September 15, 2010

Bombshell from London

Bombshell from London

By Eric S. Margolis

 September 14, 2010 "Toronto Sun" -- THE
London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), is the world's leading think tank for military affairs. It represents the top echelon of defence experts, retired officers and senior military men, spanning the globe from the United States and Britain to China, Russia and India.

I've been an IISS member for over 20 years. IISS's reports are always authoritative but usually cautious and diplomatic, sometimes dull. However, two weeks ago the IISS issued an explosive report on Afghanistan that is shaking Washington and its Nato allies.

The report, presided over by the former deputy director of Britain's foreign intelligence agency, MI-6, says the threat from al-Qaeda and Taliban has been "exaggerated" by the western powers. The US-led mission in Afghanistan has "ballooned" out of all proportion from its original aim of disrupting and defeating al-Qaeda. The US-led war in Afghanistan, says IISS, using uncharacteristically blunt language, is "a long-drawn-out disaster".

Just recently, CIA chief Leon Panetta admitted there were no more than 50 members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Yet US President Barack Obama has tripled the number of US soldiers there to 120,000 to fight Al Qaeda.

The IISS report goes on to acknowledge the presence of western troops in Afghanistan is actually fuelling national resistance. I saw the same phenomena during the 1980's Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Interestingly, the portion of the report overseen by the former MI-6 Secret Intelligence Service deputy chief, Nigel Inskster, finds little Al Qaeda threat elsewhere, notably in Somalia and Yemen. Yet Washington is beefing up its attacks on both turbulent nations.

Abandoning its usual discretion, IISS said it was issuing these warnings because the deepening war in Afghanistan was threatening the west's security interests by distracting its leaders from the world financial crisis and Iran, and burning through scarce funds needed elsewhere.

The IISS's findings are a direct challenge to Obama, Britain's new prime minister, David Cameron, and other US allies with troops in Afghanistan. This report undermines their rational used to sustain the increasingly unpopular conflict. It will certainly convince sceptics that the real reason for occupation of Afghanistan has to do with oil, excluding China from the region, and keeping watch on nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The report also goes on to propose an exit strategy from the Afghan War. Western occupation troops, IISS proposes, should be sharply reduced and confined to Kabul and northern Afghanistan, which is mostly ethnic Tajik and Uzbek.

Southern Afghanistan – Taliban country – should be vacated by Western forces and left alone. Taliban would be allowed to govern its own half of the nation until some sort of loose, decentralised federal system can be implemented. This was, in fact, pretty much the way Afghanistan operated before the 1979 Soviet invasion.

Meanwhile, the war in Afghanistan is turning against the increasingly wobbly western occupation forces. The US-installed Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, openly prepares for direct peace talks with Taliban and its allies – in spite of intense opposition from the US, Britain and Canada.

Pro-government Afghan forces are increasingly demoralised. Only the Tajik and Uzbek militias, and Afghan Communist Party, both supported by India, Russia and Iran, want to keep fighting the Pashtun Taliban.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar last week proclaimed the western occupiers were rapidly losing the war. He may well be correct. Nothing is going right for the US-backed Kabul regime or its western defenders. Even the much-ballyhooed US offensive at Marjah, designed to smash Taliban resistance, was an embarrassing fiasco. Civilian casualties from US bombing continue to mount.

Europeans are fed up with the Afghan war. Polls report 60% of Americans think the war not worth fighting.

The IISS bombshell comes on the heels of the most dramatic part of the British Chilcot Inquiry into the origins of the invasion of Iraq. Baroness Manningham-Buller the former head of Britain's domestic security service, MI-5, testified that the Iraq War was generated by a farrago of lies and faked evidence from the Blair government. What we call "terrorism" is largely caused by the western invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, she testified.

The truth about Iraq and Afghanistan is finally emerging.

Afghanistan may again prove to be "the graveyard of empires".

Eric S. Margolis is a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East and South Asia.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

 

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26362.htm

September 14, 2010

What did Baroness Ashton promise Tadic?

What did Baroness Ashton promise Tadic?

ZELJKO PANTELIC

14.09.2010 @ 09:07 CET

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton made a set of promises to Serbian President Boris Tadic in return for his concessions on Kosovo, different sources have told WAZ.EUobserver.

The discussions took place during the night of the agreement on the UN resolution on the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Description: Click here to find out more!

Mrs Ashton did not promise that the EU would start the process to ensure candidate status for Serbia quickly, said one source, noting that this promise could not be made as it is up to all member states to agree unanimously on issues concerning enlargement.

"However, it is true that Lady Ashton gave guarantees to President Tadic that she will be committed to dealing with the Serbian application for EU membership that has been in the box from December last year," said the same source.

EU foreign ministers also gave positive signals during their meeting on Monday (13 September). They agreed to put the Serbian EU application on the agenda during their October meeting, the earliest date that they can forward Serbia's application to the European Commission.

Despite the good intentions of the British Baroness - as well as the signs of improved relations between Belgrade and the most important EU countries, strained in recent months because of the Serbian policy on Kosovo - it is not guaranteed that member states will quickly forward the Serbian application for candidate status to the European Commission to prepare its opinion on the matter. The opinion or avis is the first step in the procedure for granting candidate status for EU membership.

"It is useless to make anything without Holland on board because the key to faster Serbian European integration is in the hands of The Hague," a diplomat from one of the main EU countries told WAZ.EUobserver.

"Of course, if Serbia arrests [war crimes suspect] Ratko Mladic then everything will be easier. Kosovo is not 'a launch ramp' for accelerating the pace of Serbia towards the EU. On the contrary, Serbia can only get herself in trouble if she is not constructive on Kosovo. The real, and so far the only, means for Serbia to go more rapidly towards the EU is the arrest of Ratko Mladic," the source continued.

On Monday things were looking promising, the Netherlands apparently signaled its good intentions, but with no new government in place it is difficult to predict its next move.

The Dutch have indicated on several occasions (such as in the case of the agreement between the EU and Serbia on Eulex, the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo) that for them only the arrest of Mladic means that Serbia has done its duty.

However, there are positive elements in the agreement on Kosovo for Serbian European integration. In the past few months, the friends of Serbia in the EU - such as Spain, Italy and Greece - tried to open the door to Serbian application without success. Now Baroness Ashton as well as German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are working on an EU consensus on Serbia.

"Besides that, the United Kingdom indicated its willingness to pass the Serbian application to the Commission if Belgrade opens dialogue with Pristina in the near future. With London, Berlin, Mrs Ashton and the positive report about Serbian cooperation with ICTY by the [UN] chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz, there is big chance to see the Serbian application passed to the Commission before the end of the year, " said an European diplomat.

For Serbian President Tadic and his ruling coalition in Belgrade it is crucial that the procedure for candidate status be opened this year, with parliamentary elections to be held in the spring of 2012.

President Tadic and his advisers have explained to European partners that time is running out and there is a serious risk the the pro-European government in Belgrade will stand before elections in 2012 without any tangible results in European integration. It normally takes at one year to go through the procedure of granting candidate status.

"The message of President Tadic's team to the EU was very simple: If you want to have a pro-European government in Belgrade in the future - constructive on the Kosovo issue - you should help us to achieve candidate status before elections," said a source in the EU institutions.

http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30792

September 12, 2010

Serbia capitulates: Address was UN, not EU

 

Thought you might be interested in the 9/11/2010 tandem between Julia Gorin and myself.

