Informazione
"IL CONVERTITO E' PEGGIO DEL TURCO" (PROVERBIO SLAVO)
Jack Straw, un tempo tra i piu' attivi capelloni del movimento "hippy"
britannico, e' diventato uno dei ministri degli Interni piu' odiosi e
reazionari che la storia della Gran Bretagna ricordi. Straw si sta
costruendo una immagine da fautore della "tolleranza zero", ad esempio
in fatto di droghe leggere, e contemporaneamente impedisce che la
giustizia faccia il suo corso nel caso di criminali conclamati. Dopo i
tentennamenti relativi all'estradizione dell'anziano criminale nazista
lituano Konrad Kalejs, Straw sta dando il peggio di se per impedire la
consegna del ben noto dittatore cileno Pinochet. Eppure Straw - che a
difesa di Pinochet adduce "ragioni umanitarie" in perfetto spregio della
Convenzione Europea sulla Estradizione del 1957 ed in base ad un referto
medico tenuto segreto - 34 anni fa fece persino un viaggio di
solidarieta' internazionalista nel Cile di Allende.
(Fonti: Reuters 14/01/2000; Dichiarazione della Associazione Americana
dei Giuristi - http://www.presos.org/italia )
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Straw, un tempo tra i piu' attivi capelloni del movimento "hippy"
britannico, e' diventato uno dei ministri degli Interni piu' odiosi e
reazionari che la storia della Gran Bretagna ricordi. Straw si sta
costruendo una immagine da fautore della "tolleranza zero", ad esempio
in fatto di droghe leggere, e contemporaneamente impedisce che la
giustizia faccia il suo corso nel caso di criminali conclamati. Dopo i
tentennamenti relativi all'estradizione dell'anziano criminale nazista
lituano Konrad Kalejs, Straw sta dando il peggio di se per impedire la
consegna del ben noto dittatore cileno Pinochet. Eppure Straw - che a
difesa di Pinochet adduce "ragioni umanitarie" in perfetto spregio della
Convenzione Europea sulla Estradizione del 1957 ed in base ad un referto
medico tenuto segreto - 34 anni fa fece persino un viaggio di
solidarieta' internazionalista nel Cile di Allende.
(Fonti: Reuters 14/01/2000; Dichiarazione della Associazione Americana
dei Giuristi - http://www.presos.org/italia )
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
HUMANITARIAN WAR:
MAKING THE CRIME FIT THE PUNISHMENT
by Diana Johnstone
www.emperors-clothes.com
The order of events is strange. On March 24, 1999, the
NATO forces led by the United States began an
eleven-week-long punishment of Yugoslavia's President,
Slobodan Milosevic, which amounted to capital punishment
for an undetermined number of citizens of that
unfortunate country. Two months later, on May 27, the
U.S.-backed International Criminal Tribunal for former
Yugoslavia issued an indictment of Milosevic for "crimes
against humanity" having occurred after the punishment
began. Then, in late June, the Clinton administration
dispatched 56 forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to Kosovo to gather material evidence of
the crimes for which Milosevic and five of his colleagues
had already been indicted and for which his country had
already been severely and durably punished.
The FBI had no instructions to search for evidence of
crimes as such, including those that might have been
committed by, say, armed rebels fighting against the
established government of Yugoslavia. The only crimes of
interest were those for which Milosevic had previously
been accused, and all evidence was assumed in advance to
point to his guilt.
Thus the world entered the new age of humanitarian
vigilante power.
At the end of World War II, a world political system was
put in place to outlaw war. In its triumph as sole
superpower destined to govern the world, the United
States is currently striving to replace the system that
outlaws war by a system that uses war to punish outlaws.
Who the outlaws are is decided by the United States.
Alongside economic globalization, this vigilante system
corresponds to a dominant American world view of a
capitalist system inherently capable of meeting all human
needs, marred only by the wrongdoings of evil outcasts.
At home and abroad, the social effort to bring everybody
into a community of equal rights and obligations is
abandoned in favour of universal competition in which the
rich winners exclude the losers from society itself. On
the domestic scene, as the rich get richer, the
well-to-do escape from the very sight of the poor by
moving into gated communities, social programs are cut,
while prisons and execution chambers fill up. Punishment,
even vengeance, are popular values.
Twenty years ago, the United Nations and its agencies
provided a political forum for discussions of such
matters as a "new economic order" or a "new information
order" that might seek to narrow the enormous gap between
the rich Atlantic world and most of the rest of the
planet. All that is past, and today, the United Nations
is instrumentalized by the United States to pursue
dissident States which it has chosen to brand as rogues,
terrorists or criminals. Capitalist competition is being
forced onto the entire world as the supreme law by new
bodies such as the World Trade Organization. NATO-land is
a gated community whose armed forces are being prepared
to intervene worldwide, at the bidding of Washington, to
defend members' interests, in the name of the war against
crimes against humanity.
The Clinton Doctrine
The NATO war against Yugoslavia marks a great leap
forward toward the depoliticization and criminalization
of international relations. In the case of the similar
war against Iraq, the regime of Saddam Hussein was in
fact a military dictatorship, which did in fact violate
international law by invading Kuwait (leaving aside
eventual extenuating circumstances), and the United
States did obtain a mandate from the United Nations
Security Council for at least some (but not all) of its
military operations. In the case of Yugoslavia, the
military operations were carried out without U.N. mandate
against a state with an elected civilian government,
which had not violated international law.
NATO's war, directed from Washington, was intended as a
pure demonstration that the United States could make or
break the law. For it was Yugoslavia, which had not
violated international law, that was branded a criminal
State. Already on November 5, 1998, the American
presiding judge at the International Criminal Tribunal
for former Yugoslavia, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, described
Yugoslavia as "a rogue state, one that holds the
international rule of law in contempt". During the
bombing, U.S. and British leaders regularly compared
Milosevic to Hitler. And afterwards, the U.S. Senate on
June 30 adopted a bill describing Yugoslavia as "a
terrorist State", in the total absence of any of the
usual criteria for such a designation. The United States
is free both to commit crimes, and to criminalize its
adversaries. Might is sure of being right.
"A Clinton Doctrine of humanitarian warfare is taking
place", rejoiced (1) columnist Jim Hoagland, a leading
voice in the chorus of syndicated columnists who have
nagged away at the President to get up the gumption to
lead NATO through the Balkans into a brave new
millennium. This "doctrine" is not quite as spontaneous
as it is made to seem by the media chorus which portrays
Uncle Sam as a reluctant Hamlet generously stumbling into
greatness.
Since the end of the Cold War, United States leaders have
been searching for a grand new design to replace the
containment doctrine developed after World War II. To
this end, the oligarchy that formulates American foreign
policy has been hard at work in its various exclusive
venues such as the Council on Foreign Relations, private
clubs, larger assemblages such as the Trilateral
Commission (which specializes in the great American
ruling class art of selective co-optation and conversion
of potential critics), and a myriad of institutes,
foundations and "think tanks", overlapping with a half
dozen of the most prestigious universities and, of
course, the boards of directors of major corporations and
financial institutions. All are united by an unshakable
conviction that what is good for the United States (and
the business of the United States is business) is good
for the world. American policy-makers may be more or less
generous or cynical, crafty or forthright, but all
necessarily share the conviction that the system which
has made America great and powerful should be bestowed on
the rest of an often undeserving and recalcitrant world.
There is no conflict between this conviction and ruthless
pursuit of economic self-interest; they are part of the
same mindset.
None better epitomizes the combined power and good
conscience of American capitalism than the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, founded in 1910 by the
Scottish-American steel king Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
who recycled part of his vast rags-to-riches fortune into
philanthropic enterprises. It is fitting that in
formulating the Doctrine of Humanitarian Warfare now
attributed to Clinton, a major ideological role appears
to have been played by the Carnegie Endowment under the
presidency of Morton I. Abramowitz (2).
The Importance of War Crimes
In May 1997, three months after taking office as U.S.
Secretary of State, Madeleine Korbel Albright created a
new post, ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. The
creation of the post indicated the crucial importance of
"war crimes" in Albright's foreign policy. Two days
later, crime was linked to punishment as she delivered
her first policy speech on Bosnia to senior military
officers aboard an aircraft carrier in the Hudson River.
These gestures showed that the first woman Secretary of
State was out to demonstrate the serious meaning of her
famous remark, "What's the use of having the world's
greatest military force if you don't use it?"
Albright and the man named to the new "war crimes" post,
David Scheffer, were putting into practice new policy
concepts they had helped develop before Clinton was
elected President, and before the war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, when they had been part of what a
privileged observer (3) recently described as "a small
foreign policy elite convened by the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace to change U.S. foreign policy
after the Cold War."
During the last years of the Bush administration, the
Carnegie Endowment for Peace was confronting the major
question raised by the collapse of the Soviet bloc: what
new mission could save NATO, the necessary instrument for
U.S. leadership in Europe? And it found an answer:
humanitarian intervention. Reports by group members
Albright, Richard Holbrooke and Leon Fuerth "recommended
a dramatic escalation of the use of military force to
settle other countries' domestic conflicts." (4)
The Carnegie Endowment's 1992 report entitled "Changing
Our Ways: America's Role in the New World" called for "a
new principle of international relations: the destruction
or displacement of groups of people within states can
justify international intervention". The U.S. was advised
to "realign" NATO and the OSCE to deal with these new
security problems in Europe.
Release of this report, accompanied by policy briefings
of key Democrats and media big shots, was timed to
influence the Democratic presidential campaign. Candidate
Bill Clinton quickly took up the rhetoric, calling for
Milosevic to be tried for "crimes against humanity" and
advocating military intervention against the Serbs.
However, it took several years to put this into practice.
At the Carnegie Endowment, as member of a study group
including Al Gore's foreign policy advisor Leon Fuerth,
David Scheffer had co-authored (with Morton Halperin) a
book-length report on "Self-Determination in the New
World Order" which proposed military intervention as one
of the ways of "responding to international hot spots". A
major question raised was when and to what end the United
States should become involved in a conflict between an
established state and a "self-determination" -- i.e. a
secessionist -- movement. Clearly, the question was not
to be submitted to the United Nations. "The United States
should seek to build a consensus within regional and
international organizations for its position, but should
not sacrifice its own judgment and principles if such a
consensus fails to materialize"(5).
In general, the authors concluded, "the world community
needs to act more quickly and with more determination to
employ military force when it proves necessary and
feasible"(6). But when is this?
When a self-determination claim triggers an armed
conflict that becomes a humanitarian crisis, getting
food, medicine, and shelter to thousands or millions of
civilians becomes an inescapable imperative. A new
intolerance for such human tragedies is becoming evident
in the post-Cold War world and is redefining the
principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of
states (7).
Now, in theory, this sounds almost indisputable. However,
in practice the question becomes one not of theory but of
facts. When does a crisis in fact correspond to this
description, and when, on the contrary, can it simply be
made to seem to correspond to this description?
In the official NATO version, vigorously endorsed by
mainstream media, the Kosovo war was precisely an
instance when "a self-determination claim triggers an
armed conflict that becomes a humanitarian crisis..."
However, there is considerable, indeed overwhelming
evidence that the "self-determination claim" quite
deliberately provoked both the "armed conflict" and the
"humanitarian crisis" precisely in order to bring in, not
humanitarian aid, but military intervention from NATO on
the pretext of humanitarian aid. For there was never any
need of NATO intervention in order to provide food,
medicine and shelter to civilians within Kosovo or before
the NATO bombing. The "humanitarian crisis" was a mirage
until NATO triggered it by the bombing.
But in the culture of images, temporal relationships are
easily obscured. What came before or after what is
forgotten. And with temporal relationship, cause and
effect are lost, along with responsibility.
Can Kosovo be detached from Serbia? "The use of military
force to create a new state would require conduct by the
parent government so egregious that it has forfeited any
right to govern the minority claiming
self-determination"(8). But who decides that conduct is
sufficiently "egregious"?
Clearly, Madeleine Albright was so eager to put these
bold new theories into practice that she worked mightily
to make the crime fit the punishment.
Morton Abramowitz himself, who as Carnegie Endowment
President nurtured Albright, Holbrooke, Fuerth, Scheffer
and the others as they jointly developed Clinton's future
doctrine of "humanitarian warfare", has also played an
active role. In 1997, he passed through the elite
revolving door from the Carnegie Endowment to the Council
on Foreign Relations. He has contributed his wisdom to a
new, high-level think tank, the International Crisis
Group, whose sponsors include governments and omnipresent
financier George Soros. The ICG has been a leading
designer of policy toward Kosovo.
Putting into practice the hypothesis of "a
self-determination claim triggering an armed conflict",
Abramowitz became an early advocate of arming the "Kosovo
Liberation Army"(U?K). At Rambouillet, Abramowitz
discreetly coached the ethnic Albanian delegation headed
by U?K leader Hashim Thaqi (9).
Back in February 1992, before civil war broke out in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, television producer John B. Roberts
II was asked to design a publicity campaign to gain
public support for the soon-to-be-published Carnegie
Endowment recommendations. When he saw that "Changing Our
Ways" proposed "the revolutionary idea that a U.S.-led
military first strike was justified, not to defend the
United States, but to impose highly subjective political
settlements on other countries", that it "discarded
national sovereignty in favour of international
intervention", Roberts "began to regret [his] efforts to
build publicity for the report" (10).
One way or another, the "revolutionary idea" has been
widely propagated during the 1990s. Humanitarian
intervention was an idea whose time had come because it
met a certain number of perceived needs. It provided a
solution to the problem formulated by Senator Richard
Lugar, that once the Cold War ended, NATO must be "either
out of area or out of business". A new missionary mission
not only kept NATO alive, thereby nourishing a vast array
of vested industrial and financial interests, primarily
but not solely in the United States, it also could be
seen as a potential instrument to defend less broadly
perceived geostrategic interests without submitting them
to public controversy.
Humanitarian Realpolitik
When Madeleine Albright took over the State Department
from Warren Christopher in early 1997, her promotion was
presented to the public more as a personal success for a
woman than as a corporate success for a policy design. At
its most informative, The New York Times (11), mentioned
influential policy-makers as if they were benevolent
uncles ready to give encouragement to a lady. Three
months after she took office, it was reported: "Ms.
Albright has reached out for advice. She has talked with
Zbigniew Brzezinski; the departing president of the
Carnegie Endowment, Morton Abramowitz; the philanthropist
George Soros; and Leslie Gelb, president of the Council
on Foreign Relations."
If Abramowitz may be considered the ?minence grise behind
the whole "humanitarian intervention" policy, Brzezinski
provided a geostrategic rationale. Brzezinski has no
inhibitions about using high principles in the power
game. In Paris in January 1998 to promote the French
edition of his book, The Grand Chessboard, he was asked
about an apparent "paradox" between the fact that his
book was steeped in Realpolitik, whereas, in his days as
National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter,
Brzezinski had been the "defender of human rights".
Brzezinski waved the paradox aside. There is none, he
replied. "I elaborated that doctrine in agreement with
President Carter, as it was the best way to destabilize
the Soviet Union. And it worked"(12).
Of course, it took more than nice words about human
rights to destabilize the Soviet Union. It took war. And
Brzezinski was very active on that front. As he told a
second French weekly (13) during his book promotion tour,
the CIA had begun bank-rolling counter- revolutionary
Afghan forces in mid-1979, half a year before the Soviet
Union moved into Afghanistan on a "stabilizing" mission
around New Year's Day 1980. "We did not push the Russians
into intervening, but we knowingly increased the
possibility that they would. That secret operation was an
excellent idea. The effect was to draw the Russians into
the Afghan trap."
Brzezinski rightly felt he could be forthright about such
matters as humanitarian entrapment in Paris, where the
policy elite admires nothing so much in American leaders
as unabashed cynical power politics. This admiration is
most acute when the French are offered a share in it, as
was the case with Brzezinski and his book. France, wrote
Brzezinski, "is an essential partner in the important
task of permanently locking a democratic Germany into
Europe", which means preventing Germany from building its
own separate sphere of influence to the East, possibly
including Russia -- a connection that Brzezinski's policy
recommendations are designed to forestall at all costs.
"This is the historic role of the Franco-German
relationship, and the expansion of both the EU and NATO
eastward should enhance the importance of that
relationship as Europe's inner core. Finally, France is
not strong enough either to obstruct America on the
geostrategic fundamentals of America's European policy or
to become by itself a leader of Europe as such. Hence,
its peculiarities and even its tantrums can be
tolerated"(14).
These assurances may contribute to explaining the mystery
-- as it was widely perceived in other countries -- of
France's strong support to NATO's Kosovo war, second only
to Britain and in disharmony with reactions in Germany
and Italy. That is, the French elite had been given to
understand this war as part of the Brzezinski design for
a transatlantic Europe giving France a politico-military
leadership role offsetting Germany's economic
predominance.
Brzezinski frankly sets the goal for U.S. policy: "to
perpetuate America's own dominant position for at least a
generation and preferably longer still". This involves
creating a "geopolitical framework" around NATO that will
initially include Ukraine and exclude Russia. This will
establish the geostrategic basis for controlling conflict
in what Brzezinski calls "the Eurasian Balkans", the huge
area between the Eastern shore of the Black Sea to China,
which includes the Caspian Sea and its petroleum
resources, a top priority for U.S. foreign policy. In the
policy elites of both Britain and France, perpetuation of
Trans-Atlantic domination could be understood as a way of
preventing a Russo-German rapprochement able to dominate
the continent.
Along with Jeane Kirkpatrick, Frank Carlucci, William
Odom and Stephan Solarz, Brzezinski has joined the
anti-Serb crusade in yet another new Washington policy
shop, the "Balkan Action Council", calling for all-out
war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo.
In the Brzezinski scheme of things, Yugoslavia is a
testing ground and a metaphor for the Soviet Union. In
this metaphor, "Serbia" is Russia, and Croatia, Bosnia,
Kosovo, etc., are Ukraine, the Baltic States, Georgia and
the former Soviet Republics of "the Eurasian Balkans".
This being the case, the successful secession of Croatia
and company from Yugoslavia sets a positive precedent for
maintaining the independence of Ukraine and its
progressive inclusion in the European Union and NATO,
which he sets for the decade 2005-2015 as a "reasonable
time frame".
The little Balkan "Balkans" appear on a map on page 22 of
The Grand Chessboard interestingly shaded in three
gradations representing U.S. geopolitical preponderance
(dark), U.S. political influence (medium) and the
apparent absence of either (white). Darkly shaded (like
the U.S., Canada and Western Europe) are Hungary,
Rumania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Medium shading covers
Slovakia, Moldavia and Ukraine as well as Georgia and
most of the "Eurasian Balkans". Glaringly white, like
Russia, are Yugoslavia and Greece. For Brzezinski,
Belgrade was a potential relay for Moscow. Serbs might be
unaware of this, but in the geostrategic view, they were
only so many surrogate Russians.
Cultural Divides and Caspian Oil
Samuel Huntington's notion of "conflict of
civilizations", by identifying Orthodox Christianity as a
civilization in conflict with the West and its famous
"values", has offered an ideological cover for the
"divide and conquer" strategy, which has less appeal, but
is not incompatible with, the "humanitarian"
justification. It has been taken up by influential (15)
writer Robert D. Kaplan, who sees a "real battle" that is
"drawn along historical-civilizational lines. On the one
side are the Turks, their fellow Azeri Turks in
Azerbaijan, the Israelis and the Jordanians [...]. On the
other side are those who suffered the most historically
from Turkish rule: the Syrian and Iraqi Arabs, the
Armenians, the Greeks and the Kurds"(16). It is not hard
to see whose side the United States must be on in this
battle, or which must be the winning side.
Kaplan places Kosovo "smack in the middle of a very
unstable and important region where Europe joins the
Middle East" while "Europe is redividing along historic
and cultural lines"(17).
"There is a Western, Catholic, Protestant Europe and an
Eastern Orthodox Europe, which is poorer, more
politically unsettled and more ridden with organized
crime. That Orthodox realm has been shut out of NATO and
is angrier by the day, and it is fiercely anti-Moslem",
Kaplan declares.
An oddity of these "cultural divide" projections is that
they find the abyss between Eastern and Western
Christianity far deeper and more unbridgeable than the
difference between Christianity and Islam. The obvious
short, three-letter explanation is "oil". But there is a
complementary explanation that is more truly cultural,
relating to the transnational nature of Islam and to the
importance of its charitable organizations. Steve Niva
(18) has noted a split within the US foreign policy
establishment between conservatives (clearly absent from
the Clinton administration) who see Islam as a threat,
and "neo-liberals" for whom the primary enemy is "any
barrier to free trade and unfettered markets". These
include European leaders, oil companies and Zbigniew
Brzezinski. "Incorporating Islamists into existing
political systems would disperse responsibility for the
state's difficulties while defusing popular opposition to
severe economic `reforms' mandated by the IMF. Islamist
organizations could also help fill the gap caused by the
rollback of welfare states and social services...", Niva
observed.
In any case, all roads lead to the Caspian, and through
Kosovo. Kaplan publicly advises the nation's leaders that
an "amoral reason of self-interest" is needed to persuade
the country to keep troops in the Balkans for years to
come. The reason is clear. "With the Middle East
increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly-over
rights in the Balkans to protect Caspian Sea oil. But we
will not have those bases in the future if the Russians
reconquer southeast Europe by criminal stealth. Finally,
if we tell our European allies to go it alone in Kosovo,
we can kiss the Western Alliance goodbye"(19).
Looking at a map, one may wonder why it is necessary to
go through Kosovo to obtain Caspian oil. This is a good
question. However, U.S. strategists don't simply want to
obtain oil, which is a simple matter if one has money.
They want to control its flow to the big European market.
The simple way to get Caspian oil is via pipeline
southward through Iran. But that would evade U.S.
control. Or through Russia; just as bad. The preferred
U.S. route, a pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Turkish
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has been rejected as too
costly. Turkey has vetoed massive oil tanker traffic
through the Bosporus on ecological grounds. That leaves
the Balkans. It seems the U.S. would like to build a
pipeline across the Balkans, no doubt with Bechtel
getting the building contract -- former Bechtel executive
and Reagan administration Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger is a leading Kosovo warhawk. Bechtel has
already obtained major contracts in Tudjman's Croatia. It
is interesting that the Danube, likely to fall under
German control, has been blocked for serious transport by
NATO's bombing of Serbia's bridges.
On the way to the Caspian, the next stop after Yugoslavia
could be the big prize: Ukraine, which like the other
former Soviet Republics is already under U.S. influence
through NATO's "Partnership For Peace". Early this year,
asked by a German magazine whether NATO should be the
world policeman, NATO commander Wesley Clark observed
that the "countries on the Caspian Sea are members of the
`Partnership for Peace'. They have the right to consult
NATO in case of threat." Clark "didn't want to speculate
on what NATO might then do..."(20).
Scenarios Reach the TV Screen
As television producer Roberts recalls, it was a
Ukrainian friend who, seeing the implications for his own
country of the Abramowitz humanitarian war plans, set him
to worrying. "If the U.S. endorsed this new foreign
policy principle the potential for international chaos
was immense. Real or trumped up incidents of destruction
or displacement would be grounds for Russian or American
military intervention in dozens of countries where
nothing like a melting pot has ever existed."
"Real or trumped up" -- that is the question. For once so
much is at stake -- nothing less than the future of the
greatest power the world has ever seen -- events are all
too likely to follow the imaginary scenario laid out by
the policy planners.
This can happen in at least three ways.
1 - Reality imitates fiction. It is a common human
psychological phenomenon that people see what they are
looking for, or have been led to expect to see, often
when it is not there. This happens in countless ways. It
may account for desert mirages, or apparitions of the
Virgin, or simple errors of recognition that occur all
the time.
When reporters unfamiliar with the country are sent into
Bosnia or Kosovo to look for evidence of "Serbian war
crimes", and only evidence of Serbian war crimes, that is
what they will find. And if Croats, Muslims and Albanians
who are fighting against the Serbs know that that is what
they are looking for, it will be even easier.
If they are expecting, say, Serbs to be criminals,
everything Serbs say or do will be interpreted in that
light, with greater or less sincerity. Every ambiguous
detail will find its meaning.
2 - Evidence will be trumped up. This is an age-old
practice in war.
3 - Circumstances can be arranged to incite the very
crimes that the power wants to be able to punish. In
police language, this is called entrapment, or a "sting"
operation, and is illegal in many countries, although not
in the United States.
The Kosovo scenario has been advanced in all three ways.
(1. continua)
MAKING THE CRIME FIT THE PUNISHMENT
by Diana Johnstone
www.emperors-clothes.com
The order of events is strange. On March 24, 1999, the
NATO forces led by the United States began an
eleven-week-long punishment of Yugoslavia's President,
Slobodan Milosevic, which amounted to capital punishment
for an undetermined number of citizens of that
unfortunate country. Two months later, on May 27, the
U.S.-backed International Criminal Tribunal for former
Yugoslavia issued an indictment of Milosevic for "crimes
against humanity" having occurred after the punishment
began. Then, in late June, the Clinton administration
dispatched 56 forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to Kosovo to gather material evidence of
the crimes for which Milosevic and five of his colleagues
had already been indicted and for which his country had
already been severely and durably punished.
The FBI had no instructions to search for evidence of
crimes as such, including those that might have been
committed by, say, armed rebels fighting against the
established government of Yugoslavia. The only crimes of
interest were those for which Milosevic had previously
been accused, and all evidence was assumed in advance to
point to his guilt.
Thus the world entered the new age of humanitarian
vigilante power.
At the end of World War II, a world political system was
put in place to outlaw war. In its triumph as sole
superpower destined to govern the world, the United
States is currently striving to replace the system that
outlaws war by a system that uses war to punish outlaws.
Who the outlaws are is decided by the United States.
Alongside economic globalization, this vigilante system
corresponds to a dominant American world view of a
capitalist system inherently capable of meeting all human
needs, marred only by the wrongdoings of evil outcasts.
At home and abroad, the social effort to bring everybody
into a community of equal rights and obligations is
abandoned in favour of universal competition in which the
rich winners exclude the losers from society itself. On
the domestic scene, as the rich get richer, the
well-to-do escape from the very sight of the poor by
moving into gated communities, social programs are cut,
while prisons and execution chambers fill up. Punishment,
even vengeance, are popular values.
Twenty years ago, the United Nations and its agencies
provided a political forum for discussions of such
matters as a "new economic order" or a "new information
order" that might seek to narrow the enormous gap between
the rich Atlantic world and most of the rest of the
planet. All that is past, and today, the United Nations
is instrumentalized by the United States to pursue
dissident States which it has chosen to brand as rogues,
terrorists or criminals. Capitalist competition is being
forced onto the entire world as the supreme law by new
bodies such as the World Trade Organization. NATO-land is
a gated community whose armed forces are being prepared
to intervene worldwide, at the bidding of Washington, to
defend members' interests, in the name of the war against
crimes against humanity.
The Clinton Doctrine
The NATO war against Yugoslavia marks a great leap
forward toward the depoliticization and criminalization
of international relations. In the case of the similar
war against Iraq, the regime of Saddam Hussein was in
fact a military dictatorship, which did in fact violate
international law by invading Kuwait (leaving aside
eventual extenuating circumstances), and the United
States did obtain a mandate from the United Nations
Security Council for at least some (but not all) of its
military operations. In the case of Yugoslavia, the
military operations were carried out without U.N. mandate
against a state with an elected civilian government,
which had not violated international law.
NATO's war, directed from Washington, was intended as a
pure demonstration that the United States could make or
break the law. For it was Yugoslavia, which had not
violated international law, that was branded a criminal
State. Already on November 5, 1998, the American
presiding judge at the International Criminal Tribunal
for former Yugoslavia, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, described
Yugoslavia as "a rogue state, one that holds the
international rule of law in contempt". During the
bombing, U.S. and British leaders regularly compared
Milosevic to Hitler. And afterwards, the U.S. Senate on
June 30 adopted a bill describing Yugoslavia as "a
terrorist State", in the total absence of any of the
usual criteria for such a designation. The United States
is free both to commit crimes, and to criminalize its
adversaries. Might is sure of being right.
"A Clinton Doctrine of humanitarian warfare is taking
place", rejoiced (1) columnist Jim Hoagland, a leading
voice in the chorus of syndicated columnists who have
nagged away at the President to get up the gumption to
lead NATO through the Balkans into a brave new
millennium. This "doctrine" is not quite as spontaneous
as it is made to seem by the media chorus which portrays
Uncle Sam as a reluctant Hamlet generously stumbling into
greatness.
Since the end of the Cold War, United States leaders have
been searching for a grand new design to replace the
containment doctrine developed after World War II. To
this end, the oligarchy that formulates American foreign
policy has been hard at work in its various exclusive
venues such as the Council on Foreign Relations, private
clubs, larger assemblages such as the Trilateral
Commission (which specializes in the great American
ruling class art of selective co-optation and conversion
of potential critics), and a myriad of institutes,
foundations and "think tanks", overlapping with a half
dozen of the most prestigious universities and, of
course, the boards of directors of major corporations and
financial institutions. All are united by an unshakable
conviction that what is good for the United States (and
the business of the United States is business) is good
for the world. American policy-makers may be more or less
generous or cynical, crafty or forthright, but all
necessarily share the conviction that the system which
has made America great and powerful should be bestowed on
the rest of an often undeserving and recalcitrant world.
There is no conflict between this conviction and ruthless
pursuit of economic self-interest; they are part of the
same mindset.
None better epitomizes the combined power and good
conscience of American capitalism than the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, founded in 1910 by the
Scottish-American steel king Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
who recycled part of his vast rags-to-riches fortune into
philanthropic enterprises. It is fitting that in
formulating the Doctrine of Humanitarian Warfare now
attributed to Clinton, a major ideological role appears
to have been played by the Carnegie Endowment under the
presidency of Morton I. Abramowitz (2).
The Importance of War Crimes
In May 1997, three months after taking office as U.S.
Secretary of State, Madeleine Korbel Albright created a
new post, ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. The
creation of the post indicated the crucial importance of
"war crimes" in Albright's foreign policy. Two days
later, crime was linked to punishment as she delivered
her first policy speech on Bosnia to senior military
officers aboard an aircraft carrier in the Hudson River.
These gestures showed that the first woman Secretary of
State was out to demonstrate the serious meaning of her
famous remark, "What's the use of having the world's
greatest military force if you don't use it?"
Albright and the man named to the new "war crimes" post,
David Scheffer, were putting into practice new policy
concepts they had helped develop before Clinton was
elected President, and before the war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, when they had been part of what a
privileged observer (3) recently described as "a small
foreign policy elite convened by the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace to change U.S. foreign policy
after the Cold War."
During the last years of the Bush administration, the
Carnegie Endowment for Peace was confronting the major
question raised by the collapse of the Soviet bloc: what
new mission could save NATO, the necessary instrument for
U.S. leadership in Europe? And it found an answer:
humanitarian intervention. Reports by group members
Albright, Richard Holbrooke and Leon Fuerth "recommended
a dramatic escalation of the use of military force to
settle other countries' domestic conflicts." (4)
The Carnegie Endowment's 1992 report entitled "Changing
Our Ways: America's Role in the New World" called for "a
new principle of international relations: the destruction
or displacement of groups of people within states can
justify international intervention". The U.S. was advised
to "realign" NATO and the OSCE to deal with these new
security problems in Europe.
Release of this report, accompanied by policy briefings
of key Democrats and media big shots, was timed to
influence the Democratic presidential campaign. Candidate
Bill Clinton quickly took up the rhetoric, calling for
Milosevic to be tried for "crimes against humanity" and
advocating military intervention against the Serbs.
However, it took several years to put this into practice.
At the Carnegie Endowment, as member of a study group
including Al Gore's foreign policy advisor Leon Fuerth,
David Scheffer had co-authored (with Morton Halperin) a
book-length report on "Self-Determination in the New
World Order" which proposed military intervention as one
of the ways of "responding to international hot spots". A
major question raised was when and to what end the United
States should become involved in a conflict between an
established state and a "self-determination" -- i.e. a
secessionist -- movement. Clearly, the question was not
to be submitted to the United Nations. "The United States
should seek to build a consensus within regional and
international organizations for its position, but should
not sacrifice its own judgment and principles if such a
consensus fails to materialize"(5).
In general, the authors concluded, "the world community
needs to act more quickly and with more determination to
employ military force when it proves necessary and
feasible"(6). But when is this?
When a self-determination claim triggers an armed
conflict that becomes a humanitarian crisis, getting
food, medicine, and shelter to thousands or millions of
civilians becomes an inescapable imperative. A new
intolerance for such human tragedies is becoming evident
in the post-Cold War world and is redefining the
principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of
states (7).
Now, in theory, this sounds almost indisputable. However,
in practice the question becomes one not of theory but of
facts. When does a crisis in fact correspond to this
description, and when, on the contrary, can it simply be
made to seem to correspond to this description?
In the official NATO version, vigorously endorsed by
mainstream media, the Kosovo war was precisely an
instance when "a self-determination claim triggers an
armed conflict that becomes a humanitarian crisis..."
However, there is considerable, indeed overwhelming
evidence that the "self-determination claim" quite
deliberately provoked both the "armed conflict" and the
"humanitarian crisis" precisely in order to bring in, not
humanitarian aid, but military intervention from NATO on
the pretext of humanitarian aid. For there was never any
need of NATO intervention in order to provide food,
medicine and shelter to civilians within Kosovo or before
the NATO bombing. The "humanitarian crisis" was a mirage
until NATO triggered it by the bombing.
But in the culture of images, temporal relationships are
easily obscured. What came before or after what is
forgotten. And with temporal relationship, cause and
effect are lost, along with responsibility.
Can Kosovo be detached from Serbia? "The use of military
force to create a new state would require conduct by the
parent government so egregious that it has forfeited any
right to govern the minority claiming
self-determination"(8). But who decides that conduct is
sufficiently "egregious"?
Clearly, Madeleine Albright was so eager to put these
bold new theories into practice that she worked mightily
to make the crime fit the punishment.
Morton Abramowitz himself, who as Carnegie Endowment
President nurtured Albright, Holbrooke, Fuerth, Scheffer
and the others as they jointly developed Clinton's future
doctrine of "humanitarian warfare", has also played an
active role. In 1997, he passed through the elite
revolving door from the Carnegie Endowment to the Council
on Foreign Relations. He has contributed his wisdom to a
new, high-level think tank, the International Crisis
Group, whose sponsors include governments and omnipresent
financier George Soros. The ICG has been a leading
designer of policy toward Kosovo.
Putting into practice the hypothesis of "a
self-determination claim triggering an armed conflict",
Abramowitz became an early advocate of arming the "Kosovo
Liberation Army"(U?K). At Rambouillet, Abramowitz
discreetly coached the ethnic Albanian delegation headed
by U?K leader Hashim Thaqi (9).
Back in February 1992, before civil war broke out in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, television producer John B. Roberts
II was asked to design a publicity campaign to gain
public support for the soon-to-be-published Carnegie
Endowment recommendations. When he saw that "Changing Our
Ways" proposed "the revolutionary idea that a U.S.-led
military first strike was justified, not to defend the
United States, but to impose highly subjective political
settlements on other countries", that it "discarded
national sovereignty in favour of international
intervention", Roberts "began to regret [his] efforts to
build publicity for the report" (10).
One way or another, the "revolutionary idea" has been
widely propagated during the 1990s. Humanitarian
intervention was an idea whose time had come because it
met a certain number of perceived needs. It provided a
solution to the problem formulated by Senator Richard
Lugar, that once the Cold War ended, NATO must be "either
out of area or out of business". A new missionary mission
not only kept NATO alive, thereby nourishing a vast array
of vested industrial and financial interests, primarily
but not solely in the United States, it also could be
seen as a potential instrument to defend less broadly
perceived geostrategic interests without submitting them
to public controversy.
Humanitarian Realpolitik
When Madeleine Albright took over the State Department
from Warren Christopher in early 1997, her promotion was
presented to the public more as a personal success for a
woman than as a corporate success for a policy design. At
its most informative, The New York Times (11), mentioned
influential policy-makers as if they were benevolent
uncles ready to give encouragement to a lady. Three
months after she took office, it was reported: "Ms.
Albright has reached out for advice. She has talked with
Zbigniew Brzezinski; the departing president of the
Carnegie Endowment, Morton Abramowitz; the philanthropist
George Soros; and Leslie Gelb, president of the Council
on Foreign Relations."
If Abramowitz may be considered the ?minence grise behind
the whole "humanitarian intervention" policy, Brzezinski
provided a geostrategic rationale. Brzezinski has no
inhibitions about using high principles in the power
game. In Paris in January 1998 to promote the French
edition of his book, The Grand Chessboard, he was asked
about an apparent "paradox" between the fact that his
book was steeped in Realpolitik, whereas, in his days as
National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter,
Brzezinski had been the "defender of human rights".
Brzezinski waved the paradox aside. There is none, he
replied. "I elaborated that doctrine in agreement with
President Carter, as it was the best way to destabilize
the Soviet Union. And it worked"(12).
Of course, it took more than nice words about human
rights to destabilize the Soviet Union. It took war. And
Brzezinski was very active on that front. As he told a
second French weekly (13) during his book promotion tour,
the CIA had begun bank-rolling counter- revolutionary
Afghan forces in mid-1979, half a year before the Soviet
Union moved into Afghanistan on a "stabilizing" mission
around New Year's Day 1980. "We did not push the Russians
into intervening, but we knowingly increased the
possibility that they would. That secret operation was an
excellent idea. The effect was to draw the Russians into
the Afghan trap."
Brzezinski rightly felt he could be forthright about such
matters as humanitarian entrapment in Paris, where the
policy elite admires nothing so much in American leaders
as unabashed cynical power politics. This admiration is
most acute when the French are offered a share in it, as
was the case with Brzezinski and his book. France, wrote
Brzezinski, "is an essential partner in the important
task of permanently locking a democratic Germany into
Europe", which means preventing Germany from building its
own separate sphere of influence to the East, possibly
including Russia -- a connection that Brzezinski's policy
recommendations are designed to forestall at all costs.
"This is the historic role of the Franco-German
relationship, and the expansion of both the EU and NATO
eastward should enhance the importance of that
relationship as Europe's inner core. Finally, France is
not strong enough either to obstruct America on the
geostrategic fundamentals of America's European policy or
to become by itself a leader of Europe as such. Hence,
its peculiarities and even its tantrums can be
tolerated"(14).
These assurances may contribute to explaining the mystery
-- as it was widely perceived in other countries -- of
France's strong support to NATO's Kosovo war, second only
to Britain and in disharmony with reactions in Germany
and Italy. That is, the French elite had been given to
understand this war as part of the Brzezinski design for
a transatlantic Europe giving France a politico-military
leadership role offsetting Germany's economic
predominance.
Brzezinski frankly sets the goal for U.S. policy: "to
perpetuate America's own dominant position for at least a
generation and preferably longer still". This involves
creating a "geopolitical framework" around NATO that will
initially include Ukraine and exclude Russia. This will
establish the geostrategic basis for controlling conflict
in what Brzezinski calls "the Eurasian Balkans", the huge
area between the Eastern shore of the Black Sea to China,
which includes the Caspian Sea and its petroleum
resources, a top priority for U.S. foreign policy. In the
policy elites of both Britain and France, perpetuation of
Trans-Atlantic domination could be understood as a way of
preventing a Russo-German rapprochement able to dominate
the continent.
Along with Jeane Kirkpatrick, Frank Carlucci, William
Odom and Stephan Solarz, Brzezinski has joined the
anti-Serb crusade in yet another new Washington policy
shop, the "Balkan Action Council", calling for all-out
war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo.
In the Brzezinski scheme of things, Yugoslavia is a
testing ground and a metaphor for the Soviet Union. In
this metaphor, "Serbia" is Russia, and Croatia, Bosnia,
Kosovo, etc., are Ukraine, the Baltic States, Georgia and
the former Soviet Republics of "the Eurasian Balkans".
This being the case, the successful secession of Croatia
and company from Yugoslavia sets a positive precedent for
maintaining the independence of Ukraine and its
progressive inclusion in the European Union and NATO,
which he sets for the decade 2005-2015 as a "reasonable
time frame".
The little Balkan "Balkans" appear on a map on page 22 of
The Grand Chessboard interestingly shaded in three
gradations representing U.S. geopolitical preponderance
(dark), U.S. political influence (medium) and the
apparent absence of either (white). Darkly shaded (like
the U.S., Canada and Western Europe) are Hungary,
Rumania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Medium shading covers
Slovakia, Moldavia and Ukraine as well as Georgia and
most of the "Eurasian Balkans". Glaringly white, like
Russia, are Yugoslavia and Greece. For Brzezinski,
Belgrade was a potential relay for Moscow. Serbs might be
unaware of this, but in the geostrategic view, they were
only so many surrogate Russians.
Cultural Divides and Caspian Oil
Samuel Huntington's notion of "conflict of
civilizations", by identifying Orthodox Christianity as a
civilization in conflict with the West and its famous
"values", has offered an ideological cover for the
"divide and conquer" strategy, which has less appeal, but
is not incompatible with, the "humanitarian"
justification. It has been taken up by influential (15)
writer Robert D. Kaplan, who sees a "real battle" that is
"drawn along historical-civilizational lines. On the one
side are the Turks, their fellow Azeri Turks in
Azerbaijan, the Israelis and the Jordanians [...]. On the
other side are those who suffered the most historically
from Turkish rule: the Syrian and Iraqi Arabs, the
Armenians, the Greeks and the Kurds"(16). It is not hard
to see whose side the United States must be on in this
battle, or which must be the winning side.
Kaplan places Kosovo "smack in the middle of a very
unstable and important region where Europe joins the
Middle East" while "Europe is redividing along historic
and cultural lines"(17).
"There is a Western, Catholic, Protestant Europe and an
Eastern Orthodox Europe, which is poorer, more
politically unsettled and more ridden with organized
crime. That Orthodox realm has been shut out of NATO and
is angrier by the day, and it is fiercely anti-Moslem",
Kaplan declares.
An oddity of these "cultural divide" projections is that
they find the abyss between Eastern and Western
Christianity far deeper and more unbridgeable than the
difference between Christianity and Islam. The obvious
short, three-letter explanation is "oil". But there is a
complementary explanation that is more truly cultural,
relating to the transnational nature of Islam and to the
importance of its charitable organizations. Steve Niva
(18) has noted a split within the US foreign policy
establishment between conservatives (clearly absent from
the Clinton administration) who see Islam as a threat,
and "neo-liberals" for whom the primary enemy is "any
barrier to free trade and unfettered markets". These
include European leaders, oil companies and Zbigniew
Brzezinski. "Incorporating Islamists into existing
political systems would disperse responsibility for the
state's difficulties while defusing popular opposition to
severe economic `reforms' mandated by the IMF. Islamist
organizations could also help fill the gap caused by the
rollback of welfare states and social services...", Niva
observed.
In any case, all roads lead to the Caspian, and through
Kosovo. Kaplan publicly advises the nation's leaders that
an "amoral reason of self-interest" is needed to persuade
the country to keep troops in the Balkans for years to
come. The reason is clear. "With the Middle East
increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly-over
rights in the Balkans to protect Caspian Sea oil. But we
will not have those bases in the future if the Russians
reconquer southeast Europe by criminal stealth. Finally,
if we tell our European allies to go it alone in Kosovo,
we can kiss the Western Alliance goodbye"(19).
Looking at a map, one may wonder why it is necessary to
go through Kosovo to obtain Caspian oil. This is a good
question. However, U.S. strategists don't simply want to
obtain oil, which is a simple matter if one has money.
They want to control its flow to the big European market.
The simple way to get Caspian oil is via pipeline
southward through Iran. But that would evade U.S.
control. Or through Russia; just as bad. The preferred
U.S. route, a pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Turkish
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has been rejected as too
costly. Turkey has vetoed massive oil tanker traffic
through the Bosporus on ecological grounds. That leaves
the Balkans. It seems the U.S. would like to build a
pipeline across the Balkans, no doubt with Bechtel
getting the building contract -- former Bechtel executive
and Reagan administration Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger is a leading Kosovo warhawk. Bechtel has
already obtained major contracts in Tudjman's Croatia. It
is interesting that the Danube, likely to fall under
German control, has been blocked for serious transport by
NATO's bombing of Serbia's bridges.
On the way to the Caspian, the next stop after Yugoslavia
could be the big prize: Ukraine, which like the other
former Soviet Republics is already under U.S. influence
through NATO's "Partnership For Peace". Early this year,
asked by a German magazine whether NATO should be the
world policeman, NATO commander Wesley Clark observed
that the "countries on the Caspian Sea are members of the
`Partnership for Peace'. They have the right to consult
NATO in case of threat." Clark "didn't want to speculate
on what NATO might then do..."(20).
Scenarios Reach the TV Screen
As television producer Roberts recalls, it was a
Ukrainian friend who, seeing the implications for his own
country of the Abramowitz humanitarian war plans, set him
to worrying. "If the U.S. endorsed this new foreign
policy principle the potential for international chaos
was immense. Real or trumped up incidents of destruction
or displacement would be grounds for Russian or American
military intervention in dozens of countries where
nothing like a melting pot has ever existed."
"Real or trumped up" -- that is the question. For once so
much is at stake -- nothing less than the future of the
greatest power the world has ever seen -- events are all
too likely to follow the imaginary scenario laid out by
the policy planners.
This can happen in at least three ways.
1 - Reality imitates fiction. It is a common human
psychological phenomenon that people see what they are
looking for, or have been led to expect to see, often
when it is not there. This happens in countless ways. It
may account for desert mirages, or apparitions of the
Virgin, or simple errors of recognition that occur all
the time.
When reporters unfamiliar with the country are sent into
Bosnia or Kosovo to look for evidence of "Serbian war
crimes", and only evidence of Serbian war crimes, that is
what they will find. And if Croats, Muslims and Albanians
who are fighting against the Serbs know that that is what
they are looking for, it will be even easier.
If they are expecting, say, Serbs to be criminals,
everything Serbs say or do will be interpreted in that
light, with greater or less sincerity. Every ambiguous
detail will find its meaning.
2 - Evidence will be trumped up. This is an age-old
practice in war.
3 - Circumstances can be arranged to incite the very
crimes that the power wants to be able to punish. In
police language, this is called entrapment, or a "sting"
operation, and is illegal in many countries, although not
in the United States.
The Kosovo scenario has been advanced in all three ways.
(1. continua)
(seconda parte)
Military intervention may be justified "when a
self-determination claim triggers an armed conflict that
becomes a humanitarian crisis", wrote Scheffer and
Halperin.
The much-praised non-violent movement of Ibrahim Rugova
could not meet this criterion. It failed precisely
because it was not a movement for political equality but
a movement for secession. A non-violent movement for
political equality can find many active ways to
illustrate its exclusion and press its demands for
inclusion. But the goals of the Albanian movement were
not inclusion but complete independence from the existing
State. To show their rejection of Serbia, Kosovo
Albanians in the Rugova period refused to use the
democratic rights they had, boycotted elections, refused
to pay taxes, and even set up their own parallel schools
and public health service. The odd thing is that this
movement of passive resistance was met for the most part
by passive resistance on the part of the Serbian State,
which allowed Dr Rugova to go about his business
(obviously in defiance of Serbian laws) as "President of
the Republic of Kosova", let people get away with not
paying taxes and did not force children to attend Serbian
schools. Certainly, there were numerous instances of
police brutality, although their extent is hard to judge,
inasmuch as Kosovar Albanian Human Rights Groups
notoriously exaggerated such incidents in order to claim
that their people were being brutally oppressed -- a
claim which was not accepted by the German government
(21), incidentally, despite its support to the separatist
movement. But in reality, internal separatism was too
easy. The two communities grew ever farther apart, but
peacefully. There was an impasse.
That impasse was broken by the U?K/KLA, acting with the
backing of the United States. The strategy was summed up
by Richard Cohen (22):
The KLA had a simple but effective plan. It would kill
Serbian policemen. The Serbs would retaliate, Balkan
style, with widespread reprisals and the occasional
massacre. The West would get more and more appalled,
until finally it would, as it did in Bosnia, take action.
In effect, the United States and much of Europe would go
to war on the side of the KLA.
It worked.
This version perhaps gives the KLA/U?K a little too much
credit. The United States has been watching Kosovo
closely for years, and there are strong indications that
it both passively and actively assisted the armed rebels
in their humanitarian sting operation. The KLA did indeed
kill Serbian policemen, as well as a number of civilians,
including ethnic Albanians who failed to boycott the
Serbian state. But in between these killings and the Serb
retaliation, "Balkan style", there was a very significant
encouragement from Richard Gelbard, acting as U.S.
proconsul for former Yugoslavia. Normally, Gelbard's
visits to Belgrade were marked by utterances berating
Serbian authorities for not doing Washington's bidding in
one respect or another. But on February 23, 1998, Gelbard
visited Pristina and declared publicly that the KLA/U?K
was indeed "unquestionably a terrorist organization".
To the Serbs, this simply seemed to be recognition of
what to them was an obvious fact. Naively believing that
the United States was, as it continued to declare,
sincerely opposed to "international terrorism", Serbian
authorities took this remark as a green light to do what
any government normally does in such circumstances: send
in armed police to repress the terrorists. After all,
they were not hard to find. Unlike guerrillas in most
conflicts, they made no effort to conceal their
whereabouts but openly proclaimed that they were hanging
out in a number of villages in the Drenica hill region.
Far from heading for the hills when the police
approached, the U?K let civilians who didn't want to get
shot head for the hills while they themselves hunkered
down at home, sometimes with a few remaining family
members, and shot it out with police. This suicidal
tactic may have stemmed from the fact that Albanian homes
often double as fortresses in the traditional blood
feuds, but could not withstand Serbian government fire
power. In any case, the results were enough dead
Albanians in their villages to enable Madeleine Albright
and her chorus of media commentators to cry "ethnic
cleansing". It was not "ethnic cleansing", it was a
classic anti-insurgency operation. But that was enough
for the trap to start closing.
It is easy to imagine how the same scenario could enfold
again in some remote area of the "Eurasian Balkans",
where folk customs are not frightfully different from
those of the Albanians.
How to Get the Job of U.N. Secretary General
The Abramowitz-Albright policy for Yugoslavia has been
used as the event, the fait accompli, to complete a major
institutional shift of power. Institutions based on the
principle of decision-making equality between nations
(the United Nations, its agencies, and the OSCE) have
been drastically weakened. Others, effectively under U.S.
control (NATO, the International Criminal Tribunal), have
enlarged their scope, under the heading of a vague new
entity, the "international community".
The first target of this shift has of course been the
United Nations. Already weakened by the successful U.S.
undermining of U.N. agencies such as UNESCO and UNCTAD
which threatened to promote alternative and more
egalitarian concepts of "globalization", the United
Nations has been reduced by the conflict in Yugoslavia to
a rubber stamp to be used or ignored by the United States
as it chooses.
Certainly, responsibility for weakening the United
Nations is widely shared among world powers, but the
United States' role in this demolition enterprise has
nevertheless been outstanding. Far from trying to help
the United Nations seek an even-handed solution to the
Yugoslav crisis, the Clinton administration used its
influence to secure decisions of benefit to its own
chosen clients, the Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian
secessionists. In Bosnia, United Nations forces were
given impossible missions: hanging around deceptively
declared -- deceptively because never demilitarized --
"safe areas", as fighting continued. Their inevitable,
not to say programmed, failure could be, and has been,
trumpeted as "proof" that only NATO can carry out a
proper peace-keeping mission.
A significant high point in the United States' reduction
of the United Nations to a pliant tool came on August 30,
1995, when the United Nations momentarily relinquished
its control over Bosnian peace-keeping to NATO, aka the
Pentagon, in order to let the United States bomb the
Bosnian Serbs.
For Washington, the primary significance of this bombing
had less to do with the people of Bosnia than with U.S.
power. According to Richard Holbrooke, this was correctly
grasped by columnist William Pfaff who wrote the next
day: "The United States today is again Europe's leader;
there is no other."
In his memoir To End a War, Richard Holbrooke recounted
this proud achievement and lavishly praised the United
Nations official who made it possible: the Ghanaian
diplomat Kofi Annan, then in charge of peacekeeping
operations.
Madeleine Albright, at the time the U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations, was carrying on a "vigorous campaign"
in favour of bombing the Serbs. Luck smiled:
"fortunately, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali was
unreachable [...], so she dealt instead with his best
deputy, Kofi Annan, who was in charge of peacekeeping
operations. At 11:45 a.m., New York time, came a big
break: Annan informed Talbott and Albright that he had
instructed the U.N.'s civilian officials and military
commanders to relinquish for a limited period of time
their authority to veto air strikes in Bosnia. For the
first time in the war, the decision on the air strikes
was solely in the hands of NATO -- primarily two American
officers [...]"
