontiera tra
Polonia e Bielorussia, nella regione di Brest sono state ammassate 1200
cisterne ferroviarie contenenti gas liquefatto proveniente dalla
Russia. Altre 1700 cisterne si trovano nella sola stazione di Brest.
Tenendo conto della minaccia alla città, derivante dallo stazionamento
di un carico altamente esplosivo, le ferrovie bielorusse hanno bloccato
l’ingresso delle altre spedizioni di gas liquefatto russo. Le perdite
apportate sono risultate ingentissime. Se un fatto simile dovesse
accadere anche con il sistema energetico, ci troveremmo di fronte ad
una questione di vita o di morte per i nostri cittadini.
Anche tutti questi problemi potrebbero richiedere azioni coordinate su
vasta scala.
E non bisogna dimenticare neppure l’importanza dei fattori esterni.
Quando gli interessi dei magnati degli Stati Uniti sono stati
disturbati da Milosevic e dalla Jugoslavia, quest’ultima è stata
bombardata e Milosevic è stato giudicato colpevole di delitti commessi
dagli USA. Quando si è manifestata l’esigenza di accelerare i tempi del
trasporto del petrolio dall’Asia Centrale, attraverso l’Afghanistan,
fino al mare, si è messo sotto tiro il regime dei talebani, fino ad
allora coltivato, e si è imposto all’Afghanistan un nuovo ordine con la
forza militare e del terrore.
Oggi si cerca di trovare una via d’uscita dall’incombente crisi interna
agli stessi USA e, più in generale, a tutto l’Occidente, attraverso il
controllo del petrolio iracheno. E per far questo, si è inventato il
pretesto che fosse necessario liberare l’Iraq dalle armi di distruzione
di massa. I metodi usati per la “liberazione” erano già stati
sperimentati in Jugoslavia, in Afghanistan e in molti altri paesi. Con
l’ausilio della forza militare. Nessuno è in grado di garantire se, tra
qualche tempo, la stessa sorte non toccherà alla Bielorussia o alla
Russia.
Una settimana fa i mezzi di informazione di massa hanno comunicato che
il ministro della difesa americano ha dichiarato la propria intenzione
di dislocare basi aeree della NATO nella Repubblica di Polonia. Nelle
immediate vicinanze della Repubblica di Belarus.
Il pericolo è reale. E, come per la situazione in Iraq, è possibile
contrastarlo solo con l’unione delle nostre forze.
A tal proposito, occorre ancora una volta sottolineare la necessità
della formazione e del rafforzamento di un grande movimento sociale
nell’ambito del sorgente Stato unitario di Russia e Belarus.
Confidiamo nel successo dell’azione intrapresa. Battiamoci con forza
per l’unione di Belarus e Russia, per l’unità dei nostri popoli, per il
benessere e la prosperità comune.
Ce la faremo!
Traduzione dal russo
di Mauro Gemma
Intervento di V.N. Zakharcenko, primo segretario del CC del Partito
Comunista di Bielorussia, al primo “Congresso dei popoli dello stato
unitario di Belarus e Russia
http://www.kprf.ru/library/zine/13727.shtml
21 giugno 2003
Stimati compagni! Cari amici!
A nome della delegazione bielorussa desidero portare a tutti i
partecipanti al congresso il caloroso saluto dei sostenitori bielorussi
dello Stato unitario.
Della nostra delegazione fanno parte i rappresentanti delle più
autorevoli organizzazioni sociali di massa della repubblica. Quali la
Federazione dei sindacati di Belarus, l’Unione della gioventù
repubblicana bielorussa, l’Unione bielorussa degli ufficiali, l’Unione
bielorussa dei veterani della guerra in Afghanistan, l’Unione
bielorussa delle donne, il Comitato “slavo bielorusso”, l’Associazione
dei cosacchi in Bielorussia, il Comitato sociale repubblicano
bielorusso, la “Camera delle associazioni sociali”. Nella delegazione
ci sono venti deputati della Camera dei rappresentanti e membri del
Consiglio dell’Assemblea nazionale della Repubblica di Belarus, che
sono anche deputati dell’Assemblea parlamentare dell’Unione di Belarus
e Russia o del gruppo parlamentare “Deputato del popolo” del parlamento
della Bielorussia.
Una parte significativa dei partecipanti è rappresentata da membri del
Partito Comunista di Bielorussia, che è promotore e organizzatore del
congresso sul territorio della repubblica.
Penso che anche il solo elenco delle organizzazioni, che hanno delegato
propri rappresentanti al nostro odierno forum, dimostri eloquentemente
quale significato venga attribuito dall’opinione pubblica patriottica
bielorussa alla questione relativa alla creazione dello Stato unitario
di Belarus e Russia.
Come già nel passato essa guarda al proprio futuro solo attraverso il
prisma dell’unità. E ciò non sorprende affatto. Fin dai tempi antichi
lo sviluppo storico dei nostri popoli è lo sviluppo di fratelli di
sangue che vivono fianco a fianco. Insieme abbiamo attraversato anni
difficilissimi, insieme abbiamo condiviso la gioia, insieme abbiamo
edificato una casa comune.
La storia recente ha rafforzato ancora di più l’affetto reciproco.
Solo l’unità ha permesso ai nostri popoli di resistere nella sanguinosa
lotta con il fascismo negli anni della Grande Guerra Patriottica. E
solo il sostegno fraterno ha fornito la possibilità di creare il
sistema economico e le infrastrutture sociali della Bielorussia dopo il
passaggio dell’invasione nemica.
Oggi sempre meno ci si ricorda delle conseguenze della guerra e del
costo delle distruzioni operate dagli occupanti fascisti. Che sono
state tremende. In Bielorussia sono stati inceneriti e distrutti dai
fascisti 209 città e centri regionali su 270, annientati 9200 villaggi
e più di 10000 imprese. Gli invasori tedeschi hanno trasferito fuori
dalla repubblica il 90% delle attrezzature. In complesso la
Bielorussia, negli anni della guerra, ha perso il 50% della ricchezza
nazionale.
Ancora più terribili sono state le perdite umane. Negli anni
dell’occupazione sono morti 2,2 milioni di nostri concittadini e più di
380 mila sono stati deportati in Germania. E occorre tener conto che,
prima della guerra, la popolazione era di 9 milioni di abitanti.
Per lunghi decenni il popolo bielorusso non sarebbe stato in grado di
curare le ferite più gravi inferte dalla guerra, se non fosse
intervenuto il sostegno fraterno delle repubbliche sovietiche e, prima
di tutto, della Federazione Russa.
Ecco la ragione per cui nel referendum del marzo 1991, di fronte al
quesito relativo al mantenimento dell’URSS, il 90% dei cittadini della
Bielorussia abbia affermato: l’Unione Sovietica deve vivere. Ecco
perché nel referendum nazionale del 14 maggio 1995 il popolo di Belarus
ha ratificato in modo schiacciante la ferma aspirazione all’unità con
la Russia. Tale convinzione si mantiene anche oggi.
Quando il 26 maggio 1995, ponendo fine al processo di separazione, nel
villaggio bielorusso di Recka, venivano simbolicamente rimossi i
segnali di confine e, in seguito, quando il 2 aprile 1996 dai
presidenti dei nostri stati veniva siglato il trattato che avviava la
formazione della Comunità di Belarus e Russia, a molti cittadini da
ambedue le parti della frontiera, sembrò che la verità storica fosse
stata ristabilita, che l’unità si fosse realizzata.
Ed effettivamente, in tempi brevi, è stata formata e ha cominciato a
funzionare l’Assemblea parlamentare. Dopo un anno dalla firma
dell’accordo sulla creazione della Comunità, questa è stata trasformata
in Unione con l’acquisizione di nuovi poteri speciali. Sono stati
formati i Comitati doganale e frontaliero e il Comitato per le
questioni della sicurezza. E’ stato anche redatto un bilancio
dell’unione. Sulla base di tale bilancio si è dato avvio al lavoro
congiunto di imprese, istituzioni e organizzazioni di ambedue gli stati
con programmi nell’industria, nell’agricoltura, nella scienza, nel
settore della difesa e nella sfera sociale.
Nel dicembre 1999 si è passati ad una nuova tappa dell’unificazione,
perfezionata dalla sigla del Trattato sulla creazione di uno Stato
unitario e dal varo del Programma di azione della Federazione Russa e
della Repubblica di Belarus per la messa in pratica del trattato.
Come risultato si sono rafforzati i processi di integrazione, prima di
tutto nell’economia. L’anno scorso, ad esempio, l’interscambio tra
Russia e Bielorussia ammontava a 11 miliardi di dollari, dietro solo
all’interscambio tra Russia e Germania (14 miliardi di dollari), e
prima di quello tra Russia e Cina (10 miliardi di dollari) e tra Russia
e Ucraina (4,7 miliardi di dollari).
Il processo di integrazione dei complessi energetico e dei combustibili
dei nostri stati, a parere degli specialisti, ha raggiunto il 95% ,
quello della costruzione di macchinari l’85%. Interagiscono
strettamente – fattore importantissimo – le imprese russe e bielorusse
dell’industria automobilistica, settore che in una qualche misura
rappresenta l’indicatore del potenziale industriale degli stati.
Nell’industria automobilistica si sta realizzando il programma
“Diesel”, per un ammontare di circa 37 miliardi di rubli russi. Sono in
funzione programmi per la produzione comune e la ricerca
nell’elettronica, nell’ingegneria genetica, nell’esplorazione del cosmo.
Ma gli ultimi sette anni hanno dimostrato che la strada
dell’unificazione è significativamente più lunga e complicata di quanto
non si potesse prevedere. Come si è venuto chiarendo col passare del
tempo, i processi obiettivi di integrazione nell’economia e nella sfera
sociale non costituiscono ancora la garanzia che la strutturazione
organizzativa di un’unica formazione statale abbia vita facile.
A cominciare dal 2001, la costruzione statale unitaria ha incontrato
degli ostacoli ed è entrata in una fase che presenta elementi di
pericolo.
La principale causa di questo fenomeno va ricercata nella presenza, sia
in Russia che in Bielorussia, di gruppi sociali, per i quali la
creazione di uno Stato unitario costituisce un serio ostacolo alla
realizzazione dei propri egoistici interessi privati.
Sia sul versante della Russia che su quello della Bielorussia
intervengono in tale ruolo gli elementi della destra radicale che
rappresentano il grande capitale, orientati verso l’Occidente,
sostenuti dall’Occidente, ai quali conviene, di conseguenza, la
sottomissione dei nostri popoli agli interessi dell’Occidente. Il loro
slogan era e rimane: “Divide et impera”.
In Bielorussia, nonostante l’enorme sostegno politico, psicologico e
finanziario ai radicali di destra locali da parte degli Stati Uniti
d’America e degli stati europei occidentali dipendenti dagli USA, gli
sforzi tesi a frenare l’integrazione non sono ancora riusciti a
strappare risultati significativi. Ciò è attribuibile, in linea di
massima, da un lato alla ragionevole posizione del popolo della
repubblica e, dall’altro, al gigantesco lavoro assolto dal presidente
della Belarus Aleksandr Grigorjevic Lukashenko e dalle organizzazioni
patriottiche che lo sostengono nel contrastare gli attuali oppositori e
alla tenacia dimostrata dal presidente nella realizzazione degli
obiettivi prefissati.
Nella Federazione Russa, a nostro parere, le strutture radicali di
destra filoccidentali, essendo una forza importante dello schieramento
politico, esercitano un’influenza molto negativa. I sostenitori dello
Stato unitario in Bielorussia capiscono che, nel momento in cui si sta
formando la nuova struttura statale, occorre anche vincere la scontata
resistenza degli USA e dell’Unione Europea.
Profilandosi, dopo il dissolvimento dell’URSS, condizioni estremamente
favorevoli per l’affermazione di un “mondo unipolare”, USA e UE non
desiderano certamente avere concorrenti nell’arena mondiale come il
nuovo Stato unitario di Belarus e Russia, e ancor meno una più poderosa
costruzione statale, che potrebbe avere origine da questa unione. Con
diversi pretesti, le strutture statali degli Stati Uniti d’America e
dei loro satelliti hanno organizzato il boicottaggio dello stato
bielorusso. Senza alcun giustificato motivo essi hanno proclamato la
non legittimità del massimo organo legislativo del paese. E’ in atto,
attraverso i mezzi di comunicazione della maggior parte degli stati
vicini e dei paesi di orientamento filoamericano in altre regioni del
pianeta, una forsennata campagna antibielorussa. Si esercita una
pressione politica sulla dirigenza della Belarus anche attraverso la
proibizione dei visti d’ingresso nei cosiddetti paesi del “mondo
libero”.
Malgrado tutte queste difficoltà, secondo la maggior parte degli indici
di sviluppo economico e della qualità della vita, la Repubblica di
Belarus supera i suoi vicini delle repubbliche ex sovietiche. E ciò è
stato ottenuto grazie esclusivamente ai propri sforzi.
Nella fase attuale di formazione dello Stato unitario ha rappresentato
un passaggio fondamentale il varo dell’atto giuridico, che dà forma
alla nuova struttura statale, che definisce conformemente al Trattato
l’equilibrio nelle relazioni tra i soggetti statali esistenti e le
nascenti strutture sopranazionali del potere e dell’amministrazione, in
materia di sovranità e parità di diritti.
Le ultime riunioni della commissione, creata dai due stati per
l’elaborazione di questo documento, hanno messo in evidenza che esso è
stato ormai definito nei suoi tratti essenziali. Si attende l’esame da
parte dei capi di Stato.
Il Partito Comunista di Bielorussia ritiene che l’attuale situazione
richieda l’attiva espressione della volontà dei popoli in merito alla
costruzione dello Stato unitario. Non c’è dubbio che essi si
pronunceranno a favore del processo di unione. Ne sono testimonianza le
innumerevoli inchieste sociologiche, condotte sia in Bielorussia che in
Russia.
Ma è ancora indispensabile l’organizzazione dell’appoggio dell’opinione
pubblica al processo di creazione dello Stato unitario da parte dei
movimenti e delle istituzioni sociali. Ciò costituirà il fattore
propulsivo in grado di spingere i capi di stato dei nostri paesi a
superare definitivamente ogni ostacolo politico e ad assumere la
decisione di sottoporre a referendum l’Atto costitutivo dello Stato
unitario.
Proponiamo che il nostro odierno congresso dia l’avvio alla campagna di
sostegno da parte delle forze patriottiche alla costruzione statale
unitaria. E’ necessario che la campagna prosegua su tutto il territorio
dello Stato unitario. E’ necessario che l’inizio delle azioni di massa
coincida con il settimo anniversario del “Giorno dell’unificazione” dei
popoli di Belarus e Russia. Un ulteriore sviluppo di tali azioni
potrebbe registrarsi nel corso delle iniziative dedicate al ricordo
della liberazione delle nostre città e regioni dall’occupazione dei
fascisti tedeschi, e delle altre ricorrenze commemorative.
Tali approccio non solo costituisce uno stimolo per le strutture
statali affinché portino a compimento le procedure riguardanti l’Atto
costituzionale ma permette di creare condizioni favorevoli allo
svolgimento del referendum e, in seguito, anche delle elezioni del
parlamento dell’Unione.
E’ chiaro che in tutte le prossime fasi della formazione della base
giuridica delle strutture del potere e della gestione dello Stato
unitario, l’attivismo dell’opinione pubblica continuerà a rappresentare
il fattore decisivo, in grado di influenzare l’esito finale.
Perciò non appare superfluo pensare già da oggi a quali forme il
coordinamento del movimento sociale dovrà assumere nell’ambito della
nascente formazione statale unitaria.
Non si possono avere dubbi sul fatto che il coordinamento delle nostre
azioni rappresenti una necessità vitale. Con il varo dell’Atto
costituzionale dello Stato unitario di Belarus e Russia e, in seguito,
con l’elezione del supremo organo legislativo dell’unione, i processi
di interazione dei soggetti che vi saranno coinvolti subiranno
un’accelerazione. E si può prevedere che, nello sviluppo di tali
processi, possano manifestarsi anche momenti di difficoltà, legati ai
cambiamenti dei rapporti sociali in tutte le sfere della vita civile
dei nostri popoli.
Già ora emergono preoccupazioni in merito ai possibili tentativi dei
rappresentanti del grande capitale della Russia di avviare l’assalto
alle aziende dei settori trainanti in Bielorussia, con lo scopo di
prenderne possesso, senza dover operare alcun investimento. A quali
conseguenze portino tali azioni, si può osservare chiaramente in alcune
regioni della Federazione Russa. Nella Federazione Russa stessa è in
corso un seria lotta per il trasferimento alla proprietà privata del
sistema energetico. Le conseguenze di un simile passo sono prevedibili,
come è successo con la privatizzazione delle ferrovie della Repubblica
di Polonia. Lo scorporo del sistema ferroviario e la subordinazione
agli interessi privati ha arrecato una drastica riduzione delle sue
potenzialità. Il risultato è stato, ad esempio, che, alla frontiera tra
Polonia e Bielorussia, nella regione di Brest sono state ammassate 1200
cisterne ferroviarie contenenti gas liquefatto proveniente dalla
Russia. Altre 1700 cisterne si trovano nella sola stazione di Brest.
Tenendo conto della minaccia alla città, derivante dallo stazionamento
di un carico altamente esplosivo, le ferrovie bielorusse hanno bloccato
l’ingresso delle altre spedizioni di gas liquefatto russo. Le perdite
apportate sono risultate ingentissime. Se un fatto simile dovesse
accadere anche con il sistema energetico, ci troveremmo di fronte ad
una questione di vita o di morte per i nostri cittadini.
Anche tutti questi problemi potrebbero richiedere azioni coordinate su
vasta scala.
E non bisogna dimenticare neppure l’importanza dei fattori esterni.
Quando gli interessi dei magnati degli Stati Uniti sono stati
disturbati da Milosevic e dalla Jugoslavia, quest’ultima è stata
bombardata e Milosevic è stato giudicato colpevole di delitti commessi
dagli USA. Quando si è manifestata l’esigenza di accelerare i tempi del
trasporto del petrolio dall’Asia Centrale, attraverso l’Afghanistan,
fino al mare, si è messo sotto tiro il regime dei talebani, fino ad
allora coltivato, e si è imposto all’Afghanistan un nuovo ordine con la
forza militare e del terrore.
Oggi si cerca di trovare una via d’uscita dall’incombente crisi interna
agli stessi USA e, più in generale, a tutto l’Occidente, attraverso il
controllo del petrolio iracheno. E per far questo, si è inventato il
pretesto che fosse necessario liberare l’Iraq dalle armi di distruzione
di massa. I metodi usati per la “liberazione” erano già stati
sperimentati in Jugoslavia, in Afghanistan e in molti altri paesi. Con
l’ausilio della forza militare. Nessuno è in grado di garantire se, tra
qualche tempo, la stessa sorte non toccherà alla Bielorussia o alla
Russia.
Una settimana fa i mezzi di informazione di massa hanno comunicato che
il ministro della difesa americano ha dichiarato la propria intenzione
di dislocare basi aeree della NATO nella Repubblica di Polonia. Nelle
immediate vicinanze della Repubblica di Belarus.
Il pericolo è reale. E, come per la situazione in Iraq, è possibile
contrastarlo solo con l’unione delle nostre forze.
A tal proposito, occorre ancora una volta sottolineare la necessità
della formazione e del rafforzamento di un grande movimento sociale
nell’ambito del sorgente Stato unitario di Russia e Belarus.
Confidiamo nel successo dell’azione intrapresa. Battiamoci con forza
per l’unione di Belarus e Russia, per l’unità dei nostri popoli, per il
benessere e la prosperità comune.
Ce la faremo!
Traduzione dal russo
di Mauro Gemma
"Sud" u Hagu
1. ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
Saopstenje za javnost udruzenje "Sloboda"
2. "TESKO NAM JE DA MILOSEVICU DOKAZEMO GENOCID"
rekla je Karla "Krudelija" Del Ponte
=== 1 ===
Da: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
Data: Gio 7 Ago 2003 14:15:09 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Sloboda: ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
Saopstenje za javnost
Udruzenje «Sloboda» - Jugoslovenski komitet za oslobodjenje
Slobodana Milosevica najostrije osudjuje pokusaj rezima da
zloupotrebom pravosudnih organa i providnim manevrima u vezi sa tzv.
ispitivanjem Predsednika Slobodana Milosevica u Hagu «povrati u zivot»
svoju laznu i sramnu kampanju protiv Predsednika Milosevica i njegove
porodice.
Predsednik Milosevic je u Hagu jasno rekao da trazi da o svim
izmisljenim optuzbama bude javno ispitan. Cak je i haski tribunal bio
spreman da javno ispitivanje omoguci i obezbedio je za to svoju najvecu
sudnicu.
Ali najveci protivnik izdajnickog rezima u Beogradu je istina.
Znajuci da istina moze da ih srusi, beogradski puleni Medlin Olbrajt i
Karle del Ponte zabranili su da narod cuje istinu iz usta Slobodana
Milosevica.
Predsednik Milosevic je u Hagu takodje zatrazio da se sprovede istraga
o kriminalnoj povezanosti Karlinog laznog tuzilastva i rezima u
Beogradu.
Mozda svi mehanizmi njihove saradnje nisu poznati, ali poznate su
kriminalne posledice:
- javna kampanja medijskih uvreda i lazi sa ciljem da se
Predsednik Milosevic razdvoji od supruge i porodice - nesto sto kao
metod pamtimo samo od turskih i fasistickih okupatora;
- gusenje politickih sloboda i masovno krsenje ljudskih prava u
Srbiji.
Takodje, poznat je i zajednicki cilj marionetskog rezima i njegovih
haskih poslodavaca: zaustaviti pobedonosnu bitku Slobodana Milosevica
za istinu i ogroman politicki uticaj koji ta bitka ima na narod u
Srbiji.
Slobodan Milosevic, Udruzenje «Sloboda» i narod u Srbiji nikada nece
dozvoliti da se njihov cilj ostvari.
Udruzenje «Sloboda» poziva sve casne ljude u zemlji i svetu da ustanu
protiv necasnih i nezakonitih napada na Slobodana Milosevica i na
slobodu i buducnost svih nas.
Beograd, 6. avgusta 2003. g.
UDRUZENJE «SLOBODA»
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== 2 ===
I "Krudelia" del Ponte rece istinu!
"Tesko nam je da Milosevicu dokazemo genocid" - Zato sto ga nema!
"Ekspres" Beograd, 29 juli 2003., prevedeno iz "Die Weltwocha"
br. 32/03:
http://weltwoche.ch/ressort_bericht.asp?asset_id=5538&category_id=60
"Ekspres", tel. 00381-11-3373236, faks 3373356
Za ovaj tekst vidi i e.mail Jugo-info "Processo" od 8.8.03:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2704
DVE KNEDLE U GRLU, I DJINDJICEVA SLIKA NA ZIDU (isecci)
Odmah desno, kraj plavih vrata kancelarije Karle del Ponte na Haskom
tribunalu, visi velika poternica sanatpisom "Nagrada do 5 miliona
dolara" (znaci moze dobiti i "figu" ako je "do", N.o.) i tri velike
fotografije - S. Milosevica, R. Karadzica i R. Mladica. Miloseviceva
fotografija je sa ociglednom neobuzdanom odlucnoscu precrtana hemijskom
olovkom, a sve dok to ne bude mogla da ucini i sa preostale dve
fotografije, 57-godisnja Karla del Ponte ne namerava da napusti svoju
kancelariju glavnog tuzioca Tribunala OUN.
"Radujem se svakom hapsenju, ali jos uvek cekam 17 ljudi, od toga
dvojicu krupnih - Karadzica i Mladica. Radost mi je polovicna".
"Karadzica stiti citavo stanovnistvo, za njih je on heroj. Niko ga ne
bi izrucio. To, dakle, mora da ucini SFOR, NATO. A najjaca vojna sila
na svetu to ne uspeva. To je zaista zapanjujuce. Iz staba krene 150
vojnika sa oklopnim vozilima i helikopterima da uhapse Karadzica, on to
dozna u roku od pet minuta i nestane".
"Mi pokusavamo da u nesto sugeriramo, ali vojnici naravno to nece. Kada
bismo mogli da posaljemo u bivsu Jugoslaviju da hapsi ove ljude, bilo
bi drugacije. Ali, jedno je sigurno: vrata ovog tribunala ne mogu da se
zatvore pre nego sto obojica (Karadzic i Mladic, N.o.) ne budu ovde."
Sta je sa Mladicem? "On je u Srbiji i stite ga delovi vojske."...
"Srpski ministar inostranih poslova kaze: "Ako Mladica stiti vojska, ja
ne mogu da ga uhapsim, jer ce u suprotnom doci do sukoba izmedju vojske
i policije. Kada nakon toga odem do vojnog nacelnika,on kaze: Mi nemamo
mandat da ga trazimo ili hapsimo, to mora da uradi policija".
"Da bi uhvatio Mladica, Djindjic je morao da reorganizuje vojsku i
policiju. Dve nedelje pre smrti rekao mi je da je to sada moguce. Ali
nakon sto mi je ispricao o svojim planovima, rekao mi je: Ubice me".
Za "Veltwoche" Cirih, M. Beglinger i B. Odenal
1. ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
Saopstenje za javnost udruzenje "Sloboda"
2. "TESKO NAM JE DA MILOSEVICU DOKAZEMO GENOCID"
rekla je Karla "Krudelija" Del Ponte
=== 1 ===
Da: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
Data: Gio 7 Ago 2003 14:15:09 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Sloboda: ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
ISTINA - NAJVECI PROTIVNIK REZIMA
Saopstenje za javnost
Udruzenje «Sloboda» - Jugoslovenski komitet za oslobodjenje
Slobodana Milosevica najostrije osudjuje pokusaj rezima da
zloupotrebom pravosudnih organa i providnim manevrima u vezi sa tzv.
ispitivanjem Predsednika Slobodana Milosevica u Hagu «povrati u zivot»
svoju laznu i sramnu kampanju protiv Predsednika Milosevica i njegove
porodice.
Predsednik Milosevic je u Hagu jasno rekao da trazi da o svim
izmisljenim optuzbama bude javno ispitan. Cak je i haski tribunal bio
spreman da javno ispitivanje omoguci i obezbedio je za to svoju najvecu
sudnicu.
Ali najveci protivnik izdajnickog rezima u Beogradu je istina.
Znajuci da istina moze da ih srusi, beogradski puleni Medlin Olbrajt i
Karle del Ponte zabranili su da narod cuje istinu iz usta Slobodana
Milosevica.
Predsednik Milosevic je u Hagu takodje zatrazio da se sprovede istraga
o kriminalnoj povezanosti Karlinog laznog tuzilastva i rezima u
Beogradu.
Mozda svi mehanizmi njihove saradnje nisu poznati, ali poznate su
kriminalne posledice:
- javna kampanja medijskih uvreda i lazi sa ciljem da se
Predsednik Milosevic razdvoji od supruge i porodice - nesto sto kao
metod pamtimo samo od turskih i fasistickih okupatora;
- gusenje politickih sloboda i masovno krsenje ljudskih prava u
Srbiji.
Takodje, poznat je i zajednicki cilj marionetskog rezima i njegovih
haskih poslodavaca: zaustaviti pobedonosnu bitku Slobodana Milosevica
za istinu i ogroman politicki uticaj koji ta bitka ima na narod u
Srbiji.
Slobodan Milosevic, Udruzenje «Sloboda» i narod u Srbiji nikada nece
dozvoliti da se njihov cilj ostvari.
Udruzenje «Sloboda» poziva sve casne ljude u zemlji i svetu da ustanu
protiv necasnih i nezakonitih napada na Slobodana Milosevica i na
slobodu i buducnost svih nas.
Beograd, 6. avgusta 2003. g.
UDRUZENJE «SLOBODA»
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== 2 ===
I "Krudelia" del Ponte rece istinu!
"Tesko nam je da Milosevicu dokazemo genocid" - Zato sto ga nema!
"Ekspres" Beograd, 29 juli 2003., prevedeno iz "Die Weltwocha"
br. 32/03:
http://weltwoche.ch/ressort_bericht.asp?asset_id=5538&category_id=60
"Ekspres", tel. 00381-11-3373236, faks 3373356
Za ovaj tekst vidi i e.mail Jugo-info "Processo" od 8.8.03:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2704
DVE KNEDLE U GRLU, I DJINDJICEVA SLIKA NA ZIDU (isecci)
Odmah desno, kraj plavih vrata kancelarije Karle del Ponte na Haskom
tribunalu, visi velika poternica sanatpisom "Nagrada do 5 miliona
dolara" (znaci moze dobiti i "figu" ako je "do", N.o.) i tri velike
fotografije - S. Milosevica, R. Karadzica i R. Mladica. Miloseviceva
fotografija je sa ociglednom neobuzdanom odlucnoscu precrtana hemijskom
olovkom, a sve dok to ne bude mogla da ucini i sa preostale dve
fotografije, 57-godisnja Karla del Ponte ne namerava da napusti svoju
kancelariju glavnog tuzioca Tribunala OUN.
"Radujem se svakom hapsenju, ali jos uvek cekam 17 ljudi, od toga
dvojicu krupnih - Karadzica i Mladica. Radost mi je polovicna".
"Karadzica stiti citavo stanovnistvo, za njih je on heroj. Niko ga ne
bi izrucio. To, dakle, mora da ucini SFOR, NATO. A najjaca vojna sila
na svetu to ne uspeva. To je zaista zapanjujuce. Iz staba krene 150
vojnika sa oklopnim vozilima i helikopterima da uhapse Karadzica, on to
dozna u roku od pet minuta i nestane".
"Mi pokusavamo da u nesto sugeriramo, ali vojnici naravno to nece. Kada
bismo mogli da posaljemo u bivsu Jugoslaviju da hapsi ove ljude, bilo
bi drugacije. Ali, jedno je sigurno: vrata ovog tribunala ne mogu da se
zatvore pre nego sto obojica (Karadzic i Mladic, N.o.) ne budu ovde."
Sta je sa Mladicem? "On je u Srbiji i stite ga delovi vojske."...
"Srpski ministar inostranih poslova kaze: "Ako Mladica stiti vojska, ja
ne mogu da ga uhapsim, jer ce u suprotnom doci do sukoba izmedju vojske
i policije. Kada nakon toga odem do vojnog nacelnika,on kaze: Mi nemamo
mandat da ga trazimo ili hapsimo, to mora da uradi policija".
"Da bi uhvatio Mladica, Djindjic je morao da reorganizuje vojsku i
policiju. Dve nedelje pre smrti rekao mi je da je to sada moguce. Ali
nakon sto mi je ispricao o svojim planovima, rekao mi je: Ubice me".
Za "Veltwoche" Cirih, M. Beglinger i B. Odenal
Il terrorismo "buono" / 2 (english)
1. Guantanamo: Australian Al-Qaeda Militant Ex 'Freedom Fighter' In
Kosovo, Kashmir (July 2003)
2. Bin Laden’s Balkan Connections (Scott Taylor, December 2001)
=== 1 ===
Da: Rick Rozoff
Data: Mar 8 Lug 2003 18:47:08 Europe/Rome
A: Ova adresa el. pošte je zaštićena od spambotova. Omogućite JavaScript da biste je videli.
Oggetto: [yugoslaviainfo] Guantanamo: Australian Al-Qaeda Militant Ex
'Freedom Fighter' In Kosovo, Kashmir
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bs/Qaustralia-attacks-us.RnsH_Dl8.html
[Note: The second feature, below, is from a
transparently Ustashe Internet site [see:
http://www.cfiva.org/cfiva/home/index.cfm?CFID=345918&CFTOKEN=99319605]
and is only reproduced because it says more than it
intends to, both about David Hicks' involvement in
Kosovo and the Indian state of Kashmir and about the
close - inseparable - ties between the neo-Ustashe in
Croatia and the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army in
Serbia.]
Australian held by US military was trained by
al-Qaeda, PM reveals
SYDNEY, July 8 (AFP) - Australian-born Taliban fighter
David Hicks, who is now in US military detention, has
admitted training with the al-Qaeda terrorist network,
Prime Minister John Howard revealed for the first time
Tuesday.
Howard's disclosure came as US lawyers protested that
Hicks will not receive a fair trial by a US military
tribunal because he is being denied proper access to
legal representation.
The 27-year-old former Adelaide poultry process worker
has been held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, since he was captured fighting with the Taliban
by US forces in Afghanistan in November, 2001.
Hicks' lawyers have conceded he was a Taliban fighter
but denied persistent allegations he had links to
al-Qaeda.
But Howard said the government was satisfied that
Hicks would receive a fair trial and that he was
linked to al-Qaeda.
"What is not an allegation, because the man in
question has admitted it, is that he trained with
al-Qaeda," Howard told ABC radio when asked about
Hicks.
Howard said the government had lengthy discussions
with US officials about the case and was satisfied
that Hicks would receive a fair hearing, that the
presumption of innocence would prevail and that there
would be access to lawyers.
One of Hicks' Adelaide-based lawyers, Frank Camatta,
said he was shocked by the prime minister's comments.
"It's a total surprise to us," he said.
"We have no basis to understand that to be the case.
Maybe the prime minister has had access to briefings
from the security services.
"We would have been very pleased to have been told
that, rather than hear it through the media. Why he
would say that without at least letting the family
know is disappointing."
Hicks was named by the US administration last week as
one of an initial group of six detainees eligible to
be tried by a US military tribunal, although no date
has been set for a hearing and no charge has yet been
laid.
His family has appointed a civilian legal team,
although his lawyers say he is being denied the usual
confidentiality between lawyer and client, which is a
basic tenet of legal representation, and without which
they say it would be virtually impossible for him to
receive a fair trial.
Hicks' US-based lawyer Joseph Margulies said there was
scant chance of a fair trial.
"They would never countenance these kinds of
proceedings in an Australian court," Margulies told
ABC radio.
"One of the real problems with the tribunal is that it
is not transparent. We may never shed light on that
dark corner."
US National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers
(NACDL) president Lawrence Goldman said the military
court was likely to be biased because the judges, who
would probably be senior officers would find it
difficult to acquit someone whom the president of the
United States has recommended for trial.
"I would not walk into these trials as a defence
lawyer with the confidence that my client would get a
fair shake," he said.
Al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna, who has written
extensively about Osama bin Laden's terrorist network
and who initially described Hicks as a "small fry" in
the terror organisation, now believes he was more than
a foot soldier.
"There is more recent information to indicate that he
has undergone more advanced and more specialised
training," Gunaratna told The Australian newspaper.
---
http://www.cfiva.org/cfiva/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=showItem&newsID=13
Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association
CFIVA News
KOSOVO VOLUNTEER LINKED TO AL-QAEDA
Thursday, August 1, 2002
David Hicks training with the UCK prior to joining the
Taliban
-The details of his service in Kosova [sic] come to us
direct from the UCK and are as follows:
He joined a group of the UCK circa February 1999. He
was accommodated at one of three UCK training camps in
the Tropolje area in Albania for six weeks. He was
moved to another UCK training camp as a prospective
instructor after he made exaggerated claims about
being in the Australian Army.
-[H]e was placed on active duty near the border town
of Kukes with 139 Brigade, commanded by Radimas
Beshim.
-He was demobilised in June 1999, went back to the
Albanian capital Tirana where the UCK purchased an
aeroplane ticket for the Islamic Republic of Iran (via
Germany) at Hicks’ own request.
-He returned to Australia in late 1999 and claimed to
have been through six weeks training, boasted he had
been in the trenches, killed a few Serbs....
-The Australian government says he...went to Pakistan
and trained with the militant Islamic group
Lashkar-i-Taiba who are fighting in the Kashmir region
against the Indian Army. This group is believed to
have links with Al-Qa’eda and Osama Bin Laden.
-[H]icks has been blacklisted by CFIVA for bringing
the international volunteer movement [sic] in Kosova
into disrepute.
More On Terrorist Suspect Hicks - On 1st August the
Australian ex-volunteer failed to obtain a trial.
American judges ruled that because he was being held
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, United States civilian courts
had no jurisdiction. He therefore remains indefinitely
detained without trial.
The case of Hicks is already being widely mis-reported
as international journalists studiously avoid checking
their information with other sources. Under the
ridiculous label "Soldier of Fortune," CNN state that
Hicks converted to Islam whilst fighting with the UCK
in "Bosnia" (huh??) and mis-labelled a grainy
photograph of Hicks taken in Albania in 1999 as being
in "Bosnia." We can categorically state that Hicks
never served in BiH.
He surrendered to Northern Alliance forces in
Afghanistan on 9th December 2001 near the Tora Bora
caves complex used by Al-Qa’eda. He has no criminal
record nor was he involved in any military activity
prior to Kosova. In early 1999 he approached Channel 7
wanting to sell a story about fighting as a mercenary
in South Africa or Afghanistan.
The details of his service in Kosova comes to us
direct from the UCK and are as follows:
He joined a group of the UCK circa February 1999. He
was accommodated at one of three UCK training camps in
the Tropolje area in Albania for six weeks. He was
moved to another UCK training camp as a prospective
instructor after he made exaggerated claims about
being in the Australian Army. He had no previous
military experience whatsoever. It soon became
apparent these assertions were false and his claims
were widely dismissed by the UCK. Nevertheless he was
placed on active duty near the border town of Kukes
with 139 Brigade, commanded by Radimas Beshim. His
incompetence soon came to notice and he was relegated
to a training camp away from the border. He was given
a second chance and rejoined the brigade in Kukes but
still couldn’t manage (remember, the UCK itself was a
largely untrained citizen army) so he was relegated
again to a training camp and effectively kept out of
the way. After NATO troops entered Kosova Hicks did
not accompany any UCK units into the province. He was
demobilised in June 1999, went back to the Albanian
capital Tirana where the UCK purchased an aeroplane
ticket for the Islamic Republic of Iran (via Germany)
at Hicks’ own request. The Kosovan authorities have
heard nothing from him since. He was in Albania for no
more than 14-16 weeks and never entered Kosova.
Hicks was not a mercenary. He was legally recruited
into a legitimate armed force and at all times abided
by the terms and conditions of the Geneva Conventions.
CFIVA can confirm that Hicks was never paid more than
that of a private soldier of the UCK, if at all.
Note: It was usual for the UCK to reward its
international volunteers with their passage home, as a
gesture of thanks.
He returned to Australia in late 1999 and claimed to
have been through six weeks training, boasted he had
been in the trenches, killed a few Serbs and had seen
a few of his comrades killed. The last two points are
a mild exaggeration but have neither been proven or
disproved.
Upon his return to Australia (not Bosnia)he converted
to Islam and took the name Mohammed Dawood. He was
attending a mosque several times a week but in
November 1999 spoke of going to Pakistan to increase
his knowledge of Islam. Within a week or two he had
left the country.
The Australian government says he then went to
Pakistan and trained with the militant Islamic group
Lashkar-i-Taiba who are fighting in the Kashmir region
against the Indian Army. This group is believed to
have links with Al-Qa’eda and Osama Bin Laden.
The Americans say he entered Afghanistan in late 2000
and undertook "extensive" training with Al-Qa’eda. He
telephoned his family on September 28th to say he was
fighting for the Taliban.
After his capture, he was handed over to US Special
Forces and transferred via the USS Peleliu to the
detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two other
white Australians are also being held there. The US
say they will hand him over to the Australian
authorities if it can be promised that Hicks will be
dealt with severely. He could be charged with treason
and murder if he is connected to the WTC attacks in
New York on September 11th. He could also be charged
under the Foreign Incursions Act, which carries a 14
year sentence for “hostile activities in foreign
countries.” Needless to say Serb websites have been
doing overtime on this one.
Apparently Hicks has now hoodwinked gullible
interrogators into believing he was a "relatively
senior member of Al-Qaeda." true to form, Hicks
completely fails to comprehend the seriousness of his
situation. Nobody of course has bothered to check
Hicks' past with the Kosovan authorities. Regardless
of whether he is found guilty of the charges levelled
against him, Hicks has been blacklisted by CFIVA for
bringing the international volunteer movement in
Kosova into disrepute.
The Secretary
=== 2 ===
The Ottawa Citizen // Saturday Oserver// Dec. 15, 2001
Page B3
Bin Laden’s Balkan Connections
Dateline: Skopje, Macedonia
By Scott Taylor
With the swift collapse of the Taliban regime, the U.S.-led military
campaign in Afghanistan has been reduced to an Osama bin Laden manhunt
cum mop-up of the Al-Qaeda network. As U.S. jets pound the cave
entrances around
Tora Bora, Special Forces teams are closing in on the last redoubts of
Taliban fanatics. Following the quick success in Afghanistan, President
George Bush has already warned Americans to prepare for a "wider war"
aimed at punishing those nations which "harbour terrorism." Although
there was no
proven link between Iraq and the anthrax scare, in recent speeches Bush
has repeatedly singled out Saddam Hussein as "an enemy of the U.S."
Similar ominous threats have been levelled at the governments of Sudan,
Libya, Syria and the leaders of Palestinian extremist groups.
While it is believed that Saudi-born Osama bin Laden remains surrounded
in Afghanistan, U.S. Intelligence agencies cannot be sure of his exact
whereabouts. What is known is that his extensive Al-Qaeda terrorist
organisation still has operating cells around the world.
As the U.S. dragnet is cast ever wider, it can only be a matter of time
before the counter-terrorist effort revisits the Balkans. Over the past
decade, Mujahadeen fighters – and in particular, bin Laden’s followers
– have practised their brutal brand of terror in Croatia, Bosnia,
Kosovo and are currently believed to be participating in Macedonia’s
civil unrest.
