Benjamin Schett: From Bosnia to Syria - Is History Repeating Itself?

 

From Bosnia to Syria: Is History Repeating Itself?   By Benjamin Schett
Global Research, March 28, 2012
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30001
Anyone closely following the ongoing crisis in Syria will notice that the desire for reforms is coming from a large part of the Syrian population which has no ties to the armed insurgency supported by foreign powers. These groups, many of them Wahhabi or Salafi terrorists, constitute a serious threat to the unity of Sunni, Shia, Alawite, Christian and Druze living together in a sovereign secular state. In fact, reports suggest that in places where the armed insurgents have managed to gain control, the actions being carried are tantamount to  "ethnic cleansing". However, as long as those allegedly responsible are acting in a way which serves US-NATO interests, their various undertakings go unreported and media attention is strategically diverted. (See: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29842) In reality, many Syrians who are demanding reforms are not opposed to President Al Assad, and in fact believe in his commitment to implement change. Such reforms, however, require time to be carried out in the face of certain obstacles. Indeed, after decades of Baath rule, certain factions within the current regime have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo rather than having their privileges threatened by major changes brought about through reforms. Moreover, there is also a peaceful opposition within the country that stands for change through dialogue with the government, knowing that sudden provocations could plunge the country into chaos. In an interview with "Syria Comment" from October 2011, writer Louay Hussein, an outspoken and longstanding opponent of the Syrian government, warned of further escalation: "I believe there are two reasons why demonstrations will significantly diminish; first, the violent oppression by the authorities recently and second, the increase in the number of armed operations by groups opposed to the authorities such as 'The Free Syrian Army'. This is why I expect more bloodshed in Syria. Moreover, I worry that if we fail to reach a homegrown settlement of the conflict very quickly, we will clearly witness different aspects of a civil war in the near future."   (See: http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=12507&cp=all) The mainstream media has dismissed this assessment and ignored these basic facts. Media attention has focussed on the exiled "opposition" group, the "Syrian National Council" (which is already breaking apart thanks to the domineering role of the Muslim Brotherhood) and the "Free Syrian Army", supported covertly by the West. In addition, one of Western media's favourite sources of information is the small, London-based organization called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose claims, though unverified, have nevertheless been broadly quoted. All this bears a striking resemblance to events leading up to last year's NATO attacks on Libya, in which tens of thousands of Libyan civilians were killed. But there are two key differences: 1. This time Russia and China have been playing a more decisive role. They have expressed their opposition to actions which might lead to aggression against Syria.  2. The so-called Libyan "rebels" had some kind of a stronghold in the city of Benghazi in the East of the country, from where NATO could bomb their way into Tripoli. Comparable conditions do not prevail in Syria. Might this be a reason for the Syrian insurgents to increase violence by carrying out bomb attacks and provoking shootings, in order to cause severe reactions from government troops and destabilize the country, and thereby reinforce sectarian conflicts? Namely, until the situation escalates to the point that Western powers feel they can "justify" the need for intervention?   The efforts for a peaceful solution made by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan would only stand a chance if Western countries and their Saudi and Qatari allies stopped their unilateral support for anti-Assad armed insurgency. The Lessons of History: Yugoslavia Historically, this situation is not unique and prompts us to consider how similar events have played out in the past, particularly during the civil war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s which set a historical precedent for armed Western intervention. These tragic conflicts, especially in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, served as a playground for exercising the destabilization of an entire region, manipulating public opinion in order to start a war of aggression, and carrying out regime change and economic (and partly territorial) colonization. (See: Michael Parenti's incisive speech on the destruction of Yugoslavia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEzOgpMWnVs) Given the extent to which insurgents in Syria can count on full support from the outside, some parallels to the outbreak of the Bosnian civil war (1992 – 1995) are worth emphasizing. Consider the following: during the war, the leader of the Bosnian Muslims, Alija Izetbegovic, supported covertly by the West, set as a priority the creation of an independent Bosnian state under Muslim rule. However, he had to deal with the problem that his vision did not represent the will of Bosnia's majority population: according to a 1991 census, 44% of the population considered themselves Muslim/Bosniak, 32.5% Serb and 17% Croat.   While quite accurately all of Bosnia's Serb population (one of the three constitutional nations within the republic) did not wish to leave the Yugoslav federation, the Croat side did support the holding of a referendum on an independent Bosnia. However, anyone familiar with the political aspirations of Croatia's then president Franjo Tudjman and his Bosnian Croat allies will understand that the Croatian side certainly did not favour Bosnia's independence because they wanted to live in such a state; rather, breaking Bosnia apart from Yugoslavia was supposed to be the first step in amalgamating the Bosnian territories having a Croatian majority population within the Croatian "motherland".   Facing these facts and knowing that civil war had already broken out in Croatia in 1991, the only reasonable way to prevent a catastrophe in Bosnia would have been through sincere negotiations on all sides. This, in fact, was the goal of the most popular Bosnian Muslim politician at the time, Fikret Abdic, who considered himself pro-Yugoslav and received the most votes in Bosnia's 1990 elections. Nevertheless, Izetbegovic – the candidate favoured and supported by U.S. officials – seized the Bosnian presidency instead. (Incidentally, the fact that Izetbegovic had been in prison for having disturbed the order of the Yugoslav state by stating there could be "no peace or coexistence between the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions" in a text called the "Islamic Declaration" did not seem to pose a problem to Washington.)   In March 1992, a peaceful solution for Bosnia finally seemed to be within reach. All three Bosnian leaders (Alija Izetbegovic/Muslim, Radovan Karadzic/Serb and Mate Boban/Croat) signed the so-called Lisbon Agreement, which proposed ethnic power-sharing on all administrative levels and the delegation of central government to local ethnic communities. However Izetbegovic withdrew his signature only ten days later, after having met with the U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren Zimmermann. It has been widely confirmed that the U.S. was pushing for an immediate recognition of Bosnia at that time. (See short clip from "Yugoslavia – An Avoidable War": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Iobb8xMFRc)   A few weeks later, war broke out, and the West was one step closer to achieving its goal of nationwide destabilization. Could the same fate be in store for Syria given the parallel involvement of the West in Syria?   In Syria as in Bosnia, efforts to find a compromise would mean putting pressure on both sides to reach an agreement. But if one side already has full support from the West, what incentive is there in pursuing a compromise with the government? In Syria, the insurgents had foreign support from the outset, automatically sabotaging the possibility of real negotiations.  