Prof. Dr.Rajko Doleček,DrSc.                                                   Ostrava, 16.12.09.

TALKS WITH GENERAL MLADIĆ

Dear Reader,                                      

            My wife Dobra and I had the privilege to meet general Ratko Mladić repeatedly and to discuss with him many problems of Yugoslavia, especially of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BaH) and the dirty anti-Serb involvement of the official West and its media during the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in the civil-ethnic-religious war that they had fomented . The West  increased the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred in the former Yugoslavia. After each encounter with Mladić, I made short notes of the topics discussed. At that time I was the president of the Czech Foundation of friends of Serbs and Montenegrins. In 1996 we met  Dr.Radovan Karadžić, the president of Republika Srpska in BaH, a well-known poet and psychiatrist. He gave us two books of his poetry. When speaking about today´s shameful approach of the West to its trusted friends and allies, the Serbs, Dr.Karadžić said:

            -„It is unbelievable how the western media described us  in their absolutely one-sided, tendentious reports: out of ignorance and for money."

            „Talks with General Mladić" is not a General´s Biography. It covers the topics discussed with him, with some explanatory and complementary notes added.

 I was upset because the official West had made his friends and protégés out of those who had fought to the bitter end on the side of the nazis and fascists (1941-45): the Croats from the ustasha fascist Independent state of Croatia (NDH), a part of the Muslims from BaH, and the Kosovo Albanians. On the other side, the official West and its powerful propaganda machine, a big part of its media, made villains out of its staunch allies, the Serbs, who had fought gallantly on their side during two big wars (1914-18 and 1941-45) with a loss of almost a third of Serbia´s population. The US journalist Peter Brock called it in his book (2006) „the dirty reporting".The main culprit for that switch was Kohl´s Germany, whose foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, with the help of Vatican, compelled the venal European Community (later the European Union, EU) to recognize at Maastricht (Dec.17, 1991) Croatia and Slovenia as sovereign and independent states, thus paving the way for recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for bloody inter-ethnic and inter-religious wars. The final act of Helsinki (1975) about the non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states was ruthlessly violated by the West. According to the French general P.M.Gallois, Germany took revenge on Serbia because it fought in two wars when Germany was defeated. In 1941 the Serbs compelled Hitler to postpone his attack on USSR for 5-6 weeks and it was one of the reasons why the Germans lost the war. The US foreign secretary W.Christopher accused (1993) Germany of responsibility for the war in the Balkans.

After the collapse of the bipolar world, when the USSR lost its supremacy in the eastern  bloc, a majority of its people thought that they entered a free world, but it was  just an illusion where the media played a big part in manipulations and disinformations of the public. The governments of the so called „free world" and its media showed a moral decadence in spreading their selfish interests and fabrications, shouting down critics.

            I was very eager to hear the opinions of general Mladić whom the western officials and a part o media started unjustly to brand him as a war criminal, without enabling him to defend himself and shouting down  any positive informations from the Serb side. It is necessary to explain why the phenomenon Mladić appeared, under which circumstances this talented, honest and brave officer became, not by his will, one of the leaders and protectors of his people in mortal danger. He became an epic hero for ordinary people, for his troops, when they had been abandonned by all. To understand this phenomenon, one must know at least some features of the Serbian history of the last 100 years, including the genocide of Serbs (700-800 000 assassinated) in the fascist ustasha state of Croatia (1941-1945) and the cruel German regime in the occupied Serbia at that time. General Radovan Radinović, a teaching professor in the Military  Academy told about his „student„ Mladić:

            -„In my opinion and experience, he is the most talented officer  we had since 1918...His greatest handicap was the fact, that he was the best warrior who was not allowed to win the war…"

            During our first meeting, general Ratko Mladić told us with a sad smile:

            -„I am the third generation of Serbs who did not know their fathers, because they had been killed in wars when their sons were too young." General´s father Nedja, a peasant from Bosnian mountains, was killed in 1945 in the fight with the ustashas, when Ratko was only two years old.

            Colonel Mladić was sent in june 1991 to the Serb Krajina in Croatia, to help reorganize the 9th corps of  the Yugoslav army (JNA) weakened by desertions of Albanians, Croats, Muslims from BaH and Slovenes, while the Macedonians, Montenegrins and Serbs stayed. He renewed the discipline and stopped the advance of the Croatian paramilitary groups which  had started to expel and even to assassinate the Serbs in Krajina, as they had done during 1941-45. But he was not able to stop the inter-ethnik clashes. Later, he was unanimously chosen (already as a general) on May 12, 1992, to be the commander in chief of the newly created Bosnian Serb Army (VRS).

            When speaking about the ICTY Tribunal in The Hague, Mladić said with defiance:

            -„I´ll come personally to The Hague, as soon as the American generals from Vietnam and the Britisch from the Falkland Islands will be there…"

            He told it when we spoke about the illegally created Tribunal by the Security Council of UNO (1993), because it had no mandate for such an action. It was the German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel who had suggested its formation and it was Madeleine Albright who had strongly supported its creation. From its very beginning, it became a one-sided court, a sort of a „kangaroo court" with double standards, „a prolonged arm of the USA interests", very unfavorable to Serbs. Diana Johnstone described it in one of her papers „Selective justice in The Hague – The war crimes Tribunal on former Yugoslavia is a mockery of evidenciary rule" (The Nation, Sept.22, 1997). There are many examples corroborating it. Nasir Orić, the Muslim commander of Srebrenica, whose men looted and destroyed up to 100 Serb villages in eastern Bosnia, killing and injuring thousands of Serbian villagers, was given a prison sentence of only TWO years. General Rasim Delić of the Bosnian Muslim army got only THREE years, while the mujaheddins under his command decapitated many Serb (and initially even Croat) prisoners. Three Kosovo Albanians, well known killers of Serbs, Romanies and pro-Yugoslav Albanians, Ramush Haradinaj (for some time the Prime Minister of Kosovo) and his brother Daut, Fatmir Limaj (a member of Kosovo Parliament) were not even sentenced. The witnesses of their crimes were either assassinated, or just disappered, or refused to witness. Carla del Ponte, the ICTY prosecutor general, wrote about it in chapter 11 of her book (2008). Most generals of the VRS were sentenced to 20-30 years imprisonment. The well known British journalist J.Laughland called the ICTY „Rogue Court with Rigged Rules" (The Times, June 17,1999). The high UNO representative C. Thornberry described openly the immoral one-sidedness of ICTY in his article „Saving the War Crimes Tribunal" (Foreign Policy, Fall, 1996). Mladić was happy when I showed him those papers. –„Thank God, after all there are some honest journalists and media in the West!"

            General Mladić was absolutely devoted to his Serbian nation and to his troops, his popularity was tremendous. My wife and I spent a very friendly afternoon chatting at the HQ of VRS at Han Pijesak in eastern Bosnia with his top commanding officers, drinking coffee and sipping „frontovača", a 50% plum brandy, with them.

             We had a talk with the blue-eyed general about „the meaning of the Serb history"

-„As a whole, but there were some exceptions, the Serbs are honest, fair and gallant, knightly, you could say. Without those features they would not fight for 500 years against the Turkish invaders with unbelievable sufferings, when it was so easy to convert to Islam and to become „a sultan´s son", with all accompanying privileges…"

The first two big victories in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary (1914-1918) were won by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1914, the battle of Cer (august) and the Kolubara-Suvobor battle (november-december). The latter was won by general Živojin Mišić, who was promoted to vojvoda (field marchall) after the battle.

-„Those victories have been studied even in western Military academies, as examples of a brilliant military strategy. My cap has the same form as the cap of vojvoda Mišić," said Mladić proudly. In a few minutes he explained how the battles were going on. Mladić hated the war, with its killings and destructions, with its disregard for human life and with its consequent revenge and hatred. When we spoke about the famous Chinese Master SUN and his book „About the Art of Warfare" (from the 4-5.centuries B.C.) I found in its first chapter a perfect description of the brilliant military leader Mladić:

-„The profession of a military leader means prudence, reliability, humanity, courage and hard resolutness."