"Annan's gutsy performance in those twenty-four hours was
to play a central role in Washington's strong support for
him a year later as the successor to Boutros
Boutros-Ghali as Secretary General of the United Nations.
Indeed, in a sense Annan won the job on that day"(23).
Bosnia was the main reason for getting rid of
Boutros-Ghali. "More than any other issue, it was his
performance on Bosnia that made us feel he did not
deserve a second term -- just as Kofi Annan's strength on
the bombing in August had already made him the private
favorite of many American officials", Holbrooke
explained. "Although the American campaign against
Boutros-Ghali, in which all our key allies opposed us,
was long and difficult [...] the decision was correct,
and may well have saved America's role in the United
Nations."
How to Sabotage the OSCE
With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was widely
favoured to succeed both the dismantled Warsaw Pact and
NATO as an all-inclusive institution to ensure security,
resolve conflicts and defend human rights in Europe. This
naturally encountered opposition from all those who
wanted to preserve and expand NATO, and with it, the
leading U.S. role in Europe -- that is, from many
important officials in many NATO countries, especially
Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the United States
itself.
On the eve of the Kosovo war, the tandem of Richard
Holbrooke and Madeleine Albright once again moved to
cripple a rival to NATO and clear the way for NATO
bombing.
On October 13, 1998, under threat of NATO bombing, U.S.
envoy Richard Holbrooke got Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to sign a unilateral deal to end security
operations against armed rebels. The agreement was to be
monitored by 2,000 foreign "verifiers" provided under the
auspices of the OSCE. From the start, opinions in Europe
were divided as to whether this Kosovo Verification
Mission (KVM) marked an advance for the OSCE or a kiss of
death, designed to prove the organization's impotence and
leave NATO as the uncontested arbiter of conflicts in
Europe.
The mission's fate was sealed in favour of the second
alternative when the European majority in the OSCE was
somehow persuaded to accept U.S. diplomat William Walker
to head the KVM. Walker was a veteran of Central American
"banana republic" management, who had collaborated with
Oliver North in illegally arming the "Contras" and had
covered up murderous state security operations in El
Salvador as U.S. ambassador there during the Reagan
administration.
Walker brought in 150 professional mercenaries from the
Arlington, Virginia-based DynCorp which had already
worked in Bosnia, drove around in a vehicle flying the
American flag, and did everything to confirm what his
French deputy, Ambassador Gabriel Keller, described as
the "wide-spread conviction in Serbian public opinion
that the OSCE was working under cover for NATO, [...]
that we acted with a hidden agenda" (24).
That impression was shared by many members of the KVM. A
number of Italians, whose comments were published
anonymously in the geostrategic review LiMes, accused the
Americans of "sabotaging the OSCE mission". Said one:
"The mission in my view had two primary aims. One was to
infiltrate personnel into the theatre with intelligence
tasks and for special forces activities (preparatory work
for a predetermined war). The other was to give the world
the impression that everything had been tried and thus
create grounds for public consent to the aggression we
perpetrated"(25).
According to Swiss verifier Pascal Neuffer: "We
understood from the start that the information gathered
by OSCE patrols during our mission were destined to
complete the information that NATO had gathered by
satellite. We had the very sharp impression of doing
espionage work for the Atlantic Alliance"(26).
KVM members have criticized Walker and his British chief
of operations, Karol (John) Drewienkiewicz, for rejecting
any cooperation with Serb authorities, for blocking
diplomatic means to ensure human rights, for controlling
the mission's information flow, and most serious of all,
for using the mission to make contact with U?K rebels and
train them to guide NATO to targets in the subsequent
bombing (27). Since the Serbs were quite aware of this
activity, as soon as the bombing began on March 24, Serb
security forces set out to root out all suspected U?K
indicators. These operations are very probably at the
heart of what NATO has described as ethnic cleansing.
However, prior to the bombing, KVM members testify to a
low level of violence, as well as a pattern of U?K
provocations. According to Keller, "every pullback by the
Yugoslav army or the Serbian police was followed by a
movement forward by [U?K] forces [...] OSCE's presence
compelled Serbian government forces to a certain
restraint [...] and U?K took advantage of this to
consolidate its positions everywhere, continuing to
smuggle arms from Albania, abducting and killing both
civilians and military personnel, Albanians and Serbs
alike."
By the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, an
increasingly audible split was taking place within the
KVM between Walker and most of the Europeans. Every
incident was an occasion for Walker and the U.S. State
Department to denounce the Serbs for breaking the truce,
and to accuse Milosevic of violating his commitment. The
Europeans saw things differently: the Albanian rebels,
with U.S. encouragement, were systematically provoking
Serb attacks in order to justify NATO coming in on their
side of the conflict.
In mid-January, Walker settled the score with his
European critics by bringing the world media over to his
side. This was the political significance of the famous
"Racak massacre". On January 15, Serb police had carried
out a pre-announced operation, accompanied by observers
and television cameras, against U?K killers believed to
be hiding out in the village of Racak. As the Serbs swept
into the village, the U?K gunmen took refuge on
surrounding high ground and began to fire on the police,
as TV footage showed. But the Serbs had sent forces
around behind them, and many U?K fighters were trapped
and shot. After the Serb forces withdrew that afternoon,
the U?K again took control of the village, and it was
they who led Walker into the village the next day to see
what they described as victims of a massacre. It may be,
as Serb authorities claimed and many Europeans tended to
believe, that the victims were in fact killed in the
shootout reported by the police, and then aligned to give
the appearance of a mass execution, or "massacre".
In any case, the extremely emotional public reaction by
the high-profile head of the KVM, condemning the Serbs
for "a crime against humanity", "an unspeakable atrocity"
committed by Serbs "with no value for human life", ended
any possible pretense of neutrality of the OSCE mission.
Walker's accusations were quickly taken up by NATO
politicians and editorialists. A complex conflict was
reduced to a simple opposition between Serbian
perpetrators of massacres and innocent Albanian civilian
victims. The U?K and its provocative murders of policemen
and civilians were to all intents and purposes invisible.
Presented as a gratuitous atrocity, "Racak" became the
immediate justification for NATO war against Yugoslavia.
In Kosovo itself, KVM members have testified, after Racak
the Serbs were totally convinced that the OSCE was
working for NATO and began to prepare for war, while the
U?K became still more aggressive. KVM members have also
complained of the fact that Walker evacuated the mission
to Macedonia on March 20, five days before the bombing
began. This way, no outside observers were there to see
exactly what did happen when the bombing began, much less
try to prevent it. Walker's leadership had effectively
removed all pressure or incentive for either side to show
restraint.
"In the history of international missions it would be
hard to find such a chaotic and tragically ambiguous
enterprise", concluded an Italian participant.
How to Obtain Justice
The importance of crimes in this new world order was
highlighted by the establishment in May 1993 of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). This tribunal was established by Security Council
resolution 827 under its Article 29 which allows it to
set up "subsidiary bodies" necessary to fulfill its
peacekeeping tasks. It is more than doubtful that the
framers of the United Nations statutes had a criminal
tribunal in mind, and many jurists consider resolution
827 to be an usurpation of legislative and judicial
powers by the Security Council. In fact, this act went
contrary to over forty years of study, within the
framework of the United Nations, of the possibilities for
setting up an international penal tribunal, whose
jurisdiction would be established by international treaty
allowing States to transfer part of their sovereign
rights to the tribunal. The Security Council's ICTY went
over the heads of the States concerned and simply imposed
its authority on them, without their consent.
Last April 5, as NATO was bombing Yugoslavia, the ICTY's
presiding judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (a former U.S.
federal judge in Texas) told the Supreme Court that the
Tribunal "benefited from the strong support of concerned
governments and dedicated individuals such as Secretary
Albright. As the permanent representative to the United
Nations, she had worked with unceasing resolve to
establish the Tribunal. Indeed, we often refer to her as
the `mother of the Tribunal'".
Because it is also located in The Hague, very many
well-informed people confuse the Tribunal with the
International Court of Justice, or at least believe that,
like the ICJ, the ICT is a truly independent and
impartial judicial body. Its many supporters in the media
say so, and so do its statutes. Article 32 of its
governing statute says the Tribunal's expenses shall be
borne by the regular budget of the United Nations, but
this has been persistently violated. As Toronto lawyer
Christopher Black points out, "the tribunal has received
substantial funds from individual States, private
foundations and corporations". The United States has
provided personnel (23 officials lent by the Departments
of State, Defense and Justice as of May 1996), equipment
and cash contributions. More money has been granted the
Tribunal by financier George Soros' Open Society
Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United
States Institute for Peace, set up in 1984 under the
Reagan administration and funded by Congressional
appropriations, with its board of directors appointed by
the U.S. President.
The Tribunal is vigorously supported by the Coalition for
International Justice (CIJ), based in Washington and The
Hague, founded and funded by George Soros' Open Society
Foundation and a semi-official U.S. lawyers' group called
CEELI, the Central and East European Law Institute, set
up to promote the replacement of socialist legal systems
with free market ones, according to Christopher Black.
Last May 12, ICTY president Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, in a
speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, said that:
"The U.S. government has very generously agreed to
provide $500,000 and to help to encourage other States to
contribute. However, the moral imperative to end the
violence in the region is shared by all, including the
corporate sector. I am pleased, therefore, that a major
corporation has recently donated computer equipment worth
three million dollars, which will substantially enhance
our operating capacity."
Moreover, during the bombing, Clinton obtained a special
$27 million appropriation to help the Tribunal,
especially in collecting anti-Serb testimony from
Albanian refugees along the borders of Kosovo. Finally,
Clinton has offered a bounty of $5 million for the arrest
of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Ethnic Divisions, Unified Empires
An extremely significant feature of the humanitarian
intervention policy is its emphasis on collective in
contrast to individual rights.
"In the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet empire,"
runs the summary of Self-Determination in the New World
Order, "new nations are emerging rapidly, and more and
more ethnic groups are pushing for independence or
autonomy." So the question is "how the United States
should respond". The authors "propose criteria for
decision makers who are weighing whether to support
groups seeking self-determination, to offer political
recognition, or to intervene with force."
This approach has practically nothing to do with
democracy, and everything to do with empire construction.
Although the words "democracy" and "democratic" are still
used, they tend increasingly to be without meaning other
than to designate favoured client leaders or groups in
countries of interest to the United States. Certainly,
Hashim Thaqi, the U?K leader who counts Madeleine
Albright's spokesman James Rubin (husband of CNN's
Christiane Amanpour) among his fans (28), is scarcely
more "democratic" than Milan Milutinovic, elected
President of Serbia, indicted with Milosevic by
Albright's "International War Crimes Tribunal". In fact,
the selection of particular groups, ethnic or social, as
clients, is the traditional way in which a conquering
empire can reshape social structures and replace former
elites with its own.
The imperial project is becoming increasingly open.
Protectorates are being established in Bosnia and Kosovo,
President Clinton is vigorously calling for the illegal
overthrow of the legally elected Yugoslav president.
Totally disregarding the feelings and wishes of the real,
live people who live there, Robert Kaplan announced (29)
that "there are two choices in the Balkans -- imperialism
or anarchy. To stop the violence, we essentially have to
act in the way the great powers in the region have always
acted: as pacifying conquerors." Like the Romans and the
Austrian Habsburgs, "motivated by territorial
aggrandizement for their own economic enrichment,
strategic positions and glory."
Merely to suggest that the United States might "intervene
with force" on behalf of an ethnic group seeking
self-determination is to cause trouble. There are
potentially hundreds of such groups not only in the
former Soviet Republics but throughout Africa and Asia.
The prospect of U.S. military intervention will, on the
one hand, encourage potential secessionist leaders to
push their claims to the point of "humanitarian crisis",
in order to bring in the Superpower on their side. By the
same token, it will encourage existing states to suppress
such movements brutally and decisively in order to
prevent precisely that intervention. A vicious cycle will
be created, enabling the single Superpower to fish
selectively in troubled waters.
The concept of "ethnic group" rests on the notion of
"identity". If individual identity is problematic, group
identity is even more so. That is, just as individuals
may have multiple or changing "identities", groups may
have changing compositions as people come and go from one
"identity" group to another. Especially in the modern
mobile world, ethnic identity is therefore a highly
questionable basis for claim to political recognition in
the form of an independent State. The forceful
affirmation of "ethnic identity" tends to strengthen
traditional patriarchal structures in places such as
Kosovo, at the expense of individual liberation. Stress
on ethnic identity enforces stereotypes, mafioso
structures and leadership by "godfathers".
Foreign policy based on ethnic identity has notorious
antecedents: it was precisely the policy employed by
Adolf Hitler to justify his conquest of the same Eastern
European territories that Brzezinski now watches so
attentively. Both the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the
invasion of Poland were officially justified by the need
to protect allegedly oppressed German minorities from the
cruel Czechs and Poles. The British government's
understanding for Herr Hitler's concern about Germans in
Czechoslovakia is the real "Munich". Before invading
Poland, Hitler had the SS manufacture an "incident" in
which wicked Poles stormed an innocent German-language
radio station in order to desecrate it with their
barbarous Slav language. The dead body left on the scene
to authenticate the incident was in fact a prison convict
in costume.
In Yugoslavia, Hitler "liberated" not only Germans but
also and especially Croats and (in conjunction with
fascist Italy) Albanians, long selected as the proper
Randv?lker to receive German protection, the better to
crush the main historic adversary, the Serbs, the people
who more than any other had fought for independence from
Empires. (The Serbs themselves as they became "Yugoslavs"
were less and less unified around Serbian identity, even
if they have continued to pay for it.)
Making policy by distinguishing between "friend" and
"enemy" peoples is pure Hitlerism, and this is what the
Anglo-American NATO leaders are now doing, while
ironically pretending to reject "Munich".
History As Melodrama
The media that recount Balkan ghost stories to the
"children" (30) back in NATOland rarely go into detail
about the peculiarities of these various customs and
situations. Popular culture has prepared audiences for a
simpler version. The pattern is the same as in disaster
movies, outer space movies, etc: there is always the trio
of classic melodrama: wicked villain, helpless victim
(maiden in distress) and heroic rescuer. Same plot. Over
and over. Only in the Abramowitz humanitarian war plan,
the trio is composed of ethnic entities or nationalities.
There is the "good" ethnic group, all victims, like the
Kosovar Albanians. Then there is the "bad" ethnic group,
all racist hatred, ethnic cleansing and even "genocide".
And finally, of course, there is Globocop to the rescue:
NATO with its stealth bombers, cruise missiles and
cluster blade bombs, its depleted uranium and graphite
power-plan busters. A bit of fireworks, like the car
chase at the end of the movie.
The whole concept of ethnic war as pretext for U.S.
military intervention implies this division of humanity
between "good" and "bad" nationalities, between
"oppressor" and "victim" peoples. Since this is rarely
the case, the story is told by analogy with the famous
exceptional cases where the categories fit: Hitler and
the Jews being the obvious favourite. Every new villain
is a "Hitler", every new ethnic secessionist group to be
used as pretext for new NATO bases is the victim of a
potential "Holocaust". At this rate, the two terms will
cease to be proper nouns and become general terms for the
new global Guignol.
Starting with the pretense of militant anti-racism,
"humanitarian intervention" finishes with a new racism.
To merit all those bombs, the "bad" people must be
tarnished with collective guilt. At the G8 summit in
Cologne in June, Tony Blair clearly adopted the doctrine
of collective guilt when he declared that there could be
no humanitarian aid for the Serbs because of the dreadful
way they had treated the Kosovar Albanians. With their
incomparable self-righteousness, the Anglo-American
commanders are leading this new humanitarian crusade to
extremes of inhumanity.
Footnotes
(1) Jim Hoagland, "Developing a Doctrine of Humanitarian
Warfare", International Herald Tribune, June 28, 1999.
(2) A former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Abramowitz
served as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
and Research in the Reagan administration. In January
1986, he took part in an interesting mission to Beijing
alongside top CIA officials with the purpose of
persuading China to support supplying Stinger missiles to
Islamic Afghan rebels in order to keep up pressure on the
Soviet Union, even as Gorbachev was trying to end the
Cold War. In the mid-1990s, he was part of a blue ribbon
panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations which
advised the Clinton Administration to loosen restrictions
on CIA covert operations such as dealing with criminals,
disguising agents as journalists, and targeting
unfriendly heads of State.
(3) John B. Roberts, "Roots of Allied Farce", The
American Spectator, June 1999.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Morton H. Halperin & David J. Scheffer with Patricia
L. Small, Self-Determination In the New World Order,
Carnegie Endowment, Washington,D.C., 1992; page 80.
(6) Ibid, p.105.
(7) Ibid, p.107.
(8) Ibid, p.110.
(9) Charles Trueheart, "Serbs and Kosovars Get Nudge From
Their Hosts To Speed Up Peace Talks", International
Herald Tribune/Washington Post, February 9, 1999: "On
Monday, the Kosovo Albanians won a small tactical victory
when their American advisers, initially barred by
conference hosts, were allowed to visit them at the
chateau. They included two former U.S. diplomats, Morton
Abramowitz and Paul Williams."
(10) John B.Roberts, op.cit.
(11) Steven Erlanger, "Winning Friends for Foreign
Policy: Albright's First 100 Days", The New York Times,
14 May 1997.
(12) "Il n'y a pas de paradoxe. J'ai mis au point cette
doctrine en accord avec le pr?sident Carter, car c'?tait
la meilleure fa?on de d?stabiliser l'Urss. ?a a march?."
L'Ev?nement du jeudi, 14 January 1998.
(13) Le Nouvel observateur, 14 January 1998, reported by
AFP.
(14) Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard,
BasicBooks, New York, 1997, p.78.
(15) Kaplan's 1993 book Balkan Ghosts was notoriously
read by President Clinton, who, however, had to be chided
later by the author for having drawn the wrong
conclusion. That is, Clinton's initial conclusion was to
stay out of the Balkans, whereas Kaplan has, he
explained, always been an interventionist.
(16) New York Times/International Herald Tribune, 23
February 1999.
(17) Robert D.Kaplan, "Why the Balkans Demand Amorality",
The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(18) Steve Niva, "Between Clash and Co-Optation: US
Foreign Policy and the Specter of Islam", Middle East
Report, Fall 1998.
(19) The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(20) Stern, 4 March 1999.
(21) In mid-April, 1999, the International Association of
Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) obtained and
distributed to news media official documents from the
German foreign office showing that in the months leading
up to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the foreign office
had repeatedly informed administrative courts of the
various German L?nder that there was no persecution of
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo or the rest of Serbia.
Example: Intelligence report from the Foreign Office,
January 12, 1999, to the administrative Court of Trier,
"Even in Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked
to Albanian ethnicity is not verifiable. The East of
Kosovo is still not involved in armed conflict. Public
life in cities like Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc.
has, in the entire conflict period, continued on a
relatively normal basis." The "actions of the security
forces [were] not directed against the Kosovo-Albanians
as an ethnically defined group, but against the military
opponent and its actual or alleged supporters." These
reports were published in the German daily junge welt on
24 April 1999.
(22) Richard Cohen, "The Winner in the Balkans Is the
KLA", Washington Post/International Herald Tribune, 18
June 1999.
(23) Richard Holbrooke, To End a War, Random House, New
York, 1998, p.103.
(24) "The OSCE KVM: autopsy of a mission", statement
delivered by Ambassador Gabriel Keller, principal deputy
head of mission, to the watch group on May 25, 1999.
(25) Italian military participant "Romanus", in LiMes
2/99, cited by il manifesto, 19 June 1999.
(26) La Libert?, Gen?ve, 22 April 1999, and Balkan-Infos
No.33, Paris, May 1999.
(27) Ulisse, "Come gli Americani hanno sabotato la
missione dell'Osce", LiMes, supplemento al n.1/99, p.113,
L'Espresso, Rome, 1999.
(28) "Throughout the Kosovo crisis, Mr.Rubin personally
wooed Hashim Thaci, the ambitious leader of the Kosovo
Liberation Army", the Wall Street Journal reported on
June 29, 1999, even going so far as to "jokingly promise
that he would speak to Hollywood friends about getting
Mr.Thaci a movie role."
(29) Robert D.Kaplan, "Why the Balkans Demand Amorality",
The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(30) Peter Gowan, in "The Twisted Road to Kosovo", Labour
Focus on Eastern Europe, Number 62, Spring 1999, explains
(p.76) that the foreign policy elite discuss the sordid
realities of power politics in a closed arena, and "not
in front of the children", that is, the citizenry of the
NATOland countries, who are regaled with versions that
appeal to their values and ideals.
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(2. fine)
Military intervention may be justified "when a
self-determination claim triggers an armed conflict that
becomes a humanitarian crisis", wrote Scheffer and
Halperin.
The much-praised non-violent movement of Ibrahim Rugova
could not meet this criterion. It failed precisely
because it was not a movement for political equality but
a movement for secession. A non-violent movement for
political equality can find many active ways to
illustrate its exclusion and press its demands for
inclusion. But the goals of the Albanian movement were
not inclusion but complete independence from the existing
State. To show their rejection of Serbia, Kosovo
Albanians in the Rugova period refused to use the
democratic rights they had, boycotted elections, refused
to pay taxes, and even set up their own parallel schools
and public health service. The odd thing is that this
movement of passive resistance was met for the most part
by passive resistance on the part of the Serbian State,
which allowed Dr Rugova to go about his business
(obviously in defiance of Serbian laws) as "President of
the Republic of Kosova", let people get away with not
paying taxes and did not force children to attend Serbian
schools. Certainly, there were numerous instances of
police brutality, although their extent is hard to judge,
inasmuch as Kosovar Albanian Human Rights Groups
notoriously exaggerated such incidents in order to claim
that their people were being brutally oppressed -- a
claim which was not accepted by the German government
(21), incidentally, despite its support to the separatist
movement. But in reality, internal separatism was too
easy. The two communities grew ever farther apart, but
peacefully. There was an impasse.
That impasse was broken by the U?K/KLA, acting with the
backing of the United States. The strategy was summed up
by Richard Cohen (22):
The KLA had a simple but effective plan. It would kill
Serbian policemen. The Serbs would retaliate, Balkan
style, with widespread reprisals and the occasional
massacre. The West would get more and more appalled,
until finally it would, as it did in Bosnia, take action.
In effect, the United States and much of Europe would go
to war on the side of the KLA.
It worked.
This version perhaps gives the KLA/U?K a little too much
credit. The United States has been watching Kosovo
closely for years, and there are strong indications that
it both passively and actively assisted the armed rebels
in their humanitarian sting operation. The KLA did indeed
kill Serbian policemen, as well as a number of civilians,
including ethnic Albanians who failed to boycott the
Serbian state. But in between these killings and the Serb
retaliation, "Balkan style", there was a very significant
encouragement from Richard Gelbard, acting as U.S.
proconsul for former Yugoslavia. Normally, Gelbard's
visits to Belgrade were marked by utterances berating
Serbian authorities for not doing Washington's bidding in
one respect or another. But on February 23, 1998, Gelbard
visited Pristina and declared publicly that the KLA/U?K
was indeed "unquestionably a terrorist organization".
To the Serbs, this simply seemed to be recognition of
what to them was an obvious fact. Naively believing that
the United States was, as it continued to declare,
sincerely opposed to "international terrorism", Serbian
authorities took this remark as a green light to do what
any government normally does in such circumstances: send
in armed police to repress the terrorists. After all,
they were not hard to find. Unlike guerrillas in most
conflicts, they made no effort to conceal their
whereabouts but openly proclaimed that they were hanging
out in a number of villages in the Drenica hill region.
Far from heading for the hills when the police
approached, the U?K let civilians who didn't want to get
shot head for the hills while they themselves hunkered
down at home, sometimes with a few remaining family
members, and shot it out with police. This suicidal
tactic may have stemmed from the fact that Albanian homes
often double as fortresses in the traditional blood
feuds, but could not withstand Serbian government fire
power. In any case, the results were enough dead
Albanians in their villages to enable Madeleine Albright
and her chorus of media commentators to cry "ethnic
cleansing". It was not "ethnic cleansing", it was a
classic anti-insurgency operation. But that was enough
for the trap to start closing.
It is easy to imagine how the same scenario could enfold
again in some remote area of the "Eurasian Balkans",
where folk customs are not frightfully different from
those of the Albanians.
How to Get the Job of U.N. Secretary General
The Abramowitz-Albright policy for Yugoslavia has been
used as the event, the fait accompli, to complete a major
institutional shift of power. Institutions based on the
principle of decision-making equality between nations
(the United Nations, its agencies, and the OSCE) have
been drastically weakened. Others, effectively under U.S.
control (NATO, the International Criminal Tribunal), have
enlarged their scope, under the heading of a vague new
entity, the "international community".
The first target of this shift has of course been the
United Nations. Already weakened by the successful U.S.
undermining of U.N. agencies such as UNESCO and UNCTAD
which threatened to promote alternative and more
egalitarian concepts of "globalization", the United
Nations has been reduced by the conflict in Yugoslavia to
a rubber stamp to be used or ignored by the United States
as it chooses.
Certainly, responsibility for weakening the United
Nations is widely shared among world powers, but the
United States' role in this demolition enterprise has
nevertheless been outstanding. Far from trying to help
the United Nations seek an even-handed solution to the
Yugoslav crisis, the Clinton administration used its
influence to secure decisions of benefit to its own
chosen clients, the Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian
secessionists. In Bosnia, United Nations forces were
given impossible missions: hanging around deceptively
declared -- deceptively because never demilitarized --
"safe areas", as fighting continued. Their inevitable,
not to say programmed, failure could be, and has been,
trumpeted as "proof" that only NATO can carry out a
proper peace-keeping mission.
A significant high point in the United States' reduction
of the United Nations to a pliant tool came on August 30,
1995, when the United Nations momentarily relinquished
its control over Bosnian peace-keeping to NATO, aka the
Pentagon, in order to let the United States bomb the
Bosnian Serbs.
For Washington, the primary significance of this bombing
had less to do with the people of Bosnia than with U.S.
power. According to Richard Holbrooke, this was correctly
grasped by columnist William Pfaff who wrote the next
day: "The United States today is again Europe's leader;
there is no other."
In his memoir To End a War, Richard Holbrooke recounted
this proud achievement and lavishly praised the United
Nations official who made it possible: the Ghanaian
diplomat Kofi Annan, then in charge of peacekeeping
operations.
Madeleine Albright, at the time the U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations, was carrying on a "vigorous campaign"
in favour of bombing the Serbs. Luck smiled:
"fortunately, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali was
unreachable [...], so she dealt instead with his best
deputy, Kofi Annan, who was in charge of peacekeeping
operations. At 11:45 a.m., New York time, came a big
break: Annan informed Talbott and Albright that he had
instructed the U.N.'s civilian officials and military
commanders to relinquish for a limited period of time
their authority to veto air strikes in Bosnia. For the
first time in the war, the decision on the air strikes
was solely in the hands of NATO -- primarily two American
officers [...]"
"Annan's gutsy performance in those twenty-four hours was
to play a central role in Washington's strong support for
him a year later as the successor to Boutros
Boutros-Ghali as Secretary General of the United Nations.
Indeed, in a sense Annan won the job on that day"(23).
Bosnia was the main reason for getting rid of
Boutros-Ghali. "More than any other issue, it was his
performance on Bosnia that made us feel he did not
deserve a second term -- just as Kofi Annan's strength on
the bombing in August had already made him the private
favorite of many American officials", Holbrooke
explained. "Although the American campaign against
Boutros-Ghali, in which all our key allies opposed us,
was long and difficult [...] the decision was correct,
and may well have saved America's role in the United
Nations."
How to Sabotage the OSCE
With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was widely
favoured to succeed both the dismantled Warsaw Pact and
NATO as an all-inclusive institution to ensure security,
resolve conflicts and defend human rights in Europe. This
naturally encountered opposition from all those who
wanted to preserve and expand NATO, and with it, the
leading U.S. role in Europe -- that is, from many
important officials in many NATO countries, especially
Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the United States
itself.
On the eve of the Kosovo war, the tandem of Richard
Holbrooke and Madeleine Albright once again moved to
cripple a rival to NATO and clear the way for NATO
bombing.
On October 13, 1998, under threat of NATO bombing, U.S.
envoy Richard Holbrooke got Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to sign a unilateral deal to end security
operations against armed rebels. The agreement was to be
monitored by 2,000 foreign "verifiers" provided under the
auspices of the OSCE. From the start, opinions in Europe
were divided as to whether this Kosovo Verification
Mission (KVM) marked an advance for the OSCE or a kiss of
death, designed to prove the organization's impotence and
leave NATO as the uncontested arbiter of conflicts in
Europe.
The mission's fate was sealed in favour of the second
alternative when the European majority in the OSCE was
somehow persuaded to accept U.S. diplomat William Walker
to head the KVM. Walker was a veteran of Central American
"banana republic" management, who had collaborated with
Oliver North in illegally arming the "Contras" and had
covered up murderous state security operations in El
Salvador as U.S. ambassador there during the Reagan
administration.
Walker brought in 150 professional mercenaries from the
Arlington, Virginia-based DynCorp which had already
worked in Bosnia, drove around in a vehicle flying the
American flag, and did everything to confirm what his
French deputy, Ambassador Gabriel Keller, described as
the "wide-spread conviction in Serbian public opinion
that the OSCE was working under cover for NATO, [...]
that we acted with a hidden agenda" (24).
That impression was shared by many members of the KVM. A
number of Italians, whose comments were published
anonymously in the geostrategic review LiMes, accused the
Americans of "sabotaging the OSCE mission". Said one:
"The mission in my view had two primary aims. One was to
infiltrate personnel into the theatre with intelligence
tasks and for special forces activities (preparatory work
for a predetermined war). The other was to give the world
the impression that everything had been tried and thus
create grounds for public consent to the aggression we
perpetrated"(25).
According to Swiss verifier Pascal Neuffer: "We
understood from the start that the information gathered
by OSCE patrols during our mission were destined to
complete the information that NATO had gathered by
satellite. We had the very sharp impression of doing
espionage work for the Atlantic Alliance"(26).
KVM members have criticized Walker and his British chief
of operations, Karol (John) Drewienkiewicz, for rejecting
any cooperation with Serb authorities, for blocking
diplomatic means to ensure human rights, for controlling
the mission's information flow, and most serious of all,
for using the mission to make contact with U?K rebels and
train them to guide NATO to targets in the subsequent
bombing (27). Since the Serbs were quite aware of this
activity, as soon as the bombing began on March 24, Serb
security forces set out to root out all suspected U?K
indicators. These operations are very probably at the
heart of what NATO has described as ethnic cleansing.
However, prior to the bombing, KVM members testify to a
low level of violence, as well as a pattern of U?K
provocations. According to Keller, "every pullback by the
Yugoslav army or the Serbian police was followed by a
movement forward by [U?K] forces [...] OSCE's presence
compelled Serbian government forces to a certain
restraint [...] and U?K took advantage of this to
consolidate its positions everywhere, continuing to
smuggle arms from Albania, abducting and killing both
civilians and military personnel, Albanians and Serbs
alike."
By the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, an
increasingly audible split was taking place within the
KVM between Walker and most of the Europeans. Every
incident was an occasion for Walker and the U.S. State
Department to denounce the Serbs for breaking the truce,
and to accuse Milosevic of violating his commitment. The
Europeans saw things differently: the Albanian rebels,
with U.S. encouragement, were systematically provoking
Serb attacks in order to justify NATO coming in on their
side of the conflict.
In mid-January, Walker settled the score with his
European critics by bringing the world media over to his
side. This was the political significance of the famous
"Racak massacre". On January 15, Serb police had carried
out a pre-announced operation, accompanied by observers
and television cameras, against U?K killers believed to
be hiding out in the village of Racak. As the Serbs swept
into the village, the U?K gunmen took refuge on
surrounding high ground and began to fire on the police,
as TV footage showed. But the Serbs had sent forces
around behind them, and many U?K fighters were trapped
and shot. After the Serb forces withdrew that afternoon,
the U?K again took control of the village, and it was
they who led Walker into the village the next day to see
what they described as victims of a massacre. It may be,
as Serb authorities claimed and many Europeans tended to
believe, that the victims were in fact killed in the
shootout reported by the police, and then aligned to give
the appearance of a mass execution, or "massacre".
In any case, the extremely emotional public reaction by
the high-profile head of the KVM, condemning the Serbs
for "a crime against humanity", "an unspeakable atrocity"
committed by Serbs "with no value for human life", ended
any possible pretense of neutrality of the OSCE mission.
Walker's accusations were quickly taken up by NATO
politicians and editorialists. A complex conflict was
reduced to a simple opposition between Serbian
perpetrators of massacres and innocent Albanian civilian
victims. The U?K and its provocative murders of policemen
and civilians were to all intents and purposes invisible.
Presented as a gratuitous atrocity, "Racak" became the
immediate justification for NATO war against Yugoslavia.
In Kosovo itself, KVM members have testified, after Racak
the Serbs were totally convinced that the OSCE was
working for NATO and began to prepare for war, while the
U?K became still more aggressive. KVM members have also
complained of the fact that Walker evacuated the mission
to Macedonia on March 20, five days before the bombing
began. This way, no outside observers were there to see
exactly what did happen when the bombing began, much less
try to prevent it. Walker's leadership had effectively
removed all pressure or incentive for either side to show
restraint.
"In the history of international missions it would be
hard to find such a chaotic and tragically ambiguous
enterprise", concluded an Italian participant.
How to Obtain Justice
The importance of crimes in this new world order was
highlighted by the establishment in May 1993 of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). This tribunal was established by Security Council
resolution 827 under its Article 29 which allows it to
set up "subsidiary bodies" necessary to fulfill its
peacekeeping tasks. It is more than doubtful that the
framers of the United Nations statutes had a criminal
tribunal in mind, and many jurists consider resolution
827 to be an usurpation of legislative and judicial
powers by the Security Council. In fact, this act went
contrary to over forty years of study, within the
framework of the United Nations, of the possibilities for
setting up an international penal tribunal, whose
jurisdiction would be established by international treaty
allowing States to transfer part of their sovereign
rights to the tribunal. The Security Council's ICTY went
over the heads of the States concerned and simply imposed
its authority on them, without their consent.
Last April 5, as NATO was bombing Yugoslavia, the ICTY's
presiding judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (a former U.S.
federal judge in Texas) told the Supreme Court that the
Tribunal "benefited from the strong support of concerned
governments and dedicated individuals such as Secretary
Albright. As the permanent representative to the United
Nations, she had worked with unceasing resolve to
establish the Tribunal. Indeed, we often refer to her as
the `mother of the Tribunal'".
Because it is also located in The Hague, very many
well-informed people confuse the Tribunal with the
International Court of Justice, or at least believe that,
like the ICJ, the ICT is a truly independent and
impartial judicial body. Its many supporters in the media
say so, and so do its statutes. Article 32 of its
governing statute says the Tribunal's expenses shall be
borne by the regular budget of the United Nations, but
this has been persistently violated. As Toronto lawyer
Christopher Black points out, "the tribunal has received
substantial funds from individual States, private
foundations and corporations". The United States has
provided personnel (23 officials lent by the Departments
of State, Defense and Justice as of May 1996), equipment
and cash contributions. More money has been granted the
Tribunal by financier George Soros' Open Society
Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United
States Institute for Peace, set up in 1984 under the
Reagan administration and funded by Congressional
appropriations, with its board of directors appointed by
the U.S. President.
The Tribunal is vigorously supported by the Coalition for
International Justice (CIJ), based in Washington and The
Hague, founded and funded by George Soros' Open Society
Foundation and a semi-official U.S. lawyers' group called
CEELI, the Central and East European Law Institute, set
up to promote the replacement of socialist legal systems
with free market ones, according to Christopher Black.
Last May 12, ICTY president Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, in a
speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, said that:
"The U.S. government has very generously agreed to
provide $500,000 and to help to encourage other States to
contribute. However, the moral imperative to end the
violence in the region is shared by all, including the
corporate sector. I am pleased, therefore, that a major
corporation has recently donated computer equipment worth
three million dollars, which will substantially enhance
our operating capacity."
Moreover, during the bombing, Clinton obtained a special
$27 million appropriation to help the Tribunal,
especially in collecting anti-Serb testimony from
Albanian refugees along the borders of Kosovo. Finally,
Clinton has offered a bounty of $5 million for the arrest
of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Ethnic Divisions, Unified Empires
An extremely significant feature of the humanitarian
intervention policy is its emphasis on collective in
contrast to individual rights.
"In the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet empire,"
runs the summary of Self-Determination in the New World
Order, "new nations are emerging rapidly, and more and
more ethnic groups are pushing for independence or
autonomy." So the question is "how the United States
should respond". The authors "propose criteria for
decision makers who are weighing whether to support
groups seeking self-determination, to offer political
recognition, or to intervene with force."
This approach has practically nothing to do with
democracy, and everything to do with empire construction.
Although the words "democracy" and "democratic" are still
used, they tend increasingly to be without meaning other
than to designate favoured client leaders or groups in
countries of interest to the United States. Certainly,
Hashim Thaqi, the U?K leader who counts Madeleine
Albright's spokesman James Rubin (husband of CNN's
Christiane Amanpour) among his fans (28), is scarcely
more "democratic" than Milan Milutinovic, elected
President of Serbia, indicted with Milosevic by
Albright's "International War Crimes Tribunal". In fact,
the selection of particular groups, ethnic or social, as
clients, is the traditional way in which a conquering
empire can reshape social structures and replace former
elites with its own.
The imperial project is becoming increasingly open.
Protectorates are being established in Bosnia and Kosovo,
President Clinton is vigorously calling for the illegal
overthrow of the legally elected Yugoslav president.
Totally disregarding the feelings and wishes of the real,
live people who live there, Robert Kaplan announced (29)
that "there are two choices in the Balkans -- imperialism
or anarchy. To stop the violence, we essentially have to
act in the way the great powers in the region have always
acted: as pacifying conquerors." Like the Romans and the
Austrian Habsburgs, "motivated by territorial
aggrandizement for their own economic enrichment,
strategic positions and glory."
Merely to suggest that the United States might "intervene
with force" on behalf of an ethnic group seeking
self-determination is to cause trouble. There are
potentially hundreds of such groups not only in the
former Soviet Republics but throughout Africa and Asia.
The prospect of U.S. military intervention will, on the
one hand, encourage potential secessionist leaders to
push their claims to the point of "humanitarian crisis",
in order to bring in the Superpower on their side. By the
same token, it will encourage existing states to suppress
such movements brutally and decisively in order to
prevent precisely that intervention. A vicious cycle will
be created, enabling the single Superpower to fish
selectively in troubled waters.
The concept of "ethnic group" rests on the notion of
"identity". If individual identity is problematic, group
identity is even more so. That is, just as individuals
may have multiple or changing "identities", groups may
have changing compositions as people come and go from one
"identity" group to another. Especially in the modern
mobile world, ethnic identity is therefore a highly
questionable basis for claim to political recognition in
the form of an independent State. The forceful
affirmation of "ethnic identity" tends to strengthen
traditional patriarchal structures in places such as
Kosovo, at the expense of individual liberation. Stress
on ethnic identity enforces stereotypes, mafioso
structures and leadership by "godfathers".
Foreign policy based on ethnic identity has notorious
antecedents: it was precisely the policy employed by
Adolf Hitler to justify his conquest of the same Eastern
European territories that Brzezinski now watches so
attentively. Both the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the
invasion of Poland were officially justified by the need
to protect allegedly oppressed German minorities from the
cruel Czechs and Poles. The British government's
understanding for Herr Hitler's concern about Germans in
Czechoslovakia is the real "Munich". Before invading
Poland, Hitler had the SS manufacture an "incident" in
which wicked Poles stormed an innocent German-language
radio station in order to desecrate it with their
barbarous Slav language. The dead body left on the scene
to authenticate the incident was in fact a prison convict
in costume.
In Yugoslavia, Hitler "liberated" not only Germans but
also and especially Croats and (in conjunction with
fascist Italy) Albanians, long selected as the proper
Randv?lker to receive German protection, the better to
crush the main historic adversary, the Serbs, the people
who more than any other had fought for independence from
Empires. (The Serbs themselves as they became "Yugoslavs"
were less and less unified around Serbian identity, even
if they have continued to pay for it.)
Making policy by distinguishing between "friend" and
"enemy" peoples is pure Hitlerism, and this is what the
Anglo-American NATO leaders are now doing, while
ironically pretending to reject "Munich".
History As Melodrama
The media that recount Balkan ghost stories to the
"children" (30) back in NATOland rarely go into detail
about the peculiarities of these various customs and
situations. Popular culture has prepared audiences for a
simpler version. The pattern is the same as in disaster
movies, outer space movies, etc: there is always the trio
of classic melodrama: wicked villain, helpless victim
(maiden in distress) and heroic rescuer. Same plot. Over
and over. Only in the Abramowitz humanitarian war plan,
the trio is composed of ethnic entities or nationalities.
There is the "good" ethnic group, all victims, like the
Kosovar Albanians. Then there is the "bad" ethnic group,
all racist hatred, ethnic cleansing and even "genocide".
And finally, of course, there is Globocop to the rescue:
NATO with its stealth bombers, cruise missiles and
cluster blade bombs, its depleted uranium and graphite
power-plan busters. A bit of fireworks, like the car
chase at the end of the movie.
The whole concept of ethnic war as pretext for U.S.
military intervention implies this division of humanity
between "good" and "bad" nationalities, between
"oppressor" and "victim" peoples. Since this is rarely
the case, the story is told by analogy with the famous
exceptional cases where the categories fit: Hitler and
the Jews being the obvious favourite. Every new villain
is a "Hitler", every new ethnic secessionist group to be
used as pretext for new NATO bases is the victim of a
potential "Holocaust". At this rate, the two terms will
cease to be proper nouns and become general terms for the
new global Guignol.
Starting with the pretense of militant anti-racism,
"humanitarian intervention" finishes with a new racism.
To merit all those bombs, the "bad" people must be
tarnished with collective guilt. At the G8 summit in
Cologne in June, Tony Blair clearly adopted the doctrine
of collective guilt when he declared that there could be
no humanitarian aid for the Serbs because of the dreadful
way they had treated the Kosovar Albanians. With their
incomparable self-righteousness, the Anglo-American
commanders are leading this new humanitarian crusade to
extremes of inhumanity.
Footnotes
(1) Jim Hoagland, "Developing a Doctrine of Humanitarian
Warfare", International Herald Tribune, June 28, 1999.
(2) A former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Abramowitz
served as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
and Research in the Reagan administration. In January
1986, he took part in an interesting mission to Beijing
alongside top CIA officials with the purpose of
persuading China to support supplying Stinger missiles to
Islamic Afghan rebels in order to keep up pressure on the
Soviet Union, even as Gorbachev was trying to end the
Cold War. In the mid-1990s, he was part of a blue ribbon
panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations which
advised the Clinton Administration to loosen restrictions
on CIA covert operations such as dealing with criminals,
disguising agents as journalists, and targeting
unfriendly heads of State.
(3) John B. Roberts, "Roots of Allied Farce", The
American Spectator, June 1999.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Morton H. Halperin & David J. Scheffer with Patricia
L. Small, Self-Determination In the New World Order,
Carnegie Endowment, Washington,D.C., 1992; page 80.
(6) Ibid, p.105.
(7) Ibid, p.107.
(8) Ibid, p.110.
(9) Charles Trueheart, "Serbs and Kosovars Get Nudge From
Their Hosts To Speed Up Peace Talks", International
Herald Tribune/Washington Post, February 9, 1999: "On
Monday, the Kosovo Albanians won a small tactical victory
when their American advisers, initially barred by
conference hosts, were allowed to visit them at the
chateau. They included two former U.S. diplomats, Morton
Abramowitz and Paul Williams."
(10) John B.Roberts, op.cit.
(11) Steven Erlanger, "Winning Friends for Foreign
Policy: Albright's First 100 Days", The New York Times,
14 May 1997.
(12) "Il n'y a pas de paradoxe. J'ai mis au point cette
doctrine en accord avec le pr?sident Carter, car c'?tait
la meilleure fa?on de d?stabiliser l'Urss. ?a a march?."
L'Ev?nement du jeudi, 14 January 1998.
(13) Le Nouvel observateur, 14 January 1998, reported by
AFP.
(14) Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard,
BasicBooks, New York, 1997, p.78.
(15) Kaplan's 1993 book Balkan Ghosts was notoriously
read by President Clinton, who, however, had to be chided
later by the author for having drawn the wrong
conclusion. That is, Clinton's initial conclusion was to
stay out of the Balkans, whereas Kaplan has, he
explained, always been an interventionist.
(16) New York Times/International Herald Tribune, 23
February 1999.
(17) Robert D.Kaplan, "Why the Balkans Demand Amorality",
The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(18) Steve Niva, "Between Clash and Co-Optation: US
Foreign Policy and the Specter of Islam", Middle East
Report, Fall 1998.
(19) The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(20) Stern, 4 March 1999.
(21) In mid-April, 1999, the International Association of
Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) obtained and
distributed to news media official documents from the
German foreign office showing that in the months leading
up to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the foreign office
had repeatedly informed administrative courts of the
various German L?nder that there was no persecution of
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo or the rest of Serbia.
Example: Intelligence report from the Foreign Office,
January 12, 1999, to the administrative Court of Trier,
"Even in Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked
to Albanian ethnicity is not verifiable. The East of
Kosovo is still not involved in armed conflict. Public
life in cities like Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc.
has, in the entire conflict period, continued on a
relatively normal basis." The "actions of the security
forces [were] not directed against the Kosovo-Albanians
as an ethnically defined group, but against the military
opponent and its actual or alleged supporters." These
reports were published in the German daily junge welt on
24 April 1999.
(22) Richard Cohen, "The Winner in the Balkans Is the
KLA", Washington Post/International Herald Tribune, 18
June 1999.
(23) Richard Holbrooke, To End a War, Random House, New
York, 1998, p.103.
(24) "The OSCE KVM: autopsy of a mission", statement
delivered by Ambassador Gabriel Keller, principal deputy
head of mission, to the watch group on May 25, 1999.
(25) Italian military participant "Romanus", in LiMes
2/99, cited by il manifesto, 19 June 1999.
(26) La Libert?, Gen?ve, 22 April 1999, and Balkan-Infos
No.33, Paris, May 1999.
(27) Ulisse, "Come gli Americani hanno sabotato la
missione dell'Osce", LiMes, supplemento al n.1/99, p.113,
L'Espresso, Rome, 1999.
(28) "Throughout the Kosovo crisis, Mr.Rubin personally
wooed Hashim Thaci, the ambitious leader of the Kosovo
Liberation Army", the Wall Street Journal reported on
June 29, 1999, even going so far as to "jokingly promise
that he would speak to Hollywood friends about getting
Mr.Thaci a movie role."
(29) Robert D.Kaplan, "Why the Balkans Demand Amorality",
The Washington Post, 28 February 1999.
(30) Peter Gowan, in "The Twisted Road to Kosovo", Labour
Focus on Eastern Europe, Number 62, Spring 1999, explains
(p.76) that the foreign policy elite discuss the sordid
realities of power politics in a closed arena, and "not
in front of the children", that is, the citizenry of the
NATOland countries, who are regaled with versions that
appeal to their values and ideals.
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UN GIUBILEO ETNICAMENTE PULITO
I devoti che quest'anno giungono a Roma nella speranza di lavare la
propria coscienza da tutte le colpe commesse potranno notare che, nella
lista delle lingue in cui confessarsi, o seguire le visite guidate,
appare la "lingua croata" e mai il croatoserbo, o serbocroato. La
operazione di revisionismo e "repulisti culturale" da parte di Santa
Romana Chiesa, impegnata a sostenere la divisione dei Balcani e delle
genti che ci vivono, continua dunque e si evidenzia in ogni occasione.
Visitando la Chiesa di San Marcello al Corso si potra' scoprire una
lapide, apposta nel 1996, dedicata a tale Giorgio Baglivi nato nel 1668
a Dubrovnik/Ragusa in... Croazia (quando la Croazia non esisteva, e dal
punto di vista geografico Dubrovnik era definita al massimo "citta'
dalmata" o "illirica"), a cura dell'Accademia delle Scienze e delle Arti
della Croazia. La suddetta Accademia ha collaborato certamente anche a
preparare la mostra di Arte Sacra Croata dal titolo "Croati, arte, fede
e cultura", aperta nel periodo dell'inaugurazione dell'Anno Santo del
2000, nella quale opere di artisti di lingua e cultura latina e
istro-veneta (Francesco da Milano, Nicola da Fiorentino, Lorenzo Lotto,
Tintoretto, Giovanni Lanfranco, e persino cimeli paleocristiani
precedenti all'arrivo degli Slavi su quelle terre) vengono spacciate
come tesori della cultura "croata".
Assolutamente da non perdere, per il turista come per i fedeli -
ustascia o meno - e' comunque la visita della Chiesa di San Girolamo
degli Illiri, all'inizio di via Tomacelli, all'interno del complesso
(edificato durante il fascismo) che ospita la Confraternita di San
Girolamo. Dal punto di vista artistico la chiesa di per se non offre
moltissimo, ma all'interno c'e' sempre qualche curiosita' che vale la
pena notare (ad esempio i santini con l'effigie del beato Alojzije
Stepinac). Essa poi da l'occasione di fermarsi un attimo a riflettere e
raccogliersi spiritualmente volgendo il pensiero, ad esempio, ai giorni
in cui il criminale nazista Ante Pavelic veniva ospitato tra quelle
mura, durante la sua permanenza a Roma in clandestinita' mentre fuggiva
dalla Jugoslavia (Croazia?) ancora grondante di sangue, verso
l'Argentina di Peron (si veda ad es. il libro "Ratlines" della Newton
Compton), grazie ai buoni uffici di Pio XII.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
I devoti che quest'anno giungono a Roma nella speranza di lavare la
propria coscienza da tutte le colpe commesse potranno notare che, nella
lista delle lingue in cui confessarsi, o seguire le visite guidate,
appare la "lingua croata" e mai il croatoserbo, o serbocroato. La
operazione di revisionismo e "repulisti culturale" da parte di Santa
Romana Chiesa, impegnata a sostenere la divisione dei Balcani e delle
genti che ci vivono, continua dunque e si evidenzia in ogni occasione.
Visitando la Chiesa di San Marcello al Corso si potra' scoprire una
lapide, apposta nel 1996, dedicata a tale Giorgio Baglivi nato nel 1668
a Dubrovnik/Ragusa in... Croazia (quando la Croazia non esisteva, e dal
punto di vista geografico Dubrovnik era definita al massimo "citta'
dalmata" o "illirica"), a cura dell'Accademia delle Scienze e delle Arti
della Croazia. La suddetta Accademia ha collaborato certamente anche a
preparare la mostra di Arte Sacra Croata dal titolo "Croati, arte, fede
e cultura", aperta nel periodo dell'inaugurazione dell'Anno Santo del
2000, nella quale opere di artisti di lingua e cultura latina e
istro-veneta (Francesco da Milano, Nicola da Fiorentino, Lorenzo Lotto,
Tintoretto, Giovanni Lanfranco, e persino cimeli paleocristiani
precedenti all'arrivo degli Slavi su quelle terre) vengono spacciate
come tesori della cultura "croata".
Assolutamente da non perdere, per il turista come per i fedeli -
ustascia o meno - e' comunque la visita della Chiesa di San Girolamo
degli Illiri, all'inizio di via Tomacelli, all'interno del complesso
(edificato durante il fascismo) che ospita la Confraternita di San
Girolamo. Dal punto di vista artistico la chiesa di per se non offre
moltissimo, ma all'interno c'e' sempre qualche curiosita' che vale la
pena notare (ad esempio i santini con l'effigie del beato Alojzije
Stepinac). Essa poi da l'occasione di fermarsi un attimo a riflettere e
raccogliersi spiritualmente volgendo il pensiero, ad esempio, ai giorni
in cui il criminale nazista Ante Pavelic veniva ospitato tra quelle
mura, durante la sua permanenza a Roma in clandestinita' mentre fuggiva
dalla Jugoslavia (Croazia?) ancora grondante di sangue, verso
l'Argentina di Peron (si veda ad es. il libro "Ratlines" della Newton
Compton), grazie ai buoni uffici di Pio XII.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
* Meglio ladri che rossi?
