CIA Concocted IRA-Colombia Story [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Rick Rozoff

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http://www.sbpost.ie/sbpost/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id=23887

The Sunday Business Post (Ireland)  

Colombia: CIA played major role


By Barry O'Kelly
Dublin , Ireland, 19 August, 2001

The American Central Intelligence Agency played a
prominent role in the investigation into three
Irishmen being held on suspicion of training Colombian
guerrillas, Garda Special Branch sources have told The
Sunday Business Post.


Detectives said they were largely unaware of the
activities of the three men who visited the Farc
guerrillas until they were contacted by overseas
intelligence sources.


"It was mainly a CIA job," said one officer.


The evidence against the three men, Niall Connolly,
Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, is in question. It
was confirmed yesterday that no traces of any drugs
have been found on the men -- contrary to earlier
claims by the Colombian military. 


The Colombian government prosecutor's office also
confirmed that the three did not make any confessions
and that there was no video evidence against them. 


It is believed that at least one of the men was
wearing his own clothes during the police line-up
footage this week. 


This would seem to suggest that he, at least, was not
suspected of having traces of explosives on his
clothes.


Two of the men, Martin McCauley (37) and Jim Monaghan
(56), have criminal convictions and were said by
Special Branch officers to be "Provos" who were
presumed to be inactive until they appeared in
Colombia.


The third man, Niall Connolly (36), was listed by
gardai as a "Sinn Fein activist", a relatively lowly
status in garda terms. However, republican sources say
he was never a member of Sinn Fein and was never
arrested or questioned by the Garda.


Senior gardai say that, contrary to media reports,
Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne did not refer to the
three men as "known members of the Provisional IRA".


Sources said that Monaghan was under daily
surveillance until June when he left his job with Tar
Isteach, a job creation club for ex-prisoners based in
Dominick Street, Dublin, when he flew to Colombia.


Fas said this weekend that Monaghan was a project
leader and the agency had contributed £21,000 towards
his wages under a scheme established under the Good
Friday Agreement. 



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Four French KFOR Troops Injured In Kosovo Clash [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Rick Rozoff

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Four French KFOR Troops Hurt in Kosovo Ethnic Clash

BELGRADE, Aug 20, 2001 -- (dpa) At least four French
KFOR troops were injured in Kosovo late Sunday when
they tried to break up a fight started by a car crash
involving an ethnic Albanian and a Serb driver.

Several Albanians were also hurt in the disturbance in
Suvi Do, near the city of Kosovska Mitrovica,
Belgrade's TV-Politika reported.

Albanians also set fire to a Serb-owned wheat field,
and a residential house went up in flames before
firefighters arrived, the report said.

(C)2001. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur 



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FYROM Army: 700 Rebels Poised In Kosovo, 2,000 Albanian Troops Could Join [WWW.S

2001-08-20 Thread Rick Rozoff

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Macedonian Sources Say Albanian Rebels Regroup in
Kosovo

SKOPJE, Aug 20, 2001 -- (dpa) Macedonian army sources
were reported Monday as saying that 700 Albanian
rebels were poised in Kosovo to enter Macedonia.

In addition, some 2,000 Albanian troops could join
them at "any time", the newspaper Dnevnik quoted the
sources as saying.

Albanian rebels were regrouping near the village of
Radusha, on Kosovo side of the Macedonian-Yugoslav
border, the report said. The watchtower in the village
was "in the hands" of the rebels.

"No one from KFOR (Kosovo peacekeeping) units does
anything to stop rebels from entering in the village
of Radusha from the Kosovo side. The Polish soldiers
from KFOR sit like on picnic", army sources were
quoted as saying.

The paper also said Macedonian soldiers in the border
area were angered by the failure of the Macedonian
command to send any reinforcements for a week.

The situation in the crisis areas in Macedonia was
calm on Monday morning after rebels had stopped their
attacks on security forces in the villages above
Tetovo after midnight Sunday, police sources said.

There were no injured on the Macedonian side, the
sources said.

The NATO commander for Europe, U.S. General Joseph W.
Ralston, was due to arrive in the Macedonian capital
on Monday ahead of the planned deployment of 3,500
troops to collect arms from ethnic Albanian rebels.

His assessment of the stability of the ceasefire would
be crucial in deciding whether to go forward with
operation Essential Harvest, officials in Brussels
said.

The NATO alliance was expected to reach a decision on
the disarmament mission this week.

Several hundred advance troops have arrived in
Macedonia since Friday. If the mission goes ahead, the
soldiers would be tasked with collecting the rebels'
weapons within 30 days.

(C)2001. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur 





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KLA Attacks Threaten NATO 'Cease-Fire' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Rick Rozoff

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CNN News
August 20, 2001 
 
Macedonia cease-fire under pressure
 
 
SIPKOVICA, Macedonia -- Government forces and ethnic
Albanian rebels have exchanged gunfire in Macedonia,
as an advance force of NATO troops begins work to
evaluate a cease-fire.

NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General
Joseph Ralston, is set to travel to Macedonia on
Monday to take part in a review of security in the
troubled region.

A vanguard of around 400 NATO troops arrived in the
country at the weekend.

If NATO decides the cease-fire is holding, a further
3,500 troops will be sent on a 30-day mission to
collect arms from rebels, known as Operation Essential
Harvest. A decision is expected later in the week.

On Sunday evening, rebels and Macedonian forces
exchanged fire in the village of Poroj, a police
official told the Associated Press.

"Our forces came under fire so the orders to return
fire were given," he said describing situation as
"rather serious." There was no word on casualties.

An ethnic Albanian rebel commander speaking on
condition of anonymity confirmed that "very intensive"
fighting was under way, but he did not offer details.

Hours earlier, the leader of Macedonia's ethnic
Albanian rebels said his fighters would hand their
weapons to NATO soldiers and honour the terms of a
peace deal.

Ali Ahmeti, the political leader of the National
Liberation Army, told AP: "We will give up all our
arms, because we will no longer have any need for
them.''

The rebels began fighting for more rights for minority
ethnic Albanians in Macedonia six months ago.

