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Current Concerns The international journal for independent t hought, ethical standards, moral responsibility , and for the promotion and respect of public international law , human rights and humanitarian law Mai 2009 No 9/10 ISSN 1422-8831 Current Concerns PO Box CH-8044 Zurich Phone: +41 44 350 65 50 Fax: +41 44 350 65 51 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.currentconcerns.ch  AZB 8044 Zurich  English Edition of Zeit-F ragen  More than 8 years ag o, on 8 February 2001, the German ARD program broadcast a doc- umentary of the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR), entitled “Es begann mit einer Lüge” (It began with a lie). For the rst time after NATO’s 78-days-war of aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, had started on 24 May 1999, a broader pub- lic in the German-speaking countries real- ized that this war of aggression had been  justied with gross lies, a nd th at obviously there had been quite other motives for this war, completely different from the ones of- cially proclaimed.  Expectations, however , that now the truth would gradually come to light, were not ful-  filled. Even p rior to 9/1 1, NAT O and the W est aligned themselves with the US war power, backing ever more exclusively on war propa- ganda and actual censorship. The situation today is that the West con-  fronts the rest of the world with the intol- erable arrogance of warlords and coloni- al rulers and at the same time is deceiving their own people daily; with arrogance and a rhetoric of lies, which unfortunately culmi- nates in the behavior of the new US-Ameri- can President. The larger rest of the world, however, is no longer ready to accept this behavior. There-  fore, there is great danger that the West, striving to maintain its past supremacy in the world at any cost, is no longer willing to  pursue an honest compromise. It strives for the “nal victory”, and thus resorts to ever tougher means to exercise its power. So the worldwide conicts continue to escalate and  political solutions are becomi ng ever more difcult. Since 1999, the states and governments of the West have totally failed. They could have corrected the serious mistake of 1999, if they had really wanted to. Instead, they increas- ingly showed their contempt of internation- al law – the foundations of a peaceful and equal cooperation of the states and their peo-  ples – and the western v iolent politics spread onto the whole world. Oppression and dis- crimination of the Serbian people continue until this very day. This special issue on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of NATO’s war on the Fed- eral Republic of Yugoslavia and its violation of international law is an attempt to con-  front lies a nd violence with the truth. This will happen with the full conviction that even the people in the western states will no longer tacitly accept the havoc their political classes as well as their economic and social “elite” are causing all over the world, as soon as these people are really informed and feel ad- dressed. This special issue is also a n expression of a deep respect for an European people that has been brought to its knees by all other Eu- ropean states with all vicious means of exer- cising power – brutally and without any con- cern for the victims.  Last not least this special issue is a re- minder to Germany and German policy. In the 1990s, Germany was one of the main warmongers against Yugos lavia. Since 1990, a dangerous hubris has seized the German “elite”, leading again to Germany’s pestering and molesting other countries and peoples. That too, may end in a disaster one day, if no countermeasures are taken – for the world and for Germany as well. Karl Müller On 24 March 1999 the sirens wailed in Bel- grade – and the Nato-aggression against a sovere ign state had begun with its rst bom- bardments. The consequences for the coun- try and its population have been visibly and tangibly devastating, up to this day. In Ser- bia, this day with its dead and wounded and its dire consequences was memorised on its tenth anniversary with various events. Amongst these was the well-attended inter- national conference “Nato aggression – Never to forget” hosted by the Belgrade Forum for the World of Equals”, whose President,  Zi- vadin Jovanovic, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Yugoslavia, also chaired the conference. The numerous participants from Serbia and various other countries – Belgium, Bra- zil, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Canada, Russia, Switzerland, the USA, and others – analysed the events of 10 years ago and their consequences from their different perspectives – yet they all condemned this war decidedly and clearly, by which, as Pro- fessor  Mihajlo Markovic put it, “the power of law was supplanted by the law of power” and international law suffered a tremendous blow. All the Serbian delegates, in spite of their great diversity, placed the said aggres- sion into the greater geo-strategic context and recalled all the steps and aspects of these cat- astrophic events – events that destroyed the country, contaminated it, exposed it to the “free market”, and fabricated an opportuni- ty for US-strategists to establish their mili- tary in the region. 10 years after the war against Yugoslavia  It Began with a Lie – and the Lie Continues  An Internat ional Conferen ce in Belgrade on the Tenth Anniversary of the Nato-Aggression by Erika Vöge li  The Webseite www.mtsmondo.com/news  indicates Serbia’s direct casualities as 1002 dead soldiers, circa 2000 dead civilians (among them 88 children) and circa 6000 injured. continued on page 2  It happene d that one night a small crazy star in the high heavens left its constel- lation and began to fall and to fall and to fall and to fall through the whole dis- orderly cosmos.  And as it fell, it came into the solar system and landed by chance on the  planet earth, on a continent that was called Europe, in a city on which no star had ever fallen. Thus, it was a wonder.  A man, who was lighting the street lights, wanted to capture it so as to be able to light his lantern.  A general wanted it to pin it on his chest as a medal.  But the star would have none of it, and fell straightaway into the materni- ty ward of a hospital on the edge of the city… exactly at midnight, when a girl named Sanja was being born… On her left knee, the star turned into a lovely little beauty spot… (Momo Kapor, Sanja) Sanja Milenkovic was born on 30 November 1983 in the central Serbian town of Krusevac. At the time of the NATO attack, she was 15 years old and 1.8 meters tall. Her brown eyes sparkled in the golden sunlight, her shoulder- length hair was parted on the left. Sometimes she left a few impish strands hanging across her high forehead. She wore unostentatious  jewelry a thin chain with circular clasp, a ring with no stone, small round earrings. What was most outstanding in her face was her mouth, an a rched upper lip and full lower lip. When smiling, her brilliant teeth shone forth, and the corners of her mouth stretched almost to her ears. As a matter of fact, she had a small beauty spot, but not on her knee, on her arm. To put it briey, one might say, she almost looked like a female version of Leonardo Di Caprio. A poster of him hung in her room. Sanja and Leonardo would have been a dream couple. Why did an iceberg have to come be- tween them and ram the Titanic? Sanja was romantic, she read romance novels through and through, and she enjoyed music by Whit- ney Houston, Luna and Hari Mata Hari. She always sang along: “Znam pricu o scrici – I know a story of happiness” Mileva Maric, who, together with Ein- stein, discovererd the theory of relativity Yet Sanja soon forgot love and heartache when it was a matter of gures and calcula- tions, algebra, logarithms, binomial formulas. Who, after all, was Leonardo de Caprio com- pared to Albert Einstein? And didn’t the the- ory of relativity conquer time and space and thus make it conceivable that in some paral- lel universe the Titanic had not at all gone down? Besides, it was a Serb, Mileva Maric, who as Einstein’s first wife had discov- ered the theory of relativity with him. Why shouldn’t she, Sanja, also achieve something similar? At least, her passion for mathematics was there from the outset, perhaps gleaned from her father, Zoran, a mathematician. In Sanja’s Last Day What a Serbian girl might say about the war by Jürgen Elsässer continued on page 2 Special Issue: 10 Years After The War Against Yugoslavia

10 Years After The War Against Yugoslavia

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Current ConcernsThe international journal for independent thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility,

and for the promotion and respect of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law

Mai 2009No 9/10ISSN 1422-8831Current ConcernsPO BoxCH-8044 ZurichPhone: +41 44 350 65 50Fax: +41 44 350 65 51E-Mail: [email protected]: www.currentconcerns.ch

 AZB

8044 Zurich

 English Edition of Zeit-Fragen

 More than 8 years ago, on 8 February 2001,the German ARD program broadcast a doc-umentary of the West German BroadcastingCorporation (WDR), entitled “Es begann miteiner Lüge” (It began with a lie). For the firsttime after NATO’s 78-days-war of aggressionagainst the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,had started on 24 May 1999, a broader pub-

lic in the German-speaking countries real-ized that this war of aggression had been justified with gross lies, and that obviouslythere had been quite other motives for thiswar, completely different from the ones offi-cially proclaimed.

 Expectations, however, that now the truthwould gradually come to light, were not ful- filled. Even prior to 9/11, NATO and the Westaligned themselves with the US war power,backing ever more exclusively on war propa-ganda and actual censorship.

The situation today is that the West con- fronts the rest of the world with the intol-erable arrogance of warlords and coloni-al rulers and at the same time is deceivingtheir own people daily; with arrogance anda rhetoric of lies, which unfortunately culmi-nates in the behavior of the new US-Ameri-can President.

The larger rest of the world, however, is nolonger ready to accept this behavior. There- fore, there is great danger that the West,striving to maintain its past supremacy inthe world at any cost, is no longer willing to pursue an honest compromise. It strives forthe “final victory”, and thus resorts to evertougher means to exercise its power. So theworldwide conflicts continue to escalate and political solutions are becoming ever moredifficult.

Since 1999, the states and governments ofthe West have totally failed. They could havecorrected the serious mistake of 1999, if theyhad really wanted to. Instead, they increas-ingly showed their contempt of internation-al law – the foundations of a peaceful andequal cooperation of the states and their peo- ples – and the western violent politics spread

onto the whole world. Oppression and dis-crimination of the Serbian people continueuntil this very day.

This special issue on the occasion of the10th anniversary of NATO’s war on the Fed-eral Republic of Yugoslavia and its violationof international law is an attempt to con- front lies and violence with the truth. Thiswill happen with the full conviction that eventhe people in the western states will no longertacitly accept the havoc their political classesas well as their economic and social “elite”are causing all over the world, as soon asthese people are really informed and feel ad-dressed.

This special issue is also an expression ofa deep respect for an European people thathas been brought to its knees by all other Eu-ropean states with all vicious means of exer-cising power – brutally and without any con-

cern for the victims. Last not least this special issue is a re-

minder to Germany and German policy. Inthe 1990s, Germany was one of the mainwarmongers against Yugoslavia. Since 1990,a dangerous hubris has seized the German“elite”, leading again to Germany’s pesteringand molesting other countries and peoples.That too, may end in a disaster one day, if nocountermeasures are taken – for the worldand for Germany as well.

Karl Müller 

On 24 March 1999 the sirens wailed in Bel-

grade – and the Nato-aggression against asovereign state had begun with its first bom-bardments. The consequences for the coun-try and its population have been visibly andtangibly devastating, up to this day. In Ser-bia, this day with its dead and wounded andits dire consequences was memorised onits tenth anniversary with various events.Amongst these was the well-attended inter-national conference “Nato aggression – Neverto forget” hosted by the Belgrade Forum forthe World of Equals”, whose President, Zi-vadin Jovanovic, former Foreign Minister ofthe Republic of Yugoslavia, also chaired theconference.

The numerous participants from Serbiaand various other countries – Belgium, Bra-zil, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Greece, Italy,Canada, Russia, Switzerland, the USA, andothers – analysed the events of 10 years ago

and their consequences from their differentperspectives – yet they all condemned thiswar decidedly and clearly, by which, as Pro-fessor  Mihajlo Markovic put it, “the powerof law was supplanted by the law of power”and international law suffered a tremendousblow. All the Serbian delegates, in spite oftheir great diversity, placed the said aggres-sion into the greater geo-strategic context andrecalled all the steps and aspects of these cat-astrophic events – events that destroyed thecountry, contaminated it, exposed it to the“free market”, and fabricated an opportuni-ty for US-strategists to establish their mili-tary in the region.

10 years after the war against Yugoslavia

 It Began with a Lie – and the Lie Continues

 An International Conference in Belgradeon the Tenth Anniversary of the Nato-Aggression

by Erika Vögeli

  The Webseite www.mtsmondo.com/news  indicatesSerbia’s direct casualities as 1002 dead soldiers,

circa 2000 dead civilians (among them 88 children)and circa 6000 injured.

continued on page 2

 It happened that one night a small crazystar in the high heavens left its constel-lation and began to fall and to fall andto fall and to fall through the whole dis-orderly cosmos.

 And as it fell, it came into the solarsystem and landed by chance on the planet earth, on a continent that wascalled Europe, in a city on which no starhad ever fallen. Thus, it was a wonder.

 A man, who was lighting the street

lights, wanted to capture it so as to beable to light his lantern.

 A general wanted it to pin it on hischest as a medal.