* Risultati delle elezioni in Russia (Solidaire)
* Putin, la spia innamorata dell'Occidente (Jef Bossuyt)
---
RUSSIA: MEGLIO LADRI CHE ROSSI
"La gran parte della campagna elettorale e’ stata spesa a bombardare la
Cecenia; un’altra a svillaneggiare i nemici di Eltsin [il sindaco di
Mosca Luzhkov (centro-sinistra) è stato accusato in diretta di omicidio;
al segretario del partito di maggioranza relativa, il comunista
Zjuganov, e' stato impedito di apparire in televisione sia prima che
dopo il voto] sulle televisioni pubbliche e private controllate dagli
amici di Eltsin [meglio: dai suoi padroni, come il
superbanchiere-supermafioso Berezovskij]. La famiglia’ - la figlia, i
generi, i grand commis e i nuovi ricchi ingrassati all’ombra del
presidente - ha finalmente trovato il candidato che garantirà il suo
futuro (...): Vladimir Putin"
Cosi’ scriveva Ugo TRAMBALLI sul “Sole 24 Ore” del 21\XII sui risultati
delle elezioni-farsa in Russia. Un improvviso scatto etico da parte del
quotidiano della Confindustria, a dispetto del fatto che per Vittorio
TORREMBINI, presidente dell’Associazione imprenditori in Russia (stessa
pagina), "queste elezioni siano un segno di vitalità democratica
positivo per coloro che vogliono lavorare e investire" ?
Niente paura! Continua Tramballi: "Non dobbiamo stupirci che il Paese
sia guidato da ex spie. Dove i servizi non sono deviati, esservi
appartenuti e’ un attestato di patriottismo. Ne’ deve indignare l’uso
elettorale di una guerra e di un popolo (i Ceceni), dei canali
televisivi e dei legami di famiglia. La Russia oggi e’ una cleptocrazia
[in greco: un ‘dominio di ladri’], il che e’ sempre un po’ meglio di
quando era una dittatura ideologica con la pretesa di esportare nel
mondo un modello politico..."
Tutto a posto, dunque. Ladri, fascisti, mafiosi, massacratori - si';
comunisti - no! Il ‘modello politico’ lo abbiamo esportato noi a loro:
il
‘dominio dei ladri’, appunto. [G.C.]
---
Roger ROMAIN
a/conseiller communal
B6180 COURCELLES
sites web : http://www1.brutele.be/users/r.romain
http://www1.brutele.be/users/r.romain/enbref.html
Elections en Russie
Beaucoup d?argent pour faire gagner Poutine
Les élections russes, organisées juste avant la Noël, ont conforté la
position des forces de droite à la Douma
(parlement). Quelques mois auparavant, le groupe entourant le président
Eltsine fondait le parti de l?Unité. Une
campagne médiatique sans précédent allait permettre à ce parti
d?engranger presque un quart des suffrages. A
gauche, les partis de Viktor Tioulkine et de Viktor Anpilov
recueillaient un total de 1,8 million de voix.
Jef Bossuyt
En juillet, les sondages étaient particulièrement catastrophiques pour
le Kremlin. 35% des salaires étaient inférieurs au
minimum vital de 872 roubles (1.308 FB). Les bombardements de l?Otan en
Yougoslavie avaient profondément humilié
la Russie, le Premier ministre Stepachine avait été forcé d?aller
mendier à New York un nouveau prêt du Fonds Monétaire
International. Tous ces éléments contribuaient à indisposer les Russes
vis-à-vis de l?équipe en place au Kremlin.
Le 2 juillet, cette équipe décidait d?inverser la vapeur en mettant sur
pied un état-major électoral. Dans la foulée, Serghei
Siojgou, ministre des Urgences, devenait le patron du tout nouveau parti
de l?Unité. Depuis lors, c?est tous les jours
qu?on allait le voir, grimé en pompier, éteindre des incendies, sauver
des blessés, distribuer repas chauds, couvertures et
matelas. Une image facile, car le Kremlin contrôle une bonne part de la
presse. Boris Berezovski, le banquier attaché au
Kremlin, était déjà actionnaire de la chaîne de TV ORT. Désormais, il
détient également 15% des parts du journal le plus
important, le Kommersant Daily. Le sponsor de la chaîne NTV, qui a
poussé celle-ci à soutenir les candidats de
l?opposition Loutchkov et Primakov, a eu maille à partir avec
l?inspection des impôts et les banques.
Autre point fort de la campagne électorale, la nomination de Poutine au
poste de Premier ministre. Sur-le-champ,
celui-ci lançait une campagne militaire destinée à traquer les
terroristes tchétchènes. Le groupe Eltsine profitait de
l?occasion pour le présenter comme un homme décidé, peu enclin à faire
des concessions aux séparatistes tchétchènes et à
l?ingérence étrangère. Sa popularité a donc grimpé en flèche. Dans un
même temps, on filmait Loutchkov, candidat de
l?opposition, en compagnie d?un homme d?affaire tchétchène, en suggérant
qu?il conspirait avec les terroristes de Grozny.
Alors que la guerre en Tchétchénie s?intègre dans la stratégie des
Etats-Unis pour démanteler la Russie, le régime Eltsine
a détourné la colère populaire contre les Tchétchènes, préservant ses
amis de Washington.
Outre le bassinage médiatique, il y a eu la pression administrative. Les
listes de candidats du parti de l?Unité étaient
truffées de fonctionnaires, de chefs d?entreprises, de pique-assiettes
du Kremlin, chargés tous de faire voter leurs ouailles
pour le parti de l?Unité. Résultat des courses, le nouveau parti a
récolté 23% des voix.
Ce faisant, le score total des partis de droite ralliés au gouvernement
(Unité, Patrie, Forces de Droite; Jirinovski,
Yabloko) atteignait 56% et leur accordait environ 70% des sièges de la
Douma. Dans les élections bourgeoises, où les
facteurs déterminants sont l?argent et la manipulation médiatique, le
peuple choisit lui-même ses exploiteurs. Pas un
seul travailleur ne siégera à la nouvelle Douma.
___________________
1,8 million de voix pour les révolutionnaires russes
103 millions de Russes pouvaient se rendre aux urnes. 61 millions
d?entre eux l?ont fait effectivement.
Le Parti Communiste Russe des Travailleurs (PCRT) de Viktor Tioulkine a
obtenu 1.427.447 voix. Le Bloc Stalinien
pour l?Union Soviétique de Viktor Anpilov en a reçu 327.364. Soit au
total 1.816.619 pour la gauche. Certains candidats
du PCRT ont obtenu des scores particulièrement élevés. Ainsi, Anatoli
Ouchakov, 51.000 voix (20,5%) parmi les
travailleurs du pétrole de Tchoumen. A Leningrad, Vladimir Grigoriev a
récolté 22.600 voix (10,7%).
La haute responsable syndicale Tamara Bedernikova, du secteur
Quadrichromie de Leningrad, était candidate du PCRT.
Elle raconte: 'Notre imprimerie compte 500 personnes. Une firme privée
voulait nous reprendre, mais avec 200
travailleurs seulement. Nous nous sommes battus en Justice. Notre usine
était propriété fédérale de l?Etat, le ministère
devait donc autoriser la privatisation et cela n?a pas eu lieu. Nous
savons bien qui se trouve derrière: Piatnik, une boîte
autrichienne. Elle veut nous reprendre, puis nous liquider, car nous
sommes ses principaux concurrents. Nous
fabriquons les plus belles cartes à jouer au monde. Malgré tous les
bâtons dans les roues, notre entreprise poursuit ses
activités.
Lorsque je me suis présentée comme candidate PCRT, certains travailleurs
ont dit: ?Ouais, imagine que tu sois élue. Tu
vas déménager à Moscou, et puis au revoir!? Mais je continue à habiter
ici. Jamais auparavant je n?ai fait de politique,
mais il faut bien que quelqu?un les représente. Mes parents
travaillaient dans cet atelier, et mon grand-père aussi. Mon
père a participé à la libération de Berlin avec l?armée rouge. Il a reçu
une sale blessure par balle et est revenu
quasiment sourd. Après la guerre, il a été responsable politique à
l?usine. Manifestement, il faut que je poursuive la
tradition, non?' (J.B.)
___________________
Les résultats des élections
1. Parti Communiste. Parti réformiste, n?est communiste que de nom.
Dirigeant: Ziouganov. 24,3% des voix.
2. Parti de l?Unité. Parti du président Eltsine sous direction de
Sioygou. 23,2%.
3. Patrie. Parti social-démocrate de Loutchkov et Primakov. 13,1%.
4. Forces de Droite. Libéraux de droite sous la direction de Kyrienko.
8,6%.
5. Bloc Jirinovski. Parti nationaliste de droite, soutien à Eltsine.
6,1%.
6. Yabloko. Parti pro-américain et ouvertement procapitaliste sous la
direction de Yavlinski. 6,0 %.
7. Parti Communiste Russe des Travailleurs (PCRT). Parti
marxiste-léniniste sous la direction de Viktor Tioulkine.
2,23%.
14. Bloc Stalinien pour l?Union Soviétique. Parti marxiste-léniniste
sous la direction de Viktor Anpilov. 0,61%.
Lu dans
SOLIDAIRE du 5 janvier 2000
---
>
> Poutine, l?espion qu?aimait l?Occident
>
> Vladimir Poutine, le nouveau président russe, est-il un faucon? Un
> officier KGB menant une guerre acharnée en Tchétchénie? Un homme que
> les Occidentaux doivent prendre avec des pincettes? Une enquête sur sa
> carrière balaie vite fait cette image façonnée par nos médias: la race
> Poutine est aussi servile pour l?Occident que la race Eltsine.
>
> Jef Bossuyt
>
> De 1982 à 1986, Poutine est espion du KGB en Allemagne de l?Est. A
> partir de 1985, son équipe a comme tâche d?y imposer la perestroïka,
> la nouvelle politique de Gorbatchev. Concrètement, cela signifie que
> les troupes soviétiques doivent quitter ce qui est toujours la RDA et
> que ce pays doit engager des réformes économiques d?inspiration
> libérale.
>
> Mais le chef de fil des communistes est-allemands, Erich Honecker, y
> est opposé. Les espions russes recrutent alors des opposants en vue
> d?un putsch1. Deux mois plus tard, le Mur de Berlin tombe?
>
> Début des années 90, Poutine devient assistant de Sobtsiak, maire de
> Léningrad. Il mène les privatisations, vend bâtiments et entreprises
> de la ville au capital national et étranger. Dans les crémeries de
> Léningrad, on trouve désormais du yaourt Früchtegut en provenance de
> Bavière. Les kolkhozes (coopératives) ne doivent plus fournir de lait:
> elles dépérissent. Thane Gustafson, directeur du Cambridge Eurasia
> Energy Program (EU), décrit Poutine comme un homme 'habitué à traiter
> avec des sociétés occidentales'2.
>
> Tombeur de Mur et expert ès privatisations
>
> Mi-1999, le président Eltsine devient un danger pour la stabilité du
> régime pro-occidental de Russie. 35% des salaires sont passés sous le
> minimum vital. Et les bombardements de l?Otan en Yougoslavie ont
> profondément humilié la Russie. Il devient urgent de trouver la relève
> du chef du Kremlin. 'Le remplacement d?Eltsine par Poutine était déjà
> préparé six mois d?avance', confiera Gleb Pavlovski, conseiller
> privilégié d?Eltsine et de Poutine.3
>
> La décision est en effet prise en juillet 1999, lors du forum
> économique d?été à Salzbourg (Autriche)4. Le cénacle se compose
> d?investisseurs étrangers, de chefs d?Etat de l?Europe de l?Est, de
> hauts dignitaires autrichiens et de la crème des politiciens russes
> les plus pro-occidentaux: Tchoubaïs, Kirienko et Rijkov.
>
> En août 1999, Poutine devient Premier ministre et passe à
> l?avant-scène. Il déclare mener une guerre chirurgicales contre les
> rebelles tchétchènes. Les victimes civiles ne sont pas montrées. En
> décembre, son parti d?unité nouvellement constitué gagne les élections
> parlementaires. On décide alors de le lancer comme président
> intérimaire jusqu?aux élections présidentielles anticipées de mars
> 2000. Le délai maximum durant lequel on peut maintenir sa popularité?
>
> La meilleure manière de perdre la guerre
>
> Juste après l?abdication d?Eltsine, un journal américain écrit: 'Il y
> a quelques années, la démission d?Eltsine aurait choqué et alarmé
> Washington. Aujourd?hui, l?ambiance est plutôt au soulagement.'5 Dans
> le secteur de l?énergie, les investisseurs américains sont même
> enthousiastes: 'C?est une bonne nouvelle pour les investisseurs car
> ils sont favorables à ce Poutine pragmatique. Cela met un terme à
> notre incertitude. Le marché des actions a fait un bond de 25 % quand
> il a gagné les élections parlementaires, et c?est un deuxième bond en
> avant.'6 Madeleine Allbright, secrétaire d?Etat américaine aux
> Affaires étrangères, définit elle Poutine comme 'une personne pouvant
> réaliser quelque chose'7.
>
> Clinton et Allbright protestent bien contre la guerre en Tchétchénie,
> mais ils sont conscients que leurs intérêts au Kremlin ne peuvent être
> mieux servis que par Poutine. La manière dont celui-ci mène la guerre
> est en effet la meilleure pour la perdre. Il admet des observateurs en
> Tchétchénie qui préparent le terrain pour des interventions depuis
> l?Occident. Il se garde bien de s?en prendre aux mercenaires en chef,
> Basaev et Chatab. Mais n?hésite pas à bombarder la population des
> villages.
>
> Le président de l?Ingouchie, région voisine de la Tchétchénie, a la
> formule suivante: 'S?il y a des terroristes dans une maison, pourquoi
> détruis-tu alors toute la maison? Lorsque les réfugiés tchétchènes
> reviendront, ils ne le pardonneront jamais. Combien de temps encore
> l?armée russe pourra-t-elle payer une telle campagne? C?est la voie
> directe pour perdre tout le Caucase'.8
>
> 1 Berliner Zeitung, cité dans Le Soir, 11 janvier 2000. ? 2
> Cambridge, Massachussets, 31 décembre 1999. ? 3 De Standaard, 3
> janvier 2000. ? 4 Newsline, 2 juillet 1999 et ORT-tv-nouvelles, 3
> juillet 1999. ? 5 Los Angeles Times, 1 janvier 2000. ? 6
> Cambridge, Massachussets, 31 décembre 1999. ? 7 AP, Washington,
> 31 décembre 1999. ? 8 Pratislava?s Pravda, 28 décembre 1999.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
* Risultati delle elezioni in Russia (Solidaire)
* Putin, la spia innamorata dell'Occidente (Jef Bossuyt)
---
RUSSIA: MEGLIO LADRI CHE ROSSI
"La gran parte della campagna elettorale e’ stata spesa a bombardare la
Cecenia; un’altra a svillaneggiare i nemici di Eltsin [il sindaco di
Mosca Luzhkov (centro-sinistra) è stato accusato in diretta di omicidio;
al segretario del partito di maggioranza relativa, il comunista
Zjuganov, e' stato impedito di apparire in televisione sia prima che
dopo il voto] sulle televisioni pubbliche e private controllate dagli
amici di Eltsin [meglio: dai suoi padroni, come il
superbanchiere-supermafioso Berezovskij]. La famiglia’ - la figlia, i
generi, i grand commis e i nuovi ricchi ingrassati all’ombra del
presidente - ha finalmente trovato il candidato che garantirà il suo
futuro (...): Vladimir Putin"
Cosi’ scriveva Ugo TRAMBALLI sul “Sole 24 Ore” del 21\XII sui risultati
delle elezioni-farsa in Russia. Un improvviso scatto etico da parte del
quotidiano della Confindustria, a dispetto del fatto che per Vittorio
TORREMBINI, presidente dell’Associazione imprenditori in Russia (stessa
pagina), "queste elezioni siano un segno di vitalità democratica
positivo per coloro che vogliono lavorare e investire" ?
Niente paura! Continua Tramballi: "Non dobbiamo stupirci che il Paese
sia guidato da ex spie. Dove i servizi non sono deviati, esservi
appartenuti e’ un attestato di patriottismo. Ne’ deve indignare l’uso
elettorale di una guerra e di un popolo (i Ceceni), dei canali
televisivi e dei legami di famiglia. La Russia oggi e’ una cleptocrazia
[in greco: un ‘dominio di ladri’], il che e’ sempre un po’ meglio di
quando era una dittatura ideologica con la pretesa di esportare nel
mondo un modello politico..."
Tutto a posto, dunque. Ladri, fascisti, mafiosi, massacratori - si';
comunisti - no! Il ‘modello politico’ lo abbiamo esportato noi a loro:
il
‘dominio dei ladri’, appunto. [G.C.]
---
Roger ROMAIN
a/conseiller communal
B6180 COURCELLES
sites web : http://www1.brutele.be/users/r.romain
http://www1.brutele.be/users/r.romain/enbref.html
Elections en Russie
Beaucoup d?argent pour faire gagner Poutine
Les élections russes, organisées juste avant la Noël, ont conforté la
position des forces de droite à la Douma
(parlement). Quelques mois auparavant, le groupe entourant le président
Eltsine fondait le parti de l?Unité. Une
campagne médiatique sans précédent allait permettre à ce parti
d?engranger presque un quart des suffrages. A
gauche, les partis de Viktor Tioulkine et de Viktor Anpilov
recueillaient un total de 1,8 million de voix.
Jef Bossuyt
En juillet, les sondages étaient particulièrement catastrophiques pour
le Kremlin. 35% des salaires étaient inférieurs au
minimum vital de 872 roubles (1.308 FB). Les bombardements de l?Otan en
Yougoslavie avaient profondément humilié
la Russie, le Premier ministre Stepachine avait été forcé d?aller
mendier à New York un nouveau prêt du Fonds Monétaire
International. Tous ces éléments contribuaient à indisposer les Russes
vis-à-vis de l?équipe en place au Kremlin.
Le 2 juillet, cette équipe décidait d?inverser la vapeur en mettant sur
pied un état-major électoral. Dans la foulée, Serghei
Siojgou, ministre des Urgences, devenait le patron du tout nouveau parti
de l?Unité. Depuis lors, c?est tous les jours
qu?on allait le voir, grimé en pompier, éteindre des incendies, sauver
des blessés, distribuer repas chauds, couvertures et
matelas. Une image facile, car le Kremlin contrôle une bonne part de la
presse. Boris Berezovski, le banquier attaché au
Kremlin, était déjà actionnaire de la chaîne de TV ORT. Désormais, il
détient également 15% des parts du journal le plus
important, le Kommersant Daily. Le sponsor de la chaîne NTV, qui a
poussé celle-ci à soutenir les candidats de
l?opposition Loutchkov et Primakov, a eu maille à partir avec
l?inspection des impôts et les banques.
Autre point fort de la campagne électorale, la nomination de Poutine au
poste de Premier ministre. Sur-le-champ,
celui-ci lançait une campagne militaire destinée à traquer les
terroristes tchétchènes. Le groupe Eltsine profitait de
l?occasion pour le présenter comme un homme décidé, peu enclin à faire
des concessions aux séparatistes tchétchènes et à
l?ingérence étrangère. Sa popularité a donc grimpé en flèche. Dans un
même temps, on filmait Loutchkov, candidat de
l?opposition, en compagnie d?un homme d?affaire tchétchène, en suggérant
qu?il conspirait avec les terroristes de Grozny.
Alors que la guerre en Tchétchénie s?intègre dans la stratégie des
Etats-Unis pour démanteler la Russie, le régime Eltsine
a détourné la colère populaire contre les Tchétchènes, préservant ses
amis de Washington.
Outre le bassinage médiatique, il y a eu la pression administrative. Les
listes de candidats du parti de l?Unité étaient
truffées de fonctionnaires, de chefs d?entreprises, de pique-assiettes
du Kremlin, chargés tous de faire voter leurs ouailles
pour le parti de l?Unité. Résultat des courses, le nouveau parti a
récolté 23% des voix.
Ce faisant, le score total des partis de droite ralliés au gouvernement
(Unité, Patrie, Forces de Droite; Jirinovski,
Yabloko) atteignait 56% et leur accordait environ 70% des sièges de la
Douma. Dans les élections bourgeoises, où les
facteurs déterminants sont l?argent et la manipulation médiatique, le
peuple choisit lui-même ses exploiteurs. Pas un
seul travailleur ne siégera à la nouvelle Douma.
___________________
1,8 million de voix pour les révolutionnaires russes
103 millions de Russes pouvaient se rendre aux urnes. 61 millions
d?entre eux l?ont fait effectivement.
Le Parti Communiste Russe des Travailleurs (PCRT) de Viktor Tioulkine a
obtenu 1.427.447 voix. Le Bloc Stalinien
pour l?Union Soviétique de Viktor Anpilov en a reçu 327.364. Soit au
total 1.816.619 pour la gauche. Certains candidats
du PCRT ont obtenu des scores particulièrement élevés. Ainsi, Anatoli
Ouchakov, 51.000 voix (20,5%) parmi les
travailleurs du pétrole de Tchoumen. A Leningrad, Vladimir Grigoriev a
récolté 22.600 voix (10,7%).
La haute responsable syndicale Tamara Bedernikova, du secteur
Quadrichromie de Leningrad, était candidate du PCRT.
Elle raconte: 'Notre imprimerie compte 500 personnes. Une firme privée
voulait nous reprendre, mais avec 200
travailleurs seulement. Nous nous sommes battus en Justice. Notre usine
était propriété fédérale de l?Etat, le ministère
devait donc autoriser la privatisation et cela n?a pas eu lieu. Nous
savons bien qui se trouve derrière: Piatnik, une boîte
autrichienne. Elle veut nous reprendre, puis nous liquider, car nous
sommes ses principaux concurrents. Nous
fabriquons les plus belles cartes à jouer au monde. Malgré tous les
bâtons dans les roues, notre entreprise poursuit ses
activités.
Lorsque je me suis présentée comme candidate PCRT, certains travailleurs
ont dit: ?Ouais, imagine que tu sois élue. Tu
vas déménager à Moscou, et puis au revoir!? Mais je continue à habiter
ici. Jamais auparavant je n?ai fait de politique,
mais il faut bien que quelqu?un les représente. Mes parents
travaillaient dans cet atelier, et mon grand-père aussi. Mon
père a participé à la libération de Berlin avec l?armée rouge. Il a reçu
une sale blessure par balle et est revenu
quasiment sourd. Après la guerre, il a été responsable politique à
l?usine. Manifestement, il faut que je poursuive la
tradition, non?' (J.B.)
___________________
Les résultats des élections
1. Parti Communiste. Parti réformiste, n?est communiste que de nom.
Dirigeant: Ziouganov. 24,3% des voix.
2. Parti de l?Unité. Parti du président Eltsine sous direction de
Sioygou. 23,2%.
3. Patrie. Parti social-démocrate de Loutchkov et Primakov. 13,1%.
4. Forces de Droite. Libéraux de droite sous la direction de Kyrienko.
8,6%.
5. Bloc Jirinovski. Parti nationaliste de droite, soutien à Eltsine.
6,1%.
6. Yabloko. Parti pro-américain et ouvertement procapitaliste sous la
direction de Yavlinski. 6,0 %.
7. Parti Communiste Russe des Travailleurs (PCRT). Parti
marxiste-léniniste sous la direction de Viktor Tioulkine.
2,23%.
14. Bloc Stalinien pour l?Union Soviétique. Parti marxiste-léniniste
sous la direction de Viktor Anpilov. 0,61%.
Lu dans
SOLIDAIRE du 5 janvier 2000
---
>
> Poutine, l?espion qu?aimait l?Occident
>
> Vladimir Poutine, le nouveau président russe, est-il un faucon? Un
> officier KGB menant une guerre acharnée en Tchétchénie? Un homme que
> les Occidentaux doivent prendre avec des pincettes? Une enquête sur sa
> carrière balaie vite fait cette image façonnée par nos médias: la race
> Poutine est aussi servile pour l?Occident que la race Eltsine.
>
> Jef Bossuyt
>
> De 1982 à 1986, Poutine est espion du KGB en Allemagne de l?Est. A
> partir de 1985, son équipe a comme tâche d?y imposer la perestroïka,
> la nouvelle politique de Gorbatchev. Concrètement, cela signifie que
> les troupes soviétiques doivent quitter ce qui est toujours la RDA et
> que ce pays doit engager des réformes économiques d?inspiration
> libérale.
>
> Mais le chef de fil des communistes est-allemands, Erich Honecker, y
> est opposé. Les espions russes recrutent alors des opposants en vue
> d?un putsch1. Deux mois plus tard, le Mur de Berlin tombe?
>
> Début des années 90, Poutine devient assistant de Sobtsiak, maire de
> Léningrad. Il mène les privatisations, vend bâtiments et entreprises
> de la ville au capital national et étranger. Dans les crémeries de
> Léningrad, on trouve désormais du yaourt Früchtegut en provenance de
> Bavière. Les kolkhozes (coopératives) ne doivent plus fournir de lait:
> elles dépérissent. Thane Gustafson, directeur du Cambridge Eurasia
> Energy Program (EU), décrit Poutine comme un homme 'habitué à traiter
> avec des sociétés occidentales'2.
>
> Tombeur de Mur et expert ès privatisations
>
> Mi-1999, le président Eltsine devient un danger pour la stabilité du
> régime pro-occidental de Russie. 35% des salaires sont passés sous le
> minimum vital. Et les bombardements de l?Otan en Yougoslavie ont
> profondément humilié la Russie. Il devient urgent de trouver la relève
> du chef du Kremlin. 'Le remplacement d?Eltsine par Poutine était déjà
> préparé six mois d?avance', confiera Gleb Pavlovski, conseiller
> privilégié d?Eltsine et de Poutine.3
>
> La décision est en effet prise en juillet 1999, lors du forum
> économique d?été à Salzbourg (Autriche)4. Le cénacle se compose
> d?investisseurs étrangers, de chefs d?Etat de l?Europe de l?Est, de
> hauts dignitaires autrichiens et de la crème des politiciens russes
> les plus pro-occidentaux: Tchoubaïs, Kirienko et Rijkov.
>
> En août 1999, Poutine devient Premier ministre et passe à
> l?avant-scène. Il déclare mener une guerre chirurgicales contre les
> rebelles tchétchènes. Les victimes civiles ne sont pas montrées. En
> décembre, son parti d?unité nouvellement constitué gagne les élections
> parlementaires. On décide alors de le lancer comme président
> intérimaire jusqu?aux élections présidentielles anticipées de mars
> 2000. Le délai maximum durant lequel on peut maintenir sa popularité?
>
> La meilleure manière de perdre la guerre
>
> Juste après l?abdication d?Eltsine, un journal américain écrit: 'Il y
> a quelques années, la démission d?Eltsine aurait choqué et alarmé
> Washington. Aujourd?hui, l?ambiance est plutôt au soulagement.'5 Dans
> le secteur de l?énergie, les investisseurs américains sont même
> enthousiastes: 'C?est une bonne nouvelle pour les investisseurs car
> ils sont favorables à ce Poutine pragmatique. Cela met un terme à
> notre incertitude. Le marché des actions a fait un bond de 25 % quand
> il a gagné les élections parlementaires, et c?est un deuxième bond en
> avant.'6 Madeleine Allbright, secrétaire d?Etat américaine aux
> Affaires étrangères, définit elle Poutine comme 'une personne pouvant
> réaliser quelque chose'7.
>
> Clinton et Allbright protestent bien contre la guerre en Tchétchénie,
> mais ils sont conscients que leurs intérêts au Kremlin ne peuvent être
> mieux servis que par Poutine. La manière dont celui-ci mène la guerre
> est en effet la meilleure pour la perdre. Il admet des observateurs en
> Tchétchénie qui préparent le terrain pour des interventions depuis
> l?Occident. Il se garde bien de s?en prendre aux mercenaires en chef,
> Basaev et Chatab. Mais n?hésite pas à bombarder la population des
> villages.
>
> Le président de l?Ingouchie, région voisine de la Tchétchénie, a la
> formule suivante: 'S?il y a des terroristes dans une maison, pourquoi
> détruis-tu alors toute la maison? Lorsque les réfugiés tchétchènes
> reviendront, ils ne le pardonneront jamais. Combien de temps encore
> l?armée russe pourra-t-elle payer une telle campagne? C?est la voie
> directe pour perdre tout le Caucase'.8
>
> 1 Berliner Zeitung, cité dans Le Soir, 11 janvier 2000. ? 2
> Cambridge, Massachussets, 31 décembre 1999. ? 3 De Standaard, 3
> janvier 2000. ? 4 Newsline, 2 juillet 1999 et ORT-tv-nouvelles, 3
> juillet 1999. ? 5 Los Angeles Times, 1 janvier 2000. ? 6
> Cambridge, Massachussets, 31 décembre 1999. ? 7 AP, Washington,
> 31 décembre 1999. ? 8 Pratislava?s Pravda, 28 décembre 1999.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
* IL MITO DEL TIBET (analisi sulle manovre statunitensi per la
secessione
del Tibet dalla Repubblica Popolare Cinese; "Il Manifesto")
* LE VITTIME DELLA NATO CHIEDONO GIUSTIZIA (Il "Quotidiano del Popolo"
di Pechino sulla guerra "umanitaria" della NATO contro la RF di
Jugoslavia)
* CONSIDERAZIONI SULLA SETTA FALUN GONG (Dirk Nimmegeers)
---
"Il Manifesto" del 9 Gennaio 2000:
CINA UNA CRISI ALLA FRONTIERA DI UNA NUOVA GUERRA FREDDA
Il mito del Tibet
Dall'Impero a Mao, un popolo in gioco tra "modernizzazioni" di Pechino e
interessi occidentali in Asia. La fuga del "giovane Buddha" dalla storia
all'immaginario
- ENRICA COLLOTTI PISCHEL -
La notizia della fuga dalla Cina del giovanissimo Lama Ugyen Trinley
Dorje, terza autorità nella gerarchia delle reincarnazioni del buddhismo
tibetano stata ritenuta molto ghiotta dai giornali italiani e viene
considerata un grave scacco per il governo cinese che non sarebbe
riuscito
a impedirla, nonostante il proprio apparato militare.
Quest'interpretazione
ignora che i cinesi non hanno mai fatto nulla per fermare la fuga dei
rappresentanti politici e religiosi tibetani dalla Cina: nel 1959
l'intera
classe dirigente tibetana, con alla testa il Dalai Lama si allontanò da
Lhasa con una lunga fuga a piedi, nonostante il pattugliamento degli
aerei
da combattimento cinesi. Fa parte della politica delle autorità cinesi
il
pensare che gli avversari è sempre meglio tenerli fuori del paese che
dentro, meglio lontani dai loro adepti che vicini. Se poi le circostanze
equivoche di quest'ultimo episodio - cioè la mancata condanna di Pechino
-
possano far pensare a ipotesi di contatti con il Dalai Lama e di
trattative
di conciliazione, è difficile dirlo ora. Certamente il fatto che la
grande
organizzazione propagandistica che negli Stati Uniti (ma anche in Europa
e
nello stesso nostro scafato e realistico paese) sostiene la causa
dell'indipendenza tibetana si sia buttata sull'episodio, non rende certo
facile un'intesa: i cinesi sanno fare molto bene i compromessi e sono
disposti a concluderli quando siano convenienti. Ma ritengono che
debbano
essere cercati e raggiunti con la massima discrezione e comunque al di
fuori di pressioni che li possano far apparire come una resa a pressioni
straniere.
E non dimentichiamo mai che "straniero" per l'intera Asia orientale
nell'ultimo secolo e mezzo ha significato umiliazione e asservimento: di
essa fece parte anche il tentativo pi volte condotto di staccare il
Tibet
dalla Cina.
Il più povero
Molte cose dovrebbero essere dette a proposito del mito del Tibet che ha
preso piede, anche nei ranghi della sinistra. Dal cinematografico
"Shangri-la", al di fuori del tempo, dello spazio e del clima, alle
ovvie
seduzioni di turismo "estremo", dalle tendenze a vedere esempi validi in
civiltà rimaste primitive e tagliate fuori dal processo della storia,
alla
sistematica disinformazione diffusa da potenti mezzi mediatici
statunitensi
e al fascino che sugli occidentali delusi esercitano le religioni e le
ideologie esotiche ed esoteriche, tutto confluito in un'affabulazione
della
quale sono stati vittime in primo luogo proprio i tibetani.
Certamente sono uno dei popoli più poveri del mondo, esposti a
molteplici
forme di oppressione: tra esse quella cinese è stata con ogni
probabilità
meno gravosa di quella esercitata dai monaci e dagli aristocratici, dei
quali i pastori e i contadini erano fino al 1959 "schiavi", nel senso
letterale del termine, in quanto sottoposti al diritto di vita e di
morte
dei loro padroni. Che poi tutti, ma con ben diverso vantaggio,
trovassero
conforto nel ricorso ad una delle forme più degradate di buddhismo (il
buddhismo tantrico tibetano popolato di fantasmi e di incantesimi ha ben
poco a che vedere con la meditazione intellettuale e la creatività
artistica dello Zen), si può anche comprenderlo.
Per fare un minimo di chiarezza è necessario comunque precisare alcune
cose. Il Tibet non stato "conquistato dalla Cina comunista nel 1950":
dopo
precedenti più discontinui rapporti, fu conquistato dall'impero cinese,
nella prima metà del secolo XVIII e da allora stato considerato parte
dello
stato cinese da tutti i governi della Cina, anche dal Guomindang. La
Cina
(in cinese "Stato del Centro") è stato ed è uno stato multietnico nel
quale
è in corso da millenni un processo di trasferimenti di gruppi etnici e
soprattutto di fusione dei gruppi periferici entro quello più importante
che rappresenta nove decimi dei cinesi ed è sempre stato capace di
offrire
ai suoi membri una maggiore prosperità e i benefici di una cultura più
concreta. Mettere in discussione la natura multietnica della civiltà e
dello stato cinesi significherebbe mettere in moto la più spaventosa
catastrofe degli ultimi secoli. Quella praticata dalla Cina non è mai
stata
una politica di "pulizia etnica" bensì di fusione entro un insieme non
etnico ma contraddistinto da una comune cultura e da comuni pratiche
produttive: più che sterminarle, i cinesi hanno comprato le minoranze.
E'
vero che i tibetani per ragioni geografiche sono, entro lo "Stato del
Centro" il gruppo più lontano dalla comune cultura, però da 250 anni
sono
stati sempre governati da funzionari cinesi nominati dal governo
centrale:
giuridicamente e istituzionalmente ciò ha un senso. Gli inglesi
all'apice
del loro potere sull'India all'inizio del secolo XX intrapresero,
tuttavia,
una serie di manovre per staccare il Tibet dalla Cina e porlo sotto la
loro
influenza giungendo, nel 1913 a convocare una conferenza a Simla nella
quale le autorità tibetane cedettero vasti territori all'India
britannica.
Nessun governo cinese ha mai accettato la validità di quella conferenza.
Nel periodo precedente il 1949 il governo del Guomindang considerava il
Tibet a pieno diritto, parte del proprio territorio, tanto che durante
la
Seconda guerra mondiale concedeva il diritto di sorvolo agli aerei
alleati.
Il ruolo della Cia
Non ha quindi alcun senso dire che la Cina conquistò il Tibet nel 1950;
nel
1950 le forze di Mao completarono in Tibet il controllo sul territorio
cinese; nel 1951 fu raggiunto un accordo con il Dalai Lama per la
concessione di un regime di autonomia. Verso il 1957, nel pieno
dell'assedio statunitense alla Cina, i servizi segreti inglesi e
americani
fomentarono una rivolta dei gruppi di tibetani arroccati sulle montagne
delle regioni cinesi del Sichuan e dello Yunnan, lungo la strada che
dalla
Cina porta al Tibet; i cinesi repressero certamente la rivolta con pugno
di
ferro: nelle circostanze internazionali nelle quali si trovavano e nel
loro
contesto etnico non era razionale pensare che si comportassero
diversamente. Alla fine del 1958 i servizi segreti inglesi annunciarono,
che all'inizio del 1959 essa si sarebbe trasferita a Lhasa e avrebbe
cercato l'appoggio del Dalai Lama. Ed infatti ciò che avvenne: sullo
sfondo
della rivolta, il Dalai Lama dichiarò decaduto l'accordo per il regime
autonomo e fuggì con la maggioranza della classe dirigente tibetana in
India, dove costituì un proprio governo in esilio e il proprio centro di
propaganda. Nessun governo al mondo ha riconosciuto questa compagine.
Recentemente la Cia (i servizi segreti americani sono infatti obbligati
a
rendicontare prima o poi le loro spese di fronte ai contribuenti) ha
ammesso di aver finanziato tutta l'operazione della rivolta tibetana.
Pechino: autonomia no
Dopo il 1959 il governo cinese spossessò monasteri e aristocratici e
"liberò gli schiavi", iniziando una politica di modernizzazione forzosa
(vaccinazioni, costruzione di opere pubbliche) e di formazione di una
classe dirigente locale, figlia di schiavi, sottoposta a un
bombardamento
educativo razionalista e anti-religioso. Furono questi giovani che
durante
la rivoluzione culturale distrussero templi e monasteri, infliggendo
gravi
danni a un patrimonio culturale unico e a un'identità certo non
abbandonata
dalle masse.
Dopo la morte di Mao, i governanti cinesi hanno cercato di ristabilire i
rapporti con i tibetani, migliorando le sorti economiche dell'altipiano
ma
importando anche gran numero di cinesi, non solo militari. Hanno anche
trattato indirettamente con il Dalai Lama, che - politico asiatico molto
scaltro - non chiede l'indipendenza, ma una più o meno larga autonomia:
Pechino non ha mai tuttavia voluto concedere un reale autogoverno, che
aprirebbe rischi di secessione e metterebbe in discussione tutti i
rapporti
etnici del vasto paese. Alle spalle del Dalai Lama si è sviluppato,
intanto, un vasto insieme di interessi della classe dirigente tibetana
che
ormai è nata all'estero e vi ha ricevuto una formazione culturale
moderna:
è questa che chiede un'indipendenza che potrebbe essere ottenuta solo
con
una guerra spietata alla Cina e potrebbe essere innestata dal
reclutamento
di giovani guerriglieri in India - segnali "terroristici" in questo
senso
ci sono già stati. Erano proprio dissennati i governanti cinesi che
ritenevano che l'attacco alla Serbia motivato dalla difesa dei "diritti
umani" in Kosovo fosse in effetti la prova generale di un attacco alla
Cina?
---
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
http://web4.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200001/11/eng20000111F103.html
Peoples Daily (Cn), January 11, 2000
A Demand for International Justice from the Victimized
Soon after fireworks were let off at the advent of 2000 there has been
filed the second time by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a lawsuit at
the International Court decrying NATO's war atrocities against the
Yugoslav people in violation of principles and norms governing
international relations between countries.
Yugoslavia is obviously not a country that has suffered from amnesia nor
has it chosen terrorism to avenge itself on sufferings from "organized
terrorist crimes" of NATO headed by the US. It lodges likewise its
second complaint at the international court in pointing to its full
respect for international laws and its responsible principled demand for
justice from the international community.
Contrarily, the US and its ally NATO brag unblushingly about their war
atrocities committed against Yugoslavia as those "in complete accord
with international laws". But by international laws no interference in
the internal affairs of other countries or encroachments on their
sovereignty should be allowed. NATO and the US have conveyed their full
blatancy by denying the illegality of their aggression and atrocities
committed against a small country like Yugoslavia. A thing to be noted
is that by "just and mild" legal principles of the International Court,
just as things stand with the present panel of the court, Yugoslavia as
the victimized part can in the least be favored by decisions to be made
irrespective of its complaint placed. But this does not deny the
significance of Yugoslavia's complaint lodged at the International Court
against NATO and the US. Though Yugoslavia may fail in such a suit of
"war" against "organized terrorist crimes" by NATO and the US yet it
represents still the righteous demand of a nation for international
justice.
At a time as is now when NATO has by its Kosovo war brought an accursed
stain on the new bright 21st century the world people should be alerted
to the fact that dark clouds have already been thrown up by Western
power politics over world peace. It is by no means pointless for
Yugoslavia to renew its lawsuit and demand for justice from the
international community and a brand-new world order by lodging at the
International Court its accusations against crimes NATO and US
committed.
A variety of game rules have been produced by the US and its ally NATO
in regard to the sovereignty of other nations during the few years from
Gulf war to the Kosovo war. Back in 1990, when Iraq made inroads into
Kuwait the US and Britain directly unsheathed their sword on the pretext
of defending "principles on sovereignty". But by 1999, from US-led
NATO's Kosovo war there was suddenly produced such a pseudo theory as
"protecting human rights" at the expense of "principles on sovereignty"
originally they much flaunted. A saying by a handful of Americans is
that since the world has been engulfed in a tidal wave of globalization
the "principles on sovereignty" have become an outmoded concept in
defining the territorial rights of different states and their national
interest. But following the American logic, they themselves should be
excepted for they have still to be comforted by their own type of
"American interests". This is to say when the US has not been self
bestowed with the right to brag about various types of world interests
simply theirs it will find it hard to give a satisfactory explanation of
what it has asserted about the like fallacies as "human rights
transcending sovereignty". We should say international rules must be
worked out by a coordinated effort of the peoples of the whole world.
This is where the right sort of "human rights" and genuine democracy can
be produced and enjoyed by the peoples of the whole world.
In international politics, it is by no means a rare phenomenon for the
big to bully the small and strong to browbeat the weak. In spite of the
fact that though against Western power politics not a strong rival force
has yet risen in today's world since NATO launched its barbarous Kosovo
war in Yugoslavia people should in no way give up their hope and demand
for justice from the international community. High credit should
therefore be given to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since it has
lodged at the International Court its accusation against the US and its
ally NATO and the support given by the Italian Reconstructed Communist
Party to the Yugoslav people in their fight against Western power
politics.
A French writer has put it rightly. He said a people's foreign policy
can be bought but not the dreams or memories of such a nation. In the
brand-new 2000, instead of forgetting yesterday's sufferings the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia clings all the same to its hope and demand for
justice from a responsive international community tomorrow.
---
La Chine arrête les dirigeants de Falun Gong
Une secte qui tue
Le gouvernement chinois a mis sous les verrous de gros bonzes de la
secte Falun Gong, hors-la-loi,sans doute
responsable de 1.400 morts: des victimes crédules qui ne consultaient
plus le médecin mais espéraient que la
guérison viendrait de Falun Gong.
Dirk Nimmegeers*
Le 25 avril 1999, la secte Falun Gong rameute dix mille manifestants:
pendant 13 heures, ils occupent le quartier de
Zhongnanhai, où les hauts dirigeants et cadres supérieurs du parti ont
leurs bureaux et logements. Le 22 juillet, la secte
est interdite. Répression contre la liberté de culte? Muselage de la
libre expression? Voyons plutôt ce qui a provoqué ces
mesures.
Un an avant l?interdiction de la secte Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, son
fondateur, émigre vers les Etats-Unis. A l?origine, il
pratique le qigong, une combinaison d?arts martiaux, de méditation et de
technique de respiration. En 1992, Li inaugure
son propre dogme, une concoction de qigong et d?idées bouddhistes et
taoïstes isolées de leur contexte: Falun Gong est né.
N?allez pas chez le médecin...
Li et ses assistants commencent à dispenser thérapies, formations et à
vendre toutes sortes de produits. Cela rapporte une
fortune. Ils déclarent suspectes toutes formes de médecines et superflus
les médecins, car 'avec Falun Gong, toutes les
douleurs physiques s?en vont et on atteint sa propre paix intérieure.'1
A partir de 1992, Li fondera 39 centres en Chine, dont dépendent 1.900
écoles et 28.000 salles d?exercices. Falun Gong
revendique cent millions de membres, les autorités chinoises estiment
qu?ils sont deux millions tout au plus.
Mais il y a des morts. Des adeptes croient que la maladie est imputable
à de mauvaises actions commises dans une vie
antérieure et que seuls les exercices de Falun Gong peuvent les guérir.
Ils laissent tomber médecin et médication. Certains
deviennent dépressifs ou sont obsédés par la prévision de la fin du
monde. De la sorte, la secte cause 1.400 décès et des
centaines de cas de maladies mentales.
A chaque critique des médias, Falun Gong fomente des bagarres. En août
1996, des membres de la secte entourent les
bureaux du Journal de Guangming. Occupations et sièges en règle de
journaux, de stations tv et radio se succèdent.
L?agence de presse Xinhua compte 78 manifestations non autorisées
impliquant chaque fois plus de 300 personnes. Les
revues médicales qui invitent les gens à refaire confiance en la
médecine reçoivent des visites menaçantes.
Début 1998, un nombre surprenant de rixes éclatent à Chongqing, dans le
Sud-Ouest. Le service de la sûreté publique
constate que toutes les actions sont dirigées par un solide réseau dont
le quartier général n?est autre que le principal siège
de Falun Gong à Pékin.2
La secte infiltre le Parti communiste et les ministères
Bientôt, il apparaît que le mouvement a infiltré certaines sections du
Parti communiste et des instances
gouvernementales. Deux des quatre dirigeants nationaux de Falun Gong qui
comparaîtront sont d?anciens fonctionnaires
de ministères importants. Il s?agit de Wang Zhiwen et de Li Chang. Ce
dernier travaillait encore il y a peu au ministère de
la Sûreté publique.3
En avril 1999, le professeur He Zuoxiu, de l?Académie chinoise des
Sciences, critique l?influence du qigong sur les jeunes.
Falun Gong saute sur l?occasion pour organiser ce qui sera, selon les
médias, ?la plus importante manif depuis Tien An
Men?.
Le gouvernement décide d?interdire la secte et sa propagande. La Chine
lance un mandat d?arrêt international contre Li
Hongzhi. Un avertissement est également adressé aux voyants
extralucides, vendeurs de perlimpimpin et autres semeurs
de superstitions. Le 30 octobre, le Congrès National du Peuple,
l?assemblée populaire suprême de la Chine, promulgue
une loi contre les sectes nuisibles.
Li Baoku, porte-parole gouvernemental, déclare: 'Celui qui veut suivre
le dogme de Falun Gong ne sera pas poursuivi à
condition qu?il rompe tous liens avec l?organisation, déclarée
hors-la-loi. L?interdiction ne vaut pas pour les groupes
de qigong qui s?en tiennent à l?observance des lois. Il y a une grande
différence entre la masse des simples adhérents, qui
ont été abusés, et la petite bande des dirigeants de la secte, qui les
ont trompés ou manipulés.'4
Et l?officielle agence de presse Xinhua indique: 'Le problème Falun Gong
a un contexte social et international
profondément enraciné. C?est une lutte politique entre le Parti
communiste et certaines forces intérieures et étrangères.
L?enjeu est de savoir qui va attirer à soi les masses. (...)' L?agence
de presse appelle la classe ouvrière à se détourner de
Falun Gong et de son influence.5
Deux cents dirigeants sont arrêtés mais la plupart sont remis en
liberté. A l?issue de manifestations, la police retient
brièvement quelques personnes. Pékin s?efforce de faire savoir aux
nombreux adeptes du taï-chi et du qigong qu?ils ne
sont en rien visés. Dans les parc, on voit toujours de nombreuses
personnes se livrer à leur gymnastique matinale.6
Claudio Cervini, un Italien qui travaille à Pékin depuis 1991, écrit:
'Ceux qui veulent maintenir la secte en place
s?opposent au gouvernement et ne sont pas conséquents car ils prétendent
toujours ne pas faire de politique et ne vouloir
que méditer et se développer. Les gens qui veulent s?adonner à la
méditation et à la quiétude spirituelle peuvent le faire
en d?innombrables endroits de Pékin. Je suis écoeuré de lire des
articles occidentaux accusant les autorités de
poursuivre des innocents. Tout étranger vivant ici peut se rendre compte
que ce n?est pas vrai.'
* Dirk Nimmegeers collabore à La Chine aujourd?hui, périodique de
l?Association Belgique-Chine. Pour plus d?infos
sur Falun Gong, consultez le site www.china.org.cn.
1. Conférencier de Falun Gong pour le Benelux, NRC, 27 novembre 1999 ?
2. Ibidem ? 3. Le Monde, 3 novembre 1999 ? 4.
China Daily, 24 juillet 1999 ? 5. Xinhua, 2 août 1999 ? 6. Michael
Kramer, correspondant de Reuters sur le website Asia
on line, 24 août 1999.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
secessione
del Tibet dalla Repubblica Popolare Cinese; "Il Manifesto")
* LE VITTIME DELLA NATO CHIEDONO GIUSTIZIA (Il "Quotidiano del Popolo"
di Pechino sulla guerra "umanitaria" della NATO contro la RF di
Jugoslavia)
* CONSIDERAZIONI SULLA SETTA FALUN GONG (Dirk Nimmegeers)
---
"Il Manifesto" del 9 Gennaio 2000:
CINA UNA CRISI ALLA FRONTIERA DI UNA NUOVA GUERRA FREDDA
Il mito del Tibet
Dall'Impero a Mao, un popolo in gioco tra "modernizzazioni" di Pechino e
interessi occidentali in Asia. La fuga del "giovane Buddha" dalla storia
all'immaginario
- ENRICA COLLOTTI PISCHEL -
La notizia della fuga dalla Cina del giovanissimo Lama Ugyen Trinley
Dorje, terza autorità nella gerarchia delle reincarnazioni del buddhismo
tibetano stata ritenuta molto ghiotta dai giornali italiani e viene
considerata un grave scacco per il governo cinese che non sarebbe
riuscito
a impedirla, nonostante il proprio apparato militare.
Quest'interpretazione
ignora che i cinesi non hanno mai fatto nulla per fermare la fuga dei
rappresentanti politici e religiosi tibetani dalla Cina: nel 1959
l'intera
classe dirigente tibetana, con alla testa il Dalai Lama si allontanò da
Lhasa con una lunga fuga a piedi, nonostante il pattugliamento degli
aerei
da combattimento cinesi. Fa parte della politica delle autorità cinesi
il
pensare che gli avversari è sempre meglio tenerli fuori del paese che
dentro, meglio lontani dai loro adepti che vicini. Se poi le circostanze
equivoche di quest'ultimo episodio - cioè la mancata condanna di Pechino
-
possano far pensare a ipotesi di contatti con il Dalai Lama e di
trattative
di conciliazione, è difficile dirlo ora. Certamente il fatto che la
grande
organizzazione propagandistica che negli Stati Uniti (ma anche in Europa
e
nello stesso nostro scafato e realistico paese) sostiene la causa
dell'indipendenza tibetana si sia buttata sull'episodio, non rende certo
facile un'intesa: i cinesi sanno fare molto bene i compromessi e sono
disposti a concluderli quando siano convenienti. Ma ritengono che
debbano
essere cercati e raggiunti con la massima discrezione e comunque al di
fuori di pressioni che li possano far apparire come una resa a pressioni
straniere.
E non dimentichiamo mai che "straniero" per l'intera Asia orientale
nell'ultimo secolo e mezzo ha significato umiliazione e asservimento: di
essa fece parte anche il tentativo pi volte condotto di staccare il
Tibet
dalla Cina.
Il più povero
Molte cose dovrebbero essere dette a proposito del mito del Tibet che ha
preso piede, anche nei ranghi della sinistra. Dal cinematografico
"Shangri-la", al di fuori del tempo, dello spazio e del clima, alle
ovvie
seduzioni di turismo "estremo", dalle tendenze a vedere esempi validi in
civiltà rimaste primitive e tagliate fuori dal processo della storia,
alla
sistematica disinformazione diffusa da potenti mezzi mediatici
statunitensi
e al fascino che sugli occidentali delusi esercitano le religioni e le
ideologie esotiche ed esoteriche, tutto confluito in un'affabulazione
della
quale sono stati vittime in primo luogo proprio i tibetani.
Certamente sono uno dei popoli più poveri del mondo, esposti a
molteplici
forme di oppressione: tra esse quella cinese è stata con ogni
probabilità
meno gravosa di quella esercitata dai monaci e dagli aristocratici, dei
quali i pastori e i contadini erano fino al 1959 "schiavi", nel senso
letterale del termine, in quanto sottoposti al diritto di vita e di
morte
dei loro padroni. Che poi tutti, ma con ben diverso vantaggio,
trovassero
conforto nel ricorso ad una delle forme più degradate di buddhismo (il
buddhismo tantrico tibetano popolato di fantasmi e di incantesimi ha ben
poco a che vedere con la meditazione intellettuale e la creatività
artistica dello Zen), si può anche comprenderlo.