General Mladić could not understand the hypocrisy of the West, its unhumane approaches in many events, its tendency to disinform or to overtly lie.

-„In summer 1992 the western part of Republika Srpska (RS) was cut from its eastern part, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FRY (Serbia+Montenegro). In the Banja Luka hospital suddenly no oxygen in cylinders was available. The local authorities asked the West to allow the oxygen cylinders from FRY or from the West to be sent to Banja Luka. It was not allowed and 12 newborn babies suffocated…The supplies arrived when my heroic Krajina and Drina corps after severe fighting opened a corridor at Brčko, in northern Bosnia…. A group of four British parlamentarians visited (1993) RS and found an appalling health service situation. Two boys, Siniša (9 yrs) and Dejan (10 yrs), had been severely wounded by a Muslim shell at the Serb held town of Doboj. The local doctors were not able to help them. They asked the West to transport them to a western well equipped hospital in Germany, France or Italy, as it was done when Croat or Muslim children were critically injured. This urgent appeal was rejected and both boys died soon…" The report of the four MPs was written in September 1993.

But one of the western crimes against humanity upset general a lot. It was the suspension of FRY from the World Health Organisation on May 3, 1993. It was initiated by Danmark and WHO thus became an instrument of punishment and not of help. As a consequence, thousands of babies, children, elderly people and chronically ill died in FRY, in Republika Srpska, in Republika Srpska Krajina. Infectious diseases spread.

As provocations, the Muslim government in Sarajevo organized three big explosions in Sarajevo (the bread queue massacre on May 27, 1992; the Markale I massacre on February 5, 1994; the Markale II massacre on August 28, 1995), with heavy loss of life, and accused the Serbs as perpetrators. The official West, its media (but not all of them) accepted „joyfully" that fabrication and severe sanctions were imposed thereafter on FRY and RS by the UNO. But the honest western journalists exposed that ploy: L.Doyle "Muslims slaughter heir own people – Bosnia bread queue massacre was propaganda ploy, UN told"(The Independent, Aug.22, 1992); B.Volker, a French TV TF1 journalist: „The mortar bomb which killed 68 people in a Sarajevo marketplace and evoked a NATO ultimatum against the Bosnian Serbs was fired from Muslim positions, according to a UN report" (Feb.5, 1994); HughMcManners: "Serbs ´not guilty of massacre´- Experts warned US that mortar was Bosnian" (The Sunday Times, Oct.1, 1995). At that time, the US lt.colonel John Sray (military inteligence) published his report „Selling the Bosnian Myth to America: Buyer Beware!"(Foreign Military Studies Office, Oct.1995), exposing many western lies and fabrications. Mladić was enthusiastic to hear it. He knew from the Serb intelligence, that explosions were organized by the Muslim authorities, the latest („Markale II") with the knowledge and approval by the official West because NATO needed a pretext to start the air raids on RS and to become practically an official ally of Croats and Muslims.

              In spring and summer 1995 a powerful Croatian army was concentrated near the borders of RS. In may and in august 1995, the Croatian Army (about 140 000 troops), well equipped by Germany, Argentina and others, attacked the Republika Srpska Krajina (about 20-30 000 troops). The planners of that aggression were the US retired mercenary generals C.E.Saint, H.Soyster and C.E.Vuono (the Professional Military Resources,Inc). The Croatian attack was supported by the Bosnian Muslim army and by NATO planes (intelligence, supplies). About 250 000 Serbs were robbed and expelled from their ancient homes, over 1 000 of them were assassinated. Serb Krajina in Croatia was devastated, its towns heavily bombarded by artillery and planes. Krajina became ethically „clear" of Serbs. The Croatian attack happened during Croat-Serb negotiations, under UNO protection. There were no resolutions of UNO, no sanctions, there was only some sporadic official criticism. The Czech president Havel, obedient to his western mentors, did not use his phrases about truth and love against lies and hatred in the case of Serbs from Krajina.

            -„We have been in an awkward situation. A huge Croatian army and tens of thousands of Muslim troops, with NATO support, were there. The 28th Muslim division at Srebrenica (it was not demilitarized !) was a knife in our back. We had to take Srebrenica…The West used Srebrenica to divert world´s attention from the horrible crimes of Croats against the 250 000 expelled and looted Serbs in Krajina. It was Mrs Albright´s cover-up that created the fantastic fabrication,  the alleged Srebrenica massacre…During the 3 years of fighting around Srebrenica we lost about 1 200 men, while the Muslims about 2 000…Our VRS had strict orders to behave according to the international laws. There were absolutely no mass murders or mass executions. But I cannot exclude personal revenges of some of our troops from this area when they recognized among the Muslim troops the killers of their families, who had devastated their villages…

            We used our buses to transport about 30 000 civilians who wanted to leave, and Muslim soldiers who surrendered, to the position of the Muslim army near Kladanj or Tuzla. Was this a genocide? Maybe 10 000 of Muslim troops fought on trying to break through to Tuzla. Oddly enough, their commanders withdrew well in advance. Was it planned? Muslims suffered heavy losses in fighting, but thousands of them reached Tuzla. The West and the Sarajevo authorities made out of this losses during fighting  a genocide.

            The Dutch troops (the Dutchbat of appr.450 men) stationed at Srebrenica, including their commander Lt.Colonel T.Karremans and the Dutch Chief of Staff general Hans Cousy negated the official western version about genocide of Muslims in Srebrenica (H.Hetzel, Die Welt, July 12, 1996). While the Dutch defence minister J.Voorhoeve talked about more thousands of Muslim victims, the Dutch troops talked about more hundreds, up to one thousand, of Muslim troops killed in fighting. A group of the western experts (Y. Bodansky, G.Copley, P.Corwin, Sept.18, 2003) declared that  the independent forensic analyses found the 7 000 or even 8 000 alleged Muslim dead a very inflated figure, the real losses were in the range of hundreds. About 3 000 of those allegedly „killed" Muslims took even part in BaH elections in 1996 !!! Their names were on the voting lists.

            When the Serb ex-president S.Milošević was tried (2004) in The Hague for the alleged war crimes, the French general P.Morillon (ex-commander of UNPROFOR) said that the Serbs wanted a revenge in Srebrenica for those Serbs murdered by the Muslims earlier. His statement made the Muslim regime furious. Before the war (1941-45), about 50% of inhabitants of Srebrenica were Serbs, in 1991 only about 29% of them, because thousands of them had been expelled or murdered by the Croatian ustashas and the local Muslims during the war. When the VRS entered Srebrenica in 1995, no Serbs lived there any more.

            One day general Mladić told us with some sadness in his voice:

            -„I know, that both the Muslims from BaH and the Croats hate me, especially their mothers because they see behind my name their dead sons, soldiers and, unluckily, civilians as well. And their destroyed houses, lost property. But they must realize, that THEY wanted and started to dismember this country in defiance to constitution, that they started all those destructions and killings. What could I do? Had I to allow them to kill the Serbs, as they did in the ustasha state of Croatia in 1941-45? We, the Serbs, as well as many Muslims and Croats with a pro-Yugoslav ideology did not want a war, did not start it. We did not want to secede from Yugoslavia. It was terrible that many of our pro-Yugoslav bothers, Croats and Muslims, found themselves unintentionally behind hostile barricades, driven there by  their leaders and fanatic fellow believers. Many Muslims knew that they had been originally the Serbs, before they converted to Islam.There were many Muslim prominent men, poets, writers who declared that they were the Serbs of Muslim faith.

            „Do you imagine what an orgy of  brutal murder brought to Bosnia the mujaheddins from Irak, Chechnya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, etc.? They taught our Muslims how to kill in a more brutal way. They even decapitated  their prisoners, the Serbs and even the Croats when they  waged a very bloody and cruel  Croat-Muslim war (mainly in 1993).

            Generally speaking, general Mladić felt that he was a Yugoslav, he declared it during a population census in 1991. He was very angry with the Slovenes, about their dirty role in the dismemberment of Yugoslavia and their very anti-Serb attitudes.