Further exacerbating the situation, the mainstream media has been aggressively building the case for intervention in Syria. Several statements made by Syrian government opponents and some Western media blame the Syrian government of being responsible for the bloody terrorist bomb attacks in Damascus and Aleppo that took place on the weekend of March 17 and 18. But they were stuck for an answer regarding why it would be in President Al Assad's interest to cause an escalation in the two largest cities of the country where he is still enjoying the support of a majority of the population.   If we go back to the Bosnian example, we can see who has historically taken advantage of such events. On May 27, 1992, a massacre took place in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, killing many innocent people waiting in line to get some bread. The terrible event was immediately and repeatedly broadcast across the world. Just four days later, on May 31, harsh UN sanctions were imposed on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For Western decision-makers, it was clear that the Serbs were responsible for the crime. Many experts disagreed with the finger-pointing, and reference should be made particularly to Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, then Commander of the Bosnia UN troops:   "The streets had been blocked off just before the incident. Once the crowd was let in and lined up, the media appeared but kept their distance. The attack took place, and the media were immediately on the scene. The majority of the people killed are alleged to be 'tame Serbs'." (http://www.srpska-mreza.com/Bosnia/Sarajevo/breadline.html)   Similar events took place in 1994 and 1995 (See for example "Yugoslavia – An Avoidable War", in its entirety: http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=5860186121153047571#)   This finally caused the NATO bombing campaign against Bosnian Serbs, carried out between August 30 and September 20, 1995, as justified by Western calls for "humanitarian intervention". Following from the Damascus and Aleppo attacks, could a similar "justification" be around the corner for Syria? A great irony, of course is the hypocritical stance taken by the U.S. government, which calls for peace on the one hand and is a leading global supplier of weapons on the other. While the Obama administration might have called on the Syrian rebels to lay down their arms, there is a vast difference between official statements and what is being carried out on the ground. Indeed, there is currently a multi-billion dollar deal underway between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia (a leading arms supplier for the Syrian rebels) for the sale of US advanced weapons. (See: http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-protests-piety-514/) This double standard was certainly applied in Bosnia, where the CIA was secretly smuggling weapons into the area despite an arms embargo officially being in place. (See: "Wie der Dschihad nach Europa kam: Gotteskrieger und Geheimdienste auf dem Balkan" ["How Jihad Came to Europe: Holy Warriors and Secret Services in the Balkans"] by Jürgen Elsässer, 2008) It is worth noting that in the cases of both Syria and Bosnia (among other examples), Al Qaeda-affiliated mercenaries from several Arab countries were involved. In Syria, they integrated the "opposition", heralded by the Western mainstream media as the victims of the government crackdown. This should come as no surprise. Those who operate under the "Al Qaeda" label are often serving the interests of Washington. In Bosnia, where Mujahideen fighters trained Bosnian soldiers and fought against Serbs and Croats, the Al Qaeda leadership had to approve military actions by the Bosnian Muslim Army.  (See: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, http://www.bim.ba/en/79/10/4113)   One of the Bosnian Muslims who refused to fight against the Serbs, the previously mentioned Fikret Abdic, created his own safe haven by making a peace agreement with the Serbian side and by forming the "Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia", located in the area of Velika Kladusa. British diplomat David Owen described him as "forthright, confident and different from the Sarajevan Muslims. He was in favour of negotiating and compromising with Croats and Serbs to achieve a settlement, and scathing about those Muslims who wanted to block any such settlement." (David Owen, "Balkan Odyssey", 1995, S. 82)   In August 1995, under a joint attack carried out by Izetbegovic's troops and the Croatian army (both Western allies), Abdic's peaceful, autonomous province collapsed.   Often in the media, conflicts are portrayed with reference to "good guys versus bad guys", peacekeepers versus terrorists, us versus them. As this example from Bosnia shows, the full story cannot be accurately conveyed using these stylized concepts; not all Muslims were automatically against the Serbs, and certainly not all were interested in having Izetbegovic as president. And in Syria, it is clear that not all of those who are demanding democracy are enemies of the Al Assad government. However, delving into the "grey area" of the good/evil dichotomy puts into question the clear-cut "justification" for intervention, and casting such doubts is certainly not in the interest of the mainstream media and the Western interests they serve.   In order to avoid misunderstanding, the people on all sides suffered terribly in the Bosnian civil war. But as in Syria, it is important to establish who has an interest in triggering increased social chaos and violence. Throughout the entire Yugoslav civil war, separatist forces  served the Western agenda which consisted in destabilizing and destroying an entire country. Yugoslavia  had free education, an equitable distribution of income. It  preserved its independence by being a key player within the Non-aligned Movement. In turn, this historical stance by Yugoslavia served as an example for other countries of the Non-aligned Movement which refused to accept the neoliberal diktats of the IMF.  In the context of the Balkans, the Serbian people bore the brunt of the blame from the West, and were vilified largely because they firmly opposed the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Serbia was the largest Yugoslav nation and suffered heavily during World War Two, when the Croatian fascist Ustasa movement systematically slaughtered Croatia's and Bosnia's Serb population. It was largely this trauma that made the idea of living in the independent states of Croatia and Bosnia, both led by extremists, unbearable for most Serbs. A realistic image of Serbia's role in the Yugoslav wars was given by then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, in an interview made during the Kosovo war:   "We are not angels. Nor are we the devils you have made us out to be. Our regular forces are highly disciplined. The paramilitary irregular forces are a different story. Bad things happened, as they did with both sides during the Vietnam War, or any war for that matter." (See: http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/MiloInt.html)   All facts considered, the same could easily be said of the Syrian army and other groups fighting on Al Assad's side. But maintaining an ambivalent position on current events in Syria, as is the trend among many mainstream liberal-leftist circles, means giving in to the neo-colonial and imperialist agenda of Western powers and their pseudo-humanitarian justification. And this despite the fact that they have actively stirred up ethnic and/or religious hatred and ignored reasonable voices, in Yugoslavia as well as in Syria, in order to follow the old Latin concept of "divide et impera".    Author's Note: According to the latest reports, Syria's government has accepted Kofi Annan's 6-point peace plan. On April 1, the "Friends of Syria" will be meeting in Istanbul, bringing together mostly Arab and Western countries favouring stronger action against President Bashar al-Assad's government. Time will tell how these developments will impact the Syrian crisis and the potential effectiveness of the peace plan, knowing that so many outside players are acting in the background. Benjamin Schett is an independent Swiss-based researcher and student of East European History at the University of Vienna. He can be reached at schettb@gmail.com
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March in the Balkans - by Nebojsa Malic