 But the star would have none of it,and fell straightaway into the materni-ty ward of a hospital on the edge of thecity… exactly at midnight, when a girlnamed Sanja was being born…

On her left knee, the star turned intoa lovely little beauty spot…

(Momo Kapor, Sanja)

Sanja Milenkovic was born on 30 November1983 in the central Serbian town of Krusevac.At the time of the NATO attack, she was 15years old and 1.8 meters tall. Her brown eyessparkled in the golden sunlight, her shoulder-length hair was parted on the left. Sometimesshe left a few impish strands hanging acrossher high forehead. She wore unostentatious jewelry – a thin chain with circular clasp,a ring with no stone, small round earrings.What was most outstanding in her face was

her mouth, an a rched upper lip and full lowerlip. When smiling, her brilliant teeth shoneforth, and the corners of her mouth stretchedalmost to her ears. As a matter of fact, shehad a small beauty spot, but not on her knee,on her arm.To put it briefly, one might say, she almostlooked like a female version of Leonardo DiCaprio. A poster of him hung in her room.Sanja and Leonardo would have been a dreamcouple. Why did an iceberg have to come be-tween them and ram the Titanic? Sanja wasromantic, she read romance novels through

and through, and she enjoyed music by Whit-ney Houston, Luna and Hari Mata Hari. Shealways sang along: “Znam pricu o scrici – Iknow a story of happiness”

Mileva Maric, who, together with Ein-stein, discovererd the theory of relativity

Yet Sanja soon forgot love and heartachewhen it was a matter of figures and calcula-tions, algebra, logarithms, binomial formulas.Who, after all, was Leonardo de Caprio com-

pared to Albert Einstein? And didn’t the the-ory of relativity conquer time and space andthus make it conceivable that in some paral-lel universe the Titanic had not at all gonedown? Besides, it was a Serb, Mileva Maric,who as Einstein’s first wife had discov-ered the theory of relativity with him. Whyshouldn’t she, Sanja, also achieve somethingsimilar? At least, her passion for mathematicswas there from the outset, perhaps gleanedfrom her father, Zoran, a mathematician. In

Sanja’s Last DayWhat a Serbian girl might say about the war

by Jürgen Elsässer 

continued on page 2

Special Issue: 10 Years After The War Against Yugoslavia

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Page 2 No 9/10 May 2009Current Concerns

Together with representatives of the presentSerbian government – Deputy Prime Minister  Ivaca Dacic, Prof. Slavica Djucic Dejanovic,President of the Serbian National Assembly,and representatives of the Serbian army –former diplomats, professors and other gov-

ernment representatives – participated in theconference, where representatives of sever-al other states expressed their solidarity withthe Serbian people and with former Yugo-slavia. Amongst these were former US Attor-ney General Ramsey Clark , who had alreadytravelled to Belgrade for the same reason inMarch 1999, the Russian ambassador Alex-ander Konuzin, as well as members of Parlia-ment from different countries and the presi-dent of the “World Peace Council”  SoccoroGomez from Brazil.

There were experts in different fields likethe Canadian economist Prof.  Michel Chos-sudovsky, who placed the disruption of Yu-goslavia in the context of a global econom-ic war and the strategy of disbanding nationstates in favour of privatisation or, more spe-cifically, the confiscation of state property,

the Belgian commentator on politics and cur-rent affairs  Michel Colon, whose topic wasthe disinformation spread by the media andan appeal to step up the exchange of informa-tion and the removal of language barriers, theFrench general Pierre Marie Gallois, who, ina video presentation, classified the strategy

that was employed to dismember Yugosla-via as planned well in advance by Germany,whose interests converged with the UnitedStates’ geostrategic interests at the beginningof the 90’s, the French publicist Louis Dal-mas – his topic was the ideological distortionof different concerns like international self-determination, minority rights, the demandfor justice. Under the primacy of power, all

these claims were distorted into their oppo-site and turned into causes of war. Lookingforward to the future, German author Jürgen Elsässer demands that Europe rethink anddisengage from the dependency on the US toestablish a European perspective in associa-tion with present-day Russia.

The well-known Swiss ecological cru-sader Franz Weber  used emphatic words tospeak about the catastrophic effects, name-ly the contamination of Serbia and Kosovo,by the use of several weapons, particularlyuranium ammunition. To make amends forthis destruction of natural resources and thelivelihood of humans and animals the coun-try is entitled to the reparation of 500 bil-lion dollars, he said. Moreover, he demandedthe installation of a special tribunal in Ge-neva for the suppressed and the non-aligned

countries, to bring the truth to light, a fairand moral trial conducted by the citizens ofthis world. The participants of the conferencewere unanimous in their estimation that thiswar was, although geographically restricted,yet of tremendous global import, and that ithad introduced a new era in many respects:

First, international organisations like the UNand the OSCE had to be cut off, then organ-ized psychological warfare laid the founda-tion for military aggression; in the processof decision on the use of force the UN Se-curity Council was excluded by the NATO,which usurped its authority in flagrant viola-tion of the UN Charter; then came the redefi-nition of NATO, which in the course of this

war simply changed its statutes to include theright of intervention outside its borders forthe protection of its interests – against everyexisting international law, against the princi-ples of the Nuremberg Trials and the UN banon violence, whereby it mutated from an alli-ance of defence to an alliance of assault – allthis did not serve to reinstall human rights forthe people in Kosovo, which had also beenabused – it served to aid the expansion of glo-bal dominance for the US and its NATO-part-ners. For, as the philosopher Mihajlo Mark-ovic said in his contribution to the congress,the bombardments brought immeasurablematerial damage to Serbia and they also ledto the moral decline of civilisation as shapedalso by the NATO. Because a civilisation willinevitably perish, when it starts to destroy theuniversally valid ethical values and only con-

tinues to function while persuing its stark in-terests, when power overrules law, when truthis darkened by monstrous lies, and irrationaland insatiable avarice stifles human spirit andsolidarity. An ecologically destroyed Kosovo,littered with bombs, filled with atomic waste,is nothing but the victim of such evil.

No less clear and determined did the rep-resentatives of the Serbian-orthodox and na-tional groups present themselves at anoth-er commemoration event in the evening of24 March organized by the Serbian culturalmagazine Dveri Srpske. The congress centrewas full to the brim, as representatives of theSerbian Orthodox Church, of politics, cultureand art recalled the aggression – dignified,

moving, but equally clear and determined.The war has inflicted serious damage on

the people, their health, their environment,their natural resources, their economy, infra-structure and much more. It has temporarilysupplanted the truth. But truth will not allowitself to be suppressed for long. As generalSlobodan Petkovic, specialist for NBC-weap-ons, said, “And where does the truth lie? Un-fortunately, our population experiences thistruth the longer the more. It lies in the increas-ing incidence of cases of cancer and other dis-eases.” As manipulated as the reports and asthick as the veil may be, the facts will not re-main shrouded permanently. Europe wouldbe well advised to comply with Franz We-ber’s demand for a moral tribunal in supportof truth and to stand by Serbia – and all theother people afflicted – in their quest for cop-

ing with the effects of this war as equal-rank-ing nations in a world of equals. If we are toolate, we will be punished by history. •1)  The Belgrade Forum will publish a complete list of

speakers together with a congress bulletin.2)  See also Heinz Loquai, «Milestone en route to

war», page 7

“An International Conference in …”continued from page 1

school in Varvarin she was always the best,always with a perfect grade in math. And inmath she was anything if not a regular work-horse. “You are my lazybones,” her motherVesna always used to say when she contrivedto get out of doing housework. “One day, I’mgoing to build a machine,” Sanja would an-swer, “and then the whole kit and caboodle

will be polished off at the touch of a button.”But in school she was diligent. And as in Jan-uary 1998, at the end of her eight years ofprimary school, the mathematics competitionbegan, she crammed late into the night in thekitchen. Her mother had to sit up with her andoften fell asleep at the table. Sanja woke heronly when she had solved an especially trickyproblem. In between times, the two of themdid exercises together. Sanja thought, likeevery teenager, that she should lose weight.She was so successful at the competition thatearly in 1998 she made it into the universityprep high school, and not into just any onebut into a “mathematics high school” in Bel-grade. She was accepted without taking anentrance exam. Just think! A mathematicshigh school! In Belgrade! Without taking theentrance exam! All her dreams seemed to be

coming true. “Zanm pricu oscreci – I know astory of happiness.”

Every day she called home

The first week in Belgrade was hard. The res-ident supervisor of the girls’ residence whereshe lived, “Jelica Milanovic”, sometimesheard her cry and talked with her and cheeredher up. Every day, she called home. Thathelped while she was settling in. Besides, sheliked the program. Nobody whispered any-more behind her back, for the “nerd” kneweverything, as had occasionally happened inVarvarin. Sometimes, she did not know eve-rything, not at all. The other students, mathgeniuses like herself, helped her.

And after school, she enjoyed herself in thecity, street by street, strolling and eating icecream in the pedestrian zone Knez Mihailova– just what she needed after the stress. If only

she had a few more dinars in her pocket to buyall the fashionable things she yearned for – Ar-mani, Versace, Scada, there was simply eve-rything. Then there was the Kalemegdan, theold Turkish festival – up on the wall, one couldstill see a gallows where they used to hang therebellious Serbs. Downright horrible!

Finally, downhill along the Franciskaand into the musicians’ quarter of Skadarl-ija, where the Tamburasi sometimes playedon their mandolins in the afternoon – what apity that mummy had warned her to be at thehostel early.

* * *“For you our agonies are vanities, youthrow our beads of tears into the dust. But your morning redness will flow overthem, with which I fell in love, merrilyand young.”

(Milos Crnjanski, Elegy on Belgrade)

* * *

“I don’t want to go home, mummy, now thatI have just settled down!” – “You have to, itis too dangerous!” Half a year later, in Octo-ber 1998, Vesna Milenkovic took her daugh-ter back to Varvarin, again. NATO had issuedan ultimatum on Yugoslavia, had activated itsAir Force. The first bombs would hit the largecities, this was clear. Sanja complied with hermother’s wish. In Varvarin they walked hand inhand along the roads, just like in former times,despite the fear. Then the ‘all-clear’ signal: TheAmerican  Holbrooke had come to an agree-ment with Milosevic. Once again they had comeaway. Sanja returned to Belgrade. In January1999, an interview with her was published inthe pictorial Nada Nova. “Nada Nova” means“new hope”, this was also Sanja’s point of view,she continued to hope for her luck.

She fetched Sanja from Belgrade

She hoped in vain, however. “The number ofthose, who believe that a military commit-ment may become inevitable in Kosovo, doesnot only increase in Brussels”, German De-fense Minister Scharping wrote in his diaryon 17 January 1999. The news about the nego-tiations at Rambouillet did not sound well. Inthe newspapers, one could see photos, whichsaid more than the wordy communiqués: TheAmerican Secretary of Defense embracing Hashim Thaci, a terrorist wanted for arrestby the Belgrade administration. The GermanMinister of Foreign Affairs clenching his fiststowards Milan Milutinovic, the Serbian presi-dent. When she was visiting a friend in Parac-in on 23 March, Vesna heard in the news thatthe state of emergency had been proclaimed.Together with her mother she drove to Bel-

grade that very evening and put Sanja intoGrandpa’s old Mercedes with all her bag andbaggage. On 24 March at 1 a.m. they hadstowed everything and drove off. It was justin time; a few hours later the sirens howled inBelgrade, the bombers roared above the city,the supersonic F-16 and F-18, the allegedlyinvisible F-117, the slow warthogs of the A-10 type with their uranium ammunition, theGerman ECR Tornadoes, indispensible forthe eliminat ion of the Yugoslav air defense.For the first time since the end of World WarII, the Germans as well threw bombs in con-

 junction with the others, and for the thirdtime in the 20th century, they waged a war ofaggression against Serbia. On her return fromBelgrade to Varvarin Vesna held her daugh-ter in her arms. “Now you are safe, my littledaughter”, she comforted Sanja.

* * * It was irrevocably clear that we wouldnot return to our beds that evening andthat we would not go back to school to-

morrow, that we did not know, who ofour relatives were still alive, who of theschoolmates, the teachers, the neigh-bors, playmates from one or the otherquarter. Shapes and trains obscured inthe ascending smoke and the sinkingdarkness. Aircraft engines hummed inour ears, our joints trembled with theexplosions, the air strikes were trans-mitted underground, dust was whirledup, followed by the roar of destruction,which erupted from the undergroundrooms. … No better thought could arisein the mind of a child eyewitness than – to run away, to flee from this terri-ble race, which followed everyone likethe gloating tail of a dragon which onecannot escape from. For the first timewe felt complete defenselessness, a feel-

ing of being at the mercy of evil, whichthe fragility of our bodies was unableto cope with, no other choice but breakor run away. Whoever was able to readthe signs understood that Satan had gotthe upper hand .”

(Miodrag Pavlovic,Usurpatoren des Himmels) 

* * *

So far war had only grazed the place

Satan was far away from Varvarin. In fact,there was no better place of refuge. The townwith its 4,000 inhabitants is situated about160 kilometers southeast of Belgrade. Thiswar had so far only grazed the place: A po-liceman from Varvarin had been shot in Ko-sovo by Albanian terrorists on 8 January –in a village named Racak, which should later

become the synonym for murder in the West,however not for the murder of Serbian police-men; nobody was interested in Serbian po-licemen in the West.

Most inhabitants work as farmers, thereare some shoemakers and tailors and bak-ers, a few physicians and pharmacies, somepubs, the Plaza Hotel. No industry had settledthere, apart from a small textile enterprise,which produced floor mats for the Zastavapassenger car. In the town and its surround-ings there were no military plants, the near-est was 22 kilometers away, an airfield in

Cuprija. The only combat in the history ofVarvarin had taken place in 1810, when theTurks proceeded against Serbian rebels. EvenWorld War I and II had spared the small town.Only in 1944 the Nazis destroyed the bridgeacross the Morava, in order to make the RedArmy’s advance more difficult. The inhabit-ants were warned one day before. It had beencompletely different in the nearby Kraguje-vac: Between 18 and 21 October 1943 unitsof the German armed forces had executed

7,000 “Communists, Jews and Serbs” there,as they called them in their jargon, 100 foreach German soldier that had been shot be-fore. Among the massacred people, therewere 300 high school students and 15 chil-dren between eight and twelve years old. Thememorial museum opened in 1976 has beenvisited by five million visitors until now.

* * * It happened and is true,That on one day in a countryOn the hilly Balkans A bevy of pupils Died the martyr’s death.Only fifty minutes Before they died,The pupils satOn their benches,

 Had work to do, think: How far does a hiker get with a com- panion, If he … for five hours … he is to … andso on.The heads fullOf series of numbers, And in the booklets, in the folders Many pointlessOnes and threes.The bags fully packed With the same dreamsOf love of the homeland and of friends, As pupils dream secretly. And everyone believed, He had something ahead, Infinitely ahead  A large field, In order to finally solveall the tasks of the world.

 It happened and is trueThat one day in a countryOn the hilly Balkans A pupils bevy died the martyr’s death. 