Ahmeti told reporters crammed into a village school
that he had begun contacts with the NATO advance team.

He insisted the rebels were willing to give up the
territory they had gained for the sake of ensuring the
peace deal worked.

Civilians blockaded the main road to the border in the
town of Stenkovac for a second day on Sunday,
preventing NATO-led peacekeepers from traveling in and
out of Kosovo. The support base for peacekeepers in
Kosovo is located in Macedonia.

Observers say many Macedonians blame NATO for their
troubles because they say the alliance failed to stop
weapons and supplies from Kosovo that are widely
believed to be supporting rebel forces.
 

http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/08/19/macedoniatroops/index.html
 
  



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FYROM KLA Thanks NATO For Its Victory [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Rick Rozoff

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Albanian rebels bask in sun and sense of victory 
Special report: Macedonia

Rory Carroll in Sipkovica 
Monday August 20, 2001
The Guardian

For the rebels in the mountains where it all started
yesterday was a day to savour. The Macedonians were
routed and Nato was on its way. They had pulled it
off. They had won. 

Albanian folk songs seeped from homes into streets
where uniformed men with AK-47s lounged in the sun,
sipping coffee, grinning, and daring to believe their
insurgency had ended in a victory endorsed by the
west. 

The political agreement signed in Skopje said no such
thing, civil war with the Macedonian Slav majority may
yet erupt and Nato insisted it would leave within 30
days, but the National Liberation Army was confident
its will would yet again prevail. 

In Sipkovica, the group's mountain village
headquarters, the mood was festive. Children chanted
the rebel group's Albanian initials, UCK, and saluted
their heroes. 

But commanders ensured no one fired in the air or got
carried away. The public relations battle for western
hearts and minds goes on and visiting journalists were
to be shown disciplined soldiers, partners in a
western-brokered peace, not triumphalist terrorists. 

Things could go very wrong very soon: the ethnic
Albanian rebels may balk at handing over weapons,
hardliners may break away, Macedonian fury at the deal
may wreck the ceasefire, Nato governments may think
better of entering another Balkan quagmire. 

But Ali Ahmeti, who masterminded a campaign which
overwhelmed Macedonians in battle and in diplomacy,
was relaxed. Seated behind a low desk in a disused
school, he told a phalanx of microphones and cameras
that the NLA would disarm and help build a new
Macedonia. 

The blackboard behind him was draped in the flags of
Nato, the European Union, the United States and
Albania. No room for Macedonia's sunburst flag. Guards
in fresh uniforms remained impassive as Mr Ahmeti
promised to put the genie of Albanian nationalism back
into the bottle he opened, after a campaign in which
almost 100 died and tens of thousands were displaced. 

"We guarantee the safety of Nato troops. All weapons
will be handed over. The NLA has the situation under
control and we don't expect any problems. 

"We remember the past as something bitter but we are
going to create conditions for two communities to live
in peace. We think the war is over, we're talking
about democracy." 

Hardliners are suspected of opposing the agreement -
which amends the constitution and gives Albanians
greater rights - and engaging in unauthorised attacks,
such as an ambush which killed 10 Macedonian soldiers.
Mr Ahmeti, hesitating for the only time, said he knew
of no split within the NLA but later appeared to
confirm that a threat existed. 

The ambush and various other attacks were unauthorised
reprisals for Macedonian violence, he said. 

"We consider all those incidents as happening outside
our responsibility." 

Contradictions riddled Mr Ahmeti's briefing. He does
not trust the Macedonians but believes they will do
things they have not promised: enact reforms before
the rebels disarm, disarm Macedonian civilians and
effectively offer amnesty to all NLA fighters. 

Mr Ahmeti filled the gaps in logic with his favourite
word: Nato. The Atlantic alliance will stay far longer
than 30 days, he suggested, because otherwise the deal
will fail. 

In the shade of Sipkovica's main street a group of
village elders agreed that Macedonian forces would
never return. Only Albanians newly drafted into
Macedonia's police and army would come. 

Squatting beside an open-air oven baking bread, Bedri
Gosmani, 33, said he was tired of fighting and would
return to his home in Tetovo within days if the
ceasefire held. "But I will keep one gun, like most of
my friends. Just in case everything goes off again.
But I believe Nato will stay ... " 

Selman Seferi, 46, was optimistic. Fifteen years after
moving to Brooklyn to build New York office blocks, he
had come back to fight and believed in the peace. 

"Now I won't need this shit," he said, brandishing an
AK-47. "I've got another two stashed away and I'll
hand them all over to Nato. 

"Then I'm out of here. I want to go home." Should
violence resume he would return but he too believed
mission creep was inevitable for Nato. 

There were no plans to dismantle a nearby training
base, where recruits will continue raising the
Albanian flag at 7am. One commander suggested the
Macedonians were right when they accused the rebels of
wanting partition to create a greater Albania from
Albania, Kosovo and northern Macedonia. 

"I dream of having coffee with a friend in Tirana and
having no problems when I meet another friend for
coffee in Pristina." 

Down in the valley below Macedonia's second city,
Tetovo, was transformed from just three months ago,
when Macedonian police behind sandbags traded fire
with 

Macedonia - Backgrounder - Scott Taylor for The Ottawa Citi=?U

2001-08-20 Thread Miroslav Antic

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-



Date: Thursday, August 09, 2001 1:11 PM

Printed Copy 


Macedonia - Backgrounder

Dateline: Tetovo, Macedonia

As international envoys and Macedonian government officials try to
hammer
out a last-minute peace deal in the holiday resort Ohrid, fighting and
violence continues to escalate across the country. On Wednesday, the
ethnic-Albanian rebels (UCK) mounted a major offensive to cut the main
highway between the capital of Skopje and the city of Tetovo. After
suffering heavy casualties - 10 dead and 14 wounded in an ambush -
Macedonian Security forces battled throughout the night to regain
control of
this vital route. Helicopter gunships pounded rebel villages and
armoured
columns inched their way up steep mountain paths to engage the UCK. By
Thursday morning the highway was proclaimed secure, but a handful of
still
smoldering vehicles bore stark testimony to the violence of the previous
day's attacks.

