* La NATO prepara nuove aggressioni umanitarie
* La NATO usa la menzogna sistematica come arma di guerra
>NATO PREPARING NEW MILITARY STRIKE IN BALKANS
>
>By Gregory Elich
>
>Quietly, NATO is laying plans for a new military strike against Yugoslavia.
>On August 13 through 15, CIA Director George Tenet visited Bulgaria. In a
>series of extraordinary meetings, Tenet met with Bulgarian President Petur
>Stoyanov, as well as the Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Defense
>Minister. Officially, the purpose of Tenet's visit was to discuss the
>problem of organized crime and narcotics. However, Tenet spent a combined
>total of only 20 minutes at the headquarters of the National Security
>Service and the National Service for Combating Organized Crime. Unnamed
>diplomatic sources revealed that the proposed oil transit pipeline from the
>Caspian Sea was also topic of discussion.
>
>The driving motivation for Tenet's visit, though, was to discuss
>Yugoslavia. According to an unnamed diplomatic source, Montenegrin
>secession from Yugoslavia topped the agenda. Following the meeting between
>Tenet and Major General Dimo Gyaurov, Director of the National Intelligence
>Service, a public statement was issued which stressed their "commonality of
>interests." Reports in the Bulgarian press revealed that various options
>were discussed with Bulgaria's president and prime minister. Tenet's
>preferred option is the removal of the Yugoslav government, either as a
>result of that country's election on September 24, or by a NATO military
>assault that would install a puppet government. Another scenario would
>follow the secession of Montenegro from Yugoslavia. If open warfare breaks
>out over Montenegro's secession, then the United States plans to wage a
>full-scale war against Yugoslavia, as it did in spring 1999. Sofia's
>Monitor reported that the "CIA coup machine" is forming. "A strike against
>Belgrade is imminent," it adds, and "Bulgaria will serve as a base." (1)
>
>The Italian army recently signed a lease contract to conduct training
>exercises beginning in October at the Koren training ground, near Kaskovo
>in southeast Bulgaria. The French army signed a similar agreement, in which
>French soldiers and tanks will train at the Novo Selo grounds in central
>Bulgaria from October 11 to December 12. Talks are also underway for the
>U.S. military to lease the Shabla training grounds in northeastern
>Bulgaria. Scheduled to take place following the election in Yugoslavia, the
>training exercises could serve as a launching pad for NATO's planned
>military strike. It was recently announced that the British aircraft
>carrier HMS Invincible is to be redeployed to the Adriatic over the next
>few months in support of a potential conflict over Montenegro (2)
>
>Military force is only one component of the West's destabilization campaign
>against Yugoslavia. In November 1998, President Clinton launched a plan for
>the overthrow of the government of Yugoslavia. The initial emphasis of the
>plan centered on supporting secessionist forces in Montenegro and the
>right-wing opposition in Serbia. (3) Several months later, during the
>bombing of Yugoslavia, Clinton signed a secret paper instructing the CIA to
>topple the Yugoslav government. The plan called for the CIA to secretly
>fund opposition groups and the recruitment of moles in the Yugoslav
>government and military. (4) On July 8, 1999, U.S. and British officials
>revealed that commando teams were training snatch operations to seize
>alleged war criminals and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. As an
>encouragement to mercenaries, the U.S. State Department also announced a $5
>million bounty for President Milosevic. (5)
>
>Several Yugoslav government officials and prominent individuals, including
>Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic, have been gunned down. Most of these
>crimes remain unsolved, as the assassins managed to escape. Police
>apprehended one assassin, Milivoje Gutovic, after he shot Vojvodina
>Executive Council President Bosko Perosevic at an agricultural fair in Novi
>Sad. During interrogations, Gutovic admitted to police that he worked for
>the right-wing Serbian Renewal Movement. (6)
>
>Goran Zugic, security advisor to secessionist Montenegrin President Milo
>Djukanovic, was murdered late on May 31, 2000. The assassin escaped,
>allowing Western leaders to blame President Milosevic. Coming just one week
>before crucial local elections in Montenegro, forces opposing President
>Milosevic stood to gain from the murder, as the effect would tend to sway
>undecided voters in favor of secessionist parties. A few days after the
>assassination, Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran Matic held a press
>conference, at which he accused the CIA of complicity in the murder. Matic
>played a taped recording of two telephone conversations between head of the
>US mission in Dubrovnik Sean Burns, US State Department official James
>Swaggert, Gabriel Escobar of the US economic group in Montenegro and Paul
>Davies of the US Agency for International Development. Excerpts of the
>conversations, recorded 20 minutes after the assassination and again three
>hours later, included comments such as, "It was professional," and "Mission
>accomplished." (7)
>
>The first publicly known Western plan to assassinate President Milosevic
>was drafted in 1992. Richard Tomlinson, a former British MI6 employee,
>later disclosed the plan. His task as an MI6 agent was to carry out
>undercover operations in Eastern Europe posing as a businessman or
>journalist. Tomlinson frequently met with MI6 officer Nick Fishwick. During
>one their meetings, Fishwick showed Tomlinson a document entitled, "The
>Need to Assassinate President Milosevic of Serbia." Three methods were
>proposed for the assassination of Milosevic. The first method, Tomlinson
>recalled, "was to train and equip a Serbian paramilitary opposition group,"
>which would have the advantage of deniability but an unpredictable chance
>of success. The second method would employ a specially trained British SAS
>squad to murder President Milosevic "either with a bomb or sniper ambush."
>Fishwick considered this more reliable, but it lacked deniability. The
>third method would be to kill Milosevic "in a staged car crash." (8) Seven
>years later, on October 3, 1999, the third method was employed against the
>leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, when a truck filled
>with sand plowed into his car, killing everyone inside except for
>Draskovic. The temperamental Draskovic had been a major factor in the
>chronic fragmentation of the right-wing opposition, frustrating
>Washington's efforts to forge a unified opposition. (9)
>
>During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, a missile struck President
>Milosevic's home on April 22, 1999. He and his wife were staying elsewhere
>that evening. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon was quick to announce that "we
>are not targeting President Milosevic." It is impossible, though, to view a
>missile striking Milosevic's bedroom at 3:10 AM as anything but an
>assassination attempt. (10)
>
>In November 1999, members of an assassination squad, code-named "Spider,"
>were arrested in Yugoslavia. According to Minister Goran Matic, "French
>intelligence was behind" the Spider group, whose aim was the assassination
>of President Milosevic. Planned scenarios included a sniper attack,
>planting an explosive device alongside a route they expected Milosevic to
>travel, planting an explosive in his car, and organizing 10 trained
>commandos to storm the presidential residence. The leader of the group,
>Jugoslav Petrusic, had dual Yugoslav and French citizenship. Matic claimed
>that Petrusic worked for French intelligence for ten years. During
>interrogations, Petrusic said that he had killed 50 men on orders by French
>intelligence. Matic announced that one of the members of Spider was a
>"specialist for killings with a truck full of sand" - the same method used
>against Draskovic the previous month.
>
>Following the Bosnian war, Petrusic organized the transport of 180 Bosnian
>Serb mercenaries to fight for Mobutu Sese Seku in Zaire, an affair that was
>managed by French intelligence. According to a Bosnian Serb businessman,
>Petrusic "did not hide the fact that he was working for the French
>intelligence service. I have personally seen a photo of him next to
>Mitterand as his bodyguard." In younger days, Petrusic was a member of the
>French Foreign Legion. During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, the Spider
>group infiltrated the Yugoslav Army, supplying information to the French
>and guiding NATO warplanes to their targets.
>
>Yugoslav secret service sources revealed that the Spider group trained at
>NATO bases in Bosnia where "buildings resembling those where Milosevic
>lives were constructed." Money from the French intelligence service for
>Spider was brought to the border between Hungary and Yugoslavia by a man
>named Serge Lazarevic. (11)
>
>One month later, the members of a second hit team, calling itself the
>Serbian Liberation Army, was arrested. Their aim was to assassinate
>President Milosevic and restore the monarchy. (12)
>
>At the end of July 2000, a squad of four Dutch commandos was apprehended
>while attempting to cross into Serbia from Montenegro. During the
>investigation, they admitted that they intended to kill or kidnap President
>Milosevic. The four said that they were informed that $30 million had been
>offered for "Milosevic's head," and that they intended to "claim a reward."