 

... Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic was visiting Washington and telling the public at home how the Empire considered Croatia a major partner and leader in the region. ... [ The West's 'major partner and leader in the region', is none other than 'Croatia'. An honor for Croatia. Not so for 'Washington' and allies. ] ... briefly commenting on the 13th anniversary of the 1999 NATO bombing, President Tadic called it "a crime". He refused to elaborate, because that might have offended his Imperial backers. In return, he was honored with the "North-South Prize" by the Council of Europe, for "contributions to reconciliation in the Balkans and European integration". Whatever that means. ... ... On March 24, Kosovo "president" Hashim Thaci gave thanks to NATO and the Empire for "liberating" that Serbian province and turning it over to his crime syndicate. ... ... Clearly it has been a busy March in the Balkans – and that's not even getting into massive protests against government corruption in Montenegro, calls to create a Greater Albania, militant Islam, Slovenian electoral shenanigans, or the growing Albanian violence in Macedonia. True to form, the region began heating up as soon as the winter snows – unusually heavy this year – had melted. ... [ Those 'Balkans', one huge seething cauldron. ] http://original.antiwar.com/malic/2012/03/29/hunger-games/ Hunger Games March in the Balkans by Nebojsa Malic, March 30, 2012 Antiwar Forum SARAJEVO – For ten days now, Bosnian veterans have picketed the country's parliament and government buildings. They hold position at night, sleeping outside on a variety of tarps, blankets, foil and field jackets. It is tempting to compare them to WW1 "bonus marchers" in the U.S. – but it would also be wrong. Many others have protested in front of the parliament; what sets this group of Bosnians apart is the extent to which they've been wronged, and by whom.   These men had fought against each other in the Bosnian War. In 2004, they set aside their differences to serve in the country's reformed, joint armed forces. But neither the Bosnian government, nor the Empire, made any provisions for their continued employment past the age of 35, unless they've attained a rank of at least a corporal. Instead of promoting those who wanted to stay career soldiers, the Armed Forces simply discharged these men and promised them retirement checks – which never came.   It took years to pass a law providing for the payment of their pensions out of the joint budget. The problem appears to be that some Bosnian Serb officials, currently in charge of the country's finances, are disputing the law in the name of thrift. It isn't an ethnic issue, either, as there are plenty of Serbs among the betrayed veterans. Denying veterans their pensions is financially insignificant, but politically a disaster – making those who advocate it appear petty, heartless and stupid. Props and Appearances\   Bosnia does have severe financial woes. Unemployment is rampant, industrial production is dwindling, imports are vastly greater than exports, and on top of that the country likely has the most government per capita than anywhere else in the world. A crushing 17% VAT – the media are already talking about an increase (!) – is extracted from everything, from food and utilities to luxury goods, and the money thus looted is used mostly to service foreign debt.   Statistics mentioned in the media recently suggest that 30% of Bosnia's population is straddling the poverty line, while 60% are already below it. Yet across the street from the government complex in Sarajevo a glitzy shopping center opened in 2009, while yet another is being built a block over by the Saudi conglomerate Al-Shiddi.   Furthermore, the very armed forces that discharged and forgot their first volunteer members just sent a reinforced platoon – 45 men and women – to Afghanistan, with much pomp and ceremony, and Imperial ambassador in attendance. This token force will make zero operational difference in the Afghan debacle, but it does serve to prop up Empire's credibility. Except that every day of the betrayed veterans camp-out is a reminder to their colleagues playing Imperial extras that they, too, will be out in the cold one day. Tempest in a Teacup The contempt in which most Bosnian politicians hold their electorate was illustrated last week by a media circus surrounding Zeljko Komsic, one of the country's three rotating presidents. Out of the blue, Komsic announced his irrevocable resignation from all duties in the Social Democratic Party (the senior partner in the Federation government), though he didn't resign his party membership. After two days of conferring with the party, Komsic said he'd overreacted and changed his mind. But his tantrum gave the opportunity to the predominantly hostile capital media to eviscerate the SDP and devote much time and column inches to groundless speculation about troubles within the party. Perhaps after this, the SDP might consider cleaning house – or at least hiring a spin doctor. Corrupt "Leadership"   Meanwhile, the neighboring Croatia is prosecuting its former PM Ivo Sanader for corruption and embezzlement, while his party is struggling to elect a new leader following a crushing defeat last December. The big news mid-March was that two of the people indicted alongside Sanader had turned state's witness. Another scandal rocked the country's foreign ministry this week, as the special anti-corruption task force arrested a dozen embassy and consular officials allegedly involved in selling passports and citizenships.   Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic was visiting Washington and telling the public at home how the Empire considered Croatia a major partner and leader in the region. In a couple of examples of such "leadership," Pusic snubbed Belgrade by endorsing the Lithuanian candidate for Speaker of the UN General Assembly (over Serbia's current FM Vuk Jeremic) and commenting on the Serbian judicial inquiry into the WW2 royalist resistance leader Draza Mihailovich by calling him a "quisling and Nazi and Fascist collaborator."   Electoral Contortions Strange, then, that Mihailovich had a German bounty on his head of 100.000 gold Reichsmarks - same as the Communist leader Tito, in fact. He was respected by Roosevelt and DeGaulle, decorated by Truman, betrayed by Churchill, and executed by the Communists in 1946. Recent efforts to overturn the verdict of the Communist courts declaring Mihailovich a traitor have little to do with establishing historical truth, however, and everything to do with the upcoming general elections. Having systematically looted and betrayed the country, the current government is hoping to appear "patriotic" by making a meaningless gesture such as legally exonerating Mihailovich. In a similar vein, briefly commenting on the 13th anniversary of the 1999 NATO bombing, President Tadic called it "a crime". He refused to elaborate, because that might have offended his Imperial backers. In return, he was honored with the "North-South Prize" by the Council of Europe, for "contributions to reconciliation in the Balkans and European integration". Whatever that means. The specter of the elections in five weeks is distorting everything in Serbia, with the government feigning patriotism and the official opposition feigning having a clue. The only people not pandering to voters are the openly quisling "Reversal" loons, now arguing for making Serbia a federation between its core and the "Republic of Vojvodina" in the north. Law and Disorder, Episode 1244   On March 24, Kosovo "president" Hashim Thaci gave thanks to NATO and the Empire for "liberating" that Serbian province and turning it over to his crime syndicate. Thaci also called the efforts of Serbia to hold local elections in the province an "act of aggression." His words were echoed by the "Albanian National Army" (UCK) – declared a terrorist organization even by the Empire. But then, the Empire itself has demanded of Belgrade to desist from holding elections in Kosovo, it supposedly being an "independent country," while Thaci's police arrested several Kosovo Serb officials carrying voter lists.   On the other hand, the EU "law and order mission" (EULEX) has released Fatmir Limaj, former commander of Thaci's terrorist KLA, rejecting evidence of his involvement in murdering and cremating Serb and Albanian civilians in Klecka. Not only that, but they've cleared Limaj to run in the upcoming "Kosovian" elections. The principal witness against Limaj was oh-so-conveniently murdered by "persons unknown."   If This Goes On… Clearly it has been a busy March in the Balkans – and that's not even getting into massive protests against government corruption in Montenegro, calls to create a Greater Albania, militant Islam, Slovenian electoral shenanigans, or the growing Albanian violence in Macedonia. True to form, the region began heating up as soon as the winter snows – unusually heavy this year – had melted. For twenty years, the Empire has twisted and hammered the region into a mold of its own making, imposing a virtual reality entirely different from the actual one. Governments across the peninsula, absorbed in their power games and eager to please foreign sponsors, give little or no thought to their populace, disenfranchised, dispossessed and desperate. There is no way this can end well. Read more by Nebojsa Malic Reality Rift – March 9th, 2012 Intervention, Reloaded – February 23rd, 2012 A House of Sand and Fog – February 10th, 2012 Return to the Fold – January 26th, 2012 Tides of Darkness – January 6th, 2012

 

Thirteen Years Later: NATO Conducts Mopping Up Operations In Balkans

 

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_03_24/69474320/

Voice of Russia
March 24, 2012

Does Serbia remember NATO bombings?
Yelena Guskova, PhD (history), the head of the Centre for Analysing Contemporary Balkan Crisis at the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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Serbia remained the only Balkan country which did not seek to join NATO.

The Americans allocate money to train journalists, offer special grants for the radio and TV, write articles for major national newspapers and pay for creating a positive image of NATO in the media.

Their main aim is to estrange Serbia and Montenegro from Russia, to guarantee the inviolability of all existing and potential military bases in the Balkans and to acquire brave and disciplined soldiers for the alliance's dirtiest and most dangerous operations all over the world.

[I]f Balkan countries join NATO, all of them, including Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Republica Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina, will have to take an anti-Russian position.

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On the 24th of March 13 years ago, a spate of NATO bombs was dropped on a peaceful European country. The March-June 1999 aggression against Yugoslavia, which was justified by the alliance's concern for the plight of the allegedly deprived Albanian population of Kosovo and Metohija, lasted for 78 days.

Taking care of Albanians was only a pretext. In reality, it was a cruel punishment of Belgrade which refused to cooperate with NATO, waive its sovereignty and replace long-term leader Slobodan Milosevic.

The NATO aggression did not succeed in overthrowing Slobodan Milosevic and the Yugoslavian army also remained intact. The US had to develop a new strategy which worked excellently. In October 2000, the US and Germany carried out a special operation, later used in other countries and named a 'colour revolution'.

As a result, power went to the hands of people who began to actively cooperate with NATO. However, Yugoslavia had no plans of joining NATO at that time. Moreover, speaking in Munich in 2010, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic declared that Serbia would remain neutral and would not join any military or defence unions. Thus, Serbia remained the only Balkan country which did not seek to join NATO.

On the whole, the Serbian people do not support the idea of joining the alliance and Montenegro shares this opinion. However, the government of Montenegro, which seceded from Serbia in 2006, openly says that there is no alternative to joining NATO.

Serbia is still keeping its own counsel on this issue, even though US ambassador to Belgrade Mary Warlick declared as early as 2010 that NATO always kept an open door for Serbia. What will Serbia decide to do?

A propaganda campaign for joining NATO has been launched in the country. Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac has begun army reforms based on NATO standards with the aim of subsequent joining that organisation.

The US is sparing no effort in helping to build a different image of NATO in Serbian society. The Americans allocate money to train journalists, offer special grants for the radio and TV, write articles for major national newspapers and pay for creating a positive image of NATO in the media.

Why are they doing it? Their main aim is to estrange Serbia and Montenegro from Russia, to guarantee the inviolability of all existing and potential military bases in the Balkans and to acquire brave and disciplined soldiers for the alliance's dirtiest and most dangerous operations all over the world.

For Russia, NATO is a potentially dangerous organization which threatens the country's national interests. Speaking about the main external dangers, President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned the 'striving to combine the NATO military potential with global functions carried out with the violation of the international law and to bring the military infrastructure of NATO member-states nearer to Russian frontiers by way of expanding the bloc.'

For this reason, if Balkan countries join NATO, all of them, including Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Republica Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina, will have to take an anti-Russian position.

