>From: "Darko Nadic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: U.S. Arrogance and Yugoslav elections
>
>A statement by:
>
>1. Jared Israel (www.emperors-clothes.com) USA
>2. Eric Garris (www.antiwar.com) USA
>3. Professor Peter Maher, USA
>4. Karen Talbot (Covert Action Quarterly) USA
>5. Professor Michel Chossudovsky, Canada
>6. Niko Varkevisser (Global Reflexion) Netherlands
>
>
>
>The outrageous attack by NATO on Yugoslavia, the people's unwillingness to
>give in and their ability to rebuild, have inspired a new spirit of resistance
>in the world. Who would have expected a small country to show such power of
>purpose and to act with such dignity as these people, bombed by the West,
>demonized in the press, but not broken? But this is no surprise for anyone who
>knows the history of the Balkans. The people of Serbia have done what seemed
>impossible many times, including during World War Two.
>
>We the undersigned care very much what happens to Yugoslavia. The loyal
>Yugoslavs, ethnic Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma ("Gypsies"), Jews, as well as
>anti-fascist Slavic Muslims, ethnic Albanians and Croatians have shown us the
>meaning of bravery and dignity. They have shown us and millions of others that
>we can stand up to the nation-destroying Empire, led by the USA.
>
>>From our vantage point in the West, we would like to relate what we know
>>about Western interference in Yugoslav society and the current elections.
>
>The Yugoslav opposition coalition calls itself "democratic and independent."
>
>However, our research shows it is controlled by Washington, by the same people
>who spent the last ten years trying to break up Yugoslavia.
>
>In July, 1999, the US Senate held hearings on Serbia. The Special U.S. Envoy
>to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, his assistant, James Pardew and Senator Joseph
>Biden all testified. They stated clearly that the US pays and controls the
>so-called "independent democratic" opposition.
>
>The day before the hearings the United States Senate voted to give this
>opposition one hundred million US dollars. Special Envoy Gelbard said: "In the
>two years leading up to the Kosovo crisis, we spent $16.5 million on programs
>in support of Serbia democratization." He added that more than $20 million had
>been given to Milo Djukanovic who heads the government in the Yugoslav
>Republic of Montenegro.
>
>This includes funding political parties, radio stations and unions. If any
>hostile foreign power did that in the USA their local agents would be thrown
>in jail.
>
>Here's Gelbard's assistant, James Pardew:
>
>a.. "PARDEW: Well, we work through nongovernmental organizations. We have
>established a ring around Serbia which is using international broadcasts, but
>we're [also] offering that to independent voices in Serbia, which are using
>international facilities."
>Sen. Joseph Biden didn't feel this went far enough:
>
>a.. "BIDEN: We can make facilities available.[But] are we prepared to shut
>down facilities that spew propaganda?"
>Gelbard tried to defend US government policy, pointing out that during last
>year's war against Yugoslavia, the US had indeed "shut down" Serbian TV - by
>bombing it:
>
>a.. "GELBARD: Well, we have, Senator. during the conflict in Kosovo, we and
>our allies - "
>Senator Biden interrupted, afraid that Gelbard would say too much:
>
>a.. "BIDEN: No, I know that. I want to know from now."
>"GELBARD: Well, as far as I'm aware, Serb television has still been cut off
>the EUTELSAT facilities, and we have made sure that whenever they made an
>attempt, we shut them off those."
>
>How the US Tries to Subvert Yugoslavia
>
>Gelbard testified that the US government distributes money in Yugoslavia
>through "The National Endowment for Democracy" which calls itself a
>"non-governmental organization." But it is NOT non-governmental. It is funded
>by the US Congress.
>
>The National Endowment was created in 1983 to solve a problem. People knew the
>CIA bribed people and set up phony front groups to carry out US policy.
>
> "When these covert activities surfaced (as they inevitably did), the
>fallout was devastating." ('Washington Post', Sept. 22, 1991)
>
>So Congress set up the National Endowment for Democracy in order to do openly
>what the CIA used to do secretly. This had a big advantage. Since the
>subversion wasn't secret, how could it be exposed?
>
>With vast sums of money, the National Endowment and its daughter groups
>recruited "democracy activists" and "peace activists" and "independent
>economists" from target countries. These people were wined and dined and paid
>well. Plenty of expense money. Fellowships and scholarships and internships.
>They were made to feel they were tomorrow's leaders in the American Empire.
>
>These "activists" set up "independent organizations" in their home countries
>and then applied for money from the National Endowment (which had recruited
>them in the first place!) Isn't it amazing? The National Endowment always gave
>them the money!
>
>Meanwhile, the National Endowment recruited reporters from the same countries.
