March 1999

From ‘Terrorists’ to ‘Partners’ U.S. Senate Republican Policy CommitteeLarry E. Craig, Chairman – Jade West, Staff Director March 31, 1999 Publications Issue List Vote Analysis Main Page On March 24, 1999, NATO initiated air attacks on Yugoslavia (a federation of two republics, Serbia and Montenegro) in order to impose a peace agreement in the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority. The Clinton Administration has not formally withdrawn its standing insistence that Belgrade sign the peace agreement, which would entail the deployment in Kosovo of some 28,000 NATO ground troops — including 4,000 Americans — to police the settlement. But in recent days the Clinton public line has shifted to a demand that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic halt the offensive he has launched in Kosovo, which has led to a growing humanitarian crisis in the region, before there can be a stop to the bombing campaign. One...

LONDON- It took too many years of bombing before America discovered its limitations in Vietnam. In Britain, people still today argue over the mass bombing that brought on the firestorm that destroyed the magnificent German city of Dresden. Did it break the will of the people or unite them in loathing–as it seems to be doing now in Belgrade–for the perpetuators. There are at least four ways of looking at Yugoslavia, and each gives its own pointers to policy. The first is that of the periscope. We should have seen what was coming and acted–invaded/bombed or whatever–earlier. It would have avoided Bosnia and certainly Kosovo. Perhaps there is some truth to this. But I prefer to remember the few voices who argued, long before local war-making span out of control, that UN peacekeepers could have been on the ground cooling and separating things off before tempers and the sour spirit of...

Veran Matic Namera vazdusnih udara protiv Jugoslavije je navodno bila da se zaustavi Miloseviceva ratna masina. Krajni je cilj naizgled bio da se pomogne narodu Kosova a tako i onima u Srbiji koji su takodje bili zrtve Milosevicevog rezima. Medjutim, bombardovanje je ugrozilo zivote ukupno 10,5 miliona ljudi i omogucilo nesputani napad na tek stasale demokratske snage kako na Kosovu tako i u Srbiji. Njime je potkopan rad reformista u Crnoj Gori i u srpskom entitetu u Bosni i Hercegovini i ugrozeni su njihovi napori da ostvare mir. Bombardovanjem Jugoslavije iskazana je sva politicka nemoc predsednika SAD, Bila Klintona, i zapadnih saveznika da sprece humanitarnu katastrofu na Kosovu. Zastititi populaciju kojoj se preti svakako jeste plemenita duznost, ali zahteva jasnu strategiju i unapred utvrdjenu viziju o zavrsetku. S razvojem situacije i na terenu i u vazduhu iz dana u dan postaje sve jasnije da takve strategije jednostavno nema. Umesto nje,...

Veran Matic The air strikes against Yugoslavia were supposed to stop the Milosevic war machine. The ultimate goal is ostensibly to support the people of Kosovo, as well as those of Serbia, who are equally victims of the Milosevic regime. In fact the bombing has jeopardised the lives of 10.5 million people and unleashed an attack on the fledgling forces of democracy in Kosovo and Serbia. It has undermined the work of reformists in Montenegro and the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and their efforts to promote peace. The bombing of Yugoslavia demonstrates the political impotence of US President Bill Clinton and the Western alliance in averting a human catastrophe in Kosovo. The protection of a population under threat is a noble duty, but it requires a clear strategy and a coherent end game. As the situation unfolds on the ground and in the air day by day, it is becoming...