Per fare un minimo di chiarezza è necessario comunque precisare alcune
cose. Il Tibet non stato "conquistato dalla Cina comunista nel 1950":
dopo
precedenti più discontinui rapporti, fu conquistato dall'impero cinese,
nella prima metà del secolo XVIII e da allora stato considerato parte
dello
stato cinese da tutti i governi della Cina, anche dal Guomindang. La
Cina
(in cinese "Stato del Centro") è stato ed è uno stato multietnico nel
quale
è in corso da millenni un processo di trasferimenti di gruppi etnici e
soprattutto di fusione dei gruppi periferici entro quello più importante
che rappresenta nove decimi dei cinesi ed è sempre stato capace di
offrire
ai suoi membri una maggiore prosperità e i benefici di una cultura più
concreta. Mettere in discussione la natura multietnica della civiltà e
dello stato cinesi significherebbe mettere in moto la più spaventosa
catastrofe degli ultimi secoli. Quella praticata dalla Cina non è mai
stata
una politica di "pulizia etnica" bensì di fusione entro un insieme non
etnico ma contraddistinto da una comune cultura e da comuni pratiche
produttive: più che sterminarle, i cinesi hanno comprato le minoranze.
E'
vero che i tibetani per ragioni geografiche sono, entro lo "Stato del
Centro" il gruppo più lontano dalla comune cultura, però da 250 anni
sono
stati sempre governati da funzionari cinesi nominati dal governo
centrale:
giuridicamente e istituzionalmente ciò ha un senso. Gli inglesi
all'apice
del loro potere sull'India all'inizio del secolo XX intrapresero,
tuttavia,
una serie di manovre per staccare il Tibet dalla Cina e porlo sotto la
loro
influenza giungendo, nel 1913 a convocare una conferenza a Simla nella
quale le autorità tibetane cedettero vasti territori all'India
britannica.
Nessun governo cinese ha mai accettato la validità di quella conferenza.
Nel periodo precedente il 1949 il governo del Guomindang considerava il
Tibet a pieno diritto, parte del proprio territorio, tanto che durante
la
Seconda guerra mondiale concedeva il diritto di sorvolo agli aerei
alleati.
Il ruolo della Cia
Non ha quindi alcun senso dire che la Cina conquistò il Tibet nel 1950;
nel
1950 le forze di Mao completarono in Tibet il controllo sul territorio
cinese; nel 1951 fu raggiunto un accordo con il Dalai Lama per la
concessione di un regime di autonomia. Verso il 1957, nel pieno
dell'assedio statunitense alla Cina, i servizi segreti inglesi e
americani
fomentarono una rivolta dei gruppi di tibetani arroccati sulle montagne
delle regioni cinesi del Sichuan e dello Yunnan, lungo la strada che
dalla
Cina porta al Tibet; i cinesi repressero certamente la rivolta con pugno
di
ferro: nelle circostanze internazionali nelle quali si trovavano e nel
loro
contesto etnico non era razionale pensare che si comportassero
diversamente. Alla fine del 1958 i servizi segreti inglesi annunciarono,
che all'inizio del 1959 essa si sarebbe trasferita a Lhasa e avrebbe
cercato l'appoggio del Dalai Lama. Ed infatti ciò che avvenne: sullo
sfondo
della rivolta, il Dalai Lama dichiarò decaduto l'accordo per il regime
autonomo e fuggì con la maggioranza della classe dirigente tibetana in
India, dove costituì un proprio governo in esilio e il proprio centro di
propaganda. Nessun governo al mondo ha riconosciuto questa compagine.
Recentemente la Cia (i servizi segreti americani sono infatti obbligati
a
rendicontare prima o poi le loro spese di fronte ai contribuenti) ha
ammesso di aver finanziato tutta l'operazione della rivolta tibetana.
Pechino: autonomia no
Dopo il 1959 il governo cinese spossessò monasteri e aristocratici e
"liberò gli schiavi", iniziando una politica di modernizzazione forzosa
(vaccinazioni, costruzione di opere pubbliche) e di formazione di una
classe dirigente locale, figlia di schiavi, sottoposta a un
bombardamento
educativo razionalista e anti-religioso. Furono questi giovani che
durante
la rivoluzione culturale distrussero templi e monasteri, infliggendo
gravi
danni a un patrimonio culturale unico e a un'identità certo non
abbandonata
dalle masse.
Dopo la morte di Mao, i governanti cinesi hanno cercato di ristabilire i
rapporti con i tibetani, migliorando le sorti economiche dell'altipiano
ma
importando anche gran numero di cinesi, non solo militari. Hanno anche
trattato indirettamente con il Dalai Lama, che - politico asiatico molto
scaltro - non chiede l'indipendenza, ma una più o meno larga autonomia:
Pechino non ha mai tuttavia voluto concedere un reale autogoverno, che
aprirebbe rischi di secessione e metterebbe in discussione tutti i
rapporti
etnici del vasto paese. Alle spalle del Dalai Lama si è sviluppato,
intanto, un vasto insieme di interessi della classe dirigente tibetana
che
ormai è nata all'estero e vi ha ricevuto una formazione culturale
moderna:
è questa che chiede un'indipendenza che potrebbe essere ottenuta solo
con
una guerra spietata alla Cina e potrebbe essere innestata dal
reclutamento
di giovani guerriglieri in India - segnali "terroristici" in questo
senso
ci sono già stati. Erano proprio dissennati i governanti cinesi che
ritenevano che l'attacco alla Serbia motivato dalla difesa dei "diritti
umani" in Kosovo fosse in effetti la prova generale di un attacco alla
Cina?
---
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
http://web4.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200001/11/eng20000111F103.html
Peoples Daily (Cn), January 11, 2000
A Demand for International Justice from the Victimized
Soon after fireworks were let off at the advent of 2000 there has been
filed the second time by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a lawsuit at
the International Court decrying NATO's war atrocities against the
Yugoslav people in violation of principles and norms governing
international relations between countries.
Yugoslavia is obviously not a country that has suffered from amnesia nor
has it chosen terrorism to avenge itself on sufferings from "organized
terrorist crimes" of NATO headed by the US. It lodges likewise its
second complaint at the international court in pointing to its full
respect for international laws and its responsible principled demand for
justice from the international community.
Contrarily, the US and its ally NATO brag unblushingly about their war
atrocities committed against Yugoslavia as those "in complete accord
with international laws". But by international laws no interference in
the internal affairs of other countries or encroachments on their
sovereignty should be allowed. NATO and the US have conveyed their full
blatancy by denying the illegality of their aggression and atrocities
committed against a small country like Yugoslavia. A thing to be noted
is that by "just and mild" legal principles of the International Court,
just as things stand with the present panel of the court, Yugoslavia as
the victimized part can in the least be favored by decisions to be made
irrespective of its complaint placed. But this does not deny the
significance of Yugoslavia's complaint lodged at the International Court
against NATO and the US. Though Yugoslavia may fail in such a suit of
"war" against "organized terrorist crimes" by NATO and the US yet it
represents still the righteous demand of a nation for international
justice.
At a time as is now when NATO has by its Kosovo war brought an accursed
stain on the new bright 21st century the world people should be alerted
to the fact that dark clouds have already been thrown up by Western
power politics over world peace. It is by no means pointless for
Yugoslavia to renew its lawsuit and demand for justice from the
international community and a brand-new world order by lodging at the
International Court its accusations against crimes NATO and US
committed.
A variety of game rules have been produced by the US and its ally NATO
in regard to the sovereignty of other nations during the few years from
Gulf war to the Kosovo war. Back in 1990, when Iraq made inroads into
Kuwait the US and Britain directly unsheathed their sword on the pretext
of defending "principles on sovereignty". But by 1999, from US-led
NATO's Kosovo war there was suddenly produced such a pseudo theory as
"protecting human rights" at the expense of "principles on sovereignty"
originally they much flaunted. A saying by a handful of Americans is
that since the world has been engulfed in a tidal wave of globalization
the "principles on sovereignty" have become an outmoded concept in
defining the territorial rights of different states and their national
interest. But following the American logic, they themselves should be
excepted for they have still to be comforted by their own type of
"American interests". This is to say when the US has not been self
bestowed with the right to brag about various types of world interests
simply theirs it will find it hard to give a satisfactory explanation of
what it has asserted about the like fallacies as "human rights
transcending sovereignty". We should say international rules must be
worked out by a coordinated effort of the peoples of the whole world.
This is where the right sort of "human rights" and genuine democracy can
be produced and enjoyed by the peoples of the whole world.
In international politics, it is by no means a rare phenomenon for the
big to bully the small and strong to browbeat the weak. In spite of the
fact that though against Western power politics not a strong rival force
has yet risen in today's world since NATO launched its barbarous Kosovo
war in Yugoslavia people should in no way give up their hope and demand
for justice from the international community. High credit should
therefore be given to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since it has
lodged at the International Court its accusation against the US and its
ally NATO and the support given by the Italian Reconstructed Communist
Party to the Yugoslav people in their fight against Western power
politics.
A French writer has put it rightly. He said a people's foreign policy
can be bought but not the dreams or memories of such a nation. In the
brand-new 2000, instead of forgetting yesterday's sufferings the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia clings all the same to its hope and demand for
justice from a responsive international community tomorrow.
---
La Chine arrête les dirigeants de Falun Gong
Une secte qui tue
Le gouvernement chinois a mis sous les verrous de gros bonzes de la
secte Falun Gong, hors-la-loi,sans doute
responsable de 1.400 morts: des victimes crédules qui ne consultaient
plus le médecin mais espéraient que la
guérison viendrait de Falun Gong.
Dirk Nimmegeers*
Le 25 avril 1999, la secte Falun Gong rameute dix mille manifestants:
pendant 13 heures, ils occupent le quartier de
Zhongnanhai, où les hauts dirigeants et cadres supérieurs du parti ont
leurs bureaux et logements. Le 22 juillet, la secte
est interdite. Répression contre la liberté de culte? Muselage de la
libre expression? Voyons plutôt ce qui a provoqué ces
mesures.
Un an avant l?interdiction de la secte Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, son
fondateur, émigre vers les Etats-Unis. A l?origine, il
pratique le qigong, une combinaison d?arts martiaux, de méditation et de
technique de respiration. En 1992, Li inaugure
son propre dogme, une concoction de qigong et d?idées bouddhistes et
taoïstes isolées de leur contexte: Falun Gong est né.
N?allez pas chez le médecin...
Li et ses assistants commencent à dispenser thérapies, formations et à
vendre toutes sortes de produits. Cela rapporte une
fortune. Ils déclarent suspectes toutes formes de médecines et superflus
les médecins, car 'avec Falun Gong, toutes les
douleurs physiques s?en vont et on atteint sa propre paix intérieure.'1
A partir de 1992, Li fondera 39 centres en Chine, dont dépendent 1.900
écoles et 28.000 salles d?exercices. Falun Gong
revendique cent millions de membres, les autorités chinoises estiment
qu?ils sont deux millions tout au plus.
Mais il y a des morts. Des adeptes croient que la maladie est imputable
à de mauvaises actions commises dans une vie
antérieure et que seuls les exercices de Falun Gong peuvent les guérir.
Ils laissent tomber médecin et médication. Certains
deviennent dépressifs ou sont obsédés par la prévision de la fin du
monde. De la sorte, la secte cause 1.400 décès et des
centaines de cas de maladies mentales.
A chaque critique des médias, Falun Gong fomente des bagarres. En août
1996, des membres de la secte entourent les
bureaux du Journal de Guangming. Occupations et sièges en règle de
journaux, de stations tv et radio se succèdent.
L?agence de presse Xinhua compte 78 manifestations non autorisées
impliquant chaque fois plus de 300 personnes. Les
revues médicales qui invitent les gens à refaire confiance en la
médecine reçoivent des visites menaçantes.
Début 1998, un nombre surprenant de rixes éclatent à Chongqing, dans le
Sud-Ouest. Le service de la sûreté publique
constate que toutes les actions sont dirigées par un solide réseau dont
le quartier général n?est autre que le principal siège
de Falun Gong à Pékin.2
La secte infiltre le Parti communiste et les ministères
Bientôt, il apparaît que le mouvement a infiltré certaines sections du
Parti communiste et des instances
gouvernementales. Deux des quatre dirigeants nationaux de Falun Gong qui
comparaîtront sont d?anciens fonctionnaires
de ministères importants. Il s?agit de Wang Zhiwen et de Li Chang. Ce
dernier travaillait encore il y a peu au ministère de
la Sûreté publique.3
En avril 1999, le professeur He Zuoxiu, de l?Académie chinoise des
Sciences, critique l?influence du qigong sur les jeunes.
Falun Gong saute sur l?occasion pour organiser ce qui sera, selon les
médias, ?la plus importante manif depuis Tien An
Men?.
Le gouvernement décide d?interdire la secte et sa propagande. La Chine
lance un mandat d?arrêt international contre Li
Hongzhi. Un avertissement est également adressé aux voyants
extralucides, vendeurs de perlimpimpin et autres semeurs
de superstitions. Le 30 octobre, le Congrès National du Peuple,
l?assemblée populaire suprême de la Chine, promulgue
une loi contre les sectes nuisibles.
Li Baoku, porte-parole gouvernemental, déclare: 'Celui qui veut suivre
le dogme de Falun Gong ne sera pas poursuivi à
condition qu?il rompe tous liens avec l?organisation, déclarée
hors-la-loi. L?interdiction ne vaut pas pour les groupes
de qigong qui s?en tiennent à l?observance des lois. Il y a une grande
différence entre la masse des simples adhérents, qui
ont été abusés, et la petite bande des dirigeants de la secte, qui les
ont trompés ou manipulés.'4
Et l?officielle agence de presse Xinhua indique: 'Le problème Falun Gong
a un contexte social et international
profondément enraciné. C?est une lutte politique entre le Parti
communiste et certaines forces intérieures et étrangères.
L?enjeu est de savoir qui va attirer à soi les masses. (...)' L?agence
de presse appelle la classe ouvrière à se détourner de
Falun Gong et de son influence.5
Deux cents dirigeants sont arrêtés mais la plupart sont remis en
liberté. A l?issue de manifestations, la police retient
brièvement quelques personnes. Pékin s?efforce de faire savoir aux
nombreux adeptes du taï-chi et du qigong qu?ils ne
sont en rien visés. Dans les parc, on voit toujours de nombreuses
personnes se livrer à leur gymnastique matinale.6
Claudio Cervini, un Italien qui travaille à Pékin depuis 1991, écrit:
'Ceux qui veulent maintenir la secte en place
s?opposent au gouvernement et ne sont pas conséquents car ils prétendent
toujours ne pas faire de politique et ne vouloir
que méditer et se développer. Les gens qui veulent s?adonner à la
méditation et à la quiétude spirituelle peuvent le faire
en d?innombrables endroits de Pékin. Je suis écoeuré de lire des
articles occidentaux accusant les autorités de
poursuivre des innocents. Tout étranger vivant ici peut se rendre compte
que ce n?est pas vrai.'
* Dirk Nimmegeers collabore à La Chine aujourd?hui, périodique de
l?Association Belgique-Chine. Pour plus d?infos
sur Falun Gong, consultez le site www.china.org.cn.
1. Conférencier de Falun Gong pour le Benelux, NRC, 27 novembre 1999 ?
2. Ibidem ? 3. Le Monde, 3 novembre 1999 ? 4.
China Daily, 24 juillet 1999 ? 5. Xinhua, 2 août 1999 ? 6. Michael
Kramer, correspondant de Reuters sur le website Asia
on line, 24 août 1999.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
QUIZ
Il "Machiavelli serbo", il "grande burattinaio", e' "geloso" dei suoi
"impronunciabili segreti", "ama l'ombra", "odia chi sceglie il sole", lo
"zar delle tenebre", il "signore del male", cui non importa "della
nazione ne' tanto meno dei suoi sudditi serbi" e "ai feudatari elargisce
solo prebende", poi "li elimina", come "uno scorpione circondato dalle
fiamme".
Di chi stiamo parlando?
(La soluzione sull'articolo di Mauro Manzin dedicato all'assassinio di
Arkan, su "Il Piccolo" del 18 gennaio 2000)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
Il "Machiavelli serbo", il "grande burattinaio", e' "geloso" dei suoi
"impronunciabili segreti", "ama l'ombra", "odia chi sceglie il sole", lo
"zar delle tenebre", il "signore del male", cui non importa "della
nazione ne' tanto meno dei suoi sudditi serbi" e "ai feudatari elargisce
solo prebende", poi "li elimina", come "uno scorpione circondato dalle
fiamme".
Di chi stiamo parlando?
(La soluzione sull'articolo di Mauro Manzin dedicato all'assassinio di
Arkan, su "Il Piccolo" del 18 gennaio 2000)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
NON OPERE DI BENE, MA FIORI IN ABBONDANZA
"Francesco Cossiga e' in Croazia per una visita di due giorni durante la
quale deporra' una corona di fiori sulla tomba del Presidente Franjo
Tudjman, morto il 10 dicembre. Cossiga sara' ospite della famiglia
Tudjman e incontrera' il presidente ad interim Pavletic. Cossiga avra'
colloqui anche con l'arcivescovo di Zagabria Bozanic e deporra' un
bouquet di fiori sulla tomba del beato Stepinac in Cattedrale."
(da "Il Piccolo" 20/01/2000)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
"Francesco Cossiga e' in Croazia per una visita di due giorni durante la
quale deporra' una corona di fiori sulla tomba del Presidente Franjo
Tudjman, morto il 10 dicembre. Cossiga sara' ospite della famiglia
Tudjman e incontrera' il presidente ad interim Pavletic. Cossiga avra'
colloqui anche con l'arcivescovo di Zagabria Bozanic e deporra' un
bouquet di fiori sulla tomba del beato Stepinac in Cattedrale."
(da "Il Piccolo" 20/01/2000)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
*** Sulla continua distruzione del patrimonio culturale rappresentato
dalle chiese ortodosse (ormai piu' di 80 a pezzi) in Kosovo e Metohija
si vedano ad esempio le pagine
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-01/17/16783.html
http://www.decani.yunet.com/
*** Assassinato un altro kosovaro-albanese iscritto al Partito
Socialista
Serbo; Attacco terrorista UCK fuori dal Kosovo; L'UCK figlio dei servizi
segreti statunitensi, tedeschi e britannici (Tanjug 18/1/00)
*** Un missile contro il vescovo Artemije; tolte le barricate dei serbi
tra Pristina e Skoplje; vari "incidenti"; gravi danni alla chiesa di
Cernica
per una bomba (FreeB92, 16-23/1/00)
*** Due giovani feriti mentre guidano la macchina (AP 20/1/00)
*** Sterminata una famiglia di slavi musulmani ("Il Manifesto" 13/01/00)
*** Tre articoli di Renzo Tassotti sulla violenza razzista che continua
indisturbata, da "Il manifesto"
*** L'UCK cerca la provocazione per "sfondare" in Serbia centrale
("Il Manifesto", 19/1/00)
*** La RF di Jugoslavia nonostante tutto ancora fa appello al
Consiglio di sicurezza dell'ONU per fermare il genocidio (AFP 21/1/00)
*** Il sergente USA assassino non era da solo (stopnato@...)
=======================================================================
MURDER OF ETHNIC ALBANIAN LOYAL TO SERBIAN CONSTITUTION
VRANJE, SERBIA, January 18 (Tanjug) - The Vice President of the local
branch of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Chemalj Mustafi, who is
also
the principle of a local elementary school, was killed on Monday morning
on
a country road linking the villages of Djordjevac and Muhovac, near
Bujanovac, close to Vranje in southern Serbia, an area outside KFOR and
UNMIK-administered territory, Vranje District Prosecutor Milan Bozilovic
said on Tuesday.
Mustafi was killed in a wood close to the village and about 60
machinegun
cartridges were found on the crime scene.
The unarmed victim was a teacher in the Djordjevac school and the
principle of the Muhovac school.
The police said that the investigation was underway and that it is
believed that the crime may have been committed by ethnic Albanian
terrorists.
ARMED ATTACK ON POLICE CHECKPOINT IN SERBIAN TOWN OF VRANJE
VRANJE, SERBIA, January 18 (Tanjug) - Mortar fire was opened on Monday
night at a police checkpoint in the village of Konculj, near Bujanovac,
close to Vranje in southern Serbia, Vranje District Public Prosecutor
Milan
Bozilovic said on Tuesday.
Several mortars were fired from the direction of the village of Dobrosin
but, luckily, no one was hurt.
The police said that it is believed the attack was carried out by ethnic
Albanian bandits and terrorists.
KLA TRAINED BY CIA, BND, SAS
BUCHAREST, January 18 (Tanjug) - The ethnic Albanian terrorist
organisation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was trained for
action by the United States' CIA, Germany's BND and Britain's SAS,
Romania's Ziua newspaper said quoting several sources as saying.
The paper quoted the sources as saying also that Agim Ceku, commander of
the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps, was on the list of war crimes
indictees by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.
The fact that the paper is of rightist orientation and backs the United
States gives additional weight to the item on KLA's activity and,
according
to some Romanian analysts, either signals that some power-wielders are
changing their attitude towards Ceku and his followers or that these
power-wielders have arrived at the conclusion that there is no point in
betting on a losing horse.
The paper pointed to the well-known fact that Ceku had been trained by
U.S. reserve generals at the Military Professional Resources company.
The
company had signed a deal with the Croatian Defence Ministry in 1994.
The
paper said that the company had signed another deal with Croatia at a
later
stage as well as with KLA.
Ziua said that, in 1991, Ceku, who was then captain in the Yugoslav
People's Army (JNA), had deserted from JNA and joined Croatian
paramilitary
forces.
Ceku was one of the persons who had organised the first attack on JNA
barracks in Gospic on September 18, 1991. After seizing the barracks,
Ceku
and his followers had abducted and killed 156 most prominent Serbs in
Gospic and burned their bodies.
Ceku also took part in the massacre of 87 Serb civilians in the Medak
pocket.
He also 'distinguished' himself in the Croatian Army's Operation Storm
that triggered an exodus of about 300,000 Serb refugees who had been
forced
to flee their homes in Banija, Kordun and Lika.
===
From: http://www.freeb92.net/
Orahovac Albanians throw missiles at Bishop Artemije (23/1/00)
KOSOVO, Sunday - Several hundred Albanians from Orahovac threw stones
and
assorted missiles at the car transporting Bishop Artemije through
Orahovac
yesterday. The angry crowd carried placards accusing Artemije of war
crimes
in Kosovo. Bishop Artemije consequently cancelled the meeting he had
scheduled with Albanians in the town.
Blockade of main road from Pristina to Skoplje brought to an end
(22/1/00)
KOSOVO, Saturday - Citizens from the village of Caglavica brought an end
to
their blockade of the main road from Pristina to Skoplje today after
reaching
agreement with KFOR. KFOR promised to provide the village with greater
security and to control all movements in and out of the village. Serbs
had
blocked this road in protest at a previous mortar attack where one
building
in the village was destroyed.
Kosovo incidents (20/1/00)
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Thursday - Two eighteen-year-old Serbs are in the
Kosovska Mitrovica hospital following a hand grenade explosion in the
northern part of the town. Their condition is reported to be stable.
Witnesses say that the grenade was thrown by a group of Albanian youths
who
had earlier been throwing fireworks at the two boys.
In Kosovo Polje an explosive device was thrown at the house of a local
Serb.
The attackers fled through back streets and were not apprehended. There
were
no casualties in the incident.
A United Nations civilian police patrol has been missing since yesterday
afternoon. The mine disposal patrol, one Canadian and one Swedish
officer was
last seen on the Pristina-Skopje road south of Urosevac early yesterday
afternoon. An investigation has so far achieved no results.
A former Kosovo Liberation Army commander for Suva Reka, Ilijas Kadoli
was
arrested today after an argument with the town's UN administrator,
Robert
Valenz. Kadoli has been designated by former KLA leader Hashim Taqi as
vice
president of the Municipal Council in the Temporary Kosovo Government.
He was
arrested after allegedly physically attacking Valenz and threatening to
kill
him.
Orthodox Church in Cernica severely damaged in explosion (15/1/00)
KOSOVO, Saturday - The Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Ilija in the
village
of Cernica near Gnjilane suffered severe damage in an explosion late
last
night, Beta reports today. A large amount of explosives were planted in
the
church grounds and the ensuing explosion destroyed half of the church as
well
as three Serb houses nearby. American KFOR soldiers whose check point is
situated 70 meters from the church did not allow local Serbs to visit
the
explosion site until late this morning. The village of Cernica is
currently
populated by 450 Serbs and 3,000 Albanians.
Radoje Ristic was severely beaten near the Serbian Orthodox Church in
Gnjilane and Srdjan Miletic shot in Lipljane last night, radio amateurs
reported today. Miletic was transferred to Kosovo Polje hospital where
he
underwent surgery performed by Russian KFOR surgeons.
Members of the KFOR multi national brigade West discovered two male
bodies
north of Djakovica last night, KFOR stated today. The identity of the
two
bodies has not been released and the military police are carrying out an
investigation into the incident.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Two Serbs Hurt in Kosovo Blast
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Ethnic Albanians driving through
the Serb part of Kosovska Mitrovica today threw a grenade at a group of
Serb teen-agers, injuring two, witnesses said.
The youths were playing basketball on the street of the ethnically
divided city when a car appeared. They stopped the vehicle and asked the
strangers inside what they were doing in the area, one youth said.
When the teen-agers realized the people in the car were ethnic
Albanians, the car sped off, with the youths in pursuit.
As they drove away, the ethnic Albanians tossed a grenade, which
exploded and injured two 18-year-olds, the youth said. One was slightly
injured and the other was taken to a nearby hospital.
Serbia's state-run Tanjug news agency said doctors were fighting to save
the hospitalized teen-ager's life. The agency also cited unofficial
reports that two suspects were apprehended in connection with the
attack.
NATO peacekeepers and the U.N. police soon sealed off the street, Tanjug
said.
Kosovska Mitrovica, about 22 miles northwest of the Kosovo capital of
Pristina, is divided by the Ibar River into Serb and ethnic
Albanian-controlled parts. U.N. peacekeepers enforce a tense division of
the city.
===
"Il manifesto" del 13 Gennaio 2000:
KOSOVO
STERMINATA UNA FAMIGLIA DI SLAVI MUSULMANI
Padre, madre, figlia e nonna di 70 anni. Sono stati ritrovati tutti in
un
lago di sangue nella loro casa a Prizren, uccisi da un commando albanese
nelle prime ore dell'alba, martedì scorso. La notizia del massacro è
stata
divulgata soltanto ieri. La polizia dice di ignorare il motivo di tanta
ferocia. Eppure è noto che anche i "bosniak", i serbi islamizzati che
parlano slavo, sono nel mirino degli ex Uck, da loro accusati assieme a
rom
e altre minoranze di essere stati "collaborazionisti" dei serbi nei mesi
della guerra civile e negli anni dell'apartheid imposto dal regime di
Milosevic. E si sa, l'Uck non è mai stata tenera verso i
"collaborazionisti", anche albanesi, tra le vittime preferite dei suoi
agguati fin dall'inizio della sua storia.
"E' un crimine irreparabile contro una famiglia, contro la comunità
nazionale dei bosniak e contro il Kosovo. Se il Kosovo tollererà la
violenza, agli occhi del mondo saremo un fallimento", ha commentato il
fatto di sangue il plenipotenziario dell'Onu, Bernard Kouchner. Il quale
però non si scompone affatto a governare il Kosovo con l'assistenza di
una
sola entia, l'albanese, in particolare reclutando nel nuovo personale
politico falchi dell'Uck, i quali hanno da sempre predicato le virtù di
un
Kosovo esclusivamente albanese.
Da Roma il ministri degli esteri italiano, Lamberto Dini, e quello della
difesa tedesco Rudolf Scharping hanno espresso "preoccupazione" per il
livello della violenza in Kosovo, ma al tempo stesso hanno lodato
l'"efficienza" dimostrata dai peacekeeper della Nato - ora comandati da
un
generale tedesco.
===
"Il manifesto" del 30 Dicembre 1999:
KOSOVO/PROFUGHI
"I medici e i paramedici serbi cacciati dagli ospedali"
Parla Nebojsa Brankovic primario del reparto di ginecologia, ospedale di
Pristina
- RENZO TASSOTTI* - NIS
N el reparto di neonatologia annesso alla clinica ginecologica del
centro
clinico di Pristina sono morti 20 bambini nati prematuri, surriscaldati
nelle loro incubatrici a causa della criminale imperizia del personale
medico e paramedico neo-arrivato nell'ospedale dopo l'ingresso in Kosovo
dei militi dell'Uck e della K-for. E' successo che le persone addette
alla
cura dei prematuri hanno collocato il termostato delle incubatrici a 40
gradi invece che ai normali 37,5". A denunciare questo tragico
avvenimento
è Nebojsa Brankovic, primario anestesiologo del reparto di ginecologia
dell'ospedale di Pristina, ora riparato a Nis con decine di migliaia di
profughi. "Questo è potuto succedere perché quando le forze dell'Uck
hanno
preso possesso della città - ci dice - sono arrivati nell'ospedale un
insieme di medici e paramedici albanesi che nessuno aveva mai visto
prima.
Io parlo solo per quello che riguarda il mio ramo, l'anestesiologia. Ho
saputo da infermiere albanesi che conosco bene, e che hanno potuto
rimanere
nel nosocomio, che sono arrivati nuovi medici che si fregiano del titolo
di
anestesiologo e che non avevano idea di cosa fare davanti a un paziente
e
dovevano chiedere ragguagli alle infermiere più esperte. Ho saputo che
sono
arrivate nuove infermiere che non sapevano neanche che cosa fosse un
laringoscopio. In chirurgia il mio amico Hajdini Sokol, di origine
libanese, forse il miglior anestesiologo di tutto il Kosovo, ha detto
che è
stato cacciato dall'ospedale e che al suo posto si è installata una
persona
di Urosevac che nessuno aveva mai visto prima negli ambienti degli
anestesiologi; tenuto presente che gli anestesiologi del Kosovo si
conoscono tutti di persona, sembra che questa persona prima non sia
stata
altro che un aumski ratnik (un guerriero di bosco) che ha fatto carriera
nelle file dell'Uck e che quindi 'automaticamente', una volta arrivato a
Pristina, ha avuto diritto a un posto dirigenziale. Sokol adesso lavora
per
qualche organizzazione di aiuto umanitario. Nel reparto di chirurgia è
stato espulso con lui anche tutto il rimanente personale albanese,
medico e
paramedico, colpevole solo del fatto di essere stato precedentemente
stipendiato dal ministero della sanità di Belgrado".
In armi nelle corsie
"Non si deve pensare - continua concitatamente il chirurgo Brankovic -
che
queste espulsioni siano avvenute tramite una lettera di licenziamento. I
nuovi chirurghi si sono presentati in ospedale armati, e accompagnati da
altri militi armati. Hanno preteso di entrare subito con i vestiti
sporchi
e le scarpe nelle sale operatorie e nei reparti di terapia intensiva. Le
infermiere che hanno cercato di impedire loro l'ingresso sono state
picchiate. i nuovi venuti hanno loro detto che loro sono dottori e che
le
infermiere non hanno diritto di dare loro degli ordini. Nessuno sa in
realtà dove questa gente si sia laureata e specializzata, perché negli
ambienti medici ddel Kosovo essi sono completamente sconosciuti, e
sospetto, visti i tragici risultati, che queste persone non abbiano
veramente una laurea in medicina". Ma cosa è accaduto, chiedo, al
personale
sanitario serbo? "I medici e i paramedici non albanesi - risponde - sono
stati, nel corso di questa 'invasione', minacciati di morte nei loro
ambulatori e nelle corsie. Il direttore della clinica chirurgica Andrija
Tomanovic, serbo, è stato rapito ed è scomparso. Così è scomparso anche
uno
stomatologo noto a tutta Pristina, Dragan Todorovski, di origine
macedone.
Noi, sanitari dell'ospedale di Pristina, pensavamo che il personale
difficilmente sostituibile dell'ospedale avrebbe potuto rimanere a
lavorare
indipendentemente dalla etnia di appartenenza, perché pensavamo che
fosse
di primaria importanza che l'ospedale funzionasse, e non chi ci
lavorava,
ma l'arrivo degli aumski ratnici dell'Uck ha stravolto ogni logica di
buonsenso. I militari della Kfor-Nato americani che avevano promesso di
proteggere il centro clinico non hanno adempiuto alla loro promessa e
così
nel centro clinico hanno potuto entrare centinaia di persone armate,
sotto
l'occhio benevolo dei militi americani. Il risultato di queste
'sostituzioni' lo si vede non solo dal caso agghiacciante dei 20 bambini
prematuri, ma anche dall'aumento del tasso di mortalità che si registra
nel
nosocomio a causa dell'asepsi approssimativa che si pratica nelle sale
di
intervento e della non conoscenza dell'uso dei macchinari".
La strage di Orahovac
Poi Neboijsa Brankovic denuncia con forza: "E' per me un mistero che la
comunità europea possa continuare a considerare l'Uck come una
formazione
dotata di una qualche forma di liceità giurisdizionale accettando
addirittura la sua trasformazione in forza di polizia. L'Uck è composto
da
assassini che hanno sistematicamente aperto il fuoco contro persone
disarmate, come è successo per mesi sulla strada per Pristina, dove
hanno
sparato su tutti i veicoli che passavano, uccidendo senza distinzione
serbi, albanesi, turchi, rom, ecc. Ad Orahovac ha occupato la città per
un
giorno. Quella volta gli aumski ratnici hanno ucciso a sangue freddo
tutti
i medici e le infermiere che si trovavano nel Dom Zdravlja (centro
ambulatoriale)".
Ma quando è accduto quest'ultimo, sanguinoso episodio? "Questo è
successo
in una fase dell'operazione-Kosovo nella quale il ruolo dell'Uck era
quello
di far salire il livello di violenza - continua Brankovic - in modo da
giustificare poi la trappola dei cosiddetti accordi di Rambouillet. I
media
occidentali non hanno fatto allora menzione di questi fatti, mentre
quasi
tutti hanno dato pieno fiato alle trombe mediatiche per la montatura
della
strage di Racak. Ora vorrei che questi giornalisti venissero da me.
Racconterei che ci sono molte persone che conosco che sono state uccise
a
sangue freddo nelle strade di Pristina: Zlatko Brankovic, Zoran
Aranbulovic, Ratka Mitic - una mia vicina di casa di 60 anni, che era in
compagnia del nipote, un bambino, quando è stata lapidata, mentre il
bambino è scappato. I soldati americani che hanno assistito al
linciaggio
non si sono mossi, nemmeno per arrestare gli assassini. Ratka Mitic è
stata
seppellita a Nis perché chiunque entra nel cimitero ortodosso di
Pristina
viene assassinato. Pristina è adesso un posto misero e triste, mentre è
sempre stata una città multietnica, nonostante gli odi etnici, Milosevic
e
il governo parallelo di Rugova, e mi meraviglio quando Bernard Kouchner
dice che 'Pristina non è mai stata una città multietnica'. Certo può
dire
quello che vuole con il suo apparato d'informazione. Ma è una vergogna
che
un collega con così tante responsabilità, possa mentire in questo modo.
Mio
padre parla turco, ebraico, serbo e albanese, tanto che giornalisti
turchi
venuti a Pristina pensavano che fosse turco, e poi si sono meravigliati
sapendo che era serbo. Nella nostra strada si alternavano case di
turchi,
serbi, ebrei, e albanesi, e adesso arriva uno a dire che Pristina non è
mai
stata una citta multietnica".
"Kouchner sbaglia"
"Bisogna tenere presente - insiste, quasi con rabbia - che le comunità
turche hanno potuto, dopo il ritiro dell'impero ottomano, rimanere in
Serbia e in Kosovo proprio perché la cultura di queste regioni è sempre
stata impostata su un principio multietnico di convivenza; parlo di una
apertura culturale che fa parte della quotidianità delle persone
cosiddette
comuni per le quali, in Serbia come in Bosnia e in Kosovo, era naturale
che
il vicino di casa non andasse a sentire la messa, ma andasse magari
nella
jamija (la moschea) o nella sinagoga o nella chiesa ortodossa, e questa
apertura è sempre stata antitetica alle grandi manovre di nazionalismi,
stati ed eserciti, che hanno sempre influito in modo devastante su un
tessuto intrecciato di relazioni umane tra persone appartenenti a
diverse
tradizioni, imponendo violentemente inimicizie e partizioni. Mentre le
parole di Bernard Kouchner giustificano alla fine ideologicamente le
scorrerie etniche dell'Uck".
"E il contingente americano Kfor - ribadisce e accusa - non solo spesso
protegge le azioni di pulizia etnica, ma vi partecipa anche
attivamente".
E, per farmi toccare con mano questa realtà, Nebojsa Brankovic mi porta
a
conoscere un altro profugo, Srcan Dundevic.
Soldati Usa complici
"Nel nostro villaggio sono arrivati di notte - mi dice subito appena
c'incontriamo nel campo di Nis - hanno ucciso una donna e tre uomini e
poi
hanno cominciato a spargere benzina e a dare fuoco. Hanno bruciato tutto
quello che era serbo, comprese le stalle con gli animali, che sono
bruciati
tra le fiamme, hanno buttato olio bruciato di trattore nei pozzi, in
modo
da avvelenarli per sempre. Poi i soldati americani ci hanno raggruppati
e
ci hanno intimato di andarcene. Sono tornato indietro il giorno dopo per
vedere cosa era rimasto della mia casa. Lì mi hanno arrestato gli
americani, mi hanno legato e mi hanno picchiato, minacciando di
frantumarmi
le ossa con i calci del fucili. Dopo tre giorni mi hanno lasciato andare
dicendomi che se fossi ritornato mi avrebbero ucciso".
Due settimane fa il rappresentante dell'Onu in Italia, Staffan De
Mistura,
ha deciso unilateralmente di ammainare la bandiera dell'Onu
sull'ospedale
di Mitrovica, la città divisa in due, dove restano i pochi serbi rimasti
in
Kosovo; al nosocomio sono stati anche tagliati tutti i fondi
internazionali. La motivazione? Perché i medici serbi si rifiutano di
accettare 20 medici albanesi nell'ospedale e l'impianto è
sottoutilizzato.
I medici serbi hanno motivato il loro atteggiamento con l'esclusione del
personale sanitario serbo dalle altre strutture di Mitrovica e da tutto
il
Kosovo e hanno chiesto a Staffan De Mistura - che si è trincerato dietro
un
"io non posso riscrivere la storia" - di tagliare i fondi Onu anche agli
altri ospedali kosovari da dove sono stati cacciati i medici serbi e
soprattutto a quello di Pristina dove è stata fatta, denunciano,
"davvero
pulizia etnico-sanitaria". Se è vero quello che abbiamo raccontato in
questo articolo, forse l'Onu non può riscrivere la storia, ma di certo
può
intervenire in modo meno unilaterale sul dramma degli "orrori di pace"
che
in Kosovo si sono capovolti, stavolta contro i serbi.
*Neuropsichiatra
---
"Il manifesto" del 19 Dicembre 1999:
I profughi che non esistono
Viaggio tra i serbi e i rom cacciati dal Kosovo per le "vendette"
dell'Uck
- RENZO TASSOTTI* - NIS
L' ingresso in Kosovo dei guerriglieri dell'Uck a fianco delle forze
armate
mandate dalla comunità internazionale ha fatto sì che l'odio etnico si
scagliasse questa volta contro tutte le etnie non albanesi che
popolavano
la regione prima della catastrofe di Rambouillet. Soprattutto nella
campagna, lontano dagli occhi indiscreti dei giornalisti e dei militari
della K-for (l'esercito della Nato), bande di armati albanesi e kosovari
hanno compiuto rastrellamenti, saccheggiando e bruciando le case e i
villaggi abitati da serbi, montenegrini e rom.
La semplice non appartenenza alla etnia albanese era motivo sufficiente
per
lo scatenarsi della violenza, e questo accadeva senza riguardo per il
fatto
che le persone in questione avessero o meno in qualche modo favorito le
azioni dell'esercito jugoslavo. Dice Svetlana Ajapi, rifugiata rom:
"Sono
arrivati altri albanesi, non i nostri vicini Ne naae komaije. Hanno
minacciato con le armi, abbiamo avuto appena il tempo di riempire una
borsa
e di andarcene". Nei Balcani il komaija è quasi come un parente, e
quello a
cui si lasciano le chiavi di casa quando si va in viaggio; e così, in
Kosovo come in Bosnia, bande di armati, ciechi di fronte a questo
tessuto
umano di relazioni tra persone che condividono uno spazio che è il
teatro
dello svolgersi della loro vita, sono venuti da fuori per distruggerlo,
obbedendo ai diktat dei nuovi tribalismi imposti dall'alto, creando
l'odio
etnico dal nulla, tramite la violenza.
Violenza "psicologica"
Così a Mustafa Kastati, kosovaro di 17 anni, paziente nefropatico,
espulso
senza motivo dall'ospedale di Tirana (il cui reparto di nefrologia è
stato
costruito a spese dell'Aied, Associazione italiana emodializzati)
avevamo
trovato la possibilità di emodializzarsi nel centro clinico di Nis, dove
sarebbe stato accolto come un qualsiasi altro cittadino jugoslavo. Ma il
ragazzo qui non è potuto venire, per paura delle rappresaglie che l'Uck
avrebbe compiuto contro la sua famiglia, a causa del fatto che aveva
"collaborato" con i serbi.
Nei grossi centri come Pristina, la violenza è stata molto piu sottile e
"psicologica". Si è verificata, per esempio, una serie di strani
omicidi,
come quello di Zlatoje Gligorijevi, un pediatra serbo conosciuto da
tutti
per la sua gentilezza e la sua correttezza, e per essere una persona del
tutto estranea a qualsiasi forma di settarismo etnico o ideologico, e
ucciso nel suo studio proprio per questo, perché tutti i non albanesi
che
lo conoscevano potessero pensare che se avevano ammazzato lui, allora
potevano ammazzare qualsiasi altro di loro.
Solo nelle regioni di Nis, Vranje e Zajear ci sono 43351 rifugiati dal
Kosovo, a cui si devono aggiungere 1031 profughi dalla Croazia e dalla
Bosnia-Erzegovina, che ancora vivono nei campi. L'amministrazione
jugoslava
ha parzialmente risolto l'emergenza dell'ondata di profughi
serbo-kosovari
smistandoli in alberghi, appartamenti vuoti, ecc. Però c'è ancora un
enorme
numero di persone - specialmente di etnia rom - che ancora vivono nei
campi
all'aperto, dentro cantieri abbandonati, oppure sotto un ponte.
Nel "cantiere" di Kuraumlija
Quando sono arrivato a Kuraumlija (Vranje) mi hanno indicato un cantiere
abbandonato, con le occhiaie vuote delle finestre annerite come quelle
di
una casa bruciata. Appena ci avviciniamo viene fuori, come dal nulla,
una
marea di bambini e ragazzini scarmigliati e vocianti, con i più piccoli
a
piedi nudi nel fango (nonostante la temperatura di appena cinque gradi,
il
vento e la pioggia battente). Sembrava una scena da dopo-bomba.
Il mio accompagnatore, Nebojaa Brankovi - anestesiologo dell'ospedale di
Pristina - un profugo che adesso lavora per una organizzazione
umanitaria,
mi guida all'interno aprendosi un varco tra i detriti, gli escrementi e
il
fango. Nel grosso cantiere vivono una ventina di famiglie di 10-15
membri
ciascuna e con età che vanno da un mese a 60 anni. Vengo ricevuto da
alcuni
di loro in una piccola stanza, con una coperta al posto della porta e
un'altra al posto della finestra (i più fortunati hanno trovato un telo
di
nylon), l'interno buio e incredibilmente pulito e curato, mentre sui
muri
neri per il fumo luccicano immagini di icone ortodosse - madonne dalla
pelle scura come loro - che fanno uno strano effetto.
Mi fanno vedere il loro cubo: farina cotta e acqua. Emira mi mostra la
ferita di striscio di suo figlio di appena cinque anni, e i fori del
proiettile che a lei ha trapassato la gamba: "Gli aiptari (i kosovari)
erano tutto attorno, ma noi non li vedevamo. Hanno sparato dal bosco. Da
quando mi hanno sparato sono pazza e non ho più paura di dire quello che
penso: noi siamo sempre stati con la Jugoslavia, perché la Jugoslavia ci
ha
abbandonati così?". Qualcuno parla un po' di italiano: "Io lavorato
Saronno, Saronno molto brava gente".
Questa gente è arrivata a Kuraumlija portando con sé pochissime cose. La
città è una delle più povere della già povera Serbia del sud (in
confronto
al ricco Kosovo, che si trova immediatamente piu a sud), la crisi
economica
iniziata nel '92 qui ha colpito durissimo. Questo posto non ha niente da
offrire a chi non ha niente.
Pericolo di epidemie
Per queste persone la catastrofe è imminente, perché le condizioni
igieniche sono al limite della sopravvivenza, l'alimentazione è
inadeguata,
l'acqua manca, e per il fumo che respirano bruciando, per scaldarsi,
tutto
quello che trovano di combustibile, e per l'impossibilità di cambiarsi i
vestiti bagnati. La tubercolosi e le malattie parassitarie possono
diffondersi rapidamente a causa del fatto che dormono ammassati per
proteggersi dal freddo. L'epatite, il colera e altre forme di
dissenteria
non si sono ancora sviluppati solo perché, nonostante le condizioni in
cui
vive, questa gente riesce a mantenere una forma di vita incredibilmente
pulita. Il rischio più grave e imminente è rappresentato dal freddo: le
temperature di questi giorni sono incredibilmente alte per la stagione,
ma
da un momento all'altro l'anticiclone russo potrebbe abbassare la
temperatura di molto sotto lo zero, provocando amputazioni e morti per
assideramento, soprattutto tra i più anziani e i più piccoli.
Sebbene queste persone vivano in questo cantiere da sei mesi, la loro
capacità di reagire, la disponibilità ad andare in qualunque posto pur
di
sopravvivere è una cosa davvero difficile da comprendere per chi viene
da
una società dove tutto è "garantito", dominata dal consumismo e dall'
abbondanza, ma anche minata dall'apatia e dalla depressione. Accanto al
problema rappresentato da quest'ultima ondata di profughi, esiste qui da
sette anni il problema dei rifugiati provenienti dalla Croazia e dalla
Bosnia-Erzegovina. Uno di questi campi è stato allestito - lontano da
occhi
indiscreti, e sconosciuto agli stessi serbi - nel villaggio di Selova,
un
piccolo paese formato dalle famiglie delle maestranze addette alla
manutenzione di una diga.
I profughi, che un tempo erano integrati in città come Rijeka, Knin o
Sarajevo, adesso vivono da cinque o sette anni in un gruppo di
prefabbricati costruito non lontano dal paese. Qui non mancano un tetto
di
eternit, il cibo o i servizi igienici, ma manca tutto il resto e
soprattutto manca una prospettiva di vita. Dopo svariati anni di
confino,
queste persone sono spente, alienate, emarginate, sradicate da tutto un
sistema di prospettive, relazioni e interessi, ma anche di illusioni e
di
speranze che danno senso alla vita.
I problemi dei bambini
Parcheggiamo la macchina davanti a un prefabbricato che dovrebbe
costituire
la sede delle attivita comunitarie. Non ci accoglie l'assalto di un'orda
di
piccoli diavoletti vocianti, come nel campo precedente, ma i bambini e i
ragazzini arrivano alla spicciolata, zitti, imbacuccati nelle giacche a
vento, senza un grido o un moto di curiosità. Entriamo nella sala
destinata
ai bambini. Ci sono tre panche di legno, un armadio, un tavolo da
ping-pong
e un televisore che non funziona. Il freddo è intenso, si tirano fuori
dei
fogli e delle matite colorate e i bambini si mettono a disegnare in
piedi
attorno al tavolo da ping-pong. Abbiamo portato una radio e qualcuno ha
una
cassetta con canzoni che piacciono agli adolescenti (tipo Baglioni)
cantate
in serbo o in croato. Slavica Parli, la persona che mi ha condotto lì e
che
lavora in un programma di assistenza gestito dall'Ics italiano insieme
alla
Croce rossa jugoslava, mi dice che questi bambini non reagiscono,
qualunque
cosa tu gli porti, non mostrano interessamento né per un pallone nuovo,
né
per i pupazzi, né per le bambole.
Mi dice degli enormi problemi di queste piccole comunità isolate: un
elevato numero di divorzi, relazioni consanguinee. Poi mi racconta del
bar
del vicino paese, dove le ragazzine vivono le loro prime esperienze
amorose
con gli operai della diga - tutta gente sposata - spesso all'insegna
della
prostituzione.
Mi parla di come persone perfettamente integrate nel tessuto sociale
della
lontana Bosnia o Croazia al tempo della grande Jugoslavia siano state
scaraventate sotto i tetti di questi prefabbricati dalle esigenze di
pulizia etnica di neo-inventati nazionalismi etnici. Là, dove i mesi e
gli
anni passano vuoti, in condizioni di vita aberranti, in grado di
alienare
l'identità stessa di queste persone.
Crisi economica e sociale
La Jugoslavia vive dal '92 una crisi economica e sociale ormai
cronicizzata, che da una parte ha ridotto la popolazione che potremmo
definire "normale" - e che costituisce la stragrande maggioranza - a
condizioni di pura sopravvivenza, e dall'altra ha fatto enormemente
arricchire - come effetto delle sanzioni economiche - bande di
affaristi,
intrallazzatori di vario genere e contrabbandieri, figure che si trovano
a
metà strada tra quella del manager e quella del mafioso.
Sarebbe bene che in Italia si smettesse di finanziare la mafia albanese
con
l'invio di centinaia di containers e si appoggi un centro come l'Ics
(Centro italiano di solidarietà), che ha delle basi in Jugoslavia, dove
gestisce direttamente l'assistenza ai profughi.
*Neuropsichiatra
---
"Il manifesto" del 5 Gennaio 2000:
EX JUGOSLAVIA L'IMPOSSIBILE "PACE"
Una donna tra gli orrori della pulizia etnica
Drammatica testimonianza raccolta in un campo profughi dove vivono i
serbi
fuggiti dal Kosovo
- RENZO TASSOTTI * - NIS (Serbia)
Q uella che segue è la testimonianza di una donna serba scampata con i
tre
figli alla pulizia etnica svoltasi l'estate scorsa in Kosovo. La
registrazione è stata racolta nel campo profughi di Bujanovac, nei
pressi
della frontiera tra Serbia e Kosovo. Una frontiera che ormai i serbi
possono attraversare solo a rischio della vita. Ci sono infatti delle
postazioni dell'Uck sulla strada Bujanovac-Pristina che sparano dal
bosco
sulle macchine che individuano come appartenenti ai serbi. Un clima
feroce,
denunciato anche dal "Wall Street Journal" con un lungo reportage di
Robert
Block, il 20 dicembre scorso.
La testimonianza raccolta è quella di Svetlana Zlatanovic - che viveva
con
il marito Milan e tre figli, Vladimir (14 anni), Ljiljiana (10) e Zoran
(5
anni, bambino asmatico) a Urosevac nella zona controllata dagli
americani
(i nomi, naturalmente, non sono quelli veri).
"Io abitavo in un quartiere dove la nostra era l'unica famiglia serba.
Gia
da molti anni avevamo ricevuto dimostrazioni di ostilità da parte di
molte
persone, tranne che dai nostri vicini di casa e dalle persone che ci
conoscevano bene. Quelli dell'Uck sono arrivati alle 10 di sera del 14
luglio, mercoledì. Si è presentata alla porta gente in borghese, non
mascherata, e che non avevo mai visto; sono uscita a parlare fuori dalla
porta perche Milan e i bambini erano gia a letto e non volevo
disturbarli.
Quando sono uscita ho visto che c'erano 15 persone armate che avevano
circondato la casa. Ho cercato aiuto da una vicina che ha avertito tutti
gli altri; tutti i vicini sono usciti, ma è stato loro intimato di
rientrare in casa sotto la minaccia delle armi.
"Hanno voluto sapere se Milan aveva fatto il militare, se c'e stato
qualcuno della mia famiglia nella milizia o nell'esercito e altre cose
simili, sotto la minaccia di bruciare immediatamente la casa. Sono poi
entrati con la forza: io ho cercato di impedirlo, ma il rumore della
colluttazione ha fatto scendere Milan. Anche a lui hanno fatto le stesse
domande, minacciandolo con il coltello alla gola, poi lo hanno portato
via.
Alcuni di loro sono rimsti in casa continuando a minacciarmi. Dopo un
po',
riportano Milan e lui mi dice che devono continuare ad interrogarmi
perché
hanno scoperto che ho un cugino nella milizia - cosa non vera.