            -„The Slovenes have forgotten how they and Croats implored the Serb royal authorities in Belgrade at the end of 1918, to be accepted by the victorious Serbia to become a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SHS) and how the SHS saved the Slovenes from a final germanization and italianization. As a member of a victorious country, neither the Slovenes nor the Croats were obliged to pay reparations, otherwise they would be obliged to, because they were a part of Austria-Hungary during the war…Finally the Serb army expelled the Italians who started to occupy Slovenia, Dalmatia and parts of Croatia.Both in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and in Tito´s Yugoslavia, the Slovenes had the highest living standard in our  country", said Mladić angrily.

            But even Warren Zimmermann, the last US ambassador in Belgrade, who behaved in an anti-Serb, pro-Slovene way, made a few caustic remarks about the Slovenes in his article  „Origins of a Catastrophe" (Foreign Affairs, March/April, 1995): -„Their virtue was democracy and their vice was selfishness. In their drive to separate from Yugoslavia, they simply ignored the 22 million of Yugoslavs who were not Slovenes…Contrary to the general view, it was the Slovenes who started the war…"

            One event, among others, made general Mladić sad. His memory about it recurred again and again.

            -„I am sorry about the fact that nobody in the West mentioned how the Serbs from VRS saved 40-50 000 fleeing Croats pursued (in 1993) by the"bloodthirsty" mujaheddins. We defended them, fed them, treated them in our hospitals, we shared our food with them as their brothers, although we ourselves suffered a lot od deprivations. Their troops, including officers, solemnly promised to me, even swore,  not to use arms against their Serb brothers any more. But they did not keep their word. It made me really sad. Otherwise, my personal bodyguard was a young Croat, a sergeant of our VRS, whom I trusted completely. He was a good Yugoslav. Well, I must tell you, that we saved occasionally the Muslims as well. Usually it was from their fanatic fellow Muslims…"

            There was another aspect of the mujaheddin activities that must be mentioned. They did not want only to defend their brothers in faith from the infidels, „giaours", but they wanted  to keep the local Muslims „on the right side of the traditional Islam", to compel them, even by force, to conform to the ancient islamic laws and traditions. Mladić told us how some of his „normal" muslim acquaintances were shocked to hear about all those limitations the mujaheddins wanted to impose on the muslim women. They would not be allowed to meet alone any men not related to them, they would not be allowed to show their face and hair when out of doors. –„It seemed as an anti-propaganda for Islam," said Mladić

            To stop the hostilities in BaH, a summit was held in Athens (May 1-2, 1993), chaired by the Greek Prime Minister K.Mitsotakis. The Presidents of Serbia S.Milošević,  of FRY D.Ćosić and of RS Dr.R.Karadžić were present. They supported the Vance-Owen plan, even Dr.Karadžić accepted it with some reluctance, only when a corridor was promised connecting the Serb cantons through the northern Bosnia. The plan divided BaH into 9 cantons (for each nation three), the tenth would be Sarajevo under a joint administration. The Parliament of RS had to ratify it on May 15th at Pale. And it was there that general Mladić addressed the guests and the RS Parliament. His speech was fascinating, it would deserve to be in textbooks of history.

            -„This war was forced upon the Serbs, it is a civil, ethnic and religious war, we were  expelled to a place of windstorms and we were branded as „criminals" to the world… And the same world  and the same international community did not condemn the inhuman and cruel acts by the Slovene and Croatian secessionists…We, the military, have serious worries that the international community made out of Srebrenica an international stage spectacle…All the humanitarian agencies appeal to supply Srebrenica with water without admitting that we were informing the world a whole year through that the Serbs were without water, without electricity, without the posibility to produce food…Our people breathes through a straw, we are under blockade, we cannot import drugs or oil for our agriculture.

            Gentleman, on the heroic Ozren (mountain range between Tuzla and Doboj) live more than 100 000 Serb refugees from Tuzla, from the central Bosnia, Zenica, Vareš… There was no war between the Muslims and Croats as long as they did not sign the Vance-Owen plan. Do you know that our holy place, the abyss GOLUBINKA, is in Croat hands? In 1941 the ustashas threw into it, dead or half dead, 2 000 Serbs from surrounding Serbian villages and Mostar. Their bones were lifted on Aug.4, 1991, on the anniversary of the 1941 massacre. The orthodox graveyard, church and the war memorial here were destroyed by the Croatian troops and paramilitaries in 1992, when the JNA had withdrawn…Our RS, if devided according to the V-O plan, would become undefensible…"

            After hearing general´s speech, the RS Parliament rejected almost unanimously the Vance-Owen plan. It was rejected overwhelmingly as well in a later referendum. This caused a hostile reaction by president Milošević (the support of FRY to RS almost stopped), by the western politicians and media. Karadžić-Mladić relations deteriorated for some time. But later, when the US ex-president Jimmy Carter visited at the end of december 1994 Pale in RS, they were already much improved.

            -„We have not been aggressors. It was our own country, where we have lived for many centuries together with Croats and Muslims. I am not a war criminal. The Serbian people suffered a lot, unluckily nowadays from its former friends and allies (Britain, France, USA), on whose side we fought in two big wars. Almost nobody did understand the suffering of our people, its just struggle  here in Bosnia. Only the US ex-president Jimmy Carter said, during his visit to Pale, when he was sitting between Karadžić and me, that the US public is quite insufficiently acquainted with our Serb problems in BaH. But, I am proud, that the army under my command prevented the repetition of the Serb genocide in the fascist ustasha state of Croatia during 1941-1945…"

            There was one thing that neither general nor I could understand: the colossal and arrogant fabrications of the West and of their Yugoslav „clients" (Croats, Muslims from BaH, Slovenes) regarding the alleged systemic raping of Muslim women by the Serb military, as a part of their war strategy. It was actually started by the Bosnian (Muslim) foreign minister Haris Silajdžić in autumn 1992 in Geneva, when he announced in cold blood that the Serbs have raped 30 000 Muslim women. Since that time the figure has been rising steadily. A Czech journalist Jitka Obzinova was probably a „record holder" with her 100 000 raped  women (Czech TV2, December 5, 1992, 22,00 „Don´t Divide Bosnia"). Another prominent record holder was a US professor of law Catharine MacKinnon with her over 50 000 raped. A crazy (one mut say so) American Judy Darnell in 1993 stated that the Serbs in BaH ran 47 „rape camps". Even the CIA and the International Red Cross looked for them and did not find them.  The Europe, including the Czech republic, was prepared to accept the „epidemic" of thousands of poor children (they are called sometimes devil´s children) born by those raped women. But no children appeared. Prominent newpapers, periodicals (e.g.,Newsweek) published that arrogant propaganda stupidity that caused a lot of problems to the Serbs. Even the European union swallowed the bait. The numbers were poorly documented and absolutely unproven.It was finally found, by a OUN commission, that the numbers of officially accepted rapes of those ill-fated women of all three warring nations were very very much less. The Dutch professor of state law Fric Kalshoven said:

            -„People tell horrible stories because someone has told them to tell it for propaganda objectives – or because everyone is telling horrible stories…" Professor Kalshoven wanted proof, not propaganda…

            When we talked with general Mladić about the „rape propaganda", he  laughed at the stupidity of those who believed it, but he admitted that the „rape campaign of the West" caused a lot of  harm to the Serbs, that it was actually just a goofy, but unluckily a successful, but very dirty ploy organized by the West and its clients from BaH and Croatia.