On 20 November, while the Taliban was still offering organised
resistance and extremists from around the world were volunteering to
join their ranks, Pakistani police apprehended five of these Muslim
"fighters" carrying Macedonian passports at the Afghan border.
For Macedonian Intelligence officials, these arrests were only further
proof that Mujahadeen formed the veteran core of the ethnic Albanian
guerrilla army known as the UCK. Since March of this year, the UCK have
mounted a very successful military offensive against Macedonian
security forces. By the time that a shaky peace plan was brokered in
September, the UCK controlled nearly 30 per cent of Macedonian
territory. Originally inexperienced and ill-equipped to fight a
guerrilla war, the Macedonian security forces have maintained since the
outbreak of hostilities that up to 120 Mujahadeen were active in the
UCK ranks.
Nikola, a senior director with Macedonian Intelligence, confirmed that
following the 11 September terrorist attacks, his agency has "supplied
a substantive dossier to the CIA," outlining bin Laden’s Balkan
activities.
The information forwarded to the CIA included eyewitness accounts
offered by Macedonian civilians who had been held hostage by
Mujahadeen, along with incriminating photographs and videos, which
security forces captured from the UCK-Albanian guerrillas.
Macedonian Minister of Interior Ljubo Boskovski is anxious for his
police forces to return into the areas presently controlled by the
Albanian guerrillas in order to uncover additional evidence. Since 13
November, Macedonian security forces have been conducting an exhumation
at a mass grave outside the ethnic Albanian village of Trebos. To date,
the police have unearthed the bodies of six Macedonians, from a total
of 21 civilians who have disappeared following UCK attacks.
Intelligence officer Nikola believes it was Mujahadeen fighters who
perpetrated the Trebos massacre "because of the manner in which the
bodies were cut up and scattered."
Nikola also suspects that Mujahadeen fanatics perpetrated a brutal
ambush against security forces last April. In this incident, eight
policemen were shot outside the village of Vejce, their bodies
viciously dismembered to provide the victors with grisly trophies. The
Macedonian authorities are not the only ones to affix the blame for the
Vejce ambush on the Mujahadeen.
During the summer offensive around Tetovo, Albanian guerrillas eagerly
admitted they had gained combat experience in previous conflicts.
Twenty-three-year old Commander "Jimmy" claimed he was a veteran of
Chechnya and Kosovo, while "Snake" Arifaq bragged of service in Bosnia
and displayed a scar he received during the fighting in Croatia. Both
of these Albanians
acknowledged the involvement of Arab/Afghan "volunteers" in training
members of the UCK. As for the Vejce incident, Commander Jimmy said
such an atrocity could "only have been committed by the Foreigners
[Mujahadeen serving in the
UCK] because Albanians do not cut up bodies."
Once the UCK insurrection began in March, the Macedonian government
hastily acquired a fleet of six Ukrainian helicopter gunships to
provide their troops with tactical air support. "Shortly after that,
our pilots reported being tracked by sophisticated [U.S.-made] Stinger
[anti-aircraft] missiles," said Nikola. "It is the information [of
Macedonian Intelligence] that the UCK received these Stingers from
their Mujahadeen connections in Afghanistan."
American advisors and covert military aid have also contributed to the
UCK’s combat effectiveness, but since 11 September the Macedonians have
noted a shift in U.S. foreign policy. "The CIA have been much more
receptive to our reports about the Al-Qaeda," said Nikola.
"Particularly after they
discovered that one of the suicide hijackers had been active in both
Kosovo and Macedonia."
Given their common goal of neutralising Albanian terrorists, Macedonian
police have been working closely with their Yugoslavian counterparts.
More importantly, as part of the U.S.-led global initiative to combat
terror, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been reinstated to the
ranks of Interpol – after a ten-year banishment. As a result,
Intelligence Officers from the
Yugoslavian Army have been able to supply their international
colleagues with a wealth of information outlining Mujahadeen activity
in Bosnia and Kosovo. Yugoslav Intelligence believes that at least 50
of the 150 Mujahadeen that fought in Kosovo are still active members of
the UCK.
Even without this Yugoslav co-operation, Interpol was already tracking
the Al-Qaeda’s Balkan activities. On 23 October this year, Interpol
released a preliminary report outlining bin Laden’s personal links to
the Albanian Mafia. In this report, Interpol alleges that a senior
Al-Qaeda lieutenant had been the commander of an elite UCK unit in
Kosovo during the fighting in 1999.
While U.S. President Bill Clinton’s regime was the driving force to
garner NATO support for the UCK, numerous media reports clearly show
that the CIA were well aware of bin Laden’s Albanian links prior to
NATO’s commitment in Kosovo.
On 17 January 1999 the international press was filled with news of an
alleged massacre of 45 Albanian Kosovars in the village of Racak.
Clinton seized upon this particular incident (later disproved, by UN
pathologists, to have been an Albanian hoax) to proclaim that the West
could no longer overlook "Serbian atrocities." With Clinton’s
statement, NATO was
irrevocably launched on the path towards its confrontation with
Yugoslavia.
Although lost in the U.S. media hype, Greek media outlets that same day
were detailing the Taliban’s widespread entry into Albania at the
invitation of ex-President Sali Berisa and former head of Intelligence
Bashkim Gazidede.
According to The Tribune, an Athens daily newspaper, Albanian security
official Fatos Klozi confirmed that "bin Laden was one of those who had
organised and sent groups to fight in Kosovo. There were Egyptians,
Saudis, Algerians, Tunisians, Sudanese and Kuwaitis from different
organisations
among the [UCK] mercenaries."
Ten days later, on 27 January 1999, the Arab-language news service Al
Hayat reported that an Albanian commander in Kosovo, code-named
"Monia," was directly connected to Osama bin Laden. The Al Hayat piece
also proudly proclaimed that "at least 100 Muslim Mujahadeen" were
serving with Monia’s force in Kosovo.
The Washington Post reported in August 1998 that the CIA were not only
aware of bin Laden’s association with the Albanian regime, but that
U.S. operatives had been "prominent" in the arrest of four Al-Qaeda
agents in Tirana. At that time, U.S. State Department officials even
speculated that
the bombings of their embassies in Kenya and Tanzania might have been
bin Laden’s revenge for the Tirana arrests.
The Al-Qaeda suspects detained by the CIA in Albania had been operating
the Islamic Revival Foundation, "a charitable organisation that
official sources say provided a useful cover for the [suspects] efforts
on behalf of bin Laden," reported the Post.
In February 1998, the U.S. State Department had removed the UCK from
their list of terrorist organisations. However later that same year,
the CIA and their Albanian SHIK intelligence counterparts co-operated
to successfully shut down a Mujahadeen Jihad cell operating in
conjunction with the
Albanians inside Kosovo.
Some of the most revealing links surfaced in December 1998 when
Al-Qaeda agent Claude Sheik Abdel-Kader was arrested in Tirana for the
murder of his Albanian translator. During his trial, Abdel-Kader
confessed to being a senior commander in bin Laden’s network, and
claimed he had recruited a force of some 300 Mujahadeen to fight in
Kosovo. European media covering the trial reported Abdul-Kader’s
revelation that Osama bin Laden – although a wanted terrorist –
travelled freely to Tirana in 1994 and 1998 to meet with senior
Albanian officials. Abdel-Kader also confessed that when the Albanian
regime of Sali Berisa collapsed into anarchy in 1997, state armouries
and government offices were looted. Many of the 10,000 heavy weapons
and 100,000 passports that went missing conveniently fell into the
hands of the Al-Qaeda.
Osama bin Laden – stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994 – is
alleged to have retained the Bosnian passport he was issued in Vienna
in 1993. The granting of official travel documents to bin Laden was
first reported 24 September 1999 by Dani, a Bosnian Muslim weekly
newspaper. The rationale
behind bestowing citizenship on a wanted terrorist was that Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic had been thankful for the Mujahadeen’s
contribution in his quest for a Balkan "fundamentalist Islamic
Republic."
It was also reported by Dani that Al-Qaeda terrorist Mehrez Aodouni had
been arrested in Istanbul while carrying a Bosnian passport. Like bin
Laden, his citizenship had been granted "because he was a member of the
Bosnia-Herzegovina Army."
Canadian soldiers serving with the United Nations Protection Force
(UNPROFOR) were among the first to report the presence of Mujahadeen in
the ranks of the Bosnian Muslims as early as 1992.
The Asian Wall Street Journal reported that, in 1993, bin Laden had
appointed Al Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, to direct all
his operations in the Balkans.
While no exact numbers exist, it is estimated that between 1500 and
3500 Arab volunteers participated in the Bosnian civil war. Their main
area of operation was in the region of Zenica, with most Mujahadeen
serving in the 7th Brigade of General Sakib Mahmuljin’s 3rd Corps,
nicknamed "the
Guerrillas." Identified by red and green "Rambo" bandannas emblazoned
with the crest "our road is Jihad," this unit earned a reputation for
criminal brutality.
On 27 June 1993, the Sunday Times reported that even Bosnian Muslim
officers had reservations about the Mujahadeen volunteers. Colonel
Stjepan Siber, then-Deputy Commander of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army,
admitted to the Times that "It was a mistake to let [the Mujahadeen] in
here… They commit most of the atrocities and work against the interests
of the Muslim people. They have been killing, looting and stealing."
According to reports, it was the Mujahadeen who were serving with
General Nasir Oric in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica who committed
some of the most barbaric atrocities of the war. Beheadings of Serbian
civilians were commonplace, and in some villages the Mujahadeen would
dynamite homes with
the inhabitants trapped inside.
No attempt was made to hide such atrocities. In fact, General Oric
would often address media at the site of the massacres. On one such
occasion, while standing in front of Mujahadeen brandishing human head
trophies, Oric pointed to a flaming ruin and proudly said to reporters,
"We blew those Serbs to the moon."
Alija Izetbegovic was also proud to display the fighting prowess of his
Mujahadeen volunteers. Following a successful attack against Serbian
positions around Vozuce on 10 September 1995, the Bosnian President
held a televised medal presentation parade. The Mujahadeen had provided
the
vanguard of the assault force, and were awarded 11 decorations for
valour, including the Golden Crescent, Bosnia’s highest honour.
Yugoslav Intelligence estimates that over 1500 Bosnian citizenships
were granted to Mujahadeen/Al-Qaeda fighters following the Dayton Peace
Accord in 1995. Most of those soldiers are believed to have settled in
the Zenica region.
According to Miroslav Lazanski, author of the new book Osama bin Laden
Against America, Al-Qaeda still maintain two operational bases in
Bosnia. One of these contains only the best fighters and was commanded
by an Algerian, Abu Al Mali.
Following the 11 September attacks, FBI and CIA agents uncovered
evidence that two of the suicide hijackers had originated from this
Bosnian camp. Abu Mali was subsequently arrested while travelling in
Istanbul on a Bosnian passport.
It is evident from recent events that the U.S. military is also well
aware of the continued Mujahadeen presence in the Balkans. General
Myers visited NATO troops stationed in Bosnia in late November to warn
them against a possible Al-Qaeda retaliation attack. In addition, on 4
December, the White
House added two Albanian terrorist groups operating in Macedonia and
Kosovo to their list of outlawed organisations.
President George Bush’s campaign against bin Laden’s terrorists would
appear to have come full circle to confront the Clinton
administration’s dubious Balkan legacy.
1. Guantanamo: Australian Al-Qaeda Militant Ex 'Freedom Fighter' In
Kosovo, Kashmir (July 2003)
2. Bin Laden’s Balkan Connections (Scott Taylor, December 2001)
=== 1 ===
Da: Rick Rozoff
Data: Mar 8 Lug 2003 18:47:08 Europe/Rome
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Oggetto: [yugoslaviainfo] Guantanamo: Australian Al-Qaeda Militant Ex
'Freedom Fighter' In Kosovo, Kashmir
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bs/Qaustralia-attacks-us.RnsH_Dl8.html
[Note: The second feature, below, is from a
transparently Ustashe Internet site [see:
http://www.cfiva.org/cfiva/home/index.cfm?CFID=345918&CFTOKEN=99319605]
and is only reproduced because it says more than it
intends to, both about David Hicks' involvement in
Kosovo and the Indian state of Kashmir and about the
close - inseparable - ties between the neo-Ustashe in
Croatia and the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army in
Serbia.]
Australian held by US military was trained by
al-Qaeda, PM reveals
SYDNEY, July 8 (AFP) - Australian-born Taliban fighter
David Hicks, who is now in US military detention, has
admitted training with the al-Qaeda terrorist network,
Prime Minister John Howard revealed for the first time
Tuesday.
Howard's disclosure came as US lawyers protested that
Hicks will not receive a fair trial by a US military
tribunal because he is being denied proper access to
legal representation.
The 27-year-old former Adelaide poultry process worker
has been held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, since he was captured fighting with the Taliban
by US forces in Afghanistan in November, 2001.
Hicks' lawyers have conceded he was a Taliban fighter
but denied persistent allegations he had links to
al-Qaeda.
But Howard said the government was satisfied that
Hicks would receive a fair trial and that he was
linked to al-Qaeda.
"What is not an allegation, because the man in
question has admitted it, is that he trained with
al-Qaeda," Howard told ABC radio when asked about
Hicks.
Howard said the government had lengthy discussions
with US officials about the case and was satisfied
that Hicks would receive a fair hearing, that the
presumption of innocence would prevail and that there
would be access to lawyers.
One of Hicks' Adelaide-based lawyers, Frank Camatta,
said he was shocked by the prime minister's comments.
"It's a total surprise to us," he said.
"We have no basis to understand that to be the case.
Maybe the prime minister has had access to briefings
from the security services.
"We would have been very pleased to have been told
that, rather than hear it through the media. Why he
would say that without at least letting the family
know is disappointing."
Hicks was named by the US administration last week as
one of an initial group of six detainees eligible to
be tried by a US military tribunal, although no date
has been set for a hearing and no charge has yet been
laid.
His family has appointed a civilian legal team,
although his lawyers say he is being denied the usual
confidentiality between lawyer and client, which is a
basic tenet of legal representation, and without which
they say it would be virtually impossible for him to
receive a fair trial.
Hicks' US-based lawyer Joseph Margulies said there was
scant chance of a fair trial.
"They would never countenance these kinds of
proceedings in an Australian court," Margulies told
ABC radio.
"One of the real problems with the tribunal is that it
is not transparent. We may never shed light on that
dark corner."
US National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers
(NACDL) president Lawrence Goldman said the military
court was likely to be biased because the judges, who
would probably be senior officers would find it
difficult to acquit someone whom the president of the
United States has recommended for trial.
"I would not walk into these trials as a defence
lawyer with the confidence that my client would get a
fair shake," he said.
Al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna, who has written
extensively about Osama bin Laden's terrorist network
and who initially described Hicks as a "small fry" in
the terror organisation, now believes he was more than
a foot soldier.
"There is more recent information to indicate that he
has undergone more advanced and more specialised
training," Gunaratna told The Australian newspaper.
---
http://www.cfiva.org/cfiva/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=showItem&newsID=13
Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association
CFIVA News
KOSOVO VOLUNTEER LINKED TO AL-QAEDA
Thursday, August 1, 2002
David Hicks training with the UCK prior to joining the
Taliban
-The details of his service in Kosova [sic] come to us
direct from the UCK and are as follows:
He joined a group of the UCK circa February 1999. He
was accommodated at one of three UCK training camps in
the Tropolje area in Albania for six weeks. He was
moved to another UCK training camp as a prospective
instructor after he made exaggerated claims about
being in the Australian Army.
-[H]e was placed on active duty near the border town
of Kukes with 139 Brigade, commanded by Radimas
Beshim.
-He was demobilised in June 1999, went back to the
Albanian capital Tirana where the UCK purchased an
aeroplane ticket for the Islamic Republic of Iran (via
Germany) at Hicks’ own request.
-He returned to Australia in late 1999 and claimed to
have been through six weeks training, boasted he had
been in the trenches, killed a few Serbs....
-The Australian government says he...went to Pakistan
and trained with the militant Islamic group
Lashkar-i-Taiba who are fighting in the Kashmir region
against the Indian Army. This group is believed to
have links with Al-Qa’eda and Osama Bin Laden.
-[H]icks has been blacklisted by CFIVA for bringing
the international volunteer movement [sic] in Kosova
into disrepute.
More On Terrorist Suspect Hicks - On 1st August the
Australian ex-volunteer failed to obtain a trial.
American judges ruled that because he was being held
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, United States civilian courts
had no jurisdiction. He therefore remains indefinitely
detained without trial.
The case of Hicks is already being widely mis-reported
as international journalists studiously avoid checking
their information with other sources. Under the
ridiculous label "Soldier of Fortune," CNN state that
Hicks converted to Islam whilst fighting with the UCK
in "Bosnia" (huh??) and mis-labelled a grainy
photograph of Hicks taken in Albania in 1999 as being
in "Bosnia." We can categorically state that Hicks
never served in BiH.
He surrendered to Northern Alliance forces in
Afghanistan on 9th December 2001 near the Tora Bora
caves complex used by Al-Qa’eda. He has no criminal
record nor was he involved in any military activity
prior to Kosova. In early 1999 he approached Channel 7
wanting to sell a story about fighting as a mercenary
in South Africa or Afghanistan.
The details of his service in Kosova comes to us
direct from the UCK and are as follows:
He joined a group of the UCK circa February 1999. He
was accommodated at one of three UCK training camps in
the Tropolje area in Albania for six weeks. He was
moved to another UCK training camp as a prospective
instructor after he made exaggerated claims about
being in the Australian Army. He had no previous
military experience whatsoever. It soon became
apparent these assertions were false and his claims
were widely dismissed by the UCK. Nevertheless he was
placed on active duty near the border town of Kukes
with 139 Brigade, commanded by Radimas Beshim. His
incompetence soon came to notice and he was relegated
to a training camp away from the border. He was given
a second chance and rejoined the brigade in Kukes but
still couldn’t manage (remember, the UCK itself was a
largely untrained citizen army) so he was relegated
again to a training camp and effectively kept out of
the way. After NATO troops entered Kosova Hicks did
not accompany any UCK units into the province. He was
demobilised in June 1999, went back to the Albanian
capital Tirana where the UCK purchased an aeroplane
ticket for the Islamic Republic of Iran (via Germany)
at Hicks’ own request. The Kosovan authorities have
heard nothing from him since. He was in Albania for no
more than 14-16 weeks and never entered Kosova.
Hicks was not a mercenary. He was legally recruited
into a legitimate armed force and at all times abided
by the terms and conditions of the Geneva Conventions.
CFIVA can confirm that Hicks was never paid more than
that of a private soldier of the UCK, if at all.
Note: It was usual for the UCK to reward its
international volunteers with their passage home, as a
gesture of thanks.
He returned to Australia in late 1999 and claimed to
have been through six weeks training, boasted he had
been in the trenches, killed a few Serbs and had seen
a few of his comrades killed. The last two points are
a mild exaggeration but have neither been proven or
disproved.
Upon his return to Australia (not Bosnia)he converted
to Islam and took the name Mohammed Dawood. He was
attending a mosque several times a week but in
November 1999 spoke of going to Pakistan to increase
his knowledge of Islam. Within a week or two he had
left the country.
The Australian government says he then went to
Pakistan and trained with the militant Islamic group
Lashkar-i-Taiba who are fighting in the Kashmir region
against the Indian Army. This group is believed to
have links with Al-Qa’eda and Osama Bin Laden.
The Americans say he entered Afghanistan in late 2000
and undertook "extensive" training with Al-Qa’eda. He
telephoned his family on September 28th to say he was
fighting for the Taliban.
After his capture, he was handed over to US Special
Forces and transferred via the USS Peleliu to the
detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two other
white Australians are also being held there. The US
say they will hand him over to the Australian
authorities if it can be promised that Hicks will be
dealt with severely. He could be charged with treason
and murder if he is connected to the WTC attacks in
New York on September 11th. He could also be charged
under the Foreign Incursions Act, which carries a 14
year sentence for “hostile activities in foreign
countries.” Needless to say Serb websites have been
doing overtime on this one.
Apparently Hicks has now hoodwinked gullible
interrogators into believing he was a "relatively
senior member of Al-Qaeda." true to form, Hicks
completely fails to comprehend the seriousness of his
situation. Nobody of course has bothered to check
Hicks' past with the Kosovan authorities. Regardless
of whether he is found guilty of the charges levelled
against him, Hicks has been blacklisted by CFIVA for
bringing the international volunteer movement in
Kosova into disrepute.
The Secretary
=== 2 ===
The Ottawa Citizen // Saturday Oserver// Dec. 15, 2001
Page B3
Bin Laden’s Balkan Connections
Dateline: Skopje, Macedonia
By Scott Taylor
With the swift collapse of the Taliban regime, the U.S.-led military
campaign in Afghanistan has been reduced to an Osama bin Laden manhunt
cum mop-up of the Al-Qaeda network. As U.S. jets pound the cave
entrances around
Tora Bora, Special Forces teams are closing in on the last redoubts of
Taliban fanatics. Following the quick success in Afghanistan, President
George Bush has already warned Americans to prepare for a "wider war"
aimed at punishing those nations which "harbour terrorism." Although
there was no
proven link between Iraq and the anthrax scare, in recent speeches Bush
has repeatedly singled out Saddam Hussein as "an enemy of the U.S."
Similar ominous threats have been levelled at the governments of Sudan,
Libya, Syria and the leaders of Palestinian extremist groups.
While it is believed that Saudi-born Osama bin Laden remains surrounded
in Afghanistan, U.S. Intelligence agencies cannot be sure of his exact
whereabouts. What is known is that his extensive Al-Qaeda terrorist
organisation still has operating cells around the world.
As the U.S. dragnet is cast ever wider, it can only be a matter of time
before the counter-terrorist effort revisits the Balkans. Over the past
decade, Mujahadeen fighters – and in particular, bin Laden’s followers
– have practised their brutal brand of terror in Croatia, Bosnia,
Kosovo and are currently believed to be participating in Macedonia’s
civil unrest.
On 20 November, while the Taliban was still offering organised
resistance and extremists from around the world were volunteering to
join their ranks, Pakistani police apprehended five of these Muslim
"fighters" carrying Macedonian passports at the Afghan border.
For Macedonian Intelligence officials, these arrests were only further
proof that Mujahadeen formed the veteran core of the ethnic Albanian
guerrilla army known as the UCK. Since March of this year, the UCK have
mounted a very successful military offensive against Macedonian
security forces. By the time that a shaky peace plan was brokered in
September, the UCK controlled nearly 30 per cent of Macedonian
territory. Originally inexperienced and ill-equipped to fight a
guerrilla war, the Macedonian security forces have maintained since the
outbreak of hostilities that up to 120 Mujahadeen were active in the
UCK ranks.
Nikola, a senior director with Macedonian Intelligence, confirmed that
following the 11 September terrorist attacks, his agency has "supplied
a substantive dossier to the CIA," outlining bin Laden’s Balkan
activities.
The information forwarded to the CIA included eyewitness accounts
offered by Macedonian civilians who had been held hostage by
Mujahadeen, along with incriminating photographs and videos, which
security forces captured from the UCK-Albanian guerrillas.
Macedonian Minister of Interior Ljubo Boskovski is anxious for his
police forces to return into the areas presently controlled by the
Albanian guerrillas in order to uncover additional evidence. Since 13
November, Macedonian security forces have been conducting an exhumation
at a mass grave outside the ethnic Albanian village of Trebos. To date,
the police have unearthed the bodies of six Macedonians, from a total
of 21 civilians who have disappeared following UCK attacks.
Intelligence officer Nikola believes it was Mujahadeen fighters who
perpetrated the Trebos massacre "because of the manner in which the
bodies were cut up and scattered."
Nikola also suspects that Mujahadeen fanatics perpetrated a brutal
ambush against security forces last April. In this incident, eight
policemen were shot outside the village of Vejce, their bodies
viciously dismembered to provide the victors with grisly trophies. The
Macedonian authorities are not the only ones to affix the blame for the
Vejce ambush on the Mujahadeen.
During the summer offensive around Tetovo, Albanian guerrillas eagerly
admitted they had gained combat experience in previous conflicts.
Twenty-three-year old Commander "Jimmy" claimed he was a veteran of
Chechnya and Kosovo, while "Snake" Arifaq bragged of service in Bosnia
and displayed a scar he received during the fighting in Croatia. Both
of these Albanians
acknowledged the involvement of Arab/Afghan "volunteers" in training
members of the UCK. As for the Vejce incident, Commander Jimmy said
such an atrocity could "only have been committed by the Foreigners
[Mujahadeen serving in the
UCK] because Albanians do not cut up bodies."
Once the UCK insurrection began in March, the Macedonian government
hastily acquired a fleet of six Ukrainian helicopter gunships to
provide their troops with tactical air support. "Shortly after that,
our pilots reported being tracked by sophisticated [U.S.-made] Stinger
[anti-aircraft] missiles," said Nikola. "It is the information [of
Macedonian Intelligence] that the UCK received these Stingers from
their Mujahadeen connections in Afghanistan."
American advisors and covert military aid have also contributed to the
UCK’s combat effectiveness, but since 11 September the Macedonians have
noted a shift in U.S. foreign policy. "The CIA have been much more
receptive to our reports about the Al-Qaeda," said Nikola.
"Particularly after they
discovered that one of the suicide hijackers had been active in both
Kosovo and Macedonia."
Given their common goal of neutralising Albanian terrorists, Macedonian
police have been working closely with their Yugoslavian counterparts.
More importantly, as part of the U.S.-led global initiative to combat
terror, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been reinstated to the
ranks of Interpol – after a ten-year banishment. As a result,
Intelligence Officers from the
Yugoslavian Army have been able to supply their international
colleagues with a wealth of information outlining Mujahadeen activity
in Bosnia and Kosovo. Yugoslav Intelligence believes that at least 50
of the 150 Mujahadeen that fought in Kosovo are still active members of
the UCK.
Even without this Yugoslav co-operation, Interpol was already tracking
the Al-Qaeda’s Balkan activities. On 23 October this year, Interpol
released a preliminary report outlining bin Laden’s personal links to
the Albanian Mafia. In this report, Interpol alleges that a senior
Al-Qaeda lieutenant had been the commander of an elite UCK unit in
Kosovo during the fighting in 1999.
While U.S. President Bill Clinton’s regime was the driving force to
garner NATO support for the UCK, numerous media reports clearly show
that the CIA were well aware of bin Laden’s Albanian links prior to
NATO’s commitment in Kosovo.
On 17 January 1999 the international press was filled with news of an
alleged massacre of 45 Albanian Kosovars in the village of Racak.
Clinton seized upon this particular incident (later disproved, by UN
pathologists, to have been an Albanian hoax) to proclaim that the West
could no longer overlook "Serbian atrocities." With Clinton’s
statement, NATO was
irrevocably launched on the path towards its confrontation with
Yugoslavia.
Although lost in the U.S. media hype, Greek media outlets that same day
were detailing the Taliban’s widespread entry into Albania at the
invitation of ex-President Sali Berisa and former head of Intelligence
Bashkim Gazidede.
According to The Tribune, an Athens daily newspaper, Albanian security
official Fatos Klozi confirmed that "bin Laden was one of those who had
organised and sent groups to fight in Kosovo. There were Egyptians,
Saudis, Algerians, Tunisians, Sudanese and Kuwaitis from different
organisations
among the [UCK] mercenaries."
Ten days later, on 27 January 1999, the Arab-language news service Al
Hayat reported that an Albanian commander in Kosovo, code-named
"Monia," was directly connected to Osama bin Laden. The Al Hayat piece
also proudly proclaimed that "at least 100 Muslim Mujahadeen" were
serving with Monia’s force in Kosovo.
The Washington Post reported in August 1998 that the CIA were not only
aware of bin Laden’s association with the Albanian regime, but that
U.S. operatives had been "prominent" in the arrest of four Al-Qaeda
agents in Tirana. At that time, U.S. State Department officials even
speculated that
the bombings of their embassies in Kenya and Tanzania might have been
bin Laden’s revenge for the Tirana arrests.
The Al-Qaeda suspects detained by the CIA in Albania had been operating
the Islamic Revival Foundation, "a charitable organisation that
official sources say provided a useful cover for the [suspects] efforts
on behalf of bin Laden," reported the Post.
In February 1998, the U.S. State Department had removed the UCK from
their list of terrorist organisations. However later that same year,
the CIA and their Albanian SHIK intelligence counterparts co-operated
to successfully shut down a Mujahadeen Jihad cell operating in
conjunction with the
Albanians inside Kosovo.
Some of the most revealing links surfaced in December 1998 when
Al-Qaeda agent Claude Sheik Abdel-Kader was arrested in Tirana for the
murder of his Albanian translator. During his trial, Abdel-Kader
confessed to being a senior commander in bin Laden’s network, and
claimed he had recruited a force of some 300 Mujahadeen to fight in
Kosovo. European media covering the trial reported Abdul-Kader’s
revelation that Osama bin Laden – although a wanted terrorist –
travelled freely to Tirana in 1994 and 1998 to meet with senior
Albanian officials. Abdel-Kader also confessed that when the Albanian
regime of Sali Berisa collapsed into anarchy in 1997, state armouries
and government offices were looted. Many of the 10,000 heavy weapons
and 100,000 passports that went missing conveniently fell into the
hands of the Al-Qaeda.
Osama bin Laden – stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994 – is
alleged to have retained the Bosnian passport he was issued in Vienna
in 1993. The granting of official travel documents to bin Laden was
first reported 24 September 1999 by Dani, a Bosnian Muslim weekly
newspaper. The rationale
behind bestowing citizenship on a wanted terrorist was that Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic had been thankful for the Mujahadeen’s
contribution in his quest for a Balkan "fundamentalist Islamic
Republic."
It was also reported by Dani that Al-Qaeda terrorist Mehrez Aodouni had
been arrested in Istanbul while carrying a Bosnian passport. Like bin
Laden, his citizenship had been granted "because he was a member of the
Bosnia-Herzegovina Army."
Canadian soldiers serving with the United Nations Protection Force
(UNPROFOR) were among the first to report the presence of Mujahadeen in
the ranks of the Bosnian Muslims as early as 1992.
The Asian Wall Street Journal reported that, in 1993, bin Laden had
appointed Al Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, to direct all
his operations in the Balkans.
While no exact numbers exist, it is estimated that between 1500 and
3500 Arab volunteers participated in the Bosnian civil war. Their main
area of operation was in the region of Zenica, with most Mujahadeen
serving in the 7th Brigade of General Sakib Mahmuljin’s 3rd Corps,
nicknamed "the
Guerrillas." Identified by red and green "Rambo" bandannas emblazoned
with the crest "our road is Jihad," this unit earned a reputation for
criminal brutality.
On 27 June 1993, the Sunday Times reported that even Bosnian Muslim
officers had reservations about the Mujahadeen volunteers. Colonel
Stjepan Siber, then-Deputy Commander of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army,
admitted to the Times that "It was a mistake to let [the Mujahadeen] in
here… They commit most of the atrocities and work against the interests
of the Muslim people. They have been killing, looting and stealing."
According to reports, it was the Mujahadeen who were serving with
General Nasir Oric in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica who committed
some of the most barbaric atrocities of the war. Beheadings of Serbian
civilians were commonplace, and in some villages the Mujahadeen would
dynamite homes with
the inhabitants trapped inside.
No attempt was made to hide such atrocities. In fact, General Oric
would often address media at the site of the massacres. On one such
occasion, while standing in front of Mujahadeen brandishing human head
trophies, Oric pointed to a flaming ruin and proudly said to reporters,
"We blew those Serbs to the moon."
Alija Izetbegovic was also proud to display the fighting prowess of his
Mujahadeen volunteers. Following a successful attack against Serbian
positions around Vozuce on 10 September 1995, the Bosnian President
held a televised medal presentation parade. The Mujahadeen had provided
the
vanguard of the assault force, and were awarded 11 decorations for
valour, including the Golden Crescent, Bosnia’s highest honour.
Yugoslav Intelligence estimates that over 1500 Bosnian citizenships
were granted to Mujahadeen/Al-Qaeda fighters following the Dayton Peace
Accord in 1995. Most of those soldiers are believed to have settled in
the Zenica region.
According to Miroslav Lazanski, author of the new book Osama bin Laden
Against America, Al-Qaeda still maintain two operational bases in
Bosnia. One of these contains only the best fighters and was commanded
by an Algerian, Abu Al Mali.
Following the 11 September attacks, FBI and CIA agents uncovered
evidence that two of the suicide hijackers had originated from this
Bosnian camp. Abu Mali was subsequently arrested while travelling in
Istanbul on a Bosnian passport.
It is evident from recent events that the U.S. military is also well
aware of the continued Mujahadeen presence in the Balkans. General
Myers visited NATO troops stationed in Bosnia in late November to warn
them against a possible Al-Qaeda retaliation attack. In addition, on 4
December, the White
House added two Albanian terrorist groups operating in Macedonia and
Kosovo to their list of outlawed organisations.
President George Bush’s campaign against bin Laden’s terrorists would
appear to have come full circle to confront the Clinton
administration’s dubious Balkan legacy.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/aug2003/asyl-a08_prn.shtml
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Germany
Germany: Fewer asylum-seekers and more deportations
By Martin Kreickenbaum
8 August 2003
On July 13, the German Interior Ministry presented asylum statistics
for the first six months of 2003. According to these figures, only
26,452 people sought asylum in Germany in this period. This represents
a 27 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, and is 24
percent less than the second half of 2002.
The number of asylum-seekers also fell drastically last year in
comparison with 2001. Since the month-on-month trend is also down, the
number of asylum-seekers coming to Germany in 2003 looks set to fall to
its lowest level since 1985.
The percentage of those asylum-seekers who were recognised as suffering
political persecution and granted asylum remained at the markedly low
level of the previous year. Altogether, 48,045 asylum decisions were
taken by the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees.
However, in only approximately 2,000 cases were the applications for
asylum regarded as justified or the applicants granted limited
protection from deportation on political or humanitarian grounds. This
represents a recognition rate of just 4.2 percent.
In 2001, almost a quarter of those seeking refuge in Germany were at
least granted temporary protection. In the mid-1980s, with around the
same number of asylum applications as today, almost 30 percent of
applications were granted asylum.
This alarming development, which is celebrated as a success by the
German government, is a direct consequence of its policy of rejecting
refugees. The Social Democratic Party-Green Party coalition in Berlin
has intensified the inhumane policy of its conservative predecessors,
and in only five years has cut the number of asylum-seekers by around
nearly two thirds. It retained the conservatives’ “safe third country”
rule, the most restrictive in Europe, the concept of “safe countries of
origin,” the excluding of civil war refugees from the asylum process.
It also instigated the quartering of refugees near their homeland,
making it increasingly impossible for those needing protection to lodge
an asylum application in Germany.
If, despite these obstacles, asylum-seekers nevertheless manage to make
it to Germany, they face further deterrents. These include the legally
dubious rapid deportation proceedings at airports and the setting of
welfare support for asylum-seekers 30 percent below the standard rate,
while simultaneously prohibiting them from working.
The dramatic decrease in the numbers of asylum-seekers and those
granted asylum has nothing to do with an improved security situation
worldwide, and this is demonstrated by what is taking place in the main
countries of origin of most refugees. These include states like Turkey,
China and Iran, which are continually reprimanded (by the German
government, amongst others) for their offences against human rights and
the use of torture.
Although Turkey has since replaced Iraq as the country of origin for
the majority of those seeking asylum in Germany, nearly 12 percent of
asylum-seekers still come from Iraq, whose population is suffering from
the brutal occupation regime under American and British troops. The
situation facing the population has catastrophically worsened since the
beginning of the war. The US-British forces confront a guerrilla war
involving widespread popular resistance. The response of the occupying
powers has been to increasingly resort to arbitrary arrests. Amnesty
International has documented serious cases of human rights violations,
including the use of torture by the American and British occupiers.
It is worth noting that nearly 25 percent of refugees originate from
countries that have been dragged into war at the hands of NATO (or the
changing coalitions under US control). Aside from Iraq, these include
Serbia, Montenegro and Afghanistan. Official political rhetoric praises
these wars as efforts to liberate people from dictatorial regimes and
establish “democracy” and “liberty,” but the numbers of refugees
fleeing from these same countries paint another picture: one oppressive
regime is replaced by another. Moreover, the wars are accompanied by a
dramatic economic decline. In the resulting desolate social situation
minorities rapidly become scapegoats, the target of discrimination and
violence; the circumstances facing Roma peoples in Serbia and
Montenegro are just one example.
A German Foreign Ministry report last year noted: “The situation facing
minorities in the FRY [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now Serbia and
Montenegro] does not meet...international standards by a long chalk.”
However, the proportion of refugees from Serbia and Montenegro who are
granted asylum is just 0.1 percent. And although there are already
hundreds of thousands of internal refugees in the former Yugoslavia,
and more who are returning to a life of poverty and desperation, the
German government concluded an agreement with Yugoslavia in November
2002 whereby all refugees, bar a few exceptions, are forced to return.
Deportation policy continues
The result of Germany’s deportation policy was clearly shown in a June
23 report in the Frankfurter Rundschau. A Roma family, who had lived 12
years in Syke, in Lower Saxony, was taken at night by the police and
deported to Belgrade. There they live with thousands of other refugees
in misery in the illegal settlement of Deponia. Dominated by huts made
from cardboard and corrugated sheeting, there are neither proper roads
nor adequate water or electricity services. Since there is no work,
they scour the garbage containers coming from Belgrade for bottles,
bread and paper. The children are sent to beg on the streets of the
Serbian metropolis.
Green Party politician Claudia Roth, the German government’s human
rights spokesperson, visited Belgrade in order to gain a first-hand
picture of the situation confronting refugees deported there. She
maintains that a continuation of the deportation policy is inhumane and
cannot be justified politically. But these hypocritical words were
intended for the press corps accompanying her visit rather than for her
government coalition partners, since Berlin continues its policy of
deporting people, even into crisis areas.
The German federal and state interior ministers have encouraged the
authorities to carry out ever more arbitrary and illegal actions, in
order ensure deportations.
On June 26, the deportation of 64 refugees from Düsseldorf to Kosovo
failed. Members of minorities such as Roma, Ashkali or Egyptians can
only be deported after the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK)
has examined each individual case. In addition, a detailed list of the
refugees being deported has to be submitted to UNMIK beforehand. This
is what was missing on June 26, as the German authorities clearly tried
to illegally deport members of minorities.
As the airplane neared Kosovo, UNMIK refused it landing permission. The
flight was swiftly rerouted to Podgorica in Montenegro, in order to
then take the deportees by bus to Kosovo. Since UNMIK also rejected
this approach, the refugees were finally flown back to Düsseldorf. They
had to endure nearly 10 hours of intense heat in an airplane hangar,
whose windows and doors were firmly locked, and were refused food the
entire time.
In the course of this incident, the Kosovo co-coordinator of the UNHCR,
Karsten Luethke, declared that the German government was continually
deporting refugees to Kosovo who did not originate from the province.
In June, a mother and her seven children were deported to Turkey. The
family’s door was battered down in the early morning hours and the
eight people shipped by airplane to Istanbul, without being able to
contact a lawyer or even to take some basic luggage.
The deportation was illegal not only because they were refused a legal
hearing. The mother and her children were deported to Turkey despite
being Lebanese Kurds, who had fled the civil war in Lebanon years ago.
The claim by the authorities that this was a Turkish family is purely
capricious and was a blatant excuse to accelerate the deportation of
unwanted refugees.
Moreover, in contravention of both German and international law, the
family was torn apart, since the father was excluded from the
deportation. German authorities then cynically declared that he could
seek to reunite the family by travelling to Turkey.
On July 15, in the course of a failed deportation of a Congolese man,
Raphael Botoba, it came to light that despite the escalating violence
in the Congo—and the participation of Germany in a military
intervention there—further refugees were being deported to the central
African state. According to parliamentary state secretary Fritz Rudolf,
the government is not considering a ban on deportations to the Congo at
this time.
According to the twisted logic of the German government, military
intervention by the imperialist powers leads automatically to an
improvement in the human rights situation. This argument has been used
successively in the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan and in Iraq,
where following military interventions the proportion of refugees
granted asylum sank in each case as forced deportations increased. It
will not be any different in the Congo.
The government does not even attempt to hide the duplicity of its own
arguments. While it justifies its participation in a military
intervention with reference to the increasing violence in the Congo,
deportations are pushed through mercilessly, citing the relatively safe
situation in the capital. The Congolese churches and international
human rights organisations point out that “safe survival is hardly
possible” for those returning.
Berlin’s ever more ruthless deportation policy is not only directed
against refugees in Germany. The government is setting a clear sign of
what can be expected by potential refuges should they ever get to
Germany. The drastic fall in the numbers of those granted asylum
clearly shows that refugees should no longer expect protection from
persecution should they make it to German soil. Instead, they face a
life under miserable social conditions, with strongly curtailed
democratic rights, and under constant fear of deportation to a country
where even more intolerable conditions predominate.
Copyright 1998-2003
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Germany
Germany: Fewer asylum-seekers and more deportations
By Martin Kreickenbaum
8 August 2003
On July 13, the German Interior Ministry presented asylum statistics
for the first six months of 2003. According to these figures, only
26,452 people sought asylum in Germany in this period. This represents
a 27 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, and is 24
percent less than the second half of 2002.