( Desanka Maksimovic, Bloody Legend )

* * *The fact that the world wars had spared Var-varin does not mean however that they hadspared its inhabitants. From 1914 to 1918,

continued on page 4

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May 2009 No 9/10 Page 3Current Concerns

When on 24 March 1999 the NATO statesstarted bombing the sovereign state of Yugo-slavia, this unbelievable and brutal aggres-sion had been preceded by a just as unbeliev-

able and fabricated propaganda warfare inradio, press and TV, initiated by the powersof the West. This propaganda is still goingon today.

Even today, many western books and otherpublications on this period describe the so-called “Racak Massacre” of 15 January 1999as the t rigger for the NATO war against Yu-goslavia. The US government had installedthe US diplomat William Walker  as head ofthe OSCE in Kosovo. Before, he had man-aged the dirty business of the US in LatinAmerica, supporting regimes friendly to theUS, especially in El Salvador. It was thisOSCE who had appointed the Finnish dentist Helena Ranta as head of the forensic investi-gation commission which was to investigatethe Racak Massacre. Before the investiga-

tions had even started, W. Walker declared infront of a TV camera that this cruel massa-cre had been committed by Serbs. Years later,on 16 October 2008, Helena Ranta explainedherself in the “Helsingin Sanomat”, explain-ing that she had been under an overwhelm-ing pressure from W. Walker and the westernmedia who wanted her to confirm Walker’sstatement regarding the Serbian mass mur-der.

Racak was the greatest strategem

 Danica Marinkovic,  at the time examiningmagistrate of the regional court in Pristina-Kragujevac, commented the Racak eventon 28 October 2008 in the “Glas Javnosti”:“Racak was the greatest strategem.” At thetime [of the alleged “massacre”], there hadbeen a classical combat between the Serbianpolice and UÇK terrorists. The OSCE had

been informed about this in advance by theSerbian police.

Asked about the victims’ examination, shedeclared: “All were wearing civil clothes, butmany wore military shoes or boots […].” 37of the 40 victims had gunshot residue on theirhands indicating that they had been involvedin combats before they were killed. Both theBelarus and the Finnish forensic specialistswho had carried out the autopsies came tothese conclusions.

Asked whether she had talked about thisto Helena Ranta or W. Walker, she said:“During my first meeting with Ranta, Icould not find a way to communicate withher and I never saw her again.  It was obvi-ous that it was her political mission to ac-cuse the Serbs. But she was neither an ex- pert nor a professional. I also did not talk to

Walker because it was clear that he was sup- porting the UÇK.”In other words: After the so-called “Racak

Massacre”, which was actually, as we knownow, the result of a clash between Serb policeunits and UÇK troops, who had been trainedin logistics and warfare and were financedby the [German secret service] BND and theUS American CIA, these victims were “con-verted“ into civil victims and thus presenteda pretext for a war – just like  Hitler  fabricat-ed a trigger for World War II when he had theGerman radio station in Gleiwitz stormed byKZ inmates clad in Polish uniforms. It wasconverted into a massacre – even genocide,committed by Serbs against Kosovo Albani-ans!

Appendix of the RambouilletAccords (Annex B) kept secret

In consequence of Racak, the western statesinitiated the Rambouillet negotiations start-ing on 6 February 1999 in France. They hadbeen started by the Balkans Contact Groupwhich had been founded in 1994 to coordi-nate the international reactions to the war inBosnia. The terms of the negotiations con-tained ten non-negotiable fundamental prin-ciples for the future cooperation between theYugoslavian government and the Kosovo Al-banians, including proposals for an autono-mous Kosovo and stationing NATO troops inKosovo.

According to the official communication– and all western media complied with this– the Rambouillet negotiations were mere-ly about a greater autonomy of the Kosovothat was to be demanded by Milosevic. Inthis context, one should be aware that, from1974–1989, the Kosovo had enjoyed an au-tonomy that was unique world-wide. The Ko-sovo Albanians had their own language, theirown universities and schools and receivedenormous support from all Yugoslavian re-publics. But this status of autonomy had alsopermitted vetoing any legislation in Serbia. In1989, the Yugoslavian president had merelyreduced this status of autonomy to the inter-national standard by putting the federal state

(Yugoslavia) in charge of the police, the judi-cative and the legal institutions. Under pres-sure in Rambouillet, Milosevic was eventu-ally willing to grant the Kosovo Albaniansagain wider concessions to their autonomy.

But the Kosovo-Albanians, encouraged bythe unconditional support of the West and itsmedia mouthpieces, who would blame Milo-sevic for a failure of the Rambouillet negoti-ations, insisted on a full independence of theKosovo from Yugoslavia. In the negotiations,the Kosovo-Albanians were represented by Hashim Thaci, a mass murderer sentenced to22 years of jail in Yugoslavia. When Thaci,at the end of the Rambouillet negotiations,finally had signed the agreement written bythe West, and Milosevic refused his signa-ture, the Yugoslavian President was suddenlypushed into the role of the scapegoat unwill-

ing to compromise!But the appendix of the Rambouillet agree-ment (Annex B), which could not have beensigned by any head of state in the world asit would have meant the surrendering of hiscountry’s sovereignty was kept secret fromthe citizens of the Western European states.It included “freedom of movement of NATOforces in all Yugoslavia, including Yugosla-vian airspace and the sea as well as the fullimmunity of NATO soldiers and their admin-istration.”

Only the members of parliaments of thesecountries were permitted to read Annex B,but they were obliged to keep their silence.

Neo-colonial subjection agreement

They cowardly kept their promise and sincethe Yugoslavian President Milosevic couldnot sign this agreement, which might have

correctly been labeled “neo-colonial sub- jection-to-NATO agreement”, the war wasmapped out!

After the NATO had attacked the sover-eign state Yugoslavia, including the Kosovo,illegally without declaration of war and vio-lating international law, it went on to bombit for 78 days in succession from an altitudeof 8000 meter. This was justified by westernpoliticians, including former left-wing politi-cians like German Chancellor Schröder, Ger-man Foreign Minister Fischer  and DefenseMinister Scharping,  with the unbelievably

perfidious lie: “We had to prevent a secondAuschwitz!”

The NATO aggression destroyed Yugosla-via’s complete infrastructure, including allfactories, the chemical plant in Pancevo, rail-ways and bridges. If the Yugoslavian work-ers had not reacted and dumped the poison-ous solutions of various containers in time,the Pancevo region would have been ren-dered uninhabitable by the bombings. Butalso residential areas, schools, kindergartensand hospitals were bombed with weaponsbanned by international law like radioactivebombs (DU), graphite bombs and other ille-gal weapons.

Various sides exerted pressure on the Yu-

goslavian President Milosevic to give in, inorder to prevent a NATO ground offensiveand an even more complete destruction ofthe country, and finally the Yugoslavian Gov-ernment and the Serbian Parliament accepteda so-called peace plan, proposed by the EUspecial emissary  Ahtisaari and the Russianspecial emissary Chernomyrdin.

The plan decreed that the Kosovo shouldremain an integral part of the Federal Repub-lic of Yugoslavia. All hostilities in this areashould cease and all refugees should be per-mitted to return to their homes. Additionally,the plan included an immediate withdrawal ofYugoslavian security forces from the Kosovoand an international peace keeping missionwith substantial support from NATO. Thisplan came into force on 10 June 1999 whenit was passed by the UN Security Council

under resolution no. 1244.UN resolution 1244:

Integral part of Serbia

The Serbs kept their word. They withdrewtheir troops from Kosovo. But in the follow-ing months, there was sheer chaos instead ofthe peace promised by the so-called inter-national community. Arbitrary murders in-creased by a factor of 20 under internationalcontrol, compared to times of war when Kos-ovo was occupied by Yugoslavian troops. Thereason for this was that the UNMIC convert-ed the UÇK to a supposedly civil organiza-tion, the Kosovo Protection Corps and evenpaid it with UN money. If some optimists hadreally believed that things in Kosovo mightchange for the better with the entry of “in-ternational” troops (they were really mostlyNATO troops), they were bitterly disappoint-

ed.Thousands of Serbs, Roma and other

groups, including Kosovo Albanians, fledfrom their native land which they no long-er recognized as their home. Soon the Serbsin Kosovo – which they used to call the cra-dle of their nation – were just members of aminority who had to fear for their lives everyday, restricted to enclaves guarded by inter-national troops.

Two further developments kept the Ser-bian refugees from returning to their formerhomes in Kosovo: The expulsion of some

230,000 refugees (Serbs, Roma and not asmall number of Kosovo Albanians hostile tothe UÇK) from Kosovo, which was not pre-vented by the so-called international troops,and the 2004 pogrom on the Serbs who hadremained in Kosovo, in which many Serbslost their lives, hundreds of them were injuredand 4,500 Non-Albanians were expelled, 700houses and numerous cloisters were rampant-ly destroyed.

Today, after the unilateral declaration ofKosovo’s independence in February 2008,without approval by the UN, and after therecognition of the Kosovo by numerous –also western European – states as a sover-eign state, which violated international law,

many states and western politicians who hadsupported the military strive of the Kosovo-Albanians for independence, do not like to bereminded of UN resolution 1244 which de-clared the Kosovo an integral part of Serbia.

Mineral resourcesworth over 10 trillion dollars

There was good reason for [carving the Ko-sovo out of Serbia]: the inexhaustible naturalresources of the Kosovo: 77,302,000 tons ofcoal, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, gold, silver,marble, manganese, iron ore, asbestos andlimestone – to name but a few.

The value of these mineral resources is es-timated to be over 10 trillion dollars and theseextremely valuable resources in the hands ofthe local workers represented the real reasonfor the military interference of the West in

1999 with the controversy between the Yu-goslavian army and the UÇK. Additionally,the UÇK had been trained for years and sup-ported with millions of dollars and GermanMarks by the West through its secret servic-es CIA and BND, trained for this war, whichis still misleadingly called a “civil war in Yu-goslavia”.

During the NATO war against Yugoslavia,the whole infrastructure of the country wasdestroyed, but the Trepca mines in Kosovowere spared from the bombings. Of course,the mines should continue to make a profitafter the war – but then in private hands.

To lay one’s hand on this complex whichwas guarded by the workers, in the year 2000two blatant lies were purported:• The Serbs were accused of having killed

and burned 1,500 Kosovo Albanians in theregion, so the matter had to be investigat-

ed.• The Trepca mines were reported to present

a severe health risk for the population.The thousands of radioactive DU bombs

dropped in Kosovo, of course, have neverbeen mentioned to this day! So it happenedthat on 14 August 2000, helicopters brought900 British, French, Italian and PakistaniKFOR soldiers, armed to their teeth, to theTrepca mines. Workers who tried to defendtheir factory, were beaten up brutally and in

The Criminal Nato Attack on Yugoslaviaby Brigitte Queck, political scientist foreign policy

 ISBN 3-980 67705-6-2  ISBN 3-980 6705-2-X 

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some cases severely injured by tear gas andplastic bullets. Then factory managers and re-sistant workers were arrested. In UN papers,this still reads as “induction of the processof democratization in Kosovo.” But in realitythis attack made it possible to start selling off

the Trepca mines to private foreign groups.The murderer of Serbs in Krajina, Çeku,

who is still wanted for his crimes, was PrimeMinister of the Kosovo until January 2008 andwas head of both the ICMM created by Unmic and the KTA; both organizations that are re-sponsible for privatizations in Kosovo! Çekuhad been trained as a killer in Virginia for theAmerican military contractor MPRI  and washeld responsible for the murder of 669 Serbs,mainly in Krajina, by a Yugoslavian court.

OTPOR trained by the CIA

After the Kosovo was put under internation-al supervision – that is, under a neo-colonialadministration – the Serbs had to be forcedunder the dictate of market economy, as well.In 2000, parliamentary elections were held inYugoslavia. A while before the elections, lead-

ing NATO politicians had warned that, if Mi-losevic was elected again, another bombingof Yugoslavia could not be excluded! In addi-tion, both the western media and the Yugosla-vian opposition – which had been supported

by the West for months in advance – claimedthat Milosevic was going to manipulate theelections. It was also due to this pressure fromoutside that over 50% of the Serb populationdid not vote in these elections.

In the first ballot, Milosevic was 700,000votes short of a victory. But also the  DOS ,with Kostunica as their candidate, supportedby the West, did not reach the necessary ma-

 jority. Since both the West and the oppositionwere not willing to risk a run-off ballot, thefight was transferred from the ballot box tothe streets where the opposition closely coop-erated with the student organization OTPOR.OTPOR had been launched by the West and,as we learned later, trained by the CIA inSofia. After 78 days of NATO bombing, thisorganization did not denounce the aggressor,but the President of its own country instead,with wordings coming from NATO thinktanks. Sprayed all over were slogans thatread: “He [Milosevic] is finished!”

When the opposition hauled in a groupof 4000 men with busses from Cazak whostormed the parliament where another count-ing of votes was under way, the staged coupculminated. And when, unfortunately, somepreviously influential supporters of Milose-

vic, including the former head of the secretservice Jovica Stanisic and the former Chiefof Staff Momcilo Perisic, changed sides, theopposition did not think it necessary to ad-here to parliamentarian rules. There was no

run-off ballot between Milosevic and Kos-tunica! After this illegal election, Kostunicawas proclaimed President of Yugoslavia. Af-terwards, the US Secretary of State Albright  called out delightedly: “Now, finally, the lastbastion of socialism in Europe has fallen!”

In gratitude for their contribution to thesystem change in Yugoslavia, the studentorganization OTPOR received the  Human

 Rights Award 2001 of the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation a year later.