            -„Good heavens! If it were true, my 80 000 boys would not fight, but just chase the Muslim or Croat women. What a nonsence ! But, to be true, rapes were reported  as mostly coward and  hidious atrocities, that must be exemplary punished. But punished must be all those as well who fabricated and abused it for propaganda purposes, stimulating hatred…"

            General Mladić liked the US four-star general Charles Boyd, after I read him his paper „ To make peace with the guilty" (Foreign Affairs, september/october 1995). We just discussed the bizarre disinformations spread by the West and its clients about the casualties, about the numbers of those killed during the war in Bosnia. General laughed when I told him, that the record holder in this respect was again our journalist Jitka Obzinova. She informed, as a reporter from BaH (Czech Radio, July 11, 1993) that the number of those killed in BaH (casualties ?) was just 500 000! But the official figure as quoted by the US and western politicians and the Sarajevo government, was 250 000, even 300 000. Nobody from the West did question the Sarajevo or Zagreb authorities, where did they got those figures from. General Boyd, the deputy commander of the US forces in Europe, put the death toll between 60-100 000. He informed that the Sarajevo authorities „decreased" in spring 1995 the death toll to „only" 145 000, while George Kenney, an ex-member of the State Department put the losses in BaH (1992-95) at 25-60 000 („The Bosnian Calculation", The NYT Magazíne, Apr.23,1995). The CIA analyses were about tens of thousands. The big disinformer Bill Clinton told Americans on Nov.27, 1995. about the 250 000 killed, while the US defence secretary W.Perry told the US Senate (July 7, 1995) that there were 130 000 dead in BaH in 1992, 12 000 in 1993, and 2 500 in 1994 (130 000 + 12 000 + 2 500 = 144 500). Who did actually lead by the nose the Americans and the world? Finally a later study from Norway put the number of dead in BaH at 80 000, the study of ICTY at 102 000. But I was not able any more to discuss it with Mladić, because he had to disappear, to hide. Two booklets were published (2005) in Belgrade: „The Book of the Dead Serbs from Sarajevo" with 5 515 names, and „The Book of the Dead Serbs from Srebrenica-Bratunac" with 3 262 names. It included 344 names from Hadžići, 110 from Olovo and 89 from Kladanj.

            Mladić was satisfied that his American „colleague", the four-star general C.Boyd was a fair man, who did not hesitate to tell the truth and that he had made some caustic words about the western media anti-Serb reporting and about their window-dressing.

            Some Serb paramilitary groups caused many sleepless nights to both Mladić and Karadžić. Not all of them were helpful and welcome. Some of them included even criminal elements, psychopaths. The others treated the Croat or Muslim civilians too heavy-handedly, but it could be understood to some extent, but not permitted, even if  some of them had seen their families assassinated by the Muslims or the Croats. President Karadžić issued many orders to protect Muslims from those irregulars. I have seen many relevatnt documents about it. On the other side, some Serb paramilitaries helped a lot the unprepared and undefended Serb settlements that had been at the berginning an easy prey to the organized and trained Croat and Muslim bands, e.g.,in the northrern and eastern Bosnia.

            During our last meeting Ratko was very mad at the European union, when we talked about the criminal NATO aggression on FRY in spring 1999, with all those daily bombing raids lasting for 78 days:

            -„I cannot understand the hypocrisy of those EU countries. Their words about humanism are just a fake because they used their bombers without any UNO mandate and under fabricated pretext killed and destroyed in Serbia and collaborated with the UÇK criminals in Kosovo and Metohija. How is it possible that the Germans were killing in Serbia again? Why were the American, Belgian, Dutch, etc. goody-goodies killing our children? How is it possible that the EU democratic and liberal parliament did not stop it?

            The Czech ex-president Václav Havel had shown his face not only in BaH, but later in Kosovo and Metohija as well, promoting the independente of it. In January 2010 he was awarded the Golden Medal of Ibrahim Rugova by the president of the quasi-state of Kosovo. He was rewarded for the support of the Kosovo Albanians and obviously for his term „the humanitarian bombing" in 1999, and for the treason of the Serbian people, if you like.

             When writing the above I was very sorry that I was not able to talk to Ratko later, to tell him e.g., about those Germans who „waged a war" against the lies and fabrications of their own government and against NATO because of their involvement in the dirty, criminal military action against the FRY. I am sure that Mladić would hear with enthusiasm what the German publicist Jürgen Elsässer wrote in his two books about the incredible lies of his government: War Crimes – The Mortal Lies of the Federal Government and Their Victims in the Kosovo Conflict (2000); The War Lies – From Kosovo Conflict to Milošević Trial (2004). He knew how the German writer Handke liked and defended  Serbs in his novels.

            Very interesting was general´s attitude to various UNPROFOR commanding generals.

Some of them general even befriended, liked them (the Indian Satish Nambiar, the Swedish Lars-Eric Wahlgren, the Belgian Francis Briquemont, to some extent the Canadian Lewis MacKenzie). The French general Philippe Morillon was not close to Mladić, even though he showed repeatedly courageous firmness. As for the elite British Michael Rose, he was not close to general´s heart. He probably did not realize enough the Serb problems in BaH, the Serb tragedy in ustasha Croatia. He did not put himself in the Serb position, he was just an elite, aristocratic (may be too aristocratic?) British general, with a responsible task. He did not meet somehow the expectations of Mladić. The first meeting with the US general Wesley Clark in Banja Luka (Aug.27, 1994) was rather friendly, with some jokes and innocent teasing. Mladić reminded Clark that the Serbs never were at war with Americans, British, French and Russians. He told him that the Serb army of general Mihailović, itself in a critical position, saved over 500 American pilots shot down by Germans during the war 1941-45 and enabled their return home in the grandiose „Operation Halyard", at the end of 1944. Clark expressed his admiration to Mladić for his courage and patriotism. Mladić remembered that Clark had paid him a compliment:

            -„You are the only commander who does not say to his men FORWARD, but FOLLOW ME!"

            Clark, in a friendly talk, explained to Mladić, that he was on duty in many (17?) countries. Mladić answered that he was on duty and that he is still fighting in one country only, in his native country, which he was just now defending. They even exchanged their military caps. Clark said with enthusiasm: -„It is great that you allowed me to put your cap on my head!" Later, Clark had to explain it to the State Department. When parting, Mladić tapped in a friendly way Clark on his shoulders, as a sign of mutual trust, confidence. People allegedly heard that he called him „Wesley"… Regrettably, Wesley commanded NATO during its criminal  aggression against FRY in 1999.

            There was one general that Mladić did not like, even detested. It was the French general Bernard Janvier who knew or surely anticipated the planned Croat massacres of the Krajina Serbs and did not prevent them. In an angry letter Mladić made him responsible for all the crimes committed by the Croat forces in the UNPA zones, in Krajina, in may and august 1995. Mladić did not like the British general Rupert Smith either. He signed the results of a superficial investigation, that the Serbs had caused the Markale II massacre (Aug.28, 1995), although other experts denied it. He was thus responsible for the immediate (in less than two days) massive air raids of NATO planes against RS, with a lot of destructions and killing, without any detailed investigation. Two papers were published about that fraud by Hugh Mc Manners (see earlier) on Oct.1, and by David Binder (The Nation, Oct.2,1995).

            General Ratko Mladić is a very prominent, positive personality of the Serbian history. He defended his Serb people in the most gloomy days with courage, unselfishly and successfully. He was not afraid even when he was confronted with the most powerful military organization of  the world, with NATO, representing over half a billion richest people. He knew that he was right and that NATO behaved in Yugoslavia (1995, 1999) in a very criminal way. The North Atlantic Treaty, Article I, of Apr. 4, 1949. and how it was violated, will remind you of that:

                        „The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations,

                        to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by

                        peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security

                        and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international

                       relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent

                        with the purposes of the United Nations…"                           

          Ratko Mladić, this very talented and gallant military leader, honest Serb and brave officer, was slandered by a dirty propaganda campaign both from the West and from its client states in the former Yugoslavia (the Muslim-Croat Federation of BaH, Croatia, Slovenia). Even some members of his own nation were slandering him, most of them in their endeavour to show how they obey and how  they are loyal to their foreign lords in the West.                                                     

            But one historical fact mustn´t be forgotten. The tandem Karadžić-Mladić, in spite of all those innumerable injustices and malices of the West, in spite of the Dayton dictate and its terrible consequences for hundreds of thousands of Serbs in BaH, managed to create against all odds a Serb State (Republika Srpska), in BaH.

            I think that the time has come  to give the name of Ratko Mladić to important streets, squares, parks in Serbia, and  to decorate the walls or writing desks in apartments with his photos.       

