NYT 1987: "In Yugoslavia, Rising Ethnic Strife Brings Fears of Worse Civil Conflict"

"In Yugoslavia, Rising Ethnic Strife Brings Fears of Worse Civil Conflict"

By David Binder (Special to the N.Y.Times)

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The New York Times, November 1, 1987, Late City Final Edition (p.14)

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Belgrade, Yugoslavia:

Portions of southern Yugoslavia have reached such a state of ethnic friction that Yugoslavs have begun to talk of the horrifying possibility of "civil war" in a land that lost one-tenth of its population, or 1.7 million people, in World War II.

The current hostilities pit separatist-minded ethnic Albanians against the various Slavic populations of Yugoslavia and occur at all levels of society, from the highest officials to the humblest peasants.

A young Army conscript of ethnic Albanian origin shot up his barracks, killing four sleeping Slavic bunkmates and wounding six others. The army says it has uncovered hundreds of subversive ethnic Albanian cells in its ranks. Some arsenals have been raided.

Vicious Insults

Ethnic Albanians in the Government have manipulated public funds and regulations to take over land belonging to Serbs. And politicians have exchanged vicious insults.

Slavic Orthodox churches have been attacked, and flags have been torn down. Wells have been poisoned and crops burned. Slavic boys have been knifed, and some young ethnic Albanians have been told by their elders to rape Serbian girls.

Ethnic Albanians comprise the fastest growing nationality in Yugoslavia and are expected soon to become its third largest, after the Serbs and Croats.

Radicals' Goals

The goal of the radical nationalists among them, one said in an interview, is an "ethnic Albania that includes western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, part of southern Serbia, Kosovo and Albania itself." That includes large chunks of the republics that make up the southern half of Yugoslavia.

Other ethnic Albanian separatists admit to a vision of a greater Albania governed from Pristina in southern Yugoslavia rather than Tirana, the capital of neighboring Albania.

There is no evidence that the hard-line Communist Government in Tirana is giving them material assistance.

The principal battleground is the region called Kosovo,a high plateau ringed by mountains that is somewhat smaller than New Jersey. Ethnic Albanians there make up 85 percent of the population of 1.7 million. The rest are Serbians and Montenegrins.

Worst Strife in Years

As Slavs flee the protracted violence, Kosovo is becoming what ethnic Albanian nationalists have been demanding for years, and especially strongly since the bloody rioting by ethnic Albanians in Pristina in 1981 - an "ethnically pure" Albanian region, a "Republic of Kosovo" in all but name.

The violence, a journalist in Kosovo said, is escalating to "the worst in the last seven years."

Many Yugoslavs blame the troubles on the ethnic Albanians, but the matter is more complex in a country with as many nationalities and religions as Yugoslavia's and involves economic development, law, politics, families and flags. As recently as 20 years ago, the Slavic majority treated ethnic Albanians as inferiors to be employed as hewers of wood and carriers of heating coal. The ethnic Albanians, who now number 2 million, were officially deemed a minority, not a constituent nationality, as they are today.

Were the ethnic tensions restricted to Kosovo, Yugoslavia's problems with its Albanian nationals might be more manageable. But some Yugoslavs and some ethnic Albanians believe the struggle has spread far beyond Kosovo. Macedonia, a republic to the south with a population of 1.8 million, has a restive ethnic Albanian minority of 350,000.

"We've already lost western Macedonia to the Albanians," said a member of the Yugoslav party presidium, explaining that the ethnic minority had driven the Slavic Macedonians out of the region.

Attacks on Slavs

Last summer, the authorities in Kosovo said they documented 40 ethnic Albanian attacks on Slavs in two months.In the last two years, 320 ethnic Albanians have been sentenced for political crimes, nearly half of them characterized as severe.

In one incident, Fadil Hoxha, once the leading politician of ethnic Albanian origin in Yugoslavia, joked at an official dinner in Prizren last year that Serbian women should be used to satisfy potential ethnic Albanian rapists. After his quip was reported this October, Serbian women in Kosovo protested, and Mr. Hoxha was dismissed from the Communist Party.

As a precaution, the central authorities dispatched 380 riot police officers to the Kosovo region for the first time in four years.

Officials in Belgrade view the ethnic Albanian challenge as imperiling the foundations of the multinational experiment called federal Yugoslavia, which consists of six republics and two provinces.

'Lebanonizing' of Yugoslavia

High-ranking officials have spoken of the "Lebanonizing" of their country and have compared its troubles to the strife in Northern Ireland.

Borislav Jovic, a member of the Serbian party's presidency, spoke in an interview of the prospect of "two Albanias, one north and one south, like divided Germany or Korea," and of "practically the breakup of Yugoslavia." He added: "Time is working against us."

The federal Secretary for National Defense, Fleet Adm. Branko Mamula, told the army's party organization in September of efforts by ethnic Albanians to subvert the armed forces. "Between 1981 and 1987 a total of 216 illegal organizations with 1,435 members of Albanian nationality were discovered in the Yugoslav People's Army," he said. Admiral Mamula said ethnic Albanian subversives had been preparing for "killing officers and soldiers, poisoning food and water, sabotage, breaking into weapons arsenals and stealing arms and ammunition, desertion and causing flagrant nationalist incidents in army units."

Concerns Over Military

Coming three weeks after the ethnic Albanian draftee, Aziz Kelmendi, had slaughtered his Slavic comrades in the barracks at Paracin, the speech struck fear in thousands of families whose sons were about to start their mandatory year of military service.

Because the Albanians have had a relatively high birthrate, one-quarter of the army's 200,000 conscripts this year are ethnic Albanians. Admiral Mamula suggested that 3,792 were potential human timebombs.

He said the army had "not been provided with details relevant for assessing their behavior." But a number of Belgrade politicians said they doubted the Yugoslav armed forces would be used to intervene in Kosovo as they were to quell violent rioting in 1981in Pristina. They reason that the army leadership is extremely reluctant to become involved in what is, in the first place, a political issue.

Ethnic Albanians already control almost every phase of life in the autonomous province of Kosovo, including the police, judiciary, civil service, schools and factories. Non-Albanian visitors almost immediately feel the independence- and suspicion - of the ethnic Albanian authorities.

Region's Slavs Lack Strength

While 200,000 Serbs and Montenegrins still live in the province, they are scattered and lack cohesion. In the last seven years, 20,000 of them have fled the province, often leaving behind farmsteads and houses,for the safety of the Slavic north.