Kjell Magnussons skrift hör till det viktigaste somskrivits om krig och konflikter på Balkan “RAMBOUILLETAVTALET”Texten, förhandlingarna, bakgrundenAv: Kjell Magnusson.Current IssuesReports from Centre for Multiethnic Research Uppsala University. Av Sören Sommelius Kulturredaktör, Helsinborg Dagblad, TFF:s konfliktläkningsgrupp NATOs flyg gick till angrepp mot Jugoslavien för snart ett halvår sedan, den 24 mars, som inledning till 78 dagars bombkrig med stor materiell förödelse och långsiktiga destruktiva konsekvenser för fred och säkerhet i världen. Tusentals människor dödades. Först flydde och fördrevs bortät en miljon albaner genom serbisk vedergällning och bomber. Därefter flydde och fördrevs över 200.000 albaner och zigenare i albansk vedergällning.I dag är läget på Balkan betydligt värre än det var innan NATO började bomba. Utsikterna för en varaktig fred på Balkan är knappast ljusa. Anledningen till att NATO gick i krig var formellt att Jugoslavien vägrade skriva under det så kallade Rambouilletavtalet, ett 80-sidigt dokument, om vilket parterna förhandlade under februari på...

“Bez pameti, kontraproduktivno i nezakonito NATO-ovobombardovanje suverene Jugoslavije predsednik Bil Klinton,Evropska zajednica i drugi zapadni lideri i medijiopravdavaju izgovarajuci se razlozima humanitarne prirode.Navodno – vazdusni udari sluze da sprece etnicko ciscenje,reke izbeglica, da sprece ubistva nevinih zena i dece.Diplomatskim recnikom receno ovi izgovori stizu izmarketinskog odelenja. Bombardovanje ce proizvesti upravosuprotno od onog sto navodno pokusava da spreci” kaze dr.Jan Oberg, direktor TFF-a, neposredno posle pocetkabombardovanja. Prema Obergu, ovim argumentima nedostajeuverljivost upravo iz sledecih razloga: NIJE BILO POKUSAJA DA SE NASILJE SPRECIZbog cega Zapad nije uradio apsolutno nista u prethodnomperiodu pre no sto je ova kriza prerasla u nasilnu? Bilo jepuno prilika za sporazumno razresenje. Npr. TFF je predlagaocitav niz razlicitih mogucnosti pocev od 1992. kojima senasilje moglo spreciti, a tako i ubistva kojima smo bilisvedoci prosle godine. Ni u jednom drugom sukobu nije bilotoliko prepoznatljivih, ranih znakova upozorenja, a da sepritom upotrebilo tako malo preventivne diplomatije.Kosovska katastrofa je bila medju...

“NATO’s unwise, counterproductive and non-legalbombing of sovereign Yugoslavia is justified by PresidentBill Clinton, EU and other Western leaders and media withreference to humanitarian concerns. Supposedly air strikesserve to stop ethnic cleansing, future massacres, refugeeflows, and prevent innocent children and women from beingkilled. Diplomatically expressed, this comes from themarketing department. Bombings will to produce what itpurports to prevent,” says Dr. Jan Oberg, TFF’s director,right after the bombing campaign has started. According toOberg, this argument lacks credibility for the followingreasons: NO VIOLENCE-PREVENTIONWhy did the West do absolutely nothing before this crisisbecame violent? There were many opportunities for anegotiated solutions. TFF, for instance, has suggested avariety of options since 1992 that could have preventedviolence and the killing we’ve seen the last year. In noother conflict has there been so many early warnings and solittle preventive diplomacy. Kosovo’s catastrophe was amongthe most predictable of all. It is intellectual nonsensethat ‘everything else has been tried...

LONDON– Jedini racionalni razlog za vazdusne napade zapada na Jugoslaviju je taj sto Washington i London treba da sacuvaju vlastiti kredibilitet. Zivoti mladica bice zrtvovani da bi se sacuvao obraz staraca. Rekli su da ce to uraditi i zato ce to i uraditi. Ovo je taman toliko neodgovorno koliko je i glupavo. Kako je planirano operacija ce se izvrsiti po visokoj vojnoj ceni. Ovo nece biti repriza nedavnih bombardovanja Iraka. Srbi imaju mogucnost da uzvrate, a ciljevi NATO-a su brojni. On ovde nije samo flotila ratnih brodova u obliznjim morima, u ovom slucaju ti su i NATO-ove trupe u Bosni i Makedoniji. Drugo, zapad opravdava ovu operaciju neophodnoscu da se izbegne humanitarna katastrofa. Svi cemo biti svedoci paradoksa koji ce proizvesti bombardovanje iz vazduha. Dok bude konsolidovalo podrsku bombardovane nacije koja ce stati iza svog vodje, (lekcija iz nase skorasnje istorije), ono ce takodje prozvesti i novu humanitarnu katastrofu cije...