Angered by the news of the initial ambush, mobs of Macedonian citizens
took
to the streets to ransack ethnic-Albanian shops in Skopje. This action
then
prompted Albanians to unleash an indiscriminant fusillade of small arms
fire
into the Macedonian suburbs of Tetovo. "As the peace talks stall, this
cycle
of hatred is gaining momentum and we are plunging head first into civil
war," said Vojce Stojkoski, a 47-year-old ethnic-Bulgarian contractor
based
in Tetovo. "Even if the politicians sign an agreement, I don't believe
either side can be prevented from continuing the violence."

When this conflict first erupted in March, the stated objective of the
Albanian minority leaders was to achieve "increased autonomy" through
"revisions to the Macedonian constitution". However, after five months
of
successful military action, the Albanians have gained virtual control of
30%
of Macedonian territory. Hard-line Albanian leaders are now dealing from
a
position of strength at the Ohrid talks, and many of their followers
feel
that outright autonomy is now possible. Arta Gylanize, a 38-year-old
political assistant with the Albanian Democratic Party said she hoped
her
leader, Arben Djaferi, would refuse to sign the agreement. "This land
was
once all part of Greater Albania and we should not have to live under
Macedonians," said Gylanize.

Over the last few weeks, the Macedonian government has conceded to
nearly
all of the major ethnic-Albanian reforms proposed at Ohrid, and this has
drawn severe criticism from the Slavic majority. The complex arrangement
proposed to recognize Albanian as an official language in regions of
Macedonia where they "constitute over 20% of the population" has been
denounced as "unworkable" in the local press. However, in response to
the
decision to recruit 1000 ethnic-Albanian police, the Macedonian police
reacted violently. Following a drunken rampage at a local pub in Tetovo,
the
Macedonian Police who created the destruction were unrepentant. "How are
we
supposed to react to the news that we will be serving alongside the same
criminals that we've been fighting for months?" said Rade Jolevski, a
22-year-old police reservist in Tetovo. "How do we justify this to our
dead
comrades?"

President Boris Trjkovski is regarded as the Macedonian moderate who is
pursuing a policy of appeasement, while Prime Minister Ljubo
Georgievski,
from the same ruling Unity Party, has emerged as the hard-line
nationalist.
Macedonian extremists have now organized a paramilitary movement called
the
Lions, and they are echoing Georgievski's call for a military victory
prior
to any appeasement measures.

At the beginning of the hostilities, the Macedonian Security Forces were
woefully ill equipped to combat insurrection. As part of the agreement
for a
peaceful secession from Yugoslavia in 1992, the Republic of Macedonia
turned
over all their heavy weapons to the withdrawing Federal Yugoslav Army.
Over
the past nine years, a bankrupt treasury and a struggling economy
prevented
any large-scale military buildup. As a result, when the Albanian UCK
guerillas first encroached from Kosovo last March, the Macedonian
Security
Forces were hard-pressed to contain even this limited offensive.
Equipped
with an array of old cast-off weaponry and vehicles, and fielding an
inexperienced army of conscripts, the Macedonians suffered a number of
embarrassing tactical setbacks.

>From that point forward, the government has been hastily trying to
bolster
its fighting forces with lend lease modern equipment and foreign
mercenaries. Despite pressure from the European Union to desist from
such an
arms buildup, the Macedonians have tried desperately to keep pace with
the
concurrent UCK mobilization. At present, the Macedonian military
possesses a
relatively powerful punch from attack helicopters, fighter jets, and
modern
armoured vehicles. "The majority of these weapons were acquired in
exchange
for tomatoes and wine from the Ukraine," said Rade Lesko,

ALAN BOCK: A MACEDONIAN FANTASY? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Miroslav Antic

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Pravda.RU:Main:More in detail
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/08/20/12879.html
 
 18:58 2001-08-20

ALAN BOCK: A MACEDONIAN FANTASY? 

There are essentially two types of peace agreements: those that ratify a
peace that is in place for whatever reason (conquest, surrender,
war-weariness) and those that seek to push forward a "process" that has
not yet brought anything resembling an actual peace. One may hope that
the Macedonian peace accord signed Monday is in the former category, but
it is more likely that it is in the latter, which means it is more
likely to be an illusion - and another opportunity for NATO to assert
power - than a genuine step toward peace. 
It can be appropriate and helpful for an outside entity to get involved
in facilitating an agreement that is a done deal or even close to
completion. Sometimes a neutral party can help to build bridges, tie up
details, provide a forum in which trust can be built - when the parties
involved in hostilities are actually ready to cease hostilities. When
the parties engaged in hostilities are not really ready to stop engaging
in violence and recriminations - the Israeli-Palestinian situation comes
to mind - a forced agreement imposed by outside parties is not only
something of a fantasy, it is likely to damage the prospects for a
genuine settlement. 

THE MISSING PARTY 
In the case of the Macedonian agreement, the groups of guerrillas
generally called "ethnic Albanian rebels" in the media have been the
primary irritants, having begun insurgency operations in February. The
only way a peace agreement would have a chance of permanence would be
for those rebel groups to be a signatory, or at least to have agreed
informally to abide by the agreement. Naturally, the rebels are not a
party to the agreement. Instead, some ethnic Albanian political groups
with tenuous connections to the rebels -- groups that have generally not
been involved in armed struggle in the first place -- signed on. 
Although at least one rebel leader said Tuesday (August 14) that the
rebels would respect the cease-fire, most Macedonian newspapers ranged
from guarded to skeptical to cynical in their assessments. The gaps
between apparently promising to disarm and actually disarming can be
quite large; just today the Irish Republican Army rejected another
proposal, part of a years-long process, to disarm as the British would
like them to disarm. I would be astounded if even a formal agreement to
disarm went forward without caches of weapons stored in various woods
and mountains. 