"Questa volta ci caricano sulle macchine con le mani legate e ci portano
fuori per 7 chilometri, dopodiché di dicono di scendere e di continuare
a
piedi mentre loro ci seguono con i fari puntati su di noi. Era un posto
pieno di gente armata - ogni 50 metri c'era un gruppo di persone armate
di
kalashnikov. Dico loro che se ci hanno portato lì per ucciderci, ci
uccidessero subito: ma loro ci caricano di nuovo in macchina e ci
portano
in un altro villaggio (Staro Selo); qui hanno portato via Milan, poi in
molti mi hanno violentata, per quattro ore, facendomi tutto quello che
era
possibile farmi".
Il racconto di Svetlana è estremamente lucido - il suo distacco si vela
di
ua punta di disprezzo quando, senza alcuna reticenza, descrive i
particolari di quello che ha subito.
"Dopo avermi violentata, mi hanno preso tutto quello che avevo di valore
e
mi hanno detto che se volevo rivedere mio marito vivo dovevo trovare
loro
1000 marchi". Svetlana a questo punto è stata ancora picchiata e
minacciata
perché pare che avesse ancora avuto il coraggio di fronteggiarli: "'To
su
velike pare', questi sono molti soldi e mio marito e disoccupato da due
anni" - "Se non hai 1000 marchi allora daccene 500" - "Poi arriva un
altro
che dice che bastano 300 marchi - dico che ho solo 250 marchi e che
posso
dargliene solo 200 perché ho bisogno di comprare le medicine del
bambino,
ma prima voglio vedere mio marito. Mi portano da lui e possiamo parlare
per
alcuni minuti, aveva il viso sfigurato dalle botte. Poi ci legano di
nuovo,
ci caricano sulle macchine e ci riportano davanti alla casa - quindi
portano di nuovo via Milan. Sono entrata in casa, ed è stato il momento
peggiore quando ho visto i miei tre bambini che piangevano e mi
chiedevano
dove era papà".
Svetlana, che finora aveva mostrato una lucidità impressionante, a
questo
punto è travolta dalla commozione. "L'uomo mi dice 'adesso ci dai subito
250 marchi altrimenti partono le teste dei tuoi figli'. Ho dato loro
tutto
quello che avevo, i 250 marchi e anche i soldi che avevamo ricavato
dalla
vendita di un terreno e che non erano ancora stati toccati - ho avuto il
terrore che violentassero anche la bambina - poi se ne sono andati
dicendoci che dovevamo restare in casa finche non avessimo ricevuto
l'ordine di andarcene".
Alcune ore dopo sono arrivati i militari americani della K-for,
dicendole
che il marito era morto e che dovevano andarsene immediatamente. "Sono
andata nella piazza di Urosevac, davanti al municipio: non avevamo soldi
e
non sapevamo dove andare. Si è avvicinata una donna americana che lavora
per l'Unicef (di cui non sappiamo il nome), mi ha chiesto - per mezzo
della
traduttrice albanese - perché i bambini dormivano per terra. Questa
donna
ci ha molto aiutati quando ha saputo la nostra storia, ci ha dato da
mangiare e ci ha fatto raggiungere la scuola elementare dove altri 50
serbi
aspettavano un passaggio per la frontiera".
Adesso prende la parola Goran, il figlio maggiore di Svetlana. "Ci hanno
portati alla scuola elementare di Urosevac 'Branko Radievic' dove siamo
rimasti diversi giorni. A un certo punto è arrivato un autobus carico di
profughi - soprattutto persone anziane. Erano rimasti una settimana
all'aperto, senza ragione, nei pressi della stazione ferroviaria; c'era
una
donna anziana a cui avevano cavato gli occhi con il coltello (aveva una
benda insanguinata intorno alla testa) - ad altri avevano spezzato le
gambe
o le braccia a bastonate e non potevano camminare; tutti avevano i visi
sfigurati dalle botte, era gente affamata e anche quelli che non avevano
ferite gravi erano talmente stremati che non riuscivano neanche parlare.
Dopo alcuni giorni abbiamo potuto raggiungere tutti insieme la frontiera
serba dove ci ha raccolti iil nostro esercito che ha mandato i feriti in
ospedale e a noi ci ha fatto raggiungere il motel dove adesso viviamo".
I fatti sono stati confermati da altri scampati da Urosevac.
Svetlana, sola nella piazza con i tre bambini, si trovava in una
situazione
di grave e imminente pericolo in quanto, come accaduto a molti altri
serbi,
potevano essere in qualunque momento, e da chiuque, lapidati, sgozzati o
uccisi a botte. Svetlana si è decisa a raccontare la sua esperienza solo
perché suo marito non c'è piu. In una cultura patriarcale come quella
dei
balcani meridionali una donna non riconosce mai di essere stata
violentata,
per proteggere la sua vita coniugale e l'onore della sua famiglia.
Perciò
questa è una delle poche testimonianze che narrano delle violenze
sessuali
subite dalle donne serbe (in Kosovo come in Bosnia) durante le
operazioni
di pulizia etnica.
* (neuropsichiatra)
===
Da "Il manifesto" del 19 Gennaio 2000:
IN SERBIA
GRANATE SULLA POLIZIA VICINO AL KOSOVO
Continuano gli attacchi contro postazioni della polizia e civili serbi
nei
villaggi della Serbia meridionale, abitati da una consistente minoranza
albanese e dove la guerriglia (ex) Uck sembra aver concentrato le
proprie
attività. Martedì è toccato a un chek-point della polizia nei pressi di
Bujanovac, a 10 km dalla provincia kosovara, a essere bersagliato da
colpi
di mortaio. Le autorità non lamentano alcun ferito.
E' stato intanto trasferito nella base tedesca di Mannheim, il sergente
dei
parà Usa Frank Ronghi, accusato dell'omicidio di una bimba albanese di
11
anni, il cui corpo era stato trovato giovedì scorso vicino a Vitina, nel
Kosovo orientale.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Belgrade Demands Security Council Meeting To Halt 'Genocide'
BELGRADE, Jan 21, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Yugoslavia demanded
Thursday that the U.N. Security Council meet in urgent session to take
measures to halt "genocide" of non-Albanians in Kosovo, the state news
agency Tanjug reported.
Deputy Foreign Minister Miroslav Milosevic told foreign diplomats in
Belgrade that his government was asking for the meeting under Resolution
1244, which ended the conflict in Kosovo and 11 weeks of NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia, the agency said.
The resolution defined the conditions for the deployment of the
Alliance-led peacekeeping force, KFOR, and administration of the
province by the U.N. mission, UNMIK.
"In the last eight months, U.N. resolution 1244 has not been applied and
KFOR and UNMIK, violate, in major part deliberately, its basic
dispositions," Milosevic said.
Such violations were mostly related to breaches of the "sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Yugoslavia," Milosevic added.
He estimated that the KFOR and UNMIK were "entirely responsible for the
deteriorating and dangerous development of the situation in Kosovo ...
where attacks by (ethnic) Albanian terrorists have multiplied since the
deployment of the U.N. forces."
"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has asked for an urgent session of
the U.N. Security Council, asking the council to undertake without delay
measures in accordance with the U.N. Charter and the obligations
contained within Resolution 1244 in order to prevent the continuation of
genocide against the non-Albanian population in Kosovo," he said.
Milosevic said that 739 people, mostly Serbs, had been killed, 611
kidnapped and 688 reported missing in 3,688 terrorist acts since June
12,1999, when the international force was deployed.
Last November, the Yugoslav government delivered a document to the U.N.
Security council in which it has demanded a return of Belgrade's
military and police forces to Kosovo, urging the U.N. to end the
"terror" committed against the non-Albanian population in Kosovo.
According to the U.N. resolution, a return of "certain" number of
Belgrade forces to the province is foreseen, but the exact date for this
has not been set. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
© 1995-2000 European Internet Network Inc.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
-
US soldiers lured the Albanian
girl into a trap offering her food
January 19, 2000
Brussels, January 18th -
The murder of an
eleven-year-old Albanian
girl in Vitina met with
great publicity in Brussels
media, which today,
quoting the "Kovo Sot"
Albanian daily, reported on a severe accusation
of the US soldiers' behaviour in Kosovo.
"The US soldiers tricked the girl. They gave
her food.
That is why she consented to go down to
the basement", father of the murdered girl,
Hamdija Sabiju, told the
Albanian daily.
His words were conveyed by Brussels media, reporting
on the crime in Vitina committed by a US KFOR
soldier.
Father's statement represents a serious accusation,
because it reveals the background of the entire
"incident" and points to the fact that there was
a number
of other US soldiers, who cooperated with Ronghi, the
US soldier accused of raping and murdering the girl.
At the same time, this confirms that it was not an
isolated incident involving a sick person, as
KFOR and
US command are trying to explain it, as well as
the fact
that this girl Merita was not the only one, who,
persuaded with food and other "presents", went down
into basements.
The US soldier Ronghi, accused of raping and
murdering of the eleven-year-old Albanian girl, was
moved to the military prison in Manheim on Sunday.
Actually, he was taken away from the scene of
the crime
only a few hours after he was accused of committing a
crime, reported the media in Brussels.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
dalle chiese ortodosse (ormai piu' di 80 a pezzi) in Kosovo e Metohija
si vedano ad esempio le pagine
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-01/17/16783.html
http://www.decani.yunet.com/
*** Assassinato un altro kosovaro-albanese iscritto al Partito
Socialista
Serbo; Attacco terrorista UCK fuori dal Kosovo; L'UCK figlio dei servizi
segreti statunitensi, tedeschi e britannici (Tanjug 18/1/00)
*** Un missile contro il vescovo Artemije; tolte le barricate dei serbi
tra Pristina e Skoplje; vari "incidenti"; gravi danni alla chiesa di
Cernica
per una bomba (FreeB92, 16-23/1/00)
*** Due giovani feriti mentre guidano la macchina (AP 20/1/00)
*** Sterminata una famiglia di slavi musulmani ("Il Manifesto" 13/01/00)
*** Tre articoli di Renzo Tassotti sulla violenza razzista che continua
indisturbata, da "Il manifesto"
*** L'UCK cerca la provocazione per "sfondare" in Serbia centrale
("Il Manifesto", 19/1/00)
*** La RF di Jugoslavia nonostante tutto ancora fa appello al
Consiglio di sicurezza dell'ONU per fermare il genocidio (AFP 21/1/00)
*** Il sergente USA assassino non era da solo (stopnato@...)
=======================================================================
MURDER OF ETHNIC ALBANIAN LOYAL TO SERBIAN CONSTITUTION
VRANJE, SERBIA, January 18 (Tanjug) - The Vice President of the local
branch of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Chemalj Mustafi, who is
also
the principle of a local elementary school, was killed on Monday morning
on
a country road linking the villages of Djordjevac and Muhovac, near
Bujanovac, close to Vranje in southern Serbia, an area outside KFOR and
UNMIK-administered territory, Vranje District Prosecutor Milan Bozilovic
said on Tuesday.
Mustafi was killed in a wood close to the village and about 60
machinegun
cartridges were found on the crime scene.
The unarmed victim was a teacher in the Djordjevac school and the
principle of the Muhovac school.
The police said that the investigation was underway and that it is
believed that the crime may have been committed by ethnic Albanian
terrorists.
ARMED ATTACK ON POLICE CHECKPOINT IN SERBIAN TOWN OF VRANJE
VRANJE, SERBIA, January 18 (Tanjug) - Mortar fire was opened on Monday
night at a police checkpoint in the village of Konculj, near Bujanovac,
close to Vranje in southern Serbia, Vranje District Public Prosecutor
Milan
Bozilovic said on Tuesday.
Several mortars were fired from the direction of the village of Dobrosin
but, luckily, no one was hurt.
The police said that it is believed the attack was carried out by ethnic
Albanian bandits and terrorists.
KLA TRAINED BY CIA, BND, SAS
BUCHAREST, January 18 (Tanjug) - The ethnic Albanian terrorist
organisation calling itself Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was trained for
action by the United States' CIA, Germany's BND and Britain's SAS,
Romania's Ziua newspaper said quoting several sources as saying.
The paper quoted the sources as saying also that Agim Ceku, commander of
the so-called Kosovo Protection Corps, was on the list of war crimes
indictees by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.
The fact that the paper is of rightist orientation and backs the United
States gives additional weight to the item on KLA's activity and,
according
to some Romanian analysts, either signals that some power-wielders are
changing their attitude towards Ceku and his followers or that these
power-wielders have arrived at the conclusion that there is no point in
betting on a losing horse.
The paper pointed to the well-known fact that Ceku had been trained by
U.S. reserve generals at the Military Professional Resources company.
The
company had signed a deal with the Croatian Defence Ministry in 1994.
The
paper said that the company had signed another deal with Croatia at a
later
stage as well as with KLA.
Ziua said that, in 1991, Ceku, who was then captain in the Yugoslav
People's Army (JNA), had deserted from JNA and joined Croatian
paramilitary
forces.
Ceku was one of the persons who had organised the first attack on JNA
barracks in Gospic on September 18, 1991. After seizing the barracks,
Ceku
and his followers had abducted and killed 156 most prominent Serbs in
Gospic and burned their bodies.
Ceku also took part in the massacre of 87 Serb civilians in the Medak
pocket.
He also 'distinguished' himself in the Croatian Army's Operation Storm
that triggered an exodus of about 300,000 Serb refugees who had been
forced
to flee their homes in Banija, Kordun and Lika.
===
From: http://www.freeb92.net/
Orahovac Albanians throw missiles at Bishop Artemije (23/1/00)
KOSOVO, Sunday - Several hundred Albanians from Orahovac threw stones
and
assorted missiles at the car transporting Bishop Artemije through
Orahovac
yesterday. The angry crowd carried placards accusing Artemije of war
crimes
in Kosovo. Bishop Artemije consequently cancelled the meeting he had
scheduled with Albanians in the town.
Blockade of main road from Pristina to Skoplje brought to an end
(22/1/00)
KOSOVO, Saturday - Citizens from the village of Caglavica brought an end
to
their blockade of the main road from Pristina to Skoplje today after
reaching
agreement with KFOR. KFOR promised to provide the village with greater
security and to control all movements in and out of the village. Serbs
had
blocked this road in protest at a previous mortar attack where one
building
in the village was destroyed.
Kosovo incidents (20/1/00)
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Thursday - Two eighteen-year-old Serbs are in the
Kosovska Mitrovica hospital following a hand grenade explosion in the
northern part of the town. Their condition is reported to be stable.
Witnesses say that the grenade was thrown by a group of Albanian youths
who
had earlier been throwing fireworks at the two boys.
In Kosovo Polje an explosive device was thrown at the house of a local
Serb.
The attackers fled through back streets and were not apprehended. There
were
no casualties in the incident.
A United Nations civilian police patrol has been missing since yesterday
afternoon. The mine disposal patrol, one Canadian and one Swedish
officer was
last seen on the Pristina-Skopje road south of Urosevac early yesterday
afternoon. An investigation has so far achieved no results.
A former Kosovo Liberation Army commander for Suva Reka, Ilijas Kadoli
was
arrested today after an argument with the town's UN administrator,
Robert
Valenz. Kadoli has been designated by former KLA leader Hashim Taqi as
vice
president of the Municipal Council in the Temporary Kosovo Government.
He was
arrested after allegedly physically attacking Valenz and threatening to
kill
him.
Orthodox Church in Cernica severely damaged in explosion (15/1/00)
KOSOVO, Saturday - The Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Ilija in the
village
of Cernica near Gnjilane suffered severe damage in an explosion late
last
night, Beta reports today. A large amount of explosives were planted in
the
church grounds and the ensuing explosion destroyed half of the church as
well
as three Serb houses nearby. American KFOR soldiers whose check point is
situated 70 meters from the church did not allow local Serbs to visit
the
explosion site until late this morning. The village of Cernica is
currently
populated by 450 Serbs and 3,000 Albanians.
Radoje Ristic was severely beaten near the Serbian Orthodox Church in
Gnjilane and Srdjan Miletic shot in Lipljane last night, radio amateurs
reported today. Miletic was transferred to Kosovo Polje hospital where
he
underwent surgery performed by Russian KFOR surgeons.
Members of the KFOR multi national brigade West discovered two male
bodies
north of Djakovica last night, KFOR stated today. The identity of the
two
bodies has not been released and the military police are carrying out an
investigation into the incident.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Two Serbs Hurt in Kosovo Blast
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Ethnic Albanians driving through
the Serb part of Kosovska Mitrovica today threw a grenade at a group of
Serb teen-agers, injuring two, witnesses said.
The youths were playing basketball on the street of the ethnically
divided city when a car appeared. They stopped the vehicle and asked the
strangers inside what they were doing in the area, one youth said.
When the teen-agers realized the people in the car were ethnic
Albanians, the car sped off, with the youths in pursuit.
As they drove away, the ethnic Albanians tossed a grenade, which
exploded and injured two 18-year-olds, the youth said. One was slightly
injured and the other was taken to a nearby hospital.
Serbia's state-run Tanjug news agency said doctors were fighting to save
the hospitalized teen-ager's life. The agency also cited unofficial
reports that two suspects were apprehended in connection with the
attack.
NATO peacekeepers and the U.N. police soon sealed off the street, Tanjug
said.
Kosovska Mitrovica, about 22 miles northwest of the Kosovo capital of
Pristina, is divided by the Ibar River into Serb and ethnic
Albanian-controlled parts. U.N. peacekeepers enforce a tense division of
the city.
===
"Il manifesto" del 13 Gennaio 2000:
KOSOVO
STERMINATA UNA FAMIGLIA DI SLAVI MUSULMANI
Padre, madre, figlia e nonna di 70 anni. Sono stati ritrovati tutti in
un
lago di sangue nella loro casa a Prizren, uccisi da un commando albanese
nelle prime ore dell'alba, martedì scorso. La notizia del massacro è
stata
divulgata soltanto ieri. La polizia dice di ignorare il motivo di tanta
ferocia. Eppure è noto che anche i "bosniak", i serbi islamizzati che
parlano slavo, sono nel mirino degli ex Uck, da loro accusati assieme a
rom
e altre minoranze di essere stati "collaborazionisti" dei serbi nei mesi
della guerra civile e negli anni dell'apartheid imposto dal regime di
Milosevic. E si sa, l'Uck non è mai stata tenera verso i
"collaborazionisti", anche albanesi, tra le vittime preferite dei suoi
agguati fin dall'inizio della sua storia.
"E' un crimine irreparabile contro una famiglia, contro la comunità
nazionale dei bosniak e contro il Kosovo. Se il Kosovo tollererà la
violenza, agli occhi del mondo saremo un fallimento", ha commentato il
fatto di sangue il plenipotenziario dell'Onu, Bernard Kouchner. Il quale
però non si scompone affatto a governare il Kosovo con l'assistenza di
una
sola entia, l'albanese, in particolare reclutando nel nuovo personale
politico falchi dell'Uck, i quali hanno da sempre predicato le virtù di
un
Kosovo esclusivamente albanese.
Da Roma il ministri degli esteri italiano, Lamberto Dini, e quello della
difesa tedesco Rudolf Scharping hanno espresso "preoccupazione" per il
livello della violenza in Kosovo, ma al tempo stesso hanno lodato
l'"efficienza" dimostrata dai peacekeeper della Nato - ora comandati da
un
generale tedesco.
===
"Il manifesto" del 30 Dicembre 1999:
KOSOVO/PROFUGHI
"I medici e i paramedici serbi cacciati dagli ospedali"
Parla Nebojsa Brankovic primario del reparto di ginecologia, ospedale di
Pristina
- RENZO TASSOTTI* - NIS
N el reparto di neonatologia annesso alla clinica ginecologica del
centro
clinico di Pristina sono morti 20 bambini nati prematuri, surriscaldati
nelle loro incubatrici a causa della criminale imperizia del personale
medico e paramedico neo-arrivato nell'ospedale dopo l'ingresso in Kosovo
dei militi dell'Uck e della K-for. E' successo che le persone addette
alla
cura dei prematuri hanno collocato il termostato delle incubatrici a 40
gradi invece che ai normali 37,5". A denunciare questo tragico
avvenimento
è Nebojsa Brankovic, primario anestesiologo del reparto di ginecologia
dell'ospedale di Pristina, ora riparato a Nis con decine di migliaia di
profughi. "Questo è potuto succedere perché quando le forze dell'Uck
hanno
preso possesso della città - ci dice - sono arrivati nell'ospedale un
insieme di medici e paramedici albanesi che nessuno aveva mai visto
prima.
Io parlo solo per quello che riguarda il mio ramo, l'anestesiologia. Ho
saputo da infermiere albanesi che conosco bene, e che hanno potuto
rimanere
nel nosocomio, che sono arrivati nuovi medici che si fregiano del titolo
di
anestesiologo e che non avevano idea di cosa fare davanti a un paziente
e
dovevano chiedere ragguagli alle infermiere più esperte. Ho saputo che
sono
arrivate nuove infermiere che non sapevano neanche che cosa fosse un
laringoscopio. In chirurgia il mio amico Hajdini Sokol, di origine
libanese, forse il miglior anestesiologo di tutto il Kosovo, ha detto
che è
stato cacciato dall'ospedale e che al suo posto si è installata una
persona
di Urosevac che nessuno aveva mai visto prima negli ambienti degli
anestesiologi; tenuto presente che gli anestesiologi del Kosovo si
conoscono tutti di persona, sembra che questa persona prima non sia
stata
altro che un aumski ratnik (un guerriero di bosco) che ha fatto carriera
nelle file dell'Uck e che quindi 'automaticamente', una volta arrivato a
Pristina, ha avuto diritto a un posto dirigenziale. Sokol adesso lavora
per
qualche organizzazione di aiuto umanitario. Nel reparto di chirurgia è
stato espulso con lui anche tutto il rimanente personale albanese,
medico e
paramedico, colpevole solo del fatto di essere stato precedentemente
stipendiato dal ministero della sanità di Belgrado".
In armi nelle corsie
"Non si deve pensare - continua concitatamente il chirurgo Brankovic -
che
queste espulsioni siano avvenute tramite una lettera di licenziamento. I
nuovi chirurghi si sono presentati in ospedale armati, e accompagnati da
altri militi armati. Hanno preteso di entrare subito con i vestiti
sporchi
e le scarpe nelle sale operatorie e nei reparti di terapia intensiva. Le
infermiere che hanno cercato di impedire loro l'ingresso sono state
picchiate. i nuovi venuti hanno loro detto che loro sono dottori e che
le
infermiere non hanno diritto di dare loro degli ordini. Nessuno sa in
realtà dove questa gente si sia laureata e specializzata, perché negli
ambienti medici ddel Kosovo essi sono completamente sconosciuti, e
sospetto, visti i tragici risultati, che queste persone non abbiano
veramente una laurea in medicina". Ma cosa è accaduto, chiedo, al
personale
sanitario serbo? "I medici e i paramedici non albanesi - risponde - sono
stati, nel corso di questa 'invasione', minacciati di morte nei loro
ambulatori e nelle corsie. Il direttore della clinica chirurgica Andrija
Tomanovic, serbo, è stato rapito ed è scomparso. Così è scomparso anche
uno
stomatologo noto a tutta Pristina, Dragan Todorovski, di origine
macedone.
Noi, sanitari dell'ospedale di Pristina, pensavamo che il personale
difficilmente sostituibile dell'ospedale avrebbe potuto rimanere a
lavorare
indipendentemente dalla etnia di appartenenza, perché pensavamo che
fosse
di primaria importanza che l'ospedale funzionasse, e non chi ci
lavorava,
ma l'arrivo degli aumski ratnici dell'Uck ha stravolto ogni logica di
buonsenso. I militari della Kfor-Nato americani che avevano promesso di
proteggere il centro clinico non hanno adempiuto alla loro promessa e
così
nel centro clinico hanno potuto entrare centinaia di persone armate,
sotto
l'occhio benevolo dei militi americani. Il risultato di queste
'sostituzioni' lo si vede non solo dal caso agghiacciante dei 20 bambini
prematuri, ma anche dall'aumento del tasso di mortalità che si registra
nel
nosocomio a causa dell'asepsi approssimativa che si pratica nelle sale
di
intervento e della non conoscenza dell'uso dei macchinari".
La strage di Orahovac
Poi Neboijsa Brankovic denuncia con forza: "E' per me un mistero che la
comunità europea possa continuare a considerare l'Uck come una
formazione
dotata di una qualche forma di liceità giurisdizionale accettando
addirittura la sua trasformazione in forza di polizia. L'Uck è composto
da
assassini che hanno sistematicamente aperto il fuoco contro persone
disarmate, come è successo per mesi sulla strada per Pristina, dove
hanno
sparato su tutti i veicoli che passavano, uccidendo senza distinzione
serbi, albanesi, turchi, rom, ecc. Ad Orahovac ha occupato la città per
un
giorno. Quella volta gli aumski ratnici hanno ucciso a sangue freddo
tutti
i medici e le infermiere che si trovavano nel Dom Zdravlja (centro
ambulatoriale)".
Ma quando è accduto quest'ultimo, sanguinoso episodio? "Questo è
successo
in una fase dell'operazione-Kosovo nella quale il ruolo dell'Uck era
quello
di far salire il livello di violenza - continua Brankovic - in modo da
giustificare poi la trappola dei cosiddetti accordi di Rambouillet. I
media
occidentali non hanno fatto allora menzione di questi fatti, mentre
quasi
tutti hanno dato pieno fiato alle trombe mediatiche per la montatura
della
strage di Racak. Ora vorrei che questi giornalisti venissero da me.
Racconterei che ci sono molte persone che conosco che sono state uccise
a
sangue freddo nelle strade di Pristina: Zlatko Brankovic, Zoran
Aranbulovic, Ratka Mitic - una mia vicina di casa di 60 anni, che era in
compagnia del nipote, un bambino, quando è stata lapidata, mentre il
bambino è scappato. I soldati americani che hanno assistito al
linciaggio
non si sono mossi, nemmeno per arrestare gli assassini. Ratka Mitic è
stata
seppellita a Nis perché chiunque entra nel cimitero ortodosso di
Pristina
viene assassinato. Pristina è adesso un posto misero e triste, mentre è
sempre stata una città multietnica, nonostante gli odi etnici, Milosevic
e
il governo parallelo di Rugova, e mi meraviglio quando Bernard Kouchner
dice che 'Pristina non è mai stata una città multietnica'. Certo può
dire
quello che vuole con il suo apparato d'informazione. Ma è una vergogna
che
un collega con così tante responsabilità, possa mentire in questo modo.
Mio
padre parla turco, ebraico, serbo e albanese, tanto che giornalisti
turchi
venuti a Pristina pensavano che fosse turco, e poi si sono meravigliati
sapendo che era serbo. Nella nostra strada si alternavano case di
turchi,
serbi, ebrei, e albanesi, e adesso arriva uno a dire che Pristina non è
mai
stata una citta multietnica".
"Kouchner sbaglia"
"Bisogna tenere presente - insiste, quasi con rabbia - che le comunità
turche hanno potuto, dopo il ritiro dell'impero ottomano, rimanere in
Serbia e in Kosovo proprio perché la cultura di queste regioni è sempre
stata impostata su un principio multietnico di convivenza; parlo di una
apertura culturale che fa parte della quotidianità delle persone
cosiddette
comuni per le quali, in Serbia come in Bosnia e in Kosovo, era naturale
che
il vicino di casa non andasse a sentire la messa, ma andasse magari
nella
jamija (la moschea) o nella sinagoga o nella chiesa ortodossa, e questa
apertura è sempre stata antitetica alle grandi manovre di nazionalismi,
stati ed eserciti, che hanno sempre influito in modo devastante su un
tessuto intrecciato di relazioni umane tra persone appartenenti a
diverse
tradizioni, imponendo violentemente inimicizie e partizioni. Mentre le
parole di Bernard Kouchner giustificano alla fine ideologicamente le
scorrerie etniche dell'Uck".
"E il contingente americano Kfor - ribadisce e accusa - non solo spesso
protegge le azioni di pulizia etnica, ma vi partecipa anche
attivamente".
E, per farmi toccare con mano questa realtà, Nebojsa Brankovic mi porta
a
conoscere un altro profugo, Srcan Dundevic.
Soldati Usa complici
"Nel nostro villaggio sono arrivati di notte - mi dice subito appena
c'incontriamo nel campo di Nis - hanno ucciso una donna e tre uomini e
poi
hanno cominciato a spargere benzina e a dare fuoco. Hanno bruciato tutto
quello che era serbo, comprese le stalle con gli animali, che sono
bruciati
tra le fiamme, hanno buttato olio bruciato di trattore nei pozzi, in
modo
da avvelenarli per sempre. Poi i soldati americani ci hanno raggruppati
e
ci hanno intimato di andarcene. Sono tornato indietro il giorno dopo per
vedere cosa era rimasto della mia casa. Lì mi hanno arrestato gli
americani, mi hanno legato e mi hanno picchiato, minacciando di
frantumarmi
le ossa con i calci del fucili. Dopo tre giorni mi hanno lasciato andare
dicendomi che se fossi ritornato mi avrebbero ucciso".
Due settimane fa il rappresentante dell'Onu in Italia, Staffan De
Mistura,
ha deciso unilateralmente di ammainare la bandiera dell'Onu
sull'ospedale
di Mitrovica, la città divisa in due, dove restano i pochi serbi rimasti
in
Kosovo; al nosocomio sono stati anche tagliati tutti i fondi
internazionali. La motivazione? Perché i medici serbi si rifiutano di
accettare 20 medici albanesi nell'ospedale e l'impianto è
sottoutilizzato.
I medici serbi hanno motivato il loro atteggiamento con l'esclusione del
personale sanitario serbo dalle altre strutture di Mitrovica e da tutto
il
Kosovo e hanno chiesto a Staffan De Mistura - che si è trincerato dietro
un
"io non posso riscrivere la storia" - di tagliare i fondi Onu anche agli
altri ospedali kosovari da dove sono stati cacciati i medici serbi e
soprattutto a quello di Pristina dove è stata fatta, denunciano,
"davvero
pulizia etnico-sanitaria". Se è vero quello che abbiamo raccontato in
questo articolo, forse l'Onu non può riscrivere la storia, ma di certo
può
intervenire in modo meno unilaterale sul dramma degli "orrori di pace"
che
in Kosovo si sono capovolti, stavolta contro i serbi.
*Neuropsichiatra
---
"Il manifesto" del 19 Dicembre 1999:
I profughi che non esistono
Viaggio tra i serbi e i rom cacciati dal Kosovo per le "vendette"
dell'Uck
- RENZO TASSOTTI* - NIS
L' ingresso in Kosovo dei guerriglieri dell'Uck a fianco delle forze
armate
mandate dalla comunità internazionale ha fatto sì che l'odio etnico si
scagliasse questa volta contro tutte le etnie non albanesi che
popolavano
la regione prima della catastrofe di Rambouillet. Soprattutto nella
campagna, lontano dagli occhi indiscreti dei giornalisti e dei militari
della K-for (l'esercito della Nato), bande di armati albanesi e kosovari
hanno compiuto rastrellamenti, saccheggiando e bruciando le case e i
villaggi abitati da serbi, montenegrini e rom.
La semplice non appartenenza alla etnia albanese era motivo sufficiente
per
lo scatenarsi della violenza, e questo accadeva senza riguardo per il
fatto
che le persone in questione avessero o meno in qualche modo favorito le
azioni dell'esercito jugoslavo. Dice Svetlana Ajapi, rifugiata rom:
"Sono
arrivati altri albanesi, non i nostri vicini Ne naae komaije. Hanno
minacciato con le armi, abbiamo avuto appena il tempo di riempire una
borsa
e di andarcene". Nei Balcani il komaija è quasi come un parente, e
quello a
cui si lasciano le chiavi di casa quando si va in viaggio; e così, in
Kosovo come in Bosnia, bande di armati, ciechi di fronte a questo
tessuto
umano di relazioni tra persone che condividono uno spazio che è il
teatro
dello svolgersi della loro vita, sono venuti da fuori per distruggerlo,
obbedendo ai diktat dei nuovi tribalismi imposti dall'alto, creando
l'odio
etnico dal nulla, tramite la violenza.
Violenza "psicologica"
Così a Mustafa Kastati, kosovaro di 17 anni, paziente nefropatico,
espulso
senza motivo dall'ospedale di Tirana (il cui reparto di nefrologia è
stato
costruito a spese dell'Aied, Associazione italiana emodializzati)
avevamo
trovato la possibilità di emodializzarsi nel centro clinico di Nis, dove
sarebbe stato accolto come un qualsiasi altro cittadino jugoslavo. Ma il
ragazzo qui non è potuto venire, per paura delle rappresaglie che l'Uck
avrebbe compiuto contro la sua famiglia, a causa del fatto che aveva
"collaborato" con i serbi.
Nei grossi centri come Pristina, la violenza è stata molto piu sottile e
"psicologica". Si è verificata, per esempio, una serie di strani
omicidi,
come quello di Zlatoje Gligorijevi, un pediatra serbo conosciuto da
tutti
per la sua gentilezza e la sua correttezza, e per essere una persona del
tutto estranea a qualsiasi forma di settarismo etnico o ideologico, e
ucciso nel suo studio proprio per questo, perché tutti i non albanesi
che
lo conoscevano potessero pensare che se avevano ammazzato lui, allora
potevano ammazzare qualsiasi altro di loro.
Solo nelle regioni di Nis, Vranje e Zajear ci sono 43351 rifugiati dal
Kosovo, a cui si devono aggiungere 1031 profughi dalla Croazia e dalla
Bosnia-Erzegovina, che ancora vivono nei campi. L'amministrazione
jugoslava
ha parzialmente risolto l'emergenza dell'ondata di profughi
serbo-kosovari
smistandoli in alberghi, appartamenti vuoti, ecc. Però c'è ancora un
enorme
numero di persone - specialmente di etnia rom - che ancora vivono nei
campi
all'aperto, dentro cantieri abbandonati, oppure sotto un ponte.
Nel "cantiere" di Kuraumlija
Quando sono arrivato a Kuraumlija (Vranje) mi hanno indicato un cantiere
abbandonato, con le occhiaie vuote delle finestre annerite come quelle
di
una casa bruciata. Appena ci avviciniamo viene fuori, come dal nulla,
una
marea di bambini e ragazzini scarmigliati e vocianti, con i più piccoli
a
piedi nudi nel fango (nonostante la temperatura di appena cinque gradi,
il
vento e la pioggia battente). Sembrava una scena da dopo-bomba.
Il mio accompagnatore, Nebojaa Brankovi - anestesiologo dell'ospedale di
Pristina - un profugo che adesso lavora per una organizzazione
umanitaria,
mi guida all'interno aprendosi un varco tra i detriti, gli escrementi e
il
fango. Nel grosso cantiere vivono una ventina di famiglie di 10-15
membri
ciascuna e con età che vanno da un mese a 60 anni. Vengo ricevuto da
alcuni
di loro in una piccola stanza, con una coperta al posto della porta e
un'altra al posto della finestra (i più fortunati hanno trovato un telo
di
nylon), l'interno buio e incredibilmente pulito e curato, mentre sui
muri
neri per il fumo luccicano immagini di icone ortodosse - madonne dalla
pelle scura come loro - che fanno uno strano effetto.
Mi fanno vedere il loro cubo: farina cotta e acqua. Emira mi mostra la
ferita di striscio di suo figlio di appena cinque anni, e i fori del
proiettile che a lei ha trapassato la gamba: "Gli aiptari (i kosovari)
erano tutto attorno, ma noi non li vedevamo. Hanno sparato dal bosco. Da
quando mi hanno sparato sono pazza e non ho più paura di dire quello che
penso: noi siamo sempre stati con la Jugoslavia, perché la Jugoslavia ci
ha
abbandonati così?". Qualcuno parla un po' di italiano: "Io lavorato
Saronno, Saronno molto brava gente".
Questa gente è arrivata a Kuraumlija portando con sé pochissime cose. La
città è una delle più povere della già povera Serbia del sud (in
confronto
al ricco Kosovo, che si trova immediatamente piu a sud), la crisi
economica
iniziata nel '92 qui ha colpito durissimo. Questo posto non ha niente da
offrire a chi non ha niente.
Pericolo di epidemie
Per queste persone la catastrofe è imminente, perché le condizioni
igieniche sono al limite della sopravvivenza, l'alimentazione è
inadeguata,
l'acqua manca, e per il fumo che respirano bruciando, per scaldarsi,
tutto
quello che trovano di combustibile, e per l'impossibilità di cambiarsi i
vestiti bagnati. La tubercolosi e le malattie parassitarie possono
diffondersi rapidamente a causa del fatto che dormono ammassati per
proteggersi dal freddo. L'epatite, il colera e altre forme di
dissenteria
non si sono ancora sviluppati solo perché, nonostante le condizioni in
cui
vive, questa gente riesce a mantenere una forma di vita incredibilmente
pulita. Il rischio più grave e imminente è rappresentato dal freddo: le
temperature di questi giorni sono incredibilmente alte per la stagione,
ma
da un momento all'altro l'anticiclone russo potrebbe abbassare la
temperatura di molto sotto lo zero, provocando amputazioni e morti per
assideramento, soprattutto tra i più anziani e i più piccoli.
Sebbene queste persone vivano in questo cantiere da sei mesi, la loro
capacità di reagire, la disponibilità ad andare in qualunque posto pur
di
sopravvivere è una cosa davvero difficile da comprendere per chi viene
da
una società dove tutto è "garantito", dominata dal consumismo e dall'
abbondanza, ma anche minata dall'apatia e dalla depressione. Accanto al
problema rappresentato da quest'ultima ondata di profughi, esiste qui da
sette anni il problema dei rifugiati provenienti dalla Croazia e dalla
Bosnia-Erzegovina. Uno di questi campi è stato allestito - lontano da
occhi
indiscreti, e sconosciuto agli stessi serbi - nel villaggio di Selova,
un
piccolo paese formato dalle famiglie delle maestranze addette alla
manutenzione di una diga.
I profughi, che un tempo erano integrati in città come Rijeka, Knin o
Sarajevo, adesso vivono da cinque o sette anni in un gruppo di
prefabbricati costruito non lontano dal paese. Qui non mancano un tetto
di
eternit, il cibo o i servizi igienici, ma manca tutto il resto e
soprattutto manca una prospettiva di vita. Dopo svariati anni di
confino,
queste persone sono spente, alienate, emarginate, sradicate da tutto un
sistema di prospettive, relazioni e interessi, ma anche di illusioni e
di
speranze che danno senso alla vita.
I problemi dei bambini
Parcheggiamo la macchina davanti a un prefabbricato che dovrebbe
costituire
la sede delle attivita comunitarie. Non ci accoglie l'assalto di un'orda
di
piccoli diavoletti vocianti, come nel campo precedente, ma i bambini e i
ragazzini arrivano alla spicciolata, zitti, imbacuccati nelle giacche a
vento, senza un grido o un moto di curiosità. Entriamo nella sala
destinata
ai bambini. Ci sono tre panche di legno, un armadio, un tavolo da
ping-pong
e un televisore che non funziona. Il freddo è intenso, si tirano fuori
dei
fogli e delle matite colorate e i bambini si mettono a disegnare in
piedi
attorno al tavolo da ping-pong. Abbiamo portato una radio e qualcuno ha
una
cassetta con canzoni che piacciono agli adolescenti (tipo Baglioni)
cantate
in serbo o in croato. Slavica Parli, la persona che mi ha condotto lì e
che
lavora in un programma di assistenza gestito dall'Ics italiano insieme
alla
Croce rossa jugoslava, mi dice che questi bambini non reagiscono,
qualunque
cosa tu gli porti, non mostrano interessamento né per un pallone nuovo,
né
per i pupazzi, né per le bambole.
Mi dice degli enormi problemi di queste piccole comunità isolate: un
elevato numero di divorzi, relazioni consanguinee. Poi mi racconta del
bar
del vicino paese, dove le ragazzine vivono le loro prime esperienze
amorose
con gli operai della diga - tutta gente sposata - spesso all'insegna
della
prostituzione.
Mi parla di come persone perfettamente integrate nel tessuto sociale
della
lontana Bosnia o Croazia al tempo della grande Jugoslavia siano state
scaraventate sotto i tetti di questi prefabbricati dalle esigenze di
pulizia etnica di neo-inventati nazionalismi etnici. Là, dove i mesi e
gli
anni passano vuoti, in condizioni di vita aberranti, in grado di
alienare
l'identità stessa di queste persone.
Crisi economica e sociale
La Jugoslavia vive dal '92 una crisi economica e sociale ormai
cronicizzata, che da una parte ha ridotto la popolazione che potremmo
definire "normale" - e che costituisce la stragrande maggioranza - a
condizioni di pura sopravvivenza, e dall'altra ha fatto enormemente
arricchire - come effetto delle sanzioni economiche - bande di
affaristi,
intrallazzatori di vario genere e contrabbandieri, figure che si trovano
a
metà strada tra quella del manager e quella del mafioso.
Sarebbe bene che in Italia si smettesse di finanziare la mafia albanese
con
l'invio di centinaia di containers e si appoggi un centro come l'Ics
(Centro italiano di solidarietà), che ha delle basi in Jugoslavia, dove
gestisce direttamente l'assistenza ai profughi.
*Neuropsichiatra
---
"Il manifesto" del 5 Gennaio 2000:
EX JUGOSLAVIA L'IMPOSSIBILE "PACE"
Una donna tra gli orrori della pulizia etnica
Drammatica testimonianza raccolta in un campo profughi dove vivono i
serbi
fuggiti dal Kosovo
- RENZO TASSOTTI * - NIS (Serbia)
Q uella che segue è la testimonianza di una donna serba scampata con i
tre
figli alla pulizia etnica svoltasi l'estate scorsa in Kosovo. La
registrazione è stata racolta nel campo profughi di Bujanovac, nei
pressi
della frontiera tra Serbia e Kosovo. Una frontiera che ormai i serbi
possono attraversare solo a rischio della vita. Ci sono infatti delle
postazioni dell'Uck sulla strada Bujanovac-Pristina che sparano dal
bosco
sulle macchine che individuano come appartenenti ai serbi. Un clima
feroce,
denunciato anche dal "Wall Street Journal" con un lungo reportage di
Robert
Block, il 20 dicembre scorso.
La testimonianza raccolta è quella di Svetlana Zlatanovic - che viveva
con
il marito Milan e tre figli, Vladimir (14 anni), Ljiljiana (10) e Zoran
(5
anni, bambino asmatico) a Urosevac nella zona controllata dagli
americani
(i nomi, naturalmente, non sono quelli veri).
"Io abitavo in un quartiere dove la nostra era l'unica famiglia serba.
Gia
da molti anni avevamo ricevuto dimostrazioni di ostilità da parte di
molte
persone, tranne che dai nostri vicini di casa e dalle persone che ci
conoscevano bene. Quelli dell'Uck sono arrivati alle 10 di sera del 14
luglio, mercoledì. Si è presentata alla porta gente in borghese, non
mascherata, e che non avevo mai visto; sono uscita a parlare fuori dalla
porta perche Milan e i bambini erano gia a letto e non volevo
disturbarli.
Quando sono uscita ho visto che c'erano 15 persone armate che avevano
circondato la casa. Ho cercato aiuto da una vicina che ha avertito tutti
gli altri; tutti i vicini sono usciti, ma è stato loro intimato di
rientrare in casa sotto la minaccia delle armi.
"Hanno voluto sapere se Milan aveva fatto il militare, se c'e stato
qualcuno della mia famiglia nella milizia o nell'esercito e altre cose
simili, sotto la minaccia di bruciare immediatamente la casa. Sono poi
entrati con la forza: io ho cercato di impedirlo, ma il rumore della
colluttazione ha fatto scendere Milan. Anche a lui hanno fatto le stesse
domande, minacciandolo con il coltello alla gola, poi lo hanno portato
via.
Alcuni di loro sono rimsti in casa continuando a minacciarmi. Dopo un
po',
riportano Milan e lui mi dice che devono continuare ad interrogarmi
perché
hanno scoperto che ho un cugino nella milizia - cosa non vera.
"Questa volta ci caricano sulle macchine con le mani legate e ci portano
fuori per 7 chilometri, dopodiché di dicono di scendere e di continuare
a
piedi mentre loro ci seguono con i fari puntati su di noi. Era un posto
pieno di gente armata - ogni 50 metri c'era un gruppo di persone armate
di
kalashnikov. Dico loro che se ci hanno portato lì per ucciderci, ci
uccidessero subito: ma loro ci caricano di nuovo in macchina e ci
portano
in un altro villaggio (Staro Selo); qui hanno portato via Milan, poi in
molti mi hanno violentata, per quattro ore, facendomi tutto quello che
era
possibile farmi".
Il racconto di Svetlana è estremamente lucido - il suo distacco si vela
di
ua punta di disprezzo quando, senza alcuna reticenza, descrive i
particolari di quello che ha subito.
"Dopo avermi violentata, mi hanno preso tutto quello che avevo di valore
e
mi hanno detto che se volevo rivedere mio marito vivo dovevo trovare
loro
1000 marchi". Svetlana a questo punto è stata ancora picchiata e
minacciata
perché pare che avesse ancora avuto il coraggio di fronteggiarli: "'To
su
velike pare', questi sono molti soldi e mio marito e disoccupato da due
anni" - "Se non hai 1000 marchi allora daccene 500" - "Poi arriva un
altro
che dice che bastano 300 marchi - dico che ho solo 250 marchi e che
posso
dargliene solo 200 perché ho bisogno di comprare le medicine del
bambino,
ma prima voglio vedere mio marito. Mi portano da lui e possiamo parlare
per
alcuni minuti, aveva il viso sfigurato dalle botte. Poi ci legano di
nuovo,
ci caricano sulle macchine e ci riportano davanti alla casa - quindi
portano di nuovo via Milan. Sono entrata in casa, ed è stato il momento
peggiore quando ho visto i miei tre bambini che piangevano e mi
chiedevano
dove era papà".
Svetlana, che finora aveva mostrato una lucidità impressionante, a
questo
punto è travolta dalla commozione. "L'uomo mi dice 'adesso ci dai subito
250 marchi altrimenti partono le teste dei tuoi figli'. Ho dato loro
tutto
quello che avevo, i 250 marchi e anche i soldi che avevamo ricavato
dalla
vendita di un terreno e che non erano ancora stati toccati - ho avuto il
terrore che violentassero anche la bambina - poi se ne sono andati
dicendoci che dovevamo restare in casa finche non avessimo ricevuto
l'ordine di andarcene".
Alcune ore dopo sono arrivati i militari americani della K-for,
dicendole
che il marito era morto e che dovevano andarsene immediatamente. "Sono
andata nella piazza di Urosevac, davanti al municipio: non avevamo soldi
e
non sapevamo dove andare. Si è avvicinata una donna americana che lavora
per l'Unicef (di cui non sappiamo il nome), mi ha chiesto - per mezzo
della
traduttrice albanese - perché i bambini dormivano per terra. Questa
donna
ci ha molto aiutati quando ha saputo la nostra storia, ci ha dato da
mangiare e ci ha fatto raggiungere la scuola elementare dove altri 50
serbi
aspettavano un passaggio per la frontiera".
Adesso prende la parola Goran, il figlio maggiore di Svetlana. "Ci hanno
portati alla scuola elementare di Urosevac 'Branko Radievic' dove siamo
rimasti diversi giorni. A un certo punto è arrivato un autobus carico di
profughi - soprattutto persone anziane. Erano rimasti una settimana
all'aperto, senza ragione, nei pressi della stazione ferroviaria; c'era
una
donna anziana a cui avevano cavato gli occhi con il coltello (aveva una
benda insanguinata intorno alla testa) - ad altri avevano spezzato le
gambe
o le braccia a bastonate e non potevano camminare; tutti avevano i visi
sfigurati dalle botte, era gente affamata e anche quelli che non avevano
ferite gravi erano talmente stremati che non riuscivano neanche parlare.
Dopo alcuni giorni abbiamo potuto raggiungere tutti insieme la frontiera
serba dove ci ha raccolti iil nostro esercito che ha mandato i feriti in
ospedale e a noi ci ha fatto raggiungere il motel dove adesso viviamo".
I fatti sono stati confermati da altri scampati da Urosevac.
Svetlana, sola nella piazza con i tre bambini, si trovava in una
situazione
di grave e imminente pericolo in quanto, come accaduto a molti altri
serbi,
potevano essere in qualunque momento, e da chiuque, lapidati, sgozzati o
uccisi a botte. Svetlana si è decisa a raccontare la sua esperienza solo
perché suo marito non c'è piu. In una cultura patriarcale come quella
dei
balcani meridionali una donna non riconosce mai di essere stata
violentata,
per proteggere la sua vita coniugale e l'onore della sua famiglia.
Perciò
questa è una delle poche testimonianze che narrano delle violenze
sessuali
subite dalle donne serbe (in Kosovo come in Bosnia) durante le
operazioni
di pulizia etnica.
* (neuropsichiatra)
===
Da "Il manifesto" del 19 Gennaio 2000:
IN SERBIA
GRANATE SULLA POLIZIA VICINO AL KOSOVO
Continuano gli attacchi contro postazioni della polizia e civili serbi
nei
villaggi della Serbia meridionale, abitati da una consistente minoranza
albanese e dove la guerriglia (ex) Uck sembra aver concentrato le
proprie
attività. Martedì è toccato a un chek-point della polizia nei pressi di
Bujanovac, a 10 km dalla provincia kosovara, a essere bersagliato da
colpi
di mortaio. Le autorità non lamentano alcun ferito.
E' stato intanto trasferito nella base tedesca di Mannheim, il sergente
dei
parà Usa Frank Ronghi, accusato dell'omicidio di una bimba albanese di
11
anni, il cui corpo era stato trovato giovedì scorso vicino a Vitina, nel
Kosovo orientale.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
Belgrade Demands Security Council Meeting To Halt 'Genocide'
BELGRADE, Jan 21, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Yugoslavia demanded
Thursday that the U.N. Security Council meet in urgent session to take
measures to halt "genocide" of non-Albanians in Kosovo, the state news
agency Tanjug reported.
Deputy Foreign Minister Miroslav Milosevic told foreign diplomats in
Belgrade that his government was asking for the meeting under Resolution
1244, which ended the conflict in Kosovo and 11 weeks of NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia, the agency said.
The resolution defined the conditions for the deployment of the
Alliance-led peacekeeping force, KFOR, and administration of the
province by the U.N. mission, UNMIK.
"In the last eight months, U.N. resolution 1244 has not been applied and
KFOR and UNMIK, violate, in major part deliberately, its basic
dispositions," Milosevic said.
Such violations were mostly related to breaches of the "sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Yugoslavia," Milosevic added.
He estimated that the KFOR and UNMIK were "entirely responsible for the
deteriorating and dangerous development of the situation in Kosovo ...
where attacks by (ethnic) Albanian terrorists have multiplied since the
deployment of the U.N. forces."
"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has asked for an urgent session of
the U.N. Security Council, asking the council to undertake without delay
measures in accordance with the U.N. Charter and the obligations
contained within Resolution 1244 in order to prevent the continuation of
genocide against the non-Albanian population in Kosovo," he said.
Milosevic said that 739 people, mostly Serbs, had been killed, 611
kidnapped and 688 reported missing in 3,688 terrorist acts since June
12,1999, when the international force was deployed.
Last November, the Yugoslav government delivered a document to the U.N.
Security council in which it has demanded a return of Belgrade's
military and police forces to Kosovo, urging the U.N. to end the
"terror" committed against the non-Albanian population in Kosovo.
According to the U.N. resolution, a return of "certain" number of
Belgrade forces to the province is foreseen, but the exact date for this
has not been set. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
© 1995-2000 European Internet Network Inc.
===
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
-
US soldiers lured the Albanian
girl into a trap offering her food
January 19, 2000
Brussels, January 18th -
The murder of an
eleven-year-old Albanian
girl in Vitina met with
great publicity in Brussels
media, which today,
quoting the "Kovo Sot"
Albanian daily, reported on a severe accusation
of the US soldiers' behaviour in Kosovo.
"The US soldiers tricked the girl. They gave
her food.
That is why she consented to go down to
the basement", father of the murdered girl,
Hamdija Sabiju, told the
Albanian daily.
His words were conveyed by Brussels media, reporting
on the crime in Vitina committed by a US KFOR
soldier.
Father's statement represents a serious accusation,
because it reveals the background of the entire
"incident" and points to the fact that there was
a number
of other US soldiers, who cooperated with Ronghi, the
US soldier accused of raping and murdering the girl.
At the same time, this confirms that it was not an
isolated incident involving a sick person, as
KFOR and
US command are trying to explain it, as well as
the fact
that this girl Merita was not the only one, who,
persuaded with food and other "presents", went down
into basements.
The US soldier Ronghi, accused of raping and
murdering of the eleven-year-old Albanian girl, was
moved to the military prison in Manheim on Sunday.