>These were also wined and dined and paid and thus were transformed into
>"independent journalists." They took over newspapers, radio and TV stations,
>or set up new ones. These "independent journalists" could then use their
>newspapers or TV shows to defend the "democratic activists." If anyone accused
>the "activists" of being agents of the U.S., the "independent journalists"
>would denounce this as an attack on "freedom" by "entrenched, corrupt
>interests" who hide behind "nationalism"!
>
>Allen Weinstein directed the research study that planned the National
>Endowment. He explains:
>
>a.. "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."
>('Washington Post', Sept. 21, 1991)
>How clever! Like magic, "agents" became "activists." Organizations and people
>who did what the US government told them to do were "the institutions of civil
>society." Leaders who opposed US attempts to destabilize their countries were
>"corrupt nationalists " who "opposed to freedom". Listen to this statement
>from US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, delivered to a meeting of the
>National Endowment for Democracy, held by the US State Department, in Germany:
>
>a.. "I know that one of the subjects you will be discussing today is how best
>to assist the institutions of civil society. This is especially vital in
>Serbia, where we see courageous political and municipal leaders, journalists,
>students and other activists trying to assemble the nuts and bolts of freedom.
>We are honored by the presence of some of those brave leaders here today."
>(www.emperors-clothes.com\news\albull.htm )
>Never has bravery been so well funded.
>
>What is the point of this huge network of "independent" front groups? It is
>used to soften up the target countries, makaing it easier for the US to take
>over, politically and economically. And if the US succeeds in taking over, the
>"institutions of civil society" can undermine resistance to the horrible
>effects of being made a US colony.
>
>Buying Democracy
>
>In a Dec., 1998 report, The National Endowment for Democracy described some of
>the groups it has set up and/or taken over in Yugoslavia. This is not a
>complete list. We hope to uncover more:
>
>a.. [Start of Quote] "…The National Endowment for Democracy has been assisting
>democracy building programs in the former Yugoslavia since 1988, along with
>the Soros Foundation. The National Endowment for Democracy has enabled
>newspapers, radio and TV stations to purchase supplies and equipment,
>including newsprint and broadcast transmitters. Past grantees include: the
>newspapers Nasa Borba, Vreme, and Danas, TV Negotin, the prominent news agency
>BETA, and Radio B-92, the Association for Independent Electronic Media (ANEM).
>National Endowment for Democracy funds have also been used to bring talented
>young journalists from the FRY to the United States for professional
>internships. Other US funded groups: the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), the
>Center for Democracy Foundation, a prominent Belgrade-based nongovernmental
>organization led by Dragoljub Micunovic, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights
>(BCHR), the European Movement of Serbian and the G-17. The Center for Anti-War
>Action (CAA) has received Endowment funding to promote the development of an
>independent civil society in Serbia by fostering political activism in the
>country's larger towns and cities and by strengthening nascent nongovernmental
>organizations outside of Belgrade.
>"Western organizations should increase direct support to the independent media
>in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Special attention should be given to
>supporting the independent electronic media in Serbia, such as Radio B-92 and
>TV Negotin, Assistance should target the establishment of small "underground"
>print shops and distribution networks.
>
>"The West should help the democratic political opposition develop a concrete
>program which offers positive alternatives to the destructive policies of the
>Milosevic regime. Democratic think tanks, independent research organizations
>and expert groups should be supported to develop these alternative policy
>recommendations. In addition to assistance in policy formation, [National
>Endowment for Democracy] organizations should continue to provide opposition
>political parties with expertise in coalition building, message development,
>media outreach, improving the operations of party branch offices and election
>monitoring.
>
>"Democratic forces in Montenegro, including media, think tanks, student
>groups, human rights organizations, must be supported financially, and
>nurtured.
>
>"One of the most important tasks is to increase cooperation between trade
>unions and political parties. In addition, independent media must be
>encouraged to report on the work of independent organizations." [End of Quote]
>(1)
>
>We urge you to keep in mind that the terms "independent," "democratic" and
>"non-governmental" and are codenames used by the National Endowment for
>"Democracy" to describe organizations they create around the world to bring
>down governments and societies which they wish to re-colonize, break up or
>control.
>
>Meanwhile, back at the Senate Hearings, Senator Biden and Special Envoy
>Gelbard had the following exchange about the Serbian "democratic opposition":
>
>a.. "BIDEN: What can we do about inside Serbia? For example, [Vuk] Draskovic
>continues to deny access to Studio B, which is supposedly--"
>"GELBARD: No, he's actually given access to Studio B to Radio B-92, [which]
>has just reopened as Radio B-292. We want Draskovic to open up Studio B to the
>rest of the opposition, and that's a message that he'll be getting from us in
>the next few days."