Kosovo: Risk of radical Islam, says ambassador to Italy

Kosovo: Risk of radical Islam, says ambassador to Italy

10 January, 10:49

Kosovo mosquee

(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) - PRISTINA, JANUARY 10 - Four years on from its independence, Kosovo is attempting to reaffirm its native traditions and is calling on the West for help to avoid being swallowed by the slow advance of radical Islam, which is taking advantage of tolerant traditions. The scenario is one of inter-religious dialogue that is progressing at its own slow pace, without making any fuss and seeking to keep its distance from politics, and of a moderate Islamic tradition at risk of Wahabite contagion. As Don Lush Gjergji, Vicar General of the Catholic Church in Kosovo, explained to ANSAmed, ''the issues that Kosovo has to tackle are mainly economic in nature. The true problem is the high level of unemployment affecting the population''.

Don Lush speaks about the religious tensions, but without highlighting them. ''Inter-religious dialogue is proceeding both with the Orthodox Church and with the Muslims''. As the bishop points out, just a couple of months ago he held a meeting ''with the Grand Muftì of Kosovo, Naim Ternava and the Orthodox Bishop of Raska and Prizren, Teodosije Sibalic''. Speaking of a duty to provide a good example and to extinguish any tensions between Orthodox Christians and Muslims, he said, ''it is up to the sister churches to show this Christian attitude, allowing others to be themselves. It is indeed impossible to exclude those who do not belong to our own community'', Don Lush said. He recalled how only 3 percent of Kosovo's population is Catholic. So how is it possible to persuade the monks of Peja/Pec and Decani to leave their monasteries? ''They have to overcome their fear,'' the Bishop replied. ''The monks of Decani have started learning Albanian. This gives us hope of a normalisation of relations between Serbs and Albanians''. The General Secretary of Kosovo's Muslim community, Resul Rexepji, confirmed the excellent relations with the Catholic Church and spoke of a small opening of relations with the Orthodox Church. ''In the past, relations were difficult. But now things appear to have improved. Politics should keep out of inter-religious relations''. As Rexepji pointed out, the country's Muslim community includes Albanians, Turks, Bosnians, Bektashis and Roma. Today, Kosovo can boast of 760 mosques, while there were only 550 before the war. Unlike other countries, there are clear rules relating to sermons. "In order to become an Imam, you need to have attended a madrasa, to have absolved a competitive process, and entered into a faculty of Islamic studies". Kosovo society also lives its religious nature in a different way to the Arab Muslims. Here, the great feast of Bairam (the Feast of the Sacrifice), is celebrated by drinking rakìa (an alcoholic spirit similar to grappa). There are few veils, long beards or traditional garments to be seen and it is the Muslims themselves that produce the wine and beer they consume - mainly in the Suhareke and Rahovec areas of the Prizren district. Another distinctive element is the presence of a Sufi brotherhood (a mystic sect within Islam), which is not just tolerated, but takes an active role in Kosovo's religious life. The most important of these is the tekke halveti of Prizren, which has a following of 15,000 and has been practising its faith since 1713. As the General Secretary of the Muslim community concludes: ''We are not in agreement with the Muslim faith as it is practised in Arab countries and we do not intend to go in that direction. For this reason, we are concerned about the advance of radical Islam in our country''. For now, only a few have fallen under the spell of the so-called ''Taleban of the Balkans,'' Fuad Ramiqi, who, through his organisation, 'Bashkohu' (Let us unite), preaches the total conversion of the state to Islam. But then? ''If the West were to leave us alone,'' the Kosovo Ambassador to Italy, Albert Prenkaj, never tires of saying ''our country would risk becoming a pupil of the more fanatical Islamic countries''.

http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/kosovo/2012/01/10/visualizza_new.html_42327676.html

Violation of Human rights of Serbs in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija

Reminder: It is 13 years since the start of NATO aggression against Serbia (FR of Yugoslavia)  Zivadin Jovanovic, President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, Serbia             13 years since NATO aggression against Serbia (FR of Yugoslavia) Violation of Human rights of Serbs in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija The struggle for peace and the struggle for full respect of universal human rights, as defined by UN Declaration on protection of human rights, are interdependent and non-separable. Violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity, military interventions, aggressions and occupations go hand in hand with massive violations of the basic human rights. It is clear that there are no humanitarian military interventions. NATO military aggression against Yugoslavia ( Serbia ) which started March 24rth, 1999 was launched to allegedly protect human rights of Kosovo Albanians. It was carried out in blatant violation of the basic principals of International Law and without approval of UN Security Council. The precedent was used later in various other parts of the world whenever it suited the interests of USA and NATO: Afghanistan , Iraq , and Libya . There are threats that it may be used against other countries like Syria, Iran, North Korea or any other country. NATO aggression against Serbia (FR ofYugoslavia) in 1999 left close to 4000 dead and more tan 10.000 wounded, two thirds of whom where civilians including close to 1 hundred children. NATO forces were using missiles with depleted uranium, causing massive cancer disease, deformation of newly-born babies unknown before. NATO polluted soil, water and food production for unbelievable period of four billion years. Direct economic damage caused by aggression was estimated to an amount of over one hundred billion dollars. Immediately after the end of the aggression, USA constructed on Serbian soil in Kosovo and Metohija the biggest American base in the world known as Bondsteel. This was the beginning of mushrooming of USA and NATO military basis all over the Balkans and Eastern Europe . Today there are more USA and NATO military basis in Europe than any time during the Cold War Era. Why? Warsaw Pact has been disbanded. There are no confronting socio-political systems; all European countries apparently enjoy free market economies and multi-party parliamentary democracy. What and who to defend and where from by so many military bases and long range ballistic rockets carrying nuclear warheads? From international terrorism? Cyber attackers? International organized crime groups? Rogue states? The overall economic, financial, political and moral crises of the leading countries of the West will probably lead to further spreading of interventionism, militarization and total disregard of the basic principles of international relations. Cover up justifications will not be a problem. So far there has been abundance of "positive" experiences of "humanitarian interventions", "protection of civilians" from dictatorial regimes etc. The richest and militarily the strongest are not ready to carry alone the burden of the crises that they have caused themselves. Their might is serving them to transfer the burden of the crises to the weaker, especially, if the weaker happen to have oil, gas, or strategic minerals. The crises have already caused the most massive violation of human rights such as the right to employment, education, health, information, privacy. Shortly after NATO "humanitarian" aggression on Yugoslavia (Serbia), it became clear that intervention actually resulted in an unprecedented scale of violation of human rights of Serbs and non-Albanians of Kosovo and Metohija Province. Alliance between NATO and the Albanian terrorists and separatists during the military aggression (KLA), continued ever since and reached its peak in February 2008 by unilateral proclamation of illegal secession of the province from Serbia . This act would never be possible without NATO aggression, occupation and support. It, again, violated the basic principles of the national and international laws, UN Charter and UN Security Council's resolution 1244 (1999) which guaranties sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia. The consequences are that Kosovo and Metohija after 12 years of being under UN mandate continues to be the source of instability in the Balkans, organized international crime and spring board of extremism and terrorism toward the rest of Europe. The Province of Kosovo and Metohija is the birth place of Serbian nation, culture, religion and state. Thousands of Serbian medieval monuments witness to this. There are two large communities living in the Province - Kosovo Serbs, who are Orthodox Christians, and Kosovo Albanians, the great majority of whom are Moslems. Before the beginning of the Second World War Serbian population in the Province were majority. Today, Serbs make less than 10 percent of the total population of the Province. The drastic change in national structure was due to the policy of ethnic cleansing of Serbs occupation for about 500 years, then by fascist-Nazi occupation forces (1941 – 1945) of over decades if not centuries - first by Turkish Empire which kept the Province under Mussolini and Hitler and finally by NATO aggression and occupation which continues up to these days. UN Security Council Resolution 1244, of June 10, 1999 put the end of the NATO aggression but introduced military occupation of the Province, formally by international UN mandated forces (KFOR), in reality by NATO forces. Ever since June 1999, we have been witnessing large scale of individual and even institutionally-sponsored violation of basic human rights and freedoms of Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians. Here are some examples of major human rights violations. No free and safe return for 250,000 displaced Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija After June 1999, International Red Cross noted some 250,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians who had been expelled by terror, intimidation and ethnic cleansing leave their birth places and homes in Kosovo and Metohija. Current UNHCR data show return of some 18,000 Serbs, but in reality this number is some 6,000, or 2.1%. UN Mission and other international stakeholders organized the process of the return, but no results. Therefore, Serbia remains the country with the highest number of refugees and displaced persons in the whole of Europe. No justice for the victims After June 1999, close to 1,000 Serbian and other non-Albanian civilians have been abducted and eventually killed. In July 1999, 14 people, including children, in the village of Staro Gracko were killed while harvesting in the field. In the winter 2002, a bomb was planted and set-off under a passenger bus killing many Serb passengers. In August 2003 a group of Serbian children playing by the river in village of Gorazdevac , were killed. Thousands of other crimes against Serbs in the Province have been committed and none of the culprits brought to justice although justice and police are directly managed by UN and EU missions (UNMIK, EULEX). Human organs trafficking In December 2010, Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Swiss MP Dick Marty , published Report on trafficking of human organ of abducted Serbs in 1999. The Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Report and passed Resolution demanding independent international investigation. So far no results because the people involved in this organized crime are Kosovo Albanian top politicians, former leaders of the terrorist KLA (UCK). They enjoy support and protection from Washington, London and Berlin. We demand that the investigation in the human organs trafficking in Kosovo and Metohija be conducted under auspices of UN Security Council without further delay. Illegal occupation of Serbian-owned property After June 1999, Kosovo Albanians simply occupied all immovable and movable possessions of 250,000 Serbs who left Kosovo, but also of Serbs who remained there. Often, owners were either killed or expelled by force from their properties. In September 1999, the UN founded a body that was supposed to facilitate the return of property to legal owners, the Housing and Property Directorate, but there are no results. General insecurity Since June 1999, there was almost no freedom of movement outside the so-called enclaves in which Serbs found their safety. Today Serbs still cannot access their businesses and land without risk of being attacked end even killed. They still cannot go churches and cemeteries without KFOR military escort. Some of Serbian enclaves even today continue to be fenced by barbed wire and their inhabitants living in ghetto-like conditions. Rewriting history Ever since NATO aggression in 1999, there has been systematic destruction of any traces of Serbian monuments and Christianity in Kosovo. Some 150 Serbian Orthodox churches and medieval monasteries have been destroyed, originating from as early as 13th and 14th centuries, including some from the UNESCO List of World Heritage. In addition, there has been a wide-spread exercise to rename remaining churches and monasteries as "Byzantine" or "Albanian", or "Albanian castles and towers. Violation of right to health Kosovo Albanian authorities have been stopping and seizing shipments of medical equipment and medical drugs intended for medical facilities in Serbian enclaves. In addition, they have been willfully and intentionally trying to worsen situation for Serbian populated areas, by cutting the electric power supply. For three years in the row, in winter time they have been cutting power supply to Serbian enclaves. Violation of right to education Since June 1999, all cities and towns in Kosovo except Mitrovica in the north were ethnically cleansed and became mono-ethnically Albanian. Serbs and other ethnic groups were driven to villages. School facilities were inaccessible for Serbian schoolchildren. They had to resort to inadequate premises for schools. However, most drastic situation is in Gorani community. The Goranis are local Serbian speaking ethnic group of Muslim belief, who have been exposed to incessant assimilation attempts and forced to accept Albanian language and Albanian curriculum. This pressure still goes on. Struggle for peace and struggle for social, economic, political and cultural human rights are the duty of peace movements and all peace loving forces. Freedom, equality in rights and opportunities and sovereignty of states and nations are preconditions for full respect of human rights as provided for in the UN GS Declaration on human rights. Liberal corporate capitalism in its imperialistic stage is the chief source of massive violation of the basic human rights of the mankind. Global economic, financial, political and moral crisis of the western societies is accompanied by the most massive violation of the basic human rights after the end of the Second World War. Global interventionism, wars and violations of human rights, disrespect of the international law and abuse of United Nations, are immanent features of corporate capitalism. As the NATO aggression against Serbia (FRY) 13 years ago had shown there are no humanitarian military interventions whatsoever. NATO has become the most dangerous tool for massive violation of human rights in the second half of XX and first two decades of XXI centuries. Therefore NATO as remnant of the cold war area should be abolished and its entire military bases, as well as military bases of member countries all over the world, should be dismantled. The use of the missiles with depleted uranium should be formally banned by international convention. Abuse of human rights for spreading domination of imperialism is impermissible and should be stopped forthwith. All Serbs and other non-Albanians expelled from the Province after NATO aggression 13 years ago are entitled to free and safe return to their homes in the Kosovo and Metohija Province. Territorial integrity and sovereignty of each country should be fully respected in the interest of peace and stability. Natural and economic resources, including oil and natural gas reserves, are subject to sovereign control and exploitation by concrete countries and can not be excuse for any interference or intervention from abroad. The role of the UN, respect of the UN Charter and UN GS Declaration on protection human rights should be reaffirmed and reinforced. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia should be respected and UN SC resolution 1244 (1999) fully implemented. Unilateral secession of Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija is not acceptable and should not be recognized. We call for peaceful solution of the issue of the status respecting UN SC resolution 1244 and equal human rights of all inhabitants of the Province. All pressures and blackmails against Serbia to trade its sovereignty over the Province of Kosovo and Metohija in exchange for candidacy or membership in European Union are neocolonial methods which should be condemned and rejected as absolutely unacceptable. Best regards,   Živadin Jovanović Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals 11000  B e l g r a d e Sremska 6/IV sprat Tel:   + 381 11 32 83 778 Mob: + 381 63 327 859

 

Despicable is Hillary Clinton

Despicable is Hillary Clinton

26.02.2012 | 03:29

Hillary Clinton is an interesting case study. She started four years ago as a charming Secretary of State, the smile on the snout to wipe out the snarl of her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice and four years on, she appears on camera butch, a trucker-type probably complete with tattoos, insolent, inconsequential and incompetent. We now understand Bill.

What happened to Hillary Clinton?

 Her credentials for the position of Secretary of State were never that great; let us be honest: someone who lied on camera for all to see about getting off an aircraft in the middle of a war zone in Bosnia in the 1990s when in fact she arrived to a red-carpet welcome, complete with band playing... Since when is a red carpet and a band a war zone?

 Right...

 And now, the Chief of Diplomacy of the United States of America imitates her representative at the UNO, Susan Rice, in insolence, calling Russia and China "despicable" for spoiling her war plans in Syria (and beyond).

 Insolence is indeed the mainstay and the keyword behind US diplomacy, intrusion ditto and hypocrisy has to be the toothpick in the throat of those who try to expound Washington's virtue on the world stage. And let us be perfectly frank. Hillary Rodham Clinton had a very easy passage before her as the outwardly visible sidekick of Barack Obama, elected after eight years of a Bush regime which confirmed all the worst nightmares of the conspiracy theorists. Did she pull it off? No she didn't.

 For someone in her position, to label the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China as "despicable" because they exercised their right to block NATO's evil desire to make another Libya out of Syria, is a clear sign of how low US diplomacy has sunk. In fact, it is difficult to discern which of the last three Secretaries of State is worse: Colin Powell, with his lies at the UNO about Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction; Condoleezza Rice, with her justification of Georgia's murderous attack against Russians and now Hillary War Zone Clinton, responsible for Libya and desperate to press further eastwards as she holds the hands of those whose human rights records are...in a word...despicable.

 Despicable are those Gulf Royals, unelected, but in power, and accepted without a word of contestation by Clinton and Obama and company, some of whom allegedly go to Morocco and perform the most horrific sexual crimes with boys and girls...despicable are the leaders of the Gulf States favourable to the USA and its allies siphoning off their resources, which have carried out the most draconian measures against their citizens.