Comments to article 87a of the Grundges-etz [constitutional law] of the Federal Repub-lic of German state:

Majority of the population in poverty

“In case of tension, the armed forces can pro-tect civil objects […] and be active in battlingorganized insurgents […].” But this is trueonly for the political and economical systemin Germany and in other western countries.For countries with other political systems, aswe saw in the example of socialist Yugosla-via, other rules apply!

In summary: Ten years ago, socialist Yugo-slavia ceased to exist. Decisive for this devel-opment were bombings over months, but alsopolitical and economic pressure, lies and the

bribing of collaborators within the country,with millions of dollars, coming from well-known organizations of NATO countries aim-ing to introduce a capitalist market economyinto this country.

They succeeded. The former Yugoslavi-an President Milosevic was taken to trial be-fore the International Criminal Court in DenHaag, an executive organ of NATO, but alsoby way of treason by his own followers. InDen Haag he bravely defended his views andhis country. It is the power of the capital andthe hate of all that is remotely reminiscentof socialism which is to blame for Milose-

vic’s death.Today, in Yugoslavia, as in the former

GDR, there is a high rate of unemployment.Corruption is in the millions. Only a few haveaccess to education and arts. There is povertyfor the majority of the population and afflu-ence for the chosen few, a high crime level,prostitution, trade in drugs and people – allthese were unknown in times of socialism.In addition, there is the concern for our sons,daughters and grandchildren.

The world did not develop towards recon-ciliation between the systems of socialismand capitalism as many of the naïve politi-cians in the former socialist states expected.Instead, the number of wars was increasedworld-wide.

Weapons are the largest branch of trade –and for this to remain as it is, wars have to be

planned and carried out. Just like the NATOwar against the flourishing Yugoslavia. Butit is up to us, the peoples of the world, tochange this social system, which cannot beour choice. •

“The Criminal NATO Attack …”continued from page 3

2,000 citizens died, i.e. every second inhab-itant. During the German occupation afterthe invasion in 1941, 2,000 of them fled intothe forests, to the partisans, 500 were shot orhung by the Germans. During the recaptur-ing of the region in 1944, the Fourth Prole-tarian Montenegrin Brigade played an im-portant role, its commander Blazo Jankovic is still a freeman of Varvarin. But even thatfell into oblivion; the Milenkovic family had

never heard about this freeman. The Prole-tarian Brigade was something for veterans.Nazi Germany was past. The war was his-tory. This is what everybody thought beforeMarch 1999.

The place is strategically insignificantwith regard to military and traffic

When the war star ted on March 1999, Kraguje-vac was bombed at once. One of the first aimsNATO destroyed there was the monument forthe Nazi victims of 1941. In Varvarin, howev-er, the situation remained quiet during Apriland May. The place is strategically irrelevantwith regard to military even to traffic: Peoplewho want to go in direction Kosovo or gener-ally to the south, drive around the place, sincethey don’t want to lose time. The motorway E75 runs further east via Nis, the E 761 further

west via Krusevac. On 30 May 1999, therewas a hot, blue sky over Central Serbia, thebest flying weather for NATO bombers. Al-ready in the morning, coming from the Adri-atic Sea, in high altitude they had dashed overVarvarin and drawn their loops. Like on thedays and weeks before, they certainly wereon their way to Novi Sad, Nis or Belgrade. Atnine o’clock, the sirens howled: air raid alarm.Most of the people shrugged. Routine! As amatter of fact, nothing happened. Vesna wor-ried all the same. In fact, two days before thenews agency Tanjug had reported that Milose-vic had agreed upon the fundamentals of theG 8 peace plans – i.e. the conditions set by theseven most powerful Western industrial statesand Russia after nine hours of negotiationswith the Russian envoy Tschernomyrdin. Buton 27 May the War Crimes Tribunal in DenHaag had released its indictment against the

same Milosevic. Apparently there were forcesin the NATO who did not want a peace treatywith Yugoslavia, because with whom shouldthey sign it if not with its president?

“Don’t be silly, Mum, who is to attack such a

small village?”

“My dear, look well after yourself and don’tcome home late!”, was the advice Sanja’smother gave her daughter that morning. Bothof the other gi rls giggled, waved, their moth-ers had said the same words, mothers alwayssay these things. “Don’t be silly, Mum, who

is to attack a small village? And moreoveron a Sunday?” Sanja pouted. The three girlshad dressed up well, had backcombed theirhair with some gel and hair spray, Sanja hadpinched some lip stick and eye shadow fromher mother. The blue T-shirt, the white cor-duroys and white sneakers suited her well.Perhaps she would meet the boys from herformer class again? There was always some-thing going on at such a church festival, evennow, at war, because the war was far away,and on top of that it was summer.

* * *This summer “will remain in the memo-ry of those who lived it here as the mostbrilliant and beautiful summer sinceages, because in their consciousness itglitters and shines against a huge anddark horizon of death and disaster ex-tending up to the infinite. And this sum-mer began really well, better than somany years before.”

(Ivo Andric, The Bridge on the Drina)

* * *The way to church led the girls to the bridgecrossing the Morava. It had come after theSecond World War from Germany as repara-tion for the one the Nazis had blasted. Indeed,the Germans had not sent this reparation

themselves – it had been the Soviets who haddismantled that bridge in their zone of occu-pation and had given it as a present to theirYugoslav sister nation. It was bolt upright andhad only one lane, the horizontal rested onconcrete blocks, in fact nothing special, nowire-rope construction, no vaulted arches ormarbel balustrades, no lanterns and no banks.The bridge had only little resemblance withits audacious sisters in New York or the ro-mantic ones in Paris or with the “Bridge onthe Drina” in Visegrad, which Ivo Andric de-scribed in his famous book. Though it was abridge, and this is always a bit exciting, be-cause there is a here – “at our place” anda there – “at their place”. Sometimes, teen-agers met there. The boys whistled after thegirls, the girls tapped their forehead. The lov-ers hid in the river banks or behind the wil-low trees, the leaves of which were caressed

by the water and covered the sight.When Sanja and her girl friends Marina

and Marijana crossed the bridge at around10 o’clock in the morning, the Morava waswhooshing under them as usually. The manyyears of embargo had destroyed the industryand made the people jobless, but now it waspossible to bathe again. Yugoslavia had be-come poor but the fish were happy that thefactories were decaying and produced onlysmall amounts of sewage water.

Every Sunday, there was market in Var-varin, and additionally on this Sunday there

was the celebration of the Holy Trinity, theorthodox Pentecost, on the square in frontof the church above the river. Even fom faraway, Sanja could see the hustle and bustle,heard the calls of the traders, the bargainingof the customers. As usual, the farmers of-fered potatoes and fruit, travelling hawkersoffered fancy clothes, sneakers, all kinds oftools. 3000 people shoved to and fro betweenthe Plaza Hotel and the river banks, perhapseven more. At first, the three girls went toChurch, Sanja donated a candle. The priestwas preaching how the Holy Ghost came

down on Pentecost: When 50 days after theresurrection of Christ had elapsed, a roaringnoise had started from heaven, meanwhile theapostles had been gathering like one soul intheir prayer. Tongs of fire appeared and satdown on each of them. That way they werefilled with the Holy Ghost. The girls likedto hear that, but they knew it already. AfterMass went to see a girl friend and drank somefruit juice.

Two military jets flew north above Var-varin

“Come on, we must go home, I have to pre-pare something for granny, I want to bake acake for her”, Sanja was keen to get going.“Oh why, it is not even one o’clock”, Marinaanswered indignantly. But they were friendsand stuck together. Perhaps they could return

to the celebration in the late afternoon. Fromthe church to the river, it was only a stone’sthrow, perhaps 150 meters. On the bridge thegirls dawdled, making jokes about the otherpedestrians, a boy spat into the r iver from therailing, and that looked really crazy. Theywere talking nonsense and did not realizewhat happened: Two military jets flew northabove Varvarin, disappeared and turned be-hind the horizon, flew over the small townagain, this time coming from the south,turned eastward, completed the turn to a loopheading south. They returned!

The church clock struck one. Sanja’s par-ents were working in the kitchen makingpreparations for the banquet the next day.Suddenly they heard an enormous explo-sion. Zoran assumed an impact in Cuprija,but Vesna thought it was nearer, much nearer.She ran to the telephone, dialed a number of

someone living in the town center – the linewas dead. That could mean that the bridgewas hit, because the phone cords were run-ning underneath. Vesna could hardly breathe,she felt like choking, Zoran had to hold her, orelse she would have collapsed. What shouldthey do? Down into the cellar, which theyhad furnished as provisional shelter? Impos-sible, not without Sanja. Since Zoran had ru-ined his legs playing volleyball, Vesna ran tothe neighbor, Marina’s mother. Sometimes itis difficult to start a car when the hands trem-ble, but this time it worked, and with screech-

ing tires, the two women drove off towardsthe Morava. On the way, they examined eachface, coming towards them, there were manychildren among them, but no Marina, no Mar-ijana, no Sanja. Shortly before Varvarin peo-ple passing by confirmed that the bridge hadbeen hit, and they had seen girls on it, whenit happened. Vesna felt sick, but she ignoredit and stepped on the gas. Now, don’t youthink, she said to herself. Change gears, cou-ple, and press down the pedal. It all depend-ed on seconds. At the river, there was an eeriesilence; and above the water it was dark, be-

cause of the clouds of smoke after the explo-sions. The mothers called the names of theirdearest ones: Marina, Marijana, Sanja.

* * *That wonderful area… suddenly it was pushed aside like a thin and deceitfulcurtain, and in front of her stood thewolf with sparkling eyes, tail, rolledup and teeth snarling to a grin, whichwas even more terrible than her moth-er had ever described it to her. Aska’sblood froze, and her legs became stifflike wood. It occurred to her that sheshould call for help, she even openedher mouth, but there was no voice. In front of her was death, invisible andunique and omnipresent, cruel and un-believable in its cruelty.

(Ivo Andric, Aska and the Wolf)

* * *

They see two combat jetsracing directly towards them

The shaky cars on the bridge are rattling,therefore the girls hear the airplanes whenit is already too late. At 13:01, they havereached the centre of the bridge and see twocombat jets racing directly towards them.Where should they go now – back or for-ward? Sanja’s mathematical brain has forgot-ten about everything; even Einstein wouldnot have succeeded in calculating the trajec-tory and the contact angle of the projectiles.God does not throw dice. Maybe he helps?Oh God, help me! The pilots are 300 metersaway, 100 meters, in this distance and clear

weather they are definitely able to see eve-rything, the market, t he church square full ofpeople, the cars on the bridge. They fire twoAGM 65rockets. Sanja remembers the sermonin the church: “And suddenly there came fromthe sky a noise like a strong driving wind,and it filled the entire house in which theywere. Then there appeared to them tongues asof fire, which parted and came to rest on eachone of them. And they were all filled with theHoly Spirit.” But that was not the Holy Spir-

“Sanja’s Last Day”continued from page 2

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May 2009 No 9/10 Page 5Current Concerns

If you want to understand the process of the78-day air war waged by the NATO over Ko-sovo and against Yugoslavia, it is indispensa-ble to cast a glance at the US Air Force doc-trine of air war. This was written down by USAir Force colonel  John A. Warden III , whowas later promoted to be commander of the Air Command and Staff College at  Air Uni-versity, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, followingthe preceding considerations from the twen-ties and thirties of the last century, as present-ed by the Italian Giulio Douhet , the British Hugh Trenchard , the American Billie Mitch-ell, or the German general of the Army of theReich (Reichswehrgeneral) Walther Wever .These ideas made their breakthrough in the1991 war against Iraq; and until today theyhave shaped the prevailing US doctrine ofair war. This latter doctrine was also at the

base of the concept for the air war operationsagainst Yugoslavia in 1999, against Afghan-istan in 2001/2002, and once more againstIraq in 2003.

The concept of the five rings

The concept of the five rings is the quintes-sence of Warden’s strategic approach: startingfrom a systemic point of view, the former AirForce Colonel describes a potential enemy asa system of concentric rings the strategic rel-evance of which decreases from the middleoutwards. Warden defines this system of con-

centric rings, as applied to an enemy state,as follows: In the centre you find the politi-cal and military leadership. Around them thekey industries are grouped, primarily powergeneration plants, water supply installations,the petrochemical industry and, interestingenough, the financial sector of a state, thetransport infrastructure as the th ird ring, nextthe civilian population and as a last one, onthe very outside, the military services.

The order of target priority can be derivedfrom the importance of these elements for astate’s capability for survival and from thetargets’ vulnerability under air attack. It mustbe pointed out that this doctrine of air war isquite deliberately aimed at the destruction ofthe livelihood resources of a state and of a so-ciety, and that it notably names the civilianpopulation as an explicit target. The air at-

tacks on the civilian population and their basisof existence aim at undermining their loyaltyand obedience to their political leaders.

On the other hand, the enemy’s military ismoved to the farthest end of the list of targetpriorities. The reason that Warden offers forthis order follows ice-cold rationality: “Con-trary to Clausewitz, destruction of the enemymilitary is not the essence of war; the essenceof war is convincing the enemy to accept ourposition, and fighting his military forces isat best a means to an end and at worst a totalwaste of time and energy.”

The salient point, however, is the fact that astrategy of war which deliberately and point-edly targets the civilian population blatantlyoverrides all humanitarian law. The reductionof the inhibition level regarding the choice oftarget swiftly leads to the reduction of the in-hibition level regarding fighting strategies. Itwould seem that in the reality of modern airwar, basically any means is permissible, if itleads to victory, be it laser-controlled preci-sion bombs on apartment buildings, clusterbombs on villages, ammunition made fromdepleted uranium, “fuel-air-explosives” (aer-osol bombs that abruptly generate an enor-mous excess pressure and annihilate any lifein close vicinity to the explosion), or evenwhite phosphorus against “soft targets”, asthey are cynically referred to in the jargon ofthe air war planners.