OTHER PROBLEMS 
The ethnic Albanian rebels are not the only relevant parties that
haven't completely bought into the wonderful NATO-crafted peace
"settlement." The government restricted media access to the signing
ceremony at the Skopje residence of Macedonian president Boris
Trajkovski, fearing Macdonians would be angered by what most view as
compromises to appease the rebels. 

MISSING THE POINT 
The US-NATO fallacy driving this manic push for some piece of paper for
somebody to sign, Ted Carpenter of the Cato Institute believes, is that
what the ethnic Albanian rebels want is a better deal from the
Macedonian state. Carpenter notes that at least half the rebels are not
from Macedonia at all, but from Kosovo. And what most of the rebel
leaders say they want is not recognition of Albanian as a second
official language, but a Greater Albania. 
The NATO and American diplomats seem to view the conflicts in the
Balkans as akin to political contests among various ethnic groups in
large American cities, so they think they are buying off groups by
offering jobs, patronage, respect and a place at the table to a few
designated leaders. 

THE GUFFAW FACTOR 
There's a certain almost charming naivetÊ in some of the statements from
the diplomats who assembled to supervise the signing. 
"Clearly, there has to be a sustainable cease-fire," Lord Robertson
fantasized, "and clear indications from the insurgents that they mean
business in terms of disarming completely and handing over their weapons
and ammunition to the NATO troops when they come." 
Has he ever talked to anybody with even the slightest involvement in the
Northern Ireland conflict? 
Even more amusing was James Pardew of the United States, who said, "This
is the day when we can begin an end to this conflict and take all the
political issues off the table. After this day, there should be no
reason for fighting." 

DEFENDING YESTERDAY'S INTERVENTION 
The most plausible explanation I have seen for the determination of NATO
and US diplomats to get involved in an almost surely untenable situation
in Macedonia comes from Gary Dempsey of Cato, who served as an election
observer in Bosnia and has spent considerable time in the region. He
thinks the reason is to try to prevent the previous intervention in
Kosovo from blowing up in NATO's face. 
The Albanian rebels in Macedonia, es

NATO WILL NOT DISARM ALBANIANS UNTIL SITUATION IN MACEDONIA IMPROVES [WWW.STOPN

2001-08-20 Thread Miroslav Antic
Title: Message



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TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY: NATO WILL NOT 
DISARM ALBANIANS UNTIL SITUATION IN MACEDONIA IMPROVES 
As NATO deploys its troops in Macedonia, the international press has 
missed the news that a timeframe has not yet been stipulated 41 British 
soldiers will perform trial runs among Albanian rebels this week after sporadic 
violations of the ceasefire by Albanian terrorists in northern Macedonia. 
Further contingents of 360 troops and later, another group of 680, will join the 
vanguard in the near future. The mission commander, Brigadier White-Spunner, 
said, “What I am going to be doing here is assessing the conditions on the 
ground. We are looking specifically for an enduring and proper ceasefire”. 
It seems likely that brigadier White-Spunner will have to show 
monumental doses of patience such as those shown by the Macedonian armed forces. 
Macedonian Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski confirmed that Albanian extremists 
had engaged in skirmishes with he Macedonian troops during Saturday morning. 
Government positions in Tetovo and Kumanovo were attacked and a group of 
Albanians crossed the border near Rudine, attacking a police station. 
Brigadier White-Spunner declared that NATO would not attempt to disarm 
the Albanian rebels until the security situation is stabilised. “Violations such 
as we had yesterday are unacceptable because they show there really is not good 
faith”, he said. Meanwhile the new Albanian faction to surface, the 
Albanian National Army (ANA), has called for all Slavic forces from the NATO 
contingent of 3,500 troops from 9 countries to pull out. The ANA claims to have 
military bases in Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia and has 
declared that it intends to use these to launch its campaign to create a Greater 
Albania, according to AFP. The ANA has already declared that it does not accept 
the ceasefire signed in Skopje. Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY 
PRAVDA.Ru LISBON PORTUGAL 
 
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/08/20/12826.html

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Afghan women risk lives to expose Taliban [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Jim Yarker





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Afghan women risk lives to expose Taliban

From People's Weekly World, 21/08/01 10:31:55 









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Afghan women risk lives to expose Taliban 

World Combined Sources 

The seemingly endless list of activities banned by Afghanistan's ruling 
Taliban includes taking pictures of people and animals, using the Internet, 
educating girls and badmouthing the government. 
The Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) does all of 
the above. 
The organization of social activists risks incarceration and worse to 
expose atrocities committed by one of the world's most repressive regimes. 
Founded in 1977, RAWA only garnered international fame in 1997 after it 
launched a website documenting the bizarre and tragic details of life under 
the Taliban. 
"The Internet is the only tool that's available to us to make connections 
with the outside," said Treena Hamra, a RAWA leader. "It's been very 
helpful to raise awareness and to get financial support for our struggle as 
well." 
After RAWA was featured on "Oprah" in December, more than 300,000
visitors 
stormed the site, crashing the system, Hamra said. 
The 2,000-member group is outlawed in Afghanistan and persecuted in 
neighboring Pakistan, where it is headquartered. For safety reasons, 
members do not use their real names, ages or any other identifying 
information. 
There's good reason for their "paranoia." RAWA's founder, who was an 
outspoken opponent of religious and political repression, was assassinated 
in Pakistan in 1987. 
RAWA's site is not for the squeamish. Many of the images are appalling: 
photos of a man triumphantly hoisting up the amputated hands of a thief; a 
video of a woman avenging her son's death by hacking off the head of the 
alleged killer. 
The front page warns visitors about the disturbing content: "RAWA is 
dedicated to truthfully reflecting the reality of life under fundamentalist 
rule ... To viewers intolerant of gory scenes and photos, we advise caution 
in viewing our photos and video links. Our apology for publishing such 
material is: this is the reality of life for the people of Afghanistan." 
The word "Taliban" is the plural of the Persian word
"Talib," which means 
religious student. Since the fundamentalist group rose to power in the 
war-torn country in 1996, only three countries have recognized it as the 
legitimate government - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 
The regime's peculiar flavor of Islam has amounted to a gender apartheid 
for women. Among other things, the Taliban have forbidden women from 
working outside the home, studying anything but religious texts, and 
wearing anything in public but a tablecloth-like covering called a burqa. 
Breaking the rules brings swift punishment. One woman caught wearing nail 
polish had the tip of her thumb sliced off; another was stoned to death for 
traveling with a male who was not her relative. 
The Taliban has scoffed at international censure and continued issuing 
outrageous decrees, such as a May edict requiring Hindus to wear a 
distinctive label on their clothes. 
Because press freedom is shackled in Afghanistan, the eyewitness reports 
published on RAWA's site are the only alternative to state-controlled media. 
Ironically, the same burqa that symbolizes the repression of Afghan women 
allows them to hide the cameras and notebooks needed to chronicle their 
gruesome reality. 
Hamra said that Taliban supporters regularly send e-mail death threats to 
the RAWA site. 
For this reason, the group is asking for donations of miniature digital 
cameras and camcorders, which are easier to conceal and add the convenience 
of allowing the webmaster to directly upload images to the site. 
RAWA plans on distributing the electronic devices among members throughout 
Afghanistan in an effort to expand coverage of Taliban activities, she said. 
The Web page also serves as a platform to collect petition signatures and 
to sell paraphernalia. Proceeds from the sales are used to finance 
clandestine girls schools, provide health care to refugees, and train women 
to support themselves by raising poultry or weaving rugs. 
According to an Indian videographer who spent six weeks filming RAWA's 
operations in Pakistani refugee camps, the group has been forced 
underground in that country, too. 
"The fundamentalists are powerful in Pakistan and sympathize with the 
Taliban," Meena Nanji said. 
Nanji decided to visit the Pakistani camps, which host an estimated two 
million Afghan refugees, after hearing RAWA members speak at a Los Angeles 
book store. Her only link to the group when she flew to Islamabad last 
October was a cell phone number. While she was there, 