The book was not written because the autor´s mother was a Serb. It was written to hear the other side of the civil-ethnic-religious war in the former Yugoslavia, in BaH, that was shouted down by western mafia, politicians and media, who thought that they were right because of their money and powerful armies. And I lived for 20 years in the former Yugoslavia.

 Nobody was absolutely innocent in the tragedy of Yugoslavia, but the Serbian people is not responsible for the dismemberment of Yugoslavia which they did not want, and the Serbs did not begin all those killings and destructions. NATO behaved in Yugoslavia like a criminal organization, killing and destroying without any UNO mandate, and increasing the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred.

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BRIC will rule the world, but not that soon – former WB boss

08 February, 2010, 03:19

For 40 years the US was the dominant economic power, but today China and India are emerging and there is a complete change internationally, former World Bank president James Wolfensohn told RT at Davos.

"If you take a view in 10-20 years, there is no question that China and India will become dominant powers, China first and later India. By 2030-2040 the US will rank, perhaps, #3 to those two. But the US is still a hugely important power, not just because of the economics, but because of technology and income per capita, which is still far in excess to China and India, and because of its political leadership," stated Wolfensohn. "We are not going to see a change that is too dramatic. But you certainly will find the emerging powers will want a greater share of discussion in the global scene and in particular the BRIC countries, and of the BRIC countries in particular, China and India."

Answering a question about the role of the IMF and the World Bank in helping smaller countries overcome the great economic downturn, Wolfensohn stated that these organizations were "giving a great deal of money to come and help to solve the problem."

"I rather feel the IMF and the World Bank emerge stronger as a result of this, because people came to realize you cannot live without them," he said.

Wolfensohn believes the management of these organizations is already changing due to the fact that "it is no longer the US-dominated World Bank and the EU-dominated IMF. All this is now subject to examination, and in particular, the role of China and India, Brazil and Russia are becoming very important."

Wolfensohn thinks it would be hard for emerging economies to pick up the slack from the US and EU economies, but that this would change rather quickly.

"All BRIC countries, China, India, Russia and Brazil together, are less in terms of GDP than the United States, maybe less than half of the US," explained Wolfensohn. So "China and India alone cannot rescue the world economy at the moment."

As for the probability of Russia becoming Europe's biggest economy by 2020, Wolfensohn said it takes "the government and the Russian people to understand that to compete internationally, it is not enough just to have hydrocarbons, timber and natural resources. That gets back to the educational system, to the management system, to the system of incentives, to the move away from centralized government to a more diversified structure."

Though Russia [in comparison to China and India] has some intellectual advantages it should pursue, said Wolfensohn, "high tech does not create lot of employment."

Besides the issue of employment in the world's biggest country, Wolfensohn also named such problems as ageing population, educational system, the incentives system, the judicial system and corruption as issues that need to be addressed urgently.

http://rt.com/Politics/2010-02-08/bric-economy-wolfensohn-interview.html/print

Brussels, 2 February 2010

Europeans broadly satisfied with their lives, but survey highlights concerns over the future of the economic and social situation

Europeans are on average broadly satisfied with their personal situation, but less satisfied when it comes to the economy, public services and social policies in their country, according to an opinion survey released today. The Eurobarometer on the social climate in the EU also found large differences between countries, with people in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands generally most satisfied with their personal situation. The survey forms part of the European Commission's Social Situation Report, also released today, which examines social trends in Europe, this year focusing on housing.

"It is comforting that despite the difficult economic situation, most Europeans remain satisfied with their lives, although there is some apprehension about the future," said Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. "Today's report shows once again the importance of our efforts to promote jobs and growth in Europe so as to guarantee people's social well-being in the future. We must continue these efforts as part of our future 2020 strategy to make the EU a smarter and greener social market economy."

According to the Eurobarometer survey, a majority of Europeans are satisfied with life in general, giving an average score of +3.2 points (on a scale of -10 to +10). But there are big differences between Member States: the highest level of satisfaction was reported in Denmark, (+8.0), with Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland also having high levels. The lowest levels of satisfaction were reported in Bulgaria (-1.9), followed by Hungary, Greece and Romania.

When it comes to public services, Europeans are on average quite dissatisfied with the way their public administrations are run (-1.2 points). In every country, apart from Luxembourg and Estonia, Europeans feel that this has worsened over the last five years and expect it to continue to get worse (in all countries except Luxembourg).

When asked about specific public policies, Europeans are broadly satisfied with healthcare provision (+1.3 points), with people in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg most satisfied (over +5 points) and those in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania least satisfied (-3 points or less).

Europeans were most dissatisfied with the way inequalities and poverty are addressed in their country (-2 points). Only respondents in Luxembourg and the Netherlands awarded a positive score, while respondents in Latvia and Hungary were the most strongly dissatisfied (-5 points or worse).

Housing

The European Commission's latest annual Social Situation Report shows that Europeans now spend more of their income on housing costs than they did ten years ago (almost 4 percentage points more), while mortgage debt has increased sharply across the EU.

On average, Europeans spend one-fifth of their disposable income on accommodation. Rent and mortgage payments only make up 30% of total housing costs in the EU while the other 70% pays for repairs, maintenance and fuel. Following housing privatisation, most people living in countries from the central and eastern EU Member States own their own homes, and charges for repairs, maintenance and fuel make up around 90% of total housing costs.

The report also looks at quality of housing and finds that many Europeans report living in sub-standard accommodation and that more people on low incomes report housing problems.

Social impacts of the crisis

While it is still too early to assess the full social impact of the crisis, the report investigates what lessons may be learned from the experience of past recessions. It shows that social expenditure has played a role in protecting those affected during recessions but that the likelihood that an unemployed person will receive income support varies across the EU.

Background

The Special Eurobarometer survey on the social climate is the first in a series of annual surveys to monitor European citizens' subjective well-being and was conducted in May-June 2009 among citizens in the 27 EU Member States. It asks people their opinions about their personal situation, the national economic and social situation, and their feelings about policies of their governments in various areas, including health care and pensions.

The Social Situation Report is an annual report by the European Commission that takes a closer look at long-term social trends in the EU in order to provide up-to-date, reliable and comprehensive information on the social situation. This year, it focuses on two key issues in public policy: housing (including ownership status and costs), and the possible effects of the recession including results from the Eurobarometer survey on social climate.

MEMO/10/27

For more information:

Special Eurobarometer survey on the social situation

Full report

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_315_en.pdf

Summary

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_315_sum_en.pdf

European Commission Social Situation Report

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=675&langId=en

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/114&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Norway Time Hole "Leak" Plunges Northern Hemisphere Into Chaos

Written by (Author ) World Jan 8, 2010

Russian scientists are reporting to Prime Minister Putin today that the high-energy beam fired into the upper heavens from the United States High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) radar facility in Ramfjordmoen, Norway this past month has resulted in a "catastrophic puncturing" of our Plant's thermosphere thus allowing into the troposphere an "unimpeded thermal  inversion" of the exosphere, which is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere.

To the West's firing of this 'quantum' high-energy beam we had previously reported on in our December 10, 2009 report titled "Attack On Gods 'Heaven' Lights Up Norwegian Sky".

To how catastrophic for our Planet this massive thermal inversion has been Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corporation in Tokyo, is reporting today that the entire Northern Hemisphere is in winter chaos, with the greatest danger from this unprecedented Global event being the destruction of billions of dollars worth of crops in a World already nearing the end of its ability to feed its self.

So powerful has this thermal inversion become that reports from the United States are stating that their critical crops of strawberries, oranges, and other fruits and vegetables grown in their Southern States, are being destroyed by record cold temperatures. The US is further reporting record amounts of snowfall in what they are now warning may be their worst winter in 25 years.

Reports from the United Kingdom today are, likewise, showing a Nation in chaos as brutal cold temperatures continue to batter the British people suffering under the worst snow blizzards to hit them in almost 50 years. So dire has it become in the UK that their National Grid yesterday issued only its second warning in its entire history stating that their Nation's gas supply was running out due to this unprecedented event.