>One of the men said that the group planned to abduct Milosevic or former
>Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and "surrender them to The Hague."
>The group planned to put them atop a car "in a ski box and transport
>them.out of the country." If the abduction failed, one of the men "had the
>idea to kill the president, to decapitate his head, to put it in the box
>and to send it home" to the Netherlands.
>
>One of the arrested men, Gotfrides de Ri, belonged to the openly racist
>neo-nazi Center Party. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the Center
>Party sent Dutch mercenaries to fight in right-wing Croatian paramilitary
>units. At the time of their arrest, the four were found with several
>knives, including one with a swastika, and wires with hooks for
>strangulation. All four admitted that they had trained under the British
>SAS. At a news conference on August 1, Goran Matic accused the U.S of being
>the prime sponsor of assassinations and attempted assassinations. "It is
>obvious that they are recruiting various terrorist groups because they are
>frustrated with the fact that their military, political and economic goals
>in southeastern Europe have not been realized. [They are] trying to send
>them into the country so that they can change our political and social
>environment." (13) Jonathan Eyal, an advisor to the British government,
>commented recently, "I can't say when it will happen, but I can guarantee
>that Milosevic will end up dead, and he will be followed by a more
>pro-Western government." (14)
>
>Flagrant Western interference is distorting the political process in
>Yugoslavia. U.S. and Western European funds are channelled to right-wing
>opposition parties and media through such organizations as the National
>Endowment for Democracy and George Soros' Open Society Institute. The
>National Democratic Institute (NDI) is yet another of the myriad
>semi-private organizations that have attached themselves like leeches on
>Eastern Europe. The NDI opened an office in Belgrade in 1997, hoping to
>capitalize on opposition attempts to bring down the government through
>street demonstrations. By 1999, the NDI had already trained over 900
>right-wing party leaders and activists on "message development, public
>outreach and election strategy." NDI also claimed to have provided
>"organizational training and coalition-building expertise" to the
>opposition. (15)
>
>The New Serbia Forum, funded by the British Foreign Office, brings Serbian
>professionals and academics to Hungary on a regular basis for discussions
>with British and Central European "experts." The aim of the meetings is to
>"design a blueprint for post-Milosevic society." The Forum develops reports
>intended to serve as "an action plan" for a future pro-Western government.
>Subjects under discussion have included privatization and economic
>stabilization. The Forum calls for the "reintegration of Yugoslavia into
>the European family," a phrase that translates into the dismantling of the
>socialist economy and inviting Western corporations to swarm in. (16)
>
>Western aims were clearly spelled out in the Stability Pact for
>Southeastern Europe of June 10, 1999. This document called for "creating
>vibrant market economies" in the Balkans, and "markets open to greatly
>expanded foreign trade and private sector investment." One year later, the
>White House issued a fact sheet detailing the "major achievements" of the
>Pact. Among the achievements listed, the European Bank for Reconstruction
>and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporations are said
>to be "mobilizing private investment." By 2002, "new private investment in
>the region" is expected to reach nearly $2 billion. The Pact's Business
>Advisory Council "is visiting all of the countries of Southeast Europe" to
>"offer advice" on investment issues. Another initiative is Hungarian
>involvement with opposition-led local governments and opposition media in
>Serbia.
>
>The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on July 26, 2000,
>inaugurated an investment fund to be managed by Soros Private Funds
>Management. The Southeast Europe Equity Fund, "will invest in companies in
>the region in a range of sectors." Its purpose, according to the U.S.
>Embassy in Macedonia, is "to provide capital for new business development,
>expansion and privatization." In March 2000, Montenegro signed an agreement
>permitting the operation of OPIC on its territory. Billionaire George Soros
>spelled out what all this means. U.S. involvement in the region, he said,
>"creates investment opportunities," and "I am happy to put my money where
>they are putting theirs." In other words, there is money to be made. George
>Munoz, President and CEO of OPIC was also blunt. "The Southeast Europe
>Equity Fund," he announced, "is an ideal vehicle to connect American
>institutional capital with European entrepreneurs eager to help Americans
>tap their growing markets. OPIC is pleased that Soros Private Funds
>Management has chosen to send a strong, positive signal that Southeast
>Europe is open for business."
>
>The final text of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe suggested that a
>Yugoslavia that would "respect" the Pact's "principles and objectives"
>would be "welcome" to become a full member. "In order to draw the Federal
>Republic of Yugoslavia closer to this goal," the document declared,
>Montenegro would be an "early beneficiary." Western leaders hope that a
>future pro-Western Yugoslavia would, as has the rest of Eastern Europe, be
>
>"eager to help Americans" make money. (17)
>
>Western leaders yearn to install a puppet government in Belgrade, and place
>their hopes in the fragmented right-wing opposition parties in Serbia. In
>1999, American officials encouraged these parties to organize mass
>demonstrations to overthrow the government, but these rallies quickly
>fizzled due to lack of popular support. When Yugoslav Federal and local
>elections were announced for July 24, 2000, American and Western European
>officials met with leaders of the Serbian opposition parties, urging them
>to unite behind one presidential candidate. Despite U.S. efforts, three
>candidates emerged in opposition to President Milosevic.
>
>At the beginning of August 2000, the U.S. opened an office in Budapest
>specifically tasked to assist opposition parties in Yugoslavia. Among the
>staff are 24 psychological warfare specialists who engaged in psychological
>operations during NATO's war against Yugoslavia and earlier against Iraq in
>the Gulf War. During those operations, the team also fabricated news items
>in an effort to sway Western public opinion.
>
>If President Milosevic is re-elected, then U.S. Secretary of State
>Madeleine Albright expects street demonstrations to overturn the election
>results and topple the government. In meetings held in Banja Luka in spring
>2000, Albright expressed disappointment with the failure of past efforts to
>overthrow the legally elected Yugoslav government. Albright said that she
>had hoped sanctions would lead people to "blame Milosevic for this
>suffering." An exasperated Albright wondered, "What was stopping the people
>from taking to the streets?" Indicating that the U.S. was casting about for
>a pretext for intervention, she added, "Something needs to happen in Serbia
>that the West can support." (18)
>
>The paths of Yugoslavia's two republics are sharply diverging, and
>Montenegro has embarked on a program to place its entire economy at the
>service of the West. November 1999 saw the introduction in Montenegro of
>the German mark as an official currency and the passage of legislation
>eliminating socially owned property. One month later, several large firms
>were publicly offered for sale, including the Electric Power Company, the
>13th July Agricultural Complex, the Hotel-Tourist firm Boka and many
>others. (19) The republic's privatization program for 2000 calls for the
>privatization of most state-owned industries, and includes measures to
>"protect domestic and foreign investors." Three hundred firms will be
>privatized in the initial stage of the plan. In early 2000, the U.S. signed
>an agreement to provide Montenegro $62 million, including $44 million from
>the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the
>agency, it will also undertake "assistance programs to support economic
>reform and restructuring the economy..to advance Montenegro toward a free
>market economy." U.S. policy advisor on the Balkans James Dobbins indicated
>that the U.S. viewed the "market-oriented reforms of the Djukanovic regime
>as a model and stimulus for similar reforms throughout the former
>Yugoslavia." The U.S. is also offering guarantees for private investors in
>the republic. Additional aid is provided by the European Union, which has
>approved $36 million for Montenegro. "From the first day," admitted
>Djukanovic, "we have had British and European consultants." (20)
>
>The Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the U.S.