>
>Gelbard was Clinton's top adviser on Yugoslavia. Biden is a leading anti-Serb
>US Senator. These two men are so involved in the control of the Serbian
>"independent" opposition that they know - up to the minute! - whether
>Draskovic, Djindjic and Djukanovic are properly sharing office space and
>broadcast time at Studio B in Belgrade.
>
>One of the supposedly independent groups funded through the National Endowment
>for Democracy is the G-17 group of so-called "independent" economists. G-17
>and the "democratic opposition" have been doing what Gelbard and Biden want
>them to do. They have been meeting for months to plan for the current Yugoslav
>elections.
>
>Backing a Single Candidate
>
>On August 2, 'Agence France Presse' reported that a delegation from the
>"democratic opposition" met behind closed doors with the Montenegrin
>leadership, trying to convince the Montenegrins to support the "democratic
>opposition" candidate for President:
>
> "The Serbian delegation, included Zoran Djindjic of the Democratic Party
>and Vojislav Kostunica of the Democratic Movement for Serbia (DSS), the most
>likely Milosevic challenger.
>
> "The meeting took place a day after US Secretary of State Madeleine
>Albright met Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in Rome and urged
>Yugoslavia's opposition groups to drop threats to boycott the elections and
>unite to defeat Milosevic. ..." ("Agence France Press," August 2, 2000)
>
>Concerning the trip Albright made to Rome, where she met Djukanovic::
>
> "In addition to election issues Albright said she had discussed with
>Djukanovic ways in which to increase assistance to Montenegro which is in the
>throes of an economic crisis. ("Agence France Presse," Aug. 1, 2000, my
>emphasis)
>
>In other words, Albright offered Milo Djukanovic money if he would support the
>so-called "independent" opposition.
>
>At first Djukanovic refused. Kostunica criticized him publicly for not joining
>the team. Then, on September 11th, Djukanovic endorsed Kostunica. Albright got
>her money's worth.
>
>It was a stroke of luck for the US agents in Yugoslavia, working with their
>National Endowment for Democracy handlers, to maneuver Kostunica into the
>no-win situation of joining Djindjic and Djukanovic and numerous others under
>the umbrella of USA sponsorship.
>
>Kostunica has a very weak organization. He therefore depends on the
>US-controlled parties, groups and mass media to campaign. If he were to win
>the Presidency, the local US puppets (Sorry! the "democratic activists") would
>staff his government.
>
>This "democratic opposition" has endorsed a Program for written for them by
>G-17, the neoliberal economists in Belgrade, funded by the National Endowment
>for Democarcy. This Program is posted on the websites of both G-17 and the
>student group, Otpor. The program has a list of points which the "democratic
>opposition" is pledged to carry out were they to win the presidential and/or
>other elections. Here are some of the main points:
>
>1. The "democratic opposition" program proposes the option of adopting the
>German Mark as a legal currency for the whole of Yugoslavia, following the
>lead by NATO forces in Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro. This would immediately
>impoverish the Yugoslav people by making the country an economic dependency of
>Germany.
>
>2. The "democratic opposition" program calls for ending all price controls. No
>subsidized food, no social protections. Working people, including a million
>refugees whose conditions are already difficult, would be buying food at
>Western prices but without Western wages.
>
>3. The program calls for the immediate shock treatment of introducing a full
>capitalist society without first providing Yugoslavs with the necessary
>financial means to participate in such an economy. The result would be the
>transfer into foreign hands of control of the entire Yugoslav economy. Similar
>provisions for the application of so-called "modern economic ideology" have
>already succeeded in destroying Russia's economy.
>
>4. Curiously the "democratic opposition" program makes no mention of NATO's
>criminal aggression against Yugoslavia.
>
>5. The program calls for slashing public spending, demilitarization, radical
>tax changes, drastically limiting the power of the central government. All
>these measures set Yugoslavia up to be controlled from the outside.
>
>6. The program would accept the US dictate that Yugoslavia no longer exists
>and that Serbia must come on bended knee to Washington to be recognized anew.
>This would mean the immediate surrender of all the assets and historical
>rights of the Yugoslav state. These assets include billions of dollars worth
>of embassies, the Yugoslav navy, the air force, banks accounts frozen all over
>the world, foreign assets, property assembled by the Yugoslav people since the
>end of World War I.
>
>Kostunica's candidacy is nothing more than an effort to paper over the easily
>recognized faces of the United States' discredited agents in Yugoslavia.
>
>An Honor Roll of the Discredited
>
>The coalition banking Kostunica includes:
>
> a.. Zoran Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party, who fled Serbia during
>the NATO bombardment and continued before and after the bombardment to meet
>with the likes of Gelbard and Albright and to take their money.
> a.. Ms.Vesna Pesic and an assortment of similar "activists" who sought
>from the early 1990s to undermine Serbia's legitimate military defense against
>foreign aggression and illegal secessionists. These people have been working
>with the Endowment for Democracy for years.