Not just to the UK, but also to the entire European Union has this thermal inversion been affecting as reports from that region show continued chaos is occurring due to plunging temperatures and snows. In the UK, also, reports are showing that the military has been called out to rescue over 1,000 stranded vehicles.

Though the Motherland, and its people, are some of the best equipped in the World to handle such severe winter conditions, the Russian island of Sakhalin was inundated this past week by a rare Snow Cyclone setting off no less than avalanches.

But to the worst affected region of the Northern Hemisphere no one has been hit harder than China, where in what is being described as a "soul-destroying snowstorm" this Asian Nation has been plunged into such havoc the entire country has been brought to a standstill. China further reports that the massive snowstorms hitting them are their worst in 60 years and necessitating their military forces to save over 1,400 people trapped when their train became covered in snow. So overwhelmed by this unprecedented event has China become that they have ordered all of their citizens to help with snow removal too.

South Korea has not been spared either as reports from that Nation are reporting their worst snow storms in their modern history of recording these events.

Reports from Japan are also reporting record snowfall in their Northern Regions, where according to one unnamed Kushiro resident, "Snow falls hard here in Kushiro, but this is the most I have ever seen. The snow's piling up and we're running out of places to dump it."

Canada, another Nation used to extreme winter events, reports that the storm that had hit their maritime provinces this past week was so powerful buildings were knocked off of their foundations in what one resident, Tom Jardine, described as being "worse than a hurricane".

To the long-term consequences of this thermal inversion caused by the West, these reports further warn that by the puncturing of our atmosphere by the HHARP radars our Planet has, also, been "needlessly exposed" to the growing threat posed to us by the giant mysterious object currently approaching us (named by NASA as G1.9) which we had previously reported on in our January 3rd report titled "Russia Prepares For Asteroid Strike As New Comet Nears Sun", and which has been blamed for the rapid shifting of our Earth's North Pole that was first documented in 2005.

But to the most critical aspect of these events it surely lies with the Western World's continued arrogance in regards to experimenting on both our Planets natural species and human beings, and though who may think that they are 'gods', are continuing to give evidence that they are acting more like devils.

http://www.daily.pk/norway-time-hole-%E2%80%9Cleak%E2%80%9D-plunges-northern-hemisphere-into-chaos-14311/

DISCLAIMER: Pakistan Daily News does not necessarily agree witht he views set forth by the Author of this article.

Blair's Monstrous Consistency

Posted on January 30th, 2010 by Daniel Larison

But the failure to achieve a second, explicit, U.N. resolution was a political problem, not a legal obstacle. Few of the anti-war movement care to recall that the Kosovan War was, if anything, predicated upon a flimsier legal case than the Iraqi intervention. ~Alex Massie

One of the reasons why I keep revisiting the illegality and immorality of the intervention in Kosovo long after most people have forgotten about it is precisely because so many opponents of the Iraq war don't want to acknowledge that Kosovo was every bit as unjustifiable and wrong as Iraq was. By endorsing the war in Kosovo even now, as Obama did again in Oslo, many opponents of the Iraq war have opened themselves up to the attack that Iraq hawks were using from the beginning. If someone pointed out that invading Iraq would violate international law and not have U.N. sanction, the hawks would throw the precedent of Kosovo in his face. Unless he was a principled progressive or antiwar conservative, the opponent of the invasion was always at a loss to respond. If invading Iraq was based on phony or exaggerated intelligence about WMDs, Kosovo was based on lies about preventing genocide and protecting human rights. Unless you are among the fairly small percentage that opposed both, the odds are that you are outraged over invading Iraq in inverse proportion to how outraged you were over bombing Serbia.

Inexplicably, Kosovo is remembered across much of the spectrum, especially the center-left, as a great success, despite having been disastrous for the very people it was supposed to help and despite being based on lies every bit as blatant and outrageous as the invasion of Iraq. As it hapened, Blair was Prime Minister during Britain's participation in both wars of aggression. As far back as 1999, he has been the chief proponent of liberal interventionism aimed at subverting the normal protections of international law afforded to sovereign states, and he continues to be an outspoken advocate for killing foreigners for their own benefit. What is disheartening about all this is not just that Blair will never be held to account for his responsibility for the war in Iraq, but that he has never had to answer for or defend his decision to support an unprovoked, unnecessary war of aggression against Serbia.

Even though the air war led to the expulsions of Albanians from Kosovo it was meant to prevent, and even though the "negotiations" at Rambouillet involved delivering an intolerable ultimatum designed to start a war, this criminal operation continues to enjoy support or indifference from most Westerners. There were no allied casualties, and the war was brief, so there was little time for the publics in NATO nations to grow weary and disgusted with their criminal leaders. The war was over relatively quickly, so the media lost interest in the false atrocity stories that the Clinton administration used in its war propaganda, and the previous decade of constant anti-Serb coverage made the public receptive to whatever lies the administration wanted to tell.

What I can say about Blair is that he has been quite consistent. State sovereignty and international did not matter to him in 1999, and they didn't matter to him later in 2002-03. Given his remarks at the Chilcot inquiry about Iran, I am quite sure that he would have no difficulty supporting and even joining in an illegal attack on Iran were he still a minister in the British government. This makes him one of the most unabashed, unapologetic advocates of aggressive war alive today, and I'm not sure that this requires much courage when there have been and continue to be absolutely no consequences, legal or otherwise, for his actions.

Filed under: foreign policy, politics

7 Responses to "Blair's Monstrous Consistency"

1. NauticalMongoose, on January 30th, 2010 at 10:52 pm Said:

I am finding it unusually difficult to find a good source discussing the Kosovo War (I am woefully ignorant about this event). Does anyone have any suggestions? I would prefer a 'just the facts' account from which I can draw my own conclusions.

2. David Tomlin, on January 31st, 2010 at 1:34 am Said:

[The Kosovo intervention was] disastrous for the very people it was supposed to help . . .

I was always opposed to the Balkan interventions, but I am at a loss as to what this is about. Do you mean the ethnic cleansing of the non-Albanians?

For the Kosovo Albanians, we might speculate on whether they would have fared better absent the intervention. I don't know of any facts that would remotely justify describing their present situation as 'disastrous'.

3. David Tomlin, on January 31st, 2010 at 1:51 am Said:

Sorry, I wrote the previous comment before finishing the post. My curiosity was piqued by the quoted sentence, and I was assuming it referred to the outcome of the intervention rather than events during the intervention itself.

4. Brett, on January 31st, 2010 at 2:36 am Said:

I always figured the intervention was basically the US and European way of trying to avoid letting "humanitarian intervention" completely die on the vine. It had already taken body blows from the 1994 Rwandan genocide that they'd ignored, as well as the Bosnian civil war that they ignored until multiple massacres later – hardly signs of people supposedly dedicated to intervening to stop such things. One more blow, or perceived blow (since that was what it was) might have irrevocably damaged it, and that was unacceptable to that crowd.

5. herb, on January 31st, 2010 at 1:44 pm Said:

Please expand on the "lies" NATO used to illegally fight an air war against Serbia.

I know a lot about this subject, and it's only in the last year or so that I've heard any of this "Kosovo was illegal" stuff, mostly from you.

You mentioned "false atrocity stories that the Clinton administration used in its war propaganda." Do you have any examples?

I know for a fact that "false atrocity stories" were used by all sides in the Yugoslav conflict, but I also know that there are many very true atrocity stories that came out of Vukovar, Srebrenica, Osijek, and Sarajevo.

6. Daniel Larison, on January 31st, 2010 at 2:08 pm Said:

The "massacre" at Racak was a key part of Clinton's justification for intervening. The massacre was staged by the KLA. It never happened. There is no evidence that there was a systematic or extensive policy of ethnic cleansing in the works. The Serbs had been fighting a low-level counterinsurgency against a rather nasty gang of criminals for a year, and that was it. The administration had even labeled the KLA a terrorist group the year before it took their side, because this is what it was.