Until September, the majority of the Serbian Communist Party leadership pursued a policy of seeking compromise with the Kosovo party hierarchy under its ethnic Albanian leader, Azem Vlasi.

But during a 30-hour session of the Serbian central committee in late September, the Serbian party secretary, Slobodan Milosevic, deposed Dragisa Pavlovic, as head of Belgrade's party organization, the country's largest. Mr. Milosevic accused Mr. Pavlovic of being an appeaser who was soft on Albanian radicals. Mr. Milosevic had courted the Serbian backlash vote with speeches in Kosovo itself calling for "the policy of the hard hand."

"We will go up against anti-Socialist forces, even if they call us Stalinists," Mr. Milosevic declared recently. That a Yugoslav politician would invite someone to call him a Stalinist even four decades after Tito's epochal break with Stalin, is a measure of the state into which Serbian politics have fallen. For the moment, Mr. Milosevic and his supporters appear to be staking their careers on a strategy of confrontation with the Kosovo ethnic Albanians.

Other Yugoslav politicians have expressed alarm. "There is no doubt Kosovo is a problem of the whole country, a powder keg on which we all sit," said Milan Kucan, head of the Slovenian Communist Party.

Remzi Koljgeci, of the Kosovo party leadership, said in an interview in Pristina that "relations are cold" between the ethnic Albanians and Serbs of the province, that there were too many "people without hope."

But many of those interviewed agreed it was also a rare opportunity for Yugoslavia to take radical political and economic steps, as Tito did when he broke with the Soviet bloc in 1948.

Efforts are under way to strengthen central authority through amendments to the constitution. The League of Communists is planning an extraordinary party congress before March to address the country's grave problems.

The hope is that something will be done then to exert the rule of law in Kosovo while drawing ethnic Albanians back into Yugoslavia's mainstream

 

http://www.kunstradio.at/WAR/binder-nytimes.html

Alexander Dorin: “Srebrenica Massacre” is a Western Myth

Alexander Dorin: "Srebrenica Massacre" is a Western Myth

May 23rd, 2009 | By De-Construct.net | In Bosnia, Bytes 'n Bits, Featured Articles

Srebrenica — The History of Salon Racism

"In the West, the popular mythology about 7,000-8,000 Muslim men being executed in Srebrenica in 1995 is still alive and well, but independent research shows some 2,000 Bosnian Muslim fighters were killed in battle for Srebrenica and that is the number of bodies Hague investigators were able to find", said Swiss researcher Alexander Dorin, who has been investigating Srebrenica events for the past 14 years.

In his latest book titled "Srebrenica — The History of Salon Racism" (Srebrenica — die Geschichte eines salonfahigen Rassismus) published this month in Berlin, Dorin focuses on manipulations with the number of Muslims who lost their lives in Srebrenica.

"Regarding the events in Srebrenica in 1995, the media manipulations still reign in the West, claiming that after the town fell to Serbian hands some 7,000 to 8,000 of Muslim fighters and male civilians were killed. However, the researchers around the world have shown this bears no relation to the truth," Dorin told Srna News Agency.

According to data he had gathered, Dorin discovered that at least 2,000 Muslim fighters were killed in battle for Srebrenica. He added the facts are showing that neither civilian nor military leadership of Republic of Srpska (Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina) ever ordered execution of the Muslim fighters and POWs.

"2,000 is approximately the number of bodies Hague investigators were able to find up to this day. To that number the Muslim side added several hundred Muslim fighters, most of whom came from abroad, who were killed in battle few years before the fall of Srebrenica, in Han Pijesak and Konjević Polje," Dorin said, adding that this is evidenced even by the Muslim documents captured by the Bosnian Serb Army.

Bosnian Serb Army Fought Against Orić's Cutthroats, Not Against Muslim Civilians

"Prior to the fall of Srebrenica, Naser Orić's troops withdrew from this small town, leaving 25,000 civilians behind, although a certain number of civilians, some of whom were armed, was withdrawing together with Orić's fighters," Dorin said.

He said that Bosnian Serb Army "did not kill a single Muslim civilian of those who remained in Srebrenica or Potocari, while it did engage Orić's column, which was breaking through to Tuzla in several groups, in fierce fighting."

"There is no way the Serb Army could have captured seven or eight thousand Muslim fighters and male civilians and execute them somewhere, partly because that was technically impossible," Dorin said. He explained that, among else, there was never enough Serb soldiers who could carry out a crime on such scale.

In his research, Dorin was using various sources, including statements by the Muslim fighters and commanders, as well as testimonies given by Dutch UNPROFOR troops who were stationed in Srebrenica at the time.

He pointed to a very interesting investigation carried out by the Bulgarian reporter and author Germinal Civikov, who wrote a book about the case of Croat Dražen Erdemović, former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, whose testimony represents the key Hague "evidence" of "Srebrenica massacre", who claimed that his commander Milorad Pelemiš "ordered him and few other soldiers to execute some 1,000-1,200 Muslim POWs".

But the analysis of that case, said Dorin, proves Erdemović invented most, if not all of that story.

Dorin explained that director of the Belgrade Center for Investigation of War Crimes Milivoje Ivanišević analyzed the lists of alleged Srebrenica victims. Ivanišević discovered that, a year after the fall of Srebrenica, some 3,000 Muslim men who were supposedly killed in 1995, were voting in the Bosnian Muslim elections.

In addition, at least 1,000 of the alleged 1995 "Srebrenica massacre victims" have been dead long before or after Bosnian Serb Army took the town over.

"It is perfectly clear that Muslim organizations listed as Srebrenica victims all the Muslim fighters who were killed in the fights after the fall of Srebrenica," the Swiss researcher said.

According to Dorin, some Western reporters wrote back in 1995 that part of Srebrenica Muslim population, after the town's takeover, migrated to other countries. This includes an American journalist who wrote that around 800 Srebrenica Muslims went abroad — from Serbia.

"It was not possible to conduct an in-depth investigation, since no one can search the entire world to pinpoint each and every name [from the lists of alleged Srebrenica victims]. Still, the available evidence already shows there were immense manipulations at play," Dorin said.

A number of photos of Muslim fighters taken during their breakthrough to Tuzla, which Dorin obtained from the Muslim sources, show Izetbegović's fighters in uniforms, with many of them wounded.

"On these photos one can see a number of wounded fighters who survived the battle against the Serb Army. Muslim side is now presenting its fighters who did not recover from their wounds as the victims of an execution", said Dorin.

He pointed out that some Muslims have admitted at least 2,000 of their Srebrenica-based fighters were killed in the battle.