Civilian population is the target

Now such methods of waging war are plain-ly breaking international law according to the1949 Geneva Convention including the sup-plementary provisions of 1974 to 1977 andalso the Convention On Certain Convention-al Weapons (Ccw) of 10 October 1980.  Bynow, the number of civilian casualties – usu-ally euphemistically called “collateral dam-ages” – consistently exceeds the military loss-es of the alleged “surgical war” many timesover. •

Source: This text is a short excerpt from a lengthy ar-ticle published in the newspaper “junge Welt” on 3April 2009.

(Translation by Current Concerns)

* Jürgen Rose is a qualified pedagogue and lieuten-ant-colonel of the German armed forces. In this arti-cle he is expressing his own personal opinion.

Civilian Objectives Were Meant to Be HitThe NATO doctrine of assault in the 1999 air war against Yugoslavia violated international law

by Jürgen Rose *

 ID 76604684

The appointment of  Richard Holbrooke  asthe special representative for Afghanistan

and Pakistan by President Obama was a clearsignal. After experiences with M r Holbrookeprior to and during the war in Yugoslavia weare justified to say: Wherever Richard Hol-brooke is to be found there is war. Justifica-tions of a war à la Holbrooke are probablyrandomly chosen. However, they have onesingle objective, namely to occupy the pub-lic’s attention until the real target set by USAmerican policy has been accomplished.

Anyhow, everything started so beautiful-ly with the war in Yugoslavia. In the last 10years we have reached really deep into the slipbox of possible justifications ranging from the‘humanitarian intervention’ on the Balkansfollowing the British example from the firsthalf of the 19th Century, via the weapons ofmass destruction à la Iraq, to the war on terrormodelled on Afghanistan, only to accomplish

– alone or some bounded states following inthe wake - the American triumphal marchfrom the Balkans to Bulgaria and Rumania,the Caucasus and the Iraq, reaching out to Af-ghanistan-Pakistan-Kashmir, to Tibet, Burmaand the Thai southern provinces, to the SouthChinese Sea and to Philippine Mindanao. Forall this Richard Holbrooke is our man. Be-cause of the reluctance that had been built upagainst Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush in the past years, we easily forget one thing:the possessive manner of America’s globalpolicy was started under Clinton, Albright  andHolbrooke. Initially, Bush seemed to prom-ise relief and a renunciation of the war poli-cy of his predecessor – until he started to graband grasp firmly. Why should this be differentwith Obama, who is obviously willing to usethis world’s Holbrookes in order to enforceAmerica’s policy? One cannot be sure about

the dimension of imminent surprises. At thelatest, when we see Mr Holbrooke all famil-iar in a friendly round with Taliban fighters,repeating his own procedure with his Kos-ovo UÇK allies, we might understand the di-mensions of his tricks. Why should he not sitdown with the Taliban, as they came into ex-istence by creation of the Democrats in coop-eration with the Pakistani and Saudi friendsduring Clinton’s first presidential term?

The pattern underlying the American poli-cy in Yugoslavia and on the Balkans suggests

a first step of reaching out and grabbing glo-bally and this might determine the future:The allied states of the new dimension, al-lies against the will of their inhabitants, werebound to NATO’s new strategic concept as

an intervention machinery. This occurred qui-etly, passing by all parliaments, with the reso-lution about a new NATO strategy in Portugalin September 1998.

Next was the ceasefire agreement with Yu-goslavia in October 1998, which had two par-ticularities by which it could be underminedor better exploited:1. While Yugoslavia stuck to the agreement,

Kosovo’s UÇK were let off the leash andable to commence fighting against the Yu-goslavian troops.

2. For conferences of the NATO council inBrussels the ceasefire agreement concludedbetween President Milosevic and US emis-sary Holbrooke was provided with an auto-matic component of air raid attack, which

could be applied on 24 March 1999 break-ing the well known international law.When Holbrooke was approached by the

Yugoslavian side because of this “Actord” bythe NATO Council, he is reported to have saidsomething like that “this was the only way tokeep the allies in line.” The consequences arewell known, except the fact that there was a sig-nificant deployment of Israeli forces in Kosovo,and that UÇK and Rugova followers who hadallegedly been killed by the Yugoslavian armyafterwards appeared in public in Tel Aviv.

The events in Racak and the pseudo negotia-tions of Rambouillet were only further steps toimplement what had always been the objective:to exploit the relation between Serbs and Al-banians in Kosovo or better to exploit the non-

existence of it in order to rectify Eisenhower’s mistake in 1944, as was declared by officialAmerican representatives at the Balkan Confer-ence in Bratislava in 2000. Eventually Ameri-can ground troops had to go to the Balkans andfrom there the deployment could be extendedand they could be stationed further east.

With his coup à la Holbrooke PresidentObama has at least decided on the extensionof the South Asian war area from Afghanistanto Pakistan. •(Translation by Current Concerns)

Warmongers Have Been Setting the Tone for 10 Years now!The example of Richard Holbrooke

by Willy Wimmer, member of the German Parliament (CDU/ CSU) and former secretary of state of the German Defence Ministry

The bridge of Varvarin. (photo Hans Wallow)

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Page 6 No 9/10 May 2009Current Concerns

it here, Sanja thinks, this is hell. She hears awhizzing, and then a dreadful impact toss-es her through the a ir. She feels herself burnout, a terrible heat. Suddenly she is complete-ly light, floating in the air.

The laser-steered bombs cut the bridge in

half near the center; it collapses, the girlsfall into the abyss, they faint. After two orthree minutes Marina comes to, at first shesees her bleeding hand. Her right leg is com-pletely smashed below the knee, the lower legconnected with the body only by some lumpsof flesh. Where are the other two? Marijanais groaning, calls for help. She tries to pullherself up at the railing but then she noticesthat a bone protrudes from the upper arm andshe has no power. Sanja holds her hand to herchest, her eyes are open, she breathes heavily,wants to say something, but she cannot. Sheleans to the railing with her back; an injury isnot to be seen.

After five minutes someone screams: “Theyare coming back!” Sanja looks upward, seesthe vapor trails and the two missiles, whichcome hissing directly towards her, tumbling

as if drunk. That is the laser steering mecha-nism, but Sanja does not know that. The re-mainders of the bridge are hit again. The sec-ond explosion is even more violent than thefirst one and can be heard in Krusevac whichis 16 kilometers away. A piece of concrete ofthe bridge, as large as a tank, is hurled up intothe air and bout 100 meters into the cemeteryon the other side of the church. Sanja slipsdeeper and her head is hanging down, only afew inches above the water surface. She feelsan iceberg mounting within her body. Thepelvis, the belly, the intestines are alreadyfrozen. Now the cold creeps higher towardsher heart. It must have been like that, whenthe Titanic sank, shortly before the polar cir-cle. Where is the life raft? Suddenly she seesLeonardo di Caprio. Yes, it is he. He will saveher. Sanja smiles. Znam pricu o sreci, I knowa story about happiness.

Marina crawls towards Sanja, crawls withthe help of her elbows – she can no longeruse the smashed legs. Then she is holding thehead of the fainted girl, so that she cannotsink below the water surface. She gets a bot-tle of mineral water from her backpack, andsprinkles some water on Sanja’s face. Mari-na stands in the water, but the current is sostrong and pulls so heavily at the remaindersof her thigh that she is afraid, her leg will betorn away. Anyhow, the leg is swelling be-cause of the load and hurts like hell. Marinamust get out of the water, she pulls herselfback on the remnants of the bridge above her.She and Marijana call for help, wait. Noth-ing happens. Finally, they hear voices, theirmothers’ voices.

Some hours later – it is still bright day-light and warm weather – eight lifeless bod-

ies lie in the morgue of Varvarin, nearly allof them terribly mutilated. Vojkan Stankovic,his limbs are twisted, perhaps broken. Zoran

Marinkovic’s leg is severed from thepelvis, someone has neatly put it overhis left shoulder, the brightly polishedshoe still tied to the foot. Milan Savic’slower leg is torn off and lies across hisabdomen. In Dragoslav Terzics’ headgapes a hole. Milivoje Cyric has nohead, because a flying metal part hascut it off. Seven of the eight dead died

in the second attack. Among them isthe above-mentioned Milan Savic. Hewanted to help the three girls in theriver, a friend warned him: “They willcome back, they always do, friendsfrom Belgrade told me.” Milan shout-ed back: “You are a coward, we musthelp nevertheless!” Those were his lastwords.

* * * Embrace me now,as strongly as you only can,and do not hand me over to theblack bird,no, do not worry,it will pass within the next instant.…The gloss of the millions of lights

 frightens me,when the sky is ignited.Where is there an end, for whom did they dig the deep grave? Do human beings solve a problem atall,or are we only here for the equilibrium of the stars?

(Djordje Balasevic, Slavic Song)

* * * 

Sanja is not among the dead in the morgue.After her mother has found her at the river,she is laid on a board and slided into an am-bulance. Vesna gets on the coach too. Herchild is unconscious, although her eyes aremoving and her mouth remains opened. “Bestrong, I will stay with you”, Vesna says. Andto the doctor: “Do something, please, turn

her on her back. I cannot look on how mychild is dying under my very hands.” Afterfive minutes Sanja slowly closes her eyes.The doctor orders the driver to change di-rection and to head towards the next outpa-tient clinic. There Sanja is given an Adren-alin injection, her eyelids flicker, she opensher eyes again. Vesna changes cars and theambulance with Sanja and the doctor speedsup and races to the Krusevac hospital. WhenSanja’s mother arrives there a little later shesees a doctor coming out of a sickroom pull-ing off his gloves. Like in a movie. Vesna in-stantly knows everything. “I want to see mychild”. “No, the doctor says, this is not yourchild, it is a bigger girl, go and look for your-self. Vesna rushes into the sickroom, some-how between fear and hope, but the terribleforeboding is affirmed: The lifeless body in

the green cloth is her daughter Sanja. Vesnathrows herself on top of the body, feels some-thing like a throb. “Doctor, her heart is stillbeating, she is not dead.” The doctor gentlypulls her away, looks into her flickering eyes,casts down his eyes:”Yes, she is!”

Some time later Vesna is sitting in the car,on the rear seat, Sanja in her arms, just likeon 24 March, when they came from Belgrad,but now everything is different. Sanja has awound on her left hip, running from her backto her leg and a shrapnel in the back part ofher head. Small parts of the bridge have en-tered her body everywhere: in the back, thelegs, even the toes. All inner organs are in- jured, above all the lungs. Looking from thefront the body seems unscathed. Zoran gets awhite coffin. Vesna takes out Sanja’s favour-ite dress and puts it on her. “I don’t knowwhat I will do without you”, Vesna says.

“Pilot: I am now leaving the clouds.I still do not see anything. Basis: Continue your flight. DirectionNorth 4280Pilot: I am under 3000 ft. Below thereis a convoy of vehicles, some kind oftrucks. What does that mean: I demandinstructions Basis: Where are the tanks?Pilot: I see tractors. I don’t think theReds disguise their tanks as tractors.

 Basis: What kind of crap is this? What abummer! Sure it’s the Serbs behind that.Destroy the target!Pilot: What is it I am to destroy? Trac-tors? Usual vehicles? I repeat: I don’t seeany tanks. I demand more information. Basis: This is a mil itary target. Destroythe target! I repeat: Destroy the tar-get!”

This extract from the radio communicationbetween cockpit and NATO command sta-tion were recorded by the Yugoslav air de-fense in another air strike. Whether the sit-uation was similar in Varvarin we don’tknow. The official NATO version is poor:“Two F16 attacked the bridge with four laser-steered 2000 kilo bombs following one an-

other quickly. The first attack destroyed themiddle part of the bridge, the second attackdestroyed the rest of the bridge.” LieutenantColonel  Michael Käm merer , responsible forthe German press at the public relation centreof the NATO headquarters Europe in Mons,South Belgium, at least discloses that Var-varin had been a “secondary target”. In otherwords: The target that had been chosen wasalready destroyed, therefore one was lookingfor a substitute.

In the Western public there was some crit-icism because of the collateral damage of30 May. NATO justified the attack speak-ing about a “legitimate attack on a main sup-ply route of the Serbian army. “ NATO pressspokesman  Jamie Shea called Varvarin “achosen and justified target”.

Who chose Varvarin as a target for bomb-

ing? NATO refused to let out the names ofthe pilots towards Reiner Luyken of Die Zeit.Even their nationality was not disclosed. San- ja’s grandfather is convinced that a Germanaviator killed his granddaughter. Military ex-pert John Erickson believes it was a US-pilot,since only US-pilots had ”the operative com-petence to fire laser-steered weapons.” Andwho gave the orders to the pilots? The lists oftargets were determined by the NATO plan-ning staff and were approved of by the politi-cal heads of the NATO states – Clinton, Jos-pin, Blair – and Schröder. It is known that insome cases the French government success-fully vetoed against the bombing of civil tar-gets, e.g. of some Danube bridges. In the wardiary of Minister Scharping we can read thatthe choice of targets was a permanent itemon the agenda of the NATO Council. Sincethe NATO Council takes its decisions unani-

mously it would have well been possible forthe German Government to veto certain tar-gets.

Secondary targets, however, were deter-mined without a check by the political side,said Lieutenant Colonel Kämmerer . Ac-cording to Paul Beaver, author of the mag-azine Jane’s Defense Weekly the coordinatesof these substitute targets were told the pi-lots from the Awacs aircrafts, these are flyingNATO command centers, with German ex-perts and officers on board as well. In 1994,the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)

had still tried in vain to have the par-ticipation of German military forbid-den by the  Bundesverfassungsgericht(Federal Constitutional Court).