>Chamber of Commerce, is providing support to the Center for
>Entrepreneurship (CEP) in Montenegro. According to the center's executive
>director, Petar Ivanovic, the organization "focuses on elementary and high
>schools," establishing entrepreneurship as a new subject to be taught in
>schools. As Ivanovic explains it, "Introducing young people to the concept
>of entrepreneurship will make them less resistant to the private sector."
>The CEP also intends to "educate government officials about the potential
>rewards of the private sector," and to help them "understand the benefits
>of economic reform and privatization." (21) According to Djukanovic, when
>he met with President Clinton on June 21, 1999, the U.S. president gave the
>privatization process a push by telling Djukanovic that the U.S. planned to
>"stimulate the economy" by "encouraging US corporations and banks to invest
>capital in Montenegro." (22)
>
>Djukanovic has moved steadily toward secession from Yugoslavia, indicating
>that he will push for separation if the right-wing opposition loses the
>September 24 election. In a phone call to Djukanovic in July 2000,
>Madeleine Albright promised that the U.S would provide him with an
>additional $16.5 million. That same week, Djukanovic blurted out that
>Montenegro "is no longer part of Yugoslavia." He also made the astonishing
>claim that he considered it a "priority" for Montenegro to join NATO, the
>organization that had bombed his country only the year before. The next
>month, Albright announced that she and Djukanovic "try and talk to each
>other and meet on a regular basis," and that the "United States is
>supportive of the approach that President Djukanovic has taken in terms of
>democratic development and his approach to the economic reforms also." (23)
>
>Western support for secession extends beyond Albright meeting and talking
>with Djukanovic. More than half of the population of Montenegro opposes
>secession, and any such move is likely to explode into violence. In
>preparation for that rift, Djukanovic is building up a private army of over
>20,000 soldiers, the Special Police, including special forces armed with
>anti-tank weapons. Sources in Montenegro revealed that Western special
>forces are training this private army. Djukanovic has requested that NATO
>establish an "air shield over Montenegro" as he moves toward secession. One
>member of the Special Police, named Velibor, confirmed that they were
>receiving training from the British SAS. "If there is a situation where
>weapons will decide the outcome, we are ready," he said. "We are training
>for that." At a press conference on August 1, 2000, Minister Goran Matic
>declared that the "British are carrying out part of the training of the
>Montenegrin special units. It is also true," he added, that the Special
>Police "are intensively obtaining various kinds and types of weapons,
>starting with anti-aircraft and anti-helicopter weapons and so on, and they
>are also being assisted by Croatia, as the weapons go through Dubrovnik and
>other places." Furthermore, Matic pointed out that, "last year, before and
>after the aggression, a group from within the Montenegrin MUP [Ministry of
>Interior Affairs] structure left for training within the U.S. police
>structure and the U.S. intelligence structures." In August, two armored
>vehicles bound for Montenegro were discovered in the port of Ancona, Italy.
>One of the vehicles was fitted with a turret suitable for mounting a
>machine gun or anti-tank weapon. Italian customs officials, reports the
>Italian news service ANSA, are "convinced" that arms trafficking to
>Montenegro "is of far greater magnitude than this single episode might lead
>one to believe." Revelling in anticipation of armed conflict, Djukanovic
>bragged that "many will tuck their tails between their legs and will soon
>have to flee Montenegro." (24)
>
>A violent conflict in Montenegro would provide NATO with its long-desired
>pretext for intervention. As early as October 1999, General Wesley Clark
>drew up plans for a NATO invasion of Montenegro. The plan envisions an
>amphibious assault by more than 2,000 Marines storming the port of Bar and
>securing the port as a beachhead for pushing inland. Troops ferried by
>helicopters would seize the airport at Podgorica, while NATO warplanes
>would bomb and strafe resisting Yugoslav forces. According to U.S.
>officials, other Western countries have also developed invasion plans. (25)
>Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the UN declared, "We are in constant
>touch with the leadership of Montenegro," and warned that a conflict in
>Montenegro "would be directly affecting NATO's vital interest." (26) NATO
>General Secretary George Robertson was more explicit. "I say to Milosevic:
>watch out, look what happened the last time you miscalculated." (27)
>
>President Milosevic and the ruling coalition enjoy considerable popular
>support in Yugoslavia, and many Western analysts admit they are likely to
>emerge victorious in the September 24 election. This will set in motion,
>possibly within a few months, a NATO strike launched from Bulgaria intended
>to overthrow the legally elected government of Yugoslavia. If the coup
>fails, then Montenegro could declare independence, setting in motion a
>chain of events that would lead to a second all out war by NATO against
>Yugoslavia. The war in 1999 brought immense suffering to the Balkans. The
>next war promises to be catastrophic.
>
>NOTES
>
>1) "Bulgaria - Press Review" BTA (Sofia), August 12, 2000 "Bulgaria - Us
>CIA Director's Visit," BTA (Sofia), August 15, 2000 "CIA Did Not Tell Us
>the Most Important Thing," Trud (Sofia), August 16, 2000 "Bulgaria - Press
>Review," BTA (Sofia), August 14, 2000 "Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA
>(Sofia), August 16, 2000
>
>2) Mila Avramova, "Italians Lease Training Ground for 400,000 Leva," Trud
>(Sofia), August 9, 2000 Michael Evans, "Balkans Watch for 'Invincible',"
>The Times (London), August 26, 2000.
>
>3) Paul Beaver, "Clinton Tells CIA to Oust Milosevic," The Observer,
>November 29, 2000. Fran Visnar, "Clinton and the CIA Have Created a
>Scenario to Overthrow Milosevic," Vijesnik (Zagreb), November 30, 2000.
>
>4) Douglas Waller, "Tearing Down Milosevic," Time Magazine, July 12, 1999.
>
>5) Michael Moran, "A Threat to 'Snatch' Milosevic," MSNBC, July 8, 1999.
>
>6) "Yugoslav Police Say Killer of Local Leader Worked for Opposition,"
>Agence France-Presse,
>
>May 15, 2000.
>
>"Arrested Assassin Gutovic Member of Otpor and SPO," Tanjug (Belgrade), May
>15, 2000.
>
>7) "Yugoslav Official Accuses CIA of Being Behind Montenegro Murder,"
>Agence France-Presse, June 6, 2000. Aleksandar Vasovic, "Serb Aide Says CIA
>Behind Slaying," Associated Press, June 6, 2000 "Yugoslav Information
>Minister Accuses CIA of Complicity in Zugic Murder," Borba (Belgrade), June
>6, 2000
>
>8) Statement by Richard Tomlinson, addressed to John Wadham, September 11,
>1998.
>
>9) "Serb Consensus: Draskovic Crash Was No Accident," Seattle Times News
>Services, October 13, 1999.
>
>10) "NATO: Milosevic Not Target," BBC News, April 22, 1999.
>
>11) "Serbs Allege Milosevic Assassination Plot," Reuters, November 25,
>1999. "France Plots to Murder Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, November
>26, 1999. "SFOR Units Involved in a Plot to Kill Milosevic," Agence
>France-Presse, December 1, 1999. Gordana Igric, "Alleged 'Assassins' Were
>No Stranger to France," IWPR Balkan Crisis Report (London), November 26,
>1999. Milenko Vasovic, "Belgrade's French Connection," IWPR Balkan Crisis
>Report (London), November 26, 1999.
>
>12) "Lt. Testifies at Milosevic Trial," Associated Press, April 26, 2000.
>
>13) Aleksandar Vasovic, "4 Accused of Milosevic Death Plot," Associated
>Press, July 31, 2000. "Dutchmen Arrested, Accused of Plotting Against
>Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, July 31, 2000. Email correspondence from
>Herman de Tollenaere, quoting from NRC- Business Paper of August 1, 2000.
>"Arrested Dutchmen Admitted Plans to Kill, Kidnap Milosevic," BETA
>(Belgrade), August 17, 2000. "Dutch Espionage Terrorist Gang Arrested in
>Yugoslavia - Minister," Tanjug (Belgrade), July 31, 2000. "Yugoslav
>Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'," BBC Monitoring
>Service, August 1, 2000.