Dorin also reminded of the statements by the Muslim politicians given to media about an "offer" American president Bill Clinton made to Bosnian Muslim war leader Alija Izetbegović back in April 1993, to have "the Chetnik [Serb] forces enter Srebrenica and massacre 5,000 Muslims, which would result in the [US-led NATO] military intervention" against Bosnian Serbs.

At the same time, Dutch UNPROFOR troops testified that Serb Army treated Muslim civilians in an entirely correct manner, while Srebrenica Muslim warlord Naser Orić with his fighters was massacring Serb civilians in the most monstrous fashion for years in Srebrenica municipality, and pillaging and destroying their property all the while.

… For Those who Want to Know the Truth About Srebrenica

Despite all the evidence about what really took place in Srebrenica and the fact there was no 'massacre', Dorin doubts the Hague verdicts in regards to Srebrenica events can be contested or overturned, being that this "so-called tribunal has convicted a number of people for the alleged Srebrenica massacre without any evidence whatsoever".

He cited a case of the Serb Vidoje Blagojević, convicted to a long prison term even though he had no connection to Srebrenica events, while "the mass murderer Naser Orić was acquitted of all responsibility for killing the Serbs".

"That court routinely discards everything that proves Serbs are not the monsters they have been made out to be. That tribunal has a purely political function. It has no relation to the justice and truth", Dorin told Srna.

The Swiss researcher does not expect his book about Srebrenica events will be able to break down the stereotypes. He said the book was written for those who wish to learn the truth about the events Western mainstream media sold as "Srebrenica massacre" and even "genocide", in order to justify their war against the Serbs.

Dorin added that mostly left-oriented Western newspapers and organizations have shown an interest in his latest book and have offered cooperation.

Alexander Dorin's book about Srebrenica events is expected to be translated both into Serbian and English language.

Related

• Sarajevo Islamic Regime's Srebrenica Manipulations
• Srebrenica: Genocide or Major Hoax?
• Srebrenica Serbs
• Jihad in Bosnia
• More Proof of Srebrenica Manipulations
• Srebrenica Christmas Massacre
• Pogrom of Srebrenica Christians
• New Evidence Against Srebrenica Warlord
• Srebrenica: The Real Picture
• No Justice in the West
• Hague has Failed
• Srebrenica Myth
• Srebrenica Serbs
• Serbophobia Obscures the Facts
• Dutch Soldiers to Testify in Karadzic's Defense
• Dutchbat III
• Indictment Against War Criminal Naser Orić
• Agony of the Serbs in Srebrenica Death Camps
• 91 Dutchbat Witness for Radovan Karadžić
• Srebrenica ID, by Milivoje Ivanišević
• Yugoslav Civil War Yet to Be Properly Examined
• "Srebrenica Massacre" Invented by Bill Clinton and Alija Izetbegović

http://de-construct.net/e-zine/?p=6082

The Anti-Empire Report

September 29th, 2009
by William Blum
www.killinghope.org

Ridding the world of the sickness of pacifism

 

Picture the scene: Afghanistan, two hijacked tankers filled with highly inflammable fuel, surrounded by a crowd of Afghans eager to syphon off some for free ... What's the last thing you want to do? Right — drop bombs on the tankers. That's what a German military commander signaled an American drone airplane to do September 4. Kaboom!! At least 100 human beings incinerated. This incident has led to a lot of controversy in Germany, for Article 26 of Germany's post-war Grundgesetz (Basic Law/Constitution) states: "Acts tending to and undertaken with intent to disturb the peaceful relations between nations, especially to prepare for a war of aggression, shall be unconstitutional. They shall be made a criminal offense."

But NATO (aka the United States) can take satisfaction in the fact that the Germans have put their silly pacifism aside and acted like real men, trained military killers; although prior to this incident the Germans had engaged in some aerial and ground combat, there hadn't been such a dramatic and publicized taking of civilian lives. Deutschland now has more than 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, the third largest contingent in the country after the US and Britain, and at home they've just finished building a monument to fallen members of the Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces), founded in 1955; 38 members (so far) have surrendered their young lives in Afghanistan.

In January 2007 I wrote in this report about how the US was pushing Germany in this direction; that circumstances at that time indicated that Washington might be losing patience with the pace of Germany's submission to the empire's needs. Germany declined to send troops to Iraq and sent only non-combat forces to Afghanistan, not quite good enough for the Pentagon warriors and their NATO allies. Germany's leading news magazine, Der Spiegel, reported the following:

At a meeting in Washington, Bush administration officials, speaking in the context of Afghanistan, berated Karsten Voigt, German government representative for German-American relations: "You concentrate on rebuilding and peacekeeping, but the unpleasant things you leave to us." ... "The Germans have to learn to kill."

A German officer at NATO headquarters was told by a British officer: "Every weekend we send home two metal coffins, while you Germans distribute crayons and woollen blankets." Bruce George, the head of the British Defence Committee, said "some drink tea and beer and others risk their lives."

A NATO colleague from Canada remarked that it was about time that "the Germans left their sleeping quarters and learned how to kill the Taliban."

And in Quebec, a Canadian official told a German official: "We have the dead, you drink beer." ¹

Ironically, in many other contexts since the end of World War II the Germans have been unable to disassociate themselves from the image of Nazi murderers and monsters.

Will there come the day when the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents will be mocked by "the Free World" for living in peace?

The United States has also engaged in a decades-long effort to wean Japan away from its post-WW2 pacifist constitution and foreign policy and set it back on the righteous path of again being a military power, only this time acting in coordination with US foreign policy needs.

"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

"In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized." — Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, 1947, words long cherished by a large majority of the Japanese people.