> a.. Nenad Canak, President of the Vojvodina League of Social Democrats who
>has called for a Vojvodina Republic and who provides a focus for secessionists
>nationwide.
> a.. The opposition is supported by Milo Djukanovic, whose government has
>invited Croatian military forces to train special police and who, according to
>the British newspaper, the "Independent," has invited British SAS troops to
>train snipers to assassinate Yugoslav Army officers.
> a.. The opposition includes a collection of various other pseudo-political
>figures who have realized that taking bribes from the US continues to be the
>most profitable business in the world.
>What is the US Government Trying to Do?
>
>The US government wishes to crush the Serbian and other pro-Yugoslav people as
>a force capable of resisting US/German domination of the Balkans and the East.
>There is nothing new about this. The German establishment has been trying to
>crush the Serbs as a political force for more than a hundred years.
>
>Senator Biden said it quite clearly in the July 29, 1999 hearings:
>
>a.. "I mean, for example, it's amazing what can happen when you eliminate the
>extremes. I mean, the single best thing that ever happened to the Republic of
>Srpska is we kicked the living hell out of Milosevic. There ain't no
>alternative left. …It's amazing what a salutary impact that has upon extremes
>in countries. And that's why the single best thing we -- my dream is to visit
>Milosevic in prison. (Laughter.) I mean that sincerely. I'm not being
>facetious. Because you put Milosevic in prison, and things in the region will
>change drastically." (Senator Joseph Biden, Senate Hearings on Serbia, July
>29, 1999)
>Note that by "extremes" Sen. Biden means: people who refuse to kneel before
>the U.S. boot.
>
>Do Biden and Gelbard and the other U.S. puppet masters believe Kostunica can
>get enough votes to win? We doubt it. After all, his campaign apparatus
>consists of people who are discredited as US agents.
>
>But if Kostunica did win, it would be great for the US government. Regardless
>of Kostunica's intentions, he has a very small organization and the US-paid
>opposition forces, who are numerous, would flood his government apparatus.
>
>The US would then use its dominant position in such a Yugoslav government the
>same way it has used its dominant position in Kosovo. Since NATO marched into
>Kosovo 15 months ago, about 350,000 ethnic Serbs, Gypsies, Slavic Muslims,
>Croatians, Jews, Turks and anti-fascist ethnic Albanians have been driven out.
>Even the UN admits that Kosovo is a gangster's paradise. Tens of thousands of
>women have been kidnapped by the US ally, the Kosovo Liberation Army, and
>forced into prostitution. This is what Yugoslavia could expect if the US
>agents got their hands on the government.
>
>Look how the US has treated its allies, the pro-Islamist Bosnian Muslims and
>neo-Nazi Croatians. All things considered, these groups did not profit by
>being obedient to their US and German masters. By every standard of
>measurement they are worse off today than before they illegally left
>Yugoslavia. Or one can look at other countries. Take Russia. The Russian
>government was fully obedient and adopted every horrible measure the US
>"advised" . They helped the United States crush the Russian economy. And what
>did the people get? The worst poverty since World War II. A falling
>population. But the population of Serbia has resisted for the last ten years.
>If they were to stop now, if they were to fall for the nice words, "freedom"
>and "democracy" and "modern economic measures", as others have fallen for
>these words, what could they expect? Could they expect to be treated as "well"
>as the Russians and Bulgarians who as nations have not resisted? No. Yugoslav
>loyalists would get the special treatment the US gave the American Indians. Do
>you know what they used to say? "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."
>
>If the US, were to get control of the Yugoslav government apparatus they would
>try to crush the people. KLA terrorists would infiltrate all over the country.
>NATO would try to disarm the people while fascists destroyed Serbian culture.
>People would be expelled with nowhere to go. Prices would shoot sky high.
>Industries would be seized. Secret lists of phony "war crimes" suspects would
>be used to arrest or shoot any leader who resisted. It would be open season on
>Serbs and other Yugoslav loyalists. Of course, the Yugoslavs would not take
>this like lambs. Such a government would be driven from power by the ordinary
>people.
>
>For ten long years the people of Yugoslavia have seen the evidence that the US
>government has no mercy. We believe the Yugoslavs will not drop their
>resistance now.
>
>Footnotes:
>
>1. The full text of the July 29, 1999 Senate hearings on Serbia can be read at
>http://www.emperors-clothes.com/analysis/hearin.htm
>
>2. The NED report is a "Statement by Paul B. McCarthy, National Endowment for
>Democracy to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe". It can be
>read at (http://emperors-clothes.com/news/ned-1.htm )
>
>3. For more on G-17 see the article "Who is G-17, IMF Medicine in Disguise" by
>Prof. Michel Chossudovsky. (It will be posted shortly at
>http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/G-17.htm )
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