>From the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, whose petition you signed * URL is http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/sown.htm BY SEIZING MILOSEVIC, WASHINGTON HAS SEWN THE WIND By Jared Israel, Vice Chairman, International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [28 June 2001] [LATE NEWS - There was a spontaneous and very spirited rally of 30-50,000 in Belgrade on Thursday night, around 11 PM Belgrade time.] TODAY, ON THE ANNIVERSARY of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities have kidnapped President Slobodan Milosevic and sent him to NATO's 'Tribunal' in The Hague. This was done in the face of overwhelming public opposition, majority opposition from the Yugoslav Parliament, a Constitutional prohibition against extradition, as admitted by Mr. Kostunica, an injunction against extradition ordered by the Yugoslav Constitutional Court, the protest of parties constituting more than a majority of the MPs in the Yugoslav Parliament, and plain simple Justice. By kidnapping Mr. Milosevic the ruling faction has removed any pretense of democracy and named their constituent: the U.S. Empire. What is Washington's purpose? Washington has ordered its quislings, the leaders of the Yugoslav and Serbian governments, to slap the Serbian people in the face. This will be followed - is already as we speak being followed -by the attempted imposition of police rule. Belgrade is presently surrounded with special police (perhaps NATO - who knows?) forces. Roads from the rest of Serbia are blocked. Television and Radio which until now have been uniformly on the side of the ruling authorities, have nevertheless been mainly silenced. We are informed that one news announcement has been made: that the leaders of the Socialist party will all now be arrested. A mass rally has been called for tomorrow. There are reports of battles with police in Belgrade. {Note: As I said earlier, I was able to reach someone by cell phone and could hear what sounded like a massive rally.] What we are seeing is an attempt at direct intervention by Washington. They tried to rule by fooling the Serbian people. But the huge rallies yesterday and the day before, involving 1-200,000 people on each occasion, the humiliating defeat of all the DOS parties in seven out of seven special County elections (the SPS came in first in every case), and this despite news media hostile to the Socialist and Radical parties, the ruling of the Constitutional Court, despite implied threats, and the refusal of the Montenegrin Socialists to cooperate with Washington's flunkies, despite extreme pressure, have caused Washington immediately to initiate these extreme measures. What we can expect is an attempt at direct control, perhaps involving NATO troops, certainly involving the mobilization of secessionist forces within Yugoslavia and perhaps the always-useful, entirely misnamed, Kosovo Liberation Army. The immediate goal: to destroy the Serbian people as a liberating force, a force that resists Great Power occupation of the Balkans. The more long-term goal: to pacify the Balkans so it can be used as a stable southern flank for Imperial Washington's coming assault on the lands of the former Soviet Union. But the Serbian people will not accept this. They rejected the DOS leaders despite almost complete media control by DOS. Now that the authorities have shown they are nothing more than Washington's hired hands, the people of Yugoslavia, especially but not only the Serbs, will not rest until they have taken back their country. The International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic calls on all people who care about peace and national sovereignty and dignity to do all in their power to protest and oppose this outrageous destruction of Yugoslav sovereignty. The following statement was written by the Cambridge Campaign for Peace just prior to the kidnapping of Mr. Milosevic. It thoughtfully discusses the issues involved in this outrage. --Jared Israel For the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) [EMAIL PROTECTED] DO NOT EXTRADITE SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC OR ANY OTHER YUGOSLAV TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL! The following statement was written by CAMPEACE, the Cambridge Campaign for Peace. We hope it will be distributed by people who are, like us, of varying political beliefs, some of whom may oppose Mr. Milosevich, some of whom may support him, and by those who fit neither category, because now it is critical that we take action. The very sovreignty of Yugoslavia is threatened. Let us submerge our differences. We firmly demand that neither Mr. Milosevic nor any other Yugoslav be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague. We call on Yugoslav and Serbian authorities to cease current actions aimed at bowing to U.S. demands for extradition. If the authorities in Yugoslavia have evidence of war crimessufficient to motivate them to seek extradition, why is it that no such evidence has been presented in the almost 12 weeks that Mr. Milsoevic has been imprisoned, supposedly for investigation? By bowing to Washington's demands they put Washington in charge of Yugoslav and Serbian government and judicial affairs. The Yugoslav and Serbian constitutions forbid the extradition of citizens. The majority of Members of the Yugoslav Parliament are declared opposed to extraditions. Despite these compelling facts, we are told that extradition is legal because the ICTY is a UN body and therefore its authority supersedes that of Yugoslavia. This argument is false. 1) The ICTY was created by the United Nations Security Council supposedly under the provisions of Chapter VII of the UN Charter. But Chapter VII gives the Security Council no right to create any Tribunal or other judicial body. The ICTY was created because the United States had the power to make the Security Council act in violation of the UN Charter. 2) The UN is a body comprised of sovereign nations. In order for the decisions of a UN Court to have binding authority over nations, those nations must first ratify a treaty that gives such a court binding power. That is precisely what is now being attempted with the International Criminal Court. But in the case of the ICTY, neither Yugoslavia, nor any other nation, has voted to grant binding authority. The ICTY derives its 'authority' from the political/military might of its sponsors, mainly the United States. It is an expression of Imperial power. 3) The ICTY is financed by the United States government and other public and private entities outside the United Nations. 4) The ICTY has abused and punished Serbs for resisting the U.S. and NATO and its proxy forces. Its spokesmen have used their authority as seeming officers of a court to lend credibility to slanders against Yugoslavia and the Serbian people and their leaders. 