Clinton portrayed intervention as something he did grudgingly to halt genocide, but there was no genocide to halt. He had given the Serbs an ultimatum to let NATO have the run of their country, and like any self-respecting state they refused. Then the bombing began shortly afterwards. If you have never heard arguments that bombing Serbia was illegal until the last year, I submit that you haven't followed the discussion about it very closely.

As for the remark about being a disaster for the people it was supposed to help, I was referring to massive refugee crisis that the war created as hundreds of thousands of Albanians were driven out of Kosovo by a combination of the air campaign and Serbian military units. The mass expulsions that the campaign was designed to prevent were the very things that the campaign hastened and facilitated. Soon thereafter, the Albanians returned to Kosovo, but I would call the effort a pretty dramatic failure if the goal was to prevent the mass expulsion of Albanians.

What bombing Serbia achieved was to detach part of its own territory by force and establish a de facto partition that Western powers then formalized with their recognition of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in early 2008. That in turn contributed to the escalating conflict between Russia and Georgia, as Russia aimed to exact some revenge on one of our satellites for what we had done to one of theirs. All in all, Western policy on Kosovo has been appalling, and it has created a horrible precedent for the future. Of course, it was precisely that precedent that Russia exploited in the 2008 war with Georgia.

Serbia was penalized for attempting to suppress a separatist rebellion inside its own borders. It was a purely internal affair, and no state or alliance of states had any right, legal or otherwise, to launch military strikes against Serbia. It was never sanctioned by the Security Council in any way, and the war violated both the U.N. Charter and had no authorization under the North Atlantic Treaty. In addition, the President had no constitutional authority to wage war against Serbia, but why get hung up on technicalities like that?

7. David Tomlin, on January 31st, 2010 at 3:45 pm Said:

Forensic teams from various countries went in right after the NATO forces, counting bodies and exhuming mass graves (defined as any grave with more than one body). Within months it was clear that the death toll was a fraction of that claimed by the KLA, and repeated uncritically by the Clinton administration and the media.

In one case a disused mine allegedly used to dispose of bodies was examined, and no bodies nor any trace of decomposition fluids was found.

The Kosovo 'genocide' was as thoroughly debunked as the Iraqi WMD, but, as Larison noted, by then media interest had moved on.

If anyone wants sourcing, Google is your friend.

http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2010/01/30/blairs-monstrous-consistency/

Kosovo - okay, really, what next?

With 2009 having ended much as it began, the international community must continue to pursue a peacekeeping approach to the north in order to keep alive the possibility of a negotiated outcome.

By Gerrard Gallucci

Keywords: Serbia, Kosovo, EULEX, ICJ, Ahtisaari   

Za tekst na srpskom jeziku, pogledajte ovde

Over the last few months, I have tried to present various facets of the difficult question of what to do about north Kosovo within the context of an overall status settlement. I have emphasized the continuing need to take a peacekeeping approach to the north – e.g., not seeking to settle political issues through force – to keep the door open for a negotiated outcome. Such an outcome might include a differential approach to implementing the Ahtisaari Plan, i.e., vigorous implementation of decentralization (plus allowed links to Belgrade) for Serb-majority municipalities south of the Ibar and an "Ahtisaari Plus" framework for the north (as an alternative to outright partition).

However, on the ground, 2009 ended much as it began. Having assumed the status-neutral mantle of the UN in November 2008, EULEX failed to act to implement the UN Secretary General's proposed six-point plan for addressing practical issues – such as courts, customs and transportation links – by implementing practical, non-political measures. EULEX decided it was better not to offend the Albanian majority by reaching accommodations with local Serb institutions and communities that appeared to accept the status quo of continued deep divisions over Kosovo independence. Indeed, EULEX stood back from, and in some cases assisted, Albanian efforts to bully the Serbs into accepting the Kosovo institutions that they dominate. EULEX allowed electricity blockages of southern Serbs and facilitated a forced, unilateral return of Albanians to a sensitive area (Brdjani) of north Mitrovica. Results were mixed. Under pressure, enough southern Serbs voted in the 2009 municipal elections to give them minimal credibility. But in the north, turning off the electricity simply led to "electricity partition" with Serbia stepping in to fill the gap and now even to start collecting fees.

Instead of seeking to work out status-neutral practical arrangements on customs and the courts, EULEX placed officers at the northern customs gates and in the Mitrovica court with the intention of introducing there Kosovo law, staff and links to Pristina. Urged on by the Albanians, EULEX and KFOR threatened use of force to implement such plans. However, EULEX in December formulated a strategy for winning space in the north for rule from Pristina (http://outsidewalls.blogspot.com/2010/01/kosovo-eu-strategy-for-north.html) that appears more political. It assumes that the northern Serbs have grown tired of resistance to Kosovo independence and will come to accept Pristina as they are freed from the baleful influence of "radical" local leaders. The EU also appears to be relying on President Tadić, eager for the political benefits of entering the EU, to help by removing the "radicals" and acquiescing to the gradual transition of the north to EULEX and then to Pristina. Both seem questionable assumptions. Serb resistance to Kosovo independence is deep and near universal and unlikely to disappear soon. The southern Serbs may be more accommodating as they have no alternative. But the northern Serbs have the alternative of remaining part of Serbia – as they functionally are – and Tadić is in no position to be seen giving them up. But at least the EU looks to be trying.

So, despite all the huffing and puffing from Pristina about "illegal" and "parallel" institutions and a commitment to "dissolve" them, in 2009 Kosovo remained divided at the Ibar. What about 2010? The watershed event may be the ICJ decision on the legality of independence. This could offer Pristina some benefit as anything less than an outright rejection of the declaration as illegal – unlikely – will help free up a second wave of recognitions; countries sympathetic but reluctant to recognize as long as a decision against independence remains possible will be able to move forward. However, a significant number will continue to refuse for their own reasons, probably including at least some of the EU holdouts. Thus the final status issue and the question of the north are unlikely to be settled by the ICJ decision alone. This will only get done by an eventual new round of negotiation. It could be that Pristina and friends seek a final solution in the north through the use of force. But as this would risk provoking a wider crisis, we can expect the EU to hold back as long as the northern Serbs themselves do not outright surrender. So, the status quo may continue in the north. This is not all bad as it also allow for the possibility of a negotiated outcome.

Negotiations will not come easy. Both sides will have to give up something. Carefully calibrated compromise could leave the north nominally in Kosovo but substantially in Serbia. But this may be beyond the parties and the mediators. Partition would be the less elegant solution. But it would have the virtue of requiring both sides to give up something they value: Serbia would of course lose Kosovo but the Albanians would have to accept loss of the north.

2010 may be the year that Kosovo status, and that of the north, really gets settled. Or maybe it will just be more of the same divided status quo. Either would be better than renewed conflict but negotiations would be best and everyone may come to see this after some further theatre.

Gerard M. Gallucci is a retired US diplomat. He served as UN Regional Representative in Mitrovica, Kosovo from July 2005 until October 2008. The views expressed in this piece are his own and do not represent the position of any organization. You can read more of Mr. Gallucci's analysis of current developments in Kosovo by visiting http://outsidewalls.blogspot.com

http://www.transconflict.com/News/2010/January/Kosovo_Okay_Really_Whats_Next.php

Jasenovac – Holocaust promoted by Vatican

1/27/2010

Author : Ari Rusila

Jasenovac was third biggest extermination camp during WWII and probably the cruelest. The brutality may be explained with its more religious aspect that others. Vatican played important role during events involving afterwards money laundry and covering up war criminals.