NATO press spokesman Shea wasfull of praise: “Never in history hasthere been an air mission, that dam-aged the enemy’s military to such agreat extend and spared the civilian

population as the present one […]. “Shea’s German partner General Walter Jertz, expressed his opinion that NATOconducted the most carefully targetedbombings in history”. Fantastic preci-sion? War with the most carefully tar-geted bombardments in history? With-in 78 days NATO destroyed merely 14Yugoslavian tanks, but 48 hospitals, 74TV stations and 422 schools. 20000cluster bombs are hidden in the earthas unexploded ordnance even today– they may explode any day. The re-mainder of uranium-hardened ammu-nition is going to emit radiation formany thousand years to come. Morethan 2000 civilians died, one third ofthe victims were children.

  After the war the bridge of Var-

varin was rebuilt. It was funded bySerbs in Switzerland. The former Bel-grad government founded a Sanja-Milenko-vic-Foundation, an institution that promot-ed mathematically gifted children. For a longtime Vesna slept in the bed of her dead child.When she visited the grave she could notweep. She went into Sanja’s room for weep-ing. When the sun was shining she was notglad, it reminded her of the sunny 30 May,1999. When she heard one day that her par-ents had had a very bad accident, she stayedcompletely calm. If they are dead, they willbe with Sanja, she thought.

For Marijana and Maria life went on, some-how. They still have splinters in their bodythat cannot be removed. For Schröder andFischer life goes on as well. Clinton, Albright,Scharping and  Naumann are enjoying theirpension.

Serbian victims of the NATO aggres-sion, surviving dependants and injured peo-ple from Varvarin finally filed a suit againstthe German government, in order to obtainat least some material damage compensationfor something that could never be compensat-ed. They received support by a small Germangroup of activists around the Berlin business-man Harald Kampffmeyer  and his wife Cor-nelia who in order to finance the trial pawnedtheir belongings. Such whistleblowers are notliked in the country of the war profiteers, themedia always reported disdainfully about theman.

The lawsuit of the Serbs was repelled bythree courts, by the Bundesgerichtshof (Fed-eral Court of Justice) in Karlsruhe at the lat-est. What has been achieved up to today?The dead girl and the other nameless victims

of the bombings were not forgotten as long asthe trial lasted. A constitutional complaint isnot yet decided on.

But is this all there is? Is there no schoolcouncil, no teaching staff that will fight fortheir grammar school bearing the name ofSanja Milenkovic? Is there no catholic orprotestant priest who will read a Mass forher on 30 May and organize a collection tohelp paying the legal costs? No employeerepresentative of the IG Metall (Metal Work-ers Union) or Verdi who will vote for a workstoppage or at least a minute of silence? Shalla girl be forgotten that had to die only forone reason: Because she was Serbian? Shallthe Serbs be forgotten who three times in onecentury were in the way of German plans?Does nobody dare to talk about the rope inthe house of the hangman?

***In that case the Serbs lament in the words oftheir poet Miodrag Pavlovic is justified:

 Beautiful cities will no longer be in ourcountryWe wish for long nights and deep for-estsWhere one can see without the eyes Let us sing and memorize ourselvesThe others have forgotten us.

(Translation Current Concerns)

“Sanja’s Last Day”continued from page 4

 ISBN 978-3-89706-511-6 

Current Concerns is an independent journal producedby volunteers that is not supported by advertising.

Any financial contribution is greatly appreciated.

Current ConcernsThe international journal for independent

thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility,and for the promotion and respect

of public international law, human rightsand humanitarian law

Publisher: Zeit-Fragen CooperativeEditor: Erika Vögeli

 Address: Current Concerns,P.O. Box, CH-8044 Zurich

Phone: +41 (0)44 350 65 50 Fax: +41 (0)44 350 65 51E-Mail: [email protected]

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May 2009 No 9/10 Page 7Current Concerns

German shoot-ahead

Facing the violent struggles in Kosovo, the

NATO in Brussels dealt with the conflict. Inthe meeting of the NATO council on May 14,1998 the German representative advocated aposition causing concerned enquiries fromother NATO-partners. The German position:“It is not sufficient to investigate support-ing measures, but also measures that attackthe Kosovo problem from its root.” It sound-ed like Germany was advocating a militaryintervention in Kosovo. “Several colleaguesapproached me after the meeting, asking meif we really wanted to intervene in the Kos-ovo itself […]. [The British NATO ambassa-dor] voiced his surprise about our far-reach-ing proposals.” (Report of the German NATOembassy, May 14, 1998).

What counts in Washington

 Report of the German embassy from Wash-

ington, dated October 2, 1998:“Assessment: It remains unsaid that the ad-ministration sees some advantages in the pro-posed quickening of the pace, unconnectedwith the matter itself: Distraction from theLewinski affair through a foreign crisis; hopefor a rally-around-the-flag effect timed withthe mid-term elections; proof of a continuingAmerican leadership in the international sys-tem. Less importance is placed on the costs:The US are willing to accept resistance by aneconomically and politically weakened Rus-sia. In case the American shoot-ahead shouldderail the Red-Green coalition negotiations,this would produce only crocodile tears inWashington.”

Regime Change

Session of the Deutsche Bundestag on Octo-ber 16, 1998.

MP Joseph Fischer : “But the problem is not just the humanitarian catastrophe, as bad as itmay be. The problem is that the policy of theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia […] createsa permanent risk of war in Europe. It is thisrisk of war which we cannot accept.”

A political solution in sight?

Intense political efforts to stop the conflictsbetween the Yugoslavian state and the Kos-ovo-Albanian insurgents, bordering on a civilwar, led to the following agreements:• Yugoslavia withdraws its special police

units and its army from the Kosovo. Bothsides maintain a ceasefire and negotiate apeaceful settlement of the conflict underinternational supervision.

• The NATO implements permanent air sur-veillance with airplanes and unmanned

aerial vehicles.• The OSCE supervises the ceasefire in Kos-ovo with a mission of up to 2000 officials.

A refugee camp for the media?

 Report of the German embassy in Belgrade,October 25, 1998:“Personally, we have not detected any troopsexcept those of the Pristina Corps. The UÇKis returning, exploiting the withdrawal of theSerbian security forces, redeploying its troopsunbroken in its will to fight until full inde-pendence is achieved. It makes use of refu-gee camps for protection and as a safe harbor.The UÇK tries to enforce a NATO interven-tion by carrying out attacks and provoking re-actions from the Serbian security forces.

The author, however, found the refugeecamp in the vicinity of Kisna Reka, which iscontrolled by the UÇK, completely non-typ-

ical. In view of the claim that these refugeeshave been dwelling in the mountains for overtwo months, they seemed very neat, well-fedand balanced. The author cannot avoid the im-pression that the UÇK is using these refugees(their number went down from over 3500 toless than 100) as a political security and alsoas a model camp for the media. Some of the journalists present were equally skeptical.”

“Spoilsports”

 Retired general Klaus Naumann in the Ger-man TV (ZDF) program “Chronicle of a War

Foretold. A résumé of the Kosovo conflict”,September 21, 1999.“The UÇK was basically playing a role thatspoiled the success of the fall of 1998. It filledthe vacuum created when the Serbs withdrewand spread in a way that would probably nothave been accepted in any of our states. I can-not imagine that Germany would have ac-cepted if some group, thinking it has to revoltagainst the state, started erecting checkpointsand border posts and wearing uniforms…”

The fox as geese-keeper: The American

“diplomat” W. WalkerA decision which was crucial for the furtherdevelopment of the conflict was made by theAmerican Secretary of State  Albright . Shegot the Polish Foreign Minister Geremek , al-ways compliant towards the US, to appointthe US diplomat W. Walker as head of theOSCE mission in Kosovo. This decision vi-olated all OSCE rules. Walker proved to bea most partial and anti-Serbian OSCE rep-resentative who proclaimed and practiced anaggressive behavior against the Serbs. Insteadof building up the mission, he impeded theemployment of more personnel.

In addition, on January 1, 1999 Norwaytook over as chairman of the OSCE in Vien-na. The Norwegian Foreign Minister Volle-beek  acted as the right-hand man of NATO inthe OSCE structure.

 James P. Rubin, former US State Depart-ment spokesman, said that the NATO waragainst Yugoslavia had been a very personalwar, “Madeleine’s War” – a war of the Amer-ican Secretary of State Albright. (“FinancialTimes, September/October 2000)

Competing truths at the “turning point”

Joseph Fischer says, “Racak was the turningpoint for me. 45 civilians were liquidated onJanuary 15, 1999 in this village in Kosovo”.(Gunter Hofmann, How Germany got intothe war, in: Die Zeit , May 12, 1999)

“OSCE experts have supposedly foundboth proofs for a massacre and manipulationson the scene of the crime. It is said that theyhave detected alterations on the scene. Onlya part of the victims may have been killed onsite. […].” (G2/A2 day’s news, January 25,1999)

Atrocity propaganda

“Moreover, many victims were mutilated,their sculls broken, faces destroyed by bul-lets, eyes poked out. One man had been be-headed.” (“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,Jan. 18, 1999).

“The head of one of the bodies had beencut off; the eyes of others were poked out, theface shot away.” (“Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung, Jan. 20, 1999).

“Six of the victims had sustained postmor-tem damage, most likely inflicted by animals.

No signs of post-mortem mutilation werepresent.” (Finnish forensic scientists, in: Fo-rensic Science International, 2000)

“I have underlined the central message ofthe Report [of the OSCE regarding Racak],that only a full forensic investigation canproduce a full picture of what really has hap-pened in Racak.” (Report of the GermanOSCE representative on March 18, 1999)

A struck balance

A meeting of the NATO defense attachés inBelgrade came to the following conclusions:• The UÇK relies on the media effect of the

Racak Massacre even though many detailsare still not clear.

• The UÇK used the three months prettywell which the OSCE needed to becomeoperative and improved its starting posi-tion while the Serbian security forces hadbeen generally cooperative.

• The UÇK takes it for granted that only afew targeted provocations are necessaryuntil the NATO will intervene and is surethat it will soon reach its goal.

• All participants question the meaningful-ness of NATO air strikes.

(Report from the German embassy in Bel-grade, January 21, 1999)

The media are setting the course for war– the situation before the beginning of the

war

OSCE mission: March 17, 1999 : “The general situationthroughout the region remains tense butquiet.” March 18, 1999 : “The situation through-out the region generally remains tense butquiet.”

 Bundeswehr Office for Intelligence: March 22, 1999• The beginning of a coordinated large of-

fensive of the Serbian-Yugoslavian forcesagainst the UÇK in Kosovo can […] not beconfirmed […]”.

• “Tendencies towards ethnic cleansing can-not be detected.”

 March 23, 1999• Contrary to media reports, no large offen-

sive of Yugoslavian security forces in Ko-sovo can be detected currently […].”

• “New information regarding deploymentof substantial reinforcements cannot beconfirmed now. The intensity of the con-flicts is not exceeding the currently knownlevel of violence.”

Staff department FüS II, German Ministry of Defense: March 24, 1999“The Serbian-Yugoslavian forces a re not yetcapable of performing a large-scale oper-ation against the UÇK throughout the Ko-sovo. To reach this level, significant re-

inforcements in infantry units would beneeded […]

In the following days, we have to expectmore local and short-term operations againstthe UÇK. The UÇK itself will continue try-ing to provoke the Serbian-Yugoslavian forc-es with the well-known hit-and-run attacksand to goad them into massive reactions, hop-ing that these would reach a level in destruc-tions and number of refugees which leads toimmediate NATO air strikes.”

Foreign Office, SO-BOS-HUG:The humanitarian situation against the back-drop of violations of the Holbrooke-Milose-vic agreements: March 19, 1999“All ethnic groups in Kosovo are equally af-fected by eviction and destruction. Some 90villages formerly inhabited by Serbs are nowdeserted.

Different from fall 1998, currently no sup-ply disaster is imminent […]. KVM  is speak-ing now of a distribution problem, not of asupply problem.”

The media coverage is showing a starkcontrast to the observations of the Foreignand Defense Ministry experts. The tendencycan be demonstrated by citing the headlines:“Large Serbian Offensive in Kosovo” (“DieWelt”, March 23, 1999), “Serbs on the ad-

vance” (“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”,March 23, 1999), “After the Paris Confer-ence, a new cruel round of fighting and evic-tions has commenced” (“Süddeutsche Zei-tung”, March 22, 1999), “Serbs start newoffensive in Kosovo” (“Frankfurter Rund-schau”, March 22, 1999), “Serbs advancewith 40,000 troops and heavy arms” (“DieWelt”, March 22, 1999)

Two German ministers: Holocaust ex-ploiters and relativizers

Since March 24, 1999 the NATO had bombedYugoslavia with support by the Bundeswehr ina war not sanctioned by the UN. The goal wasto protect the population of the Kosovo. Dur-ing a Bundeswehr visit to Auschwitz, DefenseMinister Scharping said: “The Bundeswehr isoperating in Kosovo to prevent a new Ausch-witz.” On April 7, 1999 the Foreign Minister

Fischer declared: “I not only learned: No morewars. I also learned: No more Auschwitz.”