In the triumphalism of the end of the Second World War, the American occupation of Japan, in the person of General Douglas MacArthur, played a major role in the creation of this constitution. But after the communists came to power in China in 1949, the United States opted for a strong Japan safely ensconced in the anti-communist camp. It's been all downhill since then. Step by step ... MacArthur himself ordered the creation of a "national police reserve", which became the embryo of the future Japanese military ... Visiting Tokyo in 1956, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told Japanese officials: "In the past, Japan had demonstrated her superiority over the Russians and over China. It was time for Japan to think again of being and acting like a Great Power." ²... various US-Japanese security and defense cooperation treaties, which, for example, called on Japan to integrate its military technology with that of the US and NATO ... the US supplying new sophisticated military aircraft and destroyers ... all manner of Japanese logistical assistance to the US in its frequent military operations in Asia ... repeated US pressure on Japan to increase its military budget and the size of its armed forces ... more than a hundred US military bases in Japan, protected by Japanese armed forces ... US-Japanese joint military exercises and joint research on a missile defense system ... the US Ambassador to Japan, 2001: "I think the reality of circumstances in the world is going to suggest to the Japanese that they reinterpret or redefine Article 9." ³ ... under pressure from Washington, Japan sent several naval vessels to the Indian Ocean to refuel US and British warships as part of the Afghanistan campaign in 2002, then sent non-combat forces to Iraq to assist the American war as well as to East Timor, another made-in-America war scenario ... Secretary of State Colin Powell, 2004: "If Japan is going to play a full role on the world stage and become a full active participating member of the Security Council, and have the kind of obligations that it would pick up as a member of the Security Council, Article Nine would have to be examined in that light." ⁴...

One outcome or symptom of all this can perhaps be seen in the 2005 case of Kimiko Nezu, a 54-year-old Japanese teacher, who was punished by being transferred from school to school, by suspensions, salary cuts, and threats of dismissal because of her refusal to stand during the playing of the national anthem, a World War II song chosen as the anthem in 1999. She opposed the song because it was the same one sung as the Imperial Army set forth from Japan calling for an "eternal reign" of the emperor. At graduation ceremonies in 2004, 198 teachers refused to stand for the song. After a series of fines and disciplinary actions, Nezu and nine other teachers were the only protesters the following year. Nezu was then allowed to teach only when another teacher was present. ⁵

Which brings us to Italy, the remaining member of the World War Two Tripartite, or Axis. Article 11 of the 1948 Italian Constitution says in part: "Italy rejects war as a means for settling international controversies and as an instrument of aggression against the freedoms of others peoples." ⁶

But Washington laid claim early to Italy's post-war soul. In 1948 the United States all but took over the Italian election campaign to insure the Christian Democrats (CD) defeat of the Communist-Socialist candidate. (And the US remained an electoral force in Italy for the next three decades maintaining the CD in power. The Christian Democrats, in turn, were loyal Cold-War partners.) ⁷ In 1949, the US saw to it that Italy became a founding member of NATO. This was not seen as a threat to Article 11 because NATO has always painted itself as a "defensive" organization, even in 1999 when it carried out a 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia as both Italy and Germany supplied military aircraft and a NATO air base at Aviano, Italy served as the main hub for the daily bombing runs. For decades, Italy has been the home of US military bases and airfields used by Washington in one military adventure after another from Europe to Asia.

There are now some 3,000 Italian soldiers in Afghanistan performing a variety of services which enables the United States and NATO to engage in their bloody warfare. And 15 Italian soldiers have also lost their lives in that woeful land. The pressure on Italy, as on Germany, to become full-fledged combatants in Afghanistan and elsewhere is unrelenting from their NATO comrades. ⁸

The Berlin Wall — Another Cold War Myth

Within a few weeks many of the Western media can be expected to turn on their propaganda machines to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989. All the Cold War clichés about The Free World vs. Communist Tyranny will be trotted out and the simple tale of how the wall came to be will be repeated: In 1961, the East Berlin communists built a wall to keep their oppressed citizens from escaping to West Berlin and freedom. Why? Because commies don't like people to be free, to learn the "truth". What other reason could there have been?

First of all, before the wall went up thousands of East Germans had been commuting to the West for jobs each day and then returned to the East in the evening. So they were clearly not being held in the East against their will. The wall was built primarily for two reasons:

1. The West was bedeviling the East with a vigorous campaign of recruiting East German professionals and skilled workers, who had been educated at the expense of the Communist government. This eventually led to a serious labor and production crisis in the East. As one indication of this, the New York Times reported in 1963: "West Berlin suffered economically from the wall by the loss of about 60,000 skilled workmen who had commuted daily from their homes in East Berlin to their places of work in West Berlin." ⁹
2. During the 1950s, American coldwarriors in West Germany instituted a crude campaign of sabotage and subversion against East Germany designed to throw that country's economic and administrative machinery out of gear. The CIA and other US intelligence and military services recruited, equipped, trained and financed German activist groups and individuals, of West and East, to carry out actions which ran the spectrum from terrorism to juvenile delinquency; anything to make life difficult for the East German people and weaken their support of the government; anything to make the commies look bad.

It was a remarkable undertaking. The United States and its agents used explosives, arson, short circuiting, and other methods to damage power stations, shipyards, canals, docks, public buildings, gas stations, public transportation, bridges, etc; they derailed freight trains, seriously injuring workers; burned 12 cars of a freight train and destroyed air pressure hoses of others; used acids to damage vital factory machinery; put sand in the turbine of a factory, bringing it to a standstill; set fire to a tile-producing factory; promoted work slow-downs in factories; killed 7,000 cows of a co-operative dairy through poisoning; added soap to powdered milk destined for East German schools; were in possession, when arrested, of a large quantity of the poison cantharidin with which it was planned to produce poisoned cigarettes to kill leading East Germans; set off stink bombs to disrupt political meetings; attempted to disrupt the World Youth Festival in East Berlin by sending out forged invitations, false promises of free bed and board, false notices of cancellations, etc.; carried out attacks on participants with explosives, firebombs, and tire-puncturing equipment; forged and distributed large quantities of food ration cards to cause confusion, shortages and resentment; sent out forged tax notices and other government directives and documents to foster disorganization and inefficiency within industry and unions ... all this and much more. ¹⁰

Throughout the 1950s, the East Germans and the Soviet Union repeatedly lodged complaints with the Soviets' erstwhile allies in the West and with the United Nations about specific sabotage and espionage activities and called for the closure of the offices in West Germany they claimed were responsible, and for which they provided names and addresses. Their complaints fell on deaf ears. Inevitably, the East Germans began to tighten up entry into the country from the West.

Let's not forget that Eastern Europe became communist because Hitler, with the approval of the West, used it as a highway to reach the Soviet Union and wipe out Bolshevism forever. After the war, the Soviets were determined to close down the highway.

In 1999, USA Today reported: "When the Berlin Wall crumbled, East Germans imagined a life of freedom where consumer goods were abundant and hardships would fade. Ten years later, a remarkable 51% say they were happier with communism." ¹¹

About the same time a new Russian proverb was born: "Everything the Communists said about Communism was a lie, but everything they said about capitalism turned out to be the truth."