>
>14) "West Sees Noose Tightening Around Milosevic," Reuters, June 9, 2000.
>
>15) "NDI Activities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
>(Serbia-Montenegro)," NDI Worldwide Activities, www.ndi.org
>
>16) "Britain Trains New Elite for Post-Milosevic Era," The Independent, May
>3, 2000. The New Serbia Forum web page,
>http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/way/glj77/Serbia.htm
>
>17) "Final Text of Stability Pact for Southeast Europe," June 10, 1999.
>U.S. Embassy, Skopje, Macedonia, "Southeast Europe Equity Fund Launched
>July 26," July 27, 2000. White House Fact Sheet, "The Stability Pact for
>Southeast Europe: One Year Later," July 27, 2000.
>
>18) Borislav Komad, "At Albright's Signal," Vecernje Novosti, May 18, 2000.
>"US Anti-Yugoslav Office Opens in Budapest," Tanjug (Belgrade), August 21,
>2000.
>
>19) Ljubinka Cagorovic, "Montenegro Assembly Scraps Socially-Owned
>Property," Reuters, November 13, 1999. "Montenegrin Government Prepares to
>Privatise Economy," Tanjug (Belgrade), December 25, 1999.
>
>20) Central and Eastern European Business Information Center, "Southeastern
>Europe Business Brief," February 3, 2000. Central and Eastern European
>Business Information Center, "Southeastern Europe Business Brief," April
>27, 2000. Anne Swardson, "West Grows Close to Montenegro," Washington Post,
>May 24, 2000.
>
>21) Petar Invanovic, "Montenegro: Laying the Foundation of
>Entrepreneurship," Center for International Private Enterprise.
>
>22) Statement by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, "Important Step in
>Opening New Perspectives For Montenegrin State Policy," Pobjeda
>(Podgorica), June 22, 1999.
>
>23) "Albright Renews Montenegro Support," Associated Press, July 13, 2000.
>"Montenegro Wants to Join NATO and the EU," Agence France-Presse, July 10,
>2000. Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, "Secretary of
>State Madeleine K. Albright and Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic,"
>Press Stakeout at Excelsior Hotel, Rome, Italy, August 1, 2000.
>
>24) "Montenegro Ahead of Elections: Boycott and Threats," BETA (Belgrade),
>August 9, 2000. "Montenegro and Elections - Boycott Becomes Official," BETA
>(Belgrade), August 17, 2000. Phil Reese, "We Have the Heart for Battle,
>Says Montenegrin Trained by SAS," The Independent, July 30, 2000. "Yugoslav
>Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'", BBC Monitoring
>Service, August 1, 2000. "Yugoslavia Says British SAS Trains Montenegrins,"
>Reuters, August 1, 2000. "Information Minister Sees Montenegrin Arms
>Purchases, Croatian Assistance," BETA (Belgrade), July 31, 2000. "Foreign
>'Dogs of War' Training Montenegrin Police to Attack Army," Tanjug
>(Belgrade), August 9, 2000. "Montenegro: Camouflaged Military Vehicles
>Seized in Ancona," ANSA (Rome), August 21, 2000. "Montenegro: Traffic in
>Camouflaged Armored Vehicles: Investigation into Documentation," ANSA
>(Rome), August 22, 2000.
>
>25) Richard J. Newman, "Balkan Brinkmanship," US News and World Report,
>November 15, 1999.
>
>26) "Clinton Warns Milosevic 'Remains a Threat to Peace'," Agence
>France-Presse, July 29, 2000.
>
>27) "NATO's Robertston Warns Milosevic on Montenegro," Reuters, July 27, 2000.
>
>
>
>Louis Proyect
>Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 31, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>It was all a lie
>
>NATO ADMITS YUGOSLAVS CARRIED OUT NO MASS KILLINGS IN KOSOVO
>
>By John Catalinotto
>
>On Aug. 17 NATO officials conceded that the figures they
>released in 1999, allegedly a count of the people killed by
>Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, were much higher than the actual
>number of people killed there.
>
>Findings by forensic teams from the International Criminal
>Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague forced
>NATO's admission. The ICTY exhumed 3,000 bodies and examined
>them.
>
>While they have not yet released a report, ICTY spokespeople
>said that at most 3,000 people were killed. They said there
>was no evidence of mutilations. And they said that not all
>the dead can be proved to be victims of murder or execution.
>
>Last year NATO had charged that Yugoslav forces massacred at
>least 10,000 people. NATO spokespeople implied that 500,000
>supposedly "missing" people also had been killed.
>
>They used these claims to justify NATO bombings that had no
>basis in United Nations treaties or NATO's own charter.
>
>NATO has now been forced to admit in effect that it waged a
>lying propaganda war to win support for its own illegal
>intervention that killed over 3,000 Yugoslavs, about one-
>third of them children.
>
>Washington and NATO have no hard evidence that Yugoslav
>forces carried out even a small-scale massacre of civilians,
>let alone the "genocide" they were charged with.
>
>The ICTY--itself created and funded by the NATO powers--has
>exposed this "Big Lie" of NATO's.
>
>According to a report in the Aug. 18 British Guardian, Mark
>Laity, the acting NATO spokesperson, said: "NATO never said
>the missing were all dead. The figure we stood by was
>10,000." Laity even tried to claim that NATO's intervention
>stopped further killing.
>
>The truth is that since NATO occupied Kosovo, right-wing
>Albanian forces have killed some 1,000 people, mostly Serb
>and Romani, while pushing all non-Albanian peoples out of
>the region.
>
>NATO FORCES LIE AGAIN ABOUT TREPCA
>
>While this exposure of NATO's lies came too late to stop
>last year's bombing, it should be kept in mind by anyone
>evaluating NATO leaders' current statements regarding
>Yugoslavia.
>
>On Aug. 14, French and British forces occupying the Serbian
>province of Kosovo and Metohija seized the smelter at the
>Trepca mines near Kosovo Mitrovica. These are the richest
>nickel and lead mines in Europe. Corporate forces in the
>United States, Britain and France want these mines in their
>hands and not in the hands of the Yugoslav government.
>
>This time the excuse for the action was that the smelter was
>"polluting" the environment. Compared to the pollution
>caused by NATO's deliberate bombing of Pancevo and other
>Yugoslav chemical complexes, not to mention the use of
>radioactive depleted uranium weapons, this pollution is
>minor. In any case, Yugoslav authorities reported that steps
>had already been taken to reduce the smelter's pollution.
>
>The United States, Britain and France--the major NATO powers-
>-are again using a lie to justify an unwarranted and illegal
>seizure of Yugoslav property, just as they lied to justify
>the war in the first place.
>
>The NATO powers and Washington in particular have been
>attempting to intervene in the Yugoslav election scheduled
>for Sept. 24. They have set up an office in Budapest,
>Hungary, to deliver funds to parties in Yugoslavia that
>oppose the current elected president, Slobodan Milosevic.
>
>Seizing the Trepca smelter must be seen as part of this
>election strategy. By taking this step before the election,
>NATO hopes to put the blame for the "loss of Trepca" on
>Milosevic rather than on his opposition.
>
>This strategy was spelled out last fall in a study prepared
>by a think tank funded by multi-billionaire George Soros.
>The report suggested that NATO use the excuse of pollution
>to seize the Trepca mines, and to do it before the election.
>
>Besides trying to undermine the Yugoslav government by
>meddling in the national election, NATO forces have been
>supporting a pro-Western leadership in Montenegro, the
>republic that with Serbia makes up present-day Yugoslavia.
>British officers have been training the Montenegrin police
>to combat the Yugoslav Army.
>
>This was underlined when Yugoslav forces caught two British
>officers who were doing this training, along with two
>Canadians who had equipment that could be used for setting
>explosives. Whatever the outcome of the hearing over charges
>that these four were conducting terrorism, the case has made
>it clear that British imperialism is trying to help pro-
>Western political groups split Montenegro from Yugoslavia.