 No mention from despicable Hillary War Zone Clinton.

 Despicable is the United States of America and its policy of torture flights, on which CIA operationals carried out barbaric acts against detainees; despicable it is to flout international law, invade sovereign states and destroy their civilian infrastructures with military hardware.

 Despicable it is to maintain concentration camps, a festering wound on the collective face of humanity and a profound insult to human decency. Despicable it is to sodomise detainees; despicable it is to urinate in food, despicable it is to deprive detainees of sleep, despicable it is to water-board people, despicable it is to force Moslems to eat pork.

 Despicable is Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, where the worst human rights violations in Latin America are perpetrated by the United States of America; despicable was Abu Ghraib concentration camp in Iraq, where the great American heroine Lynndie England was let loose on people who had been imprisoned without charge but hey! "just havin' fun". Despicable it is to detain people without due process, without access to a lawyer, without access to family visits and without even an accusation.

 Despicable it is to arm terrorists overseas, as was the case in Libya and as is the case in Syria. Despicable, then, if we analyse with a modicum of intelligence, is Hillary R. Clinton and the hellhole that she represents.

 To prove my point, in how many of the human rights violations mentioned above were Russia and China involved?

 None.

 Thank you. I rest my case. Hillary War Zone Liar Clinton: YOU are despicable.

 Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

http://www.moscowtopnews.com/

Kosovo Massacre Fraud by Germany to justify Yugoslav War

 

KOSOVO MASSACRE FRAUD BY GERMANY TO JUSTIFY YUGOSLAV WAR

19th February 2012

German Television programme "Time Travel" broadcast in January 2012

Narrator: These are the photos that Rudolf Scharping didn't show. He didn't show the Albanians' weapons, their UCK badges and membership cards and their ammunition. He didn't show the clear evidence of fighting."

Henning Hensch (the photographer): "There can be no talk of a massacre here, and however inconvenient this might sound, these were military battles."

The extent of the lies told about what was happening in Yugoslavia in the 1990s in order to justify the war waged by NATO has long been known - but not acknowledged by the press and mass media in Europe or the USA.The Sarajevo market bomb was not set by Serbs but by Bosnian Muslims, as the UN later confirmed. The skeletal "Serb concentration camp" victim was a nonsense, as the BBC's John Simpson confirmed and the "10,000 deaths in Kosovo" were proved to be a complete myth.

Both the Commander of the OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission in 1999 (just before Yugoslavia was attacked) Roland Keith and the former Canadian Ambassador in Belgrade James Bissett have condemned the war and defended the Yugoslav Government. Bissett said that the 1999 attack was a "put up job" and quotes the most revealing admission by the former British Defense Minister, Lord Gilbert, who told the British House of Commons in July 2000 that the terms that NATO sought to force upon Milosevic at Rambouillet were deliberately designed to provoke war. Commander Keith described the KLA as a terrorist organisation which had a grip on most villages in Kosovo. He had direct experience of the lies told by villagers about ethnic cleansing and he said he never saw the Yugoslav Federal Army mistreat anyone in Kosovo.

Now we have a respected German televisions programme providing clear proof of the fraud practised by the German Government to justify to their public an attack on Yugoslavia in 1999. It is the equivalent of the "dodgy dossier" of that other great "builder of Europe" Tony Blair. Read the translation of the programme at:

www.freenations.freeuk.com/news.2012-02-19.html

 

Russia: Kosovo Referendum Results Signal To International Community

 

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_02_16/66235369/

Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 16, 2012

Lavrov: Kosovo referendum results "a signal to global community"

The results of the referendum held on February 14-15 in Kosovo are "a signal to the international community" and to the parties in the Kosovo talks, which cannot be ignored, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Vienna on Thursday.

The referendum on the legitimacy Kosovo's Albanian authorities was held in four Serbian communities in the north of the region on the initiative of the local authorities. The local residents were asked the following question "Do you accept the institutions of the so-called Republic of Kosovo?" According to the preliminary results, more than 99.5% of the voters said "No".

"This was a signal to Pristina, Belgrade, a signal to those who wants the international involvement in the settlement of the numerous aspects of this problem to continue", Lavrov said.

A House of Sand and Fog by Nebojsa Malic

A House of Sand and Fog

Posted By Nebojsa Malic On February 10, 2012 @ 11:00 pm In Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Last summer, as the Sandstorm mistakenly dubbed the "Arab Spring" swept across North Africa, a cadre of professional revolutionaries the Empire created in Serbia bragged about their role in the revolts to some European videographers. Sure, the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt may have begun spontaneously, but Empire-trained activists soon took control and channeled the rage into "regime change." It's what they get paid for.
Staging revolts and coups to replace foreign governments with more pliable ones is nothing new; only the techniques have changed, with "democracy activists" replacing Agency assets as the executors. But with the acceleration of information dispersal in the digital age came the shortening of the blowback window as well. It took twenty-six years for Persian resentment at the 1953 ousting of Mossadegh to manifest itself as Khomeini's Islamic Revolution. Now mere months are enough.

"The Cairo 19"

Last week, the military government in Cairo – caretakers of the country until the Muslim Brotherhood takes over - arrested some forty-odd "democracy activists," including 19 Americans. Reactions in Washington ranged from shock to outrage: how dare these foreigners touch the sacred missionaries of Democracy? Sure, these young people get paid big money by the unwitting American taxpayers, to foment unrest and subvert governments the world over, but isn't that the prerogative of Empire? Isn't it, like, oppressive and stuff, to prevent Serbian sellouts and sons of American government officials to earn their own private islands?
Even though foreign activism in the electoral process is strictly illegal in America itself, the rest of the world objecting to America interfering in their elections is just, well, "illiberal"! That's what passes for logic in the Empire these days.
Furthermore, the revolution business is booming, quickly becoming the Empire's major export. Granted, successful businesses are supposed to bring in profit, and the coups around the world are only sowing anti-American resentment – but what's logic got to do with the thrill of fame and power?
Julija Belej Bakovic, described by the Washington Post as a "former student activist in Serbia", now heads a regional office of the International Republican Institute (IRI) for Asia. She still believes what happened in Serbia is a "light at the end of the tunnel" for people everywhere. It certainly worked out well for her: she parlayed her "activism" into a well-paid international career. Most of her colleagues are lucky if they have jobs at all, in the "democratic" Serbia turned into a corrupt hellhole by Julija's revolution that wasn't.
It brings to mind a saying from Serbia, "What a wise man is ashamed of, the fool parades with pride."

By The Numbers

Bolstered by the alleged success of the "Arab Spring," the Empire set its crosshairs on Moscow. In December last year, "activists" began organizing protest marches and claiming that elections for the Russian federal legislature were stolen. This is a trope right out of the handbook, by the way – and easily disproved by doing actual math and statistics.
While shaken initially, the government of Vladimir Putin has rallied and charged the demonstrators with being foreign mercenaries. Trite but true, the charge resonated in a country stripped to the bone in the 1990s by a quisling regime beholden to the Empire. Nor does it help the Empire's cause that Russians remember all too well the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in nearby Ukraine.
On February 4, as Empire's activists rallied in freezing weather at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, a much larger crowd gathered to support the government at Poklonnaya Hill. The Western media promptly lied about the size of the demonstrations, but in Russia the difference was clear to anyone with eyes to see: the pro-government demonstrators vastly outnumbered the astroturfers. According to some observers, this may have taken the wind out of the revolutionaries' sails, at least for now.

The Road to Damascus

Last weekend, Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the UN Security Council that would have backed "regime change" in Syria. Imperial officials predictably denounced this as a "travesty." But was it?
Back in March 2011, both countries agreed to a resolution (UNSCR 1973) authorizing the no-fly zone over Libya, allegedly to protect innocent civilians. Supposedly, these civilians – or rather, the armed rebellion in Cyrenaica – were threatened by the Libyan air force. Within hours, the resolution became a fig leaf for a massive air campaign and special forces intervention on behalf of an Empire-backed rebellion. The Emperor argued it wasn't a war but a "kinetic military action." Is there another kind?
In Libya, the Bosnia scenario played out in fast-forward. Something similar began taking shape in Syria. However, a designated propaganda star of the Syrian revolt was exposed as a hoax early on, while the Libyan expedition took much longer than expected. For a while it seemed the Empire's next target might be Iran, but currently the war drumline is beating a march to Damascus.