FW: Democracy, War, and Covert Action (fwd) [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Boyle, Francis

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-



Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice)
217-244-1478(fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  
 


-Original Message-
From: Boyle, Francis 
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 11:37 AM
To: 'Peter Nardulli'; diehl paul f; dina zinnes; peter nardulli; steve
seitz; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Mengler, Tom
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; A. Belden Fields (E-mail);
peace@prairienet. org (E-mail); IRTHEORY (E-mail); irtheory@listbot. com
(E-mail); Stephen A. Douglas (E-mail); TWATCH-L@LISTSERV. ACSU. BUFFALO.
EDU (E-mail); Rich, Robert
Subject: RE: Democracy, War, and Covert Action (fwd)
Importance: High


Dear Peter:
I have been tied up on some important human rights matters all year
long.But now that I have some time, I did want to respond to your message:
To the contrary, it is you and the Department of Political Science
who owe a public apology to each and every Faculty Member of the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for bringing the filth, dirt,slime,
corruption, outright criminality, and sheer depravity of the Central
Intelligence Agency onto this campus, and  thus seriously jeopardizing the
safety of all of us who work in Third World Countries. 
As I understand it, there will be a Panel on this precise subject at
the upcoming APSA Convention over Labor Day Weekend. I was invited to be on
that Panel. But a prior commitment prevents my appearance. But rest assured
that I will continue my efforts to expose the unholy and obscene influence
of the Central Intelligence Agency upon the Political Science Department (as
well as the Psychology Department), which, as I established in my public
debate with your CIA Agents Zinnes and Seitz, violate the APSA Canon of
Professional Ethics. It is they and your Department that should be
sanctioned.
Yours very truly,
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of Law
Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92)
APSA Member since 1980


Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice)
217-244-1478(fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  
 


-Original Message-
From: Peter Nardulli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 10:36 AM
To: Boyle, Francis; diehl paul f; dina zinnes; peter nardulli; steve
seitz; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Mengler, Tom
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Democracy, War, and Covert Action (fwd)


Francis,

I am absolutely speechless at the content of the messages that you
have
been electronically distributing about the Department of Political Science.
 To say that I am disappointed and insulted by your remarks is an
understatement of the greatest magnitude.  I believe you owe the Department
and the entire campus community a public apology for your indefensible
remarks.

Peter F. Nardulli

PS.  You will be pleased to know that the Uof I Political Science
Department is doing just fine, your assertions to the contrary
notwithstanding.


At 09:39 AM 2/7/01 -0600, diehl paul f wrote:
>Please note the message below from a friend concerning Francis Boyle's
>statements/postings and the PoliSci department
>
>To: Paul Diehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: RE: Democracy, War, and Covert Action (fwd)
>
>
>Paul:
>
>Greetings. I hope all is well with you.
>
>I'm including an email I received on the irtheory mailing list. Francis A.
>Boyle of your law school has been posting a great deal lately about the
>CIA's links to your Department. He apparently used the FOIA to get a copy
>of a contract Professors Zinnes and Seitz had with the CIA. He points out
>that the CIA "required" them to spy on colleagues (by reporting back about
>panels at scholarly meetings), etc. He started the debate by posting a LA
>Times editorial on this topic recently published by David Gibbs.
>
>Below is one of his more inflammatory remarks. 
>

>
>From: "Boyle, Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "Boyle, Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" 
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: Democracy, War, and Covert Action
>
>The International Relations Theory List
>
>--- ListBot Sponsor --
>
>PPS. I should also point out that after Safran/CIA, Harvard's Middle East
>Studies Center has NEVER recovered--third rate. Like the UI PoliSci
>Department. fab
>
>Francis A. Boyle
>Law Building
>504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
>Champaign, IL 61820 USA
>217-333-7954(voice)
>217-244-1478(fax)
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]  
> 
>
>
>-Original Message-
>From: Boyle, Francis 
>Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 8:31 AM
>To: Boyle, Francis; '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: Democr

Financial Times On NMD & China [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread James Tait

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-




COMMENT & ANALYSIS:

Face it, the cold war is over: Missile defence is based on ideas from the
past and a hawkish view of China. The money would be better spent elsewhere
Financial Times, Aug 20, 2001
By QUENTIN PEEL