>
>- END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>ww@.... For subscription info send message to:
>info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* La NATO usa la menzogna sistematica come arma di guerra
>NATO PREPARING NEW MILITARY STRIKE IN BALKANS
>
>By Gregory Elich
>
>Quietly, NATO is laying plans for a new military strike against Yugoslavia.
>On August 13 through 15, CIA Director George Tenet visited Bulgaria. In a
>series of extraordinary meetings, Tenet met with Bulgarian President Petur
>Stoyanov, as well as the Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Defense
>Minister. Officially, the purpose of Tenet's visit was to discuss the
>problem of organized crime and narcotics. However, Tenet spent a combined
>total of only 20 minutes at the headquarters of the National Security
>Service and the National Service for Combating Organized Crime. Unnamed
>diplomatic sources revealed that the proposed oil transit pipeline from the
>Caspian Sea was also topic of discussion.
>
>The driving motivation for Tenet's visit, though, was to discuss
>Yugoslavia. According to an unnamed diplomatic source, Montenegrin
>secession from Yugoslavia topped the agenda. Following the meeting between
>Tenet and Major General Dimo Gyaurov, Director of the National Intelligence
>Service, a public statement was issued which stressed their "commonality of
>interests." Reports in the Bulgarian press revealed that various options
>were discussed with Bulgaria's president and prime minister. Tenet's
>preferred option is the removal of the Yugoslav government, either as a
>result of that country's election on September 24, or by a NATO military
>assault that would install a puppet government. Another scenario would
>follow the secession of Montenegro from Yugoslavia. If open warfare breaks
>out over Montenegro's secession, then the United States plans to wage a
>full-scale war against Yugoslavia, as it did in spring 1999. Sofia's
>Monitor reported that the "CIA coup machine" is forming. "A strike against
>Belgrade is imminent," it adds, and "Bulgaria will serve as a base." (1)
>
>The Italian army recently signed a lease contract to conduct training
>exercises beginning in October at the Koren training ground, near Kaskovo
>in southeast Bulgaria. The French army signed a similar agreement, in which
>French soldiers and tanks will train at the Novo Selo grounds in central
>Bulgaria from October 11 to December 12. Talks are also underway for the
>U.S. military to lease the Shabla training grounds in northeastern
>Bulgaria. Scheduled to take place following the election in Yugoslavia, the
>training exercises could serve as a launching pad for NATO's planned
>military strike. It was recently announced that the British aircraft
>carrier HMS Invincible is to be redeployed to the Adriatic over the next
>few months in support of a potential conflict over Montenegro (2)
>
>Military force is only one component of the West's destabilization campaign
>against Yugoslavia. In November 1998, President Clinton launched a plan for
>the overthrow of the government of Yugoslavia. The initial emphasis of the
>plan centered on supporting secessionist forces in Montenegro and the
>right-wing opposition in Serbia. (3) Several months later, during the
>bombing of Yugoslavia, Clinton signed a secret paper instructing the CIA to
>topple the Yugoslav government. The plan called for the CIA to secretly
>fund opposition groups and the recruitment of moles in the Yugoslav
>government and military. (4) On July 8, 1999, U.S. and British officials
>revealed that commando teams were training snatch operations to seize
>alleged war criminals and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. As an
>encouragement to mercenaries, the U.S. State Department also announced a $5
>million bounty for President Milosevic. (5)
>
>Several Yugoslav government officials and prominent individuals, including
>Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic, have been gunned down. Most of these
>crimes remain unsolved, as the assassins managed to escape. Police
>apprehended one assassin, Milivoje Gutovic, after he shot Vojvodina
>Executive Council President Bosko Perosevic at an agricultural fair in Novi
>Sad. During interrogations, Gutovic admitted to police that he worked for
>the right-wing Serbian Renewal Movement. (6)
>
>Goran Zugic, security advisor to secessionist Montenegrin President Milo
>Djukanovic, was murdered late on May 31, 2000. The assassin escaped,
>allowing Western leaders to blame President Milosevic. Coming just one week
>before crucial local elections in Montenegro, forces opposing President
>Milosevic stood to gain from the murder, as the effect would tend to sway
>undecided voters in favor of secessionist parties. A few days after the
>assassination, Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran Matic held a press
>conference, at which he accused the CIA of complicity in the murder. Matic
>played a taped recording of two telephone conversations between head of the
>US mission in Dubrovnik Sean Burns, US State Department official James
>Swaggert, Gabriel Escobar of the US economic group in Montenegro and Paul
>Davies of the US Agency for International Development. Excerpts of the
>conversations, recorded 20 minutes after the assassination and again three
>hours later, included comments such as, "It was professional," and "Mission
>accomplished." (7)
>
>The first publicly known Western plan to assassinate President Milosevic
>was drafted in 1992. Richard Tomlinson, a former British MI6 employee,
>later disclosed the plan. His task as an MI6 agent was to carry out
>undercover operations in Eastern Europe posing as a businessman or
>journalist. Tomlinson frequently met with MI6 officer Nick Fishwick. During
>one their meetings, Fishwick showed Tomlinson a document entitled, "The
>Need to Assassinate President Milosevic of Serbia." Three methods were
>proposed for the assassination of Milosevic. The first method, Tomlinson
>recalled, "was to train and equip a Serbian paramilitary opposition group,"
>which would have the advantage of deniability but an unpredictable chance
>of success. The second method would employ a specially trained British SAS
>squad to murder President Milosevic "either with a bomb or sniper ambush."
>Fishwick considered this more reliable, but it lacked deniability. The
>third method would be to kill Milosevic "in a staged car crash." (8) Seven
>years later, on October 3, 1999, the third method was employed against the
>leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, when a truck filled
>with sand plowed into his car, killing everyone inside except for
>Draskovic. The temperamental Draskovic had been a major factor in the
>chronic fragmentation of the right-wing opposition, frustrating
>Washington's efforts to forge a unified opposition. (9)
>
>During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, a missile struck President
>Milosevic's home on April 22, 1999. He and his wife were staying elsewhere
>that evening. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon was quick to announce that "we
>are not targeting President Milosevic." It is impossible, though, to view a
>missile striking Milosevic's bedroom at 3:10 AM as anything but an
>assassination attempt. (10)
>
>In November 1999, members of an assassination squad, code-named "Spider,"
>were arrested in Yugoslavia. According to Minister Goran Matic, "French
>intelligence was behind" the Spider group, whose aim was the assassination
>of President Milosevic. Planned scenarios included a sniper attack,
>planting an explosive device alongside a route they expected Milosevic to
>travel, planting an explosive in his car, and organizing 10 trained
>commandos to storm the presidential residence. The leader of the group,
>Jugoslav Petrusic, had dual Yugoslav and French citizenship. Matic claimed
>that Petrusic worked for French intelligence for ten years. During
>interrogations, Petrusic said that he had killed 50 men on orders by French
>intelligence. Matic announced that one of the members of Spider was a
>"specialist for killings with a truck full of sand" - the same method used
>against Draskovic the previous month.
>
>Following the Bosnian war, Petrusic organized the transport of 180 Bosnian
>Serb mercenaries to fight for Mobutu Sese Seku in Zaire, an affair that was
>managed by French intelligence. According to a Bosnian Serb businessman,
>Petrusic "did not hide the fact that he was working for the French
>intelligence service. I have personally seen a photo of him next to
>Mitterand as his bodyguard." In younger days, Petrusic was a member of the
>French Foreign Legion. During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, the Spider
>group infiltrated the Yugoslav Army, supplying information to the French
>and guiding NATO warplanes to their targets.
>
>Yugoslav secret service sources revealed that the Spider group trained at
>NATO bases in Bosnia where "buildings resembling those where Milosevic
>lives were constructed." Money from the French intelligence service for
>Spider was brought to the border between Hungary and Yugoslavia by a man
>named Serge Lazarevic. (11)
>
>One month later, the members of a second hit team, calling itself the
>Serbian Liberation Army, was arrested. Their aim was to assassinate
>President Milosevic and restore the monarchy. (12)
>
>At the end of July 2000, a squad of four Dutch commandos was apprehended
>while attempting to cross into Serbia from Montenegro. During the
>investigation, they admitted that they intended to kill or kidnap President
>Milosevic. The four said that they were informed that $30 million had been
>offered for "Milosevic's head," and that they intended to "claim a reward."