Health care: ignoring the huge red elephant in the room

In the frenzied search of recent months for a better way of delivering health care to the American people, the American media has often discussed health-care systems in other countries, particularly Europe. Usually, little, if anything, is mentioned about Cuba's system, where everyone is covered, for everything, where pre-existing conditions do not matter, and no patient pays for anything; i.e., nothing at all. The reason the Cuban system is seldom mentioned in the mass media is probably that it's kind of embarrassing that this otherwise poor country, laboring under the awful yoke of (choke, gasp) socialism, can deliver health care that most Americans can only dream of.

Now we have a new book by T.R. Reid, former correspondent for the Washington Post and commentator for National Public Radio. It's called "The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care". Reid does not avoid giving some credit to the Cuban system, but he makes sure that the reader knows that he's not taken in by any commie propaganda. He refers to the Cuban government as "a totalitarian Communist fiefdom", and adds: "In every country (except, perhaps, a police state like Cuba) there is one group of citizens who are not bound by the unified health care system: the rich." ¹² Thus, the fact that Cuba has an egalitarian health care system is made to seem like something negative, something one could expect to find only in a police state.

In discussing the World Health Organization's giving Cuba high marks for fairness in its system, Reid points out: "Of course, fairness and equal treatment extend only so far; when Fidel Castro himself fell ill in 2007, medical experts were flown in from Europe to treat him." ¹³ Aha! I knew it! Americans, and not just the right-wing crazies, would never accept a medical system where everyone got completely free care for all ailments if the president ever got any kind of special treatment. Would they? We could at least ask them.

Speaking of the right-wing crazies, there was a report in the New York Times which said: "Tomorrow night, getting right into the thick of the battle," the president will "carry his message to the people in a nationwide television and radio speech" fighting for enactment of his health reform bill, which opponents tagged as "socialized medicine" and "an entering wedge for the takeover of private medicine by the federal government." The president was John F. Kennedy, the program was Medicare, the Times story was published on May 20, 1962. Despite the speech, the effort failed until passage in 1964. ¹⁴

And speaking of the totalitarian communist socialist fascist Cuban police-state dictatorship, Mr. Reid and others might be interested in an article I wrote which demonstrates that during the period of its revolution, Cuba has enjoyed one of the very best human-rights records in all of Latin America.

But how to get past a lifetime of conditioning and reach the American mind with that message? At the recent convention of the AFL-CIO, the country's leading labor organization, there was a very progressive resolution put forth calling for the right of all Americans to travel to Cuba and for an end to the US embargo against the island nation. But at the end of the resolution the authors reminded us that they're Americans, calling upon Cuba "to release all political prisoners". ¹⁵

To appreciate what's wrong with that resolution one must understand the following: The United States is to the Cuban government like al Qaeda is to Washington, only much more powerful and much closer. Since the Cuban revolution, the United States and anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the US have inflicted upon Cuba greater damage and greater loss of life than what happened in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Cuban dissidents typically have had very close, indeed intimate, political and financial connections to American government officials, particularly in Havana through the United States Interests Section. Would the US government ignore a group of Americans receiving funds from al Qaeda and/or engaging in repeated meetings with known leaders of that organization? In the past few years, the American government has arrested a great many people in the US and abroad solely on the basis of alleged ties to al Qaeda, with a lot less evidence to go by than Cuba has had with its dissidents' ties to the United States, evidence gathered by Cuban double agents. Virtually all of Cuba's "political prisoners" are such dissidents.

Notes

1. Der Spiegel (Germany), November 20, 2006, p.24 ^↩
2. Los Angeles Times, September 23, 1994 ^↩
3. Washington Post, July 18, 2001 ^↩
4. BBC, August 14, 2004 ^↩
5. Washington Post, August 30, 2005 ^↩
6. Wikipedia: "Article 11 of Italian Constitution" ^↩
7. William Blum, "Killing Hope", chapters 2 and 18 ^↩
8. For further discussion of US opposition to Post-WW2 Axis pacifism, see "Former Axis Nations Abandon Post-World War II Military Restrictions" ^↩
9. New York Times, June 27, 1963, p.12 ^↩
10. See Killing Hope, p.400, note 8, for a list of sources for the details of the sabotage and subversion ^↩
11. USA Today, October 11, 1999, p.1 ^↩
12. p.234 of Reid's book ^↩
13. Ibid., p.150-1 ^↩
14. Washington Post, September 9, 2009 ^↩
15. PDF of resolution ^↩

–

William Blum is the author of:

• Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
• Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
• West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
• Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org

Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.

To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to bblum6 [at] aol.com with "add" in the subject line. I'd like your name and city in the message, but that's optional. I ask for your city only in case I'll be speaking in your area.

(Or put "remove" in the subject line to do the opposite.)

Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission. I'd appreciate it if the website were mentioned.

http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer74.html#note-1

Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court / Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot, Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case

4Vote!

Serbia To Shortly Ascend to the EU Says SPAIN.

 

Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case

 

Jill Starr | 09/25/2009

http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/entry/nato-says-the-hague-tribunal-or-icty-belongs-to-nato-truth-bites-for-te-hague-lately/

This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr karadzic and others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and others.

I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country's proposal was not taken to well by the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud and noticably strongly vocal manner, "Spain (my country) strongly believes if we contribute most financial support to the Hague's highest court, that ought to give us and other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its decisions."

((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative from Spain for even bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for international judicial verdicts and judicial appointments, all country representatives present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a "totally legitimate topic" discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!  The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."

Some countries agreed with Spain's propositions while others did not. The point here is, bribery for judicial verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate topic instead of an illegitimate toic which it is in the meeting that I attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading financial funding the ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts in front of every other UN member state present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was "socially acceptable" for conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and ICC before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student.

SPAIN's diplomatic gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is, disgusting morally!

SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN "INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."

I remind everyone, when I attended those ICC Preparatory Meetings in 2001, witnessing first hand the country plenipotentiary representatives present with me discussing so openly, trading judicial funding of a new international criminal court, for its direct judicial appointments and judicial verdicts, those same state powers were concurrently,

those same countries and people were already simultaneously, funding the already established ICTY which was issuing at that time, arrest warrants for Bosnian Serbs (primarily) under false diplomatic pretenses.

The ICTY and ICC is just where it should be for once. Cornered and backed into and an international wall, scared like a corned animal (and I bet it reacts in the same way a rabid cornered animal does too in such circumstances). (ICTY associates) murdered former Serb President, Slobodan Milosevic, tried to murder me, as well and other Serbs prisoners and presently places , Doctor Radovan Karadzic's life in direct danger as well as Ratko Mladic's life in danger should he be brought there.