 

Vojin

Serbia capitulates: Address was UN, not EU


 

Date: Saturday, September 11, 2010, 10:15 AM

 STUNNING REVELATIONS BY KORAN-BURNING PASTOR, Invoking Yugoslavia; Obama Laments First Amendment

Posted by Julia Gorin
 

In a press conference today, Dove World Outreach pastor Terry Jones revealed that he got a phone call from a Green Beret who had served in " Yugoslavia ." Here is what the soldier told him, as related by Jones in this MSNBC video:

Just yesterday we got a phone call from a retired Special Force Green Beret, Delta Force. It was his opinion that the people that are on the field, the special forces, he told us, are 100% behind us. He said he has seen — he was there in Yugoslavia when the radical Moslems, and that is the element we are aiming at, that is the element that we want for them to back down — said he was there in Yugoslavia when they burnt down 150 churches. He said he was there as a three-story building that was a hospital, a three-story building full with Christians was burnt to the ground. And they were allowed to do nothing, because of international pressure. Because of policies, they were allowed to do nothing. Our military, our military men who are trained to rescue lives, to save lives, to protect our country, stood in front of a three-story hospital filled with Christians and watched it burn to the ground, watched those people scream for their life. And because of our policies, whatever they may be called, because of our polices we were not allowed to do anything. Our burning of the Koran is to call the attention that something is wrong. Something is wrong. It is possibly time for us in a new way to actually stand up [and] confront terrorism. There is something very much wrong with our policies when we stand there and we watch a building full of people die because our so-called policies do not allow us to do anything. So as of right now we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing. So on September the 11th we shall continue with our planned event.

So for the pastor's explanation of the importance of the Koran-burning event, he employed the example of…Kosovo. Specifically, the 'non-Muslimy' Muslims of Kosovo, known as Albanians. Our great friends and allies — as long as we don't interfere with their killing of Christians and burning of churches.

What his speech also reveals is that, as some of us suspected, there is a whole load of military folks who have been keeping mum and/or biting their tongues about what they were witness to, and party to, in Kosovo (as in Bosnia) — and just what kinds of orders they had to follow from the Command. It also shows that our military people seem to understand something that our leaderships are in aggressive denial about, and have been lying to us about: Albanians are Muslims. More accurately, Muslim behavior and Albanian-Muslim behavior are often indistinguishable. It is very apropos that Jones used Kosovo to make his point. Because, as I've been screaming from the rooftops, the malaise has gone from there to here. We thought we were only subjugating those Christians, those peasant types, to Islam. But by doing so we've helped subjugate ourselves. Because, as I've also been saying, Kosovo was the nexus. It was the official beginning of the end. The beginning of the demise of Western civilization, by our own hand.

Separately, the pastor makes another important point when he says, "It is possibly time for us in a new way to actually stand up [and] confront terrorism." What he's saying is that it is not just the responsibility of men and women in uniform to preserve our liberties. WE ALL HAVE TO STICK OUR NECKS OUT. We will all have to risk our lives at one point or another, in order for our lives to still mean anything. This is not just our soldiers' war. It is OUR war. It will be fought differently from anything ever before, and every one of us will be called upon to fight. Is Pastor Jones an extremist, as he's being called in circles that range from the mainstream to, more surprisingly, anti-jihad quarters? Perhaps he is. But have we forgotten? Have we forgotten that "extremism in the name of liberty is no vice?" Why is there so much more tolerance of extremism in the name of tyranny than in the name of liberty? Why is tyranny more politically correct than liberty?

Relatedly, a pathetic Yahoo! News write-up mentioned the following: Quran burning flap a distraction from Obama agenda

Obama was asked in the interview if he felt angry or helpless at having to deal with the fallout from the potential actions of the pastor of one tiny church. "Well, it is frustrating," he allowed, adding that the law didn't offer much recourse.

Did anyone else notice that it sounds like the president yearns for a "recourse" against the First Amendment?

When Communism was the big threat, Americans knew they had the support of their presidents against it. In particular, Ronald Reagan unequivocally called the Soviet Union "Evil Empire." So when a far bigger threat comes along and Americans are left without leaders to call a spade a spade — leaders who instead do all they can to not define the enemy — people feel forced into taking matters into their own hands as best they know how, and turn to things like Koran-burning exercises to show the free world what it's up against. Please note that this is not the first test of our rights and freedoms that Pastor Jones has engaged in. Last year it was his church that erected a sign reading "Islam is of the Devil."  


Serbia capitulates: Address was UN, not EU

By Vojin Joksimovich

Germany says that Serbia must come to terms with its amputation. But the dismemberment of Serbia doesn't appear to be over until Serbia is reduced to a region envisioned by Hitler.

Westerwelle's Belgrade Visit

German foreign minister and vice chancellor, Guido Westerwelle, came to Belgrade on August the 26th, to lecture the Serbian government and the Serbian parliamentary parties with a pompous and an arrogant slogan that the address is EU ( Brussels ) not the UN ( New York ). In addition he delivered the ultimatum that the Southeast Europe map is cast in concrete and that Serbia must come to terms with its amputation if she wants to pursue what I perceive to be unreal EU membership. While in Pristina Westerwelle called on five EU nations, which have not yet recognized the independence of Kosovo to follow the "clear majority" of the EU.

The former Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica reacted with this statement: "The manner in which the EU is treating Serbia , and the statement made in Belgrade that Serbia 's border has been violently changed and that this is a reality that must be accepted, represents an essential endangering of our state interests and crude disdain for the state of Serbia ." In addition he said: "By forcing Serbia to establish good neighborly relations with the fake state of Kosovo, the EU shows that its real goal is not to have Serbia as its member for many years to come. A state that renounces a part of its territory cannot deserve anyone's respect, not even that of the EU, but can only be permanently underestimated and humiliated."

Herr Westerwelle is the leader of German Free Democrats, who in coalition with the Frau Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats rule Germany since the September 2009 elections. The Free Documents got 15% of the vote. However, their popularity has plummeted since to 6%. Nadja Irena Fisic, a Croatian journalist, informed us that Herr Westerweller declared himself homosexual six years ago and that he travels with his partner even on the state business presenting the hosts with protocol problems as exemplified with his visits to Japan and China . In Japan his partner, Michael Mrontz, was treated like the wives of foreign dignitaries'. However, he didn't bring Mr. Mrontz on this Balkans tour because of perception that gays wouldn't be welcome there. Westerweller made the history as the first homosexual to serve as the foreign minister.

Historical Inheritance

Most of my American friends believe that history belongs to the past and being over. On the other hand they talk a great deal about the war of independence, the Civil War, racial discrimination, Alamo, etc. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used to say that Serbia has to move beyond 1389. Some of them pointed out to me that Serbia had lost Kosovo in 1389 and regained it in 1912 but populated with the Albanian majority. To counter that argument, I would point out that the Jews lost Jerusalem , the cradle of their civilization, in 638 but regained it in 1948.

With my background, born, raised and educated in Serbia , I represent the view that the past is highly relevant to the present. This is in particular true for Serbia . Aleksandra Rebic wrote: " Serbia and her people seem to live in a constant state of Deja Vu." Hence, I was unable to ignore the fact that Serbia was a major victim of the German Balkan imperialism in the previous century and that Great Britain didn't do much to help Serbia despite being an ally in both WWI and WWII. A brief history lesson precedes an analysis of the impact of Westerwelle visit leading to in all likelihood to loss of Kosovo for Serbia .

Germany as Balkans Predator

Germany went to war with Serbia three times in the previous century: WWI (1914-1918), WWII (1941-1945) and the 1999 NATO 78-day incessant bombing of Serbia with German participation. Vienna 's Serbophobia, supported by Germany , led to WWI, a fatal conflict that destroyed much of Europe . Serbophobia led Hitler to order pulverization of Serbia with "merciless brutality." Even before these wars Germany initiated expansionism into the Balkans in order to establish its hegemony.

The 1878 Berlin Congress was the meeting of European plus Ottoman Empire 's leading statesmen chaired by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The principal mission was to deal a mortal blow to the movement of pan-Slavism led by Russian expansion to the south. The objective was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans in the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Bowing to Russia 's pressure the Congress formally recognized the independence of the de facto sovereign states of Rumania , Serbia and Montenegro , as the 27th-29th free states of the world. The 1878 map of small Serbia without Kosovo is of interest even today. 

The German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, a grandson of Queen Victoria , as a part of German expansionism wanted to build a railway from Berlin to Constantinople, eventually terminating in Baghdad , with an extension to the Persian Gulf . This great engineering feat began in 1903 but obstacles in the way of intervening mountain ranges in eastern Turkey led to slow progress with no completion before WWI erupted in 1914. Serbia , victorious in both Balkan wars 1912-1913, almost doubled its territory. Kosovo was internationally recognized as a part of Serbia at the Treaty of London in 1913.