>One of the men said that the group planned to abduct Milosevic or former
>Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and "surrender them to The Hague."
>The group planned to put them atop a car "in a ski box and transport
>them.out of the country." If the abduction failed, one of the men "had the
>idea to kill the president, to decapitate his head, to put it in the box
>and to send it home" to the Netherlands.
>
>One of the arrested men, Gotfrides de Ri, belonged to the openly racist
>neo-nazi Center Party. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the Center
>Party sent Dutch mercenaries to fight in right-wing Croatian paramilitary
>units. At the time of their arrest, the four were found with several
>knives, including one with a swastika, and wires with hooks for
>strangulation. All four admitted that they had trained under the British
>SAS. At a news conference on August 1, Goran Matic accused the U.S of being
>the prime sponsor of assassinations and attempted assassinations. "It is
>obvious that they are recruiting various terrorist groups because they are
>frustrated with the fact that their military, political and economic goals
>in southeastern Europe have not been realized. [They are] trying to send
>them into the country so that they can change our political and social
>environment." (13) Jonathan Eyal, an advisor to the British government,
>commented recently, "I can't say when it will happen, but I can guarantee
>that Milosevic will end up dead, and he will be followed by a more
>pro-Western government." (14)
>
>Flagrant Western interference is distorting the political process in
>Yugoslavia. U.S. and Western European funds are channelled to right-wing
>opposition parties and media through such organizations as the National
>Endowment for Democracy and George Soros' Open Society Institute. The
>National Democratic Institute (NDI) is yet another of the myriad
>semi-private organizations that have attached themselves like leeches on
>Eastern Europe. The NDI opened an office in Belgrade in 1997, hoping to
>capitalize on opposition attempts to bring down the government through
>street demonstrations. By 1999, the NDI had already trained over 900
>right-wing party leaders and activists on "message development, public
>outreach and election strategy." NDI also claimed to have provided
>"organizational training and coalition-building expertise" to the
>opposition. (15)
>
>The New Serbia Forum, funded by the British Foreign Office, brings Serbian
>professionals and academics to Hungary on a regular basis for discussions
>with British and Central European "experts." The aim of the meetings is to
>"design a blueprint for post-Milosevic society." The Forum develops reports
>intended to serve as "an action plan" for a future pro-Western government.
>Subjects under discussion have included privatization and economic
>stabilization. The Forum calls for the "reintegration of Yugoslavia into
>the European family," a phrase that translates into the dismantling of the
>socialist economy and inviting Western corporations to swarm in. (16)
>
>Western aims were clearly spelled out in the Stability Pact for
>Southeastern Europe of June 10, 1999. This document called for "creating
>vibrant market economies" in the Balkans, and "markets open to greatly
>expanded foreign trade and private sector investment." One year later, the
>White House issued a fact sheet detailing the "major achievements" of the
>Pact. Among the achievements listed, the European Bank for Reconstruction
>and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporations are said
>to be "mobilizing private investment." By 2002, "new private investment in
>the region" is expected to reach nearly $2 billion. The Pact's Business
>Advisory Council "is visiting all of the countries of Southeast Europe" to
>"offer advice" on investment issues. Another initiative is Hungarian
>involvement with opposition-led local governments and opposition media in
>Serbia.
>
>The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on July 26, 2000,
>inaugurated an investment fund to be managed by Soros Private Funds
>Management. The Southeast Europe Equity Fund, "will invest in companies in
>the region in a range of sectors." Its purpose, according to the U.S.
>Embassy in Macedonia, is "to provide capital for new business development,
>expansion and privatization." In March 2000, Montenegro signed an agreement
>permitting the operation of OPIC on its territory. Billionaire George Soros
>spelled out what all this means. U.S. involvement in the region, he said,
>"creates investment opportunities," and "I am happy to put my money where
>they are putting theirs." In other words, there is money to be made. George
>Munoz, President and CEO of OPIC was also blunt. "The Southeast Europe
>Equity Fund," he announced, "is an ideal vehicle to connect American
>institutional capital with European entrepreneurs eager to help Americans
>tap their growing markets. OPIC is pleased that Soros Private Funds
>Management has chosen to send a strong, positive signal that Southeast
>Europe is open for business."
>
>The final text of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe suggested that a
>Yugoslavia that would "respect" the Pact's "principles and objectives"
>would be "welcome" to become a full member. "In order to draw the Federal
>Republic of Yugoslavia closer to this goal," the document declared,
>Montenegro would be an "early beneficiary." Western leaders hope that a
>future pro-Western Yugoslavia would, as has the rest of Eastern Europe, be
>
>"eager to help Americans" make money. (17)
>
>Western leaders yearn to install a puppet government in Belgrade, and place
>their hopes in the fragmented right-wing opposition parties in Serbia. In
>1999, American officials encouraged these parties to organize mass
>demonstrations to overthrow the government, but these rallies quickly
>fizzled due to lack of popular support. When Yugoslav Federal and local
>elections were announced for July 24, 2000, American and Western European
>officials met with leaders of the Serbian opposition parties, urging them
>to unite behind one presidential candidate. Despite U.S. efforts, three
>candidates emerged in opposition to President Milosevic.
>
>At the beginning of August 2000, the U.S. opened an office in Budapest
>specifically tasked to assist opposition parties in Yugoslavia. Among the
>staff are 24 psychological warfare specialists who engaged in psychological
>operations during NATO's war against Yugoslavia and earlier against Iraq in
>the Gulf War. During those operations, the team also fabricated news items
>in an effort to sway Western public opinion.
>
>If President Milosevic is re-elected, then U.S. Secretary of State
>Madeleine Albright expects street demonstrations to overturn the election
>results and topple the government. In meetings held in Banja Luka in spring
>2000, Albright expressed disappointment with the failure of past efforts to
>overthrow the legally elected Yugoslav government. Albright said that she
>had hoped sanctions would lead people to "blame Milosevic for this
>suffering." An exasperated Albright wondered, "What was stopping the people
>from taking to the streets?" Indicating that the U.S. was casting about for
>a pretext for intervention, she added, "Something needs to happen in Serbia
>that the West can support." (18)
>
>The paths of Yugoslavia's two republics are sharply diverging, and
>Montenegro has embarked on a program to place its entire economy at the
>service of the West. November 1999 saw the introduction in Montenegro of
>the German mark as an official currency and the passage of legislation
>eliminating socially owned property. One month later, several large firms
>were publicly offered for sale, including the Electric Power Company, the
>13th July Agricultural Complex, the Hotel-Tourist firm Boka and many
>others. (19) The republic's privatization program for 2000 calls for the
>privatization of most state-owned industries, and includes measures to
>"protect domestic and foreign investors." Three hundred firms will be
>privatized in the initial stage of the plan. In early 2000, the U.S. signed
>an agreement to provide Montenegro $62 million, including $44 million from
>the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the
>agency, it will also undertake "assistance programs to support economic
>reform and restructuring the economy..to advance Montenegro toward a free
>market economy." U.S. policy advisor on the Balkans James Dobbins indicated
>that the U.S. viewed the "market-oriented reforms of the Djukanovic regime
>as a model and stimulus for similar reforms throughout the former
>Yugoslavia." The U.S. is also offering guarantees for private investors in
>the republic. Additional aid is provided by the European Union, which has
>approved $36 million for Montenegro. "From the first day," admitted
>Djukanovic, "we have had British and European consultants." (20)
>
>The Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the U.S.
>Chamber of Commerce, is providing support to the Center for
>Entrepreneurship (CEP) in Montenegro. According to the center's executive
>director, Petar Ivanovic, the organization "focuses on elementary and high
>schools," establishing entrepreneurship as a new subject to be taught in
>schools. As Ivanovic explains it, "Introducing young people to the concept
>of entrepreneurship will make them less resistant to the private sector."