Empire's moral outrage at Russia and China is hypocrisy at its finest. The warmongers in Washington and London are already bringing up Bosnia and Kosovo - two celebrated "successful" interventions that were nothing of the sort. There is definitely a pattern of aggression at work, but its source is not Assad.
Faced with a belligerent American Empire prone to attacking other countries with flimsy justification (or none at all), conducting drone wars worldwide, and organizing Astroturf revolutions in countries it finds too difficult to invade, it is honestly a miracle that Moscow and Beijing have waited this long.

Trouble in Paradise

Odds are the Chinese and Russian governments hardly think that a UN veto would keep the Empire in check; after all, lack of UN authorization didn't stop the 1999 Kosovo War, or the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A Russian Navy task force anchored in Syria, however, just might.
Simply put, it is no longer 1999. Actions have consequences, and the Empire has lied, stolen, killed and cheated enough over the past two decades for the rest of the world to take notice and take action. Worst of all, the Imperial officials are actually convinced their actions have created a favorable reality on the ground – where in actuality, they've build a house of sand and fog that's already falling apart.
Last April, the Maldives government – which came to power thanks to the efforts of professional revolutionaries – rewarded the activists with their very own tropical island. But that government is collapsing now, while angry mobs of militant Muslims destroy priceless statues in the museums. An AFP report from the islands includes this aside: "Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution."
Some "democracy," indeed.

http://original.antiwar.com/malic/2012/02/10/a-house-of-sand-and-fog/

Kosovo Versus Syria: What Is Truly "Disgusting"

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/02/11/truly-disgusting-the-west-in-kosovo.html

Strategic Culture Foundation
February 11, 2012

Truly Disgusting - the West in Kosovo
Aleksandar Pavic

====

Economically as well, Kosovo is a basket case, to put it mildly. The unemployment rate is variously estimated at 40-60%, or even 70%. The territory has been identified by various international agencies as the main European center for the distribution of heroin originating in Afghanistan, as well as a center for money laundering and human trafficking. It has been referred to more than once as "Afghanistan in Europe." In addition, the top of its ethnic Albanian leadership is currently under international investigation for human organ trafficking.

Western "hysterics" regarding Syria are old hat to those who've been watching similar performances being played out in the Balkans over the past two decades: first comes the Western media frenzy, followed by calls from Western capitals that "something must be done," followed by threats, sanctions and, lastly, foreign [i.e., NATO/EU] intervention and the installation of dysfunctional, kleptocratic, incomparably worse regimes, such as Thaci's "Kosovo" mafia-state.

There is no country in the world – and there has never been – whose government does not have flaws. But there has never been a media force that is able to exploit them to such an extent as today's Western global media – while simultaneously ignoring cases such as Kosovo, which no longer suit their immediate interventionist purposes. It seems, thus, that if they do not draw a line in the sand on Syria – Russia and China will soon be faced with a similar scenario elsewhere – closer to their own borders.

====

In the tantrums thrown by the Western powers in the wake of the Russo-Chinese veto of their UN Security Council resolution on Syria, the US's UN Ambassador, Susan Rice, expressed "disgust" at these two states' behavior. In addition to these kinds of "hysterics" – as Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov so aptly described them – being calculated to rally the global media further against the two Eurasian giants, they also serve the purpose of directing attention away from the West's own disastrous intervention track record. On February 8, just four days after the failed Syria resolution, the UNSC had a chance to discuss another Western interventionist "success story" – Kosovo.

Many might think that Russia's and China's reluctance to give a green light to foreign intervention in Syria is mostly based on the recent Libya (and Iraq and Afghanistan) experience. That is only partly true. For the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo has been under NATO/EU control for more than 12 years now – since June 10, 1999 – and offers a much better view of what Western intervention brings than the still-fresh, although already clearly disastrous, Libyan case.

The first thing that struck one's attention was the fact that the Assistant Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, Edmond Mulet, referred to the situation in Kosovo at February 8 session as one of "fragile calm." Remember, this is more than 12 years after Western powers had taken complete control of the territory, and almost four years since they have unilaterally recognized its "independence." With tens of thousands of Western "peacekeepers" on the ground for over a decade and several billion dollars spent – we have nothing more than "fragile calm." A "success story" this is not.

Vuk Jeremić, the Foreign Minister of Serbia, whose province Kosovo still is according to UNSC Resolution 1244 (as well as Resolutions 1160, 1199, 1203 and 1239, all of which the Western powers have trampled in their unilateral recognition of the breakaway province), characterized the situation in Kosovo as a "ghetto and barbed wire," with the Serbian population being "the most imperiled in Europe."

Practically none of the over 200,000 people expelled from Kosovo since NATO and the EU have taken over have returned. The 100,000 or so Serbs and non-Albanians that have remained are waging a daily battle, not just for survival but for basic human rights. Pointing to this state of affairs, the Serbian FM cited reports of international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the OSCE and Transparency International, which talk of rampant corruption, discrimination against non-Albanians, a politically influenced judiciary, inadequate witness protection, etc., while the European Commission has qualified the fight against corruption and organized crime as "inefficient."

Economically as well, Kosovo is a basket case, to put it mildly. The unemployment rate is variously estimated at 40-60%, or even 70%. The territory has been identified by various international agencies as the main European center for the distribution of heroin originating in Afghanistan, as well as a center for money laundering and human trafficking. It has been referred to more than once as "Afghanistan in Europe." In addition, the top of its ethnic Albanian leadership is currently under international investigation for human organ trafficking.

A report by Council of Europe human rights rapporteur Dick Marty published in December 2010 named Kosovo "prime minister" Hashim Thachi as the head of a "mafia-like" group responsible for smuggling human organs, drugs and weapons. Marty accused the international community [i.e., leading NATO/EU states] of failing to act on the intelligence they possessed. According to his report, Thaci and his accomplices carried out "assassinations, detentions, beatings and interrogations" dating back more than a decade. Some members of his group are also accused of smuggling unfortunate Serb prisoners into Albania after the 1999 Kosovo war, where they were killed and their organs harvested.

At the February 8 UNSC session, Serbia, Russia and China renewed their calls to place the investigation of this morbid crime under the auspices of the UNSC. However, as has been the case for almost a year, the US and other Western Security Council members rejected such calls, preferring to keep the investigation under EU, i.e., their own control.

At a previous UNSC session in December 2011, Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was compelled to remark that Russia "does not understand why our Western colleagues in the UN refuse to implement" such a measure, while Serbia's foreign minister, Vuk Jeremić, added that "some [read Western] UN Security Council members are strongly opposed to the adoption of a resolution [calling for a UNSC-supervised investigation] proposed by Serbia," calling it a "moral abdication before criminals and war criminals." China has also backed Russia's and Serbia's efforts.

Certainly, one of the keys to this sort of "disgusting" behavior can be found in the startling admission made at the end of January by former Chief Prosecutor for the International Tribunal for war crimes in The Hague (ICTY), Carla del Ponte. In an interview given to the Serbian weekly Nedeljnik, she charged that "NATO and UNMIK [the UN's civilian Kosovo mission] prevented an investigation of the organ trafficking charges" and that, in addition, someone in the hierarchy had ordered the evidence destroyed. Obviously, an independent investigation under UNSC auspices would open up a highly embarrassing can of worms for the Western "humanitarians."

In any case, Western "hysterics" regarding Syria are old hat to those who've been watching similar performances being played out in the Balkans over the past two decades: first comes the Western media frenzy, followed by calls from Western capitals that "something must be done," followed by threats, sanctions and, lastly, foreign [i.e., NATO/EU] intervention and the installation of dysfunctional, kleptocratic, incomparably worse regimes, such as Thaci's "Kosovo" mafia-state.