Both Vienna and Berlin were alarmed and decided that Serbia had to be crushed leading to WWI. Serbia was victorious again after losing about 1.1 million people or 27% of the total population, 52% of its adult male population. In 1918 Serbia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes, in 1929 named Yugoslavia . For multiple of reasons this was a catastrophic decision on part of the Serbian leadership.

Description: Hitler's map of the Balkans

On March 25, 1941, Yugoslavia signed the protocol of adherence with the Hitler-Mussolini Axis thus avoiding the war with Germany and Italy . Two days later, British inspired military coup in Belgrade overthrew the government. This was the second biggest mistake made by the Serbian leaders after entering Yugoslavia in 1918 costing the Serbs another approximately million lives. Hitler issued orders to pulverize Yugoslavia "with merciless brutality." Yugoslavia was dismembered among the Third Reich, Italy , and neighboring Nazi allies. All territorial demands by the neighboring countries were honored at the expense of the parts of Yugoslavia inhabited by Serbs. Hitler's formula for imposing hegemony in Yugoslavia was to side with the Croats against the Serbs, Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs, and the Albanians against the Serbs. This formula was essentially replicated by the U.S. led NATO in the 1990s. What remained of Serbia in WWII was placed under Germany rule (see attached map). This small Serbia , known as Nedic's Serbia , resembles the 1878 map of Serbia and again is relevant today.

As soon as Germany was reunified it had started flexing muscles with a decision to assist secessions of Croatia and Slovenia and thus dismembering Yugoslavia in 1991. Tito's administrative borders of Yugoslavia 's six republics became international borders cutting the Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia from the Serbs in Serbia resulting in the civil/religious wars in Croatia and Bosnia . Every ethnicity in Yugoslavia had a right of self-determination other than the Serbs. The Versailles Treaty at the conclusion of WWI was a thorn in the eye not only to Adolf Hitler but also to the re-unified Germany . Former German foreign minister, Hans Dietrich-Genscher, wrote in his memoirs that by the end of the wars in Former Yugoslavia, we Germans have repaired the deeds or consequences of WWI: the foundation of Yugoslavia , Czechoslovakia , and the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Hence, the U.S. Balkan policies, including siding with the Bosnian Muslims, have helped Germany win WWI and partly WWII.

Having successfully dismembered Yugoslavia , NATO (primarily the U.S. and Germany ) decided to start dismembering Serbia by backing the Albanian narco-terrorists in Kosovo, the cradle of the Serbian civilization, the bombing of Serbia and the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state. Dismemberment of Serbia doesn't appear to be over yet. Vojvodina and Sandzak are likely to be next until Serbia is reduced to its 1878 or 1941 size.

Pathetic Serbian Response to Westervelle

The Serbian president Tadic had an opportunity to thank Mr.Westervelle for his efforts, lectures included, and tell him that as far as Serbia is concerned the relevant institution is the UN, its Security Council and its Resolution #1244, which explicitly defines the Kosovo status as that within Serbia with substantial autonomy for Kosovo. In addition, if the EU continues to bully Serbia regarding recognition the faked state of Kosovo, in order to satisfy the western quintet of the U.S., Germany, UK, France and Italy, Serbia would lose interest to join the EU and will look for alternatives like an association with the BRIC countries as I have advocated for some time. The last time in my blog Is President Tadic Serious about the Future of Serbia.

Needless to say Tadic said none of that and instead reiterated that Serbia 's future is in the EU and that Serbia seeks the EU's help to arrange a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. Tadic was elected with the support from Washington and Brussels and continues to play a role of a vassal. `He has no guts to standup for the rights of the Serbian people, and the Kosovo Serbs in particular, like Milorad Dodik does in Republika Srpska. Dodik has successfully opposed creation of centralized Bosnia , attempted to be imposed by so called international community and their viceroys such as Paddy Ashdown. Subsequently, it has been reported that Tadic expressed willingness to recognize Kosovo if three conditions are met: a) Extraterritoriality of Serbian churches and monasteries; b) Special status of the Serbs living south of the Ibar river; and c) Status-quo for the Serbs living in the north. A rumor in Belgrade suggests that the Kosovo handover would take place after the Serbian 2012 elections. While this may be only a trial balloon it is unsettling that it came during the Westervelle visit.

Capitulation by Serbia

Moreover, Tadic yielded to the EU/U.S. pressure to enter into talks with the EU and the U.S. on ways to redefine the Serbian UN Kosovo resolution scheduled for a September 9 debate at the UN General Assembly. The Serbian resolution requested from the UN not to support the secession and to encourage a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina instead. The EU was obviously concerned that the original Serbian resolution might be voted in and demanded that a joint resolution be submitted. Tadic explained that Serbia is ready to discuss changes in the resolution but will never recognize Kosovo. "This is a red line that we will never cross." Subsequently he said that he told Westervelle, Hillary Clinton, Nikolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and others the same thing.

William Hague in Belgrade

The next visitor to Belgrade was the British foreign secretary William Hague. His primary message was that Serbia should withdraw the UN resolution. In view of the fact that that UK almost invariably follows the U.S. policies it could be concluded that he carried the message from Washington as well. The British ambassador to Belgrade , Stephen Wordsworth, threatened with isolation if Serbia continues to ignore the EU and does "what it wants." Furthermore, he stated "The key to fast negotiations for EU association today is in 100% dedication, cooperation and investment, and everyone who is not prepared should not apply for membership."

Historically, the UK was no more than a nominal ally of Serbia in WWI and WWII. Serbia didn't get much help from Britain in WWI. Britain opposed formation of the Salonika front in which six Serbian and two French divisions terminated the war on the Eastern front by defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany and Bulgaria . In WWII, Britain pushed the Serbs to confront the Nazis, provided essentially no military support to General Mihailovic's royalists and in 1943 betrayed them in favor of the communist dictator Tito.

According to Tony Blair's memoirs he was the key to the 1999 NATO 78-day bombing of Serbia . He even advocated the use of ground troops. He goes as far as saying that Kosovo defined his vision of foreign affairs and military interventions in general. He regrets that NATO bombed an Albanian convoy but expressed no regrets for suffering of the Serbian victims. He doesn't even have regrets for contributing to existence of a million Iraqi widows. In Ireland the Republican Sinn Fein representative declared that the "British war criminal is not welcome." "His legacy of invasion, occupation and subjugation reaches from Ireland to Iraq and Afghanistan ." However, Blair and his wife are more than welcome in Tirana and Pristina. 

Hague might have something in common with Westerwelle. He was accused of having "inappropriate" relations with his 25-year old aide Christopher Myers, who had to step down from his post.

ICG Re-Emerges Again

The International Crisis Group (ICG) is back in the business offering recipes for resolving the standoff between Pristina and Belgrade . In its August 26 report it calls on both sides to enter negotiations on normalizing ties and suggested that a swap of North Kosovo for parts of Presevo Valley was a conceivable solution. The Albanians have rejected the suggestion, saying Kosovo's integrity was guaranteed and that "there will be no territory swap." The Serbs responded that the northern Kosovo is already under "de facto and de jure control of the Serbian community, and there is no reason to contemplate any exchanges." Nonetheless, the ICG believes that Belgrade and Pristina are ready to make some kind of a deal.

The ICJ is a globalist New World Order think tank founded by Morton Abramowitz, an influential figure in the Council of Foreign Relations and adviser to leading Serb haters in the Clinton administration —such as Albright and Holbrooke. The ICG has been funded by Soros, among others, and has been championing Albanian separatism for years. Marti Ahtisaari, appointed by the UN Secretary General as his special envoy for Kosovo, was the chairman of the ICG Board. Finnish News Agency published two articles alleging that Ahtisaari was "bought" by the Albanian mafia. Nonetheless this was hushed up and Ahtisaari was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his tireless efforts as a Kosovo mediator.