The UN General Assembly chose January 27 as the official day for the commemoration, as it was on this day in 1945 that Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp, the last such camp still functioning. Throughout Europe, tributes will be paid to the 53 million people who died during World War II, of whom 31 million were civilians. Commemoration has linked usually also to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest extermination center created by the Nazis. It has become the symbol of the Holocaust and of willful radical evil in our time. Few people know that 3rd biggest extermination center was Jasenovac. Two reasons maybe explain this: 1st it is located in Croatia and 2nd the main part of victims were Serbs. The death tolls in extermination centres vary but rough estimations are following (source Wikipedia):

    *

      Auschwitz II 1,400,000

    * Belzeg 600,000

    * Chelmno 320,000

    * Jasenovac 600,000

    * Majdanek 360,000

    * Maly Trostinets 65,000

    * Sobibor 250,000

    * Treblinka 870,000

Background

Upon the occupation of Yugoslavia, the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists formed an "independent" state in Croatia, which was basically a Nazi puppet state. Immediately upon the establishment of its puppet government, the Ustashe set up militias and gangs that slaughtered Serbs, Jews, Romas and their political foes. Catholic priests, some of them Franciscans, also participated in the acts of slaughter. The cruelty of the Ustashe was so great that even the commander of the German army in Yugoslavia complained. The partisans, led by the Croat Communist Josip Broz Tito, and the Chetniks - Nationalist Serb royalists - fought the Ustashe.

Under the leadership of the Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic's right-hand man Andrija Artukovic, who earned the nickname "the Himmler of the Balkans," the Ustashe set up concentration camps, most notably at Jasenovac. According to various estimates, about 100,000 people were murdered at the camp, among them tens of thousands of Jews (it is interesting to note that some of the heads of the Ustashe were married to Jewish women). Throughout Croatia about 700,000 people were murdered.

Jasenovac

Located in Croatia 62 miles south of Zagreb, Jasenovac was Croatia's largest concentration and extermination camp. Jasenovac, was a network of several sub-camps, established in August 1941 and dissolved in April 1945. Jasenovac was not the only place where Serbia's neighbour Croatia ran several concentration camps where Jews, Serbs and Roma have been murdered. Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians were allies of Hitler as well. (More about Jasenevac in my document library under headline Croatia )

In April 1945 the partisan army approached the camp. In an attempt to erase traces of the atrocities, the Ustaša blew up all the installations, killed most of the internees and tried to hide all evidence about brutalities in Jasenovac, all material evidence disappeared as if there had not been any camp in that place. Later – during Tito's time – the state and the authorities tried to implement "Brotherhood and Unity" motto, with the aim of creating tolerance between the nations and the crime had to be forgotten as soon as possible.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, edited by Yisrael Gutman, vol. 1, 1995, pp. 739-740 gives following description about problems to find exact numbers:

    "It is difficult to establish the number of victims killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp, since many documents were destroyed. The prisoners' files were destroyed twice (at the beginning of 1943 and in April, 1945) and even if they had been preserved, they would have been of little help discerning the truth, because the Ustasha often killed the newly arrived prisoners immediately, without putting their names into the files. This is particularly true of those who arrived from Slavonia, Srem and Kozara, because it was only noted down that 9,830, or 155 wagons had arrived. For instance, a very small number of Gypsies was filed, only a few hundred, while it is known that all 25,000-35,000 of them from the NDH were killed in Jasenovac. The Jewish community in Yugoslavia has established the number of 20,000 Jews that were killed in Jasenovac. The numbers of killed Serbs are truly varied. The sources from abroad mention numbers from 300,000 to 700,000. Be that as it may, most of the people killed in Jasenovac were Serbs. Exact number being still unknown, but it surely amounts to several hundreds of thousands. The National Committee of Croatia for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators stated in its report of November 15, 1945 that 500,000-600,000 people were killed at Jasenovac. "

The Yad Vashem center claims that over 500,000 Serbs were killed in the NDH (now Croatia), including those who were killed at Jasenovac, where approximately 600,000 victims of all ethnicities were killed.

A documentary film "Jasenovac - the cruellest death camp of all times" can be found from here!

Religious aspect

While for Nazi-Germany Jasenovac was more a tool for ethnic cleansing for Ustashe religious aspect played crucial role. The aim and its implementation efficiency is described differently by people who actually were in Balkans during that period. Ustashe leaders declared they would slaughter a third of the Serb population in Croatia, deport a third and convert the remaining third from Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism. Anyone who refused to convert was murdered.

One may claim that the religious motivation and the brutality of butchers were leading principles in Jasenovac. The fact that 743 Roman Catholic priests were members of the Ustashi and personally murdered Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. Jasenovac was for a time, run by Fr. Filipovic-Majstorovic, a Catholic priest who admitted to killing "40,000 Serbs with his own hands." So at one point, a Franciscan monk was camp commandant of what the second largest concentration camp of the war.

The Jasenovac system of Croatian camps also included a camp for children run by Catholic nuns who used toxic soda to save bullets.

Roman Catholic priests who participated in the killing of tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies and the running of Jasenovac escaped Europe through the "Vatican Ratline" run by Fr. Draganovich, a Croatian Catholic priest who helped morons like Clause Barbe escape from Europe. Those Catholic priests escaped to Argentina where they also escaped justice.

Vatican connection

In 1999 a class action law suit was filed at a court in San Franciso against the Vatican Bank (Institute for Religious Works) and against the Franciscan order, the Croatian Liberation Movement (the Ustashe), the National Bank of Switzerland and others to recover $100 million in damages for the Vatican's participation in these war crimes and money laundering the proceeds from their Serb, Jewish and Roma victims. The suit was filed by Jewish, Ukrainian, Serb and Roma survivors, as well as relatives of victims and various organizations that together represent 300,000 World War II victims. The plaintiffs demanded accounting and restitution.

Franciscans in Rome helped smuggle the Ustasha Tresury and assisted Ustasha war criminals in escaping justice. The Vatican Bank is alleged to have laundered a portion of the Ustasha Treasury. The Vatican not only hoarded the gold the Croats looted, it also helped them escape - with a nod and wink from the OSS and MI6. In 1986 for example, the US government released documents that revealed the Vatican had organised the Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic's safe-flight from Europe to Argentina, along with 200 senior officials of his regime. Pavelic was given refuge by the Vatican, fascist Spain, and Peronist Argentine. The Ustasha Minister of the Interior, Artukovic, lived openly in California from 1949-1986 when he was finally deported to Yugoslavia and convicted of murder. Thousands of Ustasha escaped justice for their crimes due to their wealth and influence and the backing of the Roman Catholic Church and who along with certain rogue elements in the US and UK governments portrayed these war criminals as anticommunist freedom fighters.

As the war ended, it is now known that the Vatican Bank and other world banks helped to launder and transfer funds out of the Reich, and helped many war criminals to escape justice in what is now nicknamed the "Vatican Ratline"

The Vatican Bank has claimed ignorance of any participation in Ustasha crimes or the disappearance of the Croatian Treasury. The Vatican has refused to open its wartime records despite requests from the US government, Jewish and Roma organizations. My main source about Vatican connection has been "Vatican Bank Claims"

A class action law suit against the Vatican Bank to recover $100 million in damages for the Vatican's participation in these war crimes and money laundering the proceeds from their Serb, Jewish and Roma victims is still ongoing. Vatican lawyers have three times tried to get this case thrown out of court. The Supreme court has rejected their claims.

In US District Court the case against the Vatican Bank (but not the Franciscan Order) was dismissed on grounds the Vatican Bank is an organ of a sovereign entity, the Vatican, which is immune from lawsuits. The just filed appeal however argues that the Vatican Bank is not sovereign and engages in commercial activity in the United States and therefore should be held accountable in a United States Federal Court.

Memory today

On Summer 2008 Israel's ambassador to Croatia, Shmuel Meirom, harshly criticized the funeral given to a head of a WWII Jasenovac concentration camp in Zagreb, saying also that it insulted the memory of those killed in the camp run by Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustasha regime. "I'm convinced that the majority of the Croatian people are shocked by the way the funeral of the Jasenovac commander and murderer, dressed in an Ustasha uniform, was conducted," ambassador Meirom said in a written statement. "At the same time, I strongly condemn the inappropriate words of the priest who served at the funeral and said that Sakic was a model for all Croats" Meirom said. (More about this in my article "Nazi's funeral shadows Croatias past")

Yearly commemoration is important remainder for fair picture of history. At least one day per year is good to think what ultra nationalism can be at its worst level, what kind of interests, power game, attitudes and hidden motivations are creating possibilities for murdering civil populations or ethnic groups.

Ari Rusila is a development project management expert and freelancer from Finland with a special interest in the Balkan region.

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