The cold war ended 10 years ago this week, with a whimper. That was when the
"red barons" of the Soviet Communist party, the KGB and the Red Army
attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev. They abandoned the effort in
drunken disarray after three days.
They may have failed, but they finished the task Mr Gorbachev had begun and
ensured the final dissolution of Joseph Stalin's empire. Any vestige of hope
in Moscow of remaining a rival superpower to the US vanished in those three
days. Ever since, America has been unchallenged.
And yet we still seem to have extraordinary difficulty in coming to terms
with the reality that the cold war is over. For it was a state of mind, not
merely a nuclear stand-off. The psychology of confrontation is deeply
embedded in our thinking, both in America and Europe.
We still talk fondly of "the west", implying that there is a hostile "east"
somewhere out there. And we focus on the search for new adversaries and
traditional security threats that may justify our continued military
spending.
That seems to be where President George W.Bush's ambitious plans for a
fantastically expensive ballistic missile defence system fit in. BMD is
supposed to counter the danger of "rogue states", usually identified as
Iran, Iraq or North Korea, threatening the US with a solitary nuclear
missile. On close examination, it seems an unlikely prospect. Even people
such as Saddam Hussein are not normally suicidal.
Missile defence is the single most important security ambition of Mr Bush's
administration. Its proponents insist that it is a demonstration of new
thinking, to deal with the new reality of nuclear proliferation in the
post-cold war world. Yet it sounds alarmingly like old thinking based on
cold war attitudes, or at least nostalgia.
The argument is that missile defence means scrapping, or at least
drastically amending, the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed by Washington
and Moscow in 1972. That is something many Republicans have wanted ever
since it was agreed.
"It would have to be essentially replaced," says John Bolton, US
under-secretary of state for arms control and international security
affairs, and a strong supporter of BMD. "The treaty is very well written . .
. to prevent a national missile defence, and that is precisely what we want.
That's why we have hoped to convince the Russians to move beyond the treaty
entirely."
The chances are that President Vladimir Putin will end up doing a deal,
although he will try to sell his compliance at a price. But that is not the
point. The problem is the motivation behind BMD, and what such a system may
do to the future nuclear balance.
Two things seem to be behind it and neither has much to do with rogue
states. One is a deep emotional attachment to the idea of missile defence,
born at the height of the cold war back in the 1960s, on the conservative
wing of the Republican party. The other is a fear of China.
Gen Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to two Republican
presidents, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush's father, calls BMD a Republican
"crusade". Speaking in a BBC interview for the Analysisprogramme* this week,
he admits it gained a lot of "emotional baggage" in the guise of President
Ronald Reagan's Star Wars.
The fierce Republican opposition to President Bill Clinton gave it a new
lease of life, he says. Mr Clinton's unenthusiastic attitude "started the
emotion all over again, and gave it the guise of a crusade . . . which the
Republicans eventually won with the help of a couple of missile tests from
North Korea."
That is where the second driving force comes in. "It's not often articulated
but . . . you can think of North Korea as a stalking horse for China," says
Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment. "There are many people in this
administration. . . who think that a war with China is likely, perhaps even
inevitable, in the next 20 or 30 years. (They think) China will challenge us
(and) we'd better be ready for it."
It is a viewpoint that Henry Kissinger, the secretary of state under
President Richard Nixon, warns against in his latest book**. The hawks see
China "as a morally flawed inevitable adversary", he says, and believe the
US should therefore act "not as a strategic partner, but as it treated the
Soviet Union during the cold war: as a rival and a challenge". Dr Kissinger
believes such a strategy would simply cause the rest of the world to gang up
on the US.
Supporters of BMD insist that it is not aimed at China. "We don't think that
they should really be concerned about missile defence," says John Bolton.
"It's not directly against them. After all, it is defensive."
Gen Scowcroft, on the other hand,

Colombia: Army pursue guerrillas in jungle - Ananova [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Bill Howard

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-


.
.
[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]
- Original Message - 
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 4:54 AM
Subject: Colombia: Army pursue guerrillas in jungle - Ananova





From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 03:04:27 +0100
To: "Peoples War" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Peoples War] Colombia: Army pursue guerrillas in jungle - Ananova

Colombian army pursue guerrillas in jungle - Ananova


Thousands of soldiers backed by jets and helicopter gunships have pursued a
column of guerrillas through Colombia's southern jungle.

The military said at least 15 rebels and three soldiers were killed.

Joining the army's 3,500 soldiers was a flotilla of helicopters and fighter
planes.

The move came after more than 1,000 members of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were found in the jungle near San Jose del
Guaviare.

Military pilots claimed that more than 100 guerrillas had been killed, but
General Carlos Alberto Fracica, commander of the Rapid Response Force, would
not confirm the figure.

The guerrillas were located a week ago, after they left a rebel-controlled
region where informal peace talks had been staged.

The military began sending in troops and hardware last week before launching
its attack.

The army said the guerrillas had been planning to attack military bases in
the south east as well as the communities of Barrancominas, San Jose del
Guaviare, Mapripan and Puerto Alvira.



See this story on the web at
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_378380.html



"A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a
struggle to the death between the future and the
past." 
Fidel Castro

"The Marxist-Leninist doctrine on class struggle and the dictatorship of
the proletariat affirms the role of violence in revolution, makes a
distinction between unjust, counter-revolutionary violence and just,
revolutionary violence, between the violence of the exploiting classes,
and that of the masses."
General Vo Nguyen Giap

"Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing"
Mao Tse-Tung


_
 
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki
Phone +358-40-7177941
Fax +358-9-7591081
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
 
General class struggle news:
 
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U.S. has no right to talk about human rights [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Bill Howard