Redefinition of UN Resolution

Belgrade's Politika suggested that Spain drafted a compromise resolution between those EU members supporting and opposing the Kosovo independence. Tadic went to Brussels for a two-hour session with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, British Baroness Catherine Ashton. The next day the Serbian resolution was redefined and became a joint resolution with the 27 EU countries. As such it was accepted by the UN General Assembly without a vote. Serbia redefined the text calling Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence unacceptable. Instead it acknowledged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling (see my blog ICJ Ruling: Rape of Serbia and International Law). According to Jeremic, the Serbian foreign minister, the redefinition closes the ICJ process before and calls for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina with the EU offering mediation services. The dialogue process represents the factor of peace, security and stability in the region and is aimed at achieving progress on the road to EU membership. Tadic emphasizes that in no way it recognizes the Kosovo secession as it refers to the UN Charter. This certainly is not the Albanian interpretation. The Albanian foreign minister stated that the resolution closes the issue of the Kosovo independence within the existing borders, Albanians welcome negotiations on practical issues but excluding the key status issue.

The process of transferring the Kosovo issue from the UN to the EU is yet another bad development for Serbia in addition to accepting the EULEX mission two years ago despite the Russian advice to the contrary given the position of the western quintet on the independence issue. For Serbia the best outcome of the UN debate would have been that the ICJ ruling didn't address the secession issue and that the case should be returned to the UN Security Council. The Serbian opposition leaders accused the Tadic's administration for selling out the Serbian interests and demand early reactions. Kostunica said that the resolution "has inflicted great evil and shame for Serbia ." Furthermore he stated that the Tadic administration will make history by being the first and the only one doing its best to lose Kosovo. "The government is a silent accomplice in the creation of the independent state of Kosovo."

Conclusion

Germany, in addition to being the EU economic powerhouse, illustrated with expansion of 9% in the 2010 second quarter compared to 1.6% for the U.S, has used its economic muscles to selectively run the EU foreign affairs without the consensus, which used to be the EU's modus operandi. Maybe, the EU has already evolved into the Fourth Reich! Germany co-orchestrated Kosovo's independence. Hence, we are witnessing yet another German triumph with its hegemony imposed in the Balkans again. A strategically important part of the world is about to become a German colony. At the same time we are witnessing the third of the worst Serbian calamities apart from the 1918 entry into Yugoslavia and the 1941 challenge to Nazi Germany. In earlier communications with Jurgen Elsasser, a German author of several books on the Former Yugoslavia, he told me that the German policy is to let the U.S. win wars and for Germany to win peace. He seemed to be right on the mark. Act of bowing to the German/UK threats amounted to act of capitulation of handing over the state and national interests as Vojislav Kostunica has pointed out. Tadic's doctrine of no alternative to joining the EU led to this act of capitulation in violation of the Serbian constitution. Kosovo is all but lost for Serbia unless there is a change of government in Belgrade .

 

 

 

September 10, 2010

Kosovo Serbs crave Russian citizenship

Vremya Novostei

Kosovo Serbs crave Russian citizenship

A new turn is imminent in the situation around Kosovo after Thursday's meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, which clearly showed that Serbia's government is not going to risk a conflict with the West over the territory that unilaterally declared independence in February 2008.

Serbia hopes this policy will help promote its EU bid. However, Kosovo Serbs have accused officials in Belgrade including President Boris Tadic of trying to sacrifice their interests for relations with the West, and threatened to seek out Russia for support.

The Kosovo resolution put up for a vote of the UN General Assembly on Thursday is the result of long and difficult negotiations. Serbia's initial draft included a clause ruling out Kosovo's independence and calling for new negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo. Brussels demanded that Serbia withdraw its draft under threat of freezing the country's EU accession process. Serbia refused to withdraw the resolution, although agreed to soften the requirements.

As a result, the resolution became more relaxed and more open to compromise but at the same time, more vague. A reassessment of Kosovo's independence was entirely removed from the document.

"The Serbian government is aware that the West, that is, the United States and the European Union, is unlikely to make significant concessions on Kosovo or review its decision on the region's independence," Konstantin Nikiforov, director of the Institute of Slavic Studies in Russia, said. In his words, it was clear ten years go that the Western powers were determined to follow through on independence for Kosovo Albanians. Therefore, Serbia and the EU are limited to technicalities at their negotiations, such as international guarantees of certain autonomy for the areas in Kosovo where ethnic Serbs live.

The region's Albanian authorities are not interested in building relations with Serbia either, Nikiforov adds. The 100,000 Serbs living in densely packed communities in the northern areas of Kosovo populated by 2,000,000 are the least fortunate in this situation. They refuse to recognize the new government's jurisdiction and accuse Serbia of lack of support.

President of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo Milan Ivanovic said on Wednesday that the recent moves by Boris Tadic are forcing the Kosovo Serbs to turn to Russia. He warned that they will apply for Russian citizenship for all Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija if the EU-Serbian agreements violate the Kosovo Serbs' rights and are implemented without Russia's approval.

According to Ivanovic, Russia knows how to protect its citizens wherever they live, referring to the August 2008 conflict in the Caucasus that led to the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Moscow.

http://en.rian.ru/papers/20100910/160544886.html

Serbia accepts watered-down U.N. Kosovo resolution

Opinion & analysis

Serbia accepts watered-down U.N. Kosovo resolution

Topic: Kosovo declares independence

 

Kosovo celebrates the Independence Day on 17 February 2010

17:43 10/09/2010

© RIA Novosti. Natalia Grebenyuk

Serbia has finally been persuaded to compromise over Kosovo. On the eve of a vote on the UN General Assembly resolution on Kosovo, Serbia (which had been calling for Kosovo's status to be reconsidered) threw its weight behind the EU initiative. The resolution now goes forward as a joint EU-Serbian initiative.

The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority of the 192-nation assembly on September 9 contains no mention of the illegality of Kosovo's independence, or the fact that Belgrade will never accept it, nor does it call for fresh talks on Kosovo's status.

EU diplomats did a good job editing the document, which in legal terms is considered a letter of intent. Despite Serbia's fierce rebuttal of any such suggestion, the resolution highlights Belgrade's changing position.

The document mentions unresolved problems, takes into consideration the July 2010 ruling of the International Court of Justice that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not contravene international law and also initiates economic dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina under EU auspices.

Now that clauses referring to the illegality of Kosovo's independence have been omitted, several EU countries refusing to recognize Kosovo (Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Slovakia) can now take part in this dialogue. Seventy states have recognized Kosovo to date, while another 60, including Russia and China, refuse to do so. Kosovo is unable to join the UN because, as permanent UN Security Council members, Moscow and Beijing have the right to veto all decisions. All other countries have either delayed recognition of Pristina's independence or have assumed a wait-and-see attitude.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Belgrade would never accept the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence and delayed the General Assembly session by almost three hours.

After spotting the Kosovo delegation in the General Assembly hall, Jeremic demanded that it leave the premises since it is not a member. It took two-and-a-half hours to clarify the delegation's status, and finally its members were listed as "guests" of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the United States.

We can continue to debate whether the Serbian government is doing the right thing, whether it is pro-Western, pro-Slavic, pro-Serbian or a traitor. Setting all emotions aside, the incumbent Serbian president and government simply had no alternative. Both had proclaimed a pro-European policy during their election campaigns, but their stubborn stance on the Kosovo issue prevented them from joining the EU.

Considering Serbia's beleaguered economy, seriously affected by the 1999 NATO air strikes, Belgrade does not have much hope without EU assistance. Serbia's future would be bleak, indeed, unless it opts for the "European alternative." In fact, the country would become a political and economic rogue state among the other former Yugoslav republics which have either joined the EU and NATO or are on the verge of doing so. Serbia has no one to rely on.

The "Kosovo syndrome" is likely to cause a splitting headache on almost every continent but will hardly have any major impact on Old Europe, namely, the United Kingdom, France or Belgium. Although Scottish, Irish, Corsican or Flemish nationalists are quite restless, they remain rational. But the situation in other countries is far more serious. China faces problems in Tibet. India's Punjab region wants to become an independent state of Khalistan. Turkey, Iraq and Iran have to deal with Kurdish separatists. Indonesia also had to quell separatism in East Timor, while Sri Lanka fought a protracted war against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).

There are more countries suffering from long-neglected problems of separatism than is desirable. Cambridge University estimates their number at over 100.

Russia has done everything possible to resolve the Kosovo conflict in line with international law. Whether this objective could have been accomplished against concerted opposition is another matter. Most likely, it would have been impossible. At the same time, Moscow has received a hard-earned trump card, namely the "Kosovo precedent," which it can use in any game, whatever the circumstances and against any partner. Although Russia has lost Serbia to Europe, there is nothing else one can do when principles must be upheld.

RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20100910/160549247.html

Pastor Terry Jones......and Yugoslavia (VIDEO)


Perhaps it is not my place, but I must give you my opinion on the video made by Pastor Terry Jones, at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39062971#39062971

 

Or  D/L… http://www.4shared.com/video/b2NMtCE_/msnbc_video-_Pastor_wont_back_.html

 

 

As you all know by now, the Pastor has cancelled the burning of the Koran: 

 

If what Pastor Terry Jones said about Yugoslavia (he definitely knew about the churches being blown up) and what was passed on to him by phone by a former Green Beret Special Force member, all Serbian organizations, and I do mean all, should contact Pastor Jones (and if necessary, subpoena him) and demand that he reveal the name of the former Green Beret so that there is an investigation into what is undoubtedly one of the worst atrocities committed against the Serbian people by Muslim forces ever perpetrated.  

 

And again, this is just my opinion, but this should not be laid to rest.

 

Stella

 

September 08, 2010

Serbia, the EU and Kosovo: time to swallow frogs

Serbia, the EU and Kosovo: time to swallow frogs

ZELJKO PANTELIC

08.09.2010 @ 12:26 CET

Zoran Djindjic, the charismatic Serbian prime minister assassinated in 2003, liked to quote the American Indian proverb: "If you have to swallow a frog don't look at it too much, just swallow. And if you have to swallow a few frogs, swallow the biggest one first." Time has proven Mr Djindjic right, and he was probably Serbia's only top politician who dared confront the problems that others tried to avoid.

Tadic had dinner with Ashton on Tuesday, with talks on the UN resolution continuing on Wednesday (Photo: European Commission)

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For years, Serbia's political leadership ducked the Kosovo question and the evolving reality around it. Instead, they hid behind international law and the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty. In the meantime, Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and the International Court of Justice said that the declaration did not violate international law.

The time to swallow some frogs has come. Belgrade is ready to accept the EU as the key actor orchestrating dialogue with Kosovo. And it is ready to accept EU corrections of Serbia's proposal for a UN General Assembly resolution on Kosovo.

According to EU proposals, the Kosovo dialogue should deal with "non-resolved issues" - a clever diplomatic formula accomodating countries that have recognised Kosovo and consider the issue "resolved" as well as the five EU governments which have so far refused to recognise it.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, in a statement issued late on Wednesday, announced both sides had reached agreement on a joint draft resolution to be put before the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

"This draft resolution will now be a resolution put forward by 28 European countries. All 27 EU member states and Serbia will be co-sponsoring this draft resolution", she said.

Following months of deteriorating relationship with major EU players and strong language on Kosovo, Belgrade has decided to change tack.

Ivan Vejvoda, the executive director of the German Marshal Fund's Balkan Trust for Democracy, has called it a return of Mr Tadic's former political strategies.

"In the last months, we have witnessed Serbia's position moving to a more pragmatic approach. A return to the position that European integration is Serbia's first priority. It has become clear that the politics of confrontation with the EU and the most influential Western countries are harmful for Serbia, for the region and in the long run also for the EU," Mr Vejvoda, who has good connections with the Serbian leadership, said.

Newspapers close to the government have also begun quoting government sources as saying it would be harmful for Serbia to enter into open confrontation with the EU on Kosovo.

"Different factors have influenced Serbia's new approach in the communication with the EU and its most important countries," Mr Vejvoda added. "Of course the most important is the world financial crisis which showed how strongly the Serbian economy is linked to developments in the EU. The second reason is that Belgrade understood that the best way to defend its own interests and those of Kosovo Serbs is to be co-operative with the EU and open a dialogue about the so-called non resolved issues. Also, Serbian public opinion has changed in the last two years, and Serbian citizens understand better the Kosovo problem. Public remarks by Tomislav Nikolic [the leader of Serbia's biggest opposition party, the SNS] have relaxed the atmosphere and showed that all key players are perfectly aware that the Kosovo issue could be resolved only peacefully."

An senior EU diplomat told WAZ.EUobserver that President Tadic realised three years ago that elections in Serbia cannot be won by simply defending Kosovo but that, at the same time, they may well be lost by underestimating the Kosovo question. "That is why he used the winning slogan 'Kosovo and Europe'," The diplomat said.

"Apparently, President Tadic understood in the last months that for his government the very bad social and economic situation is more dangerous than the Kosovo problem. The living standard of Serbian citizens can only be improved if new investments come to Serbia - and almost all potential investors come from countries recognising Kosovo. So the political confrontation with those countries leads not just to political but also to serious economic consequences."

http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30756

Belgrade Scraps UN Resolution on Kosovo

Belgrade Scraps UN Resolution on Kosovo

| 08 September 2010 |
 

 

Tadic and Ashton at a meeting in Brussels

 

Serbia's controversial draft resolution on Kosovo has been dropped, a day before it was due to be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.

President Boris Tadic announced that an amended resolution agreed by Brussels and Belgrade, which does not condemn Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence or call for negotiations on status, would be submitted on Thursday.

The compromise settlement on Wednesday night came after two days of intense negotiations between Tadic and EU high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton.

The resolution follows the International Court of Justice's advice on 22 July that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not violate international law.

The original Serbian resolution stated that unilateral secession was not an acceptable means to solve territorial disputes and called for dialogue on "all open issues", a formulation which was widely condemned by international backers of Kosovo's independence, including the US and Britain.

In a statement, Tadic said: "We have supported talks to come up with a solution for Kosovo and Metohija since 2005 and we are carrying on today."

Tadic added that agreement had come about through negotiations with the five EU members which do not recognise Kosovo – Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain – as well as other states which support Kosovo's independence.

He said that the joint EU-Serbia resolution would 'enable a dialogue for resolving the Kosovo issue'.

The resolution, he added, does not include recognition of Kosovo's independence "in any way".

Opposition parties in Serbia were quick to label the decision "a defeat for the Serbian people".

Slobodan Samardzic, vice president of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, claimed that by accepting the changes, Tadic and the government had committed an "act of capitulation under the ultimatums of the West".

"With this resolution Serbia at the UN General Assembly will  defeat itself and the Serbian people," Samardzic told local news agency Beta.

 

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/30429/

September 05, 2010

Croatia 'attacked Serbs in land grab'

Croatia 'attacked Serbs in land grab'

Mike Corder

August 30, 2010

AP

Croatian forces shelled civilians and torched their homes in a deliberate effort to expel tens of thousands of Serbs during a lightning 1995 campaign to seize back land occupied early in the Balkan wars, UN war crimes prosecutors say.

The ethnic cleansing allegations were made as prosecution lawyers at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal summed up their case against General Ante Gotovina, who commanded the blitz known as Operation Storm, and two other Croatian generals.

The case is unusual because prosecutors insist the generals are guilty despite having issued orders to troops not to commit crimes. They say the generals never intended the orders to be followed.

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The 1995 offensive is still a source of friction between Croatia and Serbia. Zagreb celebrates it with a national holiday, while Belgrade regards it as one of the worst crimes against Serbs committed during the Balkan wars.

Marking the 15th anniversary of Operation Storm in early August, Serbian President Boris Tadic called it a "crime which shouldn't be forgotten".

His Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic responded saying it was "above all, the crown of the justified liberation war".

Prosecutors claim 324 Serbs were killed, including elderly and disabled villagers - many "executed" with gunshots to the head.

Monday's hearing was being broadcast on Croatian state television but raised little interest in Serbia. Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak have pleaded innocent and are regarded as heroes in their homeland.

Prosecutors have demanded sentences of 27 years for Gotovina, 23 years for Markac and 17 years for Cermak. Their trial began in March 2008 and heard from 145 witnesses. Verdicts are expected later this year.

The tribunal has in other cases convicted several senior officers for issuing orders to their men to commit atrocities, or for failing to punish subordinates who violated international law.

In this case, however, the prosecution acknowledges Croatian troops repeatedly were warned against committing crimes, but it claims those orders were never meant to be followed.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger told the three-judge panel it was "patently absurd that there was any genuine intent to implement them". Instead, he said, the orders were intended to fool the international community into believing Zagreb was acting to prevent crimes and to distance the Croat government and military from atrocities.

