Nato

12. An increasingly authoritarian WestLook at the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of variousinfluential Western dailies, watch debates on television,listen to new questions being asked by journalists. SurfInternet, read list servers, websites and discussion groupsand one thing is abundantly clear: ordinary citizensthroughout the West are increasingly skeptical. They see theever widening gap between NATO and State Department news andother news. Many feel that bombing innocent civilians isjust not right; common sense also tells that this is not theway to create trust between Albanians and Serbs – or forthat matter between any conflicting parties. It allmilitates against all we know about human psychology. The longer it takes, the more likely the momentum of thatpublic protest. NATO country citizens will begin to ask: ifa mistake like this could be made in this important field,are other mistakes also lurking in, say, globalization, inthe more or less forced democratization, in the zeal withwhich Western...

“We are told there the West knew already last autumnthat President Milosevic had a plan to ethnically cleanseall Albanians from the Kosovo province. However, while it istrue that Yugoslav forces have exploited NATO’s bombingcampaign to drive out Albanians in a way and to an extentthat must be morally condemned, the unproved allegation thatthere existed a plan tells more about NATO than aboutPresident Milosevic – and what it tells is not to theadvantage of the former,” says TFF director JanOberg.  “The disgusting expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo can’tbe defended. The Yugoslav authorities who carries it out orlets individuals do it, can not defend such human rightsviolations with reference to NATO’ bombing. Sure, Serbs willsee NATO’s destruction of Yugoslavia as work commissioned byKosovo-Albanians/UCK, but it is anyhow up to Yugoslavia tofight NATO, not to take revenge against those who areinnocent civilians.  Having said that, NATO and the West can not be trustedwhen...

There cannot be security and stability in the world without Russia New York Times 20 April 1999  By Jack F. Matlock NATO intensifies its bombing of Serbia to the cheers of a fair portion of the Western political and intellectual elite. The bombing has rallied Serbs behind their dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, who is using the air strikes as a cover and pretext for mass expulsions, massacres and hostage taking. As NATO bombing continues, outrages against the Kosovars seem certain to continue. The weapons used against the Kosovars are not easily countered from the air. The air war is clearly making things worse on the ground – much worse, infact, so pressures build to use ground troops. If they had been available for intervention from the start of the bombing, they might well have served both as a deterrent to Mr. Milosevic and as real protection for the Kosovars if that...

According to the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs,around 300 civilians have been killed between March 24 whenNATO’s bombing campaign started and April 13. These civiliancasualties are related to places such as Aleksinac,Pristina, Kursumlija and Grdelica Gorge. Two days ago arefugee convoy was hit, killing some 60 Albanians. Thus, dueto NATO’s mistakes about 350 civilians have been killed in24 days. That is an average of 15 per day. The war between various Yugoslav/Serb forces on theone hand and the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK or KLA) brokeout in February 1998. Thus there were 13 months of warfarein Kosovo, or 395 days. The international communityestimates that 2.000 – soldiers and civilians – were killed.That is an average of 5 per day.  About 250.000 people were estimated to have fled theirhomes during the 13 months of war, but remainedpredominantly within Kosovo and Montenegro. That is anaverage of 632 per day. Since NATO began bombing,...

“Western leaders are busy re-writing history tojustify their Balkan bombing blunder. The change ininformation, rhetoric and explanations since the bombingsstarted on March 24 is literally mind-boggling. Most likelythey fear they have opened a very dark chapter in historyand may be losing the plot. One way to make failure looklike success is to construct a powerful media reality andde-construct real reality. That’s the essence of mediawarfare and that’s what happens now,” says TFF director JanOberg. “For instance, you must have noticed that the The KosovoLiberation Army, KLA or UCK, which existed some weeks agoand allegedly participated in Rambouillet now suddenly neverexisted. The 13-months war in Kosovo/a also conveniently hasbeen expurgated. The last few days President Clinton, prime ministerBlair, NATO General Wesley Clark, foreign secretary Cook,foreign minister Fischer, secretary Albright, defenceminister Robertson and other Western leaders have explainedto the world why NATO bombs Yugoslavia. They made NO MENTIONof KLA or the war....