Thus, when one reads of "unverified reports" of atrocities allegedly committed by the Syrian authorities, the first reflex ought to be – let's verify the reports first – especially as the Arab League Observer Mission had detected the presence of an unidentified "armed entity" (which is certainly one of the reasons why its report has been rejected not just by the West but by the very states that sent it) that was responsible for provoking armed response from government forces.

However, on the heels of the first thought should come a second – who would do the verifying? Just before the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, Western "observers/verifiers" came into the Kosovo province under the auspices of the OSCE, led by another US diplomat, William Walker, whose previous experiences included (democratically?) suppressing investigations into death squad killings of Jesuits in El Salvador during the 1980s, and accompanied by Western reporters. The result? The targets that were subsequently bombed were precisely located and marked by the "observers" (a nice name for reconnaissance agents, as it turned out) – while the Western media, with the help of several fictional "massacre stories" helped prepare the pretext for the almost 80-day bombing that ensued a few weeks later. Can anyone doubt that something similar is being planned for Syria? Can anyone blame Syrians that do not wish to become "Afghanistan of the Middle East?"

That is why it is vitally important for Russia, China and all the countries that support them to succeed in ensuring a balanced and, above all, sustainable solution to the Syrian crisis, one that involves the active participation of the entire Syrian public, whose outcome will not be the simple installation of purportedly "pro-Western" thugs. It does not, however, appear that Western politicians and media are willing to give either Russia, China, or the Syrian people this opportunity.

As status quo states that respect international law – one of whose chief principles is non-interference in other countries' affairs – Russia and China are once again at a clear disadvantage. They have been put on the defensive by the extremely aggressive Western global media apparatus.

There is no country in the world – and there has never been – whose government does not have flaws. But there has never been a media force that is able to exploit them to such an extent as today's Western global media – while simultaneously ignoring cases such as Kosovo, which no longer suit their immediate interventionist purposes. It seems, thus, that if they do not draw a line in the sand on Syria – Russia and China will soon be faced with a similar scenario elsewhere – closer to their own borders. So perhaps it's time for them to be more active and aggressive, not just in defending the status quo, but in pointing to the West's own sordid interventionist track record. The "disgusting" case of Kosovo is just one of the good places to start.

Russia and the Western Media, by S. Trifkovic

http://russia-insights.com/analysis/russia-and-the-western-media

 

Russia And The Western Media

• February 7, 2012
• Comment and Analysis
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Srdja Trifkovic

 

Most Western media professionals tend to subscribe, consciously or not, to a neo-liberal world outlook in general and to the tenets of multiculturalism in particular. The result is notable media favoritism of allegedly disadvantaged, non-Western, traditionally non-Christian societies.

Behind the veneer of all-embracing diversity, however, we find a carefully calibrated scale of acceptance or rejection of "the Other" depending on the cultural and political preferences of the media professionals themselves. The result is moral and intellectual relativism, which enables the media elite to pick and choose, which group or nation will be approved for the status of sympathy or victimhood, and which will be denied the benefit of the doubt.

The image of Russia in the Western media indicates that Russia has been relegated to the latter category. "It sounds paradoxical," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, referring to the Western attitude toward Russia, "but there was more mutual trust and respect during the Cold War." His correct hint is that the Western opinion-makers detest post-Soviet Russia – the state that no longer is subservient, as it had been in the 1990s, but reviving its statehood and identity – more than the Cold War leaders of the West detested the USSR.

The problem of bias, stereotypical reporting and quasi-analysis is by no means new. The collapse of Russia's institutions and social infrastructure under Yeltsin was accompanied by Western approval of the key engineers of the disaster (Anatoly Chubais, Yegor Gaidar, Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov…). Their small political factions, lionized by the Western media, were duly supported by the quasi-NGO network funded in part by the Western taxpayers.

Various anti-Russian stereotypes notably prevailed over common sense and journalistic integrity at the time of Mikhael Saakashvili's attack on South Ossetia in August 2008, with the mainstream media pack attacking Russia's "aggression" and criticizing Western "passivity."

While never missing an opportunity to hector Russia on democracy and criticize her human rights record, the Western media have been and still are notably silent on the discriminatory treatment of large Russian minorities in some former Soviet republics.

In other words, the verdict depends on an actors' status in the ideological pecking order of the media elite itself, not on his words and actions as such – in line with the Leninist dictum that the moral value of any act by anyone is determined by that act's contribution to the march of history. V.V. Putin's high approval rating is thus cited as further "evidence" of his manipulative populism and "proof" that democracy remains underdeveloped in Russia.

The similarity of reactions to Russia on the right and left ends of the Western media spectrum reflects the perception that Russia belongs to a tradition that is unworthy of multiculturalist tolerance. The problem stems not from any misunderstanding of the Russian mindset and tradition, but, on the contrary, from an accurate assessment by the media class that Russia as such is an obstacle to the realization of their political, economic, and ideological preferences in the modern world. The sin of the Russians, in the eyes of the Western media elite, is that they are still defined by their ethnic, cultural and religious identity.

The problem exists. For it to be solved we need a paradigm shift in the West that would pave the way for a "Northern Alliance" of Russia, Western Europe and North America, as all three face similar geopolitical and demographic threats in the decades ahead. We need to rediscover and cherish the commonalities of the spiritual traditions, history and culture of the extended European family, from Anchorage via Berlin to Vladivostok.

 

Srdja Trifkovic is Foreign Affairs Editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, and Executive Director of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies

 

 

West tells Serbia to pull police from Kosovo

January 24 2012 at 08:34pm 
By Fatos Bytyci and Matt Robinson

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Pristina/Belgrade - Western powers overseeing Kosovo's independence called on neighbouring Serbia on Tuesday to quit "interfering" in the country and withdraw clandestine security forces.

The call by the 25-member International Steering Group (ISG), including the United States and major EU powers, signalled rising impatience with Serbia's role in a small slice of northern Kosovo populated by minority Serbs.

The country of 1.7 million people, 90 percent of them Albanians, was the last to emerge from socialist Yugoslavia when it seceded from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the major Western powers.

Eighty-six countries have recognised the new state, but a small slice of the north populated by some 50,000-60,000 Serbs reject the secession and flashes of violence continue to challenge its stability.

The north functions largely as part of the Serbian state in a de facto ethnic partition of Kosovo that the West says is unacceptable.

Serbia says it will never recognise Kosovo as independent, but pressure has been growing on Belgrade to loosen its hold on the north if it is to make progress towards membership of the European Union.

Meeting in Vienna, the ISG said in a statement that it hoped to end its supervision of Kosovo by the end of the year, but that more should be done on rights and protections for the Serb minority.

It called on Serbia "to abide by its international commitments and refrain from interfering in Kosovo, including by withdrawing its police, security, and other state presences, and supporting efforts by international actors and the institutions of Kosovo to promote the rule of law".

The Serbian government denies having any police in Kosovo, but Western diplomats, security officials and observers say Serbian security structures have been present in the north since NATO wrested control of Kosovo from Serbia in 1999.

"Serbia has no police or security structures anywhere in Kosovo," a Serbian government spokesman said in response to the ISG statement.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after an 11-week NATO air war to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serb forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency war.

Serbia was denied official candidate status for membership of the EU in December, after months of sporadic violence in north Kosovo. It will have another chance when the EU meets against in March.

Tensions had been bubbling since July last year, when Kosovo's government tried to take control of two border crossings between Serbia and the Serb-populated enclave in the north.

It was repelled by Serbs, who then threw up barricades. The EU's police and justice mission, deployed in 2008, has since been unable to operate freely in the north, and NATO peacekeepers have clashed repeatedly with armed Serbs.

Pieter Feith, the Dutch diplomat tasked by the ISG with overseeing Kosovo's progress, described a "climate of harassment, of intimidation and even of violence that continues to dominate the situation" in the north.

"The whole process of ending supervised independence and the future of Kosovo as a modern multiethnic democracy should not be held hostage by leaders in the north who have a different agenda," he told a news conference after the Vienna meeting. - Reuters

 

 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/west-tells-serbia-to-pull-police-from-kosovo-1.1219453