The number of asylum-seekers also fell drastically last year in
comparison with 2001. Since the month-on-month trend is also down, the
number of asylum-seekers coming to Germany in 2003 looks set to fall to
its lowest level since 1985.
The percentage of those asylum-seekers who were recognised as suffering
political persecution and granted asylum remained at the markedly low
level of the previous year. Altogether, 48,045 asylum decisions were
taken by the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees.
However, in only approximately 2,000 cases were the applications for
asylum regarded as justified or the applicants granted limited
protection from deportation on political or humanitarian grounds. This
represents a recognition rate of just 4.2 percent.
In 2001, almost a quarter of those seeking refuge in Germany were at
least granted temporary protection. In the mid-1980s, with around the
same number of asylum applications as today, almost 30 percent of
applications were granted asylum.
This alarming development, which is celebrated as a success by the
German government, is a direct consequence of its policy of rejecting
refugees. The Social Democratic Party-Green Party coalition in Berlin
has intensified the inhumane policy of its conservative predecessors,
and in only five years has cut the number of asylum-seekers by around
nearly two thirds. It retained the conservatives’ “safe third country”
rule, the most restrictive in Europe, the concept of “safe countries of
origin,” the excluding of civil war refugees from the asylum process.
It also instigated the quartering of refugees near their homeland,
making it increasingly impossible for those needing protection to lodge
an asylum application in Germany.
If, despite these obstacles, asylum-seekers nevertheless manage to make
it to Germany, they face further deterrents. These include the legally
dubious rapid deportation proceedings at airports and the setting of
welfare support for asylum-seekers 30 percent below the standard rate,
while simultaneously prohibiting them from working.
The dramatic decrease in the numbers of asylum-seekers and those
granted asylum has nothing to do with an improved security situation
worldwide, and this is demonstrated by what is taking place in the main
countries of origin of most refugees. These include states like Turkey,
China and Iran, which are continually reprimanded (by the German
government, amongst others) for their offences against human rights and
the use of torture.
Although Turkey has since replaced Iraq as the country of origin for
the majority of those seeking asylum in Germany, nearly 12 percent of
asylum-seekers still come from Iraq, whose population is suffering from
the brutal occupation regime under American and British troops. The
situation facing the population has catastrophically worsened since the
beginning of the war. The US-British forces confront a guerrilla war
involving widespread popular resistance. The response of the occupying
powers has been to increasingly resort to arbitrary arrests. Amnesty
International has documented serious cases of human rights violations,
including the use of torture by the American and British occupiers.
It is worth noting that nearly 25 percent of refugees originate from
countries that have been dragged into war at the hands of NATO (or the
changing coalitions under US control). Aside from Iraq, these include
Serbia, Montenegro and Afghanistan. Official political rhetoric praises
these wars as efforts to liberate people from dictatorial regimes and
establish “democracy” and “liberty,” but the numbers of refugees
fleeing from these same countries paint another picture: one oppressive
regime is replaced by another. Moreover, the wars are accompanied by a
dramatic economic decline. In the resulting desolate social situation
minorities rapidly become scapegoats, the target of discrimination and
violence; the circumstances facing Roma peoples in Serbia and
Montenegro are just one example.
A German Foreign Ministry report last year noted: “The situation facing
minorities in the FRY [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now Serbia and
Montenegro] does not meet...international standards by a long chalk.”
However, the proportion of refugees from Serbia and Montenegro who are
granted asylum is just 0.1 percent. And although there are already
hundreds of thousands of internal refugees in the former Yugoslavia,
and more who are returning to a life of poverty and desperation, the
German government concluded an agreement with Yugoslavia in November
2002 whereby all refugees, bar a few exceptions, are forced to return.
Deportation policy continues
The result of Germany’s deportation policy was clearly shown in a June
23 report in the Frankfurter Rundschau. A Roma family, who had lived 12
years in Syke, in Lower Saxony, was taken at night by the police and
deported to Belgrade. There they live with thousands of other refugees
in misery in the illegal settlement of Deponia. Dominated by huts made
from cardboard and corrugated sheeting, there are neither proper roads
nor adequate water or electricity services. Since there is no work,
they scour the garbage containers coming from Belgrade for bottles,
bread and paper. The children are sent to beg on the streets of the
Serbian metropolis.
Green Party politician Claudia Roth, the German government’s human
rights spokesperson, visited Belgrade in order to gain a first-hand
picture of the situation confronting refugees deported there. She
maintains that a continuation of the deportation policy is inhumane and
cannot be justified politically. But these hypocritical words were
intended for the press corps accompanying her visit rather than for her
government coalition partners, since Berlin continues its policy of
deporting people, even into crisis areas.
The German federal and state interior ministers have encouraged the
authorities to carry out ever more arbitrary and illegal actions, in
order ensure deportations.
On June 26, the deportation of 64 refugees from Düsseldorf to Kosovo
failed. Members of minorities such as Roma, Ashkali or Egyptians can
only be deported after the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK)
has examined each individual case. In addition, a detailed list of the
refugees being deported has to be submitted to UNMIK beforehand. This
is what was missing on June 26, as the German authorities clearly tried
to illegally deport members of minorities.
As the airplane neared Kosovo, UNMIK refused it landing permission. The
flight was swiftly rerouted to Podgorica in Montenegro, in order to
then take the deportees by bus to Kosovo. Since UNMIK also rejected
this approach, the refugees were finally flown back to Düsseldorf. They
had to endure nearly 10 hours of intense heat in an airplane hangar,
whose windows and doors were firmly locked, and were refused food the
entire time.
In the course of this incident, the Kosovo co-coordinator of the UNHCR,
Karsten Luethke, declared that the German government was continually
deporting refugees to Kosovo who did not originate from the province.
In June, a mother and her seven children were deported to Turkey. The
family’s door was battered down in the early morning hours and the
eight people shipped by airplane to Istanbul, without being able to
contact a lawyer or even to take some basic luggage.
The deportation was illegal not only because they were refused a legal
hearing. The mother and her children were deported to Turkey despite
being Lebanese Kurds, who had fled the civil war in Lebanon years ago.
The claim by the authorities that this was a Turkish family is purely
capricious and was a blatant excuse to accelerate the deportation of
unwanted refugees.
Moreover, in contravention of both German and international law, the
family was torn apart, since the father was excluded from the
deportation. German authorities then cynically declared that he could
seek to reunite the family by travelling to Turkey.
On July 15, in the course of a failed deportation of a Congolese man,
Raphael Botoba, it came to light that despite the escalating violence
in the Congo—and the participation of Germany in a military
intervention there—further refugees were being deported to the central
African state. According to parliamentary state secretary Fritz Rudolf,
the government is not considering a ban on deportations to the Congo at
this time.
According to the twisted logic of the German government, military
intervention by the imperialist powers leads automatically to an
improvement in the human rights situation. This argument has been used
successively in the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan and in Iraq,
where following military interventions the proportion of refugees
granted asylum sank in each case as forced deportations increased. It
will not be any different in the Congo.
The government does not even attempt to hide the duplicity of its own
arguments. While it justifies its participation in a military
intervention with reference to the increasing violence in the Congo,
deportations are pushed through mercilessly, citing the relatively safe
situation in the capital. The Congolese churches and international
human rights organisations point out that “safe survival is hardly
possible” for those returning.
Berlin’s ever more ruthless deportation policy is not only directed
against refugees in Germany. The government is setting a clear sign of
what can be expected by potential refuges should they ever get to
Germany. The drastic fall in the numbers of those granted asylum
clearly shows that refugees should no longer expect protection from
persecution should they make it to German soil. Instead, they face a
life under miserable social conditions, with strongly curtailed
democratic rights, and under constant fear of deportation to a country
where even more intolerable conditions predominate.
Copyright 1998-2003
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
Convegno CNJ 16/11/2002
3: Kapuralin
[ Ovaj Referat Kapularin Vladimira
(SRP - Socijalisticka Radnicka Partija Hrvatske -, Pula):
"Socijalna i Ekonomska Situacija u Bivsim
Jugoslovenskim Republikama - slucaj HRVATSKE"
moze se procitati i na srpskohrvatskom:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2376 ]
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/CONVEGNOTRIESTE/
trascrizioni.html
---
Trieste / Trst, 16 novembre 2002, Convegno:
"...PASSANDO SEMPRE PER LA JUGOSLAVIA..."
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/CONVEGNOTRIESTE/
kapuralin.html
INTERVENTO DI VLADIMIR KAPURALIN
(Partito Socialista Operaio - SRP -, Pola)
La situazione socio-economica nella ex-Jugoslavia:
il caso della Croazia
La Jugoslavia, formatasi durante la lotta contro il nazismo negli anni
successivi alla fine della II Guerra Mondiale, ha saputo ricostruire
l'intero Paese e la sua economia, distrutta in guerra, grazie
all'applicazione dell'intera popolazione.
Secondo le analisi degli esperti stranieri, per un lungo periodo essa
era in testa ai paesi con il piu' alto tasso di sviluppo.
I cantieri navali erano al terzo posto nella classifica mondiale e le
imprese edili e di ingegneria ottenevano appalti in tutto il mondo.
Il Paese prosperava anche nella scienza e nella cultura, e
l'autogestione, accompagnata dalla quasi assenza di disoccupazione,
con allo stesso tempo una grande sicurezza sul piano sociale,
permetteva un'esistenza dignitosa alla
popolazione.
A tutto questo contribuiva la politica del non-allineamento e della
sovranità ed indipendenza, anche grazie ad un esercito forte e ben
equipaggiato che garantiva ai cittadini sicurezza, libertà ed
indipendenza dai fattori esterni. Tutto questo con un debito estero di
18 miliardi di dollari, ovvero poco più di 800 dollari pro-capite.
Anche se non esisteva il sistema pluripartitico, e solo il 10% della
popolazione faceva parte del partito al potere, la maggior parte della
popolazione era leale al paese. La parte dei cittadini che voleva
ottenere di piu' era emigrata per ragioni
economiche, senza rompere i legami con la patria. C'e' da dire che era
emigrata anche quella parte di popolazione che faceva parte dei
perdenti della seconda Guerra Mondiale.
A loro si sono affiancati all'estero anche quelli che si consideravano
nemici del socialismo autogestito, e insieme avevano pianificato e
svolto azioni terroristiche contro la Jugoslavia, spesso ricevendo un
aiuto logistico dai Paesi che li ospitavano.
Alla fine degli anni 80 e 90 iniziano i processi che cambiano
radicalmente la situazione politica. Dopo il crollo del muro di
Berlino, i centri del potere capitalista rappresentati dalla Banca
Mondiale, dal Fondo Monetario Internazionale e dall'Organizzazione
Mondiale per il Commercio, guidati dai
sette Paesi piu' sviluppati del mondo, con l'aiuto logistico degli USA
e della NATO iniziano a realizzare il progetto lungamente preparato:
la distruzione dei regimi socialisti dell'Europa Orientale.
Su questa loro strada si e' trovata anche la Jugoslavia.
Nel processo - diretto dall'estero ed effettuato dalle forze interne -
si arriva alla secessione della Slovenia e della Croazia, seguite per
effetto domino dalla Bosnia e dalla Macedonia. Bisogna sottolineare
pero' che i centri di potere non avevano come scopo principale la
distruzione della Jugoslavia, bensi' quella del suo regime socialista
e autogestito - cosa che era impossibile realizzare senza
distruggere il Paese.
Questa battaglia era facilitata dal fatto che le destre nazionaliste
riuscirono a convincere la popolazione del fatto che con il capitalismo
non avrebbero perso nessuno dei diritti acquisiti, bensi' ne avrebbero
guadagnati di nuovi.
In senso economico, la distruzione della Jugoslavia significava la fine
dell'esistenza del mercato comune che per decenni aveva stabilito e
regolato i percorsi delle merci, accompagnato dalla libera circolazione
degli uomini e delle idee.
Per la Croazia questo ha significato la perdita improvvisa di oltre il
50% dei suoi beni, che prima della secessione venivano scambiati sul
mercato ex-jugoslavo, il quale non e' stato sostituito da alcun altro
mercato.
Il conflitto armato, in seguito alla secessione, ha avuto come
conseguenza la distruzione materiale delle infrastrutture
dell'economia e l'interruzione del flusso turistico dall'interno e
dall'estero, il che ha portato alla sparizione di questo ramo vitale
dell'economia.
Cosi' si e' creata la prima ondata di disoccupazione e l'abbassamento
dello standard di vita. La seguente ondata e' consistita
nell'interruzione dell'economia socialista e nell'introduzione del
capitalismo nella sua forma peggiore: l'accumulazione primordiale del
capitale.
Le imprese esangui non potevano competere di pari passo con i soggetti
capitalistici nella corsa al mercato. I neo-proprietari, diventati tali
per "meriti" politici, non avevano ne' interesse ne' volonta' e nemmeno
conoscenze per sviluppare la produzione; si limitavano a sfruttare la
materia prima.
Il passo successivo consisteva nella svendita anarchica, agli
stranieri, di tutto quanto aveva un valore, e questo come conseguenza
ha avuto nuove perdite di posti di lavoro e abbassamento dello standard
medio; anche perche' agli investitori stranieri interessava solamente
il mercato ed i beni, non lo sviluppo.
Cosi' [in Croazia] il 94% del potenziale finanziario e' diventato
proprieta' delle banche estere. E' rimasta soltanto la Banca Nazionale
che e' un istituto di emissione monetaria. Sono state vendute le
telecomunicazioni, gran parte delle case giornalistiche, gli hotels e
gli impianti turistici, molte fabbriche.
Da vendere ci sono rimaste ancora l'industria farmaceutica, quella
energetica, gli istitutti di assicurazione ed il latifondo agricolo.
Svendendo ogni giorno ogni potenziale di valore - i cosiddetti
"gioielli di famiglia" - lo Stato troppo costoso e spendaccione cerca
di ottenere i finanziamenti per mantenersi: pero' questo si e' mostrato
insufficiente.
Parallelamente e' cresciuto anche il debito estero, che e' arrivato
alla cifra di 14 miliardi di dollari, vale a dire 3.000 dollari
pro-capite, ossia il 60% del PIL - e per pagare gli interessi serve un
miliardo di dollari l'anno.
Vulnerabile com'e', la Croazia e' diventata la destinazione prediletta
per disfarsi degli equipaggiamenti industriali e bellici obsoleti e
nocivi, e poi anche il poligono per l'addestramento gratuito degli
eserciti.
Negli ultimi 12 anni la Croazia e' retrocessa in tutti i campi; si
stima che abbia perduto 700.000 posti di lavoro; la disoccupazione e'
di 400.000 unita' (la piu' grande in Europa) [in effetti essa e' oggi
superata perlomeno dalla Serbia di Djindjic, che sfiora un milione di
disoccupati; ndCRJ] ovvero
il 20% della popolazione attiva.
A titolo comparativo, la Germania un anno prima dell'ascesa di Hitler
al potere aveva il 20% di disoccupati. E' caratteristico per il paese
che una parte degli operai non viene pagata per mesi o addirittura per
un anno intero. Questa categoria in un certo momento era arrivata alla
cifra di 150.000 persone.
Si stima che durante il conflitto e dopo di quello sono state distrutte
o incendiate 50.000 case. Interi paesi sono scomparsi dalla faccia
della terra. Sono stati cacciati via 250.000 serbi. Intere province
sono rimaste deserte.
Si stima che circa 100.000 giovani altamente scolarizzati siano
emigrati, soprattutto per sfuggire a una guerra che non volevano e
all'assenza di una prospettiva di vita. E' irreale aspettarsi che
questi giovani all'apice della forza produttiva ritornino.
Secondo i dati del 1998, ogni cittadino croato disponeva di 25 kune al
giorno da usare per i consumi, il che corrispondeva a meno di 4 dollari.
E' cosa nota che si considera al di sotto della soglia di poverta' chi
disponga di meno di 5 dollari al giorno.
Le condizioni di vita in Istria e sul Litorale, dunque in regioni
relativamente vicine all'Italia, hanno determinato la nascita di una
specifica categoria sociale: le donne, di varia eta', di diverse
professioni, spesso anche molto istruite, molte con una salute
precaria, che hanno adottato una soluzione sui generis per la
sopravvivenza propria e della propria famiglia, ossia il cercare lavoro
oltre frontiera [in Italia], assistendo gente anziana e/o facendo i
lavori piu' umili. Si ritiene che siano circa
10.000 le donne di tale categoria. Vogliamo ricordare il fatto che
anche le nostre madri si guadagnavano da vivere in questo modo tra le
due guerre mondiali, nelle regioni occupate dagli italiani; la
differenza e' che perlomeno rimanevano a lavorare a casa, mentre quelle
odierne devono separarsi dalle loro famiglie. Cio' ha lasciato segni
inequivocabili nella sfera emotiva e vitale di ogni individuo. In
queste persone si
alternano sentimenti di delusione, apatia, rabbia, impotenza,
riluttanza, rassegnazione. Sono ovvie le conseguenze sullo stato di
salute di queste persone. Non ultima l'abbreviarsi della longevita' dei
cittadini croati negli ultimi dodici anni.
La Croazia e' oggi deindustrializzata. Mancano gli investimenti,
eccetto quelli per la ricostruzione delle strade e delle chiese.
La sanita' e' ridotta ai minimi termini ed e' accessibile solo a chi
puo' permettersela pagando. Anche l'istruzione e' scesa di livello. Uno
dei problemi principali consiste nel revisionismo storico: la storia
viene adattata alle esigenze nazionaliste, il che avra' conseguenze a
lungo termine nella formazione delle nuove generazioni. Un esempio e'
dato dall'accettazione di una netta iconografia ustascia. Quello che ci
deve preoccupare particolarmente e' l'aumentato uso di stupefacenti tra
i giovani in risposta alla mancanza di prospettive per il futuro. Ne
consegue anche una corruzione dilagante tra le istituzioni in vario
modo coinvolte nello spaccio di narcotici.
La Chiesa e' aggressivamente presente in ogni ambito della societa', a
cominciare dagli asili nido.
Il sistema giuridico e' paralizzato dall'onnipresenza di persone
corrotte e dai bisogni del nazionalismo imperante. In particolar modo
cio' e' evidente nel modo in cui vengono trattati i crimini compiuti
dalla parte croata durante e dopo gli scontri bellici.
Per la Croazia e' rischioso il gioco attuato dal suo governo nei
confronti della comunita' internazionale, in particolare con il
Tribunale dell'Aia. La Croazia cerca di sottrarsi arrogantemente alla
collaborazione con la Comunita' Internazionale, ai tentativi di questa
di processare i crimini
commessi. In questo modo essa si accosta alla destra piu' retrograda,
nazionalista, portando il Paese al limite delle sanzioni e
dell'isolamento internazionale.
La domanda che ci si pone e': quali sono le possibili soluzioni di
questa situazione quasi irrisolvibile?
Se partiamo da una constatazione reale, e cioe' dal fatto che
l'economia croata non dispone in questo momento di prodotti che possano
competere sul sofisticato mercato occidentale, mentre potrebbe offrirne
a quello dell'Est, se ne ricava che essa dovrebbe, senza sentirsene
frustrata, accettare questa possibilita'. Questo significa che dovrebbe
stabilire relazioni diverse d'integrazione, s'intende con le
ex-repubbliche jugoslave , nonche' relazioni piu' ampie con quei paesi
dove essa era un tempo presente, il che, secondo le valutazione del
dott. Branko Horvat, comprenderebbe un territorio di 150 milioni di
consumatori. In ambito economico, tanto interno quanto esterno, questo
territorio si denomina "Balkanska unija" (Unione balcanica).
Per far cio' dobbiamo immediatamente fermare l'ulteriore svendita del
patrimonio nazionale che porta alla distruzione dell'economia del
Paese. Laddove e' possibile bisogna restituire all'autogestione da
parte degli operai cio' che e' stato loro sottratto e creare le
condizioni per il rinnovamento della proprieta' collettiva e
dell'autogestione. Bisogna lavorare sulla ricostruzione usando tutte le
nostre risorse intellettive e
utilizzando appieno il potenziale umano di cui disponiamo.
Questo processo non e' facile ma ogni minuto perso lo rende solo piu'
difficile. In mancanza di capitali si potrebbe iniziare da un utilizzo
migliore delle risorse agricole di cui gia' disponiamo. I risultati si
raccolgono gia' dopo un solo anno, e lo stesso vale per il turismo,
naturalmente nel limite di quanto non e' stato ancora svenduto.
3: Kapuralin
[ Ovaj Referat Kapularin Vladimira
(SRP - Socijalisticka Radnicka Partija Hrvatske -, Pula):
"Socijalna i Ekonomska Situacija u Bivsim
Jugoslovenskim Republikama - slucaj HRVATSKE"
moze se procitati i na srpskohrvatskom:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2376 ]
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/CONVEGNOTRIESTE/
trascrizioni.html
---
Trieste / Trst, 16 novembre 2002, Convegno:
"...PASSANDO SEMPRE PER LA JUGOSLAVIA..."
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/CONVEGNOTRIESTE/
kapuralin.html
INTERVENTO DI VLADIMIR KAPURALIN
(Partito Socialista Operaio - SRP -, Pola)
La situazione socio-economica nella ex-Jugoslavia:
il caso della Croazia
La Jugoslavia, formatasi durante la lotta contro il nazismo negli anni
successivi alla fine della II Guerra Mondiale, ha saputo ricostruire
l'intero Paese e la sua economia, distrutta in guerra, grazie
all'applicazione dell'intera popolazione.
Secondo le analisi degli esperti stranieri, per un lungo periodo essa
era in testa ai paesi con il piu' alto tasso di sviluppo.
I cantieri navali erano al terzo posto nella classifica mondiale e le
imprese edili e di ingegneria ottenevano appalti in tutto il mondo.
Il Paese prosperava anche nella scienza e nella cultura, e
l'autogestione, accompagnata dalla quasi assenza di disoccupazione,
con allo stesso tempo una grande sicurezza sul piano sociale,
permetteva un'esistenza dignitosa alla
popolazione.
A tutto questo contribuiva la politica del non-allineamento e della
sovranità ed indipendenza, anche grazie ad un esercito forte e ben
equipaggiato che garantiva ai cittadini sicurezza, libertà ed
indipendenza dai fattori esterni. Tutto questo con un debito estero di
18 miliardi di dollari, ovvero poco più di 800 dollari pro-capite.
Anche se non esisteva il sistema pluripartitico, e solo il 10% della
popolazione faceva parte del partito al potere, la maggior parte della
popolazione era leale al paese. La parte dei cittadini che voleva
ottenere di piu' era emigrata per ragioni
economiche, senza rompere i legami con la patria. C'e' da dire che era
emigrata anche quella parte di popolazione che faceva parte dei
perdenti della seconda Guerra Mondiale.
A loro si sono affiancati all'estero anche quelli che si consideravano
nemici del socialismo autogestito, e insieme avevano pianificato e
svolto azioni terroristiche contro la Jugoslavia, spesso ricevendo un
aiuto logistico dai Paesi che li ospitavano.
Alla fine degli anni 80 e 90 iniziano i processi che cambiano
radicalmente la situazione politica. Dopo il crollo del muro di
Berlino, i centri del potere capitalista rappresentati dalla Banca
Mondiale, dal Fondo Monetario Internazionale e dall'Organizzazione
Mondiale per il Commercio, guidati dai
sette Paesi piu' sviluppati del mondo, con l'aiuto logistico degli USA
e della NATO iniziano a realizzare il progetto lungamente preparato:
la distruzione dei regimi socialisti dell'Europa Orientale.
Su questa loro strada si e' trovata anche la Jugoslavia.
Nel processo - diretto dall'estero ed effettuato dalle forze interne -
si arriva alla secessione della Slovenia e della Croazia, seguite per
effetto domino dalla Bosnia e dalla Macedonia. Bisogna sottolineare
pero' che i centri di potere non avevano come scopo principale la
distruzione della Jugoslavia, bensi' quella del suo regime socialista
e autogestito - cosa che era impossibile realizzare senza
distruggere il Paese.
Questa battaglia era facilitata dal fatto che le destre nazionaliste
riuscirono a convincere la popolazione del fatto che con il capitalismo
non avrebbero perso nessuno dei diritti acquisiti, bensi' ne avrebbero
guadagnati di nuovi.
In senso economico, la distruzione della Jugoslavia significava la fine
dell'esistenza del mercato comune che per decenni aveva stabilito e
regolato i percorsi delle merci, accompagnato dalla libera circolazione
degli uomini e delle idee.
Per la Croazia questo ha significato la perdita improvvisa di oltre il
50% dei suoi beni, che prima della secessione venivano scambiati sul
mercato ex-jugoslavo, il quale non e' stato sostituito da alcun altro
mercato.
Il conflitto armato, in seguito alla secessione, ha avuto come
conseguenza la distruzione materiale delle infrastrutture
dell'economia e l'interruzione del flusso turistico dall'interno e
dall'estero, il che ha portato alla sparizione di questo ramo vitale
dell'economia.
Cosi' si e' creata la prima ondata di disoccupazione e l'abbassamento
dello standard di vita. La seguente ondata e' consistita
nell'interruzione dell'economia socialista e nell'introduzione del
capitalismo nella sua forma peggiore: l'accumulazione primordiale del
capitale.
Le imprese esangui non potevano competere di pari passo con i soggetti
capitalistici nella corsa al mercato. I neo-proprietari, diventati tali
per "meriti" politici, non avevano ne' interesse ne' volonta' e nemmeno
conoscenze per sviluppare la produzione; si limitavano a sfruttare la
materia prima.
Il passo successivo consisteva nella svendita anarchica, agli
stranieri, di tutto quanto aveva un valore, e questo come conseguenza
ha avuto nuove perdite di posti di lavoro e abbassamento dello standard
medio; anche perche' agli investitori stranieri interessava solamente
il mercato ed i beni, non lo sviluppo.
Cosi' [in Croazia] il 94% del potenziale finanziario e' diventato
proprieta' delle banche estere. E' rimasta soltanto la Banca Nazionale
che e' un istituto di emissione monetaria. Sono state vendute le
telecomunicazioni, gran parte delle case giornalistiche, gli hotels e
gli impianti turistici, molte fabbriche.
Da vendere ci sono rimaste ancora l'industria farmaceutica, quella
energetica, gli istitutti di assicurazione ed il latifondo agricolo.
Svendendo ogni giorno ogni potenziale di valore - i cosiddetti
"gioielli di famiglia" - lo Stato troppo costoso e spendaccione cerca
di ottenere i finanziamenti per mantenersi: pero' questo si e' mostrato
insufficiente.
Parallelamente e' cresciuto anche il debito estero, che e' arrivato
alla cifra di 14 miliardi di dollari, vale a dire 3.000 dollari
pro-capite, ossia il 60% del PIL - e per pagare gli interessi serve un
miliardo di dollari l'anno.
Vulnerabile com'e', la Croazia e' diventata la destinazione prediletta
per disfarsi degli equipaggiamenti industriali e bellici obsoleti e
nocivi, e poi anche il poligono per l'addestramento gratuito degli
eserciti.
Negli ultimi 12 anni la Croazia e' retrocessa in tutti i campi; si
stima che abbia perduto 700.000 posti di lavoro; la disoccupazione e'
di 400.000 unita' (la piu' grande in Europa) [in effetti essa e' oggi
superata perlomeno dalla Serbia di Djindjic, che sfiora un milione di
disoccupati; ndCRJ] ovvero
il 20% della popolazione attiva.
A titolo comparativo, la Germania un anno prima dell'ascesa di Hitler
al potere aveva il 20% di disoccupati. E' caratteristico per il paese
che una parte degli operai non viene pagata per mesi o addirittura per
un anno intero. Questa categoria in un certo momento era arrivata alla
cifra di 150.000 persone.
Si stima che durante il conflitto e dopo di quello sono state distrutte
o incendiate 50.000 case. Interi paesi sono scomparsi dalla faccia
della terra. Sono stati cacciati via 250.000 serbi. Intere province
sono rimaste deserte.
Si stima che circa 100.000 giovani altamente scolarizzati siano
emigrati, soprattutto per sfuggire a una guerra che non volevano e
all'assenza di una prospettiva di vita. E' irreale aspettarsi che
questi giovani all'apice della forza produttiva ritornino.
Secondo i dati del 1998, ogni cittadino croato disponeva di 25 kune al
giorno da usare per i consumi, il che corrispondeva a meno di 4 dollari.
E' cosa nota che si considera al di sotto della soglia di poverta' chi
disponga di meno di 5 dollari al giorno.
Le condizioni di vita in Istria e sul Litorale, dunque in regioni
relativamente vicine all'Italia, hanno determinato la nascita di una
specifica categoria sociale: le donne, di varia eta', di diverse
professioni, spesso anche molto istruite, molte con una salute
precaria, che hanno adottato una soluzione sui generis per la
sopravvivenza propria e della propria famiglia, ossia il cercare lavoro
oltre frontiera [in Italia], assistendo gente anziana e/o facendo i
lavori piu' umili. Si ritiene che siano circa
10.000 le donne di tale categoria. Vogliamo ricordare il fatto che
anche le nostre madri si guadagnavano da vivere in questo modo tra le
due guerre mondiali, nelle regioni occupate dagli italiani; la
differenza e' che perlomeno rimanevano a lavorare a casa, mentre quelle
odierne devono separarsi dalle loro famiglie. Cio' ha lasciato segni
inequivocabili nella sfera emotiva e vitale di ogni individuo. In
queste persone si
alternano sentimenti di delusione, apatia, rabbia, impotenza,
riluttanza, rassegnazione. Sono ovvie le conseguenze sullo stato di
salute di queste persone. Non ultima l'abbreviarsi della longevita' dei
cittadini croati negli ultimi dodici anni.
La Croazia e' oggi deindustrializzata. Mancano gli investimenti,
eccetto quelli per la ricostruzione delle strade e delle chiese.
La sanita' e' ridotta ai minimi termini ed e' accessibile solo a chi
puo' permettersela pagando. Anche l'istruzione e' scesa di livello. Uno
dei problemi principali consiste nel revisionismo storico: la storia
viene adattata alle esigenze nazionaliste, il che avra' conseguenze a
lungo termine nella formazione delle nuove generazioni. Un esempio e'
dato dall'accettazione di una netta iconografia ustascia. Quello che ci
deve preoccupare particolarmente e' l'aumentato uso di stupefacenti tra
i giovani in risposta alla mancanza di prospettive per il futuro. Ne
consegue anche una corruzione dilagante tra le istituzioni in vario
modo coinvolte nello spaccio di narcotici.
La Chiesa e' aggressivamente presente in ogni ambito della societa', a
cominciare dagli asili nido.
Il sistema giuridico e' paralizzato dall'onnipresenza di persone
corrotte e dai bisogni del nazionalismo imperante. In particolar modo
cio' e' evidente nel modo in cui vengono trattati i crimini compiuti
dalla parte croata durante e dopo gli scontri bellici.
Per la Croazia e' rischioso il gioco attuato dal suo governo nei
confronti della comunita' internazionale, in particolare con il
Tribunale dell'Aia. La Croazia cerca di sottrarsi arrogantemente alla
collaborazione con la Comunita' Internazionale, ai tentativi di questa
di processare i crimini
commessi. In questo modo essa si accosta alla destra piu' retrograda,
nazionalista, portando il Paese al limite delle sanzioni e
dell'isolamento internazionale.
La domanda che ci si pone e': quali sono le possibili soluzioni di
questa situazione quasi irrisolvibile?
Se partiamo da una constatazione reale, e cioe' dal fatto che
l'economia croata non dispone in questo momento di prodotti che possano
competere sul sofisticato mercato occidentale, mentre potrebbe offrirne
a quello dell'Est, se ne ricava che essa dovrebbe, senza sentirsene
frustrata, accettare questa possibilita'. Questo significa che dovrebbe
stabilire relazioni diverse d'integrazione, s'intende con le
ex-repubbliche jugoslave , nonche' relazioni piu' ampie con quei paesi
dove essa era un tempo presente, il che, secondo le valutazione del
dott. Branko Horvat, comprenderebbe un territorio di 150 milioni di
consumatori. In ambito economico, tanto interno quanto esterno, questo
territorio si denomina "Balkanska unija" (Unione balcanica).
Per far cio' dobbiamo immediatamente fermare l'ulteriore svendita del
patrimonio nazionale che porta alla distruzione dell'economia del
Paese. Laddove e' possibile bisogna restituire all'autogestione da
parte degli operai cio' che e' stato loro sottratto e creare le
condizioni per il rinnovamento della proprieta' collettiva e
dell'autogestione. Bisogna lavorare sulla ricostruzione usando tutte le
nostre risorse intellettive e
utilizzando appieno il potenziale umano di cui disponiamo.
Questo processo non e' facile ma ogni minuto perso lo rende solo piu'
difficile. In mancanza di capitali si potrebbe iniziare da un utilizzo
migliore delle risorse agricole di cui gia' disponiamo. I risultati si
raccolgono gia' dopo un solo anno, e lo stesso vale per il turismo,
naturalmente nel limite di quanto non e' stato ancora svenduto.
Il terrorismo "buono" (english / italiano)
1: MUJAHEDDIN A ZENICA E DINTORNI
A. 7th Bosnian Muslim Brigade, based in Zenica - the international
Islamic mercenary force known as the mujahedeen
+ interesting LINKS
B. Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists (Los
Angeles Times)
NOTA:
Sul quotidiano Vecernji List di Zagabria del 3/8/2003 e' scritto che i
due attentatori che con il Boeing si sono schiantati contro il
Pentagono l'11 Settembre, nel 1995 combattevano in Bosnia-Erzegovina. I
loro nomi sarebbero Khalid Al-Mihdhar e Nawaf Al-Hasmir.
Non sappiamo se questi due personaggi si siano veramente schiantati sul
Pentagono. Quello che invece e' assodato e' che militanti islamisti di
svariata provenienza hanno combattuto in Bosnia, al fianco di
Izetbegovic, Clinton ed Adriano Sofri, come e' ben spiegato nei due
articoli che seguono. (IS)
=== A ===
http://www.balkanpeace.org/temp/tmp13.html
7th Bosnian Muslim Brigade, based in Zenica - the international Islamic
mercenary force known as the mujahedeen
(photo)
Alija Izetbegovic with members of 7th Brigade
"... The first and foremost of such conclusions is surely the one on
the incompatibility of Islam and non-Islamic systems. There can be no
peace or coexistence between the "Islamic faith" and non- Islamic
societies and political institutions. ... Islam clearly excludes the
right and possibility of activity of any strange ideology on its own
turf. Therefore, there is no question of any laicistic principles, and
the state should be an expression and should support the moral concepts
of the religion. ..." page 22 "The Islamic Declaration" book ("Islamska
deklaracija"), written by Mr. Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Muslim leader.
In preparing the ground for the conflicts between Bosnian Cristians
(Croats and Serbs) and Bosnian Muslims, residents of different Arab
countries who in the B&H had recognized the elements and challenge of
“a holy war” - jihad. Coming from different Arab countries, most of
them were from Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Afghanistan, and
bringing with them experience from a war from some of the Islamic
trouble spots.
Mujahedin, or «holy warriors», is a generic term for Muslim volunteers
fighting in the former Yugoslavia. Many Mujahedin originate from Muslim
countries outside the former Yugoslavia. It was reported that the
Mujahedin began arriving in BiH as early as June 1992. (Tom Post & Joel
Brand, «Help from the Holy Warriors», Newsweek, 5 October 1992, at 52).
Reports on the number of Mujahedin forces operating in BiH vary, but it
is unlikely that the Mujahedin forces have made a significant military
contribution to the BiH Government's war effort (Christopher Lockwood,
«Muslim Nations Offer Troops», Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1993, at 14.
According to Lockwood, Muslim nations depended on Western logistical
support to deliver troops to BiH. He concludes that the same logistical
troubles which kept the Muslim troops promised in July of 1993 from
joining UN forces in the UN declared «safe havens» also limited the
number of Muslim volunteers in the BiH armed forces. He states that the
number of Mujahedin in BiH never exceeded three or four hundred. See
also Mohamed Sid-Ahmad, «Muslim World Between Two Fires», War Report,
January 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 63744. However, the Belgrade Daily,
Vecernje Novosti, reported that as many as 30,000 Mujahedin were
operating in BiH. «Other Reports in Brief: Muslims from Abroad Settling
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgrade Daily Claims», BBC, Summary of
World Broadcasts, 19 September 1992. )
The Mujahedin forces came from several Muslim states and many of them
were veterans of the Afghan war. (Andrew Hogg, «Arabs Join in Bosnia
Battle», Sunday Times, 30 August 1992)
Reports submitted to the Commission of Experts alleged that the
Mujahedin have been responsible for the mutilation and killing of
civilians, rape, looting, the destruction of property, and the
expulsion of non-Muslim populations. The deputy commander of the BiH
Army, Colonel Stjepan Siber, has said, «it was a mistake to let them
[the Mujahedin] here . . . They commit most of the atrocities and work
against the interests of the Muslim people. They have been killing,
looting and stealing.» Andrew Hogg, «Terror Trail of the Mujahedin»,
Sunday Times, 27 June 1993.
Several reports indicate that the Mujahedin were placed under the
command of the BiH Army.(See «Some 400 Mujahedin Volunteers Fighting
with Bosnian Muslims», Agence France Presse, 22 September 1992; Andrew
Hogg, «Arabs Join in Bosnia Battle», Sunday Times, 30 August 1992; see
also Charles McLoed, ECMM, «Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica», April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 20178- 20546, at
20207; Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; US Department of State,
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62648, 62724, 62730, and 62756)
The Mujahedin forces were closely associated with the 5th Corps, the
6th and 7th Zenica Brigades, the 7th Travnik Brigade, and the 45th
Muslim Brigade which belongs to the 6th Corps in Konjic of the Army of
BiH (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62648; see also Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4
October 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; «Continuing Clashes
in Northwestern Enclave Reported from Both Sides», BBC, Summary of
World Broadcasts, 14 December 1993.)
They also allegedly fought alongside the Muslim Police, the Krajiska
Brigade from Travnik, units of Kosovo Muslims, Albanian soldiers, and
paramilitary groups such as the «Green Legion» and the «Black
Swans».(Charles McLoed, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 20178-20546, at 20207;
Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; US Department of State, 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62648, 62724, 62730, and 62756.)
Reports also indicate that the Mujahedin had the support of President
Izetbegovic and his government. *57 This was demonstrated in the Bihac
pocket, where the Mujahedin joined BiH forces loyal to Izetbegovic.
Together, these forces battled separatist forces who entered into a
separate peace treaty with Bosnian Serbs («Continuing Clashes in
Northwestern Enclave Reported form Both Sides», BBC, Summary of World
Broadcasts, 14 December 1993)
In Zenica, between 31 August and 2 September 1992, 250 Mujahedin troops
allegedly come to BiH from Turkey, Qatar, Bahrain and Iran. These
troops worked alongside the Green Legion and HOS paramilitary groups
stationed in Zenica. The Mujahedin allegedly also operated a camp at
Arnauti.(Charles McLeod, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in
Vitez, Buscovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 29043-29131, at
29064; Biljaja Plavsic, Republic of Serbia Presidency, To Serbs All
Over the World, 30 September 1992, IHRLI Doc. No. 48072- 48093, at
48081)
It was reported that a unit of the Mujahedin, called the «Guerilla»,
participated in the 16 April 1993 attack on Vitez and attempted to
exchange 10 HVO hostages for foreign prisoners held in HVO prisons. (US
Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62629; see
also Charles McLeod, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 29043-29131, at 29072
(attack on Vitez).
The Croatian Ministry of Defence is reported to have provided
information about an event occurring in June 1993 -- a joint
BiH/Mujahedin unit reportedly attacked Travnik, allegedly forcing 4,000
Croatian civilians and military personnel out of the town. (US
Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62650. Media
reports however claim that Croats left Travnik voluntarily. The
incident was investigated by an organization, which reported that the
forceful eviction did not take place)
The Mujahedin allegedly fought alongside the 6th Muslim Brigade from
Zenica and the Krajiska Brigade from Travnik. Witnesses stated that
they saw Mujahedin operating in small patrols ahead of the approaching
BiH troops.
According to HVO intelligence, Mujahedin forces arrived in Travnik
sometime before June 1993 and came from Algeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Iran. The Mujahedin trained at a camp at Mehurici, where they were
allegedly financed and equipped by a man named Abdulah, the owner of
the «Palma» video store in Travnik. Once in town, the Mujahedin were
linked to the Seventh Brigade of the BiH Army, and were reportedly
assembled into units of 10 to 15 men, and moved about on regular
patrols. The Mujahedin created tension in Travnik in the days prior to
the attack on 3 June. One witness stated that the Mujahedin directed
their actions towards the HVO personnel in town. They allegedly
demonstrated, shouted slogans and fired their rifles in the air.
Mujahedin allegedly participated in the attack on Maljine in Novi
Travnik on 8 June 1993, killing 20 to 30 HVO members and transporting
Croatian women and children to the training centre at
Mehurici.(Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 1, 9 August
1993)
In Konjic, the Mujahedin were part of a 100 member force stationed at
Liscioi and led by Haso Hakalovic. The unit was assembled in February
1993 and included some Kosovo Muslims and members of the Black Swans
from the Igman mountain region. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI
Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62756)
Allegedly, Mujahedin troops killed and expelled villagers, and looted
and burned homes, when they moved against the Jablanica- Konjic area.
