(Le relazioni tra Serbia e NATO, instaurate e via via consolidate a partire dal golpe antidemocratico ed antiparlamentare compiuto in Serbia il 3 ottobre 2000 con il determinante appoggio di UE e USA, stanno assumendo adesso una dimensione paradossale: il Ministro della Difesa della Serbia si dice favorevole ad "entrare nella NATO senza esserne membro", che tradotto dalla lingua dei bugiardi alla lingua italiana significa: aprire alla NATO per esserne sudditi senza godere delle clausole che equiparerebbero il paese a tutti gli altri membri NATO in caso ad es. di necessità di difesa rispetto alle aggressioni di terzi. Un affarone, insomma...

Ricordiamo che la Serbia ha già aderito alla Partnership for Peace (anticamera della NATO), ha inviato suoi soldati in Afghanistan, ed ha appena chiesto l'adesione alla UE, adesione che difficilmente sarà approvata se non preceduta dall'entrata nella NATO come è già stato per altri paesi, ad es. la confinante Romania. Ricordiamo anche che l'ex primo ministro Kostunica è "caduto in disgrazia" ed è stato rimosso proprio dopo che aveva dichiarato la contrarietà del suo partito alla entrata della Serbia nella NATO.

[a cura di Italo Slavo] )

1) Belgrade prepares to set up NATO mission (Vecernje Novosti - November 4, 2009)

2) Defense minister meets U.S. counterpart (Beta News Agency - December 2, 2009)

3) "U.S. visit brings better cooperation" (Beta News Agency - December 5, 2009)

4) "Serbians should decide on joining NATO" (Blic/Tanjug News Agency - December 14, 2009)

5) U.S.: Belgrade must cooperate with Pristina (Politika - December 27, 2009)

6) Serbian Minister of Defense: Serbia to be in NATO, even if not member (Tanjug News Agency - December 30, 2009)

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Source: Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
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Useful links:

=== 1 ===

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=11&dd=04&nav_id=62806

Vecernje Novosti - November 4, 2009

Belgrade prepares to set up NATO mission 

BELGRADE: The foreign affairs and defense ministries are wrapping up preparations for opening the Serbian mission at NATO HQ, daily Vecernje Novosti writes.
According to the Belgrade newspaper, the government recently named Branislav Milinkovic as Serbia’s ambassador to the western military alliance, and he will most likely submit his credentials by the end of the year.
The question of finding a location for the Serbian mission in Brussels is expected to be taken care of soon, as well as all other personnel related issues, the article says. 
The daily writes that the Serbian ambassador to NATO will not be alone at the mission, as a military representative "will be dispatched as well". 
Defense Ministry State Secretary Dusan Spasojevic said that by the end of this week, once the changes and amendments to the Law on Defense and Army take effect, there will be a procedure started up officially for selecting the military staff to be sent to Brussels. 
“It is certain that our military official will be a general, who will be appointed by President Boris Tadic according to a recommendation by the Defense Ministry. In addition, there will be eight more officers in the mission, six from the military's jurisdiction and two experts in the field of defense policies,” Spasojevic said. 
He explained that the point of the mission will be to improve cooperation and everyday communication with NATO, participate in the work of 100 expert committees, and improve what the daily refers to as cooperation with "50 member-states" of the "political" alliance. 
All missions of countries that are participating in the Partnership for Peace program are also located in the NATO headquarters, in the offices designated for partners. 
The enormous NATO complex is located on the outskirts of Brussels. This is where the Serbian mission is currently looking to find a location for its mission, says the daily.  

=== 2 ===

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=12&dd=02&nav_id=63445

Beta News Agency - December 2, 2009

Defense minister meets U.S. counterpart 

WASHINGTON: Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac on Tuesday met with his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates in Washington, Beta reports.
He said afterward that it was one of the most important encounters since he assumed the helm of the ministry and that the visit should improve the overall relations between Serbia and the U.S., and not only in the area of defense.
"It is well-known that in the last decade of the last century we had a lot of problems, but it is also well-known that in the last few years the ministry has been making big steps to stabilize relations between Serbia and the U.S.," Sutanovac told Serbian and American journalists after meeting with Gates at the Pentagon. 
He said a recent visit by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden had shown that "there is respect" for Serbia overseas, which is very important, and added that he and Gates had agreed that defense relations were among the best aspects of the cooperation between the two countries. 
Sutanovac reminded that the Serbian Army had several dozen officers at prestigious U.S. military academies, and stated that he and Gates had mentioned continuing to exchange experiences in education and training. 
The Serbian minister and American secretary also discussed further Serbian Army participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, while Sutanovac acquainted Gates with the participation of a Serbian Army medical team in a peacekeeping mission in Chad and the desire to see Serbian armed forces in other missions with "partners from Europe." 

On the first day of his visit to the U.S., Sutanovac laid a wreath at the monument to the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. While in Washington, he is to have several meetings at the Senate, Congress and White House, and in Ohio with representatives of the Ohio National Guard. 

Sutanovac is in the U.S. at the invitation of Gates, the first such request to a Serbian defense minister in 25 years.  

=== 3 ===

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=12&dd=05&nav_id=63523

Beta News Agency - December 5, 2009

"U.S. visit brings better cooperation" 

BELGRADE: Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said that his ongoing visit to the U.S. will contribute to better cooperation between Serbia and America. 
“Taking into consideration the fact that they invited us to the Pentagon, White House, Senate and Congress, we tried to reawaken relations and to act in all possible fields,” Sutanovac told RTS, adding that the best cooperation between Serbia and the U.S. currently is in the defense sector. 
“We want to cooperate in other fields as well, we will try to improve and develop cooperation in the coming period,” Sutanovac said. 
SHe said that Kosovo is the stumbling block in relations between the two countries, and that this issue cannot be solved during this visit, but that a number of other issues can be solved. 
Sutanovac said that during 2010, he is expecting a visit to Serbia from the commander of the American National Guard, adding that Serbia’s military chief-of-staff is expected to visit Washington in February as well.  

