[PEN-L:6132] (Fwd) FLEEING THE LIES IN SERBIA ONLY TO FIND THEM IN NATO

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Date sent:              Wed, 28 Apr 1999 14:04:50 -0700
To:                     [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From:                   Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject:                FLEEING THE LIES IN SERBIA ONLY TO FIND THEM IN NATO

The Vancouver Sun                                       April  28, 1999

L e t t e r  o f   t h e  d a y:

FLEEING THE LIES IN SERBIA ONLY TO FIND THEM IN NATO

        TV stations, a presidential residence, bridges, a tobacco 
factory, a car plant ... 
        NATO says these are legitimate military targets. I guess next 
on the list are theatres, museums and cinemas. I believe soldiers in 
all countries go to movies and visit exhibitions. 
        For almost 10 years I was an editor and prime-time TV news 
anchor for Radio-Television of Serbia. I was expelled from the 
station in 1993 because I didn't want to write and read the lies. 
        I left Yugoslavia the same year because I didn't want to live 
in that environment anymore. I couldn't dream that I would be 
moving into a world where editorial policies should comply with the 
decisions of a supreme editor-general at NATO headquarters. 
        If NATO can bomb a TV station, why not level other places 
that might influence people's opinions or attitudes? Free press? 
Forget it. If editors don't get articles approved by the supreme 
editor-general, the newspaper building might become a target. 
        This nightmare has gone too far. The main question is: What 
will the future rules be for the game in international affairs? 
        If NATO doesn't like a certain radio program, some general 
could press a button and send a missile to destroy the station. If 
NATO disagrees with a policy of the president of an independent 
country, F-18s could bomb his bedroom. 
        From the beginning, NATO's explanations of its Balkan 
Storm objectives were on very shaky legs. NATO has attacked an 
independent country that didn't endanger any member of the alliance. 
NATO didn't seek the approval of the United Nations Security 
Council. Furthermore, NATO keeps changing its objectives. At first, 
it was implementing the Rambouillet accord; then to demolish and 
diminish; now, refugees and Slobodan Milosevic as collateral 
damage. 
        George Orwell's 1984 looks like a kindergarten fairytale. 
        
        Ivan Brzev, Vancouver