The Mujahedin troops and members of the Black Swans reportedly
conducted occasional raids without members of BiH forces. (at IHRLI
Doc. No. 62752 and 62756. The village of Vrci was attacked on 25 May,
and the village of Radesine was attacked on 10 June. See also Tadeusz
Mazowiecki, Fifth Periodic Report on the Situation of Human Rights in
the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1994/47, 17
November 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 52399-52435, at 52405 (alleging that the
Mujahedin were involved in attacks at Kopjari on 21 October, Doljani on
27 and 28 June, and Maljane on 8 June). UN Special Rapporteur
Mazowiecki claims that corpses of Mujahedin victims displayed evidence
of protracted cruelty and mutilation. )
Reportedly, the Mujahedin volunteers arrived in Konjic in small groups.
It was reported that they were from Afghanistan and that they claimed
to be students. They were allegedly armed with Hekleri automatic
weapons and former JNA equipment. Some Mujahedin were reportedly former
students with no military experience.
Mujahedin forces were present in Mostar since early June 1993. They
were reportedly stationed in the Santica neighbourhood on the
Muslim/HVO front, where they manned bunkers, usually in groups of six
or seven, armed with 7.62 millimetre semi-automatic weapons,
machine-guns, and Zolja anti-tank weapons. They were billeted in a
building they shared with the Muslim military police on the east bank
of the Neretva River. The Mujahedin forces apparently left Mostar on 15
August. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62742 and 62677. For more details on the location of the Neretva living
quarters, see Id. at 62739)
FRY reported that the Mujahedin began operations near Teslic in July
and August of 1992. Troops from Saudi Arabia allegedly killed three
Serbian Territorial Defence members and placed the victims' severed
heads on poles near the «Tesanj turret». (Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Second Report Submitted to the Commission of Experts, 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 28401-29019, at 28533)
Beheadings of Serbs by Mujahedin forces have also been reported in
other areas.
The Mujahedin were also alleged to be part of the forces that invaded
the village of Trusina near Foca on 15 April 1993. According to the
report, attackers wore white ribbons on their arms and fought beside
Albanian Muslim troops. Twenty-two civilians reportedly died in the
attack. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62648; Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435)
The Mujahedin allegedly performed crude circumcisions upon Serbian
police forces, who were later treated by an American surgeon at the
Kosevo hospital in Sarajevo. (Letter dated 7 December 1992 from the
Deputy Representative of the US to U.N. Secretary-General, U.N. Doc.
S/24918, 8 December 1992, IHRLI Doc. No. 3160-3177, at 3173; Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, Second Report Submitted to the Commission of
Experts, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 28401-29019, at 28566)
(photo)
This photograph was seized from Saudi Arabian fighters captured in Crni
Vrh near Teslic, Bosnia. A Muslim solder displays the severed head of
Blagoje Blagojevic, a Serb from the village of Jasenovo near Teslic.
(photo)
The severed heads of three Serbs (identified as Blagoje Blagojevic,
Nenad Petkovic, and Brana Djuric) beheaded by Muslim fighters. This
picture was seized from Saudi Arabian solders captured near Teslic in
Bosnia.
LINKS:
7th Brigade, loyal Islamic force
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/timbeat4.htm
Director of the U.S. Congress' Task Force on Terrorism and
Unconventional warfare: "Some Call It Peace"
http://members.tripod.com/Balkania/resources/geostrategy/
bodansky_peace/bp_part1.html
7th Muslim "Liberation" Brigade
http://www.wargamer.com/sp/military/bih/armija/foreign.asp
Washington Post - Iranians Form Terror Force in Bosnia
http://impact.users.netlink.co.uk/namir/sreport.htm
Bosnia losing the pluralistic character
http://www.bosnet.org/archive/bosnet.w3archive/9501/msg00252.html
No future for Muslims in Europe unless they have a state of their own
http://www.amber.ucsf.edu/homes/ross/public_html/bosnia_/mus.txt
US Senate Document; Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn
Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base
http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1997/iran.htm
A BOSNIAN VILLAGE'S TERRORIST
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Aktuelno/BIVSE/BiH/wpost11032000_e.html
The Second Coming of Alija Izetbegovic
http://www.balkanpeace.org/our/our05.shtml
Selling the Bosnian Myth to America: Part I-Buyer Beware
http://reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-12.11.2000.3.html
Army suspects munitions manufactured for Bosnian army
http://archive.nandotimes.com/newsroom/nt/0204yugfff.html
Similarity - The 13th Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Handschar
http://www.wssob.com/013divhnd.html
Jihad - the "Holly War"
http://blaskic.croat.net/jihad.htm
=== B ===
The Los Angeles Times
October 7, 2001
Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists
By CRAIG PYES, JOSH MEYER and WILLIAM C. REMPEL , Times Staff Writers
ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists
who became Bosnian citizens after battling Serbian and Croatian forces
present a potential terrorist threat to Europe and the United States,
according to a classified U.S. State Department report and interviews
with international military and intelligence sources.
The extremists include hard-core terrorists, some with ties to Osama
bin Laden, protected by militant elements of the former Sarajevo
government. Bosnia-Herzegovina is "a staging area and safe haven" for
terrorists, said a former senior State Department official.
The secret report, prepared late last year for the Clinton
administration, warned of problem passport-holders in Bosnia in numbers
that "shocked everyone," the former official said. The White House
leaned on Bosnia and its then-president, Alija Izetbegovic, to do
something about the matter, "but nothing happened," he said.
Although no evidence connects any Bosnian group to the suicide
hijacking attacks of Sept. 11 blamed on Bin Laden, U.S. and European
officials are increasingly concerned about the scope and reach of Bin
Laden networks in the West and the proximity of Bosnia-based terrorists
to the heart of Europe.
A number of the extremists "would travel with impunity and conduct,
plan and stage terrorist acts with impunity while hiding behind their
Bosnian passports," the former official said.
In several instances, terrorists with links to Bosnia have launched
actions against Western targets:
* An Algerian with Bosnian citizenship, described by a U.S. official as
"a junior Osama bin Laden," tried to help smuggle explosives in 1998 to
an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military
installations in Germany. The shipment included military C-4 plastic
explosives and blasting caps, the former U.S. official said. The CIA
intercepted the shipment, foiling the attack.
* Another North African with Bosnian citizenship belonged to a
terrorist cell in Montreal that conspired in the failed millennium plot
to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
* One of Bin Laden's top lieutenants--a Palestinian linked to major
terrorist plots in Jordan, France and the United States--had operatives
in Bosnia and was issued a Bosnian passport, according to U.S.
officials.
After the foiled plot against American bases in Germany, the U.S.
suspended without public explanation a military aid program to Bosnia
in 1999 in an attempt to force the deportation of the Algerian leader
of the group, Abdelkader Mokhtari, also known as Abu el Maali.
Finally, after the U.S. went a step further and threatened to stop all
economic aid, Izetbegovic agreed to deport El Maali. But the Algerian
was back in Bosnia within a year. Two months ago, he was reported to be
moving in and out of the country freely. He is now thought to be in
Afghanistan with the leadership of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda group,
according to a senior official for the NATO-led peacekeeping force,
SFOR, in Bosnia.
President Clinton's secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, personally
appealed to Izetbegovic to oust suspected terrorists or rescind their
Bosnian passports.
The effort by top State Department aides continued through the last
days of the administration. "It wasn't just one meeting, it was 10 to
12, with orders directly from the White House," said a former State
Department official.
Izetbegovic declined the appeals, several sources said, apparently out
of loyalty to the fighters who had come to his country's rescue. The
president argued that many had married Bosnian women, had taken up
farming and were legal citizens.
"The point we kept making to Izetbegovic was that if the day comes we
find out that these people are connected to some terrible terrorist
incident, that's the day the entire U.S.-Bosnia relationship will
change from friends to adversaries," the former State Department
official said.
Senior U.S. and SFOR officials believe that some hard-line members of
Izetbegovic's political party gave direct support, through their
control of the Foreign Ministry and local passport operations, to
foreign Islamic extremists with ties to Bin Laden.
Although Izetbegovic stepped down in October 2000, many hard-liners
remain in Bosnia's bureaucracy, and they are suspected of operating
their own rogue intelligence service that protects Islamic extremists,
military and intelligence sources said.
Last week, Bosnia's new interior minister, citing "trustworthy
intelligence sources," said scores of Bin Laden associates may be
trying to flee Afghanistan ahead of anticipated U.S. military reprisals
for the Sept. 11 attacks, seeking refuge among militant sympathizers in
Bosnia. The minister, Mohammed Besic, vowed to intercept any who try to
enter the country.
U.S. and SFOR officials acknowledge that the new coalition government
in Sarajevo has become much more responsive to fighting terrorism. A
senior State Department official lauded Sarajevo this year for "working
with the international community" in trying to clamp down on suspected
terrorists.
Since Sept. 11, Bosnia has launched an audit of passports and mounted a
more intensive crackdown on naturalized citizens who are wanted by
foreign law enforcement agencies. After years of inaction, several
international fugitives have been arrested this year and extradited.
Western Interests in Balkans May Be at Risk
Bosnia has a large Muslim population, most of whom do not practice a
strict form of Islam.
A senior State Department official cautioned that "a lot of people's
interests are served by hyping the terrorism problem in the Balkans,"
referring to anti-Muslim sentiment among other ethnic groups there.
But, he added, "that is not to say there are not bad people who would
exploit the weaknesses in the government and the lax security and use
[Bosnia] as a place to hide."
To date, Western interests in the Balkans have not been terrorist
targets. However, a senior peacekeeping official in Bosnia said local
police report that "there are plans to attack the Western interests
here in Bosnia after any future retaliatory strikes in Afghanistan. We
don't have anything to confirm it."
Bosnia has traditionally served as "an R&R [rest and recreation]
destination" for members of Bin Laden's organization and other
extremists, according to U.S. officials and the peacekeeping force.
"They come to Bosnia to chill out, because so many other places are too
hot for them," said a former State Department official active in
counter-terrorism.
They also use Bosnian passports to travel worldwide without drawing the
kind of scrutiny that those who hold Middle Eastern or North African
documents might attract, officials said. Bosnian passports are
particularly valuable for ease of travel to other Muslim countries
where no visa requirement is imposed on Bosnians.
Under the Izetbegovic government, the immigration system was so
unregulated that Bin Laden allies "would get boxes of blank passports
and just print them up themselves," the former State Department
official said.
A military official said that "for the right amount of money, you can
get a Bosnian passport even though it's the first time you've stepped
foot into Bosnia."
Among those who Western intelligence sources say was granted Bosnian
citizenship and passports was Abu Zubeida, one of Bin Laden's top
lieutenants. Zubeida, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, was in charge
of contacts with other Islamic terrorist networks and controlled
admissions to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. He arranged
training for unsuccessful millennium bomb plots in Canada and Jordan
and a recently foiled suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Paris,
according to court records and investigative reports.
Zubeida also asked LAX bomb plot figure Ahmed Ressam to get blank
Canadian passports that would allow other terrorists to infiltrate the
United States, according to testimony from Ressam, who was convicted in
the bomb plot and is cooperating with investigators.
Another terrorist with Bosnian credentials is Karim Said Atmani, a
Moroccan who was Ressam's roommate in Montreal and who was in the group
that plotted to bomb LAX, according to testimony. The Bosnian
government arrested him in April, and Atmani was extradited to France,
where he awaits sentencing on terrorism charges.
Beginning in 1992, as many as 4,000 volunteers from throughout North
Africa, the Middle East and Europe came to Bosnia to fight Serbian and
Croatian nationalists on behalf of fellow Muslims. They are known as
the moujahedeen. A military analyst called them "pretty good fighters
and certainly ruthless."
"I think the Muslims wouldn't have survived without this" help, Richard
Holbrooke, the United States' former chief Balkans peace negotiator,
said in a recent interview. At the time, U.N. peacekeepers were proving
ineffective at protecting Bosnian civilians, and an arms embargo
diminished Bosnia's fighting capabilities.
But Holbrooke called the arrival of the moujahedeen "a pact with the
devil" from which Bosnia still is recovering.
The foreign moujahedeen units were disbanded and required to leave the
Balkans under the terms of the 1995 Dayton, Ohio, peace accord. But
many stayed--about 400, according to official Bosnian estimates.
Although the State Department report suggested that the number could be
higher, a senior SFOR official said allied military intelligence
estimated that no more than 200 foreign-born militants actually live in
Bosnia, of which closer to 30 represent a hard-core group with direct
links to terrorism.
"These are the bad guys--the ones you have to worry about," the
official said.
But he also said that "hundreds of other" Islamic extremists with and
without Bosnian passports "come in and out" and that Bosnia remains a
center for Al Qaeda recruiting and logistics support.
Bin Laden Reportedly Financed Recruits
A U.S. counter-terrorism official confirmed that "several hundred"
former moujahedeen remain in Bosnia. "Are they a threat? Absolutely.
Are we all over them? Absolutely," he said.
The fighters were organized as an all-moujahedeen unit called El
Moujahed. It was headquartered in Zenica in an abandoned hillside
factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.
Bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world
through his businesses in Sudan, according to Mideast intelligence
reports. Other support and recruits for El Moujahed came, at least in
part, through Islamic organizations in Milan, Italy, and Istanbul,
Turkey, that European investigators later linked to trafficking in
passports and weapons for terrorists.
A series of national security and criminal investigations across Europe
have since identified the El Moujahed unit in court filings as the
"common cradle" from which an international terrorist network grew and
ultimately stretched from the Middle East to Canada.
Abu el Maali, its leader during the Bosnian war, remains an enigmatic
figure, charismatic and popular within the moujahedeen but barely known
outside. He briefly appeared in a propaganda video on El Moujahed
during the war, but his face was digitally removed before distribution.
French court documents say El Maali now is the leader of terrorist
cells in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Court testimony, confidential police records and interviews with
European intelligence officials show how El Maali marshaled recruits
from the West and Muslim countries to assemble the infrastructure of
what would become a terrorist organization.
Two French converts to Islam, both in their mid-20s, were among the
early volunteers for El Maali's ranks in the Bosnian war. Christophe
Caze, a medical school dropout, and Lionel Dumont joined El Moujahed to
provide humanitarian services. But once assigned to the moujahedeen
unit in Zenica, they immediately "plunged into violence," an associate
told French police.
A French judicial official said their eventual passage to terrorism was
strongly influenced by El Maali, with whom they became close. El Maali
"exerted a lot of influence on the fighters . . . which led them to
commit these violent actions under the cover of Islam," the magistrate
said.
The converts emerged as leaders, rendering impassioned exhortations to
younger volunteers to defend Islam "by all means," according to court
records. They also began setting up a clandestine network in France,
creating multiple identities, encoding phone lists and recruiting
followers they could call into action later. Court records say that
Caze, working as a medic, recruited future terrorists among the wounded
he treated.
At the war's end, U.S. officials focused on state-sponsored terrorism
and worried about getting Iranian fighters back to Iran. Less clear
were the implications of loosely allied extremist groups and
individuals.
Looking back, peace negotiator Holbrooke blamed imprecise and "sloppy
intelligence" for failing to distinguish which Muslim groups posed a
threat to the United States. It turned out that Iranian fighters went
home. Many of El Maali's trained warriors did not.
Spasm of Violence Hits Northern France
In Bosnia, most of the violence stopped with the peace accord in 1995.
But in January 1996, it broke out again--on the streets of northern
France.
A puzzling crime wave swept the area around Roubaix, a gritty,
Muslim-majority town near the Belgian border. Small groups of men began
holding up stores and drivers. They brandished machine guns and wore
hoods and carnival masks. Two people were killed.
On March 28, just before a Group of 7 summit of leading industrial
nations that would bring top ministers to Lille, police discovered a
stolen car abandoned in front of the police station. It was parked
askew. And it contained a bomb packed into three gas cylinders rigged
to devastate everything within 600 feet. It was disarmed.
The next night, a special tactical squad surrounded a house at 59 Rue
Henri Carette in Roubaix that had been linked to the booby-trapped car.
Police fired thousands of rounds into the building. The house erupted
in flames because of munitions inside, police said later. Four charred
bodies were recovered.
Two men fled the barrage and inferno. At a police roadblock just inside
Belgium, another furious gun battle erupted. One of the men was killed,
and his accomplice was wounded.
In the getaway car, police found rocket launchers, automatic weapons,
large amounts of ammunition and grenades. They also recovered an
electronic organizer containing coded telephone contacts, nearly a
dozen of them in Bosnia. The dead ringleader was identified as
Christophe Caze, the young medic who went to fight in Bosnia.
French authorities, confused about the motives for the spasm of gang
violence, considered it a new phenomenon, calling it "gangster
terrorism." Their investigation uncovered what may have been the first
terrorism cell exported from Bosnia.
After an investigation of the surviving associate, Caze's electronic
organizer and other evidence recovered by French police, the robbery
gang was identified as nine militants who attended a local mosque. Most
of them had undergone military training at the El Moujahed compound in
Bosnia.
The armed robberies were a radical form of fund-raising by Caze and his
associates to benefit their "Muslim brothers in Algeria." Their
high-powered weapons were smuggled home from the Bosnian war.
Caze's organizer was described by one official as "the address book of
the professional terrorist." It contained phone contacts in England,
Italy, France and Canada, as well as direct lines to El Maali's Zenica
headquarters. It led French authorities to trace travels and phone
records and to set up electronic surveillance.
French counter-terrorism officials soon realized they had stumbled upon
more than a band of gangsters. Five years before the sophisticated
terrorist assault on the U.S., the French were starting to uncover
loosely linked violent networks spreading into several countries, all
tied together by a common thread: Bosnia.
One of the phone numbers in the dead terrorist's organizer led to a
suspect in Canada: Fateh Kamel, 41, who ran a small trinkets shop in
Montreal.
French authorities say Canada rejected their initial request to
investigate Kamel, calling the dapper Algerian "just a businessman."
But Kamel also was a confidant of El Maali. He spoke frequently to the
Bosnia moujahedeen chief over his wife's cell phone. Kamel had gone to
Bosnia early in the war, suffered a shrapnel wound in one leg and been
treated at the El Moujahed hospital by Caze, the young medic.
Kamel first came to the attention of European intelligence officials in
1994, when Italian agents tracking suspected terrorists stumbled upon
him recruiting fighters in Milan for El Maali's brigade.
After the Dayton accord, French police say, Kamel became deeply
involved in terrorist logistics. He was "the principal activist of an
international network determined to plan assassinations and to procure
arms and passports for terrorist acts all over the world," according to
a French court document.
In 1996, an Italian surveillance team recorded Kamel discussing a
terrorist attack and taped him declaring: "I do not fear death . . .
because the jihad is the jihad, and to kill is easy for me."
During the same period, Kamel assisted other North African extremists
relocating to Canada, exploiting the country's lax immigration laws and
Quebec's eagerness for French-speaking immigrants such as Algerians.
According to French investigators, Kamel was the leader of a terrorist
cell in Montreal. Other members included Ressam, Atmani and a third
roommate, Mustafa Labsi.
Like Kamel, Atmani had served in Bosnia and was close to El Maali. A
U.S. law enforcement official described Atmani as a "crazy warrior with
a nose so broken and twisted that he could sniff around corners."
Later, authorities believe, the three roommates went to Afghanistan
together to train for a terrorist attack on the United States. They
returned to the West after learning that their target would be Los
Angeles International Airport. The conspiracy was interrupted when
Atmani was deported from Canada to Bosnia.
When Ressam, traveling alone, was captured at the border with
explosives in his rental car, U.S. officials tried to track down his
former roommate Atmani. Authorities had information that he was
traveling between Sarajevo and Istanbul, but Bosnian officials denied
even that Atmani had been deported there. Investigators later learned
that Atmani had been issued a new Bosnian passport six months earlier.
Atmani was part of the hard-core terrorist group noted in the secret
State Department report. He remained beyond the reach of international
extradition until this year, when he was arrested and turned over to
France by Bosnia's new coalition government. He awaits sentencing on
terrorism charges.
Kamel, the alleged ringleader of the group, was arrested in Jordan and
was extradited to France, where he is in prison on a terrorism
conviction. Ressam and Labsi also have been jailed. All of the members
of the former Montreal cell have been convicted of being operatives in
a terrorist network that originated in Bosnia.
James Steinberg, deputy national security advisor in the Clinton
administration, said that although the U.S. works closely with
countries in the Balkans to deal with "the problem of these cells," the
very nature of secret terrorist organizations confounds those efforts.
"It's one thing to [arrest] the people you know [are terrorists], but
then the others . . . bury themselves even deeper," he said.
1: MUJAHEDDIN A ZENICA E DINTORNI
A. 7th Bosnian Muslim Brigade, based in Zenica - the international
Islamic mercenary force known as the mujahedeen
+ interesting LINKS
B. Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists (Los
Angeles Times)
NOTA:
Sul quotidiano Vecernji List di Zagabria del 3/8/2003 e' scritto che i
due attentatori che con il Boeing si sono schiantati contro il
Pentagono l'11 Settembre, nel 1995 combattevano in Bosnia-Erzegovina. I
loro nomi sarebbero Khalid Al-Mihdhar e Nawaf Al-Hasmir.
Non sappiamo se questi due personaggi si siano veramente schiantati sul
Pentagono. Quello che invece e' assodato e' che militanti islamisti di
svariata provenienza hanno combattuto in Bosnia, al fianco di
Izetbegovic, Clinton ed Adriano Sofri, come e' ben spiegato nei due
articoli che seguono. (IS)
=== A ===
http://www.balkanpeace.org/temp/tmp13.html
7th Bosnian Muslim Brigade, based in Zenica - the international Islamic
mercenary force known as the mujahedeen
(photo)
Alija Izetbegovic with members of 7th Brigade
"... The first and foremost of such conclusions is surely the one on
the incompatibility of Islam and non-Islamic systems. There can be no
peace or coexistence between the "Islamic faith" and non- Islamic
societies and political institutions. ... Islam clearly excludes the
right and possibility of activity of any strange ideology on its own
turf. Therefore, there is no question of any laicistic principles, and
the state should be an expression and should support the moral concepts
of the religion. ..." page 22 "The Islamic Declaration" book ("Islamska
deklaracija"), written by Mr. Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Muslim leader.
In preparing the ground for the conflicts between Bosnian Cristians
(Croats and Serbs) and Bosnian Muslims, residents of different Arab
countries who in the B&H had recognized the elements and challenge of
“a holy war” - jihad. Coming from different Arab countries, most of
them were from Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Afghanistan, and
bringing with them experience from a war from some of the Islamic
trouble spots.
Mujahedin, or «holy warriors», is a generic term for Muslim volunteers
fighting in the former Yugoslavia. Many Mujahedin originate from Muslim
countries outside the former Yugoslavia. It was reported that the
Mujahedin began arriving in BiH as early as June 1992. (Tom Post & Joel
Brand, «Help from the Holy Warriors», Newsweek, 5 October 1992, at 52).
Reports on the number of Mujahedin forces operating in BiH vary, but it
is unlikely that the Mujahedin forces have made a significant military
contribution to the BiH Government's war effort (Christopher Lockwood,
«Muslim Nations Offer Troops», Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1993, at 14.
According to Lockwood, Muslim nations depended on Western logistical
support to deliver troops to BiH. He concludes that the same logistical
troubles which kept the Muslim troops promised in July of 1993 from
joining UN forces in the UN declared «safe havens» also limited the
number of Muslim volunteers in the BiH armed forces. He states that the
number of Mujahedin in BiH never exceeded three or four hundred. See
also Mohamed Sid-Ahmad, «Muslim World Between Two Fires», War Report,
January 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 63744. However, the Belgrade Daily,
Vecernje Novosti, reported that as many as 30,000 Mujahedin were
operating in BiH. «Other Reports in Brief: Muslims from Abroad Settling
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgrade Daily Claims», BBC, Summary of
World Broadcasts, 19 September 1992. )
The Mujahedin forces came from several Muslim states and many of them
were veterans of the Afghan war. (Andrew Hogg, «Arabs Join in Bosnia
Battle», Sunday Times, 30 August 1992)
Reports submitted to the Commission of Experts alleged that the
Mujahedin have been responsible for the mutilation and killing of
civilians, rape, looting, the destruction of property, and the
expulsion of non-Muslim populations. The deputy commander of the BiH
Army, Colonel Stjepan Siber, has said, «it was a mistake to let them
[the Mujahedin] here . . . They commit most of the atrocities and work
against the interests of the Muslim people. They have been killing,
looting and stealing.» Andrew Hogg, «Terror Trail of the Mujahedin»,
Sunday Times, 27 June 1993.
Several reports indicate that the Mujahedin were placed under the
command of the BiH Army.(See «Some 400 Mujahedin Volunteers Fighting
with Bosnian Muslims», Agence France Presse, 22 September 1992; Andrew
Hogg, «Arabs Join in Bosnia Battle», Sunday Times, 30 August 1992; see
also Charles McLoed, ECMM, «Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica», April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 20178- 20546, at
20207; Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; US Department of State,
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62648, 62724, 62730, and 62756)
The Mujahedin forces were closely associated with the 5th Corps, the
6th and 7th Zenica Brigades, the 7th Travnik Brigade, and the 45th
Muslim Brigade which belongs to the 6th Corps in Konjic of the Army of
BiH (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62648; see also Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4
October 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; «Continuing Clashes
in Northwestern Enclave Reported from Both Sides», BBC, Summary of
World Broadcasts, 14 December 1993.)
They also allegedly fought alongside the Muslim Police, the Krajiska
Brigade from Travnik, units of Kosovo Muslims, Albanian soldiers, and
paramilitary groups such as the «Green Legion» and the «Black
Swans».(Charles McLoed, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 20178-20546, at 20207;
Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435; US Department of State, 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62648, 62724, 62730, and 62756.)
Reports also indicate that the Mujahedin had the support of President
Izetbegovic and his government. *57 This was demonstrated in the Bihac
pocket, where the Mujahedin joined BiH forces loyal to Izetbegovic.
Together, these forces battled separatist forces who entered into a
separate peace treaty with Bosnian Serbs («Continuing Clashes in
Northwestern Enclave Reported form Both Sides», BBC, Summary of World
Broadcasts, 14 December 1993)
In Zenica, between 31 August and 2 September 1992, 250 Mujahedin troops
allegedly come to BiH from Turkey, Qatar, Bahrain and Iran. These
troops worked alongside the Green Legion and HOS paramilitary groups
stationed in Zenica. The Mujahedin allegedly also operated a camp at
Arnauti.(Charles McLeod, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in
Vitez, Buscovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 29043-29131, at
29064; Biljaja Plavsic, Republic of Serbia Presidency, To Serbs All
Over the World, 30 September 1992, IHRLI Doc. No. 48072- 48093, at
48081)
It was reported that a unit of the Mujahedin, called the «Guerilla»,
participated in the 16 April 1993 attack on Vitez and attempted to
exchange 10 HVO hostages for foreign prisoners held in HVO prisons. (US
Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62629; see
also Charles McLeod, ECMM, Report on Inter-Ethnic Violence in Vitez,
Busovaca and Zenica, April 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 29043-29131, at 29072
(attack on Vitez).
The Croatian Ministry of Defence is reported to have provided
information about an event occurring in June 1993 -- a joint
BiH/Mujahedin unit reportedly attacked Travnik, allegedly forcing 4,000
Croatian civilians and military personnel out of the town. (US
Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62650. Media
reports however claim that Croats left Travnik voluntarily. The
incident was investigated by an organization, which reported that the
forceful eviction did not take place)
The Mujahedin allegedly fought alongside the 6th Muslim Brigade from
Zenica and the Krajiska Brigade from Travnik. Witnesses stated that
they saw Mujahedin operating in small patrols ahead of the approaching
BiH troops.
According to HVO intelligence, Mujahedin forces arrived in Travnik
sometime before June 1993 and came from Algeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Iran. The Mujahedin trained at a camp at Mehurici, where they were
allegedly financed and equipped by a man named Abdulah, the owner of
the «Palma» video store in Travnik. Once in town, the Mujahedin were
linked to the Seventh Brigade of the BiH Army, and were reportedly
assembled into units of 10 to 15 men, and moved about on regular
patrols. The Mujahedin created tension in Travnik in the days prior to
the attack on 3 June. One witness stated that the Mujahedin directed
their actions towards the HVO personnel in town. They allegedly
demonstrated, shouted slogans and fired their rifles in the air.
Mujahedin allegedly participated in the attack on Maljine in Novi
Travnik on 8 June 1993, killing 20 to 30 HVO members and transporting
Croatian women and children to the training centre at
Mehurici.(Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 1, 9 August
1993)
In Konjic, the Mujahedin were part of a 100 member force stationed at
Liscioi and led by Haso Hakalovic. The unit was assembled in February
1993 and included some Kosovo Muslims and members of the Black Swans
from the Igman mountain region. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI
Doc. No. 62612-62877, at 62756)
Allegedly, Mujahedin troops killed and expelled villagers, and looted
and burned homes, when they moved against the Jablanica- Konjic area.
The Mujahedin troops and members of the Black Swans reportedly
conducted occasional raids without members of BiH forces. (at IHRLI
Doc. No. 62752 and 62756. The village of Vrci was attacked on 25 May,
and the village of Radesine was attacked on 10 June. See also Tadeusz
Mazowiecki, Fifth Periodic Report on the Situation of Human Rights in
the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1994/47, 17
November 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 52399-52435, at 52405 (alleging that the
Mujahedin were involved in attacks at Kopjari on 21 October, Doljani on
27 and 28 June, and Maljane on 8 June). UN Special Rapporteur
Mazowiecki claims that corpses of Mujahedin victims displayed evidence
of protracted cruelty and mutilation. )
Reportedly, the Mujahedin volunteers arrived in Konjic in small groups.
It was reported that they were from Afghanistan and that they claimed
to be students. They were allegedly armed with Hekleri automatic
weapons and former JNA equipment. Some Mujahedin were reportedly former
students with no military experience.
Mujahedin forces were present in Mostar since early June 1993. They
were reportedly stationed in the Santica neighbourhood on the
Muslim/HVO front, where they manned bunkers, usually in groups of six
or seven, armed with 7.62 millimetre semi-automatic weapons,
machine-guns, and Zolja anti-tank weapons. They were billeted in a
building they shared with the Muslim military police on the east bank
of the Neretva River. The Mujahedin forces apparently left Mostar on 15
August. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62742 and 62677. For more details on the location of the Neretva living
quarters, see Id. at 62739)
FRY reported that the Mujahedin began operations near Teslic in July
and August of 1992. Troops from Saudi Arabia allegedly killed three
Serbian Territorial Defence members and placed the victims' severed
heads on poles near the «Tesanj turret». (Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Second Report Submitted to the Commission of Experts, 1993,
IHRLI Doc. No. 28401-29019, at 28533)
Beheadings of Serbs by Mujahedin forces have also been reported in
other areas.
The Mujahedin were also alleged to be part of the forces that invaded
the village of Trusina near Foca on 15 April 1993. According to the
report, attackers wore white ribbons on their arms and fought beside
Albanian Muslim troops. Twenty-two civilians reportedly died in the
attack. (US Department of State, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 62612-62877, at
62648; Croatian Information Centre, Weekly Bulletin, No. 9, 4 October
1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 36434-36438, at 36435)
The Mujahedin allegedly performed crude circumcisions upon Serbian
police forces, who were later treated by an American surgeon at the
Kosevo hospital in Sarajevo. (Letter dated 7 December 1992 from the
Deputy Representative of the US to U.N. Secretary-General, U.N. Doc.
S/24918, 8 December 1992, IHRLI Doc. No. 3160-3177, at 3173; Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, Second Report Submitted to the Commission of
Experts, 1993, IHRLI Doc. No. 28401-29019, at 28566)
(photo)
This photograph was seized from Saudi Arabian fighters captured in Crni
Vrh near Teslic, Bosnia. A Muslim solder displays the severed head of
Blagoje Blagojevic, a Serb from the village of Jasenovo near Teslic.
(photo)
The severed heads of three Serbs (identified as Blagoje Blagojevic,
Nenad Petkovic, and Brana Djuric) beheaded by Muslim fighters. This
picture was seized from Saudi Arabian solders captured near Teslic in
Bosnia.
LINKS:
7th Brigade, loyal Islamic force
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/timbeat4.htm
Director of the U.S. Congress' Task Force on Terrorism and
Unconventional warfare: "Some Call It Peace"
http://members.tripod.com/Balkania/resources/geostrategy/
bodansky_peace/bp_part1.html
7th Muslim "Liberation" Brigade
http://www.wargamer.com/sp/military/bih/armija/foreign.asp
Washington Post - Iranians Form Terror Force in Bosnia
http://impact.users.netlink.co.uk/namir/sreport.htm
Bosnia losing the pluralistic character
http://www.bosnet.org/archive/bosnet.w3archive/9501/msg00252.html
No future for Muslims in Europe unless they have a state of their own
http://www.amber.ucsf.edu/homes/ross/public_html/bosnia_/mus.txt
US Senate Document; Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn
Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base
http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1997/iran.htm
A BOSNIAN VILLAGE'S TERRORIST
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Aktuelno/BIVSE/BiH/wpost11032000_e.html
The Second Coming of Alija Izetbegovic
http://www.balkanpeace.org/our/our05.shtml
Selling the Bosnian Myth to America: Part I-Buyer Beware
http://reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-12.11.2000.3.html
Army suspects munitions manufactured for Bosnian army
http://archive.nandotimes.com/newsroom/nt/0204yugfff.html
Similarity - The 13th Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Handschar
http://www.wssob.com/013divhnd.html
Jihad - the "Holly War"
http://blaskic.croat.net/jihad.htm
=== B ===
The Los Angeles Times
October 7, 2001
Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists
By CRAIG PYES, JOSH MEYER and WILLIAM C. REMPEL , Times Staff Writers
ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists
who became Bosnian citizens after battling Serbian and Croatian forces
present a potential terrorist threat to Europe and the United States,
according to a classified U.S. State Department report and interviews
with international military and intelligence sources.
The extremists include hard-core terrorists, some with ties to Osama
bin Laden, protected by militant elements of the former Sarajevo
government. Bosnia-Herzegovina is "a staging area and safe haven" for
terrorists, said a former senior State Department official.
The secret report, prepared late last year for the Clinton
administration, warned of problem passport-holders in Bosnia in numbers
that "shocked everyone," the former official said. The White House
leaned on Bosnia and its then-president, Alija Izetbegovic, to do
something about the matter, "but nothing happened," he said.
Although no evidence connects any Bosnian group to the suicide
hijacking attacks of Sept. 11 blamed on Bin Laden, U.S. and European
officials are increasingly concerned about the scope and reach of Bin
Laden networks in the West and the proximity of Bosnia-based terrorists
to the heart of Europe.
A number of the extremists "would travel with impunity and conduct,
plan and stage terrorist acts with impunity while hiding behind their
Bosnian passports," the former official said.
In several instances, terrorists with links to Bosnia have launched
actions against Western targets:
* An Algerian with Bosnian citizenship, described by a U.S. official as
"a junior Osama bin Laden," tried to help smuggle explosives in 1998 to
an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military
installations in Germany. The shipment included military C-4 plastic
explosives and blasting caps, the former U.S. official said. The CIA
intercepted the shipment, foiling the attack.
* Another North African with Bosnian citizenship belonged to a
terrorist cell in Montreal that conspired in the failed millennium plot
to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
* One of Bin Laden's top lieutenants--a Palestinian linked to major
terrorist plots in Jordan, France and the United States--had operatives
in Bosnia and was issued a Bosnian passport, according to U.S.
officials.
After the foiled plot against American bases in Germany, the U.S.
suspended without public explanation a military aid program to Bosnia
in 1999 in an attempt to force the deportation of the Algerian leader
of the group, Abdelkader Mokhtari, also known as Abu el Maali.
Finally, after the U.S. went a step further and threatened to stop all
economic aid, Izetbegovic agreed to deport El Maali. But the Algerian
was back in Bosnia within a year. Two months ago, he was reported to be
moving in and out of the country freely. He is now thought to be in
Afghanistan with the leadership of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda group,
according to a senior official for the NATO-led peacekeeping force,
SFOR, in Bosnia.
President Clinton's secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, personally
appealed to Izetbegovic to oust suspected terrorists or rescind their
Bosnian passports.
The effort by top State Department aides continued through the last
days of the administration. "It wasn't just one meeting, it was 10 to
12, with orders directly from the White House," said a former State
Department official.
Izetbegovic declined the appeals, several sources said, apparently out
of loyalty to the fighters who had come to his country's rescue. The
president argued that many had married Bosnian women, had taken up
farming and were legal citizens.
"The point we kept making to Izetbegovic was that if the day comes we
find out that these people are connected to some terrible terrorist
incident, that's the day the entire U.S.-Bosnia relationship will
change from friends to adversaries," the former State Department
official said.
Senior U.S. and SFOR officials believe that some hard-line members of
Izetbegovic's political party gave direct support, through their
control of the Foreign Ministry and local passport operations, to
foreign Islamic extremists with ties to Bin Laden.
Although Izetbegovic stepped down in October 2000, many hard-liners
remain in Bosnia's bureaucracy, and they are suspected of operating
their own rogue intelligence service that protects Islamic extremists,
military and intelligence sources said.
Last week, Bosnia's new interior minister, citing "trustworthy
intelligence sources," said scores of Bin Laden associates may be
trying to flee Afghanistan ahead of anticipated U.S. military reprisals
for the Sept. 11 attacks, seeking refuge among militant sympathizers in
Bosnia. The minister, Mohammed Besic, vowed to intercept any who try to
enter the country.
U.S. and SFOR officials acknowledge that the new coalition government
in Sarajevo has become much more responsive to fighting terrorism. A
senior State Department official lauded Sarajevo this year for "working
with the international community" in trying to clamp down on suspected
terrorists.
Since Sept. 11, Bosnia has launched an audit of passports and mounted a
more intensive crackdown on naturalized citizens who are wanted by
foreign law enforcement agencies. After years of inaction, several
international fugitives have been arrested this year and extradited.
Western Interests in Balkans May Be at Risk
Bosnia has a large Muslim population, most of whom do not practice a
strict form of Islam.
A senior State Department official cautioned that "a lot of people's
interests are served by hyping the terrorism problem in the Balkans,"
referring to anti-Muslim sentiment among other ethnic groups there.
But, he added, "that is not to say there are not bad people who would
exploit the weaknesses in the government and the lax security and use
[Bosnia] as a place to hide."
To date, Western interests in the Balkans have not been terrorist
targets. However, a senior peacekeeping official in Bosnia said local
police report that "there are plans to attack the Western interests
here in Bosnia after any future retaliatory strikes in Afghanistan. We
don't have anything to confirm it."
Bosnia has traditionally served as "an R&R [rest and recreation]
destination" for members of Bin Laden's organization and other
extremists, according to U.S. officials and the peacekeeping force.
"They come to Bosnia to chill out, because so many other places are too
hot for them," said a former State Department official active in
counter-terrorism.
They also use Bosnian passports to travel worldwide without drawing the
kind of scrutiny that those who hold Middle Eastern or North African
documents might attract, officials said. Bosnian passports are
particularly valuable for ease of travel to other Muslim countries
where no visa requirement is imposed on Bosnians.
Under the Izetbegovic government, the immigration system was so
unregulated that Bin Laden allies "would get boxes of blank passports
and just print them up themselves," the former State Department
official said.
A military official said that "for the right amount of money, you can
get a Bosnian passport even though it's the first time you've stepped
foot into Bosnia."
Among those who Western intelligence sources say was granted Bosnian
citizenship and passports was Abu Zubeida, one of Bin Laden's top
lieutenants. Zubeida, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, was in charge
of contacts with other Islamic terrorist networks and controlled
admissions to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. He arranged
training for unsuccessful millennium bomb plots in Canada and Jordan
and a recently foiled suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Paris,
according to court records and investigative reports.
Zubeida also asked LAX bomb plot figure Ahmed Ressam to get blank
Canadian passports that would allow other terrorists to infiltrate the
United States, according to testimony from Ressam, who was convicted in
the bomb plot and is cooperating with investigators.
Another terrorist with Bosnian credentials is Karim Said Atmani, a
Moroccan who was Ressam's roommate in Montreal and who was in the group
that plotted to bomb LAX, according to testimony. The Bosnian
government arrested him in April, and Atmani was extradited to France,
where he awaits sentencing on terrorism charges.
Beginning in 1992, as many as 4,000 volunteers from throughout North
Africa, the Middle East and Europe came to Bosnia to fight Serbian and
Croatian nationalists on behalf of fellow Muslims. They are known as
the moujahedeen. A military analyst called them "pretty good fighters
and certainly ruthless."
"I think the Muslims wouldn't have survived without this" help, Richard
Holbrooke, the United States' former chief Balkans peace negotiator,
said in a recent interview. At the time, U.N. peacekeepers were proving
ineffective at protecting Bosnian civilians, and an arms embargo
diminished Bosnia's fighting capabilities.
But Holbrooke called the arrival of the moujahedeen "a pact with the
devil" from which Bosnia still is recovering.
The foreign moujahedeen units were disbanded and required to leave the
Balkans under the terms of the 1995 Dayton, Ohio, peace accord. But
many stayed--about 400, according to official Bosnian estimates.
Although the State Department report suggested that the number could be
higher, a senior SFOR official said allied military intelligence
estimated that no more than 200 foreign-born militants actually live in
Bosnia, of which closer to 30 represent a hard-core group with direct
links to terrorism.
"These are the bad guys--the ones you have to worry about," the
official said.