=== 4 ===

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=12&dd=14&nav_id=63743

Blic/Tanjug News Agency - December 14, 2009

"Serbians should decide on joining NATO" 

BELGRADE: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he "welcomes the steps Serbia had recently taken in order to promote its cooperation with NATO".
Rasmussen told Belgrade daily Blic that it is "up to the citizens of Serbia to decide whether the country's membership in the Alliance would be useful for Serbia".
According to the newspaper, the NATO chief said that he does not see the Declaration of Neutrality, proclaimed by the Serbian Parliament, as an obstacle to the development of cooperation between NATO and Serbia. 
Many neutral countries, such as Austria and Finland for example, are considerably engaged as NATO's partners, said Rasmussen, adding that Serbia had joined the Partnership for Peace Program in late 2006, but that it had "not fully used the program's potential over the past period". 
"I hope that Serbia will become more active, but it is up to your government to decide whether it wants to do that," said Rasmussen. 
As for the western military alliance's announcements it would scale down its presence in Kosovo by 2,500 soldiers, he stated that this was a "gradual transition of KFOR units toward a conflict-deterring force", which comes as a "natural result of the increased and sustainable normalization of the security situation on the ground in Kosovo".  

=== 5 ===

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=12&dd=27&nav_id=64061

Politika - December 27, 2009

U.S.: Belgrade must cooperate with Pristina 

BELGRADE: Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Jennifer Brush, said that Belgrade must cooperate with Pristina.
She said that America does not expect Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Brush said that cooperation is necessary so that the problems that affect both sides can be figured out. 
She told daily Politika that she does not believe that new status talks will be able to be scheduled after the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo’s declared independence is given. 
As far as the eventual membership of Serbia in NATO is concerned, Brush said that the decision is up to Serbia to make, but that the U.S. and Alliance members believe that NATO membership would be good for Serbia. 
Brush said that Serbia needs to define what it means by military neutrality. 
“It is still unclear to me, personally. On one side, NATO membership gives a clear concept, it is an extension of multilateral relations,” she said. 
She said that the U.S. supports Serbia’s European integration, adding that the visa liberalization and unfreezing of the interim trade agreement were good things that occurred at the end of this year, and were promised by President Boris Tadić while campaigning in 2008. 
Brush said that relations between America and Serbia have improved and will continue to do so, adding that the government, President Tadic and former ambassador Cameron Munter had a lot to do with the improved relations. 
She also said that the visit of U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden to Serbia in 2009 was a very significant event. 
“I believe that his visit brought a very important turnaround in our relations and offered new hope for stronger bilateral cooperation,” Brush said.  

=== 6 ===

Zivadin Jovanovic

President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals

Belgrade Forum’s position on Serbia–NATO relationship 
                                                                                  
1. Serbia as a small peace-loving country should remain militarily neutral. Serbia should not be a member of any military alliance. Serbia differs from the rest of the countries in the region, firstly, in that Serbia had never been a member of either the Warsaw Pact or of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and, secondly, no country in the region has ever been the victim of a NATO attack except Serbia. Serbian neutrality has been defined by the National Assembly Resolution binding the government.

2. As Serbia has already joined the Partnership for Peace program, this also is part of the political reality. Austria, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Malta and Switzerland are constitutionally neutral countries but members of the PFP. 

3. Since its aggression against Serbia (Yugoslavia) in 1999, NATO has demonstrated that it was meant to be a precedent for launching similar attacks and military interventions in other regions out of its jurisdiction defined by the NATO Founding Act. Its offensive character was later confirmed in Iraq and elsewhere. In addition, NATO has demonstrated its ignorance of basic international principles and laws and the role of United Nations Security Council.

4. Having played a leading role in supporting the unilateral, illegal secession of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia in 2008, the U.S. government and NATO proved that their prime interest in 1999 was to establish a NATO state on 15 percent of Serbian state territory [Kosovo]. 

The U.S. first established the Camp Bondsteel military base in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, the biggest American military camp outside of American soil. The U.S. government didn't have Serbia’s or the UN's authorization to establish such a base. It was an impetus to spread military bases further to the East (for example, threein Bulgaria , another four in Romania and so on). The U.S. and other NATO countries have established an “independent Kosovo’s Army” by “transforming” the terrorist KLA/UCK.

5. Surveys of public opinion show that about 75 percent of Serbia’s population is against Serbia’s membership in NATO.

6. As the part of the present government is clearly pro-NATO, they may be tempted to ignore the will of the majority and force a short-cut road towards NATO membership. That’s why many civil society associations, including the Belgrade Forum, as well as many political parties keep publically cautioning that the final decision on NATO membership is exclusively in the hands of the people who will have a say at a referendum. 

7. Formally the government agrees with the inevitability of a referendum. But in practice nobody dares to organize it as the result is quite clear in advance. 

So Serbia is faced with NATO advocates' tactics - step by step getting deeper involved in NATO structures and operations directing the process to the point of no return. 

At the same time NATO and the government spend huge amounts of money propagating NATO as the guardian of paradise. The masters of this operation count the effects of promises of a “better life” to the nation suffering from poverty, unemployment and confusion.

[Also on: Global Research, December 30, 2009

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16687 ]