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-

Pyongyang, August 18 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article
describes the U.S. as a country with the poorest human rights record and its
loudmouthed "defense of human rights" as a means of aggression and
interference. Citing facts to prove the poor human rights situation in the
U.S., the article says:
Human rights are wantonly violated in the U.S. almost everyday.
According to information released by the U.S. authorities, 265 people
are shot and 87 of them are reported dead on a daily average.
A bill on banning sales of arms was submitted to the congress, but
monopoly capitalists, well aware that if the bill is passed, it will deprive
them of chances of money making, blocked the passage of the bill by bribing
congressmen. 
In the U.S. 0.02 percent of the population holds 60 percent of the U.S.
properties. 
46 million people, or 17 percent of the U.S. population, live below
poverty line. 
The U.S. imperialists obsessed by the vaulting ambition for world
supremacy use "human rights issues" as means of interference in the internal
affairs of other countries and hegemonism.
It is well known to the world that under the pretext of "defense of
democracy" and "defense of human rights" the U.S. dispatched aggression
forces to invade Grenada and kill the prime minister of the country and
invaded Panama to kidnap the head of state of the country.
Iraq and Yugoslavia, too, fell victim to the U.S. lever called "defense
of human rights." 



.
.
[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ]

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NATO Steps Into the Balkan Breach [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Miroslav Antic
Title: Message



Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-

 
NATO Steps Into 
the Balkan Breach
The 
greatest risks in the Macedonia deployment are political  

  
  
BY TONY KARON 
  


  
  

  ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP400 British troops are preparing to deploy in Macedonia 
  


  
  
 
From CNN: Policeman 
  Shot Dead in Macedonia
  
 
Related: Peace 
  at a Terrible Price  
Thursday, Aug. 
16, 2001NATO on Friday begins its most dangerous Balkan mission yet. 
But the danger facing the Western alliance in Macedonia is less physical than 
political. Some 400 British troops are due to be deployed in the former Yugoslav 
nation in advance of an eventual 3,500-troop contingent whose mission, 
innocuously dubbed "Operation Essential Harvest," involves collecting and 
destroying weapons voluntarily tendered by ethnic-Albanian guerrillas. They're 
not there to disarm anyone, NATO spokesmen insist, and they'll stay only 30 
days. If the guerrillas choose to hang onto their weapons and the fighting 
starts up again, the Western troops will simply pack up and go home — possibly 
taking with them whatever credibility NATO may retain as a deterrent to further 
nationalist aggressions in the Balkans. 
There is certainly no shortage of scenarios that could see a resumption of 
hostilities. After all, the peace agreement on which the whole operation is 
based was signed not by the guerrillas, but by ethnic-Albanian political parties 
who'd been part of Macedonia's democratic political process, rather than waging 
war in the hills. NATO leaders coaxed and cajoled the Macedonian authorities 
into accepting a deal to substantially improve the political lot of their 
Albanian countrymen, a deal the alliance hopes will persuade the guerrillas to 
lay down their arms — or, more correctly, turn them over to NATO soldiers. But 
the ongoing guerrilla attacks on soldiers and civilians have led many 
Macedonians to charge that the rebels are fighting to create a separate 
territory rather than expand their rights within the Macedonian state, and this 
has raised fears that the guerrillas may not intend to disarm. On the other 
side, allegations of execution-style killings of ethnic-Albanian men by 
Macedonian police in one village during last week's fighting highlight the 
danger that the conflict has already spawned intractable hatreds that will not 
be soothed by any peace agreement. New gun battles in Tetovo Thursday were a 
reminder that the fighting hasn't ended despite the planned NATO deployment. 

Guerrillas' balancing act 
But NATO is not sending its troops in as lambs to the slaughter. The rebels 
have so far proved politically adept at couching their demands within the frame 
of what might be acceptable to the West. For example, a separate Albanian 
territory in Macedonia was a non-starter, so instead the guerrillas announced 
that they were simply demanding greater civil rights in the Macedonian 
constitution. And that responsiveness to Western concerns makes them unlikely to 
resist disarmament altogether — after all, the current peace deal has been 
crafted precisely in order to remove the political grievances they cite in order 
to claim legitimacy for their insurgency. In a pointed message to the guerrillas 
last week, U.S. mediator James Pardew said the conclusion of the political 
agreement meant that there was now no longer any reason to fight. 
At the same time, it's hard to imagine the rebels handing over all their 
weapons. Regardless of the political pronouncement of their NATO-sensitive 
non-combatant leaders, many rank-and-file fighters in the National Liberation 
Army make no bones about the fact that their objective has been to create an 
Albanian enclave joined to Kosovo as part of a "Greater Albania." NLA commanders 
may persuade their men of the wisdom of standing down right now, but the idea of 
handing over their entire arsenal is unlikely to have much appeal to the 
fighters — particularly since NATO will presumably act more forcefully to cut 
rebel supply lines from Kosovo. Instead, NATO will find itself vainly trying to 
adjudicate a dispute over the extent of the NLA's armaments — the rebels say 
they have 2,500 guns; the Macedonian authorities believe the figure is a lot 
higher. 
NATO sends a message 
NATO's early deployment, and its milquetoast mandate, may seem imprudent 
given the continuing potential for an escalation of violence — the alliance has 
sworn, perhaps for the benefit of edgy domestic constituencies, to keep its men 
far away from any situation that even looks like turning nasty. But, like NATO's 
promise to simply withdraw if fighting resumes, it's hard to take that at face 
value. For one thing, NATO troops have actually been in Macedonia all along — 
Skopje houses the major logistics base for the entire Kosovo peacekeeping 
operation, and they're not about to withdraw. The reas

Re: BULLSHIT STORY just posted, "Milosevic Points Finger at NATO Powers" [WWW.S

2001-08-20 Thread jaredisrael

Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-

Dear friends,

Having just met with Chris Black, who heads Milosevic's legal team, I can say 
with conviction: the 'Telegraph' claim that Milosevic would 'defend' himself 
by repeating the Western media's slanders of him - some defense! - is a 
complete fabrication, pure disinformation.  Please forward this denial to all 
to whom you may have sent the Telegraph's lies!! 