Actually, he was taken away from the scene of
the crime
only a few hours after he was accused of committing a
crime, reported the media in Brussels.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
* IAC:
- Presa di posizione dell'IAC sull'apparente interessamento del
Tribunale dell'Aia ai crimini di guerra della NATO (31/12)
- L'IAC sulla recente "scoperta" da parte dei mass-media dei crimini e
della malafede della NATO (12/01)
* SEZIONE AUSTRIACA del Tribunale indipendente:
- Atto d'accusa
- altra documentazione su: http://members.magnet.at/rkl
* International Ethical Alliance (IEA) denounces NATO's bombings
Yugoslavia
* Sulle azioni della magistratura e della popolazione greca contro i
crimini di guerra della NATO segnaliamo:
http://www.arpnet.it/%7eregis/giudicg.htm
http://balkan.pengo.it/documenti/intellettuali_greci.htm
===
>
> STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>
> Statement from the IAC on the UN War Crimes Tribunal's report on NATO
> air strikes
> 31 Dec 1999
> It is only the growing international pressure to indict Bill Clinton and
> other NATO leaders for war crimes against the people of Yugoslavia that
> forced the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for
> the former Yugoslavia to announce the review of possible NATO war
> crimes. But don't expect any indictments of NATO leaders. The
> announcement to review NATO conduct is intended as a cynical white wash
> by a court that was established at the behest of and financed by NATO
> members.
> On Dec. 28, the chief prosecutor for the special War Crimes Tribunal
> based at the Hague, Carla Del Ponte, announced she would review a report
> on the conduct of NATO pilots and their commanders during last spring's
> 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. The United Nations Security
> Council set up the tribunal in 1993 at the instigation of Madeline
> Albright. It has depended on financial support from NATO countries to
> operate since then, and looks to NATO to enforce its decisions and
> arrest those indicted. This court has no connection to the World Court
> and it has no precedent in international law or in the UN Charter.
> The International Action Center never considered this tribunal to be an
> unbiased or independent court. It was created to do the bidding of the
> Western powers and specifically to discredit the political leadership in
> Yugoslavia and prepare public opinion for war. It was another instrument
> in the aggressive war against Yugoslavia. Most of the charges have been
> brought against Serbs. The indictment of President Slobodan Milosevic
> and other Yugoslav leaders took place while NATO bombs were raining on
> Pristina and other cities and towns in Kosovo, in Belgrade, Novi Sad and
> throughout Yugoslavia.
> The NATO aggressors indicted their victims for war crimes. This has some
> historical precedent. In the early 1940's, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany
> held a sham war crimes trial for French socialist leader Leon Blum. Blum
> and the socialists were blamed for "starting World War II." He and
> millions of others were then deported to concentration camps.
> While none of the media accounts of Del Ponte's announcement expected
> that she would press charges against any individual associated with NATO
> as a result of the report, even to raise such a possibility is a
> profound development. As one report said, "Never has a Western leader or
> military figure been hauled before an international tribunal."
> The International Action Center on July 31, 1999, initiated an
> Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes
> Against the People of Yugoslavia before 700 people in New York. At that
> meeting, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark charged U.S.-NATO
> political and military leaders with 19 counts of war crimes, crimes
> against humanity and crimes against peace.
> Since July there have been dozens of similar hearings held in 10 U.S.
> cities and in Rome, Berlin, Oslo, Paris, Vienna, Novi Sad, Sydney and
> Tokyo, with the most dramatic a "People's Tribunal" on Nov. 8, 1999, in
> Athens, Greece before 10,000 people.
> Others, members of the Russian Duma and respected attorneys from Canada,
> Greece and Britain for example, have participated in the "tribunal
> movement" by attempting to bring evidence before the International
> Criminal Tribunal established by the Security Council at the Hague. They
> have documented NATO's war crimes and demanded that they also be
> investigated. Other attorneys and magistrates in at least Italy and
> Germany have brought charges against their own governments for violating
> constitutional provisions against waging an aggressive war.
> In addition, the mainstream media has finally published several truthful
> accounts of events surrounding the war that expose the NATO powers for
> the worst of the war crimes. These news stories confirm that it was a
> war of aggression and that NATO targeted civilians. These include
> (1) U.S. and other NATO forces provoked the war by setting terms at
> Rambouillet in March 1999 for NATO occupation of all of Yugoslavia that
> the Yugoslav Government could never accept. (Article by Robert Fisk in
> the British daily, The Independent, Nov. 26, 1999). Go to Excerpt
> (2) U.S. generals directing NATO bombing purposely struck civilian
> economic targets in Serbia to bring pressure on the Belgrade government
> to capitulate (Dana Priest in the Washington Post, Sept 19, 20, 21,
> 1999). Go to Excerpt
> (3) The cries of "genocide" NATO politicians used to justify the
> intervention had no basis in fact. U.S. officials said first that
> 500,000 Kosovo Albanians had been killed, then 100,000, then 40,000. Yet
> forensic teams from 17 nations digging in Kosovo 6 months to investigate
> so-called "mass graves" found 2,108 bodies—and these were of all
> nationalities and had died from all causes. (Toronto Star Nov. 4, 1999,
> New York Times, Nov. 10, 1999). Go to Excerpt
> In all, the mounting evidence against U.S.-NATO forces and growing
> pressure to investigate NATO for war crimes has forced the Tribunal
> established by the Security Council to try to at least look less like a
> blatant anti-Yugoslav star chamber.
> While we in the International Action Center have no confidence that the
> International Criminal Tribunal on former Yugoslavia based at The Hague
> will bring the U.S.-NATO war criminals to trial, we take encouragement
> from this additional sign of growing hostility to NATO's aggressive war.
> And we will proceed with our independent tribunal to try the U.S.-NATO
> criminals before a court of world public opinion this coming June 2000.
> IAC co-directors Sara Flounders and Brian Becker and Staff member John
> Catalinotto are available for questions on this statement.
>
>
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
International Action Center
Mainstream Press Reveals Truths about U.S.-NATO Aggression in Yugoslavia
Below are selections from four articles from the mainstream press from
June to November 1999 that indicate that U.S.-NATO forces did indeed (1)
target civilians, (2) provoked the war and thereby committed a planned
aggression against a sovereign state, (3) falsified claims of "genocide"
in order to justify this intervention. A fourth article indicates how
the War Crimes Court in the Hague is itself a tool of NATO. The
newspapers basically supported NATO's war and these articles are
themselves hostile to the Yugoslav government, yet they finally admitted
some truths.
1. Purposely targeted civilians
(From: "Tension Grew With Divide Over Strategy"
By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 21, 1999; Page A01
Third of three articles )
Planning for the campaign dated back to June 1998. By the opening night,
strategists had produced 40 versions of an air war, according to Gen.
John P. Jumper, commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. Some of these
documents were highly critical of using air power alone, without troops
on the ground to help flush out the enemy. But NATO ultimately settled
on a three-phase air campaign. In Phase I, NATO would strike
antiaircraft defenses and command bunkers. Phase II would extend the
strikes to Yugoslavia's infrastructure below the 44th parallel, well
south of Belgrade. Only in Phase III would the alliance hit targets in
the capital. That was Plan A. There was no Plan B. NATO did not have a
contingency blueprint for a longer campaign, officials now say, because
the Clinton administration and Clark feared that if the alliance's 19
member states were asked to contemplate such a possibility, they would
not agree to begin the war at all. ... Short On March 24, the opening
night of the war, Lt. Gen. Short sat in a darkened room full of computer
screens, the Combined Air Operations Center at Vicenza Air Base in
Italy. Yellow, green and red tadpole-shaped symbols moved across large
electronic maps on the walls, representing all the enemy and NATO
aircraft over Yugoslavia. As Short waited for the first missiles to
strike, he clenched his jaw and kept his silence, a self-control that
some subordinates noted and admired. The three-star general with a
drilling blue stare and gruff manner had argued many times to his
superiors that the most effective tactic for the first night of the war
would be a knockout punch to Belgrade's power stations and government
ministries. ns. Clark Clark also harbored doubts about the initial
plan's meager size. But after a year of coaxing the allies, he felt this
was the biggest and best operation he could get NATO to approve. He also
believed there was a 40 percent chance that the war would end within
three days, since Milosevic might just be looking for an excuse to
withdraw from Kosovo. ....
"From the very beginning, Clark changed the strategy," says a European
diplomat in Brussels. "He quickly decided to strike on a broader
geographic scale and, second, to strike a different type of target. . .
. It made us worried about the political risks, the political impact."
...While the allies were hesitating to approve strikes on Belgrade,
however, Air Force commanders were unhappy about searching for tanks and
troops in Kosovo. Body Language "There was a fundamental difference of
opinion at the outset between General Clark, who was applying a ground
commander's perspective . . . and General Short as to the value of going
after fielded forces," says Vice Adm. Daniel J. Murphy Jr., who was
commander of all naval forces aligned against Yugoslavia.
...In the Air Force magazine interview, Short said that Clark urged him
even before the conflict started to "get down amongst" Yugoslav armored
vehicles and troops in the field. Eventually, he said, "we, the airmen
of the alliance, were able to convince General Clark" of a need to
conduct sustained operations against "more lucrative and compelling
targets . . . in Serbia proper." (IAC's emphasis) No Pause Clark says he
didn't need any convincing about strategic targets, but he wanted to
strike Serbian forces in Kosovo, as well. Meanwhile, he was fending off
proposals from the political leaders of some NATO
countries—particularly Italy and Greece—who wanted to suspend the
bombing altogether. Clark's frustration with the alliance's timidity was
reflected in a video conference on March 27. These live, highly secure
communication links replaced the crackly field telephones and urgent
cables of previous wars. They were part theater, say some of the people
who sat through them, with a dozen large personalities on the stage.
NATO must strike "as many targets as we can each night," said Clark,
seated at the head of a classroom-style conference room, staring at a
television screen hanging from the ceiling. "I don't want to let the
perception get started that we're not doing much, so we can have a
pause." ...Yet, in the end, Clark pushed hard for approval to go after
exactly the kind of targets that the Air Force wanted. And it was then
that his political acumen proved useful. Aim Points ...On March 30, day
seven of the war, the North Atlantic Council debated Clark's request but
made no decision. Instead, the council left Solana with the job of
interpreting its wishes. A few days later, he gave the go-ahead. By
winning approval for continuing strikes on Belgrade as well as Kosovo,
Clark finally brought the allies and the Air Force together, creating
the broader war that led Milosevic to capitulate. But military
historians, air power strategists and budding commanders at war colleges
will long debate the merits of Short's position vs. Clark's. Last week,
Clark released some long-awaited figures on the Kosovo campaign: Allied
warplanes destroyed or damaged 93 tanks, 153 armored personnel carriers,
339 military vehicles and 389 artillery pieces and mortars. Those
numbers represent only about one-third of all the weaponry and vehicles
that the Yugoslav army had in Kosovo; two-thirds survived intact. To
those in Short's camp, this is strong evidence that the war was won by
strategic bombing of Serbia proper, where NATO damaged or destroyed 24
bridges, 12 railway stations, 36 factories, seven airports, 16 fuel
plants and storage depots, 17 television transmitters and several
electrical facilities, according to a Yugoslav government report. Clark
is not swayed. He argues that Yugoslavia was defeated by steady losses
both in Kosovo and in the rest of Serbia, combined with diplomatic
pressure and the threat of an allied invasion. The air campaign "was an
effort to coerce, not to seize," said Clark. "It only made good sense
that at some point, if [Milosevic] continued to lose and we didn't, that
he would throw in the towel. But we could never predict how long he
would hold on because it wasn't a function of any specific set of
losses. It was a function of variables that were beyond our
predictions—ultimately, his state of mind."
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
2. U.S. provoked war
FROM THIS ARTICLE ON RAMBOUILLET PART B, PUBLISHED NOV. 26 IN THE
BRITISH NEWSPAPER THE INDEPENDENT, WITH THE HEADLINE "THE TROJAN HORSE
THAT 'STARTED' A 79-DAY WAR" ---
By Robert Fisk in Belgrade
In the last days of the Paris peace talks on Yugoslavia last March,
something extraordinary happened. The Serb delegation - after agreeing
to a political revolution in Kosovo - was presented with a military
appendix to the treaty which demanded the virtual Nato occupation of all
Yugoslavia.
The Serbs turned it down and Nato went to war. Yet 79 days later, Nato -
which had refused to contemplate a change in the military document -
lost all interest in the annexe and at the final dramatic meetings on
the Macedonian border was content with a Nato force inside only Kosovo.
Official obfuscation and confusion has ever since surrounded this
all-important, last-minute addition to the Paris "peace" agreement. Was
it presented by the Americans to force President Slobodan Milosevic to
reject the whole peace package and permit Nato to bomb Serbia?...
The full annexes demanded Nato rights of road, rail and air passage
across all of Yugoslavia, the use of radio stations, even the waiving of
any claims of damages against Nato. For any state - even one as
grotesque as Serbia - this would have amounted to occupation.
The Foreign Minister of France, Hubert Védrine, said the military
appendix was similar to that used by Nato when it moved troops into
Bosnia and that Nato forces needed access to Kosovo through Belgrade.
But he has never explained why this supposedly essential part of the
treaty was abandoned once Nato troops moved into the province.
Milan Komnenic, who was the Yugoslav Federal Information minister and a
member of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (then in government
but soon to be in opposition), was in Paris during the talks and has
become preoccupied with the military annexe. He is writing a book about
the negotiations, The Trap of Rambouillet.....
According to Mr Komnenic, the American negotiator Christopher Hill and
the Austrian diplomat at the talks, Boris [Wolfgang—IAC] Petritsch,
insisted on the annexe while the Russian negotiator, Boris Mayorski -
who later refused to attend the Kosovo Albanian signing of the "peace"
agreement - abstained. "Hill and Petritsch were 'for' the annexe and
[Robin] Cook and Védrine apparently agreed with a version - not
identical to the final annexe - which was called an 'explanation' of the
political agreement and which said there could be no implementation with
a Nato presence only in Kosovo," Mr Komnenic said. .... United Nations
Security Council resolution 1244 [which ended the conflict] could have
been accepted before the bombing."
In any event, when Nato commanders met the Serbs for the
"military-technical agreement" at the end of the war - after thousands
of Kosovo Albanians had been murdered by Serb forces and as many as
1,500 civilians killed by Nato bombs - the supposedly crucial military
annexe was never mentioned. Miraculously, Nato - with 40,000 troops to
move into the province (10,000 more than originally envisaged) - no
longer needed appendix B. Not a single Nato soldier moved north of
Kosovo into the rest of Serbia. What was the real purpose of Nato's last
minute demand? Was it a Trojan horse? To save the peace? Or to sabotage
it? (END)
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
3. U.S. lied to justify war
>>From Nov.3, Toronto Star (a similar article appeared in the Nov. 11 New
York Times)
"No genocide, no justification for war on Kosovo"
IN THE GENOCIDE of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by the forces of Serb
leader Slobodan Milosevic, the worst incident occurred at the Trepca
mine. As reported by American and NATO officials, large numbers of
bodies were brought in by trucks under the cover of darkness. The bodies
were then thrown down the shafts, or were disposed of entirely in the
mine's vats of hydrochloric acid. Estimates of the number of dead began
at 1,000. That was six months ago, in the middle of the war undertaken
to halt what both U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair called "a human catastrophe." Estimates of the number of
ethnic Albanians slaughtered went upward from 10,000. U.S. Defence
Secretary William Cohen put the count at 100,000. Three weeks ago, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia released the
findings of Western forensic teams investigating the horror at Trepca.
There were not 1,000 bodies down the mine shafts at Trepca, reported the
tribunal. There were not 100 bodies there. There was not one body there,
nor was there any evidence the vats had ever been used to dispose of
human remains. Shortly afterward, the tribunal reported on its work at
the most infamous of all the mass graves of ethnic Albanians, at
Ljubenic near the town of Pec. Earlier, NATO officials had said 350
victims had been hastily buried there by the retreating Serb forces.
There were not 350 bodies at Ljubenic, though. There were five. So far,
not one mass grave has been found in Kosovo, despite four months' work
by forensic teams, including experts from the FBI and the RCMP. This
discovery - more accurately, this non-discovery - first was made public
three weeks ago by the Texas-based intelligence think tank, Stratfor.
Stratfor estimated the number of ethnic Albanian dead in Kosovo at 500.
Last weekend, the story was broadcast for the first time by the TV
Ontario program Diplomatic Immunity. (Last Sunday's New York Times was
still using the "10,000 deaths" figure.) The story has begun to appear
in European newspapers. Spain's El Pais has quoted the head of the
Spanish forensic team, Emilo Pujol, as saying he had resigned because,
after being told to expect to have to carry out 2,000 autopsies, he'd
only had 97 bodies to examine - none of which "showed any signs of
mutilation or torture." Because 250 of 400 suspected mass graves in
Kosovo remain to be examined, it's possible that evidence of mass
killings will yet be found. This is highly unlikely though, because the
worst sites were dug up first. No genocide of ethnic Albanians by Serbs,
therefore. No "human catastrophe." No "modern-day Holocaust." All of
those claims may have been an honest mistake. Equally, they may have
been a grotesque lie concocted to justify a war that NATO originally
assumed would be over in a day or two, with Milosevic using the excuse
of some minimal damage as a cover for a surrender, but then had to fight
(at great expense) for months. There's no question that atrocities were
committed in Kosovo, overwhelmingly by the Serb forces, although the
ethnic Albanian guerrillas were not innocent. Quite obviously, these
forces, acting on Milosevic's explicit orders, carried out mass
expulsions of people, terrorizing them and destroying their homes and
property. Acts like these are inexcusable. That they occur often in
civil wars (far worse are being committed by the Russians in Chechnya),
is irrelevant to their horror. But they have nothing to do with
genocide. No genocide means no justification for a war inflicted by NATO
on a sovereign nation. Only a certainty of imminent genocide could have
legally justified a war that was not even discussed by the U.N. Security
Council. No genocide means that the tribunal's indictment of Milosevic
becomes highly questionable. Even more questionable is the West's
continued punishment of the Serbs - the Danube bridges and the power
stations remain in ruins - when their offence may well have been
stupidity rather than criminality. The absence of genocide may mean
something else, something deeply shaming. To halt the supposed genocide,
NATO bombed targets in Serbia proper. Because of "collateral" or
accidental damage, such as the bombing of a train, some 500 civilians
were killed (Belgrade claims almost 1,000 deaths). NATO very likely
killed as many people as were killed in Kosovo. The number of these dead
isn't large enough to justify NATO's actions being called a "human
catastrophe." But, unless proof of genocide can be produced, NATO's
actions were clearly a moral catastrophe.
Richard Gwyn's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in The Star
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
Here's a comment on the War crimes Tribunal in the Hague: From the
London Times, June 18, 1999
"This is not victors' justice in the former Yugoslavia in fact, it is no
justice at all."
By John Laughland
Emotion may be a spur to justice, but it is rarely its guarantor. The
allegations of war crimes eagerly funnelled out of Kosovo by the
thousands of journalists in the province have provoked a demand for
retribution. That cry for justice is natural. But the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the body charged with
pursuing those accused of war crimes in Kosovo, is a rogue court with
rigged rules....
The International Criminal Tribunal shows little sign of caring that
NATO has itself broken nearly every rule of war, or that the peace deal
concluded with Belgrade is null and void in international law, since
Yugoslavia's signature was obtained by force. Instead, it displays
considerable contempt for the very thing which distinguishes the rule of
law from retributive justice, namely due process....
Although it is a key requirement for due process that a defendant be
tried by a body "established by law", the Security Council is not a
law-making body. Faced with the allegation that it had no legitimacy,
the tribunal did not refer the matter to another body, such as the
International Court of Justice, but instead decided to deal with the
charge itself. Not surprisingly, it found in its own favour....
The tribunal gives itself powers as it goes along. Louise Arbour, the
recently departed Chief Prosecutor, has said: "The law, to me, should be
creative and used to make things tight," and the tribunal dips into a
potpourri of different legal systems from around the world. In one case,
the tribunal defended itself against charges that it had illegally
seized documents from the Bosnian Government by saying that its
procedures were compatible with the law in Paraguay. General Stroessner
evidently has a place in the tribunal's judicial pantheon alongside Sir
Edward Coke and William Blackstone.
As if this were not enough, the tribunal is not funded by disinterested
parties, but by those who waged or supported the attacks on Yugoslavia.
These include the leading NATO governments (especially the United
States) and various non- governmental organisations like George Soros's
Open Society Institute, whose head of office in Kosovo is a militant
supporter of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Might, it seems, is always right. Just ask the NATO spokesman Jamie
Shea. On May 17, he was asked whether NATO leaders could ever be
indicted by the tribunal. "As you know," he replied, "without NATO
countries there would be no International Court of Justice, nor would
there be any International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
because NATO countries are in the forefront of those who have
established these two tribunals, who fund these tribunals and who
support on a daily basis their activities."
This is not victors' justice it is no justice at all.
posted: 1/12/00
war crimes
inquiry press releases
===
Vorbereitungskomitee
Wiener Tribunal
Wir erheben politische Anklage gegen
Bundeskanzler Mag. Viktor Klima
Vizekanzler und Außenminister Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel
Verteidigungsminister Dr. Werner Fasslabend
Ehem. EU-Sonderbeauftragten Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch, dzt. Hoher
Repräsentant
für Bosnien
Außenminister a.D. Dr. Alois Mock
Wegen Unterstützung und Befürwortung des Angriffskriegs der NATO gegen
die
Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien. Wegen offener Parteinahme in einem
Bürgerkrieg,
politisch, wirtschaftlich und logistisch, als auch mit Söldnern.
Wegen des Verdachts der Verletzung der völkerrechtlich verankerten
immerwährenden Neutralität Österreichs, indem Verpflichtungen über das
Verhalten eines immerwährend neutralen Staates, sich in jedem Falle,
auch in
Friedenszeiten, so zu verhalten, daß keine Begünstigung einer
Konfliktseite
herausgelesen werden kann, nicht eingehalten wurden.
Wegen des Verdachts von stattgefundenen Überflügen durch Flugzeuge der
NATO-Luftwaffen zur Zeit des Krieges gegen Jugoslawien, die, obwohl in
diesem Fall von Österreich nicht genehmigt, nach Aufschlüssen der
österr.
Luftverkehrskontrolle massiv zugenommen haben, wobei nicht bekannt ist,
wie
viele davon evtl. bewaffnet zur Unterstützung des Luftkrieges der NATO
stattgefunden haben und welche Protestmaßnahmen von Seiten
österreichischer
Organe ergriffen wurden. Ebenso wegen schon lange vorher wiederholt
getätigter Durchfahrten von NATO-Fahrzeugen nach Stützpunkten in Ungarn,
von
denen angenommen werden kann, daß nicht nur "humanitäre" Transporte
vorlagen.
Wegen des Verdachts der Weitergabe von Erkenntnissen, welchen
Wahrheitsgehaltes auch immer, geheimdienstlicher Art über Aktivitäten
auf
dem Gebiet der Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien durch österreichische Stellen
an
v.a. westliche bzw. NATO-Dienste, wodurch Verletzungen der
Neutralitätsverpflichtungen Österreichs angenommen werden können.
Wegen des Verdachts der Begünstigung bzw. Unterstützung des Bruchs des
Verbotes der Führung eines "ökologischen Krieges" durch die NATO (d.i.
Bombardierung von Erdölraffinerien, chemischen Fabriken und anderen, bei
Beschädigung oder Zerstörung negative Umweltfolgen zeitigenden
Einrichtungen, lokal wie auch regional), sowie des Einsatzes verbotener
Waffen (Cluster-bombs, d.i. Streubomben, und Munition ummantelt mit
abgereichertem Uran, Depleted Uranium, DU).
Wegen des Verdachts der Begünstigung einer Aggressionshandlung der
Nordatlantischen Vertragsorganisation, die, sich selbst mandatierend,
ohne
einen Beschluß oder die Beauftragung durch den UN-Sicherheitsrat und
entgegen allen anderen eingegangenen völkerrechtlichen Verpflichtungen
zum
Gewaltverzicht in den internationalen Beziehungen und den Beziehungen
der
Staaten untereinander, einen Angriffskrieg gegen das Territorium eines
souveränen Staates geführt hat und darüberhinaus auch ihre eigene
Vertragsgrundlage verletzte.
Wegen des Verdachts der Zustimmung zu einer daraus folgenden "neuen
Weltordnung", in der ein dauernd beschworenes Recht auf "humanitäre
Interventionen" von der Nordatlantischen Vertragsorganisation (NATO) mit
Waffengewalt und dem Rückhalt der größten militärischen Mächte global
durchgesetzt werden soll.
Wegen des Verdachts des Hintanhaltens von Durchsetzung
nicht-militärischer
und gewaltfreier Konfliktlösungsmöglichkeiten, wie in der Verhinderung
von
Aufgaben der OSZE auch durch das neutrale Österreich, etwa durch einen
nicht
nachvollziehbaren Abzugsbefehl, durch die Auslieferung des Mandats an
einen
Beauftragten wie den US-Diplomaten William Walker, durch den nicht
vorhandenen Widerstand der Bundesregierung gegen den - mißbräuchlichen -
Einsatz der OSZE bei der strategischen Vorbereitung des Krieges gegen
Jugoslawien sowie durch die nicht vorhandenen Bemühungen der
Bundesregierung
den Status der Suspendierung der Bundesrepublik Jugoslwawien in der
Organisation aufzuheben, um Bemühungen für Verhandlungslösungen zu
begünstigen.
Wegen des Verdachts des Inkaufnehmens des vorhersehbaren Scheiterns der
sog.
Friedensverhandlungen von Paris und Rambouillet, die auf den
erpresserischen
und auf ein Besetzungsdiktat hinauslaufenden, erst später der
Öffentlichkeit
bekannt gewordenen, angefügten Annex B, einem als Ultimatum zu
bewertenden
Zusatz, der schlußendlich zur conditio sine qua non erklärt wurde,
eskaliert
wurden, wobei nach völkerrechtlichen Maßstäben ein Vertrag, der unter
dem
Zwang eines faktischen Ultimatums zustande käme, per se ungültig wäre.
Wegen des Verdachts der wiederholten Inkaufnahme wenn nicht Begünstigung
der
Zerschlagung der damaligen souveränen SFR Jugoslawien durch
Unterstützung,
Zustimmung und Vorwegnahme einer, v.a. durch bzw. in Verbindung mit der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland vorangetriebenen, Anerkennungspolitik der
Sezession von Teilrepubliken der damaligen SFR Jugoslawien.
Wegen des Verdachts zumindest der Duldung von verhetzender
Berichterstattung
v.a. gegenüber dem serbischen Bevölkerungsteil der Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien, insbesondere in Medien öffentlichen Rechts. Sowohl wegen
des
Verdachts der Berichterstattung gegenüber Serbien wie auch der
Aufhetzung
von Volksgruppen gegeneinander auf dem Territorium der Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien und nicht erfolgten Eingriffen bzw. Richtigstellungen der
österr. Bundesregierung, wobei dadurch das Verhalten eines immerwährend
neutralen Staates ebenfalls in Frage gestellt wurde.
Aufgrund dieser Verdachtsmomente verlangen die VertreterInnen des
Vorbereitungskomitees des Wiener Tribunals eine Anklage der österr.
Bundesregierung bzw. der ob. angef. namentlich genannten Personen durch
das
Wiener Tribunal am 4. Dezember 1999 wegen Begünstigung und Unterstützung
des
NATO-Angriffskrieges gegen die BR Jugoslawien.
Eine etwaige Verurteilung soll dem Internationalen Tribunal, vertreten
durch
Mr. Ramsey Clark, für die Generalanklage vor dem Internationalen
Gerichtshof
in Den Haag zur Verfügung gestellt werden.
===
STOP NATO: !NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>IEA War Crimes Indictment Had Claimed Conflict of Interest
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--
>By REVEREND CANON KENNETH GUNN-WALBERG
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--
[Excerpted from an address before the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan
Studies and the Centre for Peace in the Balkans (Toronto) 10/31/99]
I am speaking today in my capacity as President of the International
Ethical
Alliance (IEA) -- which denounces NATO's bombings of Yugoslavia. IEA is
a
United States non-profit organization committed to enhancing ethics in
government
On July 8, 1999 IEA filed a formal indictment with the International
Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia charging President Clinton and others
with
War Crimes against the people of Serbia. The indictment was drafted by
the
Chairman of our Board of Directors, Jerome M. Zeifman.
"Jerry" (of whom I am a quasi-father confessor) is a life-long Democrat.
(I
am not.) At the time of the Nixon impeachment inquiry he served as Chief
Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. As was first reported by
Insight
Magazine, and then by Matt Drudge on Fox TV, the indictment IEA filed
with
the ICTY has five prongs.
First, it charges defendants Clinton, Cohen, and other leaders of NATO
countries with "non-defensive aggressive military attacks on Yugoslavia,
which have not been necessary to defend the national security of the
United
States ... and are proscribed inter alia in the Charter of the
International
Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Aug. 8, 1945, and the 1947 Charter of the
United Nations.
Second, it relies on specified evidence and expert testimony from
witnesses
whom IEA wants the Tribunal to summon, "including but not limited to:
former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter; former Nuremberg prosecutor for the United
States, Walter Rockler; Bishop Artemious of Kosovo; journalist Alexander
Cockburn; and playwright Harold Pinter."
Third, it charges, "There is substantial evidence of conduct by [then]
prosecutor Louise Arbour that warrants her disqualification, including
but
not limited to: (i) the engaging in selective prosecution by
intentionally
failing to consider and act on evidence which incriminates defendants
Clinton
and Cohen, and other as yet unindicted officials of NATO countries; (ii)
conflicts of interest, or the appearance thereof, in receiving
compensation
from funds contributed to the Tribunal in whole or in part by
governments of
NATO; and (iii) bias in favor of the attacks by NATO on former
Yugoslavia."
Fourth, it calls for, "The appointment of an independent prosecutor who:
(i)
is not a citizen or permanent resident of a NATO country; (ii) is
compensated
only from funds specifically contributed by non-NATO countries; and
(iii) has
an independent staff that is not compensated directly or indirectly from
funds contributed by NATO countries.
Fifth, of the Tribunal's fourteen justices, it calls for the
disqualification
for conflicts of interest of five justices representing NATO countries,
including chief justice Gabrielle Kirk McDonald of the United States
I am pleased today to inform you that (as was also first reported by
Insight
Magazine) IEA's indictment has already had a modicum of success. Of the
five
Tribunal members for whose disqualification IEA had petitioned, by now
three
have resigned before the expiration of their terms.
On September 6, 1999, Justice Antonio Cassese of Italy (whose term was
not up
until 17 November 2001) announced his retirement and plans to resume an
academic career at Florence University.
On September 15, Louise Arbour resigned. She has been appointed to the
Canadian Supreme Court. Many Canadian critics of Prime Minister Chretien
have
opposed her appointment -- and consider it as a reward for suppressing
evidence of Chretien's and Clinton's war crimes in the bombing of
Yugoslavia
As Arbour's replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed
Carla
Del Ponte, a former Attorney General of Switzerland. Based on her prior
record for professional integrity and traditional Swiss neutrality in
military affairs she appears to Mr. Zeifman to be qualified.
As of November 17 the Tribunal's Chief Justice McDonald will be also
vacating
her unexpired term. As her replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
has
appointed Patricia Wald, currently a Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia. Jerry Zeifman is particularly
pleased
by Kofi Annan's appointment of Justice Wald -- of whose prior career he
has
some personal knowledge. She had served as Assistant Attorney General
during the Carter administration. Carter eventually appointed her to a
federal Judgeship.
[Canon Gunn-Walberg is a Canadian and an Anglican Catholic Priest now
residing in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania
Membership in IEA is free and includes a subscription to an email
news letter. Persons who wish to receive more information may phone or
fax
Canon Gunn-Walberg at 814 342 0224 or send email to jzeifman@....
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
- Presa di posizione dell'IAC sull'apparente interessamento del
Tribunale dell'Aia ai crimini di guerra della NATO (31/12)
- L'IAC sulla recente "scoperta" da parte dei mass-media dei crimini e
della malafede della NATO (12/01)
* SEZIONE AUSTRIACA del Tribunale indipendente:
- Atto d'accusa
- altra documentazione su: http://members.magnet.at/rkl
* International Ethical Alliance (IEA) denounces NATO's bombings
Yugoslavia
* Sulle azioni della magistratura e della popolazione greca contro i
crimini di guerra della NATO segnaliamo:
http://www.arpnet.it/%7eregis/giudicg.htm
http://balkan.pengo.it/documenti/intellettuali_greci.htm
===
>
> STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>
> Statement from the IAC on the UN War Crimes Tribunal's report on NATO
> air strikes
> 31 Dec 1999
> It is only the growing international pressure to indict Bill Clinton and
> other NATO leaders for war crimes against the people of Yugoslavia that
> forced the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for
> the former Yugoslavia to announce the review of possible NATO war
> crimes. But don't expect any indictments of NATO leaders. The
> announcement to review NATO conduct is intended as a cynical white wash
> by a court that was established at the behest of and financed by NATO
> members.
> On Dec. 28, the chief prosecutor for the special War Crimes Tribunal
> based at the Hague, Carla Del Ponte, announced she would review a report
> on the conduct of NATO pilots and their commanders during last spring's
> 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. The United Nations Security
> Council set up the tribunal in 1993 at the instigation of Madeline
> Albright. It has depended on financial support from NATO countries to
> operate since then, and looks to NATO to enforce its decisions and
> arrest those indicted. This court has no connection to the World Court
> and it has no precedent in international law or in the UN Charter.
> The International Action Center never considered this tribunal to be an
> unbiased or independent court. It was created to do the bidding of the
> Western powers and specifically to discredit the political leadership in
> Yugoslavia and prepare public opinion for war. It was another instrument
> in the aggressive war against Yugoslavia. Most of the charges have been
> brought against Serbs. The indictment of President Slobodan Milosevic
> and other Yugoslav leaders took place while NATO bombs were raining on
> Pristina and other cities and towns in Kosovo, in Belgrade, Novi Sad and
> throughout Yugoslavia.
> The NATO aggressors indicted their victims for war crimes. This has some
> historical precedent. In the early 1940's, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany
> held a sham war crimes trial for French socialist leader Leon Blum. Blum
> and the socialists were blamed for "starting World War II." He and
> millions of others were then deported to concentration camps.
> While none of the media accounts of Del Ponte's announcement expected
> that she would press charges against any individual associated with NATO
> as a result of the report, even to raise such a possibility is a
> profound development. As one report said, "Never has a Western leader or
> military figure been hauled before an international tribunal."
> The International Action Center on July 31, 1999, initiated an
> Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes
> Against the People of Yugoslavia before 700 people in New York. At that
> meeting, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark charged U.S.-NATO
> political and military leaders with 19 counts of war crimes, crimes
> against humanity and crimes against peace.
> Since July there have been dozens of similar hearings held in 10 U.S.
> cities and in Rome, Berlin, Oslo, Paris, Vienna, Novi Sad, Sydney and
> Tokyo, with the most dramatic a "People's Tribunal" on Nov. 8, 1999, in
> Athens, Greece before 10,000 people.
> Others, members of the Russian Duma and respected attorneys from Canada,
> Greece and Britain for example, have participated in the "tribunal
> movement" by attempting to bring evidence before the International
> Criminal Tribunal established by the Security Council at the Hague. They
> have documented NATO's war crimes and demanded that they also be
> investigated. Other attorneys and magistrates in at least Italy and
> Germany have brought charges against their own governments for violating
> constitutional provisions against waging an aggressive war.
> In addition, the mainstream media has finally published several truthful
> accounts of events surrounding the war that expose the NATO powers for
> the worst of the war crimes. These news stories confirm that it was a
> war of aggression and that NATO targeted civilians. These include
> (1) U.S. and other NATO forces provoked the war by setting terms at
> Rambouillet in March 1999 for NATO occupation of all of Yugoslavia that
> the Yugoslav Government could never accept. (Article by Robert Fisk in
> the British daily, The Independent, Nov. 26, 1999). Go to Excerpt
> (2) U.S. generals directing NATO bombing purposely struck civilian
> economic targets in Serbia to bring pressure on the Belgrade government
> to capitulate (Dana Priest in the Washington Post, Sept 19, 20, 21,
> 1999). Go to Excerpt
> (3) The cries of "genocide" NATO politicians used to justify the
> intervention had no basis in fact. U.S. officials said first that
> 500,000 Kosovo Albanians had been killed, then 100,000, then 40,000. Yet
> forensic teams from 17 nations digging in Kosovo 6 months to investigate
> so-called "mass graves" found 2,108 bodies—and these were of all
> nationalities and had died from all causes. (Toronto Star Nov. 4, 1999,
> New York Times, Nov. 10, 1999). Go to Excerpt
> In all, the mounting evidence against U.S.-NATO forces and growing
> pressure to investigate NATO for war crimes has forced the Tribunal
> established by the Security Council to try to at least look less like a
> blatant anti-Yugoslav star chamber.
> While we in the International Action Center have no confidence that the
> International Criminal Tribunal on former Yugoslavia based at The Hague
> will bring the U.S.-NATO war criminals to trial, we take encouragement
> from this additional sign of growing hostility to NATO's aggressive war.
> And we will proceed with our independent tribunal to try the U.S.-NATO
> criminals before a court of world public opinion this coming June 2000.
> IAC co-directors Sara Flounders and Brian Becker and Staff member John
> Catalinotto are available for questions on this statement.
>
>
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
International Action Center
Mainstream Press Reveals Truths about U.S.-NATO Aggression in Yugoslavia
Below are selections from four articles from the mainstream press from
June to November 1999 that indicate that U.S.-NATO forces did indeed (1)
target civilians, (2) provoked the war and thereby committed a planned
aggression against a sovereign state, (3) falsified claims of "genocide"
in order to justify this intervention. A fourth article indicates how
the War Crimes Court in the Hague is itself a tool of NATO. The
newspapers basically supported NATO's war and these articles are
themselves hostile to the Yugoslav government, yet they finally admitted
some truths.
1. Purposely targeted civilians
(From: "Tension Grew With Divide Over Strategy"
By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 21, 1999; Page A01
Third of three articles )
Planning for the campaign dated back to June 1998. By the opening night,
strategists had produced 40 versions of an air war, according to Gen.
John P. Jumper, commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. Some of these
documents were highly critical of using air power alone, without troops
on the ground to help flush out the enemy. But NATO ultimately settled
on a three-phase air campaign. In Phase I, NATO would strike
antiaircraft defenses and command bunkers. Phase II would extend the
strikes to Yugoslavia's infrastructure below the 44th parallel, well
south of Belgrade. Only in Phase III would the alliance hit targets in
the capital. That was Plan A. There was no Plan B. NATO did not have a
contingency blueprint for a longer campaign, officials now say, because
the Clinton administration and Clark feared that if the alliance's 19
member states were asked to contemplate such a possibility, they would
not agree to begin the war at all. ... Short On March 24, the opening
night of the war, Lt. Gen. Short sat in a darkened room full of computer
screens, the Combined Air Operations Center at Vicenza Air Base in
Italy. Yellow, green and red tadpole-shaped symbols moved across large
electronic maps on the walls, representing all the enemy and NATO
aircraft over Yugoslavia. As Short waited for the first missiles to
strike, he clenched his jaw and kept his silence, a self-control that
some subordinates noted and admired. The three-star general with a
drilling blue stare and gruff manner had argued many times to his
superiors that the most effective tactic for the first night of the war
would be a knockout punch to Belgrade's power stations and government
ministries. ns. Clark Clark also harbored doubts about the initial
plan's meager size. But after a year of coaxing the allies, he felt this
was the biggest and best operation he could get NATO to approve. He also
believed there was a 40 percent chance that the war would end within
three days, since Milosevic might just be looking for an excuse to
withdraw from Kosovo. ....
"From the very beginning, Clark changed the strategy," says a European
diplomat in Brussels. "He quickly decided to strike on a broader
geographic scale and, second, to strike a different type of target. . .
. It made us worried about the political risks, the political impact."
...While the allies were hesitating to approve strikes on Belgrade,
however, Air Force commanders were unhappy about searching for tanks and
troops in Kosovo. Body Language "There was a fundamental difference of
opinion at the outset between General Clark, who was applying a ground
commander's perspective . . . and General Short as to the value of going
after fielded forces," says Vice Adm. Daniel J. Murphy Jr., who was
commander of all naval forces aligned against Yugoslavia.
...In the Air Force magazine interview, Short said that Clark urged him
even before the conflict started to "get down amongst" Yugoslav armored
vehicles and troops in the field. Eventually, he said, "we, the airmen
of the alliance, were able to convince General Clark" of a need to
conduct sustained operations against "more lucrative and compelling
targets . . . in Serbia proper." (IAC's emphasis) No Pause Clark says he
didn't need any convincing about strategic targets, but he wanted to
strike Serbian forces in Kosovo, as well. Meanwhile, he was fending off
proposals from the political leaders of some NATO
countries—particularly Italy and Greece—who wanted to suspend the
bombing altogether. Clark's frustration with the alliance's timidity was
reflected in a video conference on March 27. These live, highly secure
communication links replaced the crackly field telephones and urgent
cables of previous wars. They were part theater, say some of the people
who sat through them, with a dozen large personalities on the stage.
NATO must strike "as many targets as we can each night," said Clark,
seated at the head of a classroom-style conference room, staring at a
television screen hanging from the ceiling. "I don't want to let the
perception get started that we're not doing much, so we can have a
pause." ...Yet, in the end, Clark pushed hard for approval to go after
exactly the kind of targets that the Air Force wanted. And it was then
that his political acumen proved useful. Aim Points ...On March 30, day
seven of the war, the North Atlantic Council debated Clark's request but
made no decision. Instead, the council left Solana with the job of
interpreting its wishes. A few days later, he gave the go-ahead. By
winning approval for continuing strikes on Belgrade as well as Kosovo,
Clark finally brought the allies and the Air Force together, creating
the broader war that led Milosevic to capitulate. But military
historians, air power strategists and budding commanders at war colleges
will long debate the merits of Short's position vs. Clark's. Last week,
Clark released some long-awaited figures on the Kosovo campaign: Allied
warplanes destroyed or damaged 93 tanks, 153 armored personnel carriers,
339 military vehicles and 389 artillery pieces and mortars. Those
numbers represent only about one-third of all the weaponry and vehicles
that the Yugoslav army had in Kosovo; two-thirds survived intact. To
those in Short's camp, this is strong evidence that the war was won by
strategic bombing of Serbia proper, where NATO damaged or destroyed 24
bridges, 12 railway stations, 36 factories, seven airports, 16 fuel
plants and storage depots, 17 television transmitters and several
electrical facilities, according to a Yugoslav government report. Clark
is not swayed. He argues that Yugoslavia was defeated by steady losses
both in Kosovo and in the rest of Serbia, combined with diplomatic
pressure and the threat of an allied invasion. The air campaign "was an
effort to coerce, not to seize," said Clark. "It only made good sense
that at some point, if [Milosevic] continued to lose and we didn't, that
he would throw in the towel. But we could never predict how long he
would hold on because it wasn't a function of any specific set of
losses. It was a function of variables that were beyond our
predictions—ultimately, his state of mind."
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
2. U.S. provoked war
FROM THIS ARTICLE ON RAMBOUILLET PART B, PUBLISHED NOV. 26 IN THE
BRITISH NEWSPAPER THE INDEPENDENT, WITH THE HEADLINE "THE TROJAN HORSE
THAT 'STARTED' A 79-DAY WAR" ---
By Robert Fisk in Belgrade
In the last days of the Paris peace talks on Yugoslavia last March,
something extraordinary happened. The Serb delegation - after agreeing
to a political revolution in Kosovo - was presented with a military
appendix to the treaty which demanded the virtual Nato occupation of all
Yugoslavia.
The Serbs turned it down and Nato went to war. Yet 79 days later, Nato -
which had refused to contemplate a change in the military document -
lost all interest in the annexe and at the final dramatic meetings on
the Macedonian border was content with a Nato force inside only Kosovo.
Official obfuscation and confusion has ever since surrounded this
all-important, last-minute addition to the Paris "peace" agreement. Was
it presented by the Americans to force President Slobodan Milosevic to
reject the whole peace package and permit Nato to bomb Serbia?...
The full annexes demanded Nato rights of road, rail and air passage
across all of Yugoslavia, the use of radio stations, even the waiving of
any claims of damages against Nato. For any state - even one as
grotesque as Serbia - this would have amounted to occupation.
The Foreign Minister of France, Hubert Védrine, said the military
appendix was similar to that used by Nato when it moved troops into
Bosnia and that Nato forces needed access to Kosovo through Belgrade.
But he has never explained why this supposedly essential part of the
treaty was abandoned once Nato troops moved into the province.
Milan Komnenic, who was the Yugoslav Federal Information minister and a
member of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (then in government
but soon to be in opposition), was in Paris during the talks and has
become preoccupied with the military annexe. He is writing a book about
the negotiations, The Trap of Rambouillet.....
According to Mr Komnenic, the American negotiator Christopher Hill and
the Austrian diplomat at the talks, Boris [Wolfgang—IAC] Petritsch,
insisted on the annexe while the Russian negotiator, Boris Mayorski -
who later refused to attend the Kosovo Albanian signing of the "peace"
agreement - abstained. "Hill and Petritsch were 'for' the annexe and
[Robin] Cook and Védrine apparently agreed with a version - not
identical to the final annexe - which was called an 'explanation' of the
political agreement and which said there could be no implementation with
a Nato presence only in Kosovo," Mr Komnenic said. .... United Nations
Security Council resolution 1244 [which ended the conflict] could have
been accepted before the bombing."
In any event, when Nato commanders met the Serbs for the
"military-technical agreement" at the end of the war - after thousands
of Kosovo Albanians had been murdered by Serb forces and as many as
1,500 civilians killed by Nato bombs - the supposedly crucial military
annexe was never mentioned. Miraculously, Nato - with 40,000 troops to
move into the province (10,000 more than originally envisaged) - no
longer needed appendix B. Not a single Nato soldier moved north of
Kosovo into the rest of Serbia. What was the real purpose of Nato's last
minute demand? Was it a Trojan horse? To save the peace? Or to sabotage
it? (END)
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
3. U.S. lied to justify war
>>From Nov.3, Toronto Star (a similar article appeared in the Nov. 11 New
York Times)
"No genocide, no justification for war on Kosovo"
IN THE GENOCIDE of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by the forces of Serb
leader Slobodan Milosevic, the worst incident occurred at the Trepca
mine. As reported by American and NATO officials, large numbers of
bodies were brought in by trucks under the cover of darkness. The bodies
were then thrown down the shafts, or were disposed of entirely in the
mine's vats of hydrochloric acid. Estimates of the number of dead began
at 1,000. That was six months ago, in the middle of the war undertaken
to halt what both U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair called "a human catastrophe." Estimates of the number of
ethnic Albanians slaughtered went upward from 10,000. U.S. Defence
Secretary William Cohen put the count at 100,000. Three weeks ago, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia released the
findings of Western forensic teams investigating the horror at Trepca.
There were not 1,000 bodies down the mine shafts at Trepca, reported the
tribunal. There were not 100 bodies there. There was not one body there,
nor was there any evidence the vats had ever been used to dispose of
human remains. Shortly afterward, the tribunal reported on its work at
the most infamous of all the mass graves of ethnic Albanians, at
Ljubenic near the town of Pec. Earlier, NATO officials had said 350
victims had been hastily buried there by the retreating Serb forces.
There were not 350 bodies at Ljubenic, though. There were five. So far,
not one mass grave has been found in Kosovo, despite four months' work
by forensic teams, including experts from the FBI and the RCMP. This
discovery - more accurately, this non-discovery - first was made public
three weeks ago by the Texas-based intelligence think tank, Stratfor.
Stratfor estimated the number of ethnic Albanian dead in Kosovo at 500.
Last weekend, the story was broadcast for the first time by the TV
Ontario program Diplomatic Immunity. (Last Sunday's New York Times was
still using the "10,000 deaths" figure.) The story has begun to appear
in European newspapers. Spain's El Pais has quoted the head of the
Spanish forensic team, Emilo Pujol, as saying he had resigned because,
after being told to expect to have to carry out 2,000 autopsies, he'd
only had 97 bodies to examine - none of which "showed any signs of
mutilation or torture." Because 250 of 400 suspected mass graves in
Kosovo remain to be examined, it's possible that evidence of mass
killings will yet be found. This is highly unlikely though, because the
worst sites were dug up first. No genocide of ethnic Albanians by Serbs,
therefore. No "human catastrophe." No "modern-day Holocaust." All of
those claims may have been an honest mistake. Equally, they may have
been a grotesque lie concocted to justify a war that NATO originally
assumed would be over in a day or two, with Milosevic using the excuse
of some minimal damage as a cover for a surrender, but then had to fight
(at great expense) for months. There's no question that atrocities were
committed in Kosovo, overwhelmingly by the Serb forces, although the
ethnic Albanian guerrillas were not innocent. Quite obviously, these
forces, acting on Milosevic's explicit orders, carried out mass
expulsions of people, terrorizing them and destroying their homes and
property. Acts like these are inexcusable. That they occur often in
civil wars (far worse are being committed by the Russians in Chechnya),
is irrelevant to their horror. But they have nothing to do with
genocide. No genocide means no justification for a war inflicted by NATO
on a sovereign nation. Only a certainty of imminent genocide could have
legally justified a war that was not even discussed by the U.N. Security
Council. No genocide means that the tribunal's indictment of Milosevic
becomes highly questionable. Even more questionable is the West's
continued punishment of the Serbs - the Danube bridges and the power
stations remain in ruins - when their offence may well have been
stupidity rather than criminality. The absence of genocide may mean
something else, something deeply shaming. To halt the supposed genocide,
NATO bombed targets in Serbia proper. Because of "collateral" or
accidental damage, such as the bombing of a train, some 500 civilians
were killed (Belgrade claims almost 1,000 deaths). NATO very likely
killed as many people as were killed in Kosovo. The number of these dead
isn't large enough to justify NATO's actions being called a "human
catastrophe." But, unless proof of genocide can be produced, NATO's
actions were clearly a moral catastrophe.
Richard Gwyn's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in The Star
Back to: Statement from the IAC on Hague
Here's a comment on the War crimes Tribunal in the Hague: From the
London Times, June 18, 1999
"This is not victors' justice in the former Yugoslavia in fact, it is no
justice at all."
By John Laughland
Emotion may be a spur to justice, but it is rarely its guarantor. The
allegations of war crimes eagerly funnelled out of Kosovo by the
thousands of journalists in the province have provoked a demand for
retribution. That cry for justice is natural. But the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the body charged with
pursuing those accused of war crimes in Kosovo, is a rogue court with
rigged rules....
The International Criminal Tribunal shows little sign of caring that
NATO has itself broken nearly every rule of war, or that the peace deal
concluded with Belgrade is null and void in international law, since
Yugoslavia's signature was obtained by force. Instead, it displays
considerable contempt for the very thing which distinguishes the rule of
law from retributive justice, namely due process....
Although it is a key requirement for due process that a defendant be
tried by a body "established by law", the Security Council is not a
law-making body. Faced with the allegation that it had no legitimacy,
the tribunal did not refer the matter to another body, such as the
International Court of Justice, but instead decided to deal with the
charge itself. Not surprisingly, it found in its own favour....
The tribunal gives itself powers as it goes along. Louise Arbour, the
recently departed Chief Prosecutor, has said: "The law, to me, should be
creative and used to make things tight," and the tribunal dips into a
potpourri of different legal systems from around the world. In one case,
the tribunal defended itself against charges that it had illegally
seized documents from the Bosnian Government by saying that its
procedures were compatible with the law in Paraguay. General Stroessner
evidently has a place in the tribunal's judicial pantheon alongside Sir
Edward Coke and William Blackstone.
As if this were not enough, the tribunal is not funded by disinterested
parties, but by those who waged or supported the attacks on Yugoslavia.
These include the leading NATO governments (especially the United
States) and various non- governmental organisations like George Soros's
Open Society Institute, whose head of office in Kosovo is a militant
supporter of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Might, it seems, is always right. Just ask the NATO spokesman Jamie
Shea. On May 17, he was asked whether NATO leaders could ever be
indicted by the tribunal. "As you know," he replied, "without NATO
countries there would be no International Court of Justice, nor would
there be any International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
because NATO countries are in the forefront of those who have
established these two tribunals, who fund these tribunals and who
support on a daily basis their activities."