The ICTY has no other choice than to halt all further court proceedings against, Doctor Radovan Karadzic, and others there both serving sentences and awaiting trials. Miss JIll Louise Starr (The UN Security Council has no choice but to act on this now).

I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic's absence in those meetings and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia's behalf.

 

http://www.wikio.com/article/128621065

Osservatorio Balcani: Filling the gaps between Albania and Kosovo

Recent statements by Sali Berisha on the strengthening cooperation between Albania and Kosovo have stirred a lively debate over the notion of "Greater Albania". Political considerations notwithstanding, relationships between the two states have been intensifying.  ...

 

...  Statements from Albanian government officials supporting the union of Albania and Kosovo are not something new.  ...

 

...  the most important element bringing closer the two capitals is construction of a new highway that makes Kosovo's border only a two-hour drive from the Adriatic Sea. ...

 

[ If it looks like a Greater Albania, if it sounds like a Greater Albania, if it acts like a Greater Albania,  it must be a Greater Albania. ]

 

 

http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/11831/1/407/

 

Filling the gaps

 

Osservatorio Balcani   |   23.09.2009   |   From Pristina, V. Kasapolli

[Italiano]

New highway linking Kosovo and Albania (olsib/flickr)

 

 

Recent statements by Sali Berisha on the strengthening cooperation between Albania and Kosovo have stirred a lively debate over the notion of "Greater Albania". Political considerations notwithstanding, relationships between the two states have been intensifying.

 

Discussions on the 'Greater Albania' notion have been provoked by a statement in late August from the Albanian prime minister, Sali Berisha, who suggested increased cooperation between Albania and Kosovo. The Albanian prime minister said that "the idea of national unity is based on European ideals", meaning that much work needs to be done to achieve EU-like standards of cooperation. Serbia, as the strongest opponent of Kosovo's statehood, immediately expressed its opposition to the idea and warned officials in Tirana that regional cooperation is at risk when such ideas float in the air (despite Berisha's statement excluding discussions on sovereignty).

Statements from Albanian government officials supporting the union of Albania and Kosovo are not something new. In 2001, when the Albanian socialists held office, the justice minister, Arben Imami, stated that Albania and Kosovo should have a high priority of unifying their territories into a single state. Imami's statement attracted enormous media attention at that time and political concern because Kosovo had just come out of the war and was under strong international supervision, with independence nowhere in the sight. Serbia was struggling in an internal conflict with Albanians seeking more rights in the south of the country (Presevo valley), while Macedonia was close to a civil war between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.

Over the past 20 years, unification ideas have not found wide-scale support in Kosovo. In 1998, the current Kosovar assembly speaker, Jakup Krasniqi, claimed that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) would fight for unification of Albanian territories in the Balkans. However, after the war, the former KLA spokesperson Krasniqi aligned with other leaders in Pristina to make careful statements. Apparently, he knew that any reference to unification with Albania would hinder the process of determining Kosovo's status and establishing the new state.

Not by chance, the new Kosovar constitution states that "Republic of Kosovo shall have no territorial claims against, and shall seek no union with, any state or part of any state". Furthermore, Kosovo's general attitude on the issue may be reflected by pro-union political parties inability to win more than a couple percent of the electorate.
Opponents to Berisha's statements have suggested that "pan-nationalist projects are harmful and don't enjoy support from the international community". However, others see the statement as urging the two states to unify through a EU model. Intensified communication after the war in Kosovo has changed the situation on the ground and has brought Kosovo and Albania closer than ever to each other.

Tourism figures show that, in the 2009 season, about 70 % of all tourists visiting the Albanian coast came from Kosovo. According to the latest data provided by the Kosovo police, during July and August 2009 as many as 528,000 Kosovar tourists entered Albania.

At the heavily trafficked Vermice/Morine border-crossing, both Kosovar and Albanian police officers simply waved on all vehicles with Kosovar car plates. Drivers did not need to show personal or car documents or even stop with the customs officers for a routine, "Nothing to declare, neighbour." When entering Albania or returning to Kosovo, a police officer's simple gesture was the only sign of a border, while another police officer counted the number of vehicles for tourism records.

Privileges for Kosovar drivers do not end there. Kosovar drivers apparently enjoy general immunity from routine traffic checks by the Albanian police; even when a violation is at stake. This may be because, since 2000, Kosovars make up a large part of all tourists visiting the Albanian Riviera.
Unsurprisingly, tourists visiting the Albanian coasts end up in apartments owned by Kosovars, whether it is in Durres, Vlora or Saranda. Albania's property boom in the last 15 years has inspired Kosovar Albanians to invest in property and secure themselves a spot by the sea. As far as Saranda in southern Albania, tourists stopping for a cool beer to defy the Mediterranean summer temperatures might pick up a "Peja" beer, produced in the namesake city in northwest Kosovo and with a price similar to any bar in Kosovo.

In culture, Tirana and Pristina hold very few events independent of each other. The two capitals smoothly synchronise film festivals, song festivals, beauty pageant contests, Big Brother reality shows, and, of course, language seminars . For example, this year, an Albanian artist won the most important video event in Pristina (Video Fest), while a Kosovar singer won the most important competition for Albanian modern music in Tirana (Top Fest). A lack of quality TV broadcasters in Kosovo has benefited Tirana-based media firms that have 'conquered' Kosovar houses through cable TV programming that ranges from children shows to political and lifestyle debates.

In sports, seven Kosovar athletes play regularly for Albania's national football team. A frequent captain for Albania's national team is Kosovo-born Lorik Cana, a former player for Marseille and current captain of the Sunderland team in the English Premier league, . The 26-year-old is following the success of another Kosovo-born player who has retired from the international level, Besnik Hasi. As an experienced player in the Belgian football league and at the level of the Champions League, Hasi has frequently led the Albanian national team. Furthermore, a few players in almost every sport compete for national teams of Albania because of the lack of international recognition of Kosovo.

Since the war ended in 1999, the private sector has explored market possibilities on both sides of the border. Albanian-based companies play a crucial role in the rapid development of the construction sector in Kosovo. Meanwhile, the government in Tirana has regularly sent experts to assist the new Kosovar institutions in creating laws compatible with the EU standards.

Lately, Konfindustria Shqiptare, an Albanian organisation promoting domestic industrial production, has suggested targeting economic policies towards a market of about six million consumers predominately governed by ethnic Albanians. The organisation claims that this is the way to establish good products and prepare for a greater market such as CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement), an association including both Albania and Kosovo and representing a market of more than 20 million consumers.