The 'Telegraph' telegraphed this same bullshit a month or so ago, and I 
refuted it in the following article:

The URL for this article is http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/dis.htm
www.tenc.net * [Emperor's Clothes]

AND NOW, FROM LONDON, YOUR MILOSEVIC MISINFO FOR THE DAY

The excerpt below is from the London 'Telegraph.' This newspaper has no 
connection with the Belgrade 'Telegraph' which published a transcript of an 
alleged phone conversation between Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic and 
Yugoslav President Kostunica before they illegally kidnapped President 
Milosevic. (1)

The London 'Telegraph' article is educational for it demonstrates the extent 
to which the media spreads pro-Washington misinformation about the Serbian 
people in general and Slobodan Milosevic in particular. (2)

The 'Telegraph' writers claim they have spoken to Milosevic lawyers and 
ferreted out details of Mr. Milosevic's legal strategy. This is remarkable 
since Milosevic's Legal Defence team has not yet been assembled. That is, 
there is no lawyer in the world from whom they could have ferreted. These 
details of strategy are purely fictional.

According to the 'Telegraph,' Mr. Milosevic will make the following argument: 
"Sure I did bad things, but British leaders helped me." According to the 
'Telegraph,' in this way Milosevic will show that "NATO is guilty" and, adds 
the 'Telegraph,' NATO leaders are very nervous.

Sure they are.

I can tell you one thing with certainty. The "Yes-I-am-bad-but-you 
helped-me-do-it-so-you're-guilty-too" argument will NOT be part of Mr. 
Milosevic's legal strategy.

For years, outrageous actions by NATO were preceded by a kind of 
mock-criticism in the press. Media pundits would attack the Serbs for some 
atrocity, invariably fictitious. They would then castigate this or that NATO 
government (particularly the governments of the U.S. and England) for failing 
to take sufficiently strong action against the 'Serbian monsters.' 

Since people tend to identify with anti-governmental critics, this approach 
has the beauty of producing public support for even harsher government 
actions in the guise of attacking uncaring officials. 

When the NATO governments proceeded to take harsh, unfair and unjustified 
actions against the Serbs, the ground had been prepared. Instead of being 
furious at the blatant imperialism of NATO intervention, a section of the 
public thought, "Well it's about time they did something about those Serb 
fascists. Better late than never."

Now the 'Telegraph' is suggesting that Mr. Milosevic will use the same sort 
of argument, though in retroactive form, saying, "Who are they to preach 
about war crimes? While I was committing all those war crimes they sat on 
their hands or even helped me." If Mr. Milosevic were to adopt such an 
approach, he would accomplish two things for NATO. First he would agree that 
he (and of course the Serbian people) was guilty as charged. Second, he would 
justify NATO's most aggressive actions. And third, such a defence would be 
devastating to those who want to use this 'trial' to attack NATO and the 
Tribunal and clear the name of the Serbs. 

For the record, I have contacted a representative of the Socialist Party of 
Serbia. Speaking for the Head Committee, he had the following comment about 
the 'Telegraph's' claims: 

"This, and you may quote me, is *expletive meaning horse manure*." (SPS 
spokesman, interviewed by phone, 1 July 2001)

When Mr. Milosevic was being 'processed' at The Hague. He reportedly said:

"I am not afraid of the Hague tribunal...that is no
court but a political circus aimed at jeopardizing the Serb peopleAnd let 
me tell you one thing - you are not arresting me, you are kidnapping me and 
you will answer for your crimes. Drop the buffoonery, let's hurry up." ('AP,' 
30 June 2001)

I contacted Chris Black, Chairman of the Lawyers section of the International 
Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic. (3) Mr. Black suggests that, based on 
common sense, and knowing Mr. Milosevic's political principles, one might 
expect the following legal defence:

1) The Hague is a tool illegally created by the UN Security Council under 
orders of Washington; it functions in violation of all legal standards to 
demonize and brutalize Serbian leaders and the Serbian people. 

2) NATO and its proxy forces are the ones guilty of war crimes. Covering this 
up is a key function of the Tribunal.

3) The media has systematically lied, slandering the Serbian people, in 
coordi

Milosevic Points Finger at NATO Powers [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-08-20 Thread Miroslav Antic
Title: Message



Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
-

 
Milosevic Points Finger at NATO Powers When Slobodan 
Squeals 
In his upcoming war-crimes trial, Slobodan Milosevic, a/k/a the 
Butcher of Belgrade, will try to portray himself as a secret partner with NATO 
powers, who he says gave him a "green light" for the use of force that ended in 
genocide, reports the London Telegraph. 
Among other things, lawyers for the former Yugoslavian 
strongman are likely to raise the embarrassing business deal between Slobo and 
Lord Douglas Hurd, a British foreign secretary from 1989 to 1995. Hurd opposed a 
U.S. plan to provide arms to Bosnian Muslims so they could defend themselves 
against the Serbs, and later joined the National Westminster Bank, which made a 
profitable arrangement with Milosevic to jumpstart the Yugoslavian economy. As 
deputy chairman of NatWest Markets, Hurd brokered a second agreement to 
privatize Serbia's telecom service. The Telegraph reports he had at least 
one secret business breakfast with Milosevic, accompanied by fellow bank exec 
and former British diplomat Dame Pauline Neville-Jones. 
"Our hands are clean," whined a Foreign Office official to the 
paper. "We have nothing to hide." 
Hurd likewise told the Telegraph he was free from blame. 
"[The deal] occurred during a lull in which sanctions were relaxed and we were 
trying to make Milosevic see sense," he said. "I don't quite see how it could be 
connected with any accusations about atrocities." 
Slobo will also aim to portray the French as a bunch of sick 
collaborators in the genocide. They are thought to have deliberately screwed up 
NATO's air strikes against Serb positions in Bosnia by leaking target info to 
the enemy. Worse, Hague prosecutors say the French are scandalously thwarting 
plans by elite British forces to swoop in and nab indicted war criminals Radovan 
Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. 
Meanwhile, Yugoslavian chief of staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic 
has boasted he could have bumped off Hillary Clinton with a missile strike when 
she visited refugees in Albania in 1999, adding that Slobo ordered him to take 
out English prime minister Tony Blair
 
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0127/ridgeway.php
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