This is not victors' justice it is no justice at all.
posted: 1/12/00
war crimes
inquiry press releases
===
Vorbereitungskomitee
Wiener Tribunal
Wir erheben politische Anklage gegen
Bundeskanzler Mag. Viktor Klima
Vizekanzler und Außenminister Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel
Verteidigungsminister Dr. Werner Fasslabend
Ehem. EU-Sonderbeauftragten Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch, dzt. Hoher
Repräsentant
für Bosnien
Außenminister a.D. Dr. Alois Mock
Wegen Unterstützung und Befürwortung des Angriffskriegs der NATO gegen
die
Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien. Wegen offener Parteinahme in einem
Bürgerkrieg,
politisch, wirtschaftlich und logistisch, als auch mit Söldnern.
Wegen des Verdachts der Verletzung der völkerrechtlich verankerten
immerwährenden Neutralität Österreichs, indem Verpflichtungen über das
Verhalten eines immerwährend neutralen Staates, sich in jedem Falle,
auch in
Friedenszeiten, so zu verhalten, daß keine Begünstigung einer
Konfliktseite
herausgelesen werden kann, nicht eingehalten wurden.
Wegen des Verdachts von stattgefundenen Überflügen durch Flugzeuge der
NATO-Luftwaffen zur Zeit des Krieges gegen Jugoslawien, die, obwohl in
diesem Fall von Österreich nicht genehmigt, nach Aufschlüssen der
österr.
Luftverkehrskontrolle massiv zugenommen haben, wobei nicht bekannt ist,
wie
viele davon evtl. bewaffnet zur Unterstützung des Luftkrieges der NATO
stattgefunden haben und welche Protestmaßnahmen von Seiten
österreichischer
Organe ergriffen wurden. Ebenso wegen schon lange vorher wiederholt
getätigter Durchfahrten von NATO-Fahrzeugen nach Stützpunkten in Ungarn,
von
denen angenommen werden kann, daß nicht nur "humanitäre" Transporte
vorlagen.
Wegen des Verdachts der Weitergabe von Erkenntnissen, welchen
Wahrheitsgehaltes auch immer, geheimdienstlicher Art über Aktivitäten
auf
dem Gebiet der Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien durch österreichische Stellen
an
v.a. westliche bzw. NATO-Dienste, wodurch Verletzungen der
Neutralitätsverpflichtungen Österreichs angenommen werden können.
Wegen des Verdachts der Begünstigung bzw. Unterstützung des Bruchs des
Verbotes der Führung eines "ökologischen Krieges" durch die NATO (d.i.
Bombardierung von Erdölraffinerien, chemischen Fabriken und anderen, bei
Beschädigung oder Zerstörung negative Umweltfolgen zeitigenden
Einrichtungen, lokal wie auch regional), sowie des Einsatzes verbotener
Waffen (Cluster-bombs, d.i. Streubomben, und Munition ummantelt mit
abgereichertem Uran, Depleted Uranium, DU).
Wegen des Verdachts der Begünstigung einer Aggressionshandlung der
Nordatlantischen Vertragsorganisation, die, sich selbst mandatierend,
ohne
einen Beschluß oder die Beauftragung durch den UN-Sicherheitsrat und
entgegen allen anderen eingegangenen völkerrechtlichen Verpflichtungen
zum
Gewaltverzicht in den internationalen Beziehungen und den Beziehungen
der
Staaten untereinander, einen Angriffskrieg gegen das Territorium eines
souveränen Staates geführt hat und darüberhinaus auch ihre eigene
Vertragsgrundlage verletzte.
Wegen des Verdachts der Zustimmung zu einer daraus folgenden "neuen
Weltordnung", in der ein dauernd beschworenes Recht auf "humanitäre
Interventionen" von der Nordatlantischen Vertragsorganisation (NATO) mit
Waffengewalt und dem Rückhalt der größten militärischen Mächte global
durchgesetzt werden soll.
Wegen des Verdachts des Hintanhaltens von Durchsetzung
nicht-militärischer
und gewaltfreier Konfliktlösungsmöglichkeiten, wie in der Verhinderung
von
Aufgaben der OSZE auch durch das neutrale Österreich, etwa durch einen
nicht
nachvollziehbaren Abzugsbefehl, durch die Auslieferung des Mandats an
einen
Beauftragten wie den US-Diplomaten William Walker, durch den nicht
vorhandenen Widerstand der Bundesregierung gegen den - mißbräuchlichen -
Einsatz der OSZE bei der strategischen Vorbereitung des Krieges gegen
Jugoslawien sowie durch die nicht vorhandenen Bemühungen der
Bundesregierung
den Status der Suspendierung der Bundesrepublik Jugoslwawien in der
Organisation aufzuheben, um Bemühungen für Verhandlungslösungen zu
begünstigen.
Wegen des Verdachts des Inkaufnehmens des vorhersehbaren Scheiterns der
sog.
Friedensverhandlungen von Paris und Rambouillet, die auf den
erpresserischen
und auf ein Besetzungsdiktat hinauslaufenden, erst später der
Öffentlichkeit
bekannt gewordenen, angefügten Annex B, einem als Ultimatum zu
bewertenden
Zusatz, der schlußendlich zur conditio sine qua non erklärt wurde,
eskaliert
wurden, wobei nach völkerrechtlichen Maßstäben ein Vertrag, der unter
dem
Zwang eines faktischen Ultimatums zustande käme, per se ungültig wäre.
Wegen des Verdachts der wiederholten Inkaufnahme wenn nicht Begünstigung
der
Zerschlagung der damaligen souveränen SFR Jugoslawien durch
Unterstützung,
Zustimmung und Vorwegnahme einer, v.a. durch bzw. in Verbindung mit der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland vorangetriebenen, Anerkennungspolitik der
Sezession von Teilrepubliken der damaligen SFR Jugoslawien.
Wegen des Verdachts zumindest der Duldung von verhetzender
Berichterstattung
v.a. gegenüber dem serbischen Bevölkerungsteil der Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien, insbesondere in Medien öffentlichen Rechts. Sowohl wegen
des
Verdachts der Berichterstattung gegenüber Serbien wie auch der
Aufhetzung
von Volksgruppen gegeneinander auf dem Territorium der Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien und nicht erfolgten Eingriffen bzw. Richtigstellungen der
österr. Bundesregierung, wobei dadurch das Verhalten eines immerwährend
neutralen Staates ebenfalls in Frage gestellt wurde.
Aufgrund dieser Verdachtsmomente verlangen die VertreterInnen des
Vorbereitungskomitees des Wiener Tribunals eine Anklage der österr.
Bundesregierung bzw. der ob. angef. namentlich genannten Personen durch
das
Wiener Tribunal am 4. Dezember 1999 wegen Begünstigung und Unterstützung
des
NATO-Angriffskrieges gegen die BR Jugoslawien.
Eine etwaige Verurteilung soll dem Internationalen Tribunal, vertreten
durch
Mr. Ramsey Clark, für die Generalanklage vor dem Internationalen
Gerichtshof
in Den Haag zur Verfügung gestellt werden.
===
STOP NATO: !NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>IEA War Crimes Indictment Had Claimed Conflict of Interest
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--
>By REVEREND CANON KENNETH GUNN-WALBERG
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--
[Excerpted from an address before the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan
Studies and the Centre for Peace in the Balkans (Toronto) 10/31/99]
I am speaking today in my capacity as President of the International
Ethical
Alliance (IEA) -- which denounces NATO's bombings of Yugoslavia. IEA is
a
United States non-profit organization committed to enhancing ethics in
government
On July 8, 1999 IEA filed a formal indictment with the International
Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia charging President Clinton and others
with
War Crimes against the people of Serbia. The indictment was drafted by
the
Chairman of our Board of Directors, Jerome M. Zeifman.
"Jerry" (of whom I am a quasi-father confessor) is a life-long Democrat.
(I
am not.) At the time of the Nixon impeachment inquiry he served as Chief
Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. As was first reported by
Insight
Magazine, and then by Matt Drudge on Fox TV, the indictment IEA filed
with
the ICTY has five prongs.
First, it charges defendants Clinton, Cohen, and other leaders of NATO
countries with "non-defensive aggressive military attacks on Yugoslavia,
which have not been necessary to defend the national security of the
United
States ... and are proscribed inter alia in the Charter of the
International
Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Aug. 8, 1945, and the 1947 Charter of the
United Nations.
Second, it relies on specified evidence and expert testimony from
witnesses
whom IEA wants the Tribunal to summon, "including but not limited to:
former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter; former Nuremberg prosecutor for the United
States, Walter Rockler; Bishop Artemious of Kosovo; journalist Alexander
Cockburn; and playwright Harold Pinter."
Third, it charges, "There is substantial evidence of conduct by [then]
prosecutor Louise Arbour that warrants her disqualification, including
but
not limited to: (i) the engaging in selective prosecution by
intentionally
failing to consider and act on evidence which incriminates defendants
Clinton
and Cohen, and other as yet unindicted officials of NATO countries; (ii)
conflicts of interest, or the appearance thereof, in receiving
compensation
from funds contributed to the Tribunal in whole or in part by
governments of
NATO; and (iii) bias in favor of the attacks by NATO on former
Yugoslavia."
Fourth, it calls for, "The appointment of an independent prosecutor who:
(i)
is not a citizen or permanent resident of a NATO country; (ii) is
compensated
only from funds specifically contributed by non-NATO countries; and
(iii) has
an independent staff that is not compensated directly or indirectly from
funds contributed by NATO countries.
Fifth, of the Tribunal's fourteen justices, it calls for the
disqualification
for conflicts of interest of five justices representing NATO countries,
including chief justice Gabrielle Kirk McDonald of the United States
I am pleased today to inform you that (as was also first reported by
Insight
Magazine) IEA's indictment has already had a modicum of success. Of the
five
Tribunal members for whose disqualification IEA had petitioned, by now
three
have resigned before the expiration of their terms.
On September 6, 1999, Justice Antonio Cassese of Italy (whose term was
not up
until 17 November 2001) announced his retirement and plans to resume an
academic career at Florence University.
On September 15, Louise Arbour resigned. She has been appointed to the
Canadian Supreme Court. Many Canadian critics of Prime Minister Chretien
have
opposed her appointment -- and consider it as a reward for suppressing
evidence of Chretien's and Clinton's war crimes in the bombing of
Yugoslavia
As Arbour's replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed
Carla
Del Ponte, a former Attorney General of Switzerland. Based on her prior
record for professional integrity and traditional Swiss neutrality in
military affairs she appears to Mr. Zeifman to be qualified.
As of November 17 the Tribunal's Chief Justice McDonald will be also
vacating
her unexpired term. As her replacement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
has
appointed Patricia Wald, currently a Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia. Jerry Zeifman is particularly
pleased
by Kofi Annan's appointment of Justice Wald -- of whose prior career he
has
some personal knowledge. She had served as Assistant Attorney General
during the Carter administration. Carter eventually appointed her to a
federal Judgeship.
[Canon Gunn-Walberg is a Canadian and an Anglican Catholic Priest now
residing in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania
Membership in IEA is free and includes a subscription to an email
news letter. Persons who wish to receive more information may phone or
fax
Canon Gunn-Walberg at 814 342 0224 or send email to jzeifman@....
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
** NO COPYRIGHT ! **
------------------------------------------------------------
* Riepilogo degli atti terroristici e di violenza nella provincia di
Kosovo e Metohija dall'arrivo di KFOR ed UNMIK, tra il 12 giugno 1999 ed
il 13 gennaio 2000 (Yugoslav Daily Survey / Min. Esteri RFJ)
* La morte di Dragoslav Basic (Tom Lochner, "The Times"; in italiano ed
in inglese)
---
Yugoslav Daily Survey - Special Issues
BELGRADE, 18 January 2000
O V E R V I E W
of terrorist and other acts of violence in the province of Kosovo and
Metohija
since the arrival of KFOR and UNMIK in the period from 12 June 1999 to
13
January 2000
1) Number of terrorist attacks: 3,688
Out of which 3,630 were committed against civilians, i.e. 3,433 against
Serbs and Montenegrins, 87 against Albanians and 110 against members of
other nationalities.
2) Number of abducted and missing persons: 688
Out of whom 656 were civilians, i.e. 598 were Serbs and Montenegrins, 36
Albanians and 22 members of other nationalities.
The fate of 559 abducted civilians is still unknown while 64 were
killed.
3) Number of killed persons: 793
Out of whom 772 were civilians, i.e. 684 were Serbs and Montenegrins (22
massacred, 84 mutilated and 5 burned to death), 63 were Albanians and 25
members of other nationalities in Kosovo and Metohija.
4) Number of arbitrarily arrested persons by KFOR:
Serbs accused of allegedly committing "war crimes" are detained in
prisons
in Pristina, Prizren, Sojevo near Urosevac, Kosovska Mitrovica,
Gnjilane,
Lipljan and Kolokot Banja. They have been arrested only on the ground of
information provided by the Albanians of the so-called "KLA" and a large
number of these persons are detained without any court decision.
5) Number of wounded persons: 611
6) Reported cases of physical assault, harassment and inflicted grave
bodily harm: 416
7) Registered cases of threats: 356
8) Registered number of dwellings broken into and forcibly taken
occupancy
of: 776 in Pristina, over 200 in Kosovska Mitrovica, 190 in Gnjilane,
124
in Orahovac, a large number in Kosovo Polje and Lipljan.
9) Ethnic cleansing: Many towns were ethnically cleansed of Serbs and
other
non-Albanians. According to available UNHCR data of September 1999,
about
220 000 mainly Serbs and Montenegrins were driven out of Kosovo and
Metohija.
According to the latest data over 330 000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma,
Muslims, Goranci, Turks and other non-Albanians were expelled, of whom
250
000 are Serbs.
10) Registered number of homes burned down: about 50 000 houses were
burned
down in Kosovo and Metohija.
11) Registered number of stolen vehicles: over 12 000 vehicles. As a
result
of open borders with Macedonia and Albania 250 000 vehicles were brought
into Kosovo and Metohija without payment of customs duties and most of
these vehicles were stolen.
12) Destruction of churches, monasteries and cultural monuments:
About 80 churches, monasteries and other religious buildings and
cultural
monuments were burned down or damaged including the following: the
Church
of Assumption of Our Lady in Dolac, monastery of St. Marco in Korisa
from
1467, monastery of Prophets Kosmo and Damien in Zatociste from 14
century,
the church in Kijev from the 14th century, the Holy Trinity monastery
from
the 14th century near Musutiste, monastery Devic built in 1440, church
of
St. Paraskeva in Drenik from the 16th century, church of St. Dimitri
near
Pec, the Orthodox church in Grmovo near Vitina, church of St. Ilija in
Cegra near Gnjilane, church of Holy Mother in Musutiste from 1315,
church
of Prophet Ilija in Bistricin, church of Apostles Peter and Paul in Suva
Reka, monastery of St. Uros in Nerodimlje, monastery of Archangel
Gabriel
from the 14th century in Binac, church of the Holy Virgin from the 16th
century in Belo Polje, church of St. John the Baptist in Pecka Banja,
churches in the villages of Naklo, Vucitrn, Petrovac, Urosevac,
Podgorce,
Djurakovac, Krusevo, Osojane, Samodreca, Dresna near Klina, Rekovac,
Petric, monastery Dinac near Vitina, Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Djakovica.
Places of worship were attacked, desecrated, demolished and burned down.
Clergy were terrorized and prosecuted. More than 150 parish residences
were
destroyed or damaged. Over 10 000 icons and other sacred objects were
stolen or destroyed.
The following cultural monuments were damaged and demolished:
- monuments in memory of giants of Serbian and Montenegrin literature
Vuk
Karadzic and Petar Petrovic Njegos in the very centre of Pristina;
- monuments in memory of King Uros in Urosevac and King Dusan in
Prizren;
- memorial to Prince Lazar in Gnjilane and the memorial to Serbian
rulers
from the Nemanjic dynasty in the village of Gornje Nerodimlje.
13) Forced and illegal taking over of public institutions:
- forcible and illegal take-overs of premises and buildings of post
offices, banks, medical institutions, water and power supply systems,
university, elementary and secondary schools, municipal and other
authorities of local administration, local communes, buildings of the
Ministry of the Interior and the Army of Yugoslavia, factories,
enterprises, cooperatives, etc. in Pristina (premises of the Clinical
centre "Pristina" and the health station, the Federal Customs
Administration, the Public Housing Company, Institute for Urban
Planning,
the public enterprise "Vodovod", thermal power plant "Kosovo B", depots
and
petrol stations of "Jugopetrol", the share-holding companies
"Kosmet-Pristina", "Kosovo-Trans", the public enterprise "Energoinvest",
the public enterprise "Auto-Pristina", "Car shock absorbers plant",
"Jugotrans", etc.) as well as in Prizren, Dragas, Podujevo, Lipljan,
Strpci, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo Polje (with the assistance of the
members of KFOR), Djakovica (with the assistance of the members of
KFOR).
- by forced and illegal taking over of public enterprises and
institutions
over 20 000 employed Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma, Muslims, Goranci, Turks
and
other non-Albanians were sacked and replaced exclusively by Albanians,
who
are mostly unskilled.
14) Registered armed attacks on villages: Slovinj, Maticane, Orahovac,
Konjuh, Berivojce, Gornja Brnjica, the villages around Kosovska
Kamenica:
Grncar, Magila, Ajvalija, all the villages of the Istok-Klina region,
Goracdevac near Pec, Svinjare, Klokot, Novo Brdo, Zjum, Donja and Gornja
Gusterica, Susica, Badavac, Bresje, Vrbovac, Vitina, Cernice,
(municipality
of Gnjilane), Dobrusa, Veliko Ropotovo (municipality of Kosovska
Kamenica),
Partes (municipality of Gnjilane), Pasjane (municipality of Gnjilane),
Ljestar, Budriga, Dobrotin (municipality of Lipljan), Grncar, Binac,
Ranilug, Silovo, Odovce, Rajanovce, Bosce, Caglavica, Paravolo, Lebane,
Gojbulja, in the following villages in the area of the municipality of
Gora: Brodosvce, Belobrod, Kukavce - frequent attacks against the houses
of
Goranci, Muslims and Albanians who are loyal to the FR of Yugoslavia.
All this runs counter to the assertions about the disarming of the
terrorist "KLA".
15) Registered sieges of villages: Gadnje, Orahovac and Velika Hoca
(population lives in a "ghetto"), Koretin, villages around Gnjilane,
Priluzje, Gornja Srbica, Gorazdevac.
16) Armed threats against villages and terror committed on a daily basis
against non-Albanian population: Ugljari, Srpski Babus, Stimlje, Novo
Selo,
Bresje, the area around Kosovo Polje, Milosevo (against which the armed
attack was carried out), village of Zebnice (dramatic humanitarian
situation), majority of the mainly Croatian Catholic population who
lived
in the villages of Letinice, Vrnez, Vrnavo Kolo and Sasare have moved
out,
Drenovac (50 Serbs massacred), village of Cernice (series of incidents
in
which members of the US contingent of KFOR maltreated Serbs), Pozaranje,
Gotovusa, Gatnje, Zubin Potok, Veliki Alas, Vrelo and Radevo.
(17) The looted Serb villages from which the residents were forced out:
Muzicani, Slivovo, Orlovic, Dragas, the area around Kosovo Polje,
Sofalija,
Livadice, Mirovac, Siriniska zupa, Medregovac, Grace, Zociste, Sofalije,
Dragoljevac, Tomance, Koretin, Lestar, Donja Sipasnica.
(18) Serb neighbourhoods set on fire: Istok, Klina, Donja Lapastica,
Obrandza, Velika Reka, Perane, Lause, the villages around Podujevo,
Grace,
Donja Dubica, Zociste, Orahovac, Naklo, Vitomirice, Belo Polje,
Kojlovice,
Alos-Toplicane, Krajiste, Rudnik, Donji Strmac, Goles (municipality of
Lipljan), Orlovic (municipality of Pristina), Krpimej and Lausa
(municipality of Podujevo), Muzicane (all Serbian houses burned down),
Zaimovo, Denovac, Lesjane, Gornje and Donje Nerodimlje (all Serbian
houses
looted and then burned down), Sinaje (municipality of Istok), Belovac,
Mali
Talinovac, Ljubizda, Klobuka (municipality of Kosovska Kamenica).
(19) Towns and residential areas ethnically cleansed of Serbs, Roma,
Muslims, Goranci and other non-Albanians: Prizren, Djakovica, Pec,
Srbica,
Podujevo, Vucitrn, Glogovac as well as the villages in the municipality
of
Istok: Dzakovo, Osojane, Tuzepom, Kos, Zac, Belica, Krnjine, Maticane,
Kacanik, Stimlje, Kmetovaska Vrbica, surroundings of Urosevac, Slivovo,
Nedakovac, Nevoljane, Vrpica, Ljestar, Zegra (municipality of Gnjilane),
Zitnje, Pozaranje, Grmovo, Drobes, Kabas and Binac (municipality of
Vitina).
- The ethnic cleansing has been in its final stages in Pristina (all the
Serbian population has been driven out of the largest residential
quarters:
Ulpijana, Sun_ani Breg, Dardanija, Univerzitetsko Naselje), Gnjilane,
Urosevac, Kosovska Mitrovica, Lipljan, Kosovo Polje where 80 per cent of
the Serbian population has been expelled (houses burned down, looted,
property seized from the owners of shops, Albanian terrorists maltreat
and
physically abuse Serbs, who refused to sell their houses and move out of
Kosovo and Metohija, before the very eyes of the members of KFOR),
Kosovska
Kamenica, area of Vitina and Kosovsko Pomoravlje, as well as in the
villages of Toplicane, Rujice, Magure, Slovinja, Staro Gracko.
20) Registered number of illegal entries of foreign citizens into the
territory of the FR of Yugoslavia (Kosovo and Metohija) without the
necessary papers (visas and registration of stay with the competent
authorities): 677
Over 200 000 foreigners have illegally entered into the Province with
the
consent of UNMIK and KFOR. The Government of the FR of Yugoslavia has
officially requested their expulsion.
21) Registered number of criminal acts of illicit trafficking and
possession of goods without appropriate documents:137
22) Registered number of cases of violation of the land security zone by
KFOR 236
* * *
REVIEW
OF TERRORIST AND OTHER ACTS OF VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY ALBANIAN
TERRORISTS
IN THE PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA SINCE THE DEPLOYMENT OF KFOR AND
UNMIK
IN THE PERIOD FROM 12 JUNE 1999 TO 13 JANUARY 2000
Terrorism of Albanian separatists
Total number of terrorist attacks 3,688
1. Civilians 3,630
- Serbs and Montenegrins 3,433
- Albanians 87
- members of other nationalities 110
2. Officials and facilities 58
A. Killed 793
1. Civilians 772
- Serbs and Montenegrins 684
- Albanians 63
- members of other nationalities 25
2. Officials 21
B. Wounded 611
1. Civilians 604
- Serbs and Montenegrins 565
- Albanians 18
- members of other nationalities 21
2. Officials 7
C. Kidnapped and missing 688
1. Civilians
656
- Serbs and Montenegrins 598
- Albanians 36
- members of other nationalities 22
2. Officials 32
Fate of kidnapped and missing
1. Killed 69
2. Escaped 6
3. Unaccounted-for 581
4. Released 32
---
>From kfqma@... Mon Jan 24 11:33:22 2000
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 21:37:12 +0100
From: Alessandro Marescotti <kfqma@...>
Reply-To: pck-yugoslavia@...
To: pck-yugoslavia@...
Cc: pck-pcknews@...
Subject: Dragoslav Basic morto per il sogno del Kosovo
Resent-Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 23:53:47 +0100
Resent-From: pck-yugoslavia@...
[The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
[Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
[Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]
Pubblicato Mercoledi 15 Dicembre 1999
Professore dell'Universita' della California morto per il sogno del
Kosovo
Dragoslav Basic era tornato in patria per "costruire un ponte di
umanita' ": e' stato ucciso e i suoi familiari gravemente feriti.
Di Tom Lochner
L'uomo Serbo ucciso da un commando nelle strade di Pristina<
Jugoslavia, due setimane fa, era un ex-residente in Albania e
professore in visita all'Universita' della California , Berkeley, che
era tornato in patria per perseguire il suo sogno di un Kosovo in
armonia.
Amici della baia orientale dicono che Dragoslav Basic, 63 anni, era una
autorevole voce di pace. Nato a Pristina, capitale del Kosovo, Basic
era professore di ingegneria civile, specializzatosi nella costruzione
di ponti ed altri progetti per lavori pubblici in aree ad elevato
rischio sismico.
Ma quando assunse la sua cattedra all'Universita' del Kosovo nel 1990,
dopo un anno e mezzo in California, Basic progetto' un diverso tipo di
ponte.
"Mi disse 'Potrei aiutare la gente a costruire un ponte di umanita' che
nessun terremoto distrugga mai'" ha detto Nick Tomasevic, residente di
Berkley, pilota in pensione ed amico di Basic.
LA mattina del 29 Novembre Basic e' stato tirato fuori dalla sua
macchina con la moglie e la suocera e poi colpito con arma da
fuoco mentre una folla percoteva e torturava le donne tra i
festeggiamenti per la Giornata della Bandiera Albanese (commemorata dal
KLA), la festa che ricorda la nascita del moderno stato Albanese subito
dopo la I Guerra Mondiale.
L'attacco, ampiamente riportato da televisioni, stampa e radio a
livello internazionale, e' stato un segnale visibile e un richiamo alla
rabbia etnica a cui Basic cercava di porre fine.
"Non e' soo stato ucciso a colpi d'arma da fuoco- ha detto Snezana
Landau di El Cerrito, amica di famiglia - gli e' stato saparato come ad
un cane rabbioso in strada, con centinaia di persone che guardavano. E
nessuno ha voluto fare qualcosa".
Si pensa che Basic e sua moglie Dragica, 51, stessero portando la
madre di Dragica, Borka Jovanovic, 74, all'ospedale in seguito ad un
malore dell'anziana donna.
Le donne hanno riportato molteplici ferite e sono state ospedalizzate
a Nis, fuori dal Kosovo, nella Serbia orientale.
"Tomislav, il figlio della coppia, ha visto sua madre a Nis e ha detto
di non averla riconosciuta; racconta Desa Wakeman di Berkley, una
impiegata di una compagnia di leasing in pensionee sorella di
Tomasevic. I parenti di Wakeman hanno parlato con Tomislav per
telefono. " Ha detto: ' mia madre aveva dei bellissimi capelli neri, ma
non li ho potuti vedere tanto era l sangue che li copriva'".
Il martedi Dragica Basic era all'ospedale di Belgrado, quando e' stata
trasferita d'urgenza per un intervento agli occhi. Il giovedi Jovanovic
era nelo stesso ospedale in condizioni critiche.
Al momento della morte di Basic, il corpo studentesco dell'universita'
del Kosovo era diventato prevalentemente di etnia Albanese. Sebbene
insegnasse in Serbo-Croato e in Inglese, Basic aveva acquisito una
quasi completa padronanza della lingua Albanese ed aveva esortato altri
a fare lo stesso.
Una volta mi disse: "Quasi ogni albanese in Kosovo parla serbo-croato,
ogni non albanese in Kosovo dovrebbe parlare la sua bellissima lingua"
ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic era orgoglioso delle sue origini Serbe e fiducioso nel proprio
ruolo nel vecchio e nel nuovo Kosovo.
" questo e' il postoo dove la sua famiglia era vissuta per secoli"
disse Wakeman " erano persone con poca istruzione, serbi ortodossi,
portatori della tradizione serba e conoscitori della storia della zona.
Ecco perche' non hanno mai voluto spostarsi".
Basic consegui' un Master all'universita' del Mississippi alla fine
degli anni 70. Viveva nello University Village, un progetto di
costruzioni di proprieta' dell'univerista' di Berkley UC in Albania.
La figlia della coppia, Nikoleta, si e' dipomata alla scuola superiore
Albany nel 1989; Tomislav ha frequentato la scuola elementare Cornell.
I figli vivono attualmente in Serbia , dove Nikoleta insegna inglese e
Tomislav studia farmacologia.
Basic era presso l'universita' della California nel 1989 quando il
Presidente Yugoslavo Slobodan Milosevic, in piena crescita della
tensione etnica, revoco' lo status del Kosovo come provincia autonoma
all'interno della Repubblica Serba.
"(Basic) aveva un forte dilemma" ha detto Wakeman " disse: ' se tutti
scappano chi restera' la'? "
" Senti' che era suo dovere tornare, non solo come Serbo ma anche come
educatore", ha detto Wakeman " creeva che attraverso l'istruzione
superiore si potesse ottenere qualcosa di buono tra la gente del
Kosovo".
E non solo fra Serbi ed Albanesi, ma anche tra le minoranze Turche,
Greche e Rom della provincia.
In un certo senso Basic stava cercando di reclamare parte della sua
giovinezza.
" Il problema del Kosovo e della Yugoslavia gli premeva
particolarmente, non solo perche' era la sua patria ma perche' era un
esempio del fato che gli esseri umani possono coesistere se ci si mette
una maggior dose di buona volonta' ", ha detto Tomasevic.
I contrasti Cristiano-Musulmani nei Balcani risalgono al 1389, quando
un esercito Serbo fu sconfitto dai Turchi nella battaglia del Kosovo.
Basic era convinto, 600 anni dopo, che fosse tempo per rimarginare
quella ferita. Egli obiettava ai leader politici e religiosi che
perpetuavano la violenza per quello che non avevano detto quanto per
quello che avevano detto.
"BAsic fu molto critico quando Milosevic ando' in Kosovo per la
commemorazione dei 600 anni, per il fatto che non si rivolse alla
popolazione Albanese. Credeva che Milosevic avrebbe dovuto dire 'Cari
fratelli Albanesi: 600 anni fa una catastrofe si abbatte' su tutti noi
ed ora abbiamo un dovere. C'e' abbastanza spazio in Kosovo per tutti
noi".
Basic era convinto che nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale una semplice
lettera enciclica a tutte le Chiese Cattoliche Romane nel mondo, con
un'enfasi sul fatto che Cristo era Ebreo e che la Cristianita' e' una
branca del Giudaismo, avrebe potuto evitare l'Olocausto.
Dopo il suo ritorno Basic espresse disaccordo su cio' che aveva visto
come un ncoraggiamento da parte degli USA di una frammentazione della
Yugoslavia post- Tito. Wakeman e Tomasevic sono tra quelli di etnia
serba che nel 1941 furono 'ripuliti' dalla loro terra natia, la
Croazia, come dice Wakeman.
"BAsic accuso' il governo degli USA di non aver promosso l'idea del
melting pot", ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic credeva che gli USA aavrebbero dovuto dire ' Ascoltate: siete
dita di una stessa mano. Noi non tollereremo la disintegrazione del
vostro paese e vi aiuteremo a riorganizzarlo." ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic aveva una citazione preferita sulla fine della guerra, presa dal
poeta Ungherese del diaciannovesimo secolo Sandor PetÎfy, che pensava
avrebbe potuto diventare un motto per le Nazioni Unite:
" che cosa e' la gloria su un campo di battaglia rispetto al bellissimo
arcobaleno formato dai raggi di sole che filtrano attraverso una
pioggia di lacrime? " ha detto Toamsevic.
"Basic era un ingegnere civile- ha detto Tomasevic-ma oltre la sua
professione, era un grande umanista, un filosofo e un pacifista".
TESTO ORIGINALE (tradotto da Catia Morgetta)
>From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
>Subject: pacifist professor died for Kosovo dream [fwd]
>
>Published Wednesday, December 15, 1999
>
>UC professor died for Kosovo dream
>Dragoslav Basic returned to his homeland to 'build a bridge of humanity'
>over ethnic gulf; he was slain, his family critically injured
>
>There will be a commemorative service for Dragoslav Basic at noon Jan. 16
>at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Moraga.
>
>By Tom Lochner
>TIMES STAFF WRITER
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>----
>
>The Serbian man killed by a mob in the streets of Pristina, Yugoslavia, two
>weeks ago was a former Albany resident and visiting professor at
>UC-Berkeley who went home to pursue his dream of a harmonious Kosovo.
>
>Friends in the East Bay say Dragoslav Basic, 63, was a powerful voice for
>peace.
>
>A native of Pristina, Kosovo's capital, Basic was a professor of civil
>engineering who specialized in the construction of bridges and other public
>works projects in earthquake-prone areas.
>
>But when he took a position at the University of Kosovo in 1990 after 11/2
>years at Cal, Basic envisioned a different kind of bridge.
>
>"He told me 'I could help the people build a bridge of humanity that no
>earthquake could ever destroy,' " said Berkeley resident Nick Tomasevic, a
>retired pilot and friend.
>
>Early in the morning of Nov. 29, Basic was pulled from his car along with
>his wife and mother-in-law, then shot as a crowd beat and tortured the
>women amid revelry on Albanian Flag Day [as celebrated by the KLA], the
>holiday that commemorates the birth of the modern Albanian state in the
>aftermath of World War I.
>
>The attack, reported widely on international television, newspapers and
>radio, was a graphic reminder of the ethnic rage Basic sought to quell.
>
>"It was not like he was just shot and killed," said Snezana Landau of El
>Cerrito, a friend of the family. "He was shot like a mad dog in the street
>with hundreds of people looking on. And nobody wanted to do anything."
>
>Basic and his wife, Dragica, 51, are believed to have been taking Dragica's
>mother, Borka Jovanovic, 74, to a hospital after the older woman fell ill.
>
>The women suffered numerous injuries and were hospitalized in Nis, outside
>Kosovo in eastern Serbia.
>
>"Tomislav (the couple's son) saw his mother in Nis; he said he could not
>recognize her," said Desa Wakeman of Berkeley, a retired executive for a
>leasing company and Tomasevic's sister.
>
>Wakeman's relatives spoke to Tomislav by phone.
>
>"He said, 'My mother, you know, had beautiful black hair, but I couldn't
>see it, there was so much blood.' "
>
>On Tuesday, Dragica Basic was in a Belgrade hospital where she had been
>transferred for emergency eye surgery on Thursday. Jovanovic was in the
>same hospital in critical condition.
>
>By the time of Basic's death, the student body at the University of Kosovo
>had become overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian. Although he taught in
>Serbo-Croatian and English, Basic had become almost fluent in Albanian and
>advocated that others do the same.
>
>"He once said to me, 'Almost every Albanian in Kosovo speaks
>Serbo-Croatian; every non-Albanian in Kosovo should speak their beautiful
>language,' " Tomasevic said.
>
>Basic, a Fulbright scholar, was proud of his Serbian roots and confident of
>his place in the old, and the new, Kosovo.
>
>"This is where his family had lived for centuries," said Wakeman. "They
>were very literate, Serbian Orthodox people, carriers of the Serbian
>tradition, who knew the history of the area. That is why they did not want
>to move."
>
>Basic earned a master's degree at the University of Mississippi in the late
>1970s, friends said. Basic lived at University Village, a UC-Berkeley-owned
>housing project in Albany.
>
>The couple's daughter, Nikoleta, graduated from Albany High School in 1989;
>Tomislav attended Cornell Elementary School. The children live in Serbia
>today, where Nikoleta teaches English and Tomislav studies pharmacology.
>
>Basic was at Cal in 1989 when Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic,
>with ethnic strife on the rise, revoked Kosovo's status as an autonomous
>province within the Serbian Republic.
>
>"(Basic) had a tremendous dilemma," said Wakeman. "He said, 'If everybody
>escapes, who is going to remain there?'
>
>"He felt it was his duty to return, not just as a Serb but as an educator,"
>said Wakeman. "He believed that through higher education, something good
>could be achieved among the people of Kosovo."
>
>And not just among Serbs and Albanians, but the province's Turkish, Greek
>and Rom minorities as well.
>
>In a sense, Basic was trying to reclaim a part of his youth.
>
>"The problem of Kosovo and Yugoslavia affected him terribly, not just
>because it was his homeland but because it was an example that human beings
>could coexist if the good will was applied more often," Tomasevic said.
>
>Christian-Muslim animosity in the Balkans goes back to 1389, when a Serbian
>army fell to the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo. Basic was determined, 600
>years later, that it was time for that wound to heal. He objected to
>political and religious leaders perpetuating violence, often by what they
>failed to say as much as by what they said.
>
>"Basic was very critical when Milosevic went to Kosovo on the commemoration
>of 600 years, that he did not address the Albanian people," Tomasevic said.
>"He believed (Milosevic) should have said, 'Dear brother Albanians: 600
>years ago, a catastrophe happened to all of us, and now we have a duty.
>There is enough room in Kosovo for all of us."
>
>In World War II, Basic believed, "a simple encyclical letter to all the
>Roman Catholic churches in the world, emphasizing that Jesus Christ was
>Jewish, that Christianity is a branch of Judaism, like Islam, too," might
>have staved off the Holocaust, Tomasevic said.
>
>After Basic returned, he lamented what he saw as U.S. encouragement of
>post-Tito Yugoslavia's fragmentation, said Tomasevic. Wakeman and Tomasevic
>are ethnic Serbs who in 1941 were "cleansed" from their native Croatia, as
>Wakeman puts it.
>
>"(Basic) accused the U.S. government of not (promoting) the idea of the
>melting pot," Tomasevic said.
>
>Basic believed the U.S. should have said, "Listen, people: you are fingers
>of the same hand. We ... will not tolerate disintegration of your country.
>We will help you reorganize it," said Tomasevic.
>
>Basic had a favorite saying about the end of war, by the 19th century
>Hungarian poet Sandor PetÎfy, that he thought would make a great motto for
>the United Nations:
>
>"What is battlefield glory compared to the beautiful rainbow made by
>breaking the sun's rays through the rain of tears?," Tomasevic said.
>
>"This fellow, Basic, he was a civil engineer," said Tomasevic, "but besides
>his profession, he was a great humanist, a philosopher and a pacifist."
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Herman de Tollenaere
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
Kosovo e Metohija dall'arrivo di KFOR ed UNMIK, tra il 12 giugno 1999 ed
il 13 gennaio 2000 (Yugoslav Daily Survey / Min. Esteri RFJ)
* La morte di Dragoslav Basic (Tom Lochner, "The Times"; in italiano ed
in inglese)
---
Yugoslav Daily Survey - Special Issues
BELGRADE, 18 January 2000
O V E R V I E W
of terrorist and other acts of violence in the province of Kosovo and
Metohija
since the arrival of KFOR and UNMIK in the period from 12 June 1999 to
13
January 2000
1) Number of terrorist attacks: 3,688
Out of which 3,630 were committed against civilians, i.e. 3,433 against
Serbs and Montenegrins, 87 against Albanians and 110 against members of
other nationalities.
2) Number of abducted and missing persons: 688
Out of whom 656 were civilians, i.e. 598 were Serbs and Montenegrins, 36
Albanians and 22 members of other nationalities.
The fate of 559 abducted civilians is still unknown while 64 were
killed.
3) Number of killed persons: 793
Out of whom 772 were civilians, i.e. 684 were Serbs and Montenegrins (22
massacred, 84 mutilated and 5 burned to death), 63 were Albanians and 25
members of other nationalities in Kosovo and Metohija.
4) Number of arbitrarily arrested persons by KFOR:
Serbs accused of allegedly committing "war crimes" are detained in
prisons
in Pristina, Prizren, Sojevo near Urosevac, Kosovska Mitrovica,
Gnjilane,
Lipljan and Kolokot Banja. They have been arrested only on the ground of
information provided by the Albanians of the so-called "KLA" and a large
number of these persons are detained without any court decision.
5) Number of wounded persons: 611
6) Reported cases of physical assault, harassment and inflicted grave
bodily harm: 416
7) Registered cases of threats: 356
8) Registered number of dwellings broken into and forcibly taken
occupancy
of: 776 in Pristina, over 200 in Kosovska Mitrovica, 190 in Gnjilane,
124
in Orahovac, a large number in Kosovo Polje and Lipljan.
9) Ethnic cleansing: Many towns were ethnically cleansed of Serbs and
other
non-Albanians. According to available UNHCR data of September 1999,
about
220 000 mainly Serbs and Montenegrins were driven out of Kosovo and
Metohija.
According to the latest data over 330 000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma,
Muslims, Goranci, Turks and other non-Albanians were expelled, of whom
250
000 are Serbs.
10) Registered number of homes burned down: about 50 000 houses were
burned
down in Kosovo and Metohija.
11) Registered number of stolen vehicles: over 12 000 vehicles. As a
result
of open borders with Macedonia and Albania 250 000 vehicles were brought
into Kosovo and Metohija without payment of customs duties and most of
these vehicles were stolen.
12) Destruction of churches, monasteries and cultural monuments:
About 80 churches, monasteries and other religious buildings and
cultural
monuments were burned down or damaged including the following: the
Church
of Assumption of Our Lady in Dolac, monastery of St. Marco in Korisa
from
1467, monastery of Prophets Kosmo and Damien in Zatociste from 14
century,
the church in Kijev from the 14th century, the Holy Trinity monastery
from
the 14th century near Musutiste, monastery Devic built in 1440, church
of
St. Paraskeva in Drenik from the 16th century, church of St. Dimitri
near
Pec, the Orthodox church in Grmovo near Vitina, church of St. Ilija in
Cegra near Gnjilane, church of Holy Mother in Musutiste from 1315,
church
of Prophet Ilija in Bistricin, church of Apostles Peter and Paul in Suva
Reka, monastery of St. Uros in Nerodimlje, monastery of Archangel
Gabriel
from the 14th century in Binac, church of the Holy Virgin from the 16th
century in Belo Polje, church of St. John the Baptist in Pecka Banja,
churches in the villages of Naklo, Vucitrn, Petrovac, Urosevac,
Podgorce,
Djurakovac, Krusevo, Osojane, Samodreca, Dresna near Klina, Rekovac,
Petric, monastery Dinac near Vitina, Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Djakovica.
Places of worship were attacked, desecrated, demolished and burned down.
Clergy were terrorized and prosecuted. More than 150 parish residences
were
destroyed or damaged. Over 10 000 icons and other sacred objects were
stolen or destroyed.
The following cultural monuments were damaged and demolished:
- monuments in memory of giants of Serbian and Montenegrin literature
Vuk
Karadzic and Petar Petrovic Njegos in the very centre of Pristina;
- monuments in memory of King Uros in Urosevac and King Dusan in
Prizren;
- memorial to Prince Lazar in Gnjilane and the memorial to Serbian
rulers
from the Nemanjic dynasty in the village of Gornje Nerodimlje.
13) Forced and illegal taking over of public institutions:
- forcible and illegal take-overs of premises and buildings of post
offices, banks, medical institutions, water and power supply systems,
university, elementary and secondary schools, municipal and other
authorities of local administration, local communes, buildings of the
Ministry of the Interior and the Army of Yugoslavia, factories,
enterprises, cooperatives, etc. in Pristina (premises of the Clinical
centre "Pristina" and the health station, the Federal Customs
Administration, the Public Housing Company, Institute for Urban
Planning,
the public enterprise "Vodovod", thermal power plant "Kosovo B", depots
and
petrol stations of "Jugopetrol", the share-holding companies
"Kosmet-Pristina", "Kosovo-Trans", the public enterprise "Energoinvest",
the public enterprise "Auto-Pristina", "Car shock absorbers plant",
"Jugotrans", etc.) as well as in Prizren, Dragas, Podujevo, Lipljan,
Strpci, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo Polje (with the assistance of the
members of KFOR), Djakovica (with the assistance of the members of
KFOR).
- by forced and illegal taking over of public enterprises and
institutions
over 20 000 employed Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma, Muslims, Goranci, Turks
and
other non-Albanians were sacked and replaced exclusively by Albanians,
who
are mostly unskilled.
14) Registered armed attacks on villages: Slovinj, Maticane, Orahovac,
Konjuh, Berivojce, Gornja Brnjica, the villages around Kosovska
Kamenica:
Grncar, Magila, Ajvalija, all the villages of the Istok-Klina region,
Goracdevac near Pec, Svinjare, Klokot, Novo Brdo, Zjum, Donja and Gornja
Gusterica, Susica, Badavac, Bresje, Vrbovac, Vitina, Cernice,
(municipality
of Gnjilane), Dobrusa, Veliko Ropotovo (municipality of Kosovska
Kamenica),
Partes (municipality of Gnjilane), Pasjane (municipality of Gnjilane),
Ljestar, Budriga, Dobrotin (municipality of Lipljan), Grncar, Binac,
Ranilug, Silovo, Odovce, Rajanovce, Bosce, Caglavica, Paravolo, Lebane,
Gojbulja, in the following villages in the area of the municipality of
Gora: Brodosvce, Belobrod, Kukavce - frequent attacks against the houses
of
Goranci, Muslims and Albanians who are loyal to the FR of Yugoslavia.
All this runs counter to the assertions about the disarming of the
terrorist "KLA".
15) Registered sieges of villages: Gadnje, Orahovac and Velika Hoca
(population lives in a "ghetto"), Koretin, villages around Gnjilane,
Priluzje, Gornja Srbica, Gorazdevac.
16) Armed threats against villages and terror committed on a daily basis
against non-Albanian population: Ugljari, Srpski Babus, Stimlje, Novo
Selo,
Bresje, the area around Kosovo Polje, Milosevo (against which the armed
attack was carried out), village of Zebnice (dramatic humanitarian
situation), majority of the mainly Croatian Catholic population who
lived
in the villages of Letinice, Vrnez, Vrnavo Kolo and Sasare have moved
out,
Drenovac (50 Serbs massacred), village of Cernice (series of incidents
in
which members of the US contingent of KFOR maltreated Serbs), Pozaranje,
Gotovusa, Gatnje, Zubin Potok, Veliki Alas, Vrelo and Radevo.
(17) The looted Serb villages from which the residents were forced out:
Muzicani, Slivovo, Orlovic, Dragas, the area around Kosovo Polje,
Sofalija,
Livadice, Mirovac, Siriniska zupa, Medregovac, Grace, Zociste, Sofalije,
Dragoljevac, Tomance, Koretin, Lestar, Donja Sipasnica.
(18) Serb neighbourhoods set on fire: Istok, Klina, Donja Lapastica,
Obrandza, Velika Reka, Perane, Lause, the villages around Podujevo,
Grace,
Donja Dubica, Zociste, Orahovac, Naklo, Vitomirice, Belo Polje,
Kojlovice,
Alos-Toplicane, Krajiste, Rudnik, Donji Strmac, Goles (municipality of
Lipljan), Orlovic (municipality of Pristina), Krpimej and Lausa
(municipality of Podujevo), Muzicane (all Serbian houses burned down),
Zaimovo, Denovac, Lesjane, Gornje and Donje Nerodimlje (all Serbian
houses
looted and then burned down), Sinaje (municipality of Istok), Belovac,
Mali
Talinovac, Ljubizda, Klobuka (municipality of Kosovska Kamenica).
(19) Towns and residential areas ethnically cleansed of Serbs, Roma,
Muslims, Goranci and other non-Albanians: Prizren, Djakovica, Pec,
Srbica,
Podujevo, Vucitrn, Glogovac as well as the villages in the municipality
of
Istok: Dzakovo, Osojane, Tuzepom, Kos, Zac, Belica, Krnjine, Maticane,
Kacanik, Stimlje, Kmetovaska Vrbica, surroundings of Urosevac, Slivovo,
Nedakovac, Nevoljane, Vrpica, Ljestar, Zegra (municipality of Gnjilane),
Zitnje, Pozaranje, Grmovo, Drobes, Kabas and Binac (municipality of
Vitina).
- The ethnic cleansing has been in its final stages in Pristina (all the
Serbian population has been driven out of the largest residential
quarters:
Ulpijana, Sun_ani Breg, Dardanija, Univerzitetsko Naselje), Gnjilane,
Urosevac, Kosovska Mitrovica, Lipljan, Kosovo Polje where 80 per cent of
the Serbian population has been expelled (houses burned down, looted,
property seized from the owners of shops, Albanian terrorists maltreat
and
physically abuse Serbs, who refused to sell their houses and move out of
Kosovo and Metohija, before the very eyes of the members of KFOR),
Kosovska
Kamenica, area of Vitina and Kosovsko Pomoravlje, as well as in the
villages of Toplicane, Rujice, Magure, Slovinja, Staro Gracko.
20) Registered number of illegal entries of foreign citizens into the
territory of the FR of Yugoslavia (Kosovo and Metohija) without the
necessary papers (visas and registration of stay with the competent
authorities): 677
Over 200 000 foreigners have illegally entered into the Province with
the
consent of UNMIK and KFOR. The Government of the FR of Yugoslavia has
officially requested their expulsion.
21) Registered number of criminal acts of illicit trafficking and
possession of goods without appropriate documents:137
22) Registered number of cases of violation of the land security zone by
KFOR 236
* * *
REVIEW
OF TERRORIST AND OTHER ACTS OF VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY ALBANIAN
TERRORISTS
IN THE PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA SINCE THE DEPLOYMENT OF KFOR AND
UNMIK
IN THE PERIOD FROM 12 JUNE 1999 TO 13 JANUARY 2000
Terrorism of Albanian separatists
Total number of terrorist attacks 3,688
1. Civilians 3,630
- Serbs and Montenegrins 3,433
- Albanians 87
- members of other nationalities 110
2. Officials and facilities 58
A. Killed 793
1. Civilians 772
- Serbs and Montenegrins 684
- Albanians 63
- members of other nationalities 25
2. Officials 21
B. Wounded 611
1. Civilians 604
- Serbs and Montenegrins 565
- Albanians 18
- members of other nationalities 21
2. Officials 7
C. Kidnapped and missing 688
1. Civilians
656
- Serbs and Montenegrins 598
- Albanians 36
- members of other nationalities 22
2. Officials 32
Fate of kidnapped and missing
1. Killed 69
2. Escaped 6
3. Unaccounted-for 581
4. Released 32
---
>From kfqma@... Mon Jan 24 11:33:22 2000
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 21:37:12 +0100
From: Alessandro Marescotti <kfqma@...>
Reply-To: pck-yugoslavia@...
To: pck-yugoslavia@...
Cc: pck-pcknews@...
Subject: Dragoslav Basic morto per il sogno del Kosovo
Resent-Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 23:53:47 +0100
Resent-From: pck-yugoslavia@...
[The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
[Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
[Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]
Pubblicato Mercoledi 15 Dicembre 1999
Professore dell'Universita' della California morto per il sogno del
Kosovo
Dragoslav Basic era tornato in patria per "costruire un ponte di
umanita' ": e' stato ucciso e i suoi familiari gravemente feriti.
Di Tom Lochner
L'uomo Serbo ucciso da un commando nelle strade di Pristina<
Jugoslavia, due setimane fa, era un ex-residente in Albania e
professore in visita all'Universita' della California , Berkeley, che
era tornato in patria per perseguire il suo sogno di un Kosovo in
armonia.
Amici della baia orientale dicono che Dragoslav Basic, 63 anni, era una
autorevole voce di pace. Nato a Pristina, capitale del Kosovo, Basic
era professore di ingegneria civile, specializzatosi nella costruzione
di ponti ed altri progetti per lavori pubblici in aree ad elevato
rischio sismico.
Ma quando assunse la sua cattedra all'Universita' del Kosovo nel 1990,
dopo un anno e mezzo in California, Basic progetto' un diverso tipo di
ponte.
"Mi disse 'Potrei aiutare la gente a costruire un ponte di umanita' che
nessun terremoto distrugga mai'" ha detto Nick Tomasevic, residente di
Berkley, pilota in pensione ed amico di Basic.
LA mattina del 29 Novembre Basic e' stato tirato fuori dalla sua
macchina con la moglie e la suocera e poi colpito con arma da
fuoco mentre una folla percoteva e torturava le donne tra i
festeggiamenti per la Giornata della Bandiera Albanese (commemorata dal
KLA), la festa che ricorda la nascita del moderno stato Albanese subito
dopo la I Guerra Mondiale.
L'attacco, ampiamente riportato da televisioni, stampa e radio a
livello internazionale, e' stato un segnale visibile e un richiamo alla
rabbia etnica a cui Basic cercava di porre fine.
"Non e' soo stato ucciso a colpi d'arma da fuoco- ha detto Snezana
Landau di El Cerrito, amica di famiglia - gli e' stato saparato come ad
un cane rabbioso in strada, con centinaia di persone che guardavano. E
nessuno ha voluto fare qualcosa".
Si pensa che Basic e sua moglie Dragica, 51, stessero portando la
madre di Dragica, Borka Jovanovic, 74, all'ospedale in seguito ad un
malore dell'anziana donna.
Le donne hanno riportato molteplici ferite e sono state ospedalizzate
a Nis, fuori dal Kosovo, nella Serbia orientale.