However, the most important element bringing closer the two capitals is construction of a new highway that makes Kosovo's border only a two-hour drive from the Adriatic Sea. As a result, without the obstacle of a minimum of six-hours travel on rough mountain roads, Albanians have visited Kosovo in large numbers.

Berisha's statement that Tirana and Pristina should not look at each other as foreign countries apparently has been endorsed by the actions of citizens. In early September, the new Albanian government has made Kosovo its main foreign-policy priority and has pledged to support Kosovo's efforts to add to the current 62 international recognitions of its independence.

In the region, Croatia has had a long-standing policy of granting passports to Croatians in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries in the region. Serbia has started to extend its welcome to the Serbians in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and has issued Serbian passports with which they would, most probably, travel without visas in EU countries beginning next year. The Albanians in the Balkans have not had a similar cooperation. Neither the Kosovar Albanians nor other ethnic Albanians living outside the Albanian state have been granted a passport by authorities in Tirana; except, of course, football captain Cana and friends.

Kosovo and Ongoing De-Christianization

Europe

Letters from Tokyo

Kosovo and Ongoing De-Christianization

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent

The ongoing de-Christianization of Kosovo continues and unlike the past frenzy of the anti-Serbian mass media in the West, we mainly have a deadly silence about the reality of Kosovo and the continuing Albanianization of this land. However, how is it "just" and "moral" to persecute minorities and to alienate them from mainstream society; and then to illegally recognize this land without the full consensus of the international community?

How ironic it is that the same United States of America and the United Kingdom, two nations who were in the forefront of covertly manipulating the mass media; remain mainly silent about the destruction of Orthodox Christian churches, Serbian architecture, and of course the past killings of Serbians and other minorities in Kosovo.

After all, according to America and the United Kingdom the initial conflict was about human rights, democracy, and liberty. However, what about the liberty and freedom of Orthodox Christian Serbs, Gypsies, and other minorities in Kosovo? Are these minorities free in modern day Kosovo and can they move around without the fear of discrimination, persecution or death?

Obviously, vast parts of Kosovo are out of bounds for the majority of minorities in Kosovo, therefore, the answer is no and many areas which were cleansed of Serbians and other minorities remain cleansed.

According to Minority Rights Group International (MRG) which is based in the United Kingdom, it is apparent that exclusion and discrimination is rife. Therefore, minorities face a bleak future and Serbians, Bosniaks, Roma, Croats, Turks, Gorani and Ashkali Egyptians are either being forced out because of alienation or because of limited economic opportunities.

The MRG is not alone in thinking that minorities have been badly betrayed because it is clear that Kosovo remains in limbo and minorities will continue to leave because of the ongoing situation.

Patriarch Pavle　(His Holiness the Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, Patriarch of Serbs) is highly respected and a man of reason. He stated the following many years ago ( http://kosovo.net ):

"This humble publication is our cry and appeal to the Christian and civilized world. It is distressing to learn that in the year of the greatest Christian Jubilee, at the end of two millenniums of Christianity, Christian churches are still being destroyed, not in a war but in the time of peace guaranteed by the international community. We hope that these photos of the destroyed and desecrated Orthodox shrines will awaken the conscience of those who are able to stop the crimes and believe that they who already stood up against one evil will not remain just passive witnesses of another evil happening now in their presence."
"We also make our appeal to all Kosovo Albanians, who reasonably see their future in their joint life with Serbs, to resist and prevent the acts of insanity."
"In Kosovo and Metohija there will be no victory of humanity and justice while revenge and disorder prevail. No one has the moral right to celebrate the victory complacently, as long as one evil is being replaced with another and the freedom of one people is becoming the slavery of another."
Patriarch Pavle stated this many years ago and sadly his words of wisdom have been ignored and instead America and the United Kingdom decided to create a new world order; this new world order was to carve up Serbia and to break international law. This breach of ignoring international law ultimately had greater repercussions because the Russian Federation would support Abkhazia and South Ossetia after conflict erupted in Georgia.

Therefore, a "new can of worms was opened" and the "Kosovo model" could inspire future mayhem because it is clear that international law was rendered to be unimportant.

Like I stressed in my last article about Kosovo (Kosovo and Systematic Persecution by KLA) it is clear that all sides committed atrocities, just like what happens in all wars. Pain can be felt on all sides and sadly many innocents were killed during the various civil wars which engulfed the former Yugoslavia.

However, the Serbian story war largely untold and the same can be said about the persecution of other minorities in Kosovo. Yet what is clear is that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was involved in running brutal death camps and this even applies to the killing of people for organs.

At the same time the KLA supported the ethnic cleansing of Serbians and other minorities, and the same applies to the destruction of Christian churches, monasteries, and other historical architecture which was a clear reminder of the roots of Kosovo.

Also, the hard sell by America, the United Kingdom, and other nations who support independence, is that independence was justified on the grounds of Serbian atrocities. Yet if the KLA was found to be involved in killing civilians for organs then "the spin machine" collapses and "democracy" rings hollow.

Therefore, in one part of Europe we are a seeing the silent destruction of Serbian Orthodox Christianity and the ongoing persecution and alienation of minorities in Kosovo.

It would appear that the violation of international law is deemed to be a viable policy for both America and the United Kingdom. Therefore, important questions, for example the role of the KLA in killing innocents for organs, the rise of the KLA in such a short space of time and a host of other vital questions remain unanswered.

However, it is vital to counter this cover-up and blatant violation of international law because it is clear that murky covert acts have been implemented by higher powers. Also, the world is still divided about the future of Kosovo but why did some nations behave so hastily without the full facts, and without taking into consideration the ongoing persecution and alienation of minorities in Kosovo?

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=8734&PHPSESSID=7d5deb16625f8643fb56cd985a170603

Kosovo war not justified, U. Arizona professor argues in new book

Kosovo war not justified, U. Arizona professor argues in new book

By Justyn Dillingham

September 21, 2009

Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat, U. Arizona

 

For most University of Arizona students today, the 1999 Kosovo War may be a distant memory. For David N. Gibbs, it's all too relevant.

Gibbs, an associate professor of history and political science, has published a new book, "First Do No Wrong: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia," which contends that the United States' intervention into the Balkan wars of the 1990s was not only wrong, but actually made the situation worse.

For Gibbs, President Bill Clinton's decision to intervene in Kosovo marked the beginning of a new era of "humanitarian intervention," supported by leftists and conservatives alike.