But he also said that "hundreds of other" Islamic extremists with and
without Bosnian passports "come in and out" and that Bosnia remains a
center for Al Qaeda recruiting and logistics support.
Bin Laden Reportedly Financed Recruits
A U.S. counter-terrorism official confirmed that "several hundred"
former moujahedeen remain in Bosnia. "Are they a threat? Absolutely.
Are we all over them? Absolutely," he said.
The fighters were organized as an all-moujahedeen unit called El
Moujahed. It was headquartered in Zenica in an abandoned hillside
factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.
Bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world
through his businesses in Sudan, according to Mideast intelligence
reports. Other support and recruits for El Moujahed came, at least in
part, through Islamic organizations in Milan, Italy, and Istanbul,
Turkey, that European investigators later linked to trafficking in
passports and weapons for terrorists.
A series of national security and criminal investigations across Europe
have since identified the El Moujahed unit in court filings as the
"common cradle" from which an international terrorist network grew and
ultimately stretched from the Middle East to Canada.
Abu el Maali, its leader during the Bosnian war, remains an enigmatic
figure, charismatic and popular within the moujahedeen but barely known
outside. He briefly appeared in a propaganda video on El Moujahed
during the war, but his face was digitally removed before distribution.
French court documents say El Maali now is the leader of terrorist
cells in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Court testimony, confidential police records and interviews with
European intelligence officials show how El Maali marshaled recruits
from the West and Muslim countries to assemble the infrastructure of
what would become a terrorist organization.
Two French converts to Islam, both in their mid-20s, were among the
early volunteers for El Maali's ranks in the Bosnian war. Christophe
Caze, a medical school dropout, and Lionel Dumont joined El Moujahed to
provide humanitarian services. But once assigned to the moujahedeen
unit in Zenica, they immediately "plunged into violence," an associate
told French police.
A French judicial official said their eventual passage to terrorism was
strongly influenced by El Maali, with whom they became close. El Maali
"exerted a lot of influence on the fighters . . . which led them to
commit these violent actions under the cover of Islam," the magistrate
said.
The converts emerged as leaders, rendering impassioned exhortations to
younger volunteers to defend Islam "by all means," according to court
records. They also began setting up a clandestine network in France,
creating multiple identities, encoding phone lists and recruiting
followers they could call into action later. Court records say that
Caze, working as a medic, recruited future terrorists among the wounded
he treated.
At the war's end, U.S. officials focused on state-sponsored terrorism
and worried about getting Iranian fighters back to Iran. Less clear
were the implications of loosely allied extremist groups and
individuals.
Looking back, peace negotiator Holbrooke blamed imprecise and "sloppy
intelligence" for failing to distinguish which Muslim groups posed a
threat to the United States. It turned out that Iranian fighters went
home. Many of El Maali's trained warriors did not.
Spasm of Violence Hits Northern France
In Bosnia, most of the violence stopped with the peace accord in 1995.
But in January 1996, it broke out again--on the streets of northern
France.
A puzzling crime wave swept the area around Roubaix, a gritty,
Muslim-majority town near the Belgian border. Small groups of men began
holding up stores and drivers. They brandished machine guns and wore
hoods and carnival masks. Two people were killed.
On March 28, just before a Group of 7 summit of leading industrial
nations that would bring top ministers to Lille, police discovered a
stolen car abandoned in front of the police station. It was parked
askew. And it contained a bomb packed into three gas cylinders rigged
to devastate everything within 600 feet. It was disarmed.
The next night, a special tactical squad surrounded a house at 59 Rue
Henri Carette in Roubaix that had been linked to the booby-trapped car.
Police fired thousands of rounds into the building. The house erupted
in flames because of munitions inside, police said later. Four charred
bodies were recovered.
Two men fled the barrage and inferno. At a police roadblock just inside
Belgium, another furious gun battle erupted. One of the men was killed,
and his accomplice was wounded.
In the getaway car, police found rocket launchers, automatic weapons,
large amounts of ammunition and grenades. They also recovered an
electronic organizer containing coded telephone contacts, nearly a
dozen of them in Bosnia. The dead ringleader was identified as
Christophe Caze, the young medic who went to fight in Bosnia.
French authorities, confused about the motives for the spasm of gang
violence, considered it a new phenomenon, calling it "gangster
terrorism." Their investigation uncovered what may have been the first
terrorism cell exported from Bosnia.
After an investigation of the surviving associate, Caze's electronic
organizer and other evidence recovered by French police, the robbery
gang was identified as nine militants who attended a local mosque. Most
of them had undergone military training at the El Moujahed compound in
Bosnia.
The armed robberies were a radical form of fund-raising by Caze and his
associates to benefit their "Muslim brothers in Algeria." Their
high-powered weapons were smuggled home from the Bosnian war.
Caze's organizer was described by one official as "the address book of
the professional terrorist." It contained phone contacts in England,
Italy, France and Canada, as well as direct lines to El Maali's Zenica
headquarters. It led French authorities to trace travels and phone
records and to set up electronic surveillance.
French counter-terrorism officials soon realized they had stumbled upon
more than a band of gangsters. Five years before the sophisticated
terrorist assault on the U.S., the French were starting to uncover
loosely linked violent networks spreading into several countries, all
tied together by a common thread: Bosnia.
One of the phone numbers in the dead terrorist's organizer led to a
suspect in Canada: Fateh Kamel, 41, who ran a small trinkets shop in
Montreal.
French authorities say Canada rejected their initial request to
investigate Kamel, calling the dapper Algerian "just a businessman."
But Kamel also was a confidant of El Maali. He spoke frequently to the
Bosnia moujahedeen chief over his wife's cell phone. Kamel had gone to
Bosnia early in the war, suffered a shrapnel wound in one leg and been
treated at the El Moujahed hospital by Caze, the young medic.
Kamel first came to the attention of European intelligence officials in
1994, when Italian agents tracking suspected terrorists stumbled upon
him recruiting fighters in Milan for El Maali's brigade.
After the Dayton accord, French police say, Kamel became deeply
involved in terrorist logistics. He was "the principal activist of an
international network determined to plan assassinations and to procure
arms and passports for terrorist acts all over the world," according to
a French court document.
In 1996, an Italian surveillance team recorded Kamel discussing a
terrorist attack and taped him declaring: "I do not fear death . . .
because the jihad is the jihad, and to kill is easy for me."
During the same period, Kamel assisted other North African extremists
relocating to Canada, exploiting the country's lax immigration laws and
Quebec's eagerness for French-speaking immigrants such as Algerians.
According to French investigators, Kamel was the leader of a terrorist
cell in Montreal. Other members included Ressam, Atmani and a third
roommate, Mustafa Labsi.
Like Kamel, Atmani had served in Bosnia and was close to El Maali. A
U.S. law enforcement official described Atmani as a "crazy warrior with
a nose so broken and twisted that he could sniff around corners."
Later, authorities believe, the three roommates went to Afghanistan
together to train for a terrorist attack on the United States. They
returned to the West after learning that their target would be Los
Angeles International Airport. The conspiracy was interrupted when
Atmani was deported from Canada to Bosnia.
When Ressam, traveling alone, was captured at the border with
explosives in his rental car, U.S. officials tried to track down his
former roommate Atmani. Authorities had information that he was
traveling between Sarajevo and Istanbul, but Bosnian officials denied
even that Atmani had been deported there. Investigators later learned
that Atmani had been issued a new Bosnian passport six months earlier.
Atmani was part of the hard-core terrorist group noted in the secret
State Department report. He remained beyond the reach of international
extradition until this year, when he was arrested and turned over to
France by Bosnia's new coalition government. He awaits sentencing on
terrorism charges.
Kamel, the alleged ringleader of the group, was arrested in Jordan and
was extradited to France, where he is in prison on a terrorism
conviction. Ressam and Labsi also have been jailed. All of the members
of the former Montreal cell have been convicted of being operatives in
a terrorist network that originated in Bosnia.
James Steinberg, deputy national security advisor in the Clinton
administration, said that although the U.S. works closely with
countries in the Balkans to deal with "the problem of these cells," the
very nature of secret terrorist organizations confounds those efforts.
"It's one thing to [arrest] the people you know [are terrorists], but
then the others . . . bury themselves even deeper," he said.
Südosteuropa: Presse unter deutscher Kontrolle
GERMAN PRESS BUYS POLITICAL POWER IN THE EAST
Berichte auf deutsch aus http://www.german-foreign-policy.com
A synopsis in english from: http://www.freenations.freeuk.com
=== DEUTSCH ===
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055887200.php
18.06.2003
Südosteuropa: Presse unter deutscher Kontrolle
ESSEN - Die Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) baut ihre
Vorherrschaft auf den Pressemärkten Südosteuropas aus. Durch eine Reihe
von Übernahmen - zuletzt in Ungarn - will der Konzern dort seine
,,maßgebliche Position" durchsetzen.
Der WAZ-Konzern - bereits jetzt der dominierende Zeitungsverlag in
Südosteuropa - beherrscht große Teile der Zeitungsmärkte in Rumänien
und Bulgarien, besitzt die führenden Zeitungen in Serbien und
Montenegro und hält wichtige Beteiligungen in Ungarn und Kroatien. In
den letzten Jahren hat das deutsche Unternehmen durch den Aufkauf
zahlreicher renommierter Zeitungen in Südosteuropa, darunter die
traditionsreiche Belgrader ,,Politika" oder die Bukarester ,,Romania
Libera", von sich reden gemacht. Der Konzern will nach eigenen Angaben
in allen Ländern Südosteuropas eine ,,maßgebliche Position" auf den
Zeitungsmärkten erreichen.
Schritt für Schritt
Erst im März hat die WAZ 50 Prozent der Anteile an der führenden
montenegrinischen Zeitung ,,Vijesti" gekauft. Im Mai wurde bekannt,
dass der Konzern sich um die Übernahme der drei führenden Zeitungen in
Mazedonien bemüht - unterstützt vom Ex-Außenminister und Botschafter in
Deutschland, Srgan Kerim, der als Berater angeheuert wurde. Auch in
Serbien wird intensiv über den Kauf einer weiteren Zeitung in Novi Sad
in der Provinz Vojvodina verhandelt.
In Ungarn steht die WAZ in Konkurrenz zum Bertelsmann-Konzern, der mit
dem Tochterunternehmen Gruner + Jahr den dortigen Markt beherrscht.1)
Der WAZ-Konzern besitzt dort derzeit fünf regionale Tageszeitungen.
Diese Position wird jetzt weiter ausgebaut: Der Essener Konzern hat 75
Prozent der Anteile an dem ungarischen Verlag HVG Rt. in Budapest
gekauft, der das führende ungarische Wochenmagazin ,,Heti
Vilaggazdasag" herausgibt.
Quellen:
WAZ kauft 50 Prozent der Anteile der führenden Zeitung Montenegros;
Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 18.03.2003
WAZ-Gruppe expandiert auf dem Balkan; Financial Times Deutschland
15.05.2003
WAZ kauft ungarisches Wirtschaftsmagazin; Handelsblatt 13.06.2003
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055023200.php
08.06.2003
Berlin droht Belgrad
SMEDEREVO - Das Auswärtige Amt setzt die serbische Regierung massiv
unter Druck, um den Verkauf eines Stahlwerkes an ein US-Unternehmen zu
verhindern. Der deutsche Botschafter in Belgrad drohte in einer
offiziellen Note mit schweren wirtschaftlichen und rechtlichen
Konsequenzen, wenn die Entscheidung nicht rückgängig gemacht werde.
Anlass der Berliner Drohgebärden ist der Verkauf des traditionsreichen
serbischen Eisen- und Stahlwerks Sartid an U.S. Steel Kosice
(Slowakei), eine Tochtergesellschaft des US-Stahlgiganten U.S. Steel,
die mit dem Erwerb von Sartid ihre Marktposition in Ost- und
Südosteuropa ausbaut. Auch deutsche Konzerne waren an dem bedeutendsten
serbischen Stahlproduzenten interessiert.
Der Berliner Botschafter in Belgrad hat die serbische Regierung jetzt
aufgefordert, die Entscheidung zum Verkauf von Sartid rückgängig zu
machen, da die potentiellen deutschen Investoren ,,rechtswidrig"
benachteiligt worden seien. Wenn dies nicht geschehe, könnten deutsche
Unternehmen ihre Investitionen und ihr Engagement in der Staatenunion
einstellen. Deutschland verfügt als stärkster Wirtschaftspartner von
,,Serbien und Montenegro" (früher: Jugoslawien) über großen Einfluss im
Land1), der deutsche WAZ-Konzern hat eine führende Stellung auf dem
jugoslawischen Medienmarkt inne2) und kann daher maßgeblich in
öffentliche Debatten eingreifen.
Der deutsche Botschafter gab darüber hinaus bekannt, deutsche
Unternehmer würden ihre Ansprüche auf Sartid vor dem Internationalen
Schiedsgericht in Wien durchzusetzen versuchen.
Quelle:
Deutscher Botschafter in Belgrad übt nach Verkauf von Eisenwerk an
US-Firma scharfe Kritik an serbischer Regierung - Serbischer
Wirtschaftsminister betont Rechtmäßigkeit des Verkaufs; Deutsche Welle
Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 04.06.2003
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1029500348.php
16.08.2002
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg" auf dem Pressemarkt
ESSEN - Die Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), eines der größten
deutschen Medienunternehmen, expandiert seit Jahren insbesondere in
Südosteuropa. Dort ist es nun dem Vorwurf ausgesetzt, in einzelnen
Staaten der Region Meinungsmonopole zusammenzukaufen und Konkurrenten
mit ihrer wirtschaftlichen Macht an die Wand zu drücken.
Quasi-Monopole auf dem Pressemarkt
Der WAZ-Konzern besitzt allein 22 Zeitungen und 50 Zeitschriften und
gehört mit einem Umsatz von rund 1,9 Milliarden Euro im Jahr 2001 zu
den größten deutschen Medienunternehmen. Bereits seit Mitte der 1980er
Jahre hält die WAZ-Gruppe in Österreich unter anderem eine
50-prozentige Beteiligung an der größten Boulevardzeitung des Landes,
der ,,Neuen Kronen Zeitung". 1992 begann die WAZ mit dem Aufkauf von
Regionalzeitungen in Ungarn, inzwischen gehört dem Konzern die größte
Zeitungsgruppe des Landes1). Seit 1996 kaufte sich die Mediengruppe in
Bulgarien ein, wo sie inzwischen eine marktbeherrschende Stellung hat
wie nirgendwo sonst. Die WAZ gibt dort die auflagenstärkste
Tageszeitung, die größte politische Wochenzeitung, die auflagenstärkste
Frauenzeitung und die einzige Abendzeitung heraus und kontrolliert,
gemessen an der Auflage, 80 Prozent der bulgarischen Tagespresse. ,,Die
WAZ hat den bulgarischen Print-Medien-Markt monopolisiert", hieß es in
einer Stellungnahme der bulgarischen Anti-Trust-Kommission.
Auch in Kroatien und Rumänien2) gehört die WAZ-Gruppe inzwischen zu den
Marktführern. Durch eine 20-Millionen-Euro-Einlage erreichte die
WAZ-Gruppe 1998 eine 50-prozentige Beteiligung an der kroatischen
Europapress Holding (EPH), die Eigentümerin zahlreicher Tages- und
Wochenzeitungen sowie eines umfangreichen Vertriebsnetzes ist. Mit
mittlerweile 70 Prozent der kroatischen Zeitungen hat der WAZ-Konzern
auch in Kroatien ein Quasi-Monopol auf dem Pressemarkt.
Mitte Oktober 2001 unterzeichnete der WAZ-Konzern mit dem Belgrader
Verlag Politika AD einen Vertrag zur Übernahme von 50 Prozent des
Presseunternehmens3). Die WAZ bringt 25 Millionen Euro in das Joint
Venture ein, Politika AD nur 1.000 Euro. Politika AD gilt als der
traditions- und erfolgreichste Medienkonzern auf dem Balkan. In
Jugoslawien verfügt das Unternehmen über 3 Tageszeitungen und 14
Magazine sowie Druckereien und den Auslieferungsservice und betreibt
einen Rundfunksender. Die gleichnamige Zeitschrift des im Jahre 1904
gegründeten Traditionsverlags gilt als wichtigstes Sprachrohr der
jugoslawischen Regierung. Ende Juli kaufte sich der Konzern Berichten
zufolge für 10 Millionen Euro auch bei der führenden Zeitung der
Provinz Vojvodina ein. Auch in Jugoslawien übt damit die WAZ de facto
die Medienkontrolle aus. Weitere Verhandlungen zu Übernahmen in
Montenegro und Bosnien stehen kurz vor dem Abschluss.
,,Die Deutschen kommen"
Insgesamt besitzt der WAZ-Konzern heute durch direkte oder
verschachtelte Beteiligungen 23 Zeitungen, 38 Zeitschriften und 10
Anzeigenblätter in Tschechien4), Ungarn, Rumänien, Bulgarien, Kroatien
und Jugoslawien. Der neue WAZ-Geschäftsführer Hombach versucht, die
Übernahmen als Wohltaten darstellen: ,,Nicht wir klopfen dort an die
Türen und sagen, nun sind wir da und möchten uns für weitere Titel
interessieren, sondern die Titel fragen bei uns an. Denn sie wissen,
das wir ein guter Partner sind. Wir sichern die technischen und auch
die ökonomischen Voraussetzungen, damit Publizistik in diesen jungen
Demokratien möglich ist."
Kritiker in den betroffenen Ländern sehen das anders: Der WAZ-Gruppe
wird vorgeworfen, sie versuche Meinungsmonopole zusammenzukaufen und
Konkurrenten mit ihrer wirtschaftlichen Macht an die Wand zu drücken.
Vertreter der regionalen Presse zeigen sich über die beherrschende
Stellung der WAZ empört: Durch die Monopolisierung des Werbemarktes
werde der Regionalpresse die Haupteinnahmequelle entzogen. ,,Die
Deutschen kommen", alarmierte das jugoslawische Magazin ,,NIN" seine
Leser. Der Vorsitzende der bulgarischen Vereinigung der
Zeitungsverleger trat mit einer Stellungnahme unter dem Titel
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg ruiniert die bulgarische Presse" an die
Öffentlichkeit.
1) In Ungarn steht die WAZ in Konkurrenz zum Bertelsmann-Konzern, der
mit dem Tochterunternehmen Gruner+Jahr den dortigen Markt beherrscht
(s. Deutsche Pressekonzerne in Osteuropa ,,räumen auf")
2) Dort wiederum gemeinsam mit Gruner+Jahr, die durch die mehrheitliche
Übernahme des Bukarester Pressehauses Expres u.a. über die
überregionale Boulevardzeitung Evenimentul zilei (EZ) verfügt, mit
130.000 Exemplaren täglich eine der auflagenstärksten Tageszeitungen
Rumäniens.
3) Der EU-Koordinator des Stabilitätspaktes für Südosteuropa, Bodo
Hombach, hatte dem Konzern die Tore des jugoslawischen Medienmarktes
geöffnet und wechselte anschließend als Geschäftsführer zur WAZ (s.
Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den Medienmarkt
in Jugoslawien)
4) Die tschechische Regierung beklagte bereits, die Zeitungen des
eigenen Landes, die sich ,,in deutscher Hand" befänden, berichteten
zunehmend einseitig über die Auseinandersetzungen um die
,,Benes-Dekrete". Drei der überregionalen Zeitungen befinden sich im
Besitz deutscher Verlage (s. Tschechische Regierung wehrt sich gegen
deutsche Medien-Dominanz)
Quellen:
Ganz wie bei Orwell. Nach Ungarn und Österreich ist die Verlagsgruppe
WAZ nun auch in Bulgarien auf dem Vormarsch; M, Zeitschrift der IG
Medien, 08.08.1997
Medienmacht auf dem Balkan; 2-sat Kulturzeit 21.06.2002
Komischer Kochtopf; Der Spiegel 12.08.2002
Sensible Märkte - Die deutsche Mediengruppe WAZ kauft immer mehr
Zeitungen in Südosteuropa; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa
14.08.2002
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1014073200.php
19.02.2002
Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den Medienmarkt
in Jugoslawien
ESSEN - Kurz bevor Bodo Hombach Ende des Jahres 2001 seinen Posten als
EU-Koordinator des Stabilitätspaktes für Südosteuropa verließ und als
Geschäftsführer zur Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung (WAZ) wechselte,
öffnete er seinem künftigen Arbeitgeber die Tore des jugoslawischen
Medienmarktes.
Mitte Oktober 2001 unterzeichnete der WAZ-Konzern mit dem Belgrader
Verlag Politika AD einen Vertrag zur Gründung einer gemeinsamen
Gesellschaft. Hombach hatte die Kontakte zwischen der WAZ und Politika
vorbereitet. Die gleichnamige Zeitschrift des im Jahre 1904 gegründeten
serbischen Traditionsverlags galt jahrelang als wichtigstes Sprachrohr
der jugoslawischen Regierung unter Slobodan Milosevic. Das heute hoch
verschuldete Presseunternehmen verlegt in Jugoslawien drei
Tageszeitungen, 14 Magazine und betreibt einen Rundfunksender. Die
WAZ-Mediengruppe ist bereits mit 25 Zeitungen und 50 Zeitschriften in
sechs anderen osteuropäischen Ländern vertreten.
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1005433200.php
11.11.2001
Deutsche Pressekonzerne in Osteuropa "räumen auf"
HAMBURG (Eigener Bericht) - Bertelsmann, größter europäischer
Medienkonzern, ordnet seinen Osteuropa-Besitz neu, um in das ungarische
TV-Geschäft einzusteigen. Mit mehreren Beteiligungen an ungarischen
Tageszeitungen (Nepszabadsag/Delmagyarorszag/Deelvilag), die von dem
Tochterunternehmen Gruner+Jahr gehalten werden, ist Bertelsmann in
Ungarn Monopolist.
Da die ungarische Regierung wegen der beabsichtigten TV-Expansion
Bedenken geltend macht, plant Bertelsmann eine Rochade. Die
osteuropäischen Zeitungsbeteiligungen (u.a. auch in Rumänien und
Tschechien) sollen in einer Holding zusammengefasst werden. Darin wäre
Bertelsmann (gemeinsam mit dem Schweizer Ringier-Verlag) als
bescheidener Anteilseigner weniger auffällig. Die Kaschierung der
deutschen Monopolstellung würde einen widerstandslosen Einstieg in das
ungarische TV-Geschäft erlauben.
Bertelsmann beherrscht nicht nur den osteuropäischen Zeitungsmarkt,
sondern gehört zugleich in Österreich, Frankreich, Spanien,
Großbritannien und den USA zu den führenden Branchenunternehmen. Die
nordamerikanischen Konzern-Aktivitäten werden gegenwärtig ausgeweitet.
Gehörten bereits bisher Publikationen wie Family Circle, Rosie,
Parents, Child, Fitness, American Homestyle, YM, Inc. oder Fast Company
zum ertragreichen Bertelsmann-Besitz, so sollen diese Aquisitionen
jetzt ergänzt werden.
,,Hitlers bester Lieferant"
Bertelsmann wird in den USA einer aggressiven Geschäftspolitik
beschuldigt. Die dortigen Bertelsmann-Druckereibetriebe kontrollieren
die Herstellung von rund 500 Magazinen mit Netto-Verkäufen in Höhe von
monatlich 300 Millionen US Dollar.
Bertelsmann legte seine Konzern-Fundamente in der NS-Zeit und verdiente
an der nationalsozialistischen Kriegspolitik. Das Haus darf als
,,Hitlers bester Lieferant" bezeichnet werden. Heute beschäftigt
Bertelsmann weltweit 70.000 Mitarbeiter und erzielt rund 40 Milliarden
DM (20 Milliarden Euro) Umsatz.
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg"
Neben Bertelsmann sind auch andere deutsche Pressekonzerne weltweit
tätig. Dazu gehört die Kirch-Gruppe (1998 Nr. 8 in der Weltrangliste,
kooperiert mit der italienischen Berlusconi-Gruppe), die Axel Springer
AG (Nr. 28) und die Zeitungsgruppe WAZ (Nr. 41).
Die deutsche Presseexpansion (Tschechische Republik: Blesk, Slowakische
Republik: Novy Cas) sei ,,brutal und heimtückisch", sagt der
bulgarische Journalist und ehemalige Vorsitzende der bulgarischen
Vereinigung der Zeitungsverleger, Valeri Naidenow. Das Auftraten der
deutschen Konzerne erinnere an einen ,,Blitzkrieg". Über die Folgen der
deutschen Medienexpansion prophezeite die bulgarische Zeitung Novinar
ihren Lesern: ,,Du wirst denken, wie es dir die deutschen Zeitungen
befehlen".
Quellen:
Gruner + Jahr räumen in Ungarn auf, Die Welt 11.11.2001
Deutsche Verlage auf Osteuropa-Trip; ,,M" (Zeitschrift der IG Medien)
8-9/1997
=== ENGLISH ===
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2003-07-23.html
GERMAN PRESS BUYS POLITICAL POWER IN THE EAST
Translated from german-foreign-policy.com and commentated by Rodney
Atkinson
Dateline: 23rd July 2003
INTRODUCTION: In the normal course of international investment the
expansion of German firms abroad would be no different from the same
activities by British or American or French corporations. However much
depends on the political history of the relationships between the
investing and the recipient nation and in what sectors the investment
is taking place.
In the case of German industry today as it invests in Poland, The Czech
Republic, Austria, Yugoslavia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe the
political history is one of bloody conquest and exploitation by Germany
and the industrial sectors which are being targeted are those highly
political areas of newspapers and the electronic media. We already have
examples – especially in Yugoslavia and The Czech Republic – of the
pressure put on local editors by their German owners to report national
and above all "European" affairs in a light favourable to German
interests. For instance the editor of the Czech regional newspaper
"Svoboda" received a letter from his German owner during the Yugoslav
war (21st April 1999) which warned him not to report so favourably the
activities of the Serbs "(your comments) exceeded tolerability…not to
mention your evaluation of other hideous acts perpetrated by Milosevic
- you do not devote due attention to them. I shall not repeat my
challenges of 14th and 20th April…I expect from you a less one-sided
approach…With friendly(!) greetings Matthias Roscher". The full wording
of the letter is in my possession and will appear in the next edition
of Fascist Europe Rising.
The following translation of a report from our journalist friends in
Germany shows how the above is undoubtedly being replicated elsewhere.
German press groups are expanding further into East and Southern
Europe, especially into Poland. The German Springer Verlag (owner of
the lurid tabloid Bildzeitung which recently stoked the German-Italian
crisis with an advert for "blonde nationalistic……Germans" whom the
paper would send on holiday to Italy!) already the second biggest
newspaper publisher seeks to double its circulation. The German press
expansion – not surprisingly - reminds the Polish media of the German
colonisation and the occupation of Western Poland by Prussia.
The Axel Springer Organisation the largest German newspaper group seeks
through expansion abroad to improve its prospects in the harsh
competitive world of the German printing business. Up to now only 16%
of its turnover comes from abroad (2002 - 2.78billion Euro) and wants
to double this in the next few years. The competitors, German
Publishers Bauer, Gruner und Jahr, the WAZ Group and Burda have been
expanding into other countries in recent years and have achieved almost
50% of their turnover from abroad.
Springer seeks to achieve the goal of having 30% of its turnover from
abroad by large acquisitions and the founding of new newspapers. About
half of the 32 purchases and new businesses of the last two years have
been abroad. Emphasis has been put in Western Europe on France, Spain,
and Switzerland and in Eastern Europe on Poland, Czech republic,
Rumania and Hungary – where Springer is the leader in the newspaper
market. They also have their eye on the Asian markets: "We are at
present considering market entry in Russia and China and will be active
there probably in the next two years" the publisher declared.
A New Colonisation of Poland?
Spinger’s expansion in Poland started in 1994 and the company is now
the second biggest newspaper publisher in the country and the owner of
16 publications including the successful economic magazine Profit.
Since the successful introduction of "Newsweek Polska" in 2001,
Springer Polska is now the market leader in news magazine.
The next step is a new polish daily newspaper. At the moment there is
only one tabloid on the Polish market – Super Express – half of which
belongs to the Swedish Bonnier group. With a new tabloid Springer wants
to double his Polish turnover. But there is competition. Agora, the
publisher of the largest Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" is working
on its own tabloid which is due to appear at the end of August.
The Polish press is mostly dominated by German publishers. By far the
largest, with 28 titles and a total circulation of about 10 million, is
Bauer. Passau (now dominant in the Czech market) took over the Polish
titles of the French Group Hersant and is the largest publisher of
regional newspapers. This dominant position is facing growing
criticism. At the end of last year (2002) the economically liberal and
Europe-friendly weekly magazine WPROST described, on its front page,
with the heading Drang nach Osten, the German press take-over as a new
colonisation. In some regions of Poland the Germans were so prominent
in the newspaper market that it already resembled the Prussian
occupation of Western Poland
GERMAN PRESS BUYS POLITICAL POWER IN THE EAST
Berichte auf deutsch aus http://www.german-foreign-policy.com
A synopsis in english from: http://www.freenations.freeuk.com
=== DEUTSCH ===
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055887200.php
18.06.2003
Südosteuropa: Presse unter deutscher Kontrolle
ESSEN - Die Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) baut ihre
Vorherrschaft auf den Pressemärkten Südosteuropas aus. Durch eine Reihe
von Übernahmen - zuletzt in Ungarn - will der Konzern dort seine
,,maßgebliche Position" durchsetzen.
Der WAZ-Konzern - bereits jetzt der dominierende Zeitungsverlag in
Südosteuropa - beherrscht große Teile der Zeitungsmärkte in Rumänien
und Bulgarien, besitzt die führenden Zeitungen in Serbien und
Montenegro und hält wichtige Beteiligungen in Ungarn und Kroatien. In
den letzten Jahren hat das deutsche Unternehmen durch den Aufkauf
zahlreicher renommierter Zeitungen in Südosteuropa, darunter die
traditionsreiche Belgrader ,,Politika" oder die Bukarester ,,Romania
Libera", von sich reden gemacht. Der Konzern will nach eigenen Angaben
in allen Ländern Südosteuropas eine ,,maßgebliche Position" auf den
Zeitungsmärkten erreichen.
Schritt für Schritt
Erst im März hat die WAZ 50 Prozent der Anteile an der führenden
montenegrinischen Zeitung ,,Vijesti" gekauft. Im Mai wurde bekannt,
dass der Konzern sich um die Übernahme der drei führenden Zeitungen in
Mazedonien bemüht - unterstützt vom Ex-Außenminister und Botschafter in
Deutschland, Srgan Kerim, der als Berater angeheuert wurde. Auch in
Serbien wird intensiv über den Kauf einer weiteren Zeitung in Novi Sad
in der Provinz Vojvodina verhandelt.
In Ungarn steht die WAZ in Konkurrenz zum Bertelsmann-Konzern, der mit
dem Tochterunternehmen Gruner + Jahr den dortigen Markt beherrscht.1)
Der WAZ-Konzern besitzt dort derzeit fünf regionale Tageszeitungen.
Diese Position wird jetzt weiter ausgebaut: Der Essener Konzern hat 75
Prozent der Anteile an dem ungarischen Verlag HVG Rt. in Budapest
gekauft, der das führende ungarische Wochenmagazin ,,Heti
Vilaggazdasag" herausgibt.
Quellen:
WAZ kauft 50 Prozent der Anteile der führenden Zeitung Montenegros;
Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 18.03.2003
WAZ-Gruppe expandiert auf dem Balkan; Financial Times Deutschland
15.05.2003
WAZ kauft ungarisches Wirtschaftsmagazin; Handelsblatt 13.06.2003
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055023200.php
08.06.2003
Berlin droht Belgrad
SMEDEREVO - Das Auswärtige Amt setzt die serbische Regierung massiv
unter Druck, um den Verkauf eines Stahlwerkes an ein US-Unternehmen zu
verhindern. Der deutsche Botschafter in Belgrad drohte in einer
offiziellen Note mit schweren wirtschaftlichen und rechtlichen
Konsequenzen, wenn die Entscheidung nicht rückgängig gemacht werde.
Anlass der Berliner Drohgebärden ist der Verkauf des traditionsreichen
serbischen Eisen- und Stahlwerks Sartid an U.S. Steel Kosice
(Slowakei), eine Tochtergesellschaft des US-Stahlgiganten U.S. Steel,
die mit dem Erwerb von Sartid ihre Marktposition in Ost- und
Südosteuropa ausbaut. Auch deutsche Konzerne waren an dem bedeutendsten
serbischen Stahlproduzenten interessiert.
Der Berliner Botschafter in Belgrad hat die serbische Regierung jetzt
aufgefordert, die Entscheidung zum Verkauf von Sartid rückgängig zu
machen, da die potentiellen deutschen Investoren ,,rechtswidrig"
benachteiligt worden seien. Wenn dies nicht geschehe, könnten deutsche
Unternehmen ihre Investitionen und ihr Engagement in der Staatenunion
einstellen. Deutschland verfügt als stärkster Wirtschaftspartner von
,,Serbien und Montenegro" (früher: Jugoslawien) über großen Einfluss im
Land1), der deutsche WAZ-Konzern hat eine führende Stellung auf dem
jugoslawischen Medienmarkt inne2) und kann daher maßgeblich in
öffentliche Debatten eingreifen.
Der deutsche Botschafter gab darüber hinaus bekannt, deutsche
Unternehmer würden ihre Ansprüche auf Sartid vor dem Internationalen
Schiedsgericht in Wien durchzusetzen versuchen.
Quelle:
Deutscher Botschafter in Belgrad übt nach Verkauf von Eisenwerk an
US-Firma scharfe Kritik an serbischer Regierung - Serbischer
Wirtschaftsminister betont Rechtmäßigkeit des Verkaufs; Deutsche Welle
Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 04.06.2003
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1029500348.php
16.08.2002
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg" auf dem Pressemarkt
ESSEN - Die Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), eines der größten
deutschen Medienunternehmen, expandiert seit Jahren insbesondere in
Südosteuropa. Dort ist es nun dem Vorwurf ausgesetzt, in einzelnen
Staaten der Region Meinungsmonopole zusammenzukaufen und Konkurrenten
mit ihrer wirtschaftlichen Macht an die Wand zu drücken.
Quasi-Monopole auf dem Pressemarkt
Der WAZ-Konzern besitzt allein 22 Zeitungen und 50 Zeitschriften und
gehört mit einem Umsatz von rund 1,9 Milliarden Euro im Jahr 2001 zu
den größten deutschen Medienunternehmen. Bereits seit Mitte der 1980er
Jahre hält die WAZ-Gruppe in Österreich unter anderem eine
50-prozentige Beteiligung an der größten Boulevardzeitung des Landes,
der ,,Neuen Kronen Zeitung". 1992 begann die WAZ mit dem Aufkauf von
Regionalzeitungen in Ungarn, inzwischen gehört dem Konzern die größte
Zeitungsgruppe des Landes1). Seit 1996 kaufte sich die Mediengruppe in
Bulgarien ein, wo sie inzwischen eine marktbeherrschende Stellung hat
wie nirgendwo sonst. Die WAZ gibt dort die auflagenstärkste
Tageszeitung, die größte politische Wochenzeitung, die auflagenstärkste
Frauenzeitung und die einzige Abendzeitung heraus und kontrolliert,
gemessen an der Auflage, 80 Prozent der bulgarischen Tagespresse. ,,Die
WAZ hat den bulgarischen Print-Medien-Markt monopolisiert", hieß es in
einer Stellungnahme der bulgarischen Anti-Trust-Kommission.
Auch in Kroatien und Rumänien2) gehört die WAZ-Gruppe inzwischen zu den
Marktführern. Durch eine 20-Millionen-Euro-Einlage erreichte die
WAZ-Gruppe 1998 eine 50-prozentige Beteiligung an der kroatischen
Europapress Holding (EPH), die Eigentümerin zahlreicher Tages- und
Wochenzeitungen sowie eines umfangreichen Vertriebsnetzes ist. Mit
mittlerweile 70 Prozent der kroatischen Zeitungen hat der WAZ-Konzern
auch in Kroatien ein Quasi-Monopol auf dem Pressemarkt.
Mitte Oktober 2001 unterzeichnete der WAZ-Konzern mit dem Belgrader
Verlag Politika AD einen Vertrag zur Übernahme von 50 Prozent des
Presseunternehmens3). Die WAZ bringt 25 Millionen Euro in das Joint
Venture ein, Politika AD nur 1.000 Euro. Politika AD gilt als der
traditions- und erfolgreichste Medienkonzern auf dem Balkan. In
Jugoslawien verfügt das Unternehmen über 3 Tageszeitungen und 14
Magazine sowie Druckereien und den Auslieferungsservice und betreibt
einen Rundfunksender. Die gleichnamige Zeitschrift des im Jahre 1904
gegründeten Traditionsverlags gilt als wichtigstes Sprachrohr der
jugoslawischen Regierung. Ende Juli kaufte sich der Konzern Berichten
zufolge für 10 Millionen Euro auch bei der führenden Zeitung der
Provinz Vojvodina ein. Auch in Jugoslawien übt damit die WAZ de facto
die Medienkontrolle aus. Weitere Verhandlungen zu Übernahmen in
Montenegro und Bosnien stehen kurz vor dem Abschluss.
,,Die Deutschen kommen"
Insgesamt besitzt der WAZ-Konzern heute durch direkte oder
verschachtelte Beteiligungen 23 Zeitungen, 38 Zeitschriften und 10
Anzeigenblätter in Tschechien4), Ungarn, Rumänien, Bulgarien, Kroatien
und Jugoslawien. Der neue WAZ-Geschäftsführer Hombach versucht, die
Übernahmen als Wohltaten darstellen: ,,Nicht wir klopfen dort an die
Türen und sagen, nun sind wir da und möchten uns für weitere Titel
interessieren, sondern die Titel fragen bei uns an. Denn sie wissen,
das wir ein guter Partner sind. Wir sichern die technischen und auch
die ökonomischen Voraussetzungen, damit Publizistik in diesen jungen
Demokratien möglich ist."
Kritiker in den betroffenen Ländern sehen das anders: Der WAZ-Gruppe
wird vorgeworfen, sie versuche Meinungsmonopole zusammenzukaufen und
Konkurrenten mit ihrer wirtschaftlichen Macht an die Wand zu drücken.
Vertreter der regionalen Presse zeigen sich über die beherrschende
Stellung der WAZ empört: Durch die Monopolisierung des Werbemarktes
werde der Regionalpresse die Haupteinnahmequelle entzogen. ,,Die
Deutschen kommen", alarmierte das jugoslawische Magazin ,,NIN" seine
Leser. Der Vorsitzende der bulgarischen Vereinigung der
Zeitungsverleger trat mit einer Stellungnahme unter dem Titel
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg ruiniert die bulgarische Presse" an die
Öffentlichkeit.
1) In Ungarn steht die WAZ in Konkurrenz zum Bertelsmann-Konzern, der
mit dem Tochterunternehmen Gruner+Jahr den dortigen Markt beherrscht
(s. Deutsche Pressekonzerne in Osteuropa ,,räumen auf")
2) Dort wiederum gemeinsam mit Gruner+Jahr, die durch die mehrheitliche
Übernahme des Bukarester Pressehauses Expres u.a. über die
überregionale Boulevardzeitung Evenimentul zilei (EZ) verfügt, mit
130.000 Exemplaren täglich eine der auflagenstärksten Tageszeitungen
Rumäniens.
3) Der EU-Koordinator des Stabilitätspaktes für Südosteuropa, Bodo
Hombach, hatte dem Konzern die Tore des jugoslawischen Medienmarktes
geöffnet und wechselte anschließend als Geschäftsführer zur WAZ (s.
Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den Medienmarkt
in Jugoslawien)
4) Die tschechische Regierung beklagte bereits, die Zeitungen des
eigenen Landes, die sich ,,in deutscher Hand" befänden, berichteten
zunehmend einseitig über die Auseinandersetzungen um die
,,Benes-Dekrete". Drei der überregionalen Zeitungen befinden sich im
Besitz deutscher Verlage (s. Tschechische Regierung wehrt sich gegen
deutsche Medien-Dominanz)
Quellen:
Ganz wie bei Orwell. Nach Ungarn und Österreich ist die Verlagsgruppe
WAZ nun auch in Bulgarien auf dem Vormarsch; M, Zeitschrift der IG
Medien, 08.08.1997
Medienmacht auf dem Balkan; 2-sat Kulturzeit 21.06.2002
Komischer Kochtopf; Der Spiegel 12.08.2002
Sensible Märkte - Die deutsche Mediengruppe WAZ kauft immer mehr
Zeitungen in Südosteuropa; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa
14.08.2002
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1014073200.php
19.02.2002
Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den Medienmarkt
in Jugoslawien
ESSEN - Kurz bevor Bodo Hombach Ende des Jahres 2001 seinen Posten als
EU-Koordinator des Stabilitätspaktes für Südosteuropa verließ und als
Geschäftsführer zur Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung (WAZ) wechselte,
öffnete er seinem künftigen Arbeitgeber die Tore des jugoslawischen
Medienmarktes.