“The Nazi victims have to consider theparallel between the Kosovo and Auschwitzas a new form of Auschwitz denial becauseis the denial of the singularity of the crimeand the violation of civilization. It was anexploitation of Auschwitz for other purpos-es.” (Arno Lustiger, An Auschwitz survivorspeaking, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”,January 27, 2007)

Milestone en route to war A sketch of the Kosovo conflict

by retired Brigade General Dr. Heinz Loquai

 ISBN 978-3789066818  ISBN 978-383290159

continued on page 8

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May 2009 No 9/10 Page 9Current Concerns

In August 2007  Zeit-Fragen   has criticallyanalysed a study by GSF1 that dealt with thehealth consequences of the use of uraniumammunition on German soldiers and the ci-vilian population in Kosovo.

The criticism pointed at the incomplete re-cording and documentation of the radiatingelements and at the missing investigation oftheir dispersal in the soil and dust. The discus-

sion of the measurements that was presentedby GSF was incomplete, mainly with respectto the acute and the delayed incorporation.

In September 2007 Zeit-Fragen has pre-sented two soil samples from Serbia (sample1, sample 2) to a group of experienced scien-tists and asked for the measurement of theirradioactivity. Since February 2008 resultsand assessments are available, an abstract ofwhich is reported here:1) In the untreated original samples (each ca.

200 grams) the gamma ray spectrometry foruranium 238 revealed activities up to 141Bq/kg and for thorium 232 up to 104 Bq/kg(excerpt see table 1). In the decay chain ofthe uranium there is no equilibrium.

  For the sample 1 concerning the urani-um- and the thorium-decay chain, includ-ing potassium 40, Caesium 137 and Beryl-lium 7, the total activity was 2430 Bq/kgwith a beta/alpha relation of 1 (providedthat there were no other, unidentified ac-tivities besides the above mentioned radia-tion sources).

2) Out of 50 grams of the sample 1 samplefractions with different mass, grain sizeand density were produced by sieving,washing, sedimentation and stratification.These fractions were morphologically ana-lysed under the microscope and their alphaand beta activities were measured.

  The picture shows as an example sam-ple fractions of stratified material (seepointer) and separated part icles.

Table 2 shows the peculiarly high ac-tivity (7500 to 10500 Bq/kg) and the un-expected relation of beta-/alpha-activity of30 to 60.

3) The conclusions can be summarized as fol-lows:

a. The methods of measurement ap-plied can be reproduced and they areabsolutely essential as guidance foran appropriate radiation protection.Without fundamental research like thatmass spectrometry research to the point isonly possible if all nuclides are identified.

b. In one soil sample inhomogeneously allo-cated radioactivity was found to be relatedto certain morphologically distinct, highlyradioactive particles dispersed throughoutthe sample. The high proportion of beta-ra-

diation can by no means come from urani-um, thorium or other natural sources.

c. Due to the inhomogeneity of the radioac-tivity an assessment of the biological riskscan under no circumstances follow thelimited rules of radiation protection. “Hotspots” must be taken into consideration.

d. It is recommended to conduct an ex-tensive measurement-program in co-operation with several universities todetermine the nature of the radioactiv-ity and of the concentrates, especial-ly in a bigger number of soil samples.In this way the duty of precaution can befulfilled.

 May 2, 2008

 Dipl. Ing. H.W. Gabriel Dr. D. Schalch

Measurement of Radioactivityin Soil Samples from Serbia

TABLE 1:

Soil samples: gamma-spectrometry (excerpt)

ISOTOPE ACTIVITY (Bq/kg)

sample 1 sample 2

U 238 chain: Th 234 94 90

Pa 234m 141 ....

Bi 214 76 48

Pb 214 84 52

Pb 210 58 26U 235 4,2 3,5

Th 232 chain: Ac 228 104 51

Bi 212 117 56

K 40 465 327

Be 7 12 ....

Cs 137 13 10

measurement error < ± 20%

TABLE 2:

Alpha- and beta-activity (Bq/kg) of different fractions of sample 1

fraction mass(grams)

beta-activity

alpha-activity

original soil 50 560 12

sieve-fraction < 1 mm 34,7 966 34

sieve-fraction > 1 mm 11,6 10312 172

wash-sediment, light 1,6 3066 625

wash-sediment, heavy 0,7 7140 228

grains > 1 mm 0,3 6600 1600

measurement-error < ± 25%

What really matters is that we shouldall of us realize that we are guilty of in-humanity. The horror of this realizationshould shake us out of our lethargy sothat we can direct our hopes and our in-tentions to the coming of an era in whichwar will have no place. (…)

Whether peace comes or not dependson the direction in which the mentalityof individuals develops and then, in turn,on that of their nations. This truth holdsmore meaning for us today than it did forthe past.

 Albert Schweitzer, 1954

Source: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/  peace/laureates /1952/schweitzer-lecture-e.html

Art. 78 of the Advisory Opinion of the In-ternational Court of Justice entitled “Le-gality of the Threat or Use of NuclearWeapons”:

“The cardinal principles contained inthe texts constituting the fabric of human-

itarian law are the following. The first isaimed at the protection of the civilian pop-ulation and civilian objects and establish-es the distinction between combatants andnon-combatants; States must never makecivilians the object of attack and must con-sequently never use weapons that are in-capable of distinguishing between civil-ian and military targets. According to thesecond principle, it is prohibited to causeunnecessary suffering to combatants: itis accordingly prohibited to use weaponscausing them such harm or uselessly ag-gravating their suffering. In application ofthat second principle, States do not haveunlimited freedom of choice of means inthe weapons they use.

The court would likewise refer, in re-lation to these principles, to the Mar-

tens Clause, which was first included inthe Hague Convention II with Respect to

the Laws and Customs of War on Land of1899 and which has proved to be an ef-fective means of addressing the rapid ev-olution of military technology. A modernversion of that clause is to be found in Ar-ticle 1, paragraph 2, of Additional Proto-

col I of 1977, which reads as follows:‘In cases not covered by this Protocol

or by other international agreements, ci-vilians and combatants remain under theprotection and authority of the principlesof international law derived from estab-lished custom, from the principles of hu-manity and from the dictates of public con-science.’

In conformity with the aforementionedprinciples, humanitarian law, at a veryearly stage, prohibited certain types ofweapons either because of their indiscrim-inate effect on combatants and civiliansor because of the unnecessary sufferingcaused to combatants, that is to say, a harmgreater than that unavoidable to achieve le-gitimate military objectives.”

Source: Francis A. Boyle, The Criminality of Nu-clear Deterrence, Atlanta 2002, p. 186f 

International and humanitarian law prohibitsweapons which are incapable of distinguishing

between civilians and combatantsand which cause unnecessary suffering 

Fractions of stratified material (see pointer) and separated particles

 Mainly the children are the ones that will have to bear the grave effects of the NATO bom-bardments of spring 1999: Leukemia in a very young age and other cancers have been heav-ily on the rise in Serbia for a long time now. On top of that it is an act of utmost barbarism tomake the children, the future of the country, grow up in places contaminated by the poisonsof radioactive-chemical-toxic weaponsa potentially causing diseases, infirmity and death.

 NATO is responsible for all that. Current Concerns protests against this destruction of thenext generation. The concern of the Serbian population about the health of their childrenhave prompted us to commission a study, the result of which we present here.

The editorial staff of Current Concerns

1  See article page 3 „Critical Review of a RecentStudy on Health Effects due to the Contaminationwith Depleted Uranium“

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Page 10 No 9/10 May 2009Current Concerns

NS-15 NS-40 Pa Av

570g 470g 290g 370gNuclide Energy Activities

keV Bq Bq/kg Bq Bq/kg Bq Bq/kg Bq Bq/kg

U-238-chain

Th 234 63,3 14,5 25,4 29,0 61,7 22,0 75,9 55,0 148,6

92,6 23,4 41,1 31,0 66,0 33,3 114,8 66,0 178,4

Pa 234m 1001,0 27,0 47,4 32,0 68,1 23,0 79,3 44,0 118,9

Pb 214 351,9 17,0 29,8 28,0 59,6 27,0 93,1 49,0 132,4

Bi 214 1120,3 16,4 28,8 25,7 54,7 23,4 80,7 44,0 118,9

1764,5 18,0 31,6 29,4 62,6 27,0 93,1 52,0 140,5

U 235 143,8 1,7 3,6 1,3 4,5 4,7 12,7

185,7 corr. 1,3 2,28 2 4,3 3 10,3 6,1 16,5

Th-232-chain

Ac 228 911,2 18,0 31,6 31,6 67,2 30,5 105,2 101,0 273,0

1588,2 18,4 32,3 25,0 53,2 28,4 97,9 105,0 283,8Pb 212 238,5 15,6 27,4 29,2 62,1 31,7 109,3 107,0 289,2

300,1 17,7 31,1 32,2 68,5 33,1 114,1 107,0 289,2

Bi 212 727,3 19,0 33,3 33,0 70,2 34,8 120,0 107,0 289,2

1620,5 50 ? 32,9 70,0 31,6 109,0 94,0 254,1

Tl 208 583,2 6,0 10,5 11,0 23,4 10,0 34,5 35,0 94,6

K 40 1460,8 367 644 489 1040 490 1690 1101 2976

Cs 137 661,7 1,5 2,6 1,7 3,6 7,7 26,6 11,3 30,5

511 0,043 0,062 0,100 0,180

Ips/kg

measurement error < ± 20%

Table 1: Gamma ray spectrometry, 2nd series, Serbia

 A court in Florence has sentenced the Ital-ian Ministry of Defence to pay a veteran tocompensate for his health problems causedby exposure to uranium ammunition duringhis military service in Somalia. The judgesbased their decision on a legal-medical opin-

ion. This in turn took into account materi-al provided to the court by socialist memberof parliament Falco Accame. He is presidentof the organisation “Anavafaf”, which rep-resents soldiers on active duty with high ef- ficiency. Falco Accame refused from the be-ginning to accept the offical lies about thealleged harmlessness of NATO uranium am-munition. Already after Israels Lebanon warof 1982 he had experienced the health prob-lems of Italian soldiers after their contactwith similar shells in Lebanon.

The decisive argument for the positiveverdict in this trial – before a civil court –was the fact that the Italian ministry of de-

 fence failed to provide sufficient ABC protec-tion gear to their soldiers, neither in Somalia1993 nor during the Balkan war, althoughbeing aware of US directives about properhandling of uranium.

 From Documents:“The main hazard associated with deplet-ed uranium is the harmful effect the materi-al could have if it enters the body. If particlesare inhaled or digested they can be chemical-ly toxic and cause a significant and long last-ing irradiation of internal tissue.”

Source: Document as of 20.12.1984, AWS 330,signed by Robert Beard, States assistant secretarygeneral for defense support 1984 -87.

 In a research paper about the use of ura-nium containing weapons from 1977/78, performed by the Airforce Armament Lab-oratory, Eglin Air Force Base Florida, it is

 promised that their results will be providedto military personnel involved in testing orhandling such weapons on the battlefield fortheir protection.

 In a memorandum from 1993 it is clearly pointed out that “when soldiers inhale or in-

gest DU dust, they incur a potential increasein cancer risk”.

Source: Departement of the Army, Office of the Sur-geon General, 5109 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church VA. Memorandum for headquarters U.S. Army Chemi-cal School. ATTN: ATZN-CM-N, Fort McClellan, AL36205, Subject: depleted uranium (DU) safety train-ing, 16.8.1993

These documents prove that Italy and allother NATO states probably as well were fully aware of the consequences when theybombarded Serbia with tons and tons of thesesubstances during the Balkan wars.

Current Concerns had asked two expertsin the beginning of last year to conduct thor-

ough investigations of soil samples from Ser-bia. The results were published in CurrentConcerns in June 2008. They are frighten-ing. Now it became apparent from the inves-tigation of additional factors that the term“depleted uranium”may well be deliberate-

ly misleading. On 9.2.2009 Zeit-Fragen re- ported unter the title “Little Hiroshima...”about the research of the Serbian expert Mir- jana Andjelkovic-Lukic – about the bombard-ment of Serbia in 1999. The hypothesis thatthe damage was caused by “little Hiroshima Bombs” is now backed by results of measure-ments performed by these two German nu-clear physics experts. After several years ofwork they were able to find “hard” measur-ing methods for the detection of small rem-nants left behind by such little nuclear explo-sions.

The editorial staff of Current Concerns

Measurement of Radioactivity of Soil Samples from Serbia, Part 2

In Current Concerns No 6 2008 we reportedabout the results of measurements of radioac-tivity of two soil samples from Serbia.

In the meantime the changes in the naturalisotope proportions could be established withgamma ray spectrometry and chemical engi-neering analysis of special elements in fourmore samples. With one sample with highbeta activity it was possible to establish themaximum range of beta radiation in alumin-ium and the maximum energy and the classi-fication of isotopes respectively.

1. Gamma ray spectrometry

The findings in the four new samples (NS-15,

NS-40, Pa-290g, Av-370g) are summarized intable 1.

Peculiar is the sample Av-370g:• The relationship of uranium 238 / 235

points to “enriched uranium”.• The concentrations of uranium, thorium

and potassium 40 are high in comparisonto other samples.

• 2976 Bq/kg of potassium 40 correspond(in a natural proportion of isotopes) withan unusually high content of potassium of9,5 percentage per weight.

2. Changes in the natural isotope proportions

The high concentration in the activity of po-tassium 40 arises the suspicion of a changein the natural isotope proportions due to ra-diation. Natural potassium: K 39 / 93,94%,

K 40 / 0,0117%, K 41 / 6,73%.The change can be established by deter-mining the overall concentration of potassi-um with the method of chemical engineeringand by determining the proportion of potassi-um 40 with gamma ray spectrometry.

Table 2  shows the respective results ofthree samples from Serbia and one matchingsample from a far away country: The samplesfrom Serbia show an increase of the concen-tration of potassium 40 by significant factorsbetween 7 and 132.