>The CEP also intends to "educate government officials about the potential
>rewards of the private sector," and to help them "understand the benefits
>of economic reform and privatization." (21) According to Djukanovic, when
>he met with President Clinton on June 21, 1999, the U.S. president gave the
>privatization process a push by telling Djukanovic that the U.S. planned to
>"stimulate the economy" by "encouraging US corporations and banks to invest
>capital in Montenegro." (22)
>
>Djukanovic has moved steadily toward secession from Yugoslavia, indicating
>that he will push for separation if the right-wing opposition loses the
>September 24 election. In a phone call to Djukanovic in July 2000,
>Madeleine Albright promised that the U.S would provide him with an
>additional $16.5 million. That same week, Djukanovic blurted out that
>Montenegro "is no longer part of Yugoslavia." He also made the astonishing
>claim that he considered it a "priority" for Montenegro to join NATO, the
>organization that had bombed his country only the year before. The next
>month, Albright announced that she and Djukanovic "try and talk to each
>other and meet on a regular basis," and that the "United States is
>supportive of the approach that President Djukanovic has taken in terms of
>democratic development and his approach to the economic reforms also." (23)
>
>Western support for secession extends beyond Albright meeting and talking
>with Djukanovic. More than half of the population of Montenegro opposes
>secession, and any such move is likely to explode into violence. In
>preparation for that rift, Djukanovic is building up a private army of over
>20,000 soldiers, the Special Police, including special forces armed with
>anti-tank weapons. Sources in Montenegro revealed that Western special
>forces are training this private army. Djukanovic has requested that NATO
>establish an "air shield over Montenegro" as he moves toward secession. One
>member of the Special Police, named Velibor, confirmed that they were
>receiving training from the British SAS. "If there is a situation where
>weapons will decide the outcome, we are ready," he said. "We are training
>for that." At a press conference on August 1, 2000, Minister Goran Matic
>declared that the "British are carrying out part of the training of the
>Montenegrin special units. It is also true," he added, that the Special
>Police "are intensively obtaining various kinds and types of weapons,
>starting with anti-aircraft and anti-helicopter weapons and so on, and they
>are also being assisted by Croatia, as the weapons go through Dubrovnik and
>other places." Furthermore, Matic pointed out that, "last year, before and
>after the aggression, a group from within the Montenegrin MUP [Ministry of
>Interior Affairs] structure left for training within the U.S. police
>structure and the U.S. intelligence structures." In August, two armored
>vehicles bound for Montenegro were discovered in the port of Ancona, Italy.
>One of the vehicles was fitted with a turret suitable for mounting a
>machine gun or anti-tank weapon. Italian customs officials, reports the
>Italian news service ANSA, are "convinced" that arms trafficking to
>Montenegro "is of far greater magnitude than this single episode might lead
>one to believe." Revelling in anticipation of armed conflict, Djukanovic
>bragged that "many will tuck their tails between their legs and will soon
>have to flee Montenegro." (24)
>
>A violent conflict in Montenegro would provide NATO with its long-desired
>pretext for intervention. As early as October 1999, General Wesley Clark
>drew up plans for a NATO invasion of Montenegro. The plan envisions an
>amphibious assault by more than 2,000 Marines storming the port of Bar and
>securing the port as a beachhead for pushing inland. Troops ferried by
>helicopters would seize the airport at Podgorica, while NATO warplanes
>would bomb and strafe resisting Yugoslav forces. According to U.S.
>officials, other Western countries have also developed invasion plans. (25)
>Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the UN declared, "We are in constant
>touch with the leadership of Montenegro," and warned that a conflict in
>Montenegro "would be directly affecting NATO's vital interest." (26) NATO
>General Secretary George Robertson was more explicit. "I say to Milosevic:
>watch out, look what happened the last time you miscalculated." (27)
>
>President Milosevic and the ruling coalition enjoy considerable popular
>support in Yugoslavia, and many Western analysts admit they are likely to
>emerge victorious in the September 24 election. This will set in motion,
>possibly within a few months, a NATO strike launched from Bulgaria intended
>to overthrow the legally elected government of Yugoslavia. If the coup
>fails, then Montenegro could declare independence, setting in motion a
>chain of events that would lead to a second all out war by NATO against
>Yugoslavia. The war in 1999 brought immense suffering to the Balkans. The
>next war promises to be catastrophic.
>
>NOTES
>
>1) "Bulgaria - Press Review" BTA (Sofia), August 12, 2000 "Bulgaria - Us
>CIA Director's Visit," BTA (Sofia), August 15, 2000 "CIA Did Not Tell Us
>the Most Important Thing," Trud (Sofia), August 16, 2000 "Bulgaria - Press
>Review," BTA (Sofia), August 14, 2000 "Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA
>(Sofia), August 16, 2000
>
>2) Mila Avramova, "Italians Lease Training Ground for 400,000 Leva," Trud
>(Sofia), August 9, 2000 Michael Evans, "Balkans Watch for 'Invincible',"
>The Times (London), August 26, 2000.
>
>3) Paul Beaver, "Clinton Tells CIA to Oust Milosevic," The Observer,
>November 29, 2000. Fran Visnar, "Clinton and the CIA Have Created a
>Scenario to Overthrow Milosevic," Vijesnik (Zagreb), November 30, 2000.
>
>4) Douglas Waller, "Tearing Down Milosevic," Time Magazine, July 12, 1999.
>
>5) Michael Moran, "A Threat to 'Snatch' Milosevic," MSNBC, July 8, 1999.
>
>6) "Yugoslav Police Say Killer of Local Leader Worked for Opposition,"
>Agence France-Presse,
>
>May 15, 2000.
>
>"Arrested Assassin Gutovic Member of Otpor and SPO," Tanjug (Belgrade), May
>15, 2000.
>
>7) "Yugoslav Official Accuses CIA of Being Behind Montenegro Murder,"
>Agence France-Presse, June 6, 2000. Aleksandar Vasovic, "Serb Aide Says CIA
>Behind Slaying," Associated Press, June 6, 2000 "Yugoslav Information
>Minister Accuses CIA of Complicity in Zugic Murder," Borba (Belgrade), June
>6, 2000
>
>8) Statement by Richard Tomlinson, addressed to John Wadham, September 11,
>1998.
>
>9) "Serb Consensus: Draskovic Crash Was No Accident," Seattle Times News
>Services, October 13, 1999.
>
>10) "NATO: Milosevic Not Target," BBC News, April 22, 1999.
>
>11) "Serbs Allege Milosevic Assassination Plot," Reuters, November 25,
>1999. "France Plots to Murder Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, November
>26, 1999. "SFOR Units Involved in a Plot to Kill Milosevic," Agence
>France-Presse, December 1, 1999. Gordana Igric, "Alleged 'Assassins' Were
>No Stranger to France," IWPR Balkan Crisis Report (London), November 26,
>1999. Milenko Vasovic, "Belgrade's French Connection," IWPR Balkan Crisis
>Report (London), November 26, 1999.
>
>12) "Lt. Testifies at Milosevic Trial," Associated Press, April 26, 2000.
>
>13) Aleksandar Vasovic, "4 Accused of Milosevic Death Plot," Associated
>Press, July 31, 2000. "Dutchmen Arrested, Accused of Plotting Against
>Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, July 31, 2000. Email correspondence from
>Herman de Tollenaere, quoting from NRC- Business Paper of August 1, 2000.
>"Arrested Dutchmen Admitted Plans to Kill, Kidnap Milosevic," BETA
>(Belgrade), August 17, 2000. "Dutch Espionage Terrorist Gang Arrested in
>Yugoslavia - Minister," Tanjug (Belgrade), July 31, 2000. "Yugoslav
>Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'," BBC Monitoring
>Service, August 1, 2000.
>
>14) "West Sees Noose Tightening Around Milosevic," Reuters, June 9, 2000.