Mitte Oktober 2001 unterzeichnete der WAZ-Konzern mit dem Belgrader
Verlag Politika AD einen Vertrag zur Gründung einer gemeinsamen
Gesellschaft. Hombach hatte die Kontakte zwischen der WAZ und Politika
vorbereitet. Die gleichnamige Zeitschrift des im Jahre 1904 gegründeten
serbischen Traditionsverlags galt jahrelang als wichtigstes Sprachrohr
der jugoslawischen Regierung unter Slobodan Milosevic. Das heute hoch
verschuldete Presseunternehmen verlegt in Jugoslawien drei
Tageszeitungen, 14 Magazine und betreibt einen Rundfunksender. Die
WAZ-Mediengruppe ist bereits mit 25 Zeitungen und 50 Zeitschriften in
sechs anderen osteuropäischen Ländern vertreten.
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1005433200.php
11.11.2001
Deutsche Pressekonzerne in Osteuropa "räumen auf"
HAMBURG (Eigener Bericht) - Bertelsmann, größter europäischer
Medienkonzern, ordnet seinen Osteuropa-Besitz neu, um in das ungarische
TV-Geschäft einzusteigen. Mit mehreren Beteiligungen an ungarischen
Tageszeitungen (Nepszabadsag/Delmagyarorszag/Deelvilag), die von dem
Tochterunternehmen Gruner+Jahr gehalten werden, ist Bertelsmann in
Ungarn Monopolist.
Da die ungarische Regierung wegen der beabsichtigten TV-Expansion
Bedenken geltend macht, plant Bertelsmann eine Rochade. Die
osteuropäischen Zeitungsbeteiligungen (u.a. auch in Rumänien und
Tschechien) sollen in einer Holding zusammengefasst werden. Darin wäre
Bertelsmann (gemeinsam mit dem Schweizer Ringier-Verlag) als
bescheidener Anteilseigner weniger auffällig. Die Kaschierung der
deutschen Monopolstellung würde einen widerstandslosen Einstieg in das
ungarische TV-Geschäft erlauben.
Bertelsmann beherrscht nicht nur den osteuropäischen Zeitungsmarkt,
sondern gehört zugleich in Österreich, Frankreich, Spanien,
Großbritannien und den USA zu den führenden Branchenunternehmen. Die
nordamerikanischen Konzern-Aktivitäten werden gegenwärtig ausgeweitet.
Gehörten bereits bisher Publikationen wie Family Circle, Rosie,
Parents, Child, Fitness, American Homestyle, YM, Inc. oder Fast Company
zum ertragreichen Bertelsmann-Besitz, so sollen diese Aquisitionen
jetzt ergänzt werden.
,,Hitlers bester Lieferant"
Bertelsmann wird in den USA einer aggressiven Geschäftspolitik
beschuldigt. Die dortigen Bertelsmann-Druckereibetriebe kontrollieren
die Herstellung von rund 500 Magazinen mit Netto-Verkäufen in Höhe von
monatlich 300 Millionen US Dollar.
Bertelsmann legte seine Konzern-Fundamente in der NS-Zeit und verdiente
an der nationalsozialistischen Kriegspolitik. Das Haus darf als
,,Hitlers bester Lieferant" bezeichnet werden. Heute beschäftigt
Bertelsmann weltweit 70.000 Mitarbeiter und erzielt rund 40 Milliarden
DM (20 Milliarden Euro) Umsatz.
,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg"
Neben Bertelsmann sind auch andere deutsche Pressekonzerne weltweit
tätig. Dazu gehört die Kirch-Gruppe (1998 Nr. 8 in der Weltrangliste,
kooperiert mit der italienischen Berlusconi-Gruppe), die Axel Springer
AG (Nr. 28) und die Zeitungsgruppe WAZ (Nr. 41).
Die deutsche Presseexpansion (Tschechische Republik: Blesk, Slowakische
Republik: Novy Cas) sei ,,brutal und heimtückisch", sagt der
bulgarische Journalist und ehemalige Vorsitzende der bulgarischen
Vereinigung der Zeitungsverleger, Valeri Naidenow. Das Auftraten der
deutschen Konzerne erinnere an einen ,,Blitzkrieg". Über die Folgen der
deutschen Medienexpansion prophezeite die bulgarische Zeitung Novinar
ihren Lesern: ,,Du wirst denken, wie es dir die deutschen Zeitungen
befehlen".
Quellen:
Gruner + Jahr räumen in Ungarn auf, Die Welt 11.11.2001
Deutsche Verlage auf Osteuropa-Trip; ,,M" (Zeitschrift der IG Medien)
8-9/1997
=== ENGLISH ===
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2003-07-23.html
GERMAN PRESS BUYS POLITICAL POWER IN THE EAST
Translated from german-foreign-policy.com and commentated by Rodney
Atkinson
Dateline: 23rd July 2003
INTRODUCTION: In the normal course of international investment the
expansion of German firms abroad would be no different from the same
activities by British or American or French corporations. However much
depends on the political history of the relationships between the
investing and the recipient nation and in what sectors the investment
is taking place.
In the case of German industry today as it invests in Poland, The Czech
Republic, Austria, Yugoslavia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe the
political history is one of bloody conquest and exploitation by Germany
and the industrial sectors which are being targeted are those highly
political areas of newspapers and the electronic media. We already have
examples – especially in Yugoslavia and The Czech Republic – of the
pressure put on local editors by their German owners to report national
and above all "European" affairs in a light favourable to German
interests. For instance the editor of the Czech regional newspaper
"Svoboda" received a letter from his German owner during the Yugoslav
war (21st April 1999) which warned him not to report so favourably the
activities of the Serbs "(your comments) exceeded tolerability…not to
mention your evaluation of other hideous acts perpetrated by Milosevic
- you do not devote due attention to them. I shall not repeat my
challenges of 14th and 20th April…I expect from you a less one-sided
approach…With friendly(!) greetings Matthias Roscher". The full wording
of the letter is in my possession and will appear in the next edition
of Fascist Europe Rising.
The following translation of a report from our journalist friends in
Germany shows how the above is undoubtedly being replicated elsewhere.
German press groups are expanding further into East and Southern
Europe, especially into Poland. The German Springer Verlag (owner of
the lurid tabloid Bildzeitung which recently stoked the German-Italian
crisis with an advert for "blonde nationalistic……Germans" whom the
paper would send on holiday to Italy!) already the second biggest
newspaper publisher seeks to double its circulation. The German press
expansion – not surprisingly - reminds the Polish media of the German
colonisation and the occupation of Western Poland by Prussia.
The Axel Springer Organisation the largest German newspaper group seeks
through expansion abroad to improve its prospects in the harsh
competitive world of the German printing business. Up to now only 16%
of its turnover comes from abroad (2002 - 2.78billion Euro) and wants
to double this in the next few years. The competitors, German
Publishers Bauer, Gruner und Jahr, the WAZ Group and Burda have been
expanding into other countries in recent years and have achieved almost
50% of their turnover from abroad.
Springer seeks to achieve the goal of having 30% of its turnover from
abroad by large acquisitions and the founding of new newspapers. About
half of the 32 purchases and new businesses of the last two years have
been abroad. Emphasis has been put in Western Europe on France, Spain,
and Switzerland and in Eastern Europe on Poland, Czech republic,
Rumania and Hungary – where Springer is the leader in the newspaper
market. They also have their eye on the Asian markets: "We are at
present considering market entry in Russia and China and will be active
there probably in the next two years" the publisher declared.
A New Colonisation of Poland?
Spinger’s expansion in Poland started in 1994 and the company is now
the second biggest newspaper publisher in the country and the owner of
16 publications including the successful economic magazine Profit.
Since the successful introduction of "Newsweek Polska" in 2001,
Springer Polska is now the market leader in news magazine.
The next step is a new polish daily newspaper. At the moment there is
only one tabloid on the Polish market – Super Express – half of which
belongs to the Swedish Bonnier group. With a new tabloid Springer wants
to double his Polish turnover. But there is competition. Agora, the
publisher of the largest Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" is working
on its own tabloid which is due to appear at the end of August.
The Polish press is mostly dominated by German publishers. By far the
largest, with 28 titles and a total circulation of about 10 million, is
Bauer. Passau (now dominant in the Czech market) took over the Polish
titles of the French Group Hersant and is the largest publisher of
regional newspapers. This dominant position is facing growing
criticism. At the end of last year (2002) the economically liberal and
Europe-friendly weekly magazine WPROST described, on its front page,
with the heading Drang nach Osten, the German press take-over as a new
colonisation. In some regions of Poland the Germans were so prominent
in the newspaper market that it already resembled the Prussian
occupation of Western Poland
Srebrenica, lettere di protesta ai giornali
(english / italiano)
Sulla vicenda di Srebrenica abbiamo diffuso in passato, e continueremo
a diffondere in futuro, la documentazione che evidenzia le
manipolazioni giornalistiche soprattutto sugli antefatti, sulla
dinamica e sull'entita' del massacro.
In lingua italiana consigliamo in proposito l'analisi di Juergen
Elsaesser contenuta nel suo libro "Menzogne di guerra" (ed. Citta' del
Sole, Napoli 2002).
In lingua inglese, tra le tante cose, suggeriamo il link:
What really happened in Srebrenica ?
http://www.antiwar.com/srebrenica.html
---
Ad Alessandro Curzi e Rina Gagliardi
Alla Redazione di "Liberazione"
Sovente nei giornali vengono riproposte notizie di agenzie che non
corrispondono alla verità e che sono, da tempo, smentite.
I vari "Metro", "City" vengono distribuiti gratis, ma sono tanto più
pericolosi proprio perché arrivano in mano a chiunque, anche ai
giovanissimi... Trovando riportate queste "verità" su "Liberazione",
viene da ripetere la frase di R. Rossanda, "Al diavolo (tali)
comunisti"!
Non si capisce la subalternità di questo giornale (forse ai Dalemiani,
again?)... Come poi giudicare, quando anche un vostro giornalista che
scrive "come si deve" dall'Irak, dalla Palestina, dalla Jugoslavia,
viene censurato e poi licenziato!? Davvero, salvo pochi casi sporadici,
di fatto non avete preso una netta posizione e "non avete visto" le
vere ragioni della distruzione anche di quello che rimaneva della
Jugoslavia. Avete seguito anche voi il coro dei "Ne - Ne"...
Scrivo, in ritardo, a proposito di Srebrenica, titolo apparso due
settimane fa su "Liberazione". Notizie, come sopra, smentite "da quel
dì"... Tante se ne susseguono... e poi il caldo. Protesto in ritardo
anche perché il tempo libero lo dedico (e lo dedichiamo) al lavoro
volontario di assistenza ai tre bambini malati di leucemia e simili,
ricoverati al "San Camillo" di Roma: Marko di 14 anni dalla Serbia,
Lazar 4 anni e Miroje 17 dal Montenegro.
Per quanto riguarda il caso di Srebrenica, ed altri eventuali "casi" da
sollevare nel prossimo futuro (Racak, etc, etc), rileggetevi il libro
"Menzogne di guerra" di Jurgen Elsasser, Edizioni "La Città del Sole",
una recensione del quale è stata pubblicata anche da "Liberazione".
Ivan Pavicevac
26/7/2003
---
Da: Boba
Data: Mar 5 Ago 2003 17:45:11 Europe/Rome
A: (Recipient list suppressed)
Oggetto: Re: BBC// Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial
My letter to BBC
To: INFO@... ; worldservice.letters@...
Cc: newsonline@...
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 7:09 AM
Subject: Response to BBC report: Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial
BBC
Letters
5 August 2003
In responding to your article, "Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial" (5
August)
"Killers always come back to the scene of their crime". So is the case
of the former US president Bill Clinton. It is under his command and
his approval that unspeakable crimes of the 20th century were allowed
to happen and some of them are hidden from the world and justice. It is
with his knowledge and the knowledge of his generals, MPRI generals and
his secretary of State, Albright that Muslim mujahedeens used UN
protected "save haven" to wage terror on Serb villages surrounding
Srebrenica.
Judging by Mr. Clinton's dishonesty and distorted way of applying
justice I am sure that he would not remember Naser Oric, Muslim
general, turned war criminal, responsible for killing over 640 Serbs in
villages that surrounded Srebrenica!
Oric used the "safe-haven" of Srebrenica as a military base to destroy
42 Serbian villages in the year prior to Srebrenica's fall.
Clinton even found support in his wife Hillary who in a strange way of
patching up for his infidelity with Monica Lawinsky ordered Bill to
bomb Serbs in 1998. Strange couple, these Clintons, indeed! What else
are they capable of doing?
The Clinton's administration for its part let Islamic extremists range
terror in the Balkans and against Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo. Militant
Islamic extremism found its base and support in Europe and elsewhere.
These were essential steps in the overall terrorist escalations which
were to later include the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World
Trade Center in
New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC and the October 2002
attacks in Bali, Indonesia.
Clinton couldn't care less for Srebrenica victims. All he cares is the
money that might come from Saudi Arabia or others, now that he does his
part in overall media campaign of lies about the wars in the Balkans.
Boba Borojevic
Ottawa, Canada
---
(Note: Nasir Oric has been recently brought to The Hague; however, his
responsabilities are never brought to light by the media)
Da: Boba
Data: Lun 14 Lug 2003 01:40:04 Europe/Rome
A: letters@..., forum@...
Oggetto: Re: WT // Bodies identified from massacre buried on 8th
anniversary, by Almir Arnaut
RE: Bodies identified from massacre buried on 8th anniversary, by Almir
Arnaut
The Washington Times
WORLD -- 12 July 2003/Pg.A5
Letter to the Editor:
Goebbels said: 'Tell a lie a hundred times, it becomes the truth.' And
this is what Washington Times and other Western media have done.
Playing with false numbers of killed Muslims without mentioning
killings of Serbs by Muslims in Serb villages surrounding Srebrenica
equals Nazi style propaganda.
By purposely avoiding any mention of Muslim attacks on dozens of Serb
villages surrounding Srebrenica, killing of Serbs and torching of Serb
houses, Washington Times also fell pray to Muslim stories from
Srebrenica.
In fact The Washington Times helps the spreading of these lies.
Deceptively, Almir Arnaut omits any reference to Naser Oric, a war
criminal responsible for killing over 640 Serbs in villages that
surrounded Srebrenica and he is not even indicted! This Muslim criminal
has created video films of his exterminations. These videos are being
sold on street corners in the Arab world showing Naser Oric
decapitating and murdering innocent Serbian victims, the Muslim world's
version of pornography. Oric used the "safe-haven" of Srebrenica as a
military base to destroy 42 Serbian villages in the year prior to
Srebrenica's fall. Naser Oric is also the same Muslim that converted
the Serbian Orthodox Church in Konjic into a public
toilet and the Serbian church in Srebrenica into a stable."*
"ICRC document 37, dated September 13, 1995, reveals that some 5,000
Srebrenica Muslims left the enclave prior to its fall and that the
Muslim government has admitted that these men were reassigned to other
units of its armed forces. The fact that family members were not
informed of it was justified by the obligation to keep it a military
secret.'
Mr. Almir Arnaut proves capable of ignoring any evidence that
contradicts his own Muslim bias toward the Serbs.
And yet this inevitable play with numbers that does not prove anything
gives the story a false credibility. Even Goebbels would be surprised
with this kind of propaganda machine.
"Since the New York Times story, the figure of 8,000 Muslim men and
boys "massacred by the Serbs" has taken on a life of its own and
despite challenges from a number of sources the mainstream media in the
West continues to repeat the figure. Nor has the War Crimes Tribunal
ever attempted to set the record straight. It accepted the allegations
from the outset. It did so despite any hard evidence other than hearsay
information
provided by claimed eyewitnesses and documentation promised to be
forthcoming from United States sources. The documentation from the
United States has never been produced."**
Even today, eight years after the fall of Srebrenica we do not know how
many Serbs have been murdered by Muslims? How many Muslims were really
killed? How many of these Muslims were Muslim soldiers hiding armed in
the UN in safe-haven?
The only thing we know is that this twisted story about "Srebrenica
massacre" will feed generations, unchallenged by the Western media.
Thus, protecting real war criminals and their masters, who are still
active in spreading lies about the Serbs and the war in Slovenia,
Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, i.e. Kosovo, such as Clinton and his
Secretary of State Madeline
Albright, Richard Holbrooke, Jaime Rubin, William Cohen, et. al. and
the" usual pimps to power in the media" Thomas Friedman, David Rhode,
Roy Gutman, Robert Kaplan, Noel Malcolm, Christopher Hitchens, Todd
Gitlin and countless
network news and media outlets.
* http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/media_watch/html/dorich.html
** http://www.snd-us.com/Liberty/bissett_symposium.htm
Boba Borojevic
Ottawa, Canada
(english / italiano)
Sulla vicenda di Srebrenica abbiamo diffuso in passato, e continueremo
a diffondere in futuro, la documentazione che evidenzia le
manipolazioni giornalistiche soprattutto sugli antefatti, sulla
dinamica e sull'entita' del massacro.
In lingua italiana consigliamo in proposito l'analisi di Juergen
Elsaesser contenuta nel suo libro "Menzogne di guerra" (ed. Citta' del
Sole, Napoli 2002).
In lingua inglese, tra le tante cose, suggeriamo il link:
What really happened in Srebrenica ?
http://www.antiwar.com/srebrenica.html
---
Ad Alessandro Curzi e Rina Gagliardi
Alla Redazione di "Liberazione"
Sovente nei giornali vengono riproposte notizie di agenzie che non
corrispondono alla verità e che sono, da tempo, smentite.
I vari "Metro", "City" vengono distribuiti gratis, ma sono tanto più
pericolosi proprio perché arrivano in mano a chiunque, anche ai
giovanissimi... Trovando riportate queste "verità" su "Liberazione",
viene da ripetere la frase di R. Rossanda, "Al diavolo (tali)
comunisti"!
Non si capisce la subalternità di questo giornale (forse ai Dalemiani,
again?)... Come poi giudicare, quando anche un vostro giornalista che
scrive "come si deve" dall'Irak, dalla Palestina, dalla Jugoslavia,
viene censurato e poi licenziato!? Davvero, salvo pochi casi sporadici,
di fatto non avete preso una netta posizione e "non avete visto" le
vere ragioni della distruzione anche di quello che rimaneva della
Jugoslavia. Avete seguito anche voi il coro dei "Ne - Ne"...
Scrivo, in ritardo, a proposito di Srebrenica, titolo apparso due
settimane fa su "Liberazione". Notizie, come sopra, smentite "da quel
dì"... Tante se ne susseguono... e poi il caldo. Protesto in ritardo
anche perché il tempo libero lo dedico (e lo dedichiamo) al lavoro
volontario di assistenza ai tre bambini malati di leucemia e simili,
ricoverati al "San Camillo" di Roma: Marko di 14 anni dalla Serbia,
Lazar 4 anni e Miroje 17 dal Montenegro.
Per quanto riguarda il caso di Srebrenica, ed altri eventuali "casi" da
sollevare nel prossimo futuro (Racak, etc, etc), rileggetevi il libro
"Menzogne di guerra" di Jurgen Elsasser, Edizioni "La Città del Sole",
una recensione del quale è stata pubblicata anche da "Liberazione".
Ivan Pavicevac
26/7/2003
---
Da: Boba
Data: Mar 5 Ago 2003 17:45:11 Europe/Rome
A: (Recipient list suppressed)
Oggetto: Re: BBC// Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial
My letter to BBC
To: INFO@... ; worldservice.letters@...
Cc: newsonline@...
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 7:09 AM
Subject: Response to BBC report: Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial
BBC
Letters
5 August 2003
In responding to your article, "Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial" (5
August)
"Killers always come back to the scene of their crime". So is the case
of the former US president Bill Clinton. It is under his command and
his approval that unspeakable crimes of the 20th century were allowed
to happen and some of them are hidden from the world and justice. It is
with his knowledge and the knowledge of his generals, MPRI generals and
his secretary of State, Albright that Muslim mujahedeens used UN
protected "save haven" to wage terror on Serb villages surrounding
Srebrenica.
Judging by Mr. Clinton's dishonesty and distorted way of applying
justice I am sure that he would not remember Naser Oric, Muslim
general, turned war criminal, responsible for killing over 640 Serbs in
villages that surrounded Srebrenica!
Oric used the "safe-haven" of Srebrenica as a military base to destroy
42 Serbian villages in the year prior to Srebrenica's fall.
Clinton even found support in his wife Hillary who in a strange way of
patching up for his infidelity with Monica Lawinsky ordered Bill to
bomb Serbs in 1998. Strange couple, these Clintons, indeed! What else
are they capable of doing?
The Clinton's administration for its part let Islamic extremists range
terror in the Balkans and against Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo. Militant
Islamic extremism found its base and support in Europe and elsewhere.
These were essential steps in the overall terrorist escalations which
were to later include the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World
Trade Center in
New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC and the October 2002
attacks in Bali, Indonesia.
Clinton couldn't care less for Srebrenica victims. All he cares is the
money that might come from Saudi Arabia or others, now that he does his
part in overall media campaign of lies about the wars in the Balkans.
Boba Borojevic
Ottawa, Canada
---
(Note: Nasir Oric has been recently brought to The Hague; however, his
responsabilities are never brought to light by the media)
Da: Boba
Data: Lun 14 Lug 2003 01:40:04 Europe/Rome
A: letters@..., forum@...
Oggetto: Re: WT // Bodies identified from massacre buried on 8th
anniversary, by Almir Arnaut
RE: Bodies identified from massacre buried on 8th anniversary, by Almir
Arnaut
The Washington Times
WORLD -- 12 July 2003/Pg.A5
Letter to the Editor:
Goebbels said: 'Tell a lie a hundred times, it becomes the truth.' And
this is what Washington Times and other Western media have done.
Playing with false numbers of killed Muslims without mentioning
killings of Serbs by Muslims in Serb villages surrounding Srebrenica
equals Nazi style propaganda.
By purposely avoiding any mention of Muslim attacks on dozens of Serb
villages surrounding Srebrenica, killing of Serbs and torching of Serb
houses, Washington Times also fell pray to Muslim stories from
Srebrenica.
In fact The Washington Times helps the spreading of these lies.
Deceptively, Almir Arnaut omits any reference to Naser Oric, a war
criminal responsible for killing over 640 Serbs in villages that
surrounded Srebrenica and he is not even indicted! This Muslim criminal
has created video films of his exterminations. These videos are being
sold on street corners in the Arab world showing Naser Oric
decapitating and murdering innocent Serbian victims, the Muslim world's
version of pornography. Oric used the "safe-haven" of Srebrenica as a
military base to destroy 42 Serbian villages in the year prior to
Srebrenica's fall. Naser Oric is also the same Muslim that converted
the Serbian Orthodox Church in Konjic into a public
toilet and the Serbian church in Srebrenica into a stable."*
"ICRC document 37, dated September 13, 1995, reveals that some 5,000
Srebrenica Muslims left the enclave prior to its fall and that the
Muslim government has admitted that these men were reassigned to other
units of its armed forces. The fact that family members were not
informed of it was justified by the obligation to keep it a military
secret.'
Mr. Almir Arnaut proves capable of ignoring any evidence that
contradicts his own Muslim bias toward the Serbs.
And yet this inevitable play with numbers that does not prove anything
gives the story a false credibility. Even Goebbels would be surprised
with this kind of propaganda machine.
"Since the New York Times story, the figure of 8,000 Muslim men and
boys "massacred by the Serbs" has taken on a life of its own and
despite challenges from a number of sources the mainstream media in the
West continues to repeat the figure. Nor has the War Crimes Tribunal
ever attempted to set the record straight. It accepted the allegations
from the outset. It did so despite any hard evidence other than hearsay
information
provided by claimed eyewitnesses and documentation promised to be
forthcoming from United States sources. The documentation from the
United States has never been produced."**
Even today, eight years after the fall of Srebrenica we do not know how
many Serbs have been murdered by Muslims? How many Muslims were really
killed? How many of these Muslims were Muslim soldiers hiding armed in
the UN in safe-haven?
The only thing we know is that this twisted story about "Srebrenica
massacre" will feed generations, unchallenged by the Western media.
Thus, protecting real war criminals and their masters, who are still
active in spreading lies about the Serbs and the war in Slovenia,
Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, i.e. Kosovo, such as Clinton and his
Secretary of State Madeline
Albright, Richard Holbrooke, Jaime Rubin, William Cohen, et. al. and
the" usual pimps to power in the media" Thomas Friedman, David Rhode,
Roy Gutman, Robert Kaplan, Noel Malcolm, Christopher Hitchens, Todd
Gitlin and countless
network news and media outlets.
* http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/media_watch/html/dorich.html
** http://www.snd-us.com/Liberty/bissett_symposium.htm
Boba Borojevic
Ottawa, Canada
"Processo" Milosevic
1. Carla Del Ponte scende sempre piu' in basso
2. Dichiarazione di Ghennadij Zjuganov
Allegato: "Carla Del Ponte ha rivelato ai killer come trovarmi"
=== 1 ===
Carla Del Ponte scende sempre piu' in basso
(a cura di I. Slavo)
La procuratrice svizzera Carla Del Ponte, "pubblico ministero" al
"processo dell'Aia" contro Milosevic, ha recentemente rilasciato una
comica intervista al settimanale svizzero "Die Weltwoche" (n. 32/03, si
veda:
http://weltwoche.ch/ressort_bericht.asp?asset_id=5538&category_id=60 ,
ripresa anche da Expres, Belgrado, n.29/7).
Eccone alcuni stralci:
---
Nel suo ufficio, subito vicino alla porta, un grande poster segnaletico
per la cattura con la scritta: «Up to $ 5 Mio. Reward» (Fino a 5
milioni di dollari) e tre grandi fotografie - di Milosevic, Karadzic e
Mladic. Sulla foto di Milosevic e' stato tracciato con violenza un
segno a penna, e fintantoche non potra' fare lo stesso con le altre due
teste la 57enne Carla Del Ponte non lascera' il suo ufficio di
procuratore generale al Tribunale dell'Aia...
...Deve cercare sostegno politico soprattutto in Occidente, per il suo
lavoro. Li chiama 'pellegrinaggi' - non sono proprio la sua occupazione
prediletta, benche' varie foto nell'ufficio li testimonino... Una
stretta di mano con il ministro degli esteri USA Colin Powell, e di
quest'ultimo anche la affettuosa dedica «To Carla, with admiration and
best wishes».
...Due matrimoni non sono sopravvissuti allo zelo di Carla del Ponte
per la propria carriera professionale. Ama i gioielli e le automobili
veloci, ma oltre ad essere stata entusiasta guidatrice di Porsche, essa
intraprende oggi anche tour in bicicletta per l'Olanda, dove le e'
capitato di andare a sbattere contro la propria guardia del corpo,
ferendosi un ginocchio.
"...Naturalmente siamo felici per ogni arresto, ma io aspetto ancora 17
persone (...) tra cui 2 grossi nomi - Karadzic e Mladic. La
soddisfazione e' dunque ancora incompleta..."
"...Karadzic e' nella Repubblica Srpska, ben nascosto. Viene difeso da
tutto il popolo, per loro lui e' un eroe... Nessuno lo
consegnerebbe, dunque questo lo devono fare la SFOR e la NATO... E'
davvero sorprendente... Quando dal comando supremo arrivano 150 soldati
con automezzi blindati ed elicotteri per arrestare Karadzic, lui riesce
a saperlo ed in 5 minuti scompare... Mladic e' in Serbia protetto da
settori dell'esercito"
[Qui Del Ponte prosegue sostenendo che Esercito e Polizia in Serbia si
scaricherebbero la palla a vicenda, IS.]
...Che cosa la motiva nel suo lavoro?
"La giustizia. Ed anche l'esperienza personale con 350 donne di
Srebrenica..."
[Forse le stesse andate a protestare dopo la cattura del signor Nasir
Oric? IS.]
...Lei ha materiale a sufficienza per condannare Milosevic?
"Credo di si... Gia' solo per i crimini di guerra in Croazia e Kosovo
lo potremmo dal mio punto di vista condannare all'ergastolo."
[Dal suo punto di vista, sicuramente Milosevic si potrebbe condannare
all'ergastolo anche senza processo. Comunque, in base ad altre fonti la
Del Ponte ha promesso di tirare fuori nuove "prove evidenti" e
"decisive" contro Milosevic dopo l'estate - in particolare ottobre
dovrebbe essere "decisivo" (intervista all'AP 16/7/03). IS.]
...C'e' qualcuno che lei vorrebbe assolutamente vedere giudicato da
questo nuovo Tribunale penale internazionale?
"Saddam Hussein."
...In Serbia la hanno odiata a lungo. E' migliorato qualcosa negli
scorsi mesi? Oggi lei se ne andrebbe in giro da sola per Belgrado una
sera?
"No, no di certo."
"...Per riuscire ad arrestare Mladic, (Djindjic) doveva riorganizzare
l'esercito e la polizia. Due settimane prima di morire mi disse che per
ora questo era impossibile. Ma dopo avermi spiegato i suoi piani
aggiunse anche: «They will kill me.» (mi ammazzeranno). Non intendeva
proprio sul serio... E' stato ucciso perche' voleva arrestare gli
elementi criminali in Serbia, ed i criminali di guerra. Credeva nel
futuro del proprio paese."
Commenti della stampa francese ed anche voci dalla Serbia sostengono
che lei sia responsabile della morte di Djindjic. Questo deve averla
colpita.
"Proprio per niente. Io so bene come e' andata tra noi e Djindjic.
Quello che mi ha colpito e' stata la sua morte. Una amara ironia in
tutto questo sta nel fatto che con la sua morte a Belgrado molte cose
sono migliorate. Solo la sua morte ha consentito di colpire la
criminalita'..."
---
Si noti il cinismo della Del Ponte, che dimentica di spiegare che a
Belgrado dopo la morte di Djindjic e' stato instaurato un regime
autoritario, che esistono denunce di ogni parte sulle violazioni dei
diritti umani, e che il governo si e' ripetutamente spaccato per le
accuse incrociate di legami con la mafia e la criminalita'.
Nell'intervista la del Ponte e' anche evasiva su Berlusconi, sui suoi
rapporti con la mafia ed il conflitto tra politica e magistratura in
Italia.
Infine, brillano per la loro assenza dall'intervista due questioni
scottanti:
- la prima, l'annunciata sostituzione della Del Ponte dalla funzione di
pubblico ministero nel processo per il Ruanda, sostituzione che si dice
sia voluta da Annan, e della quale si e' parlato sulla stampa di luglio;
- la seconda, le responsabilita' della Del Ponte nell'insabbiamento
dell'inchiesta Mabetex-Pacolli e nella morte di alcuni testimoni,
denunciate nell'intervista a F. Turover che riproduciamo in allegato.
Sulla strana carriera della Del Ponte si veda anche:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2443
=== 2 ===
LIBERTA’ PER SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC!
Dichiarazione di Ghennadij Zjuganov
www.kprf.ru
1 agosto 2003
Sono nuovamente peggiorate le condizioni di salute del più noto
prigioniero politico del mondo: l’ex presidente della Repubblica
Federale di Jugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic. La malattia si è talmente
acutizzata che persino l’ingiusto tribunale della NATO si è visto
costretto a sospendere il suo lavoro.
L’opinione pubblica mondiale ha ripetutamente richiesto di inviare
all’ex capo di stato jugoslavo in carcere medici dalla Jugoslavia e da
altri paesi, per procedere a consulti regolari e per assicurargli cure
specialistiche. Ma i giudici del tribunale NATO e le autorità olandesi
si rifiutano nel modo più vergognoso di adempiere agli obblighi più
elementari nei confronti del prigioniero politico S. Milosevic.
Il Partito Comunista della Federazione Russa (PCFR) e l’Unione Popolare
Patriottica di Russia (UPPR) esigono la liberazione immediata di
Slobodan Milosevic dalla prigionia.
Egli deve avere la possibilità di ristabilire completamente la propria
salute a Belgrado, presso i medici che lo seguono da molti anni.
Slobodan Milosevic deve anche avere la possibilità di prepararsi alla
seconda fase del processo, in cui presenterà le prove della sua
innocenza riguardo ai crimini, che gli vengono falsamente imputati dal
“tribunale” della NATO dell’Aia.
Traduzione dal russo di Mauro Gemma
=== ALLEGATO ===
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2137
Felipe Turover:
"Carla Del Ponte ha rivelato ai killer come trovarmi"
Articolo apparso sulla rivista KONKRET, dicembre 2002
Vedi anche:
http://www.konkret-verlage.de
http://www.juergen-elsaesser.de
"La giustizia è donna" aveva detto il Segretario Generale dell'ONU,
Kofi Annan, riferendosi a Carla Del Ponte, Pubblico Ministero nel
processo presso il Tribunale dell'Aia contro Slobodan Milosevic. Sono
invece di tutt'altro segno le esperienze fatte da Felipe Turover con il
magistrato svizzero. L'uomo, un trentasettenne, proviene da una
famiglia spagnola repubblicana; i suoi genitori erano fuggiti da
Franco, assieme a lui, nell'Unione Sovietica. Dopo la morte del
dittatore, Turover tornò nella sua patria per ritornare di nuovo a
Mosca, verso la fine degli anni Ottanta, in veste di consulente
finanziario, pronto a partecipare agli sviluppi positivi promessi dalla
Perestrojka. Ha lavorato con il governo Jelzin dal 1992 fino al 1999,
nella cogestione dei crediti con le banche creditrici occidentali.
(Intervista)
Elsaesser: Lei è il testimone principale dell'accusa nell'affare
Mabetex, diventato famoso come "Russia-Gate". Di che cosa si tratta e
come c'entra Carla Del Ponte con questo affare?
Turover: La Mabetex è un'azienda che opera nel settore dell'edilizia,
con sede a Lugano, nella Svizzera italiana. Titolare dell'azienda è
l'albanese-kosovaro Beghijet Pacolli, che nel frattempo ha ottenuto un
passaporto svizzero. Pacolli ed il suo socio d'affari, Viktor
Stolpowskich, durante gli anni Novanta hanno ricevuto dal Cremlino
appalti nell'ordine di due miliardi di Euro, in divisa odierna,
apparentemente per lavori di costruzione e di risanamento nel quartiere
governativo e presidenziale.
E' ormai provato che nell'ambito di questi appalti sono scomparsi
miliardi di dollari verso l'estero e, in direzione opposta, sono
affluite a Mosca tangenti miliardarie. Pacolli ha firmato le
fidejussioni per carte di credito intestate a Jelzin ed alle due figlie
di Jelzin, secondo quanto viene confermato dalla Banca del Gottardo che
aveva emesso le carte di credito. Carla del Ponte, all'epoca Pubblico
Ministero della Confederazione, si era messa in contatto con me durante
l'anno 1997 invitandomi a rendermi disponibile a deporre, in veste di
testimone, su questa faccenda. Più tardi, Carla Del Ponte ha invitato
il Pubblico Ministero russo Jurji Skuratow, che ricopriva l'incarico di
giudice inquirente, a recarsi in Svizzera dove me lo ha fatto
conoscere. All'epoca, Carla Del Ponte aveva già la reputazione di una
paladina della giustizia e perciò io avevo fiducia in lei. Questo è
stato un errore che per un pelo non mi è costato la vita.
Elsaesser: E perché?
Turover: Io mi basavo sull'onestà ed avevo fatto presente a Del Ponte,
sin dall'inizio, che la mia deposizione mi avrebbe esposto al pericolo
di morte. Occorre considerare che all'epoca lavoravo ancora come
consulente per i vertici del governo russo - cioè esattamente per le
persone contro le quali i miei documenti fornivano prove di gravi reati
a loro carico. Ma cosa fece la signora Del Ponte? Comunico' alla stampa
il mio nome completo, precisando anche la mia funzione. Era come se io,
dalla città di Medellin, avessi dato informazioni sul clan degli
Escobar direttamente alla polizia anti-droga degli USA, per leggere poi
sul New York Times, stando sempre a Medellin, il mio nome come quello
del testimone principale convocato contro Escobar. Nel mio caso non si
trattava di Medellin, ma di Mosca, ed il giornale in questione era il
Corriere della Sera, ma l'effetto era tale e quale: ero "bruciato", e
sono riuscito a salvarmi la vita solo grazie ad una fuga precipitosa da
Mosca. Da allora, cioè, da ormai tre anni, vivo da clandestino. Per
questa mia situazione devo ringraziare Carla Del Ponte. E' stata lei ad
indicare ai killer la strada che porta a me.
Elsaesser: Ma non sta forse esagerando parecchio? Che responsabilità
può avere un Pubblico Ministero svizzero per un articolo uscito su di
un quotidiano italiano?
Turover: I due giornalisti del Corriere hanno avuto tutte le loro
informazioni dalla Del Ponte, anche il mio numero di cellulare. Loro
stessi me l'hanno confermato, perché sanno che la mia vita è in
pericolo.
Elsaesser: La Del Ponte ha smentito questo.
Turover: Allora sta dicendo il falso. Io viceversa ho confermato la
mia versione già molte volte, senza mai essere stato querelato dalla
Del Ponte per calunnia. Il motivo è semplice: lei non ha alcuna prova,
io invece, sì.
Elsaesser: Il capo della Mabetex, Pacolli, non è poi soltanto un pezzo
grosso nel settore dell'edilizia: si dice che avrebbe anche saldi
legami con i terroristi dell'UCK kosovaro-albanese.
Turover: E' proprio così. Secondo le sue proprie affermazioni, al suo
gruppo di imprese farebbe capo, almeno fino al 2000, anche il
quotidiano kosovaro-albanese Bota Sot che è stato incriminato perfino
dall'OSCE per gli articoli razzisti che pubblica. Questo giornale
conduce una campagna razzista, innanzitutto a danno dei serbi, ma è
anche antisemita in quanto mi aveva bollato come "il giudeo Turnover".
Elsaesser: Nel caso che tangenti kosovaro-albanesi siano state pagate
al clan di Jelzin, avremmo una spiegazione per il comportamento del
Presidente della Russia durante la primavera del 1999. Mentre la NATO
stava preparando la guerra contro la Jugoslavia, Jelzin non ha mosso un
dito per difendere il popolo serbo, ufficialmente popolo fratello.
Durante la Conferenza di Rambouillet, ad esempio, mentre gli Stati-NATO
prendevano una posizione estremamente unilaterale a favore degli
albanesi, Mosca non protestò, e ciò benche' i suoi diplomatici
partecipassero al tavolo delle trattative. Gli albanesi-kosovari
avevano forse comprato un atteggiamento passivo da parte di Jelzin?
Turover: Questo potrebbe spiegare come sono andare le cose. Queste
storie costituiscono una simbiosi di politica, saccheggio e lavaggio di
danaro in grande stile.
Elsaesser: E nel caso della Del Ponte?
Turover: Tutte le indagini condotte in Svizzera per il caso Mabetex
sono state archiviate per motivi politici su disposizione delle
altissime gerarchie. Di più: i documenti trasmessi, a suo tempo, dal
magistrato russo Skuratow alla sua collega svizzera Del Ponte sono
finiti, per vie misteriose, presso Pacolli. Pacolli ha informato i suoi
amici a Mosca, Jelzin e Borodin. In seguito, Skuratow, un giurista
onesto e competente, è stato destituito - e ciò benche' il Senato russo
si fosse espresso, quasi all'unisono, a suo favore. La fine della
carriera di Skuratow ha segnato anche la fine delle indagini sulla
Mabetex - la più recente indagine è stata archiviata nel dicembre 2000.
Elsaesser: La Del Ponte si è mossa in veste di protettrice della mafia
albanese, oppure del clan Jelzin?
Turover: Ne' l'uno ne' l'altro. Lei si muove soltanto nell'interesse
proprio. E' totalmente indifferente agli obiettivi politici. Consideri,
ad esempio, che quando decise di rendere pubbliche le sue conoscenze
sulla faccenda Mabetex, compreso il mio nome, eravamo alla fine
dell'agosto 1999. Questo non fu soltanto un colpo contro di me, ma
anche contro Jelzin. E' vero che lei successivamente non contino' le
sue indagini, ma nel preciso momento in cui fece le sue rivelazioni,
queste avevano danneggiato Jelzin gravemente. Poco prima di queste
rivelazioni, nell'estate 1999, vi fu la spettacolare azione dei soldati
russi d'elite nel Kosovo: dopo l'armistizio, avevano occupato
l'aeroporto di Pristina, mentre le forze della NATO arrivarono in
ritardo. Per un pelo non è scoppiata la terza guerra mondiale per
questo incidente, come spiegò allora il capo britannico delle forze
KFOR, Michael Jackson. Mosca stava giocando una carta molto importante,
voleva prendere possesso di una propria zona di occupazione nel Kosovo
per poter proteggere i serbi. Per tenere testa all'imbarazzante sfida
russa, Jelzin doveva essere abbattuto. Quindi, l'allora Ministro degli
Esteri USA, Madeleine Albright, si incontrò nel luglio 1999
nell'aeroporto londinese di Heathrow con la Del Ponte, probabilmente
per fare presente l'urgenza della situazione. In agosto poi, tramite il
Corriere della Sera, la Del Ponte fa le sue rivelazioni al pubblico
incalzando il governo di Mosca con un'ulteriore dichiarazione fatta in
settembre alla CNN, nella quale denuncia la corruzione del governo
russo. Jelzin è messo alle strette e deve temere una procedura di
destituzione, accompagnata perfino da una processo penale. Verso la
fine di settembre, due attentati dinamitardi colpiscono Mosca e gli
danno subito respiro. Apparentemente gli attentati sono stati
perpetrati da terroristi ceceni e, di conseguenza, forze armate russe
invadono la Cecenia distraendo l'opinione pubblica dalla faccenda
Russia-Gate.
Elsaesser: In queste circostanze la Del Ponte si era mossa su
disposizione di Washington?