"Tomislav, il figlio della coppia, ha visto sua madre a Nis e ha detto
di non averla riconosciuta; racconta Desa Wakeman di Berkley, una
impiegata di una compagnia di leasing in pensionee sorella di
Tomasevic. I parenti di Wakeman hanno parlato con Tomislav per
telefono. " Ha detto: ' mia madre aveva dei bellissimi capelli neri, ma
non li ho potuti vedere tanto era l sangue che li copriva'".
Il martedi Dragica Basic era all'ospedale di Belgrado, quando e' stata
trasferita d'urgenza per un intervento agli occhi. Il giovedi Jovanovic
era nelo stesso ospedale in condizioni critiche.
Al momento della morte di Basic, il corpo studentesco dell'universita'
del Kosovo era diventato prevalentemente di etnia Albanese. Sebbene
insegnasse in Serbo-Croato e in Inglese, Basic aveva acquisito una
quasi completa padronanza della lingua Albanese ed aveva esortato altri
a fare lo stesso.
Una volta mi disse: "Quasi ogni albanese in Kosovo parla serbo-croato,
ogni non albanese in Kosovo dovrebbe parlare la sua bellissima lingua"
ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic era orgoglioso delle sue origini Serbe e fiducioso nel proprio
ruolo nel vecchio e nel nuovo Kosovo.
" questo e' il postoo dove la sua famiglia era vissuta per secoli"
disse Wakeman " erano persone con poca istruzione, serbi ortodossi,
portatori della tradizione serba e conoscitori della storia della zona.
Ecco perche' non hanno mai voluto spostarsi".
Basic consegui' un Master all'universita' del Mississippi alla fine
degli anni 70. Viveva nello University Village, un progetto di
costruzioni di proprieta' dell'univerista' di Berkley UC in Albania.
La figlia della coppia, Nikoleta, si e' dipomata alla scuola superiore
Albany nel 1989; Tomislav ha frequentato la scuola elementare Cornell.
I figli vivono attualmente in Serbia , dove Nikoleta insegna inglese e
Tomislav studia farmacologia.
Basic era presso l'universita' della California nel 1989 quando il
Presidente Yugoslavo Slobodan Milosevic, in piena crescita della
tensione etnica, revoco' lo status del Kosovo come provincia autonoma
all'interno della Repubblica Serba.
"(Basic) aveva un forte dilemma" ha detto Wakeman " disse: ' se tutti
scappano chi restera' la'? "
" Senti' che era suo dovere tornare, non solo come Serbo ma anche come
educatore", ha detto Wakeman " creeva che attraverso l'istruzione
superiore si potesse ottenere qualcosa di buono tra la gente del
Kosovo".
E non solo fra Serbi ed Albanesi, ma anche tra le minoranze Turche,
Greche e Rom della provincia.
In un certo senso Basic stava cercando di reclamare parte della sua
giovinezza.
" Il problema del Kosovo e della Yugoslavia gli premeva
particolarmente, non solo perche' era la sua patria ma perche' era un
esempio del fato che gli esseri umani possono coesistere se ci si mette
una maggior dose di buona volonta' ", ha detto Tomasevic.
I contrasti Cristiano-Musulmani nei Balcani risalgono al 1389, quando
un esercito Serbo fu sconfitto dai Turchi nella battaglia del Kosovo.
Basic era convinto, 600 anni dopo, che fosse tempo per rimarginare
quella ferita. Egli obiettava ai leader politici e religiosi che
perpetuavano la violenza per quello che non avevano detto quanto per
quello che avevano detto.
"BAsic fu molto critico quando Milosevic ando' in Kosovo per la
commemorazione dei 600 anni, per il fatto che non si rivolse alla
popolazione Albanese. Credeva che Milosevic avrebbe dovuto dire 'Cari
fratelli Albanesi: 600 anni fa una catastrofe si abbatte' su tutti noi
ed ora abbiamo un dovere. C'e' abbastanza spazio in Kosovo per tutti
noi".
Basic era convinto che nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale una semplice
lettera enciclica a tutte le Chiese Cattoliche Romane nel mondo, con
un'enfasi sul fatto che Cristo era Ebreo e che la Cristianita' e' una
branca del Giudaismo, avrebe potuto evitare l'Olocausto.
Dopo il suo ritorno Basic espresse disaccordo su cio' che aveva visto
come un ncoraggiamento da parte degli USA di una frammentazione della
Yugoslavia post- Tito. Wakeman e Tomasevic sono tra quelli di etnia
serba che nel 1941 furono 'ripuliti' dalla loro terra natia, la
Croazia, come dice Wakeman.
"BAsic accuso' il governo degli USA di non aver promosso l'idea del
melting pot", ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic credeva che gli USA aavrebbero dovuto dire ' Ascoltate: siete
dita di una stessa mano. Noi non tollereremo la disintegrazione del
vostro paese e vi aiuteremo a riorganizzarlo." ha detto Tomasevic.
Basic aveva una citazione preferita sulla fine della guerra, presa dal
poeta Ungherese del diaciannovesimo secolo Sandor PetÎfy, che pensava
avrebbe potuto diventare un motto per le Nazioni Unite:
" che cosa e' la gloria su un campo di battaglia rispetto al bellissimo
arcobaleno formato dai raggi di sole che filtrano attraverso una
pioggia di lacrime? " ha detto Toamsevic.
"Basic era un ingegnere civile- ha detto Tomasevic-ma oltre la sua
professione, era un grande umanista, un filosofo e un pacifista".
TESTO ORIGINALE (tradotto da Catia Morgetta)
>From: Herman de Tollenaere <hermantl@...>
>Subject: pacifist professor died for Kosovo dream [fwd]
>
>Published Wednesday, December 15, 1999
>
>UC professor died for Kosovo dream
>Dragoslav Basic returned to his homeland to 'build a bridge of humanity'
>over ethnic gulf; he was slain, his family critically injured
>
>There will be a commemorative service for Dragoslav Basic at noon Jan. 16
>at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Moraga.
>
>By Tom Lochner
>TIMES STAFF WRITER
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>----
>
>The Serbian man killed by a mob in the streets of Pristina, Yugoslavia, two
>weeks ago was a former Albany resident and visiting professor at
>UC-Berkeley who went home to pursue his dream of a harmonious Kosovo.
>
>Friends in the East Bay say Dragoslav Basic, 63, was a powerful voice for
>peace.
>
>A native of Pristina, Kosovo's capital, Basic was a professor of civil
>engineering who specialized in the construction of bridges and other public
>works projects in earthquake-prone areas.
>
>But when he took a position at the University of Kosovo in 1990 after 11/2
>years at Cal, Basic envisioned a different kind of bridge.
>
>"He told me 'I could help the people build a bridge of humanity that no
>earthquake could ever destroy,' " said Berkeley resident Nick Tomasevic, a
>retired pilot and friend.
>
>Early in the morning of Nov. 29, Basic was pulled from his car along with
>his wife and mother-in-law, then shot as a crowd beat and tortured the
>women amid revelry on Albanian Flag Day [as celebrated by the KLA], the
>holiday that commemorates the birth of the modern Albanian state in the
>aftermath of World War I.
>
>The attack, reported widely on international television, newspapers and
>radio, was a graphic reminder of the ethnic rage Basic sought to quell.
>
>"It was not like he was just shot and killed," said Snezana Landau of El
>Cerrito, a friend of the family. "He was shot like a mad dog in the street
>with hundreds of people looking on. And nobody wanted to do anything."
>
>Basic and his wife, Dragica, 51, are believed to have been taking Dragica's
>mother, Borka Jovanovic, 74, to a hospital after the older woman fell ill.
>
>The women suffered numerous injuries and were hospitalized in Nis, outside
>Kosovo in eastern Serbia.
>
>"Tomislav (the couple's son) saw his mother in Nis; he said he could not
>recognize her," said Desa Wakeman of Berkeley, a retired executive for a
>leasing company and Tomasevic's sister.
>
>Wakeman's relatives spoke to Tomislav by phone.
>
>"He said, 'My mother, you know, had beautiful black hair, but I couldn't
>see it, there was so much blood.' "
>
>On Tuesday, Dragica Basic was in a Belgrade hospital where she had been
>transferred for emergency eye surgery on Thursday. Jovanovic was in the
>same hospital in critical condition.
>
>By the time of Basic's death, the student body at the University of Kosovo
>had become overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian. Although he taught in
>Serbo-Croatian and English, Basic had become almost fluent in Albanian and
>advocated that others do the same.
>
>"He once said to me, 'Almost every Albanian in Kosovo speaks
>Serbo-Croatian; every non-Albanian in Kosovo should speak their beautiful
>language,' " Tomasevic said.
>
>Basic, a Fulbright scholar, was proud of his Serbian roots and confident of
>his place in the old, and the new, Kosovo.
>
>"This is where his family had lived for centuries," said Wakeman. "They
>were very literate, Serbian Orthodox people, carriers of the Serbian
>tradition, who knew the history of the area. That is why they did not want
>to move."
>
>Basic earned a master's degree at the University of Mississippi in the late
>1970s, friends said. Basic lived at University Village, a UC-Berkeley-owned
>housing project in Albany.
>
>The couple's daughter, Nikoleta, graduated from Albany High School in 1989;
>Tomislav attended Cornell Elementary School. The children live in Serbia
>today, where Nikoleta teaches English and Tomislav studies pharmacology.
>
>Basic was at Cal in 1989 when Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic,
>with ethnic strife on the rise, revoked Kosovo's status as an autonomous
>province within the Serbian Republic.
>
>"(Basic) had a tremendous dilemma," said Wakeman. "He said, 'If everybody
>escapes, who is going to remain there?'
>
>"He felt it was his duty to return, not just as a Serb but as an educator,"
>said Wakeman. "He believed that through higher education, something good
>could be achieved among the people of Kosovo."
>
>And not just among Serbs and Albanians, but the province's Turkish, Greek
>and Rom minorities as well.
>
>In a sense, Basic was trying to reclaim a part of his youth.
>
>"The problem of Kosovo and Yugoslavia affected him terribly, not just
>because it was his homeland but because it was an example that human beings
>could coexist if the good will was applied more often," Tomasevic said.
>
>Christian-Muslim animosity in the Balkans goes back to 1389, when a Serbian
>army fell to the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo. Basic was determined, 600
>years later, that it was time for that wound to heal. He objected to
>political and religious leaders perpetuating violence, often by what they
>failed to say as much as by what they said.
>
>"Basic was very critical when Milosevic went to Kosovo on the commemoration
>of 600 years, that he did not address the Albanian people," Tomasevic said.
>"He believed (Milosevic) should have said, 'Dear brother Albanians: 600
>years ago, a catastrophe happened to all of us, and now we have a duty.
>There is enough room in Kosovo for all of us."
>
>In World War II, Basic believed, "a simple encyclical letter to all the
>Roman Catholic churches in the world, emphasizing that Jesus Christ was
>Jewish, that Christianity is a branch of Judaism, like Islam, too," might
>have staved off the Holocaust, Tomasevic said.
>
>After Basic returned, he lamented what he saw as U.S. encouragement of
>post-Tito Yugoslavia's fragmentation, said Tomasevic. Wakeman and Tomasevic
>are ethnic Serbs who in 1941 were "cleansed" from their native Croatia, as
>Wakeman puts it.
>
>"(Basic) accused the U.S. government of not (promoting) the idea of the
>melting pot," Tomasevic said.
>
>Basic believed the U.S. should have said, "Listen, people: you are fingers
>of the same hand. We ... will not tolerate disintegration of your country.
>We will help you reorganize it," said Tomasevic.
>
>Basic had a favorite saying about the end of war, by the 19th century
>Hungarian poet Sandor PetÎfy, that he thought would make a great motto for
>the United Nations:
>
>"What is battlefield glory compared to the beautiful rainbow made by
>breaking the sun's rays through the rain of tears?," Tomasevic said.
>
>"This fellow, Basic, he was a civil engineer," said Tomasevic, "but besides
>his profession, he was a great humanist, a philosopher and a pacifist."
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Herman de Tollenaere
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
------------------------------------------------------------
La seguente intervista, pubblicata sul quotidiano ``Politika'' e poi
riprodotta sul sito del Ministero dell'Informazione della Serbia
www.serbia-info.com/news/1999-12/31/16573.html
e' stata rilasciata da Slobodan Milosevic in occasione del Capodanno
2000.
Ne riportiamo i passaggi politicamente piu' rilevanti. CRJ
---
December 31, 1999
Federal President Slobodan Miloševic
agreed to an interview for "Politika"
daily. In a lengthy conversation with
the "Politika" Editor-in-Chief - Mr.
Hadži Dragan Antic, President Miloševic
replied to all the 15 questions
concerning the position, the efforts
and the development prospectives of our
nation, as well as the standpoints
related to key political issues
pertaining to the present and the
future.
The interview took place on Wednesday
December 29th, at the presidential
palace.
(...)
During the year we are about to leave
behind the pressure and the attacks our
country has been facing for the last
ten years have culminated. What is it
that the West wants?
- The West wants to seize control of
the entire world. The most developed
part of the global community, usually
called the West, is determined to force
the world around to serve its needs and
interests. Rich countries want to
become even richer. To do that, they
need other countries to become sources
of their constant and unlimited
accumulation of wealth. For the time
being, the most developed part of the
world is rather concerted. At least it
seems to be. But, along with their need
for expansion, their mutual envy will
grow stringer. Such rivalry might hurl
the world - both the developed and the
under-developed world - into a series
of major, tragic conflicts, which might
prove catastrophic for all mankind.
Let us hope that the developed
countries will realize the threat they
represent for themselves in this world
of ours. Still we should hope that the
rest of the world will find the
strength to unite and oppose the
downfall that is inevitable if we are
to wait for things to be solved
spontaneously. In life no solution
comes about by itself. At least no
major and important solution. Everyone
should contribute to the shaping of a
better and a more just world in the
coming century.
I believe that the positive trend that
marked the 20th century will override
the destructiveness that - especially
towards the end of the century - has
grown quite strong.
The Chinese embassy in Belgrade has
been bombed during the war. The
Yugoslavs have grasped the meaning of
it. So did the Chinese. What is your
evaluation of our relations with that
part of the world?
- The Chinese embassy was targeted
deliberately and after serious
planning. It was a message for China to
the effect that in world affairs it
hardly has more influence than
Yugoslavia. That it might even face the
fate of Yugoslavia should it fail to
show obedience to the new world order.
The message was addressed to China not
only because it constitutes a potential
threat to this order, but also because
it publicly and repeatedly condemned
the aggression on Yugoslavia.
Naturally, the message inherent in the
bombing of the Chinese embassy has been
understood by the Chinese, the
Yugoslavs and everyone else. The
message wasn't a complicated or an
ambiguous one. In fact, the West isn't
capable of sending messages to the East
that the East would view as mysteries
it can't understand. Only the other way
around might occur. That's why the
Chinese have not only realized the
message quickly, but gave a quick
answer as well. Not only on the
government level, but also on the level
of ordinary people. Their reply was
that they shall defend their country
fiercely, that they are determined to
develop rapidly and that in
international relations they shall
always endorse peace, equality among
nations and the right of every country
to shape its future autonomously...
With these stands, China is very close
to Yugoslavia, but probably also to all
other peoples and countries that risk
facing aggression and humiliation
tomorrow. Our relations with China are
extremely friendly, our cooperation
with China is comprehensive - economic,
scientific, cultural... We plan to
develop and enhance it in the spirit of
common interests and benefit for both
countries.
Do you think that the future of
Montenegro lies within the Federal
Republic?
- The best solution for Montenegro is
the one that suits the Montenegrin
people. If the Montenegrins believe
that their life without Yugoslavia
would be a better one, then they have
the right to make such a choice. And
vice-versa. If the people of Montenegro
believe that life within Yugoslavia is
the optimum choice, then they should
keep it.
In that case, they must honor the rules
of the game imposed by such life in
common with another nation or another
federal entity. First of all the
Constitution that they have - obviously
- adopted jointly. The Constitution
can, naturally, be changed and it is
good to make changes in it. We live in
dynamic times and it is logical that a
state is to be managed more dynamically
than in the past, keeping in step with
the rhythm of changes that take place.
Life in common is simple and easy for
those that are determined to live
together, and difficult and unpleasant
for those that live together forcibly.
When life together entails imposition,
it is not only difficult and
unpleasant, but it has no prospective.
Lessons have been learnt from the
aggression on Yugoslavia. The rich and
mighty - that a local war and not only
a global one can be a dangerous
adventure even when the enemy is
considered inferior, and the poor and
small and all other nations were faced
with the fact that they shall continue
being poor, insignificant, other,
unless they choose to change it.
At the end of a century in which two
big, tragic wars have been fought, and
practically countless little ones, the
greatest military power assaulted us,
or to be more precise, newly assaulted
us. What is your interpretation of this
occurrence in view of the future of our
country, but of the future of mankind
as well?
- The aggression on the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia was supposed to
be a lesson for all disobedient nations
in the world, to make them realize that
the order of things dictated from a
single place must be respected. With
the aggression on FR Yugoslavia
international organizations have been
suspended, first of all the United
Nations, as the most important
organization that had the task of
arbitrating international conflicts and
controversies. The aggression on
Yugoslavia also deferred international
law and initiated a process for the
abolition of the sovereignty of every
country - big or small - standing in
the way of an order it did not help
create, and that dared voice its
opinion without being asked, or even
dared to rebel. Our country took a
stand, rebelled and hence faced
retaliation.
I would like to stress in particular
the major experience Yugoslavia, and
particularly Serbia have in
international politics, and their
openness for all forms of cooperation
with the immediate environment, but
also with the most distant countries in
the world. We have always been open for
all those that wanted to be here and
had a positive attitude towards those
that wanted to be with us. It is
characteristic of our nation. It is
also our historical heritage.
But this characteristic and heritage do
not include renouncing to the right to
freedom and independence.
For its entire duration, the aggression
kept our nation unified. Everyone knows
that from the very beginning of the
aggression the unity of our heroic
people amazed the world. At least that
part of the world which has free media,
where there's no censorship and where
correspondents reporting the truth and
journalists commenting in favor of it
(the truth) do not risk loosing their
jobs. But the unity of our people faced
with threats and difficulties during
the war is not the only issue. It was a
united, proud and enthusiastic
resistance to the aggressor that was
preparing to become the occupying
power. It was a rare and magnificent
resistance they never expected. The
feeling of invincibility, superiority,
obstinacy, goodness - resulted in a
specific resistance, admired in the
countries where the media are free, and
concealed from the public in the
countries where censorship and
autocracy rule.
But in those countries they also hid
everything else concerning Yugoslavia
and themselves. First of all the truth
that Yugoslavia is by no means an
aggressor. That it was victim of
unprovoked aggression by countries
portraying as the aggressor in order to
use this alleged aggression as an
excuse for the war they started against
it. Partially to teach a lesson, and to
a greater extent to secure their
interests. To seize control of the
Balkans - strategically important both
in the military and economic sense -
and also to use this peninsula as a
beachhead for taking hold of even more
militarily and economically important
regions - in the East: Near and Far.
Lessons have been learnt from the
aggression on Yugoslavia. The rich and
mighty - that a local war and not only
a global one can be a dangerous
adventure even when the enemy is
considered inferior, and the poor and
small and all other nations were faced
with the fact that they shall continue
being poor, insignificant, other,
unless they choose to change it.
Albanian separatists and their NATO
sponsors want to seize Kosovo and
Metohija. What will become of Kosovo
and Metohija?
- Albanian separatism in Kosovo and Metohija
failed to reach its goal even after it brought in
the most powerful ally on the planet in the
shape of NATO and its war machinery.
Warranties of our sovereignty and territorial
integrity are not the result of a unilateral
position but rather conditions under which the war was stopped. These
guarantees that we have accepted are for us final and unchangeable. All
decisions contrary to the guarantees contained in the Ahtisari -
Chernomyrdin Plan and UN SC Resolution 1244 are illegal and void for
us. The presence of the security forces under the auspices of the UN is
temporary. We have to endure and display great patience. NO one can
take Kosovo away from us.
In final instance 1999 will always be remembered here as a war
year. Evil forces attacked us bringing death and destruction. Will
they answer for it and will the immense damages we have suffered
be compensated?
- The question of their responsibility is not a future issue, it is a
question
raised already throughout the world, although it is still mostly limited
to
moral condemnation. Nevertheless everyone expects them to answer for
all this. We do because we have suffered vast material destruction, we
had quite a number of casualties, all people in Serbia went through
terrible
stress, and all this without objectively provoking anyone in the world
to
inflict such evil upon us. Many are those around the world that hope the
criminals shall answer - many world public segments, entire countries,
the
majority of the population, all normal people. But those that
responsibility
falls upon, also fear it. We do not live in times of Hun invasions,
allowing
massacres against nations and crimes against people to be committed
without fear of punishment, except maybe individual.
Half way through this century Fascism had to answer before mankind. I
am confident that this neo-Fascist beast shall also face judgement in
its
time, before entire mankind and in contemporary - not some distant -
history.
As far as compensations are concerned, they go along with the
responsibility. Should the so-called international community fail to
identify
those responsible for the crime against our country, then it is to
assume the
responsibility itself, as well as the compensation of the damages that
can
be paid with money.
The decision to launch a process of rapid, intense reconstruction of
that
has been damaged by the bombing, was not based on the hope that the
reconstruction can rely on the payment of war damages. The decision was
based on the conviction that we are capable of relying on our own forces
and that we shall do everything possible to rebuild and make operational
as quickly as possible all those facilities that have vital importance
for the
country. Naturally, in this reconstruction effort, we enjoy the support
of
certain countries, various foreign companies and numerous individuals
throughout the world. Still, for the time being, the decisive source of
financing of the reconstruction is our own country.
(...) We continue to live with
moderation and self-denial, but also with great efforts; it seems
that even the countries around us, especially former socialist
countries still haven't caught up with us in spite of the fact that
they did not face sanctions and went through a series of
transitions. Do you believe that we can prosper economically even
without the World Bank and the famous IMF?
- Certainly. In the year that lies ahead of us, priority objectives,
along with
the renewal of the country involve development, increase of agricultural
and industrial production, growth of wages, living standard and
employment. The reconstruction of the country is proceeding quickly and
with success. Everything also favors the rapid and successful
realization of
our development objectives. Still, I see no reason why we should be
denied the support you have mentioned. If the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank really are international and really belong to
the
world, then they ought to endorse the interests of all countries and all
nations. Selective support to chosen countries and only given nations
invalidates their international institution character. In that case, the
support
of such institutions shall be denied to many countries not appearing on
the
favorites' list of the financial lobby abusing the name of the
International
Fund and the World Bank for the realization of its extremely partial
interests.
This is becoming increasingly clear not only to financial experts and
skilled
politicians, but to the general public as well. Recently we had the
opportunity to see the humiliating end of the World Trade Organization
meeting in Seattle, where hundreds, thousands of people from the US,
and from all over the world protested against the abuse of this
international organization by the US and its efforts to impose its
interests -
fully, openly and quite brutally - to all, including its partners in
Europe -
the most developed West European countries. The degradation of world
institutions such as the UN, the IMF, the World Bank... or regional
structures such as OSCE, by placing them at the service of Washington's
interests, does not have a negative effect only. It activates the need
of all
free countries in the world to face the threat of hegemonism more
quickly
and more efficiently.
But to go back to the final part of your question concerning our
international economic and financial cooperation. We have no intention
of
isolating ourselves. That's exactly what our foes are hoping for. That's
why
they are upholding the sanctions. We are countering it by establishing
ties
and cooperation with numerous countries in the free world - with the
whole planet. The fact that according to the NATO dictate we are not
being financed by the IMF and the World Bank, did not prevent us from
securing a set of credit arrangements with friendly countries, totaling
more
than the support allocated to all the neighboring countries, even though
they enjoy the support - at least verbal - of the IMF, the European
Union,
the World Bank and America.
You are head of state but also
leader of the strongest political
party in the country. The
Socialist Party of Serbia will
soon hold its congress. What do
You expect from it?
- I expect that the Socialist Party of Serbia shall maintain the
patriotic
heading it has been following ever since its foundation in 1990. Ten
years
we have been defending our country and our people. Some people
realized the country was under attack only when bombs started falling.
But if we hadn't defended the country before, all those long ten years,
we
wouldn't have managed to defend it when the bombing started.
Acting in the most difficult period in this century for the Serbian
people
and Serbian citizens, the SPS has strived to find the right answers to
the
challenges presented by the times we lived in. The citizens trusted this
answer for an entire decade and voted for SPS in all the elections we
had.
This constitutes a major support for our conviction that we managed to
find the right answers for difficult, tormented, unfortunate times.
Maybe
this answer wasn't always the best possible, and maybe better ones might
have been found. It is however important that we acted with the best
intentions, that we made great efforts, and that we are ready to face
the
facts and shape our policy accordingly.
Furthermore, SPS will try to contribute to the strengthening of the
leftist
block now growing in our country and acquiring a new face. There's
nothing illogical in the fact that other leftwing parties different from
SPS
exist. After all, the Left has always been a highly diversified front
encompassing very different leftist, progressive and avant-garde stands.
Furthermore, since our country faced enormous foreign pressure
culminating this spring with the aggression on Yugoslavia, I think that
this is
no time for great and tempestuous party passions, and certainly no time
for such conflicts between the parties. I believe that in the time we
are
living in, all parties that value their country above all, that believe
the love
for one's country is the most profound feeling, that are guided by
patriotism in all their political activities, should find a common
approach in
the efforts to alleviate these dire times for their people, and to
jointly bring
about happier times for all the citizens, for the entire country.
This is why I am certain that at the congress and after it SPS will
build the
spirit of a patriotic front and true solidarity and cooperation with all
those
that wish their country well - peace, economic prosperity, modern
cultural
development, cooperation on equal footing with all the countries in the
world.
Is the unification of Russia and Belorussia a sign of the renewal
and stronger ties between the former Soviet Union countries, and
is this also an indication of broader integration processes
involving Russia, China and India creating a counterbalance for
America?
- The unification of Russia and Belorussia is an indication of a
potential
rapprochement and establishing of ties between Eur-Asian nations and
countries that might mark - should stronger and more rapid ties be
established - the beginning of the establishment of global balance which
was completely abolished at the beginning of the nineties. The
cancellation
of the Warsaw Pact and the League of East European Countries not only
undermined the world balance, but gave a free hand to the members of
the surviving block, primarily to the NATO military alliance, to redraw
the
borders of countries, regulate countries, cause wars, introduce
sanctions,
punish the recalcitrant, award the obedient and submissive and generally
organize the entire world to their liking.
This is why any form of serious, and especially major, association
anywhere in the world constitutes a chance to establish the balance
which
has been missing for a decade and a chance to protect mankind from
hegemonism and violence which accompanies it inevitably.
Our Parliament endorsed the project for the adherence of our
country to the commonwealth of Russia and Belorussia. Now that
this community has been formalized, what is the prospect of our
status being also formalized within it?
- We stand fast in this decision and hope that in the foreseeable and
not a
very distant future we shall join this alliance. I hope this will be in
the
interest of our country, but also in the interest of bringing together
Slav
and other nations having a common goal to live in peace and evolve
freely.
Big countries like China, Russia, India, as well as the Arab world,
Latin America and Africa, undoubtedly support our just struggle
for independence and territorial integrity. The European public,
also is increasingly becoming aware to which extent has
Yugoslavia first been demonized by the media, and then brutally
attacked by NATO countries. What is you view of the relations
with Europe and with the other countries and regions I
mentioned?
- First of all, we are not out of Europe. We are a European country. The
question can be raised how will our relations evolve with the European
Union countries, or with the countries that have taken part in the
aggression on Yugoslavia, or with the neighboring countries, etc. The
answers are quite different. Except one. We are willing to cooperate
with
the whole world and hence with all the countries on our continent.
Obviously we are most interested in cooperation with the countries from
our own continent.
But for cooperation on equal footing. For cooperation that can help the
development of our country and for cooperation that will give us a
chance
to help the development of others, of all. In all times, and especially
in our
times, everyone must rely on others, all communications are precious,
everyone can contribute to his wellbeing and that of others, at the same
time even.
With the neighboring countries we will implement cooperation -
successful
and mutual to the extent that they are prepared and available for such
collaboration. This is also the case of our cooperation with Eastern
Europe countries. These countries can learn much from Yugoslav
experience, particularly from what happened to us this spring. From
their
experience we have drawn precious lessons and our conviction that we
must confront hegemonism partially results from those lessons.
As far as the countries that took part in the aggression on Yugoslavia
are
concerned, we will have relations with them as states, with their
institutions
and organizations, commensurate to their good will to help remove the
effects of the evil they have done to us.
The West should find the courage and moral strength to face the guilt
for
the crimes committed in the aggression on Yugoslavia. Otherwise it will
loose all self-respect. The longer it hesitates, the greater shall be
its shame.
And some new Willy Brandt will have to come up and tell the truth.
We often hear that the media have greatly contributed to the
creation of the bad image of our country. Can you draw a
comparison between foreign media and domestic media?
- In Yugoslavia, and primarily in Serbia, there' s absolute freedom in
the
operation of all media. Most of the media belongs to the private sector.
In
our country there's no state control of the media. However, a
significant
percentage of television and radio stations and printed media is
financially
and politically under the full control of given western governments or
their
institutions operating as non-government organizations and they have the
task to promote the destabilization of Yugoslavia, to discredit all the
efforts of the Yugoslav authorities for the reconstruction and
development
of the country, to stir up public diffidence, suspicion and intolerance
for all
that the legally elected government is doing, to depict in the worse
possible way government officials and their families, to belittle all
the
progressive and humane achievement made in our country, to question the
very sense of freedom, independence and patriotism, to represent our
people as inferior, stupid, retrograde and conservative unlike
"sophisticated" nations that are rational, educated, smart, progressive
etc.
Such "freedom" of the media, is obviously more than freedom. The Public
Information Law, passed by the Serbian Parliament two years ago,
prepared as a compilation of corresponding laws in a number of western,
introduced certain moderate means of protecting the truth, the dignity
of
the country and its citizens, the right of the individual not to be
humiliated,
i.e. to be protected from slander, intrigue etc. This law was greatly
opposed by a segment of opposition parties and part of the media sector
that are under foreign influence. Their objections have been promptly
echoed and joined by their mentors abroad that consult no one about the
laws they adopt in their own country, but deem themselves authorized to
shape the laws of other countries. On the other hand, they rigorously
apply far more radical and stricter laws not only on public media but
other
domains as well, and never dream of engage in polemics about those laws
with foreign governments or television stations.
Our institutions and individuals have made an effort to honor this law,
but
lately its enforcement is rather feeble and in practice we are nearly
back in
the phase of media irresponsibility that we faced in the past ten years
or
so.
As far as the media abroad are concerned, in most countries, and
especially in developed western countries, the situation is quite
different.
All media there - both private and state owned, are under intense
government control. All that the government deems contrary to the
interests of its current policy can not appear in the media, or it is
published
at the risk of facing diverse forms of retribution for going against the
will of
the authorities - such consequences can be financial, political, moral,
physical...
In western democracies, all media are dependent on their owner - state,
corporate or individual. Still, in final instance the state has the
decisive role
in the responsibility of the media. This is quite logical because modern
media play an important part in conflicts of interests, in clashes of
concepts, in creating the vision of global and regional development, in
determining the fate of the community and its individual members, in
shaping the life every single person.
What would you like to wish to the people of Yugoslavia for the
coming year 2000?
- I wish our country peace. That it may develop swiftly, successfully
and
in step with the times. I wish it to cooperate with the whole world, on
grounds of parity and mutual interest. The people of Yugoslavia, the
people of Serbia in particular, should never forget the violence we have
faced this year. The memory of all that evil shall shield us and other
nations from new, future violence.
The new century shall be better and nicer than this one only if mankind
manages to triumph against violence, first of all wars, but also against
its
other forms all the way down to the family level - between sexes and
generations.
Should the 21st century bring about the victory of peace, good will,
solidarity and equality among men, humanity shall be able to say that
all
the lives sacrificed throughout the centuries for those were not
immolated
in vain. That the enormous efforts to make those ideals come true made
by noble and courageous men throughout history had a purpose and
brought about results. I believe that in the coming century our people
will
achieve the tranquility and prosperity it well deserves. Therefore I
wish all
of us unity and concord that we may deserve and reach these happier
times - President Slobodan Miloševic said at the end of his interview
for
"Politika". H. D. A.
Copyright © 1998, 1999 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
riprodotta sul sito del Ministero dell'Informazione della Serbia
www.serbia-info.com/news/1999-12/31/16573.html
e' stata rilasciata da Slobodan Milosevic in occasione del Capodanno
2000.
Ne riportiamo i passaggi politicamente piu' rilevanti. CRJ
---
December 31, 1999
Federal President Slobodan Miloševic
agreed to an interview for "Politika"
daily. In a lengthy conversation with
the "Politika" Editor-in-Chief - Mr.
Hadži Dragan Antic, President Miloševic
replied to all the 15 questions
concerning the position, the efforts
and the development prospectives of our
nation, as well as the standpoints
related to key political issues
pertaining to the present and the
future.
The interview took place on Wednesday
December 29th, at the presidential
palace.
(...)
During the year we are about to leave
behind the pressure and the attacks our
country has been facing for the last
ten years have culminated. What is it
that the West wants?
- The West wants to seize control of
the entire world. The most developed
part of the global community, usually
called the West, is determined to force
the world around to serve its needs and
interests. Rich countries want to
become even richer. To do that, they
need other countries to become sources
of their constant and unlimited
accumulation of wealth. For the time
being, the most developed part of the
world is rather concerted. At least it
seems to be. But, along with their need
for expansion, their mutual envy will
grow stringer. Such rivalry might hurl
the world - both the developed and the
under-developed world - into a series
of major, tragic conflicts, which might
prove catastrophic for all mankind.
Let us hope that the developed
countries will realize the threat they
represent for themselves in this world
of ours. Still we should hope that the
rest of the world will find the
strength to unite and oppose the
downfall that is inevitable if we are
to wait for things to be solved
spontaneously. In life no solution
comes about by itself. At least no
major and important solution. Everyone
should contribute to the shaping of a
better and a more just world in the
coming century.
I believe that the positive trend that
marked the 20th century will override
the destructiveness that - especially
towards the end of the century - has
grown quite strong.
The Chinese embassy in Belgrade has
been bombed during the war. The
Yugoslavs have grasped the meaning of
it. So did the Chinese. What is your
evaluation of our relations with that
part of the world?
- The Chinese embassy was targeted
deliberately and after serious
planning. It was a message for China to
the effect that in world affairs it
hardly has more influence than
Yugoslavia. That it might even face the
fate of Yugoslavia should it fail to
show obedience to the new world order.
The message was addressed to China not
only because it constitutes a potential
threat to this order, but also because
it publicly and repeatedly condemned
the aggression on Yugoslavia.
Naturally, the message inherent in the
bombing of the Chinese embassy has been
understood by the Chinese, the
Yugoslavs and everyone else. The
message wasn't a complicated or an
ambiguous one. In fact, the West isn't
capable of sending messages to the East
that the East would view as mysteries
it can't understand. Only the other way
around might occur. That's why the
Chinese have not only realized the
message quickly, but gave a quick
answer as well. Not only on the
government level, but also on the level
of ordinary people. Their reply was
that they shall defend their country
fiercely, that they are determined to
develop rapidly and that in
international relations they shall
always endorse peace, equality among
nations and the right of every country
to shape its future autonomously...
With these stands, China is very close
to Yugoslavia, but probably also to all
other peoples and countries that risk
facing aggression and humiliation
tomorrow. Our relations with China are
extremely friendly, our cooperation
with China is comprehensive - economic,
scientific, cultural... We plan to
develop and enhance it in the spirit of
common interests and benefit for both
countries.
Do you think that the future of
Montenegro lies within the Federal
Republic?
- The best solution for Montenegro is
the one that suits the Montenegrin
people. If the Montenegrins believe
that their life without Yugoslavia
would be a better one, then they have
the right to make such a choice. And
vice-versa. If the people of Montenegro
believe that life within Yugoslavia is
the optimum choice, then they should
keep it.
In that case, they must honor the rules
of the game imposed by such life in
common with another nation or another
federal entity. First of all the
Constitution that they have - obviously
- adopted jointly. The Constitution
can, naturally, be changed and it is
good to make changes in it. We live in
dynamic times and it is logical that a
state is to be managed more dynamically
than in the past, keeping in step with
the rhythm of changes that take place.
Life in common is simple and easy for
those that are determined to live
together, and difficult and unpleasant
for those that live together forcibly.
When life together entails imposition,
it is not only difficult and
unpleasant, but it has no prospective.
Lessons have been learnt from the
aggression on Yugoslavia. The rich and
mighty - that a local war and not only
a global one can be a dangerous
adventure even when the enemy is
considered inferior, and the poor and
small and all other nations were faced
with the fact that they shall continue
being poor, insignificant, other,
unless they choose to change it.
At the end of a century in which two
big, tragic wars have been fought, and
practically countless little ones, the
greatest military power assaulted us,
or to be more precise, newly assaulted
us. What is your interpretation of this
occurrence in view of the future of our
country, but of the future of mankind
as well?
- The aggression on the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia was supposed to
be a lesson for all disobedient nations
in the world, to make them realize that
the order of things dictated from a
single place must be respected. With
the aggression on FR Yugoslavia
international organizations have been
suspended, first of all the United
Nations, as the most important
organization that had the task of
arbitrating international conflicts and
controversies. The aggression on
Yugoslavia also deferred international
law and initiated a process for the
abolition of the sovereignty of every
country - big or small - standing in
the way of an order it did not help
create, and that dared voice its
opinion without being asked, or even
dared to rebel. Our country took a
stand, rebelled and hence faced
retaliation.
I would like to stress in particular
the major experience Yugoslavia, and
particularly Serbia have in
international politics, and their
openness for all forms of cooperation
with the immediate environment, but
also with the most distant countries in
the world. We have always been open for
all those that wanted to be here and
had a positive attitude towards those
that wanted to be with us. It is
characteristic of our nation. It is
also our historical heritage.
But this characteristic and heritage do
not include renouncing to the right to
freedom and independence.
For its entire duration, the aggression
kept our nation unified. Everyone knows
that from the very beginning of the
aggression the unity of our heroic
people amazed the world. At least that
part of the world which has free media,
where there's no censorship and where
correspondents reporting the truth and
journalists commenting in favor of it
(the truth) do not risk loosing their
jobs. But the unity of our people faced
with threats and difficulties during
the war is not the only issue. It was a
united, proud and enthusiastic
resistance to the aggressor that was
preparing to become the occupying
power. It was a rare and magnificent
resistance they never expected. The
feeling of invincibility, superiority,
obstinacy, goodness - resulted in a
specific resistance, admired in the
countries where the media are free, and
concealed from the public in the
countries where censorship and
autocracy rule.
But in those countries they also hid
everything else concerning Yugoslavia
and themselves. First of all the truth
that Yugoslavia is by no means an
aggressor. That it was victim of
unprovoked aggression by countries
portraying as the aggressor in order to
use this alleged aggression as an
excuse for the war they started against
it. Partially to teach a lesson, and to
a greater extent to secure their
interests. To seize control of the
Balkans - strategically important both
in the military and economic sense -
and also to use this peninsula as a
beachhead for taking hold of even more
militarily and economically important
regions - in the East: Near and Far.
Lessons have been learnt from the
aggression on Yugoslavia. The rich and
mighty - that a local war and not only
a global one can be a dangerous
adventure even when the enemy is
considered inferior, and the poor and
small and all other nations were faced
with the fact that they shall continue
being poor, insignificant, other,
unless they choose to change it.
Albanian separatists and their NATO
sponsors want to seize Kosovo and
Metohija. What will become of Kosovo
and Metohija?
- Albanian separatism in Kosovo and Metohija
failed to reach its goal even after it brought in
the most powerful ally on the planet in the
shape of NATO and its war machinery.
Warranties of our sovereignty and territorial
integrity are not the result of a unilateral
position but rather conditions under which the war was stopped. These
guarantees that we have accepted are for us final and unchangeable. All
decisions contrary to the guarantees contained in the Ahtisari -
Chernomyrdin Plan and UN SC Resolution 1244 are illegal and void for
us. The presence of the security forces under the auspices of the UN is
temporary. We have to endure and display great patience. NO one can
take Kosovo away from us.
In final instance 1999 will always be remembered here as a war
year. Evil forces attacked us bringing death and destruction. Will
they answer for it and will the immense damages we have suffered
be compensated?
- The question of their responsibility is not a future issue, it is a
question
raised already throughout the world, although it is still mostly limited
to
moral condemnation. Nevertheless everyone expects them to answer for
all this. We do because we have suffered vast material destruction, we
had quite a number of casualties, all people in Serbia went through
terrible
stress, and all this without objectively provoking anyone in the world
to
inflict such evil upon us. Many are those around the world that hope the
criminals shall answer - many world public segments, entire countries,
the
majority of the population, all normal people. But those that
responsibility
falls upon, also fear it. We do not live in times of Hun invasions,
allowing
massacres against nations and crimes against people to be committed
without fear of punishment, except maybe individual.
Half way through this century Fascism had to answer before mankind. I
am confident that this neo-Fascist beast shall also face judgement in
its
time, before entire mankind and in contemporary - not some distant -
history.
As far as compensations are concerned, they go along with the
responsibility. Should the so-called international community fail to
identify
those responsible for the crime against our country, then it is to
assume the
responsibility itself, as well as the compensation of the damages that
can
be paid with money.
The decision to launch a process of rapid, intense reconstruction of
that
has been damaged by the bombing, was not based on the hope that the
reconstruction can rely on the payment of war damages. The decision was
based on the conviction that we are capable of relying on our own forces
and that we shall do everything possible to rebuild and make operational
as quickly as possible all those facilities that have vital importance
for the
country. Naturally, in this reconstruction effort, we enjoy the support
of
certain countries, various foreign companies and numerous individuals
throughout the world. Still, for the time being, the decisive source of
financing of the reconstruction is our own country.
(...) We continue to live with
moderation and self-denial, but also with great efforts; it seems
that even the countries around us, especially former socialist
countries still haven't caught up with us in spite of the fact that
they did not face sanctions and went through a series of
transitions. Do you believe that we can prosper economically even
without the World Bank and the famous IMF?
- Certainly. In the year that lies ahead of us, priority objectives,
along with
the renewal of the country involve development, increase of agricultural
and industrial production, growth of wages, living standard and
employment. The reconstruction of the country is proceeding quickly and
with success. Everything also favors the rapid and successful
realization of
our development objectives. Still, I see no reason why we should be
denied the support you have mentioned. If the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank really are international and really belong to
the
world, then they ought to endorse the interests of all countries and all
nations. Selective support to chosen countries and only given nations
invalidates their international institution character. In that case, the
support
of such institutions shall be denied to many countries not appearing on
the
favorites' list of the financial lobby abusing the name of the
International
Fund and the World Bank for the realization of its extremely partial
interests.
This is becoming increasingly clear not only to financial experts and
skilled
politicians, but to the general public as well. Recently we had the
opportunity to see the humiliating end of the World Trade Organization
meeting in Seattle, where hundreds, thousands of people from the US,
and from all over the world protested against the abuse of this
international organization by the US and its efforts to impose its
interests -
fully, openly and quite brutally - to all, including its partners in
Europe -
the most developed West European countries. The degradation of world
institutions such as the UN, the IMF, the World Bank... or regional
structures such as OSCE, by placing them at the service of Washington's
interests, does not have a negative effect only. It activates the need
of all
free countries in the world to face the threat of hegemonism more
quickly
and more efficiently.
But to go back to the final part of your question concerning our
international economic and financial cooperation. We have no intention
of
isolating ourselves. That's exactly what our foes are hoping for. That's
why
they are upholding the sanctions. We are countering it by establishing
ties
and cooperation with numerous countries in the free world - with the
whole planet. The fact that according to the NATO dictate we are not
being financed by the IMF and the World Bank, did not prevent us from
securing a set of credit arrangements with friendly countries, totaling
more
than the support allocated to all the neighboring countries, even though
they enjoy the support - at least verbal - of the IMF, the European
Union,
the World Bank and America.
You are head of state but also
leader of the strongest political
party in the country. The
Socialist Party of Serbia will
soon hold its congress. What do
You expect from it?
- I expect that the Socialist Party of Serbia shall maintain the
patriotic
heading it has been following ever since its foundation in 1990. Ten
years
we have been defending our country and our people. Some people
realized the country was under attack only when bombs started falling.
But if we hadn't defended the country before, all those long ten years,
we
wouldn't have managed to defend it when the bombing started.
Acting in the most difficult period in this century for the Serbian
people
and Serbian citizens, the SPS has strived to find the right answers to
the
challenges presented by the times we lived in. The citizens trusted this
answer for an entire decade and voted for SPS in all the elections we
had.
This constitutes a major support for our conviction that we managed to
find the right answers for difficult, tormented, unfortunate times.
Maybe
this answer wasn't always the best possible, and maybe better ones might
have been found. It is however important that we acted with the best
intentions, that we made great efforts, and that we are ready to face
the
facts and shape our policy accordingly.
Furthermore, SPS will try to contribute to the strengthening of the
leftist
block now growing in our country and acquiring a new face. There's
nothing illogical in the fact that other leftwing parties different from
SPS
exist. After all, the Left has always been a highly diversified front
encompassing very different leftist, progressive and avant-garde stands.
Furthermore, since our country faced enormous foreign pressure
culminating this spring with the aggression on Yugoslavia, I think that
this is
no time for great and tempestuous party passions, and certainly no time
for such conflicts between the parties. I believe that in the time we
are
living in, all parties that value their country above all, that believe
the love
for one's country is the most profound feeling, that are guided by
patriotism in all their political activities, should find a common
approach in
the efforts to alleviate these dire times for their people, and to
jointly bring
about happier times for all the citizens, for the entire country.
This is why I am certain that at the congress and after it SPS will
build the
spirit of a patriotic front and true solidarity and cooperation with all
those
that wish their country well - peace, economic prosperity, modern
cultural
development, cooperation on equal footing with all the countries in the
world.
Is the unification of Russia and Belorussia a sign of the renewal
and stronger ties between the former Soviet Union countries, and
is this also an indication of broader integration processes
involving Russia, China and India creating a counterbalance for
America?
- The unification of Russia and Belorussia is an indication of a
potential
rapprochement and establishing of ties between Eur-Asian nations and
countries that might mark - should stronger and more rapid ties be
established - the beginning of the establishment of global balance which
was completely abolished at the beginning of the nineties. The
cancellation
of the Warsaw Pact and the League of East European Countries not only
undermined the world balance, but gave a free hand to the members of
the surviving block, primarily to the NATO military alliance, to redraw
the
borders of countries, regulate countries, cause wars, introduce
sanctions,
punish the recalcitrant, award the obedient and submissive and generally
organize the entire world to their liking.
This is why any form of serious, and especially major, association
anywhere in the world constitutes a chance to establish the balance
which
has been missing for a decade and a chance to protect mankind from
hegemonism and violence which accompanies it inevitably.
Our Parliament endorsed the project for the adherence of our
country to the commonwealth of Russia and Belorussia. Now that
this community has been formalized, what is the prospect of our
status being also formalized within it?
- We stand fast in this decision and hope that in the foreseeable and
not a
very distant future we shall join this alliance. I hope this will be in
the
interest of our country, but also in the interest of bringing together
Slav
and other nations having a common goal to live in peace and evolve
freely.
Big countries like China, Russia, India, as well as the Arab world,
Latin America and Africa, undoubtedly support our just struggle
for independence and territorial integrity. The European public,
also is increasingly becoming aware to which extent has
Yugoslavia first been demonized by the media, and then brutally
attacked by NATO countries. What is you view of the relations
with Europe and with the other countries and regions I
mentioned?
- First of all, we are not out of Europe. We are a European country. The
question can be raised how will our relations evolve with the European
Union countries, or with the countries that have taken part in the
aggression on Yugoslavia, or with the neighboring countries, etc. The
answers are quite different. Except one. We are willing to cooperate
with
the whole world and hence with all the countries on our continent.
Obviously we are most interested in cooperation with the countries from
our own continent.
But for cooperation on equal footing. For cooperation that can help the
development of our country and for cooperation that will give us a
chance
to help the development of others, of all. In all times, and especially
in our
times, everyone must rely on others, all communications are precious,
everyone can contribute to his wellbeing and that of others, at the same
time even.
With the neighboring countries we will implement cooperation -
successful
and mutual to the extent that they are prepared and available for such
collaboration. This is also the case of our cooperation with Eastern
Europe countries. These countries can learn much from Yugoslav
experience, particularly from what happened to us this spring. From
their
experience we have drawn precious lessons and our conviction that we
must confront hegemonism partially results from those lessons.
As far as the countries that took part in the aggression on Yugoslavia
are
concerned, we will have relations with them as states, with their
institutions
and organizations, commensurate to their good will to help remove the
effects of the evil they have done to us.
The West should find the courage and moral strength to face the guilt
for
the crimes committed in the aggression on Yugoslavia. Otherwise it will
loose all self-respect. The longer it hesitates, the greater shall be
its shame.
And some new Willy Brandt will have to come up and tell the truth.
We often hear that the media have greatly contributed to the
creation of the bad image of our country. Can you draw a
comparison between foreign media and domestic media?
- In Yugoslavia, and primarily in Serbia, there' s absolute freedom in
the
operation of all media. Most of the media belongs to the private sector.
In
our country there's no state control of the media. However, a
significant
percentage of television and radio stations and printed media is
financially
and politically under the full control of given western governments or
their
institutions operating as non-government organizations and they have the
task to promote the destabilization of Yugoslavia, to discredit all the
efforts of the Yugoslav authorities for the reconstruction and
development
of the country, to stir up public diffidence, suspicion and intolerance
for all
that the legally elected government is doing, to depict in the worse
possible way government officials and their families, to belittle all
the
progressive and humane achievement made in our country, to question the
very sense of freedom, independence and patriotism, to represent our
people as inferior, stupid, retrograde and conservative unlike
"sophisticated" nations that are rational, educated, smart, progressive
etc.
Such "freedom" of the media, is obviously more than freedom. The Public
Information Law, passed by the Serbian Parliament two years ago,
prepared as a compilation of corresponding laws in a number of western,
introduced certain moderate means of protecting the truth, the dignity
of
the country and its citizens, the right of the individual not to be
humiliated,
i.e. to be protected from slander, intrigue etc. This law was greatly
opposed by a segment of opposition parties and part of the media sector
that are under foreign influence. Their objections have been promptly
echoed and joined by their mentors abroad that consult no one about the
laws they adopt in their own country, but deem themselves authorized to
shape the laws of other countries. On the other hand, they rigorously
apply far more radical and stricter laws not only on public media but
other
domains as well, and never dream of engage in polemics about those laws
with foreign governments or television stations.
Our institutions and individuals have made an effort to honor this law,
but
lately its enforcement is rather feeble and in practice we are nearly
back in
the phase of media irresponsibility that we faced in the past ten years
or
so.
As far as the media abroad are concerned, in most countries, and
especially in developed western countries, the situation is quite
different.
All media there - both private and state owned, are under intense
government control. All that the government deems contrary to the
interests of its current policy can not appear in the media, or it is
published
at the risk of facing diverse forms of retribution for going against the
will of
the authorities - such consequences can be financial, political, moral,
physical...
In western democracies, all media are dependent on their owner - state,
corporate or individual. Still, in final instance the state has the
decisive role
in the responsibility of the media. This is quite logical because modern
media play an important part in conflicts of interests, in clashes of
concepts, in creating the vision of global and regional development, in
determining the fate of the community and its individual members, in
shaping the life every single person.
What would you like to wish to the people of Yugoslavia for the
coming year 2000?
- I wish our country peace. That it may develop swiftly, successfully
and
in step with the times. I wish it to cooperate with the whole world, on
grounds of parity and mutual interest. The people of Yugoslavia, the
people of Serbia in particular, should never forget the violence we have
faced this year. The memory of all that evil shall shield us and other
nations from new, future violence.
The new century shall be better and nicer than this one only if mankind
manages to triumph against violence, first of all wars, but also against
its
other forms all the way down to the family level - between sexes and
generations.
Should the 21st century bring about the victory of peace, good will,
solidarity and equality among men, humanity shall be able to say that
all
the lives sacrificed throughout the centuries for those were not
immolated
in vain. That the enormous efforts to make those ideals come true made
by noble and courageous men throughout history had a purpose and
brought about results. I believe that in the coming century our people
will
achieve the tranquility and prosperity it well deserves. Therefore I
wish all
of us unity and concord that we may deserve and reach these happier
times - President Slobodan Miloševic said at the end of his interview
for
"Politika". H. D. A.
Copyright © 1998, 1999 Ministry of Information
Email: mirs@...
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