>
>15) "NDI Activities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
>(Serbia-Montenegro)," NDI Worldwide Activities, www.ndi.org
>
>16) "Britain Trains New Elite for Post-Milosevic Era," The Independent, May
>3, 2000. The New Serbia Forum web page,
>http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/way/glj77/Serbia.htm
>
>17) "Final Text of Stability Pact for Southeast Europe," June 10, 1999.
>U.S. Embassy, Skopje, Macedonia, "Southeast Europe Equity Fund Launched
>July 26," July 27, 2000. White House Fact Sheet, "The Stability Pact for
>Southeast Europe: One Year Later," July 27, 2000.
>
>18) Borislav Komad, "At Albright's Signal," Vecernje Novosti, May 18, 2000.
>"US Anti-Yugoslav Office Opens in Budapest," Tanjug (Belgrade), August 21,
>2000.
>
>19) Ljubinka Cagorovic, "Montenegro Assembly Scraps Socially-Owned
>Property," Reuters, November 13, 1999. "Montenegrin Government Prepares to
>Privatise Economy," Tanjug (Belgrade), December 25, 1999.
>
>20) Central and Eastern European Business Information Center, "Southeastern
>Europe Business Brief," February 3, 2000. Central and Eastern European
>Business Information Center, "Southeastern Europe Business Brief," April
>27, 2000. Anne Swardson, "West Grows Close to Montenegro," Washington Post,
>May 24, 2000.
>
>21) Petar Invanovic, "Montenegro: Laying the Foundation of
>Entrepreneurship," Center for International Private Enterprise.
>
>22) Statement by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, "Important Step in
>Opening New Perspectives For Montenegrin State Policy," Pobjeda
>(Podgorica), June 22, 1999.
>
>23) "Albright Renews Montenegro Support," Associated Press, July 13, 2000.
>"Montenegro Wants to Join NATO and the EU," Agence France-Presse, July 10,
>2000. Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, "Secretary of
>State Madeleine K. Albright and Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic,"
>Press Stakeout at Excelsior Hotel, Rome, Italy, August 1, 2000.
>
>24) "Montenegro Ahead of Elections: Boycott and Threats," BETA (Belgrade),
>August 9, 2000. "Montenegro and Elections - Boycott Becomes Official," BETA
>(Belgrade), August 17, 2000. Phil Reese, "We Have the Heart for Battle,
>Says Montenegrin Trained by SAS," The Independent, July 30, 2000. "Yugoslav
>Information Minister Says U.S. Behind Dutch 'Mercenaries'", BBC Monitoring
>Service, August 1, 2000. "Yugoslavia Says British SAS Trains Montenegrins,"
>Reuters, August 1, 2000. "Information Minister Sees Montenegrin Arms
>Purchases, Croatian Assistance," BETA (Belgrade), July 31, 2000. "Foreign
>'Dogs of War' Training Montenegrin Police to Attack Army," Tanjug
>(Belgrade), August 9, 2000. "Montenegro: Camouflaged Military Vehicles
>Seized in Ancona," ANSA (Rome), August 21, 2000. "Montenegro: Traffic in
>Camouflaged Armored Vehicles: Investigation into Documentation," ANSA
>(Rome), August 22, 2000.
>
>25) Richard J. Newman, "Balkan Brinkmanship," US News and World Report,
>November 15, 1999.
>
>26) "Clinton Warns Milosevic 'Remains a Threat to Peace'," Agence
>France-Presse, July 29, 2000.
>
>27) "NATO's Robertston Warns Milosevic on Montenegro," Reuters, July 27, 2000.
>
>
>
>Louis Proyect
>Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 31, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>It was all a lie
>
>NATO ADMITS YUGOSLAVS CARRIED OUT NO MASS KILLINGS IN KOSOVO
>
>By John Catalinotto
>
>On Aug. 17 NATO officials conceded that the figures they
>released in 1999, allegedly a count of the people killed by
>Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, were much higher than the actual
>number of people killed there.
>
>Findings by forensic teams from the International Criminal
>Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague forced
>NATO's admission. The ICTY exhumed 3,000 bodies and examined
>them.
>
>While they have not yet released a report, ICTY spokespeople
>said that at most 3,000 people were killed. They said there
>was no evidence of mutilations. And they said that not all
>the dead can be proved to be victims of murder or execution.
>
>Last year NATO had charged that Yugoslav forces massacred at
>least 10,000 people. NATO spokespeople implied that 500,000
>supposedly "missing" people also had been killed.
>
>They used these claims to justify NATO bombings that had no
>basis in United Nations treaties or NATO's own charter.
>
>NATO has now been forced to admit in effect that it waged a
>lying propaganda war to win support for its own illegal
>intervention that killed over 3,000 Yugoslavs, about one-
>third of them children.
>
>Washington and NATO have no hard evidence that Yugoslav
>forces carried out even a small-scale massacre of civilians,
>let alone the "genocide" they were charged with.
>
>The ICTY--itself created and funded by the NATO powers--has
>exposed this "Big Lie" of NATO's.
>
>According to a report in the Aug. 18 British Guardian, Mark
>Laity, the acting NATO spokesperson, said: "NATO never said
>the missing were all dead. The figure we stood by was
>10,000." Laity even tried to claim that NATO's intervention
>stopped further killing.
>
>The truth is that since NATO occupied Kosovo, right-wing
>Albanian forces have killed some 1,000 people, mostly Serb
>and Romani, while pushing all non-Albanian peoples out of
>the region.
>
>NATO FORCES LIE AGAIN ABOUT TREPCA
>
>While this exposure of NATO's lies came too late to stop
>last year's bombing, it should be kept in mind by anyone
>evaluating NATO leaders' current statements regarding
>Yugoslavia.
>
>On Aug. 14, French and British forces occupying the Serbian
>province of Kosovo and Metohija seized the smelter at the
>Trepca mines near Kosovo Mitrovica. These are the richest
>nickel and lead mines in Europe. Corporate forces in the
>United States, Britain and France want these mines in their
>hands and not in the hands of the Yugoslav government.
>
>This time the excuse for the action was that the smelter was
>"polluting" the environment. Compared to the pollution
>caused by NATO's deliberate bombing of Pancevo and other
>Yugoslav chemical complexes, not to mention the use of
>radioactive depleted uranium weapons, this pollution is
>minor. In any case, Yugoslav authorities reported that steps
>had already been taken to reduce the smelter's pollution.
>
>The United States, Britain and France--the major NATO powers-
>-are again using a lie to justify an unwarranted and illegal
>seizure of Yugoslav property, just as they lied to justify
>the war in the first place.
>
>The NATO powers and Washington in particular have been
>attempting to intervene in the Yugoslav election scheduled
>for Sept. 24. They have set up an office in Budapest,
>Hungary, to deliver funds to parties in Yugoslavia that
>oppose the current elected president, Slobodan Milosevic.
>
>Seizing the Trepca smelter must be seen as part of this
>election strategy. By taking this step before the election,
>NATO hopes to put the blame for the "loss of Trepca" on
>Milosevic rather than on his opposition.
>
>This strategy was spelled out last fall in a study prepared
>by a think tank funded by multi-billionaire George Soros.
>The report suggested that NATO use the excuse of pollution
>to seize the Trepca mines, and to do it before the election.
>
>Besides trying to undermine the Yugoslav government by
>meddling in the national election, NATO forces have been
>supporting a pro-Western leadership in Montenegro, the
>republic that with Serbia makes up present-day Yugoslavia.
>British officers have been training the Montenegrin police
>to combat the Yugoslav Army.
>
>This was underlined when Yugoslav forces caught two British
>officers who were doing this training, along with two
>Canadians who had equipment that could be used for setting
>explosives. Whatever the outcome of the hearing over charges
>that these four were conducting terrorism, the case has made
>it clear that British imperialism is trying to help pro-
>Western political groups split Montenegro from Yugoslavia.
>
>- END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>ww@.... For subscription info send message to:
>info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
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