Turover: Lei non è ne' pro-americana ne' filo-albanese. Si muove
all'inseguimento dell'interesse svizzero, cioè, nell'interesse della
politica favorevole alla mafia, condotta dalla Svizzera.
Elsaesser: Quest'affermazione chiede di essere spiegata meglio.
Turover: La Svizzera e le banche svizzere campano innanzitutto grazie
al riciclaggio di denaro. Tutti i dittatori e tutti i grandi criminali
di questo mondo depositano i loro soldi sporchi qui; innanzitutto il
Canton Ticino si presta in modo favoloso: basta attraversare i confine
tra l'Italia e la Svizzera con i milioni in una valigia o nel cassetto
del cruscotto. Lo sanno tutti i politici del Ticino e tutti ne traggono
vantaggio. E la del Ponte, come Procuratore del Cantone Ticino, aveva
protetto queste pratiche già prima dell'affare Mabetex, sorto negli
anni Novanta. Guardi, ad esempio, il caso di una società per azioni di
Chiasso, contro la quale fu aperta un'indagine per il sospetto di
coinvolgimento nel lavaggio di denaro per conto della mafia italiana.
La Del Ponte fece archiviare le indagini. La del Ponte è,
innanzitutto, pro-Del Ponte. Farebbe di tutto per promuovere la propria
carriera, metterebbe sotto accusa perfino George W. Bush. Come
giurista, del resto, vale zero. Lei riesce ad immaginarsi che, per
quanto ne sappia io, nel corso della sua intera carriera, la Del Ponte
non ha vinto una sola causa da Pubblico Ministero? La sua unica
capacità e quella della promozione di se stessa, il marketing di se
stessa.
Elsaesser: Il suo accordo con la Albright è, comunque, risultato
vantaggioso. Poco dopo, si e' vista promossa Pubblico Ministero al
Tribunale dell'Aia - su proposta di Washington. Il giornale di Zurigo,
Die Weltwoche, s'e' meravigliato: "Per quale motivo gli americani
l'abbiano voluta come successore della scomoda, precocemente
dimissionata Louise Arbour, rimane un mistero. In fin dei conti, non
hanno mai nascosto il fatto cheritengono il Tribunale una gran cosa
inutile."
Turover: La Del Ponte ed il governo della Svizzera hanno aiutato la
Albright e come compenso - gli americani sono gente onesta, pagano per
l'esecuzione delle loro commissioni - Del Ponte ha avuto l'incarico
all'Aia. Anche su quella poltrona riesce a vendersi molto bene. E
ciononostante, il processo e' una grande catastrofe. Non ha nulla in
mano contro Milosevic, il quale, per legge, sarebbe dovuto essere
rilasciato da tempo. In questo modo Milosevic, che è soltanto un
bandito ed un truffatore, riesce a presentarsi nel ruolo di un
perseguitato innocente, mentre il nazionalismo serbo viene
incoraggiato, come hanno dimostrato le ultime elezioni. Ma è possibile
che all'Aia non sappiano che il governo svizzero ha dato incarico
speciale ad un giudice per svolgere indagini a carico della Del Ponte?
Com'è possibile che una donna rimanga al suo posto quale Pubblico
Ministero di un Tribunale dell'ONU per crimini di guerra, mentre essa
stessa è sottoposta ad indagini per il sospetto di essere coinvolta in
crimini gravi?
Elsaesser: Nel marzo 2001 lei ha sporto una denuncia contro Carla Del
Ponte ed ignoti, tra l'altro per avere messo in pericolo la sua vita e
per tentato assassinio nell'ambito dell'affare Russia-Gate. Ma il
Pubblico Ministero della Svizzera, Valentin Roschacher, ha respinto
l'accusa mossa contro il suo predecessore. Come fa allora, a sostenere
che ci sarebbero indagini speciali in corso contro la Del Ponte?
Turover: Il Roschacher ha protetto la Del Ponte e perciò l'ho
denunciato per favoreggiamento nei confronti della Del Ponte. Questa
denuncia non solo è stata accolta, ma nel maggio 2002 è stato
incaricato persino un Inquirente speciale dal Consiglio Confederale
della Svizzera, Arthur Hublard, ex Pubblico Ministero del Cantone Jura.
E' lui chi conduce, adesso, le indagini in seguito alla mia accusa
contro Roschacher - ma con ciò, la faccenda Del Ponte riaffiora
finalmente. Ho inoltre intentato una causa contro la Svizzera davanti
al Tribunale Europeo per i Diritti Umani a Strasburgo.
Elsaesser: Contro la Svizzera - non contro la Del Ponte?
Turover: A Strasburgo non si può querelare una persona privata. Ma
nella sostanza, la mia querela è diretta, innanzitutto, contro la Del
Ponte, perché operando come Pubblico Ministero della Svizzera, lei ha
esposto a pericolo la mia vita. E' insensato che lei possa continuare a
rappresentare l'accusa all'Aia, mentre a suo carico sono in corso due
cause specifiche.
Elsaesser: Lei vive sotto falso nome nella clandestinità, cambiando
continuamente domicilio. Per quanto tempo ancora pensa di reggere in
questa situazione?
Turover: A causa della del Ponte sono costretto a vivere così,
altrimenti sarei un uomo morto. Ovviamente ho preso le mie precauzioni
provvedendo a che, in caso di una mia morte, informazioni ancora più
scottanti affiorino. Ma certamente, non ne ricavo una tranquillità per
la mia vita. Ad ogni modo, finora sono stati già eliminati almeno
cinque testimoni dell'accusa nell'affare Mabetex. La vittima più
recente era la segretaria personale di Pacolli, una signora 32enne,
trovata morta nel suo bagno, apparentemente in seguito ad un coagulo
del sangue. Sul cadavere non e' stata condotta alcuna autopsia, ed il
giorno dopo il decesso esso e' stato cremato.
L'intervista è stato condotta da Juergen Elsaesser.
[Ringraziamo Susanne per la traduzione. Revisione di A.M.]
1. Carla Del Ponte scende sempre piu' in basso
2. Dichiarazione di Ghennadij Zjuganov
Allegato: "Carla Del Ponte ha rivelato ai killer come trovarmi"
=== 1 ===
Carla Del Ponte scende sempre piu' in basso
(a cura di I. Slavo)
La procuratrice svizzera Carla Del Ponte, "pubblico ministero" al
"processo dell'Aia" contro Milosevic, ha recentemente rilasciato una
comica intervista al settimanale svizzero "Die Weltwoche" (n. 32/03, si
veda:
http://weltwoche.ch/ressort_bericht.asp?asset_id=5538&category_id=60 ,
ripresa anche da Expres, Belgrado, n.29/7).
Eccone alcuni stralci:
---
Nel suo ufficio, subito vicino alla porta, un grande poster segnaletico
per la cattura con la scritta: «Up to $ 5 Mio. Reward» (Fino a 5
milioni di dollari) e tre grandi fotografie - di Milosevic, Karadzic e
Mladic. Sulla foto di Milosevic e' stato tracciato con violenza un
segno a penna, e fintantoche non potra' fare lo stesso con le altre due
teste la 57enne Carla Del Ponte non lascera' il suo ufficio di
procuratore generale al Tribunale dell'Aia...
...Deve cercare sostegno politico soprattutto in Occidente, per il suo
lavoro. Li chiama 'pellegrinaggi' - non sono proprio la sua occupazione
prediletta, benche' varie foto nell'ufficio li testimonino... Una
stretta di mano con il ministro degli esteri USA Colin Powell, e di
quest'ultimo anche la affettuosa dedica «To Carla, with admiration and
best wishes».
...Due matrimoni non sono sopravvissuti allo zelo di Carla del Ponte
per la propria carriera professionale. Ama i gioielli e le automobili
veloci, ma oltre ad essere stata entusiasta guidatrice di Porsche, essa
intraprende oggi anche tour in bicicletta per l'Olanda, dove le e'
capitato di andare a sbattere contro la propria guardia del corpo,
ferendosi un ginocchio.
"...Naturalmente siamo felici per ogni arresto, ma io aspetto ancora 17
persone (...) tra cui 2 grossi nomi - Karadzic e Mladic. La
soddisfazione e' dunque ancora incompleta..."
"...Karadzic e' nella Repubblica Srpska, ben nascosto. Viene difeso da
tutto il popolo, per loro lui e' un eroe... Nessuno lo
consegnerebbe, dunque questo lo devono fare la SFOR e la NATO... E'
davvero sorprendente... Quando dal comando supremo arrivano 150 soldati
con automezzi blindati ed elicotteri per arrestare Karadzic, lui riesce
a saperlo ed in 5 minuti scompare... Mladic e' in Serbia protetto da
settori dell'esercito"
[Qui Del Ponte prosegue sostenendo che Esercito e Polizia in Serbia si
scaricherebbero la palla a vicenda, IS.]
...Che cosa la motiva nel suo lavoro?
"La giustizia. Ed anche l'esperienza personale con 350 donne di
Srebrenica..."
[Forse le stesse andate a protestare dopo la cattura del signor Nasir
Oric? IS.]
...Lei ha materiale a sufficienza per condannare Milosevic?
"Credo di si... Gia' solo per i crimini di guerra in Croazia e Kosovo
lo potremmo dal mio punto di vista condannare all'ergastolo."
[Dal suo punto di vista, sicuramente Milosevic si potrebbe condannare
all'ergastolo anche senza processo. Comunque, in base ad altre fonti la
Del Ponte ha promesso di tirare fuori nuove "prove evidenti" e
"decisive" contro Milosevic dopo l'estate - in particolare ottobre
dovrebbe essere "decisivo" (intervista all'AP 16/7/03). IS.]
...C'e' qualcuno che lei vorrebbe assolutamente vedere giudicato da
questo nuovo Tribunale penale internazionale?
"Saddam Hussein."
...In Serbia la hanno odiata a lungo. E' migliorato qualcosa negli
scorsi mesi? Oggi lei se ne andrebbe in giro da sola per Belgrado una
sera?
"No, no di certo."
"...Per riuscire ad arrestare Mladic, (Djindjic) doveva riorganizzare
l'esercito e la polizia. Due settimane prima di morire mi disse che per
ora questo era impossibile. Ma dopo avermi spiegato i suoi piani
aggiunse anche: «They will kill me.» (mi ammazzeranno). Non intendeva
proprio sul serio... E' stato ucciso perche' voleva arrestare gli
elementi criminali in Serbia, ed i criminali di guerra. Credeva nel
futuro del proprio paese."
Commenti della stampa francese ed anche voci dalla Serbia sostengono
che lei sia responsabile della morte di Djindjic. Questo deve averla
colpita.
"Proprio per niente. Io so bene come e' andata tra noi e Djindjic.
Quello che mi ha colpito e' stata la sua morte. Una amara ironia in
tutto questo sta nel fatto che con la sua morte a Belgrado molte cose
sono migliorate. Solo la sua morte ha consentito di colpire la
criminalita'..."
---
Si noti il cinismo della Del Ponte, che dimentica di spiegare che a
Belgrado dopo la morte di Djindjic e' stato instaurato un regime
autoritario, che esistono denunce di ogni parte sulle violazioni dei
diritti umani, e che il governo si e' ripetutamente spaccato per le
accuse incrociate di legami con la mafia e la criminalita'.
Nell'intervista la del Ponte e' anche evasiva su Berlusconi, sui suoi
rapporti con la mafia ed il conflitto tra politica e magistratura in
Italia.
Infine, brillano per la loro assenza dall'intervista due questioni
scottanti:
- la prima, l'annunciata sostituzione della Del Ponte dalla funzione di
pubblico ministero nel processo per il Ruanda, sostituzione che si dice
sia voluta da Annan, e della quale si e' parlato sulla stampa di luglio;
- la seconda, le responsabilita' della Del Ponte nell'insabbiamento
dell'inchiesta Mabetex-Pacolli e nella morte di alcuni testimoni,
denunciate nell'intervista a F. Turover che riproduciamo in allegato.
Sulla strana carriera della Del Ponte si veda anche:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2443
=== 2 ===
LIBERTA’ PER SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC!
Dichiarazione di Ghennadij Zjuganov
www.kprf.ru
1 agosto 2003
Sono nuovamente peggiorate le condizioni di salute del più noto
prigioniero politico del mondo: l’ex presidente della Repubblica
Federale di Jugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic. La malattia si è talmente
acutizzata che persino l’ingiusto tribunale della NATO si è visto
costretto a sospendere il suo lavoro.
L’opinione pubblica mondiale ha ripetutamente richiesto di inviare
all’ex capo di stato jugoslavo in carcere medici dalla Jugoslavia e da
altri paesi, per procedere a consulti regolari e per assicurargli cure
specialistiche. Ma i giudici del tribunale NATO e le autorità olandesi
si rifiutano nel modo più vergognoso di adempiere agli obblighi più
elementari nei confronti del prigioniero politico S. Milosevic.
Il Partito Comunista della Federazione Russa (PCFR) e l’Unione Popolare
Patriottica di Russia (UPPR) esigono la liberazione immediata di
Slobodan Milosevic dalla prigionia.
Egli deve avere la possibilità di ristabilire completamente la propria
salute a Belgrado, presso i medici che lo seguono da molti anni.
Slobodan Milosevic deve anche avere la possibilità di prepararsi alla
seconda fase del processo, in cui presenterà le prove della sua
innocenza riguardo ai crimini, che gli vengono falsamente imputati dal
“tribunale” della NATO dell’Aia.
Traduzione dal russo di Mauro Gemma
=== ALLEGATO ===
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2137
Felipe Turover:
"Carla Del Ponte ha rivelato ai killer come trovarmi"
Articolo apparso sulla rivista KONKRET, dicembre 2002
Vedi anche:
http://www.konkret-verlage.de
http://www.juergen-elsaesser.de
"La giustizia è donna" aveva detto il Segretario Generale dell'ONU,
Kofi Annan, riferendosi a Carla Del Ponte, Pubblico Ministero nel
processo presso il Tribunale dell'Aia contro Slobodan Milosevic. Sono
invece di tutt'altro segno le esperienze fatte da Felipe Turover con il
magistrato svizzero. L'uomo, un trentasettenne, proviene da una
famiglia spagnola repubblicana; i suoi genitori erano fuggiti da
Franco, assieme a lui, nell'Unione Sovietica. Dopo la morte del
dittatore, Turover tornò nella sua patria per ritornare di nuovo a
Mosca, verso la fine degli anni Ottanta, in veste di consulente
finanziario, pronto a partecipare agli sviluppi positivi promessi dalla
Perestrojka. Ha lavorato con il governo Jelzin dal 1992 fino al 1999,
nella cogestione dei crediti con le banche creditrici occidentali.
(Intervista)
Elsaesser: Lei è il testimone principale dell'accusa nell'affare
Mabetex, diventato famoso come "Russia-Gate". Di che cosa si tratta e
come c'entra Carla Del Ponte con questo affare?
Turover: La Mabetex è un'azienda che opera nel settore dell'edilizia,
con sede a Lugano, nella Svizzera italiana. Titolare dell'azienda è
l'albanese-kosovaro Beghijet Pacolli, che nel frattempo ha ottenuto un
passaporto svizzero. Pacolli ed il suo socio d'affari, Viktor
Stolpowskich, durante gli anni Novanta hanno ricevuto dal Cremlino
appalti nell'ordine di due miliardi di Euro, in divisa odierna,
apparentemente per lavori di costruzione e di risanamento nel quartiere
governativo e presidenziale.
E' ormai provato che nell'ambito di questi appalti sono scomparsi
miliardi di dollari verso l'estero e, in direzione opposta, sono
affluite a Mosca tangenti miliardarie. Pacolli ha firmato le
fidejussioni per carte di credito intestate a Jelzin ed alle due figlie
di Jelzin, secondo quanto viene confermato dalla Banca del Gottardo che
aveva emesso le carte di credito. Carla del Ponte, all'epoca Pubblico
Ministero della Confederazione, si era messa in contatto con me durante
l'anno 1997 invitandomi a rendermi disponibile a deporre, in veste di
testimone, su questa faccenda. Più tardi, Carla Del Ponte ha invitato
il Pubblico Ministero russo Jurji Skuratow, che ricopriva l'incarico di
giudice inquirente, a recarsi in Svizzera dove me lo ha fatto
conoscere. All'epoca, Carla Del Ponte aveva già la reputazione di una
paladina della giustizia e perciò io avevo fiducia in lei. Questo è
stato un errore che per un pelo non mi è costato la vita.
Elsaesser: E perché?
Turover: Io mi basavo sull'onestà ed avevo fatto presente a Del Ponte,
sin dall'inizio, che la mia deposizione mi avrebbe esposto al pericolo
di morte. Occorre considerare che all'epoca lavoravo ancora come
consulente per i vertici del governo russo - cioè esattamente per le
persone contro le quali i miei documenti fornivano prove di gravi reati
a loro carico. Ma cosa fece la signora Del Ponte? Comunico' alla stampa
il mio nome completo, precisando anche la mia funzione. Era come se io,
dalla città di Medellin, avessi dato informazioni sul clan degli
Escobar direttamente alla polizia anti-droga degli USA, per leggere poi
sul New York Times, stando sempre a Medellin, il mio nome come quello
del testimone principale convocato contro Escobar. Nel mio caso non si
trattava di Medellin, ma di Mosca, ed il giornale in questione era il
Corriere della Sera, ma l'effetto era tale e quale: ero "bruciato", e
sono riuscito a salvarmi la vita solo grazie ad una fuga precipitosa da
Mosca. Da allora, cioè, da ormai tre anni, vivo da clandestino. Per
questa mia situazione devo ringraziare Carla Del Ponte. E' stata lei ad
indicare ai killer la strada che porta a me.
Elsaesser: Ma non sta forse esagerando parecchio? Che responsabilità
può avere un Pubblico Ministero svizzero per un articolo uscito su di
un quotidiano italiano?
Turover: I due giornalisti del Corriere hanno avuto tutte le loro
informazioni dalla Del Ponte, anche il mio numero di cellulare. Loro
stessi me l'hanno confermato, perché sanno che la mia vita è in
pericolo.
Elsaesser: La Del Ponte ha smentito questo.
Turover: Allora sta dicendo il falso. Io viceversa ho confermato la
mia versione già molte volte, senza mai essere stato querelato dalla
Del Ponte per calunnia. Il motivo è semplice: lei non ha alcuna prova,
io invece, sì.
Elsaesser: Il capo della Mabetex, Pacolli, non è poi soltanto un pezzo
grosso nel settore dell'edilizia: si dice che avrebbe anche saldi
legami con i terroristi dell'UCK kosovaro-albanese.
Turover: E' proprio così. Secondo le sue proprie affermazioni, al suo
gruppo di imprese farebbe capo, almeno fino al 2000, anche il
quotidiano kosovaro-albanese Bota Sot che è stato incriminato perfino
dall'OSCE per gli articoli razzisti che pubblica. Questo giornale
conduce una campagna razzista, innanzitutto a danno dei serbi, ma è
anche antisemita in quanto mi aveva bollato come "il giudeo Turnover".
Elsaesser: Nel caso che tangenti kosovaro-albanesi siano state pagate
al clan di Jelzin, avremmo una spiegazione per il comportamento del
Presidente della Russia durante la primavera del 1999. Mentre la NATO
stava preparando la guerra contro la Jugoslavia, Jelzin non ha mosso un
dito per difendere il popolo serbo, ufficialmente popolo fratello.
Durante la Conferenza di Rambouillet, ad esempio, mentre gli Stati-NATO
prendevano una posizione estremamente unilaterale a favore degli
albanesi, Mosca non protestò, e ciò benche' i suoi diplomatici
partecipassero al tavolo delle trattative. Gli albanesi-kosovari
avevano forse comprato un atteggiamento passivo da parte di Jelzin?
Turover: Questo potrebbe spiegare come sono andare le cose. Queste
storie costituiscono una simbiosi di politica, saccheggio e lavaggio di
danaro in grande stile.
Elsaesser: E nel caso della Del Ponte?
Turover: Tutte le indagini condotte in Svizzera per il caso Mabetex
sono state archiviate per motivi politici su disposizione delle
altissime gerarchie. Di più: i documenti trasmessi, a suo tempo, dal
magistrato russo Skuratow alla sua collega svizzera Del Ponte sono
finiti, per vie misteriose, presso Pacolli. Pacolli ha informato i suoi
amici a Mosca, Jelzin e Borodin. In seguito, Skuratow, un giurista
onesto e competente, è stato destituito - e ciò benche' il Senato russo
si fosse espresso, quasi all'unisono, a suo favore. La fine della
carriera di Skuratow ha segnato anche la fine delle indagini sulla
Mabetex - la più recente indagine è stata archiviata nel dicembre 2000.
Elsaesser: La Del Ponte si è mossa in veste di protettrice della mafia
albanese, oppure del clan Jelzin?
Turover: Ne' l'uno ne' l'altro. Lei si muove soltanto nell'interesse
proprio. E' totalmente indifferente agli obiettivi politici. Consideri,
ad esempio, che quando decise di rendere pubbliche le sue conoscenze
sulla faccenda Mabetex, compreso il mio nome, eravamo alla fine
dell'agosto 1999. Questo non fu soltanto un colpo contro di me, ma
anche contro Jelzin. E' vero che lei successivamente non contino' le
sue indagini, ma nel preciso momento in cui fece le sue rivelazioni,
queste avevano danneggiato Jelzin gravemente. Poco prima di queste
rivelazioni, nell'estate 1999, vi fu la spettacolare azione dei soldati
russi d'elite nel Kosovo: dopo l'armistizio, avevano occupato
l'aeroporto di Pristina, mentre le forze della NATO arrivarono in
ritardo. Per un pelo non è scoppiata la terza guerra mondiale per
questo incidente, come spiegò allora il capo britannico delle forze
KFOR, Michael Jackson. Mosca stava giocando una carta molto importante,
voleva prendere possesso di una propria zona di occupazione nel Kosovo
per poter proteggere i serbi. Per tenere testa all'imbarazzante sfida
russa, Jelzin doveva essere abbattuto. Quindi, l'allora Ministro degli
Esteri USA, Madeleine Albright, si incontrò nel luglio 1999
nell'aeroporto londinese di Heathrow con la Del Ponte, probabilmente
per fare presente l'urgenza della situazione. In agosto poi, tramite il
Corriere della Sera, la Del Ponte fa le sue rivelazioni al pubblico
incalzando il governo di Mosca con un'ulteriore dichiarazione fatta in
settembre alla CNN, nella quale denuncia la corruzione del governo
russo. Jelzin è messo alle strette e deve temere una procedura di
destituzione, accompagnata perfino da una processo penale. Verso la
fine di settembre, due attentati dinamitardi colpiscono Mosca e gli
danno subito respiro. Apparentemente gli attentati sono stati
perpetrati da terroristi ceceni e, di conseguenza, forze armate russe
invadono la Cecenia distraendo l'opinione pubblica dalla faccenda
Russia-Gate.
Elsaesser: In queste circostanze la Del Ponte si era mossa su
disposizione di Washington?
Turover: Lei non è ne' pro-americana ne' filo-albanese. Si muove
all'inseguimento dell'interesse svizzero, cioè, nell'interesse della
politica favorevole alla mafia, condotta dalla Svizzera.
Elsaesser: Quest'affermazione chiede di essere spiegata meglio.
Turover: La Svizzera e le banche svizzere campano innanzitutto grazie
al riciclaggio di denaro. Tutti i dittatori e tutti i grandi criminali
di questo mondo depositano i loro soldi sporchi qui; innanzitutto il
Canton Ticino si presta in modo favoloso: basta attraversare i confine
tra l'Italia e la Svizzera con i milioni in una valigia o nel cassetto
del cruscotto. Lo sanno tutti i politici del Ticino e tutti ne traggono
vantaggio. E la del Ponte, come Procuratore del Cantone Ticino, aveva
protetto queste pratiche già prima dell'affare Mabetex, sorto negli
anni Novanta. Guardi, ad esempio, il caso di una società per azioni di
Chiasso, contro la quale fu aperta un'indagine per il sospetto di
coinvolgimento nel lavaggio di denaro per conto della mafia italiana.
La Del Ponte fece archiviare le indagini. La del Ponte è,
innanzitutto, pro-Del Ponte. Farebbe di tutto per promuovere la propria
carriera, metterebbe sotto accusa perfino George W. Bush. Come
giurista, del resto, vale zero. Lei riesce ad immaginarsi che, per
quanto ne sappia io, nel corso della sua intera carriera, la Del Ponte
non ha vinto una sola causa da Pubblico Ministero? La sua unica
capacità e quella della promozione di se stessa, il marketing di se
stessa.
Elsaesser: Il suo accordo con la Albright è, comunque, risultato
vantaggioso. Poco dopo, si e' vista promossa Pubblico Ministero al
Tribunale dell'Aia - su proposta di Washington. Il giornale di Zurigo,
Die Weltwoche, s'e' meravigliato: "Per quale motivo gli americani
l'abbiano voluta come successore della scomoda, precocemente
dimissionata Louise Arbour, rimane un mistero. In fin dei conti, non
hanno mai nascosto il fatto cheritengono il Tribunale una gran cosa
inutile."
Turover: La Del Ponte ed il governo della Svizzera hanno aiutato la
Albright e come compenso - gli americani sono gente onesta, pagano per
l'esecuzione delle loro commissioni - Del Ponte ha avuto l'incarico
all'Aia. Anche su quella poltrona riesce a vendersi molto bene. E
ciononostante, il processo e' una grande catastrofe. Non ha nulla in
mano contro Milosevic, il quale, per legge, sarebbe dovuto essere
rilasciato da tempo. In questo modo Milosevic, che è soltanto un
bandito ed un truffatore, riesce a presentarsi nel ruolo di un
perseguitato innocente, mentre il nazionalismo serbo viene
incoraggiato, come hanno dimostrato le ultime elezioni. Ma è possibile
che all'Aia non sappiano che il governo svizzero ha dato incarico
speciale ad un giudice per svolgere indagini a carico della Del Ponte?
Com'è possibile che una donna rimanga al suo posto quale Pubblico
Ministero di un Tribunale dell'ONU per crimini di guerra, mentre essa
stessa è sottoposta ad indagini per il sospetto di essere coinvolta in
crimini gravi?
Elsaesser: Nel marzo 2001 lei ha sporto una denuncia contro Carla Del
Ponte ed ignoti, tra l'altro per avere messo in pericolo la sua vita e
per tentato assassinio nell'ambito dell'affare Russia-Gate. Ma il
Pubblico Ministero della Svizzera, Valentin Roschacher, ha respinto
l'accusa mossa contro il suo predecessore. Come fa allora, a sostenere
che ci sarebbero indagini speciali in corso contro la Del Ponte?
Turover: Il Roschacher ha protetto la Del Ponte e perciò l'ho
denunciato per favoreggiamento nei confronti della Del Ponte. Questa
denuncia non solo è stata accolta, ma nel maggio 2002 è stato
incaricato persino un Inquirente speciale dal Consiglio Confederale
della Svizzera, Arthur Hublard, ex Pubblico Ministero del Cantone Jura.
E' lui chi conduce, adesso, le indagini in seguito alla mia accusa
contro Roschacher - ma con ciò, la faccenda Del Ponte riaffiora
finalmente. Ho inoltre intentato una causa contro la Svizzera davanti
al Tribunale Europeo per i Diritti Umani a Strasburgo.
Elsaesser: Contro la Svizzera - non contro la Del Ponte?
Turover: A Strasburgo non si può querelare una persona privata. Ma
nella sostanza, la mia querela è diretta, innanzitutto, contro la Del
Ponte, perché operando come Pubblico Ministero della Svizzera, lei ha
esposto a pericolo la mia vita. E' insensato che lei possa continuare a
rappresentare l'accusa all'Aia, mentre a suo carico sono in corso due
cause specifiche.
Elsaesser: Lei vive sotto falso nome nella clandestinità, cambiando
continuamente domicilio. Per quanto tempo ancora pensa di reggere in
questa situazione?
Turover: A causa della del Ponte sono costretto a vivere così,
altrimenti sarei un uomo morto. Ovviamente ho preso le mie precauzioni
provvedendo a che, in caso di una mia morte, informazioni ancora più
scottanti affiorino. Ma certamente, non ne ricavo una tranquillità per
la mia vita. Ad ogni modo, finora sono stati già eliminati almeno
cinque testimoni dell'accusa nell'affare Mabetex. La vittima più
recente era la segretaria personale di Pacolli, una signora 32enne,
trovata morta nel suo bagno, apparentemente in seguito ad un coagulo
del sangue. Sul cadavere non e' stata condotta alcuna autopsia, ed il
giorno dopo il decesso esso e' stato cremato.
L'intervista è stato condotta da Juergen Elsaesser.
[Ringraziamo Susanne per la traduzione. Revisione di A.M.]
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/papers/history/ranz.html
SERBS, JEWS and BOSNIA
John Ranz
The Jewish Week, July 28, 1995.
A Holocaust Survivor Speaks
What in the world is going on? How is it possible that some Jewish
³leaders" can be so blinded, brainwashed or corrupt and support
Bosnian Moslems in their denying the Serbs their human rights.
Never again will the Serbs be ruled by those who yesterday murdered
their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, kidnapped and forcefully
converted their children to Islam. The Serbs who survived the
Nazi-Bosnian Moslem occupation in their villages cannot forget these
things and want to be free on the soil they tilled for centuries. 65%
of Bosnia was always owned by the Serbs. They were and still are the
peasant class. The Moslems were the rulers; "urban boys;" the elite.
They were the elite because they were converted to Islam. Originally
Bosnia was all Serbs and Croats.
Don't we Jews remember that the Mufti of Jerusalem, the highest Moslem
official in Palestine, Hajj Amin Al-Husseini went to Berlin in 1941
and offered Hitler a Moslem army to help fight the allies and win the
war? His only condition was that after the Nazis win the war Hitler
should liquidate-exterminate the entire Zionist-Jewish population of
the then Palestine. Hitler readily agreed, and the Mufti in a
surprisingly short time organized two divisions of Bosnian Moslems -
incorporated into the S.S.; the most infamous murderers. These Bosnian
Moslem SS soldiers not only burned Serbian villages, churches with the
people to the ground but also murdered most of the Bosnian Jews, 90%
of them. They then volunteered to hunt the Jews in Croatia together
with the Ustashi (the Croatian Nazis). They battled Russians on the
Stalingrad front.
Just imagine if these two divisions would have been a decisive part of
a Nazi victory - not a single Jew, in all of Europe, would have
remained alive...Over 1 million Serbs, 80,000 Jews and 25,000 Gypsies
died and were buried in common graves. They shared our fate.
The Serbs did not want to surrender. They fought Nazis courageously.
In anger, Hitler ordered - no mercy for the Serbs. Belgrade was bombed
and for each Nazi soldier who died in Serbia, 100 Serbs were executed.
Jews were killed anyway.
As incredible and incomprehensible as it may seem, there are Jewish
"leaders" today that urge that the U.S. should follow in Hitler's
footsteps and bomb the Serbs.
In the Serbian mountains Jews were welcomed by the Serbian partisans
with open arms, and the 5,000 that survived in Yugoslavia survived
among the partisans. At the same time the Serbs helped 500 American
fliers to survive when they were shot down by the Nazi Wehrmacht. The
Serbs protected them until the end of the war at the risk of
endangering their own lives.
July 5, 1995 at Ravna Gora these American fliers, under the leadership
of Major Richard Felman (a Jew) returned to Bosnia to say "thank you
Serbian people for saving our lives" and they embraced and kissed each
other, the Serbs and the Americans, and cried.
But all that was 50 years ago, "today is different" the "wise"
admirers of bombing say. ..So let's see. Bosnia is being more and more
converted into an Islamic fundamentalist country where the Serbs were
and would be again - second-class citizens. President Izetbegovic
declared that in Bosnia today there is no place for any other
philosophies but Islam.
Today in Bosnia hundreds of Hamas and Hetzbolah volunteers are getting
special courses how to commit terror in Israd (Yediot Achronot related
by the Forward 7-15-94, page 3). They stated that after defeating the
Serbs, they will "finish" Israel. They get all the weapons they need
from Iran, Iraq. ..The embargo is non existent.
Aren't these Hamas volunteers the new Nazis of today, helped and
supported by the government of Moslem Bosnia? And Jewish ³leaders² the
A. Lewises, Safires and even the long discredited Wiesenthal Centre in
Los Angeles (an insult to the Memory of the Holocaust) are urging
Clinton to bomb the Serb ..Aren't these people betraying the memory of
the Holocaust, the victims of Nazism, Jews and non-Jews alike? Yes
these people are with the Hamas and other Moslem fundamentalist and
are helping them to de troy the Serbs and Israel.
And finally "The New Order," the organ of the American Nazis, in the
issue of Feb. 1994 calls on all National Socialists, here and in
Europe, to join the war against "Communist Serbs." Standing
triumphantly on top of a tank is a uniformed Nazi. This is today, not
50 years ago.
White Nazis, Islamic Nazis, they both have the same objectives - to
kill the Serbs and then the Jews. The Nazis and some Jewish "leaders"
urge our President, NATO, and now Germany to bomb and bomb instead of,
as A.M. Rosenthal from the New York Times suggested to negotiate with
the Bosnian and Croatian Serbs an agreement they can live with,
guaranteeing the Serbs their right to self determination and freedom
from a nightmare they lived first under the Turks and then under the
Nazis.
We Jews have a choice: urge the president and the congress to
negotiate with the Serbs for a peaceful solution for which the Serbs
are ready; or join the White Nazis and the Hamas Moslem Nazis and urge
to bomb the Serbs and widen the war. We must decide, some of our
"leaders" already did. Our dead are listening.
John Ranz, Chairperson
Survivors of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Box 14, Homecrest
Station, Brooklyn, NY 11229
END
This article does not have permission of the copyright by owner, but is
being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use"
provisions of the Federal copyright laws
SERBS, JEWS and BOSNIA
John Ranz
The Jewish Week, July 28, 1995.
A Holocaust Survivor Speaks
What in the world is going on? How is it possible that some Jewish
³leaders" can be so blinded, brainwashed or corrupt and support
Bosnian Moslems in their denying the Serbs their human rights.
Never again will the Serbs be ruled by those who yesterday murdered
their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, kidnapped and forcefully
converted their children to Islam. The Serbs who survived the
Nazi-Bosnian Moslem occupation in their villages cannot forget these
things and want to be free on the soil they tilled for centuries. 65%
of Bosnia was always owned by the Serbs. They were and still are the
peasant class. The Moslems were the rulers; "urban boys;" the elite.
They were the elite because they were converted to Islam. Originally
Bosnia was all Serbs and Croats.
Don't we Jews remember that the Mufti of Jerusalem, the highest Moslem
official in Palestine, Hajj Amin Al-Husseini went to Berlin in 1941
and offered Hitler a Moslem army to help fight the allies and win the
war? His only condition was that after the Nazis win the war Hitler
should liquidate-exterminate the entire Zionist-Jewish population of
the then Palestine. Hitler readily agreed, and the Mufti in a
surprisingly short time organized two divisions of Bosnian Moslems -
incorporated into the S.S.; the most infamous murderers. These Bosnian
Moslem SS soldiers not only burned Serbian villages, churches with the
people to the ground but also murdered most of the Bosnian Jews, 90%
of them. They then volunteered to hunt the Jews in Croatia together
with the Ustashi (the Croatian Nazis). They battled Russians on the
Stalingrad front.
Just imagine if these two divisions would have been a decisive part of
a Nazi victory - not a single Jew, in all of Europe, would have
remained alive...Over 1 million Serbs, 80,000 Jews and 25,000 Gypsies
died and were buried in common graves. They shared our fate.
The Serbs did not want to surrender. They fought Nazis courageously.
In anger, Hitler ordered - no mercy for the Serbs. Belgrade was bombed
and for each Nazi soldier who died in Serbia, 100 Serbs were executed.
Jews were killed anyway.
As incredible and incomprehensible as it may seem, there are Jewish
"leaders" today that urge that the U.S. should follow in Hitler's
footsteps and bomb the Serbs.
In the Serbian mountains Jews were welcomed by the Serbian partisans
with open arms, and the 5,000 that survived in Yugoslavia survived
among the partisans. At the same time the Serbs helped 500 American
fliers to survive when they were shot down by the Nazi Wehrmacht. The
Serbs protected them until the end of the war at the risk of
endangering their own lives.
July 5, 1995 at Ravna Gora these American fliers, under the leadership
of Major Richard Felman (a Jew) returned to Bosnia to say "thank you
Serbian people for saving our lives" and they embraced and kissed each
other, the Serbs and the Americans, and cried.
But all that was 50 years ago, "today is different" the "wise"
admirers of bombing say. ..So let's see. Bosnia is being more and more
converted into an Islamic fundamentalist country where the Serbs were
and would be again - second-class citizens. President Izetbegovic
declared that in Bosnia today there is no place for any other
philosophies but Islam.
Today in Bosnia hundreds of Hamas and Hetzbolah volunteers are getting
special courses how to commit terror in Israd (Yediot Achronot related
by the Forward 7-15-94, page 3). They stated that after defeating the
Serbs, they will "finish" Israel. They get all the weapons they need
from Iran, Iraq. ..The embargo is non existent.
Aren't these Hamas volunteers the new Nazis of today, helped and
supported by the government of Moslem Bosnia? And Jewish ³leaders² the
A. Lewises, Safires and even the long discredited Wiesenthal Centre in
Los Angeles (an insult to the Memory of the Holocaust) are urging
Clinton to bomb the Serb ..Aren't these people betraying the memory of
the Holocaust, the victims of Nazism, Jews and non-Jews alike? Yes
these people are with the Hamas and other Moslem fundamentalist and
are helping them to de troy the Serbs and Israel.
And finally "The New Order," the organ of the American Nazis, in the
issue of Feb. 1994 calls on all National Socialists, here and in
Europe, to join the war against "Communist Serbs." Standing
triumphantly on top of a tank is a uniformed Nazi. This is today, not
50 years ago.
White Nazis, Islamic Nazis, they both have the same objectives - to
kill the Serbs and then the Jews. The Nazis and some Jewish "leaders"
urge our President, NATO, and now Germany to bomb and bomb instead of,
as A.M. Rosenthal from the New York Times suggested to negotiate with
the Bosnian and Croatian Serbs an agreement they can live with,
guaranteeing the Serbs their right to self determination and freedom
from a nightmare they lived first under the Turks and then under the
Nazis.
We Jews have a choice: urge the president and the congress to
negotiate with the Serbs for a peaceful solution for which the Serbs
are ready; or join the White Nazis and the Hamas Moslem Nazis and urge
to bomb the Serbs and widen the war. We must decide, some of our
"leaders" already did. Our dead are listening.
John Ranz, Chairperson
Survivors of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Box 14, Homecrest
Station, Brooklyn, NY 11229
END
This article does not have permission of the copyright by owner, but is
being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use"
provisions of the Federal copyright laws
Social massacre in Serbia (3)
A. DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ISRAEL AND SERBIAMONTENEGRO SIGN COOPERATION
AGREEMENT
B. Links to Human Rights Watch documents on the mistreatment of
political prisoners in Serbia
C. OUTRAGEOUS REGIME ATTACKS CONTINUE
D. Massive Army purge has begun
E. SERBIAN SOLDIERS TO "PEACEKEEPING" MISSIONS: DOS AND OTPOR
"WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT"
F. The New Janissaries
How Low Can Serbia's Rulers Go? (N. Malic)
=== A ===
TADIC: POSSIBLE MILITARY COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL
TEL AVIV,July 30 (Beta)-Serbia&Montenegro Defense
Minister Boris Tadic said on July 30 that he had
talked with senior managers of the Izreali military
and aircraft industry about possible modes of
cooperation and that there was a possibility of
reaching an agreement.
Tadic told BETA in a telephone conversation that the
projects included a certain type of automatic rifle
produced by Serbia&Montenegro and unmanned aerial
vehicles.
Tadic said that these vehicles had important software
components, which could be produced in Serbia and
Montenegro. He added that they had also considered the
possibility of modernizing Russianmade helicopters,
which are commonly used in Serbia&Montenegro and the
neighboring countries.
Tadic, who is on a threeday visit to Israel, said that
an expert meeting had been scheduled, to discuss the
possibility of reaching an agreement with the Isreali
aircraft industry on one of these projects.
He said that he had talked with Izreali Prime Minister
Shimon Perez about the peace process in the Middle
East and the Balkans and the solutions that could be
applied in both cases.
DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ISRAEL AND SERBIAMONTENEGRO SIGN COOPERATION
AGREEMENT
TEL AVIV,July 31 (Beta)-Minister of Defense for
SerbiaMontenegro, Boris Tadic, and the Israeli defense
Minister Saul Mofaz, have signed an agreement on July
30 in Tel Aviv, about a collaboration between the two
ministries.
"We've analyzed the possibilities of
militaryindustrial cooperation, which was the goal of
this visit, modernizing helicopters, new antiterrorism
weapons, which are at a high technological level in
Israel", said Tadic during a telephone conversation
with Beta.
The Defense Minister for SerbiaMontenegro also said
that the results of the visits to Israel will be seen
after expert and work groups from the two countries
meet in Belgrade in September, where a finalization of
all the agreements will be made.
=== B ===
LINKS
to Human Rights Watch documents on the mistreatment of political
prisoners in Serbia:
Serbia: Run-Around on Prison Visits
http://staging.hrw.org/press/2003/05/serbia051403.htm
The Serbian authorities are obstructing efforts by Human Rights Watch
and other nongovernmental organizations to visit people arrested during
the state of emergency, Human Rights Watch said today.