Gibbs cites President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq and President Barack Obama's commitment to "winning the war" in Afghanistan as a continuation of that trend.

"To the political left, intervention had been seen as a predatory activity," Gibbs said. That changed, he said, with the interventions of the 1990s, beginning with the 1991 Persian Gulf War and continuing under the Clinton administration. He found himself at odds with liberal friends who argued that military action was sometimes necessary to prevent genocide or liberate countries from dictatorships.

"A large number of people I know advocated more intervention," Gibbs said. "They dropped their anti-militarism. Increasingly, you had liberals and even socialists supporting neoconservatives like (former U.S. deputy secretary of defense) Paul Wolfowitz."

Gibbs said he found these pro-intervention arguments "naïve and misguided." He contends in his book that the real motivation for intervention into the Kosovo conflict lay in the U.S. government's wish to strengthen its sway over international affairs in the face of an "independent" European Union. He also argues that "a certain sense of regret" at the passing of the Cold War, and a desire to create new enemies to take the place of the Soviet threat, lay behind the intervention.

American foreign policy is "a self-sustaining machine," Gibbs said. "Many liberal intellectuals foolishly sign up for the enterprise of justifying it."

Gibbs describes himself as "a man of the left," but his argument has found favor with many conservatives "despite this unfortunate deficiency," as he jokingly put it. His book has received positive reviews in the right-leaning Washington Times from a former Reagan administration official, and from the World Socialist Web site.

Gibbs spent ten years working on the book, which marked a new direction for him after his first book, about the Congo crisis of the 1960s.

"It was a totally new field for me," Gibbs said. "I was trying to gain an understanding of the basic change that had occurred with the end of the Cold War.

"I was trained as a political scientist during the Cold War. It took a while for me and others to get a handle on that."

Despite his disdain for most military interventions, Gibbs is careful to disassociate himself from paleoconservatives like Pat Buchanan, who has gone so far as to allege that America's entrance into World War II was unnecessary. Gibbs said he thinks that some of America's past wars, such as World War II and the Civil War, have been justified.

He also said he "probably would not have opposed intervention" to stop the Rwanda genocide in 1994. But he added that even justified wars create a dangerous precedent.

"Each intervention increases the likelihood of further intervention," Gibbs said

 

http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/kosovo-war-not-justified-prof-argues-in-new-book-1.524321

 

Comments

 

 

W.Dorich

Mon Sep 21 2009 14:41

The argument here should not be about the number of victims but how conveniently the West, especially the Clinton Administration, lied to the American taxpayers. He took us to war without an Act of Congress, a vote at the UN, in violation of the Helsinki Final Act, the UN Charter and in violation of the NATO treaty which was a defensive treaty and the Serbs did not attack any NATO country. We now know the hideous lies and distortions that were used in this process. The so called rape of "60,000 Bosnian women," the "Markale Market bombing" where we now know the Muslims killed their own citizens to gain international sympathy for their Jihad, the so called "destruction of Dubrovnik," and the "Racak massacre," used as the pretext to bomb Serbia, all stage managed events in which the American public was hoodwinked. Today Hashim Tachi the PM of Kosovo and a former KLA "terrorists" admitted that Racak was stage managed. The bodies were moved to the alleged crime scene, the clothes of the victims were changed from military to civilian and according to forensic experts from 4 countries the bodies were mutilated after they were killed in battle with Serbian forces.The lack of morality in this alleged "humanitarianism" is exposed by the US bombing of 200 Serbian schools, 178 Serbian hospitals and nursing homes who clearly had the Red Cross painted on their roofs, the destruction of 66 bridges, 75 industrial complexes, 62 agricultural sites, and the bombing of entire Serbian villages like Aleksinac on April 6, 1999 where Gen. Wesley Clark gave orders to level more than 450 Serbian home that were 5 miles from any military or industrial complex. He even bombed 23 Serbian cemeteries to erase the history in those regions. He bombed trains, buses and even passenger cars and the General even resorted to using illegal cluster bombs on civilian populations, a war crime. He then refused for 8 years to release the maps of those cluster bombs to stop people from being killed and dismembered. These were all clearly civilian targets in order to inflict pain on the Serbian population, all war crimes.The immoral Vice President Al Gore, the "chicken little the sky is falling" VP in command when the oil refineries and chemical plants along the Danube River were bombed, polluting that river for 2,000 miles through 9 countries. Gore is such a hypocrite these days earning millions of dollars a year spouting ecological bull crap about the environment when he showed no conscience whatsoever about doing this to Serbia.Since this hideous 78 days of bombing, cancer has risen 40% and birth defects are up 3,000%. Something the talented omission journalists will not talk about. We have literally destroyed the water table in Belgrade and surrounding areas for the next 100 years without a second thought. We now know that Gen. Clark thought that the bombing of Belgrade might kill 500,000 and the bombing of the oil stock piles would bring Milosevich to his knees, instead we contaminated the air around Belgrade with VCMs 10,600 times above acceptable levels and that pollution hovered over the city for more than a week.And what was accomplished in this "humanitarian war"... Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo have more than 40% unemployment. Those who did $90 billion in infrastructure damage are now refusing to pay to rebuild the industrial base in Serbia. We have created the single largest criminal enterprise on the continent in Kosovo where drug lords and pimps have created a network of prostitution and human trafficking in addition to weapons smuggling. Kosovo has become the gateway for 70% of the illegal drugs flowing into Europe. I am beginning to believe that there was so much money at stake that the human tragedy that was created is merely a byproduct of our own greed. Too many people on all sides have enriched themselves at the public trough stuffing tens of millions into their pockets as they preach human rights and equal justice as the Serbs are denied any legal redress because the "partisan press" condemned them to Collective Guilt.Where was Clinton's humanitarian concerns when it came to the Serbian people who have been ethnically cleansed from Croatia creating a religious and ethnically pure state? Or in Kosovo which has the greatest level of genocide including the destruction of 151 ancient Serbian churches and the near complete elimination of all the Serbs who for a thousand years were the majority population until 1941 when tens of thousands were liquidated by Albanian Nazis. After that war, Tito forbade their return guaranteeing that the population would swing in favor of the Albanians. No mention is EVER made by dishonest journalists that today 40% of the Albanians in Kosovo are illegal aliens who cross the border from Albania into Serbia as easily as Mexicans who cross our border each night in San Diego. There is so much shame to go around that this argument about the body count seems trivial when compared to the losses that...