Tieger quoted testimony from the former US ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, who told judges Operation Storm included "serious and systematic crimes for which the Croatian leadership is fully responsible".

Prosecutor Ed Russo said Croatia used a campaign of indiscriminate shelling to spark terror among the Serb population and followed it with "psychological operations" including dropping leaflets advising Serbs how to flee the region. Once the Serbs were gone, Zagreb began an operation to repopulate the region with Croats.

Russo said testimony from survivors showed Serbs "fled to escape the widespread and unlawful artillery attack on their towns and villages".

Defence lawyers said the shelling was aimed at legitimate military targets and orders for troops not to commit crimes were genuine attempts to prevent attacks on civilians. Gotovina's lawyer, Luka Misetic, said the Serb exodus was planned by Croatian Serb leaders.

© 2010 AP

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http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/croatia-attacked-serbs-in-land-grab-20100830-147jg.html

Serbia favours dialogue, but not with Kosovo as country

Serbia favours dialogue, but not with Kosovo as country

05. September 2010. | 07:05

Source: Emg.rs, Tanjug

Serbian President Boris Tadic said Friday that a lasting solution for Kosovo could be found only through dialogue, but that Serbia, respectful as it is of the rights of ethnic Albanians, could not talk with representatives of the so called Republic of Kosovo.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said Friday that a lasting solution for Kosovo could be found only through dialogue, but that Serbia, respectful as it is of the rights of ethnic Albanians, could not talk with representatives of the so called Republic of Kosovo.

"Serbia wants to settle the Kosovo issue together with its European partners," Tadic said after meeting with Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor, adding that he was there to defend Serbia's legitimate interest, but while keeping in mind Serbia's and Kosovo Albanians' European future.

According to Tadic, Serbia has no intention of obstructing the search for a solution to the Kosovo problem, but instead wishes settle that historical conflict in the Western Balkans, because it realizes it cannot bring a new conflict into the EU.

"A lasting peace can be achieved only by offering a European future to each of the Western Balkan nations. Only a lasting peace and a peaceful policy can provide a good future for each family and economy in this region," Tadic noted.

However, there are some red lines Serbia will not cross, just like the EU, Tadic remarked, adding he hoped Serbia's proposed UN resolution on Kosovo, which should be harmonized with the EU stand, would protect the country's legitimate interest, as well as define a joint view by the EU.

"All those who think this is another moment for Serbia to be defeated and humiliated are wrong. That is a very destructive attitude at a complex moment in history. A solution is possible through a constructive dialogue, by acknowledging the rights of each country and people," Tadic stated.

The Serbian president hopes to find a compromise concerning the resolution on Kosovo with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. The document will be discussed by the UN General Assembly on September 9.

"A dialogue would open the door to EU membership for everyone, but it would also help EU members find their European and security interest in the Western Balkans," Tadic explained.

The solution to the Kosovo problem and other open issues in the region should be sought with plenty of patience, one step at a time, and by preserving peace and stability, said Pahor.

Belgrade and Pristina can establish a dialogue that would settle any unresolved issues, and if Slovenia can help with that, it will do so willingly, Pahor stated.

It is in the interest of Serbia and the international community to make the resolution acceptable for both Serbia and the EU, the prime minister asserted.

http://www.emg.rs/en/news/serbia/131801.html

September 04, 2010

Re: Dark Fantasy, Aleksandar Hemon | James Bissett

 Hemon arrived in the US just in time to avoid the bangbang in 1992. He claims he had only "tourists' English". Rubbish. I've listened to him in person (fly on the wall).

 He wrote that he saw the May 1992 Bread Q massacre -- on US TV.

He speaks of "my language, Bosnian". His easy access to the media and his receipt of a MacArthur "Genius Award" of hundr4eds of thousands of dollars should raise suspicions.

He wrote in the New Yorker Magazine that Nikola Koljevic shot himself in the head
-- twice.

jpm

 

Why general public in Canada and USA is grossly misinformed about the Serbs etc.

On August 6, 2008 full page  defamatory, slanderous article appeared in  the newspaper The National Post entitled "Dark Fantasy" by Aleksandar Hemon about Radovan Karadzic. Among many blatantly false and obviously slanderous accusations that Harmon throws at Karadzic is that Karadzic  planned to exterminate all the Muslims of Bosnia and that inspiration for this genocidal plan was gained from Petar Njegos's epic poem "The Mountain Wreath". On August 8, 2008 a short letter by James Bissett criticizing Hemon's article appeared in The National Post. What is noteworthy about this episode is that it practically describes and summarizes deceitful methods of our news media when reporting about the Serbs during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and which are still used today to defame and to demonize only one side in these Yugoslav conflicts, namely: the Serbs. For anyone who wants to avail himself/herself of the truth of my assertion above about western newsmedia's biased and deceitful reporting in regards to the Serbs,  I highly recommend Peter Brock's book, Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting, Journalism and Tragedy in Yugoslavia and book Travesty: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic and the Corruption of International Justice by John Laughland. Objective and truthful information about these Yugoslav conflicts indeed exists but it is virtually as hard to find as a needle in a haystack, as it is overwhelmed and buried in an avalanche of false, defamatory and demonizing anti-Serb articles and reports. How can any honest person who is interested in knowing the truth, who depends largely on this same  biased mainstream newsmedia  claim to be  fully informed and knowledgeable about  the Serbs, Radovan Karadzic,  or any other aspect  about the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s?  Most people in our general population probably didn't even know where Bosnia was located on the globe in the first place and had virtually no objective historical or current information about this region of the world in order to be able to recognize outright falsehood when it was constantly being pitched at them by majority of our shoddy, corrupt and biased anti-Serb western journalists. Most members of our general public are still unaware and blissfully ignorant that they were sold a "bill of goods" about the Serbs  and still hold negative and biased opinions about the Serbs as a result.

* * * *

The Serbs Were Also Victims

National Post
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008

Re: Dark Fantasy, Aleksandar Hemon, August 6.

It is curious that the Post would print an article by the former Bosnian fiction writer Aleksander Hemon, suggesting that Radovan Karadzic was inspired to genocide by the epic Montenegro poet Vladika Danilo's poem The Mountain Wreath on the same day that Bosnian Serbs discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of Serbs killed by joint Muslim and Croat forces during the civil war.

The Western media has never wanted to accept that Serbs were also victims, since the war has been interpreted as a morality play of „good vs. evil," rather than what it really was -- a vicious civil war with religious overtones. However, the Research and Documentation Centre in Sarajevo has found that roughly 100,000 people were killed during the fighting in Bosnia -- 60,000 Muslims, 31,000 Serbs and 12,000 Croats. The numbers represent approximately the percentage of the three religious groupings among the greater population. The total casualties after four years of war are terrible in themselves but hardly can be described as a genocide, especially one inspired by a poem written in 1847.

James Bissett, Ottawa.


* * * *

Danas je u Torontskom National Postu objavljen clanak Aleksandra Hemona (toboznjeg Srbina po majci i pisca, poreklom iz Sarajeva koji živi u Cikagu) o tome kako su ratna zlodela Radovana Karadjica ispirisana tradicijom u srpskoj literaturi i umetnosti. Clanak je dobio prostor čitave jedne stranice sa slikom Petra Petrovica Njegosa (u boji)u sredini. Isti clanak je prethodno objavljen u New York Times-u. Pisac Aleksandar veoma prefinjenim jezikom (engleskim , naravno) objašnjava kanadskom citaocu kako je ekstremni nacionalizam ugraviran u dusu jednog tipicnog Srbina. Istorijski, već je Vladika Danilo imao fiks ideju o potrebi istrebljivanja Muslimana, pa tako prosecni Srbin , nazalost arhetipski nasledjuje ovu predrasudu. Samo je mali broj prosvecenih, kao sto je gospodin Homen recimo, izbegao ovu zamku i zadrzao je objektivnost u procenjivanju ko je dobar i ko je los. Pa i sire.
Odavno ne pišem u novine. Odavno sam shvatio da su ovdasnje novine sredstvo. Sredstvo da se stekne prednost u sticanju imovine, sredstvo da se plasiraju laži i poluistine da bi se dobilo ono što se hoće.
Danas sam osetio bes i zelju da ipak napisem, da se pobunim, da objasnim da je Radovan Karadjic možda kriv za nešto ali da se krivice moraju posmatrati u kontekstu gradjanskog rata, da je Haski tuzilac placen za pristrasnost i da su Srbi u dusi, iako ne prefinjeni, onda veoma, veoma tolerantni ljudi. Da to mogu, iz licnog iskustva da potvrdim jer sam, kao stranac, niz godina u Srbiji živeo.
Onda sam se otreznio. Moje pismo, naravno ne bi bilo objavljeno.
Imam nekoliko drugova u Srbiji koji misle isto kao Aleksandar Hemon.
Veoma ih postujem i cenim. Oni ništa, sem prepirke sa drustvom za svoje mišljenje ne dobijaju. Ne sticu privilegiju da budu publikovani, objavljivani i da o njima piše The New Yorker.
Prema profinjenosti jezika da se zakljuciti da je gospodin Aleksandar pametan covek. Zato moja poruka glasi :
Sram vas bio, Aleksandre !