May 14, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: Detainees’ Access to Lawyers Long Overdue
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/05/serbia051003.htm
Serbia should ensure that all persons detained during the state of
emergency promptly get access to lawyers, Human Rights Watch said today.
May 10, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: End Complete Isolation of Detainees
http://hrw.org/press/2003/04/serbia070403.htm
Serbia Should Uphold Council of Europe Standards
Serbia should immediately end the isolation of those detained during
the ongoing state of emergency, Human Rights Watch said today.
April 7, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: Emergency Should Not Trump Basic Rights
http://hrw.org/press/2003/03/serbia032503.htm
Certain restrictions on rights imposed by the Serbian government in the
wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Djindjic may not be
justified under international law, Human Rights Watch said in a letter
(http://hrw.org/press/2003/03/serbia032503-ltr.htm) to Prime Minister
Zoran Zivkovic today.
March 25, 2003 Press Release
=== C ===
From: Vladimir Krsljanin / Sloboda Association
OUTRAGEOUS REGIME ATTACKS CONTINUE
Press Conference of Belgrade Lawyers Mr. Balsa Govedarica and Ms. Sanja
Pejovic
Belgrade, August 4, 2003.
The Belgrade media reported recently that ‘the interrogation of
Slobodan Milosevic by the Belgrade investigative judge is scheduled for
August 6 and 7 in The Hague tribunal’. It is supposed, but never
officially confirmed, that the interrogation is linked with the
“Stambolic case”. The media also quoted a statement of the Hague
tribunal spokesman Jim Landale saying that the interrogation ‘will not
be public, in spite the tribunal is not against the public hearing, but
Belgrade authorities demand that it shall be without public, in the
interest of the investigation’.
Both information have been condemned yesterday by Mr. Balsa Govedarica
and Ms. Sanja Pejovic, the Belgrade legal counsels of President
Milosevic in the “Stambolic” and other recently fabricated cases. They
have underlined that in spite their attempts, they had no insight into
court documents concerning the investigation against President
Milosevic, except the file number – Ki.P. No.1/03. In addition, they
have been orally informed by the investigative judge that he plans to
go to The Hague for the interrogation, but the judge refused to answer
whether he would accept the request of President Milosevic for public
interrogation, nor did he even explain what the interrogation is about.
According to the Hague tribunal rules, the interrogation is possible
only if the detainee agrees.
Govedarica and Pejovic stressed the lack of legality and morality in
the investigation, which makes their job as attorneys almost
impossible. Behind the behavior of the Belgrade authorities, the have
concluded, the obvious intention to make a moral and political
disqualification of President Milosevic is seen. The authorities
continue an illegal and morally unacceptable public campaign against
Slobodan Milosevic and his family and show no will to allow that his
arguments become public. The public campaign led by high government
officials (Interior Minister, Head of the governing coalition
Parliamentary Group) refers to “information obtained in the
investigation”, in spite all the information of the investigation have
been proclaimed “official secret” by the Belgrade District Court. Such
behavior of the authorities and of the Belgrade court violates
international and Serbian law. Under such conditions, when there are no
guarantees for a public and fair interrogation, Mr. Govedarica and Ms.
Pejovic will not travel to The Hague. It is expected that President
Milosevic will not agree to a non-public interrogation.
After launching a campaign of media lynching against President
Milosevic and his family in March 2003, during the “state of
emergency”, the Belgrade puppet regime filed “criminal charges” against
around a dozen of people as alleged perpetrators and inspirers of the
murder of Ivan Stambolic and the attempted murder of Vuk Draskovic.
Most of these persons are detained in Belgrade. According to the Law on
the Criminal Procedure, the investigative judge can make a decision to
launch an investigation against certain person, only after
interrogating that person. So, formally, we are dealing here only with
the “pre-investigation” procedure. An eventual indictment is only a
possible third step.
As we reported earlier
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/news/20030401-2.htm%c2%a0
and
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/news/20030401-1.htm
on March 31, President Milosevic stated at The Hague (we quote the
transcript):
President Slobodan Milosevic
Since we are again at the open session and the new witness has not come
yet, can I get the floor in relation to my requests?
Richard May
Yes.
President Slobodan Milosevic
So, first of all I repeat my request to allow my questioning and to
make it possible to be in public, since it is related to the media
campaign that is going on publicly. The retaliation against one’s wife
and children is something we remember from the darkest days of the last
century, from the darkest years of the last century! I also demand an
investigation about the involvement of this illegal prosecution in the
fabrication of untruths that are being launched. Besides that…
Richard May
Mr. Milosevic, I have stopped you already once. The events in Belgrade
are not something that this court deals with. If that would have any
direct influence to this trial, than we would take it into
consideration, but nothing you have said up to now shows that it has
any influence. You wanted to say something about your health. That’s
what we would like to hear.
President Slobodan Milosevic
I will tell you about the health, but direct influence is in their aim
to prevent my wife to give me her assistance and support. And above
that, I want to inform you that they have arrested several members of
the National Committee for my defense "SLOBODA" ("Freedom"), in spite
they have no ground for that. Accordingly, we deal here with an
orchestrated attempt to put pressure on me and my family since this
false Prosecution suffers a fiasco here every day. I consider as your
duty to establish the degree of their involvement.
Richard May
That is only your comment. There is absolutely no evidence to support
what you are saying. Maybe there are good reasons for some people to be
arrested. However, in this moment we will not deal with such
allegations.
-End quote-
So, using Nazi methods, Del Ponte’s prosecution and its Belgrade
servants separate President Milosevic from his wife and family and try
to discredit him with fabricated accusations without giving him a
chance to respond.
All this is done in order to undermine his successful and heroic
struggle for the truth at The Hague and its enormous political impact
on Serbian people.
The regime in Belgrade as the worst outrage in Serbian history has to
be exposed and attacked with all our weapons.
If not earlier than now! After the recent offer of Serbian Prime
Minister Zivkovic to send 1000 Serbian troops to Iraq, after the
military agreements signed with Israel and after the decision of the
Supreme Council of Defense to depose an unaccountable number of army
officers, the regime which sent Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague has to
be condemned by all as one of the worst US puppet cliques – in the same
line with Pinochet and the South African apartheid regime.
PROTEST AGAINST IT AND DEMAND FROM YUGOSLAV (“Serbia and Montenegro”,
as they now illegally call it) EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES THE STOP OF
VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND OF GROUNDLESS ATTACKS AGAINST PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AND HIS FAMILY.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC IS A CHAMPION OF FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND PEOPLE’S
RESISTANCE.
Vladimir Krsljanin,
Sloboda/Freedom Association
---
YOUR HELP
The work for the defense of Slobodan Milosevic totally depends on your
donations.
For more details, see: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/finappeal.htm
Send a check to our address:
SLOBODA
Rajiceva 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia
or transfer your donation to our account using the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomocdet.htm
---
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== D ===
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cc/Qserbia-montenegro-army.R3Ai_Da2.html
Serbia and Montenegro dismiss 12 army generals
Saturday, 02-Aug-2003 12:30PM
BELGRADE, Aug 2 (AFP) - Serbia and Montenegro's Supreme Defence
Council, which is in charge of the army of the new union, has dismissed
12 army generals, including the chief of army intelligence, the
Politika daily reported Saturday.
The 12 included General Vladimir Lazarevic, who commanded the Pristina
corps that were responsible for the majority Albanian region of Kosovo
during the 11-week NATO bombing campaign on Yugoslavia in spring 1999,
the daily said.
The reasons for Lazarevic's dismissal were unclear, but it may be due
to rumours that some international officials have demanded it as a
condition for the country's integration into the European Union and the
NATO alliance, Politika said.
Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union that replaced federal Yugoslavia
in February, have applied for membership in NATO's Partnership for
Peace Programme, considered the first step towards full membership in
the alliance.
Lazarevic's departure was reportedly demanded due to his military
engagement in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war, particularly during the
NATO bombardment, Politika said.
According to the daily, international pressure may also be a reason for
dismissal of General Radoslav Skoric, chief of army's intelligence
service.
Defence Minister Boris Tadic would neither confirm or deny the reports
of the dismissal of the top army generals, but has said there would be
personnel changes as part of army reform.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24099&order=priority&style=headlines
B92 - August 6, 2003
Defence Council poised for massive army purge
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – Twenty generals and another
three hundred senior officers will be either retired
or replaced by the Supreme Defence Council at its
meeting tomorrow, B92 has learnt.
Unofficial sources say that the purge will begin at
the top, with the head of the National Defence Academy
and a number of corps commanders leading the way.
The list also includes the former commander of the
joint forces in southern Serbia, General Ninoslav Krstic.
B92’s source also confirmed that the head of military
intelligence, General Radoslav Skoric “will not keep
his job”.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Defence Council will be held
in Meljine in Montenegro.
The three-man Council consists of Montenegrin
President Filip Vujanovic, acting Serbian president
Natasa Micic and federal President Svetozar Marovic,
who chairs the body.
Defence Minister Boris Tadic, who has proposed the
personnel changes, will also attend the meeting,
together with Chief of Staff Branko Krga and Marovic’s
security advisor, General Blagoje Grahovac.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24092&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - August 6, 2003
Customs begins purge of border officers
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – The Customs Service has begun
a purge of employees at the Subotica Customs Office
near the Hungarian border.
Sixty customs officers have been sacked since the
beginning of August, on orders from the Ministry of
Finance.
“In a few months Subotica will be a gateway between
Serbia and Europe and we must put it into order,” said
Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic.
Djelic told media that some officers who had already
been dismissed were complaining about unjust
dismissal, despite being known to have taken advantage
of their position and living in ostentatious wealth.
“We will bring in new blood, young officers who will
take their jobs seriously and won’t use them to amass
private wealth but will work for the good of the state
and the society,” said the finance minister.
=== E ===
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24098&order=priority&style=headlines
B92 - August 6, 2003
Zivkovic confirms peacekeeping offer
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – Serbian Prime Minister Zoran
Zivkovic tonight confirmed that he had discussed the
possibility of Serbia-Montenegro troops being deployed
in international peace missions during his recent
visit to the US.
Zivkovic told state media that the issue had been
raised by senior US official Jacques Klein.
“Our return to peacekeeping operations anywhere in the
world would primarily mean another political victory,”
said the prime minister, adding that there was also a
clear financial and development interest in such a
move.
He said that he expected a response to his offer in
the near future.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24083&order=priority&style=headlines
FoNet/Beta - August 6, 2003
Support for troop deployment, but precision needed
BELGRADE -- Wednesday -- Deputy Serbian Prime Minister
Zarko Korac said today that leaders of the country's
DOS ruling coalition wholeheartedly supported PM Zoran
Zivkovic's offer to send 1,000 troops of the
Serbia-Montenegro army to serve in the UN's
international peace missions.
Korac explained that the decision was made for
"political reasons" at a meeting of the government's
executive committee.
Fellow deputy PM Nebojsa Covic warned that the
government must be "very precise and careful" when
passing decisions to send soldiers to participate in
such missions.
Covic said that the issue should first be discussed
and carefully analysed, bearing in mind the events of
the past decade.
Covic supported Zivkovic's initiative in principle,
explaining that it was launched in an effort to hasten
the state union's accession to international
structures.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24094&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - August 6, 2003
Otpor backs peace troop offer
Uzice -- Wednesday – The Otpor People’s Movement has
thrown its support behind Prime Minister Zivkovic’s
offer of federal troops for international peacekeeping
operations.
Otpor representative Srdjan Milivojevic said today
that, as a signatory to the UN Charter,
Serbia-Montenegro was obliged to take part in peace
operations.
Moreover, he said, troops would be better occupied in
crisis regions around the world than creating them at
home.
=== F ===
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m080703.html
August 7, 2003
The New Janissaries
How Low Can Serbia's Rulers Go?
by Nebojsa Malic
This week, just as His Elevated Majesty was becoming increasingly testy
about all the questioning of his feeble rationalizations for the
Empire's Middle Eastern adventure – which has turned quite sour for the
troops on the ground – Washington received an unlikely morale booster.
It was announced that during hi late July visit to Washington, Serbian
Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic offered 1000 Serbian troops for the
occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan – "any mission" His Majesty decides
on.
During the centuries of occupation, Ottoman Turks would regularly round
up young Serbs and other Balkans Christians, march them to Istanbul,
convert them to Islam and train them as the sultans' shock troops and
administrators. This was known as devshirme, or the "blood levy," and
these converts as janissaries. This conscription and forcible
conversion was considered a particularly painful episode in Serbian
history. Apparently, in the "new democracy," that has changed.
The Blood Offering
Zivkovic came to Washington in order to boost his flagging popularity
among Serbians by appearing to enjoy favor with the ultimate power.
Upon his return, he talked about "strategic partnership" and "end to
pressure and coercion," never mentioning the troops.
The Prime Minister's offer was revealed in a patronizing Washington
Post column this Monday. Even as it actually sought foreign mercenaries
to relieve the strain on its shock troops, the Empire was so scornful
of its groveling slaves that it treated the offer cautiously. The
columnist who reported it, one Jackson Diehl, was openly contemptuous.
One is tempted to treat Diehl himself with caution. He displays
appalling disrespect for facts by claiming NATO "crushed"
the Yugoslav Army in 1999 (it didn't), and that
Serbia was "the most frequent starting point for European wars in the
past 100 years" (it wasn't). He reported differently from Kosovo back
in 1986, when he still knew how. But given the Dossies' record of
prostrating Serbia (not so much themselves) before Washington, the
claim that Zivkovic offered troops is credible
enough.
Furthermore, news from Belgrade this past weekend was that Dossie
defense minister Boris Tadic purged the top brass, forcing into
retirement a perfectly competent general who humbled NATO in Kosovo, as
well as the head of Army Intelligence. While Tadic has pledged to purge
opposition to joining NATO's satellite program
"Partnership for Peace," these dismissals might be aimed specifically
at clearing the way for Zivkovic's troop offer.
"Partners" or Servants
Is it not enough that four years ago the Empire launched a war
of aggression against Serbia – accusing it of "invading"
its own territory – thus committing a clear-cut prima facie
war crime? Now the Serbs are expected to join Imperial
aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and God only knows who
else, and maybe even say, "thank you very much, may we have
another?" to the whole issue of NATO's barbaric bombing.
Perhaps not. Again, Zivkovic had not mentioned the troops at
all until Tuesday night, when the word got out on CNN. Serbian
media then re-broadcast the news, and it was all over the
Wednesday morning newspapers as well. Obviously, someone
in Washington talked. So much for the "strategic partnership,"
then.
So what now? With the Empire "considering" Zivkovic's
offer, how will Serbia react? Will the Women In Black protest
the deployment of Serbian conscripts to an Imperial war, the
way they protested "Serbian nationalist aggression"? Or is it
OK to die for foreign "democracy," but not for one's own
home? Don't bet on it. All the supposedly pro-peace and
human-rights NGOs are a pillar of Dossie (i.e. Imperial) power,
guided by nothing even remotely resembling a coherent
principle. Knowing which side their bread is buttered on, they
will stay silent.
Prattle aside, there will never be a "partnership" – strategic
or otherwise – between Serbia and the Empire. The neocons
want servants, not "partners;" compliance, not "cooperation."
Everything Washington needs in the Balkans, it has already
received from Serbia's hostile neighbors, and even its co-
habitant in the "union," Montenegro. Far from securing some
sort of preferential treatment, further groveling will only
invite further abuse. But that is yet another concept the
Dossies are incapable of comprehending.
A Power Struggle
Some clues as to why Zivkovic is courting support from
Washington come from Serbia itself. In late July, the
government managed to purge the Serbian central bank,
whose governor was leader of an opposition party. In place of
Mladjan Dinkic and his G17 associates – chiefly responsible
for the Dossies' economic program in 2000, be it noted – DOS
appointed Kori Udovicki, former Energy Minister notorious for soaking
the life savings of elderly Serbians by raising electricity
prices.
The departing governor accused two high-ranking advisors in
the Zivkovic government – and members of his Democratic
Party – of money-laundering. This pushed the already
scandal-ridden government's approval rating to new lows.
DOS-friendly analysts at Radio Netherlands speculated
this week that the scandal would herald a power struggle
within the Democratic Party, from which Zivkovic would emerge
stronger and ready to "confront the voters," but that is
highly unlikely. Dossies view elections as a vampire would
garlic and stakes – with a mixture of fear and loathing.
And with good reason. Their former Trojan horse Vojislav
Kostunica is enjoying rising poll numbers, a development the
Empire is observing with some concern. Erstwhile Djindjic
stooge Miroljub Labus is also polling well, though not
nearly as well as Kostunica. Both of them are just as committed
to "reforms" and service to the Empire, albeit somewhat
more subtly, as DOS. Empire's grip on Serbia is not in
jeopardy, unfortunately – only Zivkovic's.
Lessons from Another Vassal
Another recent visitor to Washington was the Macedonian KLA
leader Ali Ahmeti, until recently on the US terrorist blacklist.
His one-time nemesis, former interior minister Ljube
Boskovski, was meanwhile added to the blacklist. Neither
change was followed by an explanation, leaving the
Macedonians confused. They've done everything the US has
asked of them, and more, yet the Empire has persistently
favored the Albanian segregationists. While the Empire claims
to fight terrorism, it blacklists Macedonian security officials and
treats the leaders of terrorists ("murderous thugs," as NATO
chief Robertson called them) as statesmen.
Back in September 2001 it was obvious that US actions (or
rather, lack thereof) in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia made
the "war on terror" as good as lost. For their part, Macedonians
learned a depressing lesson from their bitter experience:
sometimes, even being an obedient US vassal cannot save
you.
DOSta!
In fact, Zivkovic & Co. should read one of Wednesday’s
editorials in the Washington Times, composed by the known
Serbophobe Helle (Bering) Dale. Her "Are you being Serbed?"
asks how these uppity savages dare protest US hostility and
demand fair treatment, when the entire world knows they are
as racist, genocidal and criminal as Nazi Germany. Zivkovic
and his foreign minister, Svilanovic, yap to presstitutes
at Washington clubs over brandy and cigars, but it’s the people
they represent who suffer. Dale's verbal abuses are one thing,
but deaths in battle quite another. No number of dead Serbs
can ever appease the likes of Dale and her employers at the
Heritage Foundation and the Council of Foreign Relations.
Yet that’s what Zivkovic is trying to do.
DOS is nothing but a motley collection of irresponsible, corrupt,
statist kleptocrats, who came to power only because of the
public's resentment of the government they replaced – and
lots of bags filled with US taxpayers' cash. Ostensibly
"democrats," they've established a "domination of political and
economic life of which Slobodan Milosevic could only have
dreamed" (BHHRG). Whatever troubles beset Serbia before 5
October 2000, the situation today is entirely the fault of DOS.
Zivkovic's groveling offer of Serbian troops to help the Empire's
wars of conquest and occupation ought to be the last straw for
the people who simply cannot take any more social
engineering, deliberately malicious or otherwise.
It is time to show these lying, plundering quisling sleazebags
the door – preferably to Hell, or prison, but out of office
will do. Anyone else could run Serbia better, preferably
as little as possible, guaranteeing the Serbians their liberty
but otherwise not preventing them from improving their lives,
as all governments have done so far.
At some point during the Dossie reign, an anonymous
Belgrade street artist made a pun on the ruling band of thieves'
name: "DOSta," meaning "Enough of DOS." It's time the pun
becomes reality, before young Serbians start coming home in
body bags from once again serving a cruel conqueror.
Nebojsa Malic
A. DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ISRAEL AND SERBIAMONTENEGRO SIGN COOPERATION
AGREEMENT
B. Links to Human Rights Watch documents on the mistreatment of
political prisoners in Serbia
C. OUTRAGEOUS REGIME ATTACKS CONTINUE
D. Massive Army purge has begun
E. SERBIAN SOLDIERS TO "PEACEKEEPING" MISSIONS: DOS AND OTPOR
"WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT"
F. The New Janissaries
How Low Can Serbia's Rulers Go? (N. Malic)
=== A ===
TADIC: POSSIBLE MILITARY COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL
TEL AVIV,July 30 (Beta)-Serbia&Montenegro Defense
Minister Boris Tadic said on July 30 that he had
talked with senior managers of the Izreali military
and aircraft industry about possible modes of
cooperation and that there was a possibility of
reaching an agreement.
Tadic told BETA in a telephone conversation that the
projects included a certain type of automatic rifle
produced by Serbia&Montenegro and unmanned aerial
vehicles.
Tadic said that these vehicles had important software
components, which could be produced in Serbia and
Montenegro. He added that they had also considered the
possibility of modernizing Russianmade helicopters,
which are commonly used in Serbia&Montenegro and the
neighboring countries.
Tadic, who is on a threeday visit to Israel, said that
an expert meeting had been scheduled, to discuss the
possibility of reaching an agreement with the Isreali
aircraft industry on one of these projects.
He said that he had talked with Izreali Prime Minister
Shimon Perez about the peace process in the Middle
East and the Balkans and the solutions that could be
applied in both cases.
DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ISRAEL AND SERBIAMONTENEGRO SIGN COOPERATION
AGREEMENT
TEL AVIV,July 31 (Beta)-Minister of Defense for
SerbiaMontenegro, Boris Tadic, and the Israeli defense
Minister Saul Mofaz, have signed an agreement on July
30 in Tel Aviv, about a collaboration between the two
ministries.
"We've analyzed the possibilities of
militaryindustrial cooperation, which was the goal of
this visit, modernizing helicopters, new antiterrorism
weapons, which are at a high technological level in
Israel", said Tadic during a telephone conversation
with Beta.
The Defense Minister for SerbiaMontenegro also said
that the results of the visits to Israel will be seen
after expert and work groups from the two countries
meet in Belgrade in September, where a finalization of
all the agreements will be made.
=== B ===
LINKS
to Human Rights Watch documents on the mistreatment of political
prisoners in Serbia:
Serbia: Run-Around on Prison Visits
http://staging.hrw.org/press/2003/05/serbia051403.htm
The Serbian authorities are obstructing efforts by Human Rights Watch
and other nongovernmental organizations to visit people arrested during
the state of emergency, Human Rights Watch said today.
May 14, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: Detainees’ Access to Lawyers Long Overdue
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/05/serbia051003.htm
Serbia should ensure that all persons detained during the state of
emergency promptly get access to lawyers, Human Rights Watch said today.
May 10, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: End Complete Isolation of Detainees
http://hrw.org/press/2003/04/serbia070403.htm
Serbia Should Uphold Council of Europe Standards
Serbia should immediately end the isolation of those detained during
the ongoing state of emergency, Human Rights Watch said today.
April 7, 2003 Press Release
Serbia: Emergency Should Not Trump Basic Rights
http://hrw.org/press/2003/03/serbia032503.htm
Certain restrictions on rights imposed by the Serbian government in the
wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Djindjic may not be
justified under international law, Human Rights Watch said in a letter
(http://hrw.org/press/2003/03/serbia032503-ltr.htm) to Prime Minister
Zoran Zivkovic today.
March 25, 2003 Press Release
=== C ===
From: Vladimir Krsljanin / Sloboda Association
OUTRAGEOUS REGIME ATTACKS CONTINUE
Press Conference of Belgrade Lawyers Mr. Balsa Govedarica and Ms. Sanja
Pejovic
Belgrade, August 4, 2003.
The Belgrade media reported recently that ‘the interrogation of
Slobodan Milosevic by the Belgrade investigative judge is scheduled for
August 6 and 7 in The Hague tribunal’. It is supposed, but never
officially confirmed, that the interrogation is linked with the
“Stambolic case”. The media also quoted a statement of the Hague
tribunal spokesman Jim Landale saying that the interrogation ‘will not
be public, in spite the tribunal is not against the public hearing, but
Belgrade authorities demand that it shall be without public, in the
interest of the investigation’.
Both information have been condemned yesterday by Mr. Balsa Govedarica
and Ms. Sanja Pejovic, the Belgrade legal counsels of President
Milosevic in the “Stambolic” and other recently fabricated cases. They
have underlined that in spite their attempts, they had no insight into
court documents concerning the investigation against President
Milosevic, except the file number – Ki.P. No.1/03. In addition, they
have been orally informed by the investigative judge that he plans to
go to The Hague for the interrogation, but the judge refused to answer
whether he would accept the request of President Milosevic for public
interrogation, nor did he even explain what the interrogation is about.
According to the Hague tribunal rules, the interrogation is possible
only if the detainee agrees.
Govedarica and Pejovic stressed the lack of legality and morality in
the investigation, which makes their job as attorneys almost
impossible. Behind the behavior of the Belgrade authorities, the have
concluded, the obvious intention to make a moral and political
disqualification of President Milosevic is seen. The authorities
continue an illegal and morally unacceptable public campaign against
Slobodan Milosevic and his family and show no will to allow that his
arguments become public. The public campaign led by high government
officials (Interior Minister, Head of the governing coalition
Parliamentary Group) refers to “information obtained in the
investigation”, in spite all the information of the investigation have
been proclaimed “official secret” by the Belgrade District Court. Such
behavior of the authorities and of the Belgrade court violates
international and Serbian law. Under such conditions, when there are no
guarantees for a public and fair interrogation, Mr. Govedarica and Ms.
Pejovic will not travel to The Hague. It is expected that President
Milosevic will not agree to a non-public interrogation.
After launching a campaign of media lynching against President
Milosevic and his family in March 2003, during the “state of
emergency”, the Belgrade puppet regime filed “criminal charges” against
around a dozen of people as alleged perpetrators and inspirers of the
murder of Ivan Stambolic and the attempted murder of Vuk Draskovic.
Most of these persons are detained in Belgrade. According to the Law on
the Criminal Procedure, the investigative judge can make a decision to
launch an investigation against certain person, only after
interrogating that person. So, formally, we are dealing here only with
the “pre-investigation” procedure. An eventual indictment is only a
possible third step.
As we reported earlier
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/news/20030401-2.htm%c2%a0
and
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/news/20030401-1.htm
on March 31, President Milosevic stated at The Hague (we quote the
transcript):
President Slobodan Milosevic
Since we are again at the open session and the new witness has not come
yet, can I get the floor in relation to my requests?
Richard May
Yes.
President Slobodan Milosevic
So, first of all I repeat my request to allow my questioning and to
make it possible to be in public, since it is related to the media
campaign that is going on publicly. The retaliation against one’s wife
and children is something we remember from the darkest days of the last
century, from the darkest years of the last century! I also demand an
investigation about the involvement of this illegal prosecution in the
fabrication of untruths that are being launched. Besides that…
Richard May
Mr. Milosevic, I have stopped you already once. The events in Belgrade
are not something that this court deals with. If that would have any
direct influence to this trial, than we would take it into
consideration, but nothing you have said up to now shows that it has
any influence. You wanted to say something about your health. That’s
what we would like to hear.
President Slobodan Milosevic
I will tell you about the health, but direct influence is in their aim
to prevent my wife to give me her assistance and support. And above
that, I want to inform you that they have arrested several members of
the National Committee for my defense "SLOBODA" ("Freedom"), in spite
they have no ground for that. Accordingly, we deal here with an
orchestrated attempt to put pressure on me and my family since this
false Prosecution suffers a fiasco here every day. I consider as your
duty to establish the degree of their involvement.
Richard May
That is only your comment. There is absolutely no evidence to support
what you are saying. Maybe there are good reasons for some people to be
arrested. However, in this moment we will not deal with such
allegations.
-End quote-
So, using Nazi methods, Del Ponte’s prosecution and its Belgrade
servants separate President Milosevic from his wife and family and try
to discredit him with fabricated accusations without giving him a
chance to respond.
All this is done in order to undermine his successful and heroic
struggle for the truth at The Hague and its enormous political impact
on Serbian people.
The regime in Belgrade as the worst outrage in Serbian history has to
be exposed and attacked with all our weapons.
If not earlier than now! After the recent offer of Serbian Prime
Minister Zivkovic to send 1000 Serbian troops to Iraq, after the
military agreements signed with Israel and after the decision of the
Supreme Council of Defense to depose an unaccountable number of army
officers, the regime which sent Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague has to
be condemned by all as one of the worst US puppet cliques – in the same
line with Pinochet and the South African apartheid regime.
PROTEST AGAINST IT AND DEMAND FROM YUGOSLAV (“Serbia and Montenegro”,
as they now illegally call it) EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES THE STOP OF
VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND OF GROUNDLESS ATTACKS AGAINST PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AND HIS FAMILY.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC IS A CHAMPION OF FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND PEOPLE’S
RESISTANCE.
Vladimir Krsljanin,
Sloboda/Freedom Association
---
YOUR HELP
The work for the defense of Slobodan Milosevic totally depends on your
donations.
For more details, see: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/finappeal.htm
Send a check to our address:
SLOBODA
Rajiceva 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia
or transfer your donation to our account using the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomocdet.htm
---
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== D ===
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cc/Qserbia-montenegro-army.R3Ai_Da2.html
Serbia and Montenegro dismiss 12 army generals
Saturday, 02-Aug-2003 12:30PM
BELGRADE, Aug 2 (AFP) - Serbia and Montenegro's Supreme Defence
Council, which is in charge of the army of the new union, has dismissed
12 army generals, including the chief of army intelligence, the
Politika daily reported Saturday.
The 12 included General Vladimir Lazarevic, who commanded the Pristina
corps that were responsible for the majority Albanian region of Kosovo
during the 11-week NATO bombing campaign on Yugoslavia in spring 1999,
the daily said.
The reasons for Lazarevic's dismissal were unclear, but it may be due
to rumours that some international officials have demanded it as a
condition for the country's integration into the European Union and the
NATO alliance, Politika said.
Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union that replaced federal Yugoslavia
in February, have applied for membership in NATO's Partnership for
Peace Programme, considered the first step towards full membership in
the alliance.
Lazarevic's departure was reportedly demanded due to his military
engagement in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war, particularly during the
NATO bombardment, Politika said.
According to the daily, international pressure may also be a reason for
dismissal of General Radoslav Skoric, chief of army's intelligence
service.
Defence Minister Boris Tadic would neither confirm or deny the reports
of the dismissal of the top army generals, but has said there would be
personnel changes as part of army reform.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24099&order=priority&style=headlines
B92 - August 6, 2003
Defence Council poised for massive army purge
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – Twenty generals and another
three hundred senior officers will be either retired
or replaced by the Supreme Defence Council at its
meeting tomorrow, B92 has learnt.
Unofficial sources say that the purge will begin at
the top, with the head of the National Defence Academy
and a number of corps commanders leading the way.
The list also includes the former commander of the
joint forces in southern Serbia, General Ninoslav Krstic.
B92’s source also confirmed that the head of military
intelligence, General Radoslav Skoric “will not keep
his job”.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Defence Council will be held
in Meljine in Montenegro.
The three-man Council consists of Montenegrin
President Filip Vujanovic, acting Serbian president
Natasa Micic and federal President Svetozar Marovic,
who chairs the body.
Defence Minister Boris Tadic, who has proposed the
personnel changes, will also attend the meeting,
together with Chief of Staff Branko Krga and Marovic’s
security advisor, General Blagoje Grahovac.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24092&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - August 6, 2003
Customs begins purge of border officers
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – The Customs Service has begun
a purge of employees at the Subotica Customs Office
near the Hungarian border.
Sixty customs officers have been sacked since the
beginning of August, on orders from the Ministry of
Finance.
“In a few months Subotica will be a gateway between
Serbia and Europe and we must put it into order,” said
Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic.
Djelic told media that some officers who had already
been dismissed were complaining about unjust
dismissal, despite being known to have taken advantage
of their position and living in ostentatious wealth.
“We will bring in new blood, young officers who will
take their jobs seriously and won’t use them to amass
private wealth but will work for the good of the state
and the society,” said the finance minister.
=== E ===
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24098&order=priority&style=headlines
B92 - August 6, 2003
Zivkovic confirms peacekeeping offer
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – Serbian Prime Minister Zoran
Zivkovic tonight confirmed that he had discussed the
possibility of Serbia-Montenegro troops being deployed
in international peace missions during his recent
visit to the US.
Zivkovic told state media that the issue had been
raised by senior US official Jacques Klein.
“Our return to peacekeeping operations anywhere in the
world would primarily mean another political victory,”
said the prime minister, adding that there was also a
clear financial and development interest in such a
move.
He said that he expected a response to his offer in
the near future.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24083&order=priority&style=headlines
FoNet/Beta - August 6, 2003
Support for troop deployment, but precision needed
BELGRADE -- Wednesday -- Deputy Serbian Prime Minister
Zarko Korac said today that leaders of the country's
DOS ruling coalition wholeheartedly supported PM Zoran
Zivkovic's offer to send 1,000 troops of the
Serbia-Montenegro army to serve in the UN's
international peace missions.
Korac explained that the decision was made for
"political reasons" at a meeting of the government's
executive committee.
Fellow deputy PM Nebojsa Covic warned that the
government must be "very precise and careful" when
passing decisions to send soldiers to participate in
such missions.
Covic said that the issue should first be discussed
and carefully analysed, bearing in mind the events of
the past decade.
Covic supported Zivkovic's initiative in principle,
explaining that it was launched in an effort to hasten
the state union's accession to international
structures.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=24094&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - August 6, 2003
Otpor backs peace troop offer
Uzice -- Wednesday – The Otpor People’s Movement has
thrown its support behind Prime Minister Zivkovic’s
offer of federal troops for international peacekeeping
operations.
Otpor representative Srdjan Milivojevic said today
that, as a signatory to the UN Charter,
Serbia-Montenegro was obliged to take part in peace
operations.
Moreover, he said, troops would be better occupied in
crisis regions around the world than creating them at
home.
=== F ===
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m080703.html
August 7, 2003
The New Janissaries
How Low Can Serbia's Rulers Go?
by Nebojsa Malic
This week, just as His Elevated Majesty was becoming increasingly testy
about all the questioning of his feeble rationalizations for the
Empire's Middle Eastern adventure – which has turned quite sour for the
troops on the ground – Washington received an unlikely morale booster.
It was announced that during hi late July visit to Washington, Serbian
Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic offered 1000 Serbian troops for the
occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan – "any mission" His Majesty decides
on.
During the centuries of occupation, Ottoman Turks would regularly round
up young Serbs and other Balkans Christians, march them to Istanbul,
convert them to Islam and train them as the sultans' shock troops and
administrators. This was known as devshirme, or the "blood levy," and
these converts as janissaries. This conscription and forcible
conversion was considered a particularly painful episode in Serbian
history. Apparently, in the "new democracy," that has changed.
The Blood Offering
Zivkovic came to Washington in order to boost his flagging popularity
among Serbians by appearing to enjoy favor with the ultimate power.
Upon his return, he talked about "strategic partnership" and "end to
pressure and coercion," never mentioning the troops.
The Prime Minister's offer was revealed in a patronizing Washington
Post column this Monday. Even as it actually sought foreign mercenaries
to relieve the strain on its shock troops, the Empire was so scornful
of its groveling slaves that it treated the offer cautiously. The
columnist who reported it, one Jackson Diehl, was openly contemptuous.
One is tempted to treat Diehl himself with caution. He displays
appalling disrespect for facts by claiming NATO "crushed"
the Yugoslav Army in 1999 (it didn't), and that
Serbia was "the most frequent starting point for European wars in the
past 100 years" (it wasn't). He reported differently from Kosovo back
in 1986, when he still knew how. But given the Dossies' record of
prostrating Serbia (not so much themselves) before Washington, the
claim that Zivkovic offered troops is credible
enough.
Furthermore, news from Belgrade this past weekend was that Dossie
defense minister Boris Tadic purged the top brass, forcing into
retirement a perfectly competent general who humbled NATO in Kosovo, as
well as the head of Army Intelligence. While Tadic has pledged to purge
opposition to joining NATO's satellite program
"Partnership for Peace," these dismissals might be aimed specifically
at clearing the way for Zivkovic's troop offer.
"Partners" or Servants
Is it not enough that four years ago the Empire launched a war
of aggression against Serbia – accusing it of "invading"
its own territory – thus committing a clear-cut prima facie
war crime? Now the Serbs are expected to join Imperial
aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and God only knows who
else, and maybe even say, "thank you very much, may we have
another?" to the whole issue of NATO's barbaric bombing.
Perhaps not. Again, Zivkovic had not mentioned the troops at
all until Tuesday night, when the word got out on CNN. Serbian
media then re-broadcast the news, and it was all over the
Wednesday morning newspapers as well. Obviously, someone
in Washington talked. So much for the "strategic partnership,"
then.
So what now? With the Empire "considering" Zivkovic's
offer, how will Serbia react? Will the Women In Black protest
the deployment of Serbian conscripts to an Imperial war, the
way they protested "Serbian nationalist aggression"? Or is it
OK to die for foreign "democracy," but not for one's own
home? Don't bet on it. All the supposedly pro-peace and
human-rights NGOs are a pillar of Dossie (i.e. Imperial) power,
guided by nothing even remotely resembling a coherent
principle. Knowing which side their bread is buttered on, they
will stay silent.
Prattle aside, there will never be a "partnership" – strategic
or otherwise – between Serbia and the Empire. The neocons
want servants, not "partners;" compliance, not "cooperation."
Everything Washington needs in the Balkans, it has already
received from Serbia's hostile neighbors, and even its co-
habitant in the "union," Montenegro. Far from securing some
sort of preferential treatment, further groveling will only
invite further abuse. But that is yet another concept the
Dossies are incapable of comprehending.
A Power Struggle
Some clues as to why Zivkovic is courting support from
Washington come from Serbia itself. In late July, the
government managed to purge the Serbian central bank,
whose governor was leader of an opposition party. In place of
Mladjan Dinkic and his G17 associates – chiefly responsible
for the Dossies' economic program in 2000, be it noted – DOS
appointed Kori Udovicki, former Energy Minister notorious for soaking
the life savings of elderly Serbians by raising electricity
prices.
The departing governor accused two high-ranking advisors in
the Zivkovic government – and members of his Democratic
Party – of money-laundering. This pushed the already
scandal-ridden government's approval rating to new lows.
DOS-friendly analysts at Radio Netherlands speculated
this week that the scandal would herald a power struggle
within the Democratic Party, from which Zivkovic would emerge
stronger and ready to "confront the voters," but that is
highly unlikely. Dossies view elections as a vampire would
garlic and stakes – with a mixture of fear and loathing.
And with good reason. Their former Trojan horse Vojislav
Kostunica is enjoying rising poll numbers, a development the
Empire is observing with some concern. Erstwhile Djindjic
stooge Miroljub Labus is also polling well, though not
nearly as well as Kostunica. Both of them are just as committed
to "reforms" and service to the Empire, albeit somewhat
more subtly, as DOS. Empire's grip on Serbia is not in
jeopardy, unfortunately – only Zivkovic's.
Lessons from Another Vassal
Another recent visitor to Washington was the Macedonian KLA
leader Ali Ahmeti, until recently on the US terrorist blacklist.
His one-time nemesis, former interior minister Ljube
Boskovski, was meanwhile added to the blacklist. Neither
change was followed by an explanation, leaving the
Macedonians confused. They've done everything the US has
asked of them, and more, yet the Empire has persistently
favored the Albanian segregationists. While the Empire claims
to fight terrorism, it blacklists Macedonian security officials and
treats the leaders of terrorists ("murderous thugs," as NATO
chief Robertson called them) as statesmen.
Back in September 2001 it was obvious that US actions (or
rather, lack thereof) in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia made
the "war on terror" as good as lost. For their part, Macedonians
learned a depressing lesson from their bitter experience:
sometimes, even being an obedient US vassal cannot save
you.
DOSta!
In fact, Zivkovic & Co. should read one of Wednesday’s
editorials in the Washington Times, composed by the known
Serbophobe Helle (Bering) Dale. Her "Are you being Serbed?"
asks how these uppity savages dare protest US hostility and
demand fair treatment, when the entire world knows they are
as racist, genocidal and criminal as Nazi Germany. Zivkovic
and his foreign minister, Svilanovic, yap to presstitutes
at Washington clubs over brandy and cigars, but it’s the people
they represent who suffer. Dale's verbal abuses are one thing,
but deaths in battle quite another. No number of dead Serbs
can ever appease the likes of Dale and her employers at the
Heritage Foundation and the Council of Foreign Relations.
Yet that’s what Zivkovic is trying to do.
DOS is nothing but a motley collection of irresponsible, corrupt,
statist kleptocrats, who came to power only because of the
public's resentment of the government they replaced – and
lots of bags filled with US taxpayers' cash. Ostensibly
"democrats," they've established a "domination of political and
economic life of which Slobodan Milosevic could only have
dreamed" (BHHRG). Whatever troubles beset Serbia before 5
October 2000, the situation today is entirely the fault of DOS.
Zivkovic's groveling offer of Serbian troops to help the Empire's
wars of conquest and occupation ought to be the last straw for
the people who simply cannot take any more social
engineering, deliberately malicious or otherwise.
It is time to show these lying, plundering quisling sleazebags
the door – preferably to Hell, or prison, but out of office
will do. Anyone else could run Serbia better, preferably
as little as possible, guaranteeing the Serbians their liberty
but otherwise not preventing them from improving their lives,
as all governments have done so far.
At some point during the Dossie reign, an anonymous
Belgrade street artist made a pun on the ruling band of thieves'
name: "DOSta," meaning "Enough of DOS." It's time the pun
becomes reality, before young Serbians start coming home in
body bags from once again serving a cruel conqueror.
Nebojsa Malic
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