Zapadni lideri uzurbano prepravljaju istoriju da bimogli da opravdaju svoju balkansku bombardersku brljotinu.Retorika, objasnjenja i informacije koje nam daju od 24.marta kad je potpocelo bombardovanje, toliko su se promenilida to jednostavno zbunjuje. Najverovatnije su se vecuplasili da su ovim otvorili mracno poglavlje nove istorijei da im zaplet lagano izmice iz ruku. Jedan od nacina kakoda svoj promasaj prikazu kao uspeh bio bi da izgrade do temere ubedljivu medijsku realnost kojom bi se onda razgradilii zamenili pravu realnost. Bas to i jeste sustina medijskograta i upravo to se sada dogadja” kaze Jan Oberg, direktorTFF-a. “Jedan primer – mora da ste primetili kako OVK, ili akohocete KLA ili UCK, koja je do pre nekoliko nedeljapostojala i cak navodno ucestvovala u Rambujeu sada odjednomkao da nikad nije postojala. I 13-to mesecni rat koji sevodio na Kosovu je isto tako, kao da nikad nije bio, zgodnoizbrisan. Predsednik Klinton, premijer Bler, NATO general VesliKlark, ministar...

USI, (United Services Institute), Nju Delhi 6 april 1999. Satis Nambijar, general-potpukovnik indijske vojske (u penziji)(Od 3. Marta 1993. bio je prvi komandant Vojnih snaga i sef Misije UN-a rasporedjene u bivsoj Jugoslaviji – pre toga je bio pomocnik Nacelnika Staba indijske vojske. Danas radi u Institutu za Zajednicke sluzbe Indije) Moje jednogodisnje iskustvo steceno na mestu Komandanta Vojnih snaga i sefa Misije UN-a u bivsoj Jugoslaviji daje mi dobar uvid u fatalne greske koje prave SAD i NATO u ovom napacenom regionu. Vecini onih koji razvoj dogadjaja na Balkanu prate od pocetka ove decenije, a narocito od pocetka borbi posle nastanka Slovenije, Hrvatske, Bosne i Hercegovine i BJR Makedonije, jasno je da je Kosovo bilo bure baruta koje samo ceka da eksplodira. Izgleda da je Zapad krivo naucio sve sto je mogao da nauci u predhodnim ratovima u susedstvu a onda je takvo znanje primenio na Kosovu. Oslikati Srbe...

“Svi zainteresirani bi se trebali okupiti i krozrazgovor utvrditi OCIGLEDNE alternative militaristickojpolitici uopce a narocito politici sirenja NATO saveza,”apelira dr Oberg. “Prema izjavama predsednika Clintona idrzavnog tajnika, Madelaine Albright, trenutni iskorak naprosirenju koji ukljucuje Poljsku, Cesku i Madjarsku samo jeprvi u nizu. Zbog toga smatramo da je upravo sada trenutakkada trebamo pripremiti i zastupati nove alternativesuprotstavljene nastavljanju ovog opasnog procesa. Buducesirenje NATO-a treba biti zaustavljeno,” izjavljuje direktorTFF-a. “NATO je bio i ostaje prilagodjen za vodjenje hladnograta. U samoj svojoj sustini, savez se nije niti najmanjeizmjenio. Ne smije se dozvoliti da NATO zauvjek predvodi imonopolizira u pitanjima sigurnosti svjeta. Vojni prioritetikojima se on rukovodi, te osobito njegovo nuklearnonaoruzanje, cine NATO jednim od problema sa kojima secovjecanstvo danas suocava a nikako ne instrumentom kojitreba iskoristiti za iznalazenje novih miroljubivihpostupaka pomocu kojih bi trebali olaksati prelazak u novo isasvim drugacije razdoblje. Sirenje NATO-a predstavlja cistu glupost. Ono sesuprotstavlja svakoj viziji svijeta buducnosti u...

By Dr. Zlatko Isakovic Center for Strategic Studies Survey, BelgradeNovember 1997 NATO enlargement – for what? The process of NATO enlargement has a great potential to influence significantly the security and sovereignty of Yugoslavia, and this trend will probably both continue and intensify in the future. The members of NATO and the Partnership for Peace program exercised a most significant influences upon the conflicts in Yugoslavia and in some of the neighboring countries; these conflicts, on the other hand, effect the security and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. However, it seems that to the extent to which NATO armament alone was not able to stop communism (without a parallel activity of the civic society) on the European continent, it is equally not capable (alone) of eliminating ethnic conflicts (that determine the sovereignty and security of not only Yugoslavia, but practically also of all other states in the Balkans and in Central...