5) The so-called case against Mr. Milosevic is supported only by the repetition in the mass media of hearsay of a feeble and often grotesque character. Every rumor of possible 'evidence' is broadcast as gospel truth and serves as the foundation for later slanders. 6) The ICTY has revealed its pro-NATO character by refusing to indict NATO leaders for carrying out a blatant war of aggression against Yugoslavia. It has refused to indict any of these leaders for the many war crimes openly committed during that aggression. Indeed, during the aggression ICTY officials appeared in public forums with U.S. officials, supporting NATO actions. And it was during the aggression that the ICTY 'indicted' Mr. Milosevic and other Yugoslav leaders, publicly declaring them guilty even as the U.S. and NATO, the ICTY's sponsors, were bombing their country. An ICTY 'trial' of Mr. Milosevic would mean putting Yugoslavia and the Serbian people on trial, thus saddling that nation and those people, the targets of U.S./NATO aggression, with responsibility for that aggression. Such a trial would whitewash the war crimes of NATO, especially the U.S., German, and British governments, and its chauvinist proxy forces, such as the Kosovo Liberation Army. Those war crimes include but are not limited to launching an aggressive war, driving most non-Albanians from their ancestral homes in Kosovo, the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium-encased shells, the invasion of Serbia north of Kosovo and of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A trial would crucify Mr. Milosevic and other Yugoslav government leaders who properly refused to surrender Yugoslav sovereignty during the Rambouillet talks and when the U.S./NATO launched their war of aggression on March 24, 1999. The extradition (or 'surrender') of Mr. Milosevic would open the way to extradite members of the Yugoslav Army and security forces to the ICTY, with the goal of discrediting and weakening Yugoslavia's military defense. This would leave loyal Yugoslavs with weakened protection against attacks by chauvinist proxy forces, such as the Kosovo Liberation Army, or by NATO itself. We have only to look to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and to southern Serbia to realize the significance of this danger. Such an ICTY trial would serve as a cautionary warning to leaders of other countries, especially but not only in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, not to follow an independent path What would Yugoslavia receive in exchange for surrendering its sovereignty and laying itself open to physical destruction? The answer given is: money. If the promises, which are now being made by Washington and the International Monetary Fund, that they will give Yugoslavia aid in exchange for "cooperation" with the ICTY, were true, the acceptance of such aid would constitute an outrageous capitulation. First, because this would reduce Yugoslavia to colonial status. Second, because Washington and NATO owe Yugoslavia billions of dollars in war compensation. In addition, there is every indication, based on the past practices of the International Monetary Fund, that the promises of aid are a lie. Even if some money were loaned to Yugoslavia, it would be taken away a thousand times over in the form of draconian "reforms" that would be imposed on Yugoslavia as a condition of receiving such "aid." We call on the DOS Government to cease capitulating to the forces that are trying to destroy Yugoslavia. We call on the people of Yugoslavia, not to be intimidated by the Washington bullies, not to allow the DOS government to yield to pressure from Washington and NATO. Yugoslav people: take action to stop this blackmail! Otherwise your country will be delivered into the hands of international gangsters. We call on people around the world to support Yugoslavia, to raise their voices. Demand that neither Mr. Milosevic nor any Yugoslav be sent to NATO's false Tribunal, the ICTY at The Hague! Please use this statement in any way you can CAMPEACE - Cambridge Campaign for Peace (CAMPEACE evolved from Cambridge Against NATO's War in the Balkans) 10 Dalegarth Hurst Park Avenue Cambridge CB4 2AG Sara Payne, Polydoros Polydorou and David Grove, Chairmen [EMAIL PROTECTED] URGENT APPEAL! 28 JUNE TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED TO OUR FUNDRAISING APPEAL - THANK YOU! BUT EMPEROR'S CLOTHES STILL URGENTLY NEEDS HELP! The George Soros Foundation does not fund Emperor's Clothes. Our only source of money is people like you. All contributions help. Our work has expanded but our income has not kept pace. We are now several months behind on long distance and international phone bills, and other expenses as well. All but local service has been turned off. We have other big bills too, including for Lexis, our key research tool, and we are presently too strapped for cash to pay for things we need, such as a good laptop computer and some graphics software. We use long distance and overseas calls for interviews (if we need a translator, this involves a three-way call) to consult with writers, to check the accuracy of information and sometimes to discuss articles being translated. We also use international calls to help write and edit articles for media besides Emperor's Clothes. Using international long distance, we were able to stay in constant touch with the unarmed witnesses guarding Mr. Miloshevich's house when it was attacked March 28th and 29th. That is why you could read accurate news on Emperor's Clothes - the only honest reports available anywhere. After the attack, by using international phone calls we were able to talk directly with people involved in the negotiations between Mr. Miloshevich and the current Serbian authorities. So we knew first hand that the 'NY Times' report that Mr. Miloshevich was suicidal during the talks was a lie. Because we need to use the phone so much, our bills are well over a thousand dollars a month. Now our long distance and international service has been turned off because we owe almost $5000. We are in danger of losing phone service altogether. In addition, we owe over $1500 to Lexis, a key research tool, which allows us to check the accuracy of newspaper excerpts and quotes over the past 20 years. If everyone who cares about Emperor's Clothes chips in, we'll be out of trouble in no time. If everyone chips in - $20, $50, $100 or $1000 - we'll be out of danger in no time. Here's how you can help... 1 - The easiest and most reliable way - Call us any time at (USA) 617-916-1705 and we will take your credit card information over the phone. 2 - OR use our secure server at http://emperors-clothes.com/howyour.html#donate 3 - Or mail us a check - to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton, MA 02461-0321. (USA) If you mail a donation or make one by secure server, please let us know by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED], just to make sure we get it. Thanks! Thank you for reading Emperor's Clothes. To browse articles from the Website, click here. www.tenc.net [Emperor's Clothes] Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