LONDON- The only rational reason for western air attacks on Yugoslavia is that Washington and London have to maintain their credibility. Young men’s lives will be sacrificed for older men’s face. They said they would do it. So they do it. This is both irresponsible and stupid. At the most basic it will be done at a most severe military cost. This is not going to be a repeat of the recent bombings of Iraq. The Serbs do have the capacity to hit back and NATO’s targets are many. Not just the off-shore flotilla of warships but NATO troops in Bosnia and Macedonia. Second, the West is justifying the operation as necessary to avoid a humanitarian disaster. We are now going to witness the paradox of aerial bombing. While it consolidates the support of the nation being bombed behind their leader, (the lesson of its short history), it will also create...

TO: Madam Justice Louise Arbour, Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Churchillplein 1, 2501 EW, The Hague, Netherlands. AND TO: William J. Clinton, Madeleine Albright and William S. Cohen, C/o William J. Clinton, President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500, United States of America Tony Blair, Robin Cook and George Robertson, C/o Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Prime Minister 10 Downing St. SW1A 2AA London United Kingdom Javier Solana, Jamie Shea, Wesley K. Clark, Harold W. German, Konrad Freytag. D.J.G. Wilby, Fabrizio Maltinti, Giuseppe Marani and Daniel P. Leaf, C/o Javier Solana, Secretary General NATO Headquarters, 1110 Brussels, Belgium Jean Chrétien, Lloyd Axworthy and Arthur Eggleton, C/o Jean Chretien, M.P., Prime Minister House of Commons, PO Box 1103, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6, Canada Jean-Luc Dehaene, E. Derycke and J.-P. Poncelet, C/o M. Jean-Luc Dehaene, Premier Ministre rue de la Loi 16, B-1000 Brussels,...

Universitetslektor Kjell Magnusson, Centrum för multietnisk forskning, Uppsala Universitet analyserar i “Rambouilletavtalet. Texten, förhandlingarna, bakgrunden” myterna om dessa “fredsförhandlingar” och konkluderar att deras syfte med all sannolikhet var att legitimera NATO:s bombningar av Jugoslavien. Man kan inte låta bli att fråga sig hur så många människor, inklusive politiker och journalister, kunde låta sig luras av NATO:s, EU:s och USA:s propaganda. Visste svenska politiker och UD:s ämbetsmän om det verkliga innehållet – och processens verkliga syften? Boken bekräftar i långa stycken den analys TFF presenterade redan den 17 och 18 mars – före bombningnarna – i PressInfo 57 och 58. Boken beställes på http://www.multietn.uu.se/nybok.html

“NATO’s build-up in Macedonia is incredible, and goesvirtually unnoticed – except in that country. The MacedonianParliament has not even discussed the deployment of morethan 12.000 heavily armed troops and NATO bars journalistsfrom investigating what is going on. NATO is now strongerthan the country’s own defence. It took the internationalcommunity, read OSCE, 5 months to get 1500 civilian monitorsinto Kosovo, but it took only a few weeks to get themilitary build-up underway in Macedonia. When does some oneinvestigate how this happened or who pays for this and theNATO build-up around Yugoslavia? Or ask what MacedonianPrime Minister Ljupco Geogievski was promised by U.S.Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, when the hadbreakfast recently in Washington?” – says Jan Oberg, TFF’sdirector and co-founder who has just visited the country. “Here is another reasonably relevant question: SinceChristopher Hill, the main author of the Kosovo Agreement onthe table in Paris and the diplomat who prepared the groundfor...