P.S : Aleksandar Hemon predstavljen je u casopisu „ Mi Magazin" koji je u Torontu distribuisan kao casopis Srpske diaspore kao jedan od raseljenih Srba koji su svojim talentom i zalaganjem uspeli da postanu cenjeni i objavljivani pisci u Americi.

http://www.bhraja.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2350

Aleksandar Hemon : Genocide's Epic Hero

Ponedjeljak, 28 Juli 2008

ON Oct. 14, 1991, Radovan Karadzic spoke at a session of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Parliament, which had been debating a referendum on independence from the rump Yugoslavia. Mr. Karadzic was there to warn the Parliament members against following the Slovenes and Croats, who had broken away earlier that year, down "the highway of hell and suffering."

Autor: Aleksandar Hemon za The New York Times.

He thundered, "Do not think you will not lead Bosnia and Herzegovina into hell and the Muslim people into possible annihilation, as the Muslim people cannot defend themselves in case of war here." Throughout his tirade, he clutched the lectern edges, as though about to hurl it at his audience, but then let go of it to stab the air with his forefinger at the word "annihilation." The Bosnian president, Alija Izetbegovic, a Muslim, was visibly distressed.

It was a spectacular, if blood-curdling, performance. Mr. Karadzic, who was arrested last week after 13 years in hiding, was then president of the hard-line nationalist Serbian Democratic Party, which already controlled the parts of Bosnia that had a Serbian majority, but he was not a member of the Parliament, nor did he hold any elective office. His very presence rendered the Parliament weak and unimportant; backed by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army, he spoke from the position of unimpeachable power over the life and death of the people the Parliament represented.

Watching the news broadcast covering the session, neither my parents nor I could initially comprehend what he meant by "annihilation." For a moment or two we groped for a milder, less terrifying interpretation — perhaps he meant "historical irrelevance"? For what he was saying was well outside the scope of our middling imagination, well beyond the habits of normalcy we desperately clung to as war loomed over our irrelevant lives.

Then I understood that he was wagging the stick of genocide at the Bosnian Muslims, while the unappetizing carrot was their bare survival. "Don't make me do it," he was essentially saying. "I will be at home in the hell I create for you."

The Parliament eventually decided a referendum was the way to go. It took place in February 1992; the Serbs boycotted it while the majority of Bosnians voted for independence. In March, there were barricades on the streets of Sarajevo and shooting in the mountains surrounding it. In April, Mr. Karadzic's snipers aimed at a peaceful antiwar demonstration in front of the Parliament building, and two women were killed. On May 2, Sarajevo was cut off from the world and the longest siege in modern history began. By the end of the summer, nearly every front page in the world had published a picture from a Serbian death camp. And so it would go for far too long.

There is little doubt, of course, that Mr. Karadzic would have happily sped down the hell-and-suffering highway regardless of the outcome of the parliamentary session. The annihilation machine was already revving, everything had already been put in place for genocide, whose purpose was not only the destruction and displacement of Bosnian Muslims but also the irreversible unification of the Serbs and their ethnically pure lands into a Greater Serbia. I wondered later why he staged that performance before the Parliament, since peace and coexistence were never a possibility for him. Why did he bother?

The point of that performance, I eventually concluded, was the performance itself. Unbeknownst to most of us interested in peaceful coexistence, the war in Bosnia had already started and Mr. Karadzic was already cast in the role he would perform throughout the war, up until his 1996 ouster from the Serbian political leadership and his subsequent new life on the run. His performance was far less for the beleaguered Bosnian Parliament than for the patriotic Serbs watching the broadcast, ready to embark upon an epic project that would require sacrifice, murder and ethnic cleansing.

Mr. Karadzic was showing to his people that he was a tough and determined leader, yet neither unwise nor unreasonable. He was indicating that war would not be a rash decision on his part, while he was capable of recognizing the inevitable necessity of genocide. If there was a job to be done, he was going to do it unflinchingly and ruthlessly. He was the leader who was going to lead them through the hell of murder to the land where honor and salvation awaited.

The model for Mr. Karadzic's role as leader was provided by Petar Petrovic Njegos's epic poem "The Mountain Wreath" ("Gorski vijenac"). Published in 1847, it is deeply embedded in the tradition of Serbian epic poetry and is a foundational text of Serbian cultural nationalism. Set at the end of the 17th century, its central character is Vladika Danilo, the bishop and the sovereign of Montenegro, the only Serbian territory unconquered at the time by the powerful and all-encroaching Ottoman Empire. Vladika Danilo has a problem: some Montenegrin Serbs have converted to Islam. For him, they are the fifth column of the Turks, a people who could never be trusted, a permanent threat to the freedom and sovereignty of the Serbs.

He summons a council to help him determine the solution. He listens to the advice of his bloodthirsty warriors: "Without suffering no song is sung," one of them says. "Without suffering no saber is forged." He listens to a delegation of Muslims pleading for peace and coexistence, who are instead offered the chance to save their heads by converting back to "the faith of their forefathers." He speaks of freedom and the difficult decisions it requires: "The wolf is entitled to a sheep/Much like a tyrant to a feeble man./But to stomp the neck of tyranny/To lead it to the righteous knowledge/ That is man's most sacred duty."

In the lines familiar to nearly every Serbian child and adult, Vladika Danilo recognizes that the total, ruthless extermination of the Muslims is the only way: "Let there be endless struggle," he says. "Let there be what cannot be." He will lead his people through the hell of murder and onward to honor and salvation: "On the grave flowers will grow/ For a distant future generation."

Mr. Karadzic was intimately familiar with Serbian epic poetry. A skillful player of the gusle, a single-string fiddle traditionally accompanying the oral performance of epic poems, he clearly understood his role in the light cast by Vladika Danilo. He recognized himself in the martyrdom of leadership; he believed that he was the one to finish the job that Vladika Danilo started; he saw himself as the hero in an epic poem that would be sung by a distant future generation.

Indeed, while in hiding in Belgrade in recent years, Mr. Karadzic frequented a bar where there were weekly gusle-accompanied performances of Serbian epic poetry, where wartime pictures of him and Gen. Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' military leader, proudly hung on the wall. A Belgrade newspaper claimed that on at least one occasion Mr. Karadzic, undercover as a New Age charlatan, recited an epic poem in which he himself featured as the main hero, performing epic feats of extermination.

The tragic, heartbreaking irony of it all is that Mr. Karadzic played out his historical role in less than 10 years. In the flash of his infernal pan hundreds of thousands died, millions were displaced, untold numbers paid in unspeakable pain for his induction into the pantheon of Serbian epic poetry.

Before he became the leader of Bosnian Serbs and after he was forced out by his supporter and fellow nationalist, President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, in the wake of the Dayton peace accord, Mr. Karadzic was a prosaic nobody. A mediocre psychiatrist, a minor poet and a petty embezzler before the war, at the time of his arrest he was a grotesque mountebank. It was only during the war, on a blood-soaked stage, that he could fully develop his inhuman potential. His true and only home was the hell he created for others.

Which is why, after the initial exhilaration, many Bosnians find Mr. Karadzic's arrest less satisfying than one would expect. Though he might spend the rest of his life in the comfortable dungeons of the Western European prison system, he will live eternally in the verses of decasyllabic meter written by those for whom the demolition of Bosnia was but material for the grand epic poetry of Serbhood.

Bosnians know he should have been booed and run off the stage at the peak of his performance. He should have been seen for what he really was: a thuggish puppet whose head was bloated with delusions of grandeur. He should have let us live outside his epic fantasies. Justice is good, but a peaceful life would have been much better.

 

September 02, 2010

Serbian FM on the future of Kosovo

Serbian FM on the future of Kosovo

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Should the United Nations recognise the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo or will this encourage other disputed regions to breakaway too?

Serbia, which insists Kosovo remain part of its territory, suffered a setback after the International Court of Justice deemed that Kosovo's declaration did not violate international law.

Vuk Jeremic is Serbia's foreign minister - he believes the issue of Kosovo sets a dangerous precedent for the world. Is he right?

You can watch the full interview on Wednesday 1st September 2010 on BBC World News at 0330, 0830, 1530, 2030 GMT and on the BBC News Channel at 0230, 0430 and 2330 BST.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8960296.stm

August 28, 2010

Westerwelle’s Big Adventure

Westerwelle's Big Adventure

German FM Does the Balkans

by Nebojsa Malic, August 28, 2010

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is touring the Balkans this week, visiting Zagreb, Belgrade, Pristina and Sarajevo. It is the newest mission in pursuit of an old agenda: the surrender of Serbia, an independent state of Kosovo, and a centralized Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The only surprise so far has been Westerwelle's message to Croatia — Germany's principal Balkans client since 1991 — that its admission to the EU may not be as quick as Zagreb had hoped. While reassuring his hosts that "nothing has changed," the German FM also said there was "a lot of work ahead" before Croatia would qualify to be annexed by Brussels, and that "thoroughness is more important than speed."

On Thursday, Westerwelle traveled on to Belgrade, where he tried to persuade the ruling regime to give up Serbia's sovereignty for the mere promise of EU membership. Yet even the sycophant, quisling government set up in Belgrade by EU and Imperial ambassadors in July 2008, seemed strangely reluctant to fawn over Westerwelle's words.

Disobedient Quislings

The tone of Westerwelle's visit to Belgrade was not so much imperious as petulant. Germany and the EU have hardly tried to disguise annoyance with their clients in Serbia, who have so far refused to do as told and officially concede that the Serbian province occupied by NATO in 1999 is now the "Independent state of Kosovo." (ISK)

Earlier this year, the governments of U.S., UK, Germany, France and Italy even sent a most un-diplomatic note to Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, expressing their frustration and disappointment that the "aggressive rhetoric" from Serbia wasn't merely a ploy for domestic consumption to "remove Kosovo from the political agenda," as their "partners in Belgrade" assured them.

While the Tadic regime hasn't gone beyond words in defending Kosovo — and has done much to surrender the province in practice — even that had become unacceptable to the Empire and the EU. Only unconditional submission would do.

Though Belgrade's appeal to international law failed in late July, the tortured verdict by the International Court of Justice has created far more trouble for the Empire than for Serbia. Furthermore, new recognitions for the ISK have failed to materialize. Instead of just surrendering as expected, Tadic and his people proposed a new UN resolution, calling for new negotiations. Even though the proposal has little chance of passing in the General Assembly, the very fact that it was made has "has rankled many Western UN members, who see Belgrade's fixation on Kosovo as a tiresome impediment to progress in the Balkans," reports Radio Free Europe, adding that Westerwelle is expected to demand the resolution's gutting, if not outright withdrawal.

RFE also quotes what Westerwelle's spokesman Stephan Bredohl told Deutsche Welle: "Germany has accepted [Kosovo's] independence, and it's very important for us that if Serbia wants to join the European Union, it needs to be constructive and toe the EU's line."

Facts and Fantasy

No doubt that Berlin — and Washington — consider it of great importance for Belgrade to "toe the line" and do what it's told. But the notion that Serbia would be rewarded for surrendering Kosovo with a promise of EU membership was already outlandish back in 2008. Now that Germany has explicitly ruled out any further EU expansion anytime soon (after the annexation of Croatia, that is), the notion of Serbia joining the EU in this decade is at best an exercise in wishful thinking. Nor is it easy any more to promote the myth of "pre-accession funds" rolling in, what with the financial crisis undermining the Euro.

In return for the promise of a fantasy, Westerwelle expects Serbia to accept the "reality" imposed by the EU. As he put it in a speech at the University of Belgrade, "The independence of Kosovo is a reality… Reconciliation is only possible when one grasps the reality." (Deutsche Welle) In another statement, quoted by Reuters, he asserted, "The map of southeastern Europe has been laid down and completed."

So, "reality" is whatever ends up being established at gunpoint, as a result of pure willpower. Where have we heard this before?

Westerwelle also tried to persuade Belgrade to drop the UN resolution proposal. "When someone in Europe wants to solve something including conflicts […] the road should first lead to Brussels, not to New York," he said. (DW)

Brussels is the capital of the EU, and while that may entitle it to assert authority over EU member countries (itself a dubious claim), what sort of authority can it claim, and on what basis, over countries and territories in no way, shape, or form associated with the EU Leviathan? If Serbia were an EU member, and Brussels decided to bully it into giving independence to Kosovo, Westerwelle might have a point. But this sort of arrogance of power argues precisely against EU membership. What is to stop Brussels from deciding tomorrow that "reality" involved an independent Catalunya or Basque, or a revision of the Treaty of Trianon?

No wonder, then, that the Serbian president is playing stupid, and the official statement about the meeting with Westerwelle says only that the two "agreed in Belgrade that Serbia's future lies with the EU and that for Serbia, Germany is one of the major political and economic partners." Tadic even "told the German minister that Serbia counts on the EU support for the solution of the Kosovo issue…"

Support? What support?!

Dumb and Dumber

Something does not add up. The obsession of Germany, the EU and the Empire with the "independent state of Kosovo" and bringing Serbia to heel can actually be explained with conspiracy facts (as opposed to theories). What is truly puzzling here is the behavior of the Belgrade government.

Boris Tadic has established his credentials as a spineless sycophant years ago. The only thing doubtful about his loyalty is if he whether it lies more with himself, or the Empire; to Serbia, there isn't any. Tadic personally scuttled the government's plan to resist the seizure of Kosovo by breaking up the coalition and calling for new elections. The Albanians in Kosovo went ahead with their February 2008 "declaration of independence" only after Tadic was re-elected president of Serbia.

Similarly, for all his patriotic rhetoric, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is loyal to Tadic, who was his schoolteacher before becoming his political patron. In April 2007, Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer told Reuters that he was "working with Boris Tadic and his people to find a way to implement the essence of the Ahtisaari plan" — a proposal by an Imperial envoy to give Kosovo "supervised independence" that was ultimately rejected by the UN. Jeremic was one of the people implicated in these secret talks.

The Empire has spelled out the promises its "partners in Belgrade" have made. So why have they not delivered yet? Tadic currently has complete dominance over the politics, media and civil society in Serbia, not seen since the late Communist leader Tito. It doesn't matter that Tadic is nowhere near as popular; the people have no way to express their dissent save by taking to the streets en masse. All other avenues are controlled by people loyal to either Tadic, or directly to the Empire. By all rights, Tadic should not care what the people want. Yet he still refuses to surrender. Why?

Could it be that he is afraid? Afraid of a theoretical popular revolt that would sweep away the house of cards laboriously constructed ever since the Empire-sponsored coup in October 2000, and possibly even cost Tadic and his associates their heads? Serbia and Georgia are the only two Empire-engineered "revolutions" that haven't been rolled back yet.

There is the theoretical possibility that Tadic is just playing dumb and feigning patriotism, while the Empire is playing dumber and feigning annoyance, so as to preclude any resistance from arising until it is too late. But this would require a far greater degree of subtlety that either can be credited with.

Read more by Nebojsa Malic

http://original.antiwar.com/malic/2010/08/27/westerwelles-big-adventure/