Alterations like this, for example in the nu-clear reaction Ca 40 (n,p) K 40, only hap-pen in a neutron fluence like in nuclear ex-plosions.

3. The maximum energy of the beta ra-diation sources

The maximum energy of the unknown pure

beta radiation sources has been determinedby measuring the maximum range of elec-trons in aluminium. Peculiar drops in the ab-sorbtion curves are found in the area of 30mg/cm2 (0,156 MeV) and 180 mg/cm2 (0,55MeV). These energies can be assigned to car-bon 14 and beryllium 10. Both isotopes origi-nate for example in (n,p) reactions from nitro-gen and boron 10 respectively.

Beta radiation with energies above 0,15MeV can cause monochromatic (blue) Cer-enkov-radiation in water. Radiation like thathas been observed in bodies of water in Ser-

bia in 1999. The level of radiation in case ofthe occurrence of effects like these is consid-erable.

4. Conclusions from the perspective ofradiation protection

The level of the inner exposure to radiationin a human being is up to now predominant-ly determined by potassium 40. It is about 0,2mSv/a.

The increase of the concentration of po-tassium 40 by the factor 100 leads to a verycritical level of contamination (20 mSv/a !!).Potassium has very important physiologicalfunctions in the human body.

In the “carbon” there must also have hap-pened a shifting in the isotope proportions to-wards the radioactive isotope carbon 14. Anincrease of the level of radiation in this re-spect can only be estimated if specific C 14

measurements have been done, for examplein the annual growth rings of trees.Annextable 1: gamma ray spectrometry, 2nd series, Serbia

table 2: changes in the proportions of isotopes of po-tassium in soil samples

February 17th, 2009 Dipl. Ing. H.W. Gabriel

 Dr. D. Schalch

Part 2: gamma ray spectrometry, energy of beta radiation sources,study of changes in the natural isotope proportions

Sample Av 1 NS 1 Pa 1 G 2

Basis of calculation- Proportion of isotopes

K 39: 93,258%, K 40: 0,0117%, K 41: 6,730%

- Specific activity of potassium:31 200 Bq/kg potassium

  2976 Bq K 40 correspond with 11,1 mg K 40

- Effective cross sectionof the reaction Ca 40 (n,p) K 40: 0,2b

  Resulting fluence in a change of K 40by the factor 100: 10 e 20 nvt

Overall potassium 720 1500 1400 387(mg/kg)

Potassium 40 2976 465 327 17(Bq/kg)

Normal level K 40 0,084 0,175 0,163 0,045(mg/kg)

Found level K 40 11,1 1,7 1,2 0,06(mg/kg)

Change K 40 132 10 7 1,2(comparison found levelwith normal level)

Table 2: changes in the proportions of isotopes of potassium in soil samples from Serbia: Av 1, NS 1, Pa 1, matching sample: G 2/1206 

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May 2009 No 9/10 Page 11Current Concerns

I am a specialist for energy issues and hy-drotechnology. In my life I experienced twowars. I was born in 1942, and in 1999 therewas the second war in my life. Worldwidethere are many new types of weapons, es-

pecially to destroy heavy arms like tanks, todestroy shelters or something similar such asfortresses. Many years ago depleted uranium(DU) ammunitions were used in Iraq duringthe Gulf War. Afterwards this ammunitionwas used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in theRepublic of Srpska, and 1999 in Serbia and“Kosovo and Metohija”. From 24 March to 10June 1999 Serbia was bombarded for 80 dayswith new types of arms, that means weaponsthat were loaded with DU ammunition.

Seven years later we had the opportunityto experience the meaning of that

Nowadays there is ha rdly any talk about thisas if it was intended to cover or hush up thetruth. This conversation must not be under-stood as a platform for anti-American oranti-European sentiment. In Serbia we wish

very much to belong to the developed coun-tries and to enjoy all the privileges of civili-sation. Life expectancy is increasing world-wide, especially in high developed countries,for instance in Japan, where people frequent-ly become 100 years old. At the same timepeople’s lives in Serbia are likely to becomeshorter and shorter. The reason is the fact thatthe territory is contaminated with DU. Onlywealthy countries can afford scientific meth-ods and sophisticated technology to exam-ine and prove the connection between the in-crease of malign tumours and the use of DUammunition. At the moment we are not ableto do that but what happened in 1999, we feelclearly on our skin. Both sides have admitted,I am thinking of the NATO and our coun-try, to have used this ammunition at least 112times in Serbia. A 107 times on the territoryof Kosovo and Metohija and 5 times in the

south of Serbia, and once on the peninsulaLustica in Monte Negro.

The question is why Southern Serbia of allcountries was bombed with this type of pro- jectiles. Southern Serbia is considered an un-derdeveloped region, there are no fortressesand it is not densely populated. One of thetargets that was destroyed was the TV – am-plifier on Mount Plackovica near Vranje.After the 1999 war the military put a barbedwire fence around that area, which was laterremoved by farmers to put their cattle out topasture.

It is very likely that already during the firstwar DU got into the soil and ground waterand that due to climatic conditions, wind, rainand atmospheric processes DU was spread ina larger region.

These areas as well as other areas in Bra-

toselac and Borovec near Bujanovac were notcleaned until 2004. Today, in 2007, which is7 years after the bombings, there are still con-taminated areas, which have not been cleanedyet. There is for instance Areljan near Pre-sevo and I hope this place will be cleaned thisyear. Too much time has passed and there-fore it is very likely that DU particles havebeen widely spread and have contaminatedlarge areas.

The watershed

Since Southern Serbia is underdevelopedand bare of significant military installations,the logical question to ask is why this regionwas bombarded with this kind of ammuni-tion. People with good geographical knowl-edge are aware of the fact that the geographyof this region is marked by a “Bifurkation”(watershed), which means that there are two

river basins. On one hand there are the riv-ers Pcijija and Melodimka which flow intothe Aegean Sea via the river Vardar. On theother side the Sitnica near Urosevac flowsvia Juzna Morava, Velika Morava and Dan-ube into the Black Sea. So two river basinswere contaminated within seven years, aswell as the Aegean Sea and Black Sea. It iscommon knowledge that DU projectiles areused for tanks, armoured vehicles and shel-ters, etc. in order to destroy them by meansof their high temperatures. During the warthere were no such objects in this part of the

country. So the question is what were the realaims of the bombardements. Could it be thatthose two river basins were to be contaminat-ed for a very long time, actually longer thaneternity (it is known that the half-life of DUis 4.5 billion years)?

Serbia has the highest increasein malign cancer of the cervix

The developed countries must find the scien-tific proof for the correlation of DU ammu-nition use and the malign tumours increase.For us in Serbia it is evident that malign tu-mours cannot be prevented and that the in-crease of tumours worldwide has to be takeninto account. However, statistically this in-crease is not the same everywhere. We havenoticed an enormous increase in malign tu-mours. The other day it was stated that Serbiahas the highest increase rate in malign cancer

of the cervix, which mostly occurs in youngwomen. This increase amounts to 1500 cases,450 of which were lethal. We do not have themeans to conduct permanent screenings todetect the disease at an early stage when itcan be cured most effectively. The cases de-tected in our country are late cases the cureof which is difficult and the outcome uncer-tain. Presumably this is the reason why ourmortality rate is among the highest world-wide. The world has to learn about that inorder to show what really happened in ourregion in 1999. As a matter of fact this is eco-cide (the fatal long term effects of the em-ployment of combat agents), or if we want toexpress it more clearly, it was an unpaid forlive experiment. Those who bombed us aremeticulously following the results, i.e. the in-crease of malign tumours, which prove that

the effects were not harmless or undamag-ing as was repeatedly stated at the beginning.Strangely enough our country remained si-lent at the beginning. The first to talk aboutit were the governments of the countries thesoldiers of which served in the NATO-forces.The suffering from the Balkan syndrome andmalign tumours was first detected in soldiersfrom Italy, Germany and Portugal.We all know about the compensation lawsuitsfor the families of deceased soldiers whichare carried on at the present.

Violation of the Geneva Conventions

Specialists have testified in court that thereis proof of a connection between the cause ofdeath and the stay of soldiers on the territoryof Kosovo and Metohija during the NATO’saggression against Serbia. […]

It does not take a lot of intelligence to as-

certain a simple fact. It is absolutely not rightthat DU ammunitions are harmless for our en-vironment and people’s health. What memberstates of the NATO emphasise is only part-ly true, which is the fact that DU ammuni-tion does not belong into the nuclear catego-ry. It is true that there is no nuclear reactionand significant radiation accompanying nu-clear reaction. If you look at it from that sideDU munitions cannot be considered nuclearammunition.

Did They Intend to Contaminate These Seas with Uranium?Statement by Professor Velimir Nedeljkovic, Faculty of Industrial Safety of University of Nis, Serbia (January 2006)

The watershed

“Since Southern Serbia is underdevel-oped and bare of significant military

installations, the logical question toask is why this region was bombard-ed with this kind of ammunition. Peo-ple with good geographical knowl-edge are aware of the fact that thegeography of this region is markedby a “Bifurkation” (watershed), whichmeans that there are two river basins.On one hand there are the rivers Pc-ijija and Melodimka which flow intothe Aegean Sea via the river Vard-ar. On the other side the Sitnica nearUrosevac flows via Juzna Morava, Veli-ka Morava and Danube into the BlackSea. So two river basins were contam-inated within seven years, as well asthe Aegean Sea and Black Sea.”

MacedoniaAlbania

Serbia

�                   

V     a   

r    d    a   r    

Skopje

Tirana

Tetovo

Prilep

Vranje

Nis

Pristina

Urosevac

flows into theAdriatic

flows into the Aegean

flows into the Danube and the Black Sea

Heaviest bombing with DU-ammunition aroundwatershed (Grafik haro)

continued on page 12

“For example there is no reasonable explanation for havingchosen a central target for bombardment with uranium am-munition: In the South, at the watershed of two rivers – whythis target? No military establishment, no town, no factory,

nothing that could have been of military strategic interest.According to estimates, about 15 tons of depleted uraniumwere thrown down in the surroundings of Urosevac. Fromhere the rivers flow into the Black Sea and the Aegean. Didthey want to contaminate these seas with uranium? Or plu-tonium?”

Source: Barbara Hug, Current Concerns, No. 12, 2007 

cc. When after the NATO war againstYugoslavia six Italian soldiers fell ill

with leukemia and died shortly aftertheir deployment in Kosovo. A connec-tion with the use of DU weapons wasrefused point-blank. Completely irra-tional “explanations” like “cluster ofleukemia illnesses among young peo-ple” were invented instead - and aftera NATO conference at the beginning of2001 the topic was made a media taboo.As the British physicist Keith Baverstock  reveiled, data in a report to the UnitedNations, stating that the employed DUweapons in some areas of the formerFederal Republic Yugoslavia were carci-nogenic and a danger to health, wereeven deleted. As the following reportsfrom Italy show, the facts can no longerbe denied – the number of deaths andsick people from the most diverse de-ployments is constantly increasing. An

Italian court acknowledged the connec-tion and sentenced the Italian Ministryof Defense to the payment of compensa-tion for damages amounting to 500,000euros.

Paolo Cariello of Taranto, Colonel inthe Air Force, died two years ago. Untiltoday we have not heard about hisdeath. Two sick carabinieri in Sardinia, inthe provinces of Sassari and Nuoro, anda Navy Colonel with Hodgkin lympho-ma in the province of Venice – have fall-

en ill again after a recovery. These arethe newest deaths, which can be attrib-

uted to uranium weapons. Falco Accame points out that the number of deaths re-mains uncertain; it varies between 80and 160, and the number of people whofell ill varies between 300 and 2500.

Source: vittimeuranio.com, 28 Dec 2008

Yesterday was the funeral of GiovanBattista Marica, a former parachutist,who died from the consequences ofuranium weapons use. After a recoveryphase he was again taken to the hospi-tal of Santa Chiara di Pisa, since he hadexperienced complications after a viralflu. The body of the parachutist was al-ready weakened by a Hodgkin lympho-ma, which had been diagnosed after hisreturn from Somalia in 1993. The wholemunicipality of Orbetello attended the

funeral.At the funeral there were also the

lawyers, who had conducted the legalfight for compensation. This fight wasterminated after 15 years by the rulingof the Florence court, which in Decem-ber 2008 sentenced the Italian Ministryof Defense to a high compensation fordamages for ignoring the principle ofprecaution.

Source: Vittimeuranio.com, 13 March 2009

Italian Ministry of Defense Sentencedto High Compensation for Damages

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Page 12 No 9/10 May 2009Current Concerns

 Zivadin Jovanovic

Graphik: haro

continued on page 13

The Process of Destroying Serbia Has Not Yet Come to an EndGap between puppet government and population has never been as deep as today

 A conversation with former Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia, Zivadin Jovanovic

Current Concerns: How do you assess thesituation in Yugoslavia/Serbia today, ten years after NATO’s aggression against yourcountry?

 Zivadin Jovanovic: Unfortunately there arenot too many encouraging developments inSerbia and the region around Serbia ten yearsafter the aggression of NATO against Yugo-slavia. First of all the whole economy is ina dramatic situation. First they privatizedstate and public ownership for nothing andthis nothing that they received, was put tothe budget and spent all through the budget.So the essence of the economy – production,services – have been eaten up by the govern-ment through the budget.

Second, as a consequence, the productionwent down sharply and day-by-day it is ineven deeper difficulties. The trade imbalanceis as high as never before in the history ofSerbia. The foreign debt of Serbia has risenafter the so-called democratic changes in Oc-tober 2000 from 9 billion dollars to right now35 billion dollars. And it is not only the ques-

tion that this is not wise policy to have suchindebtedness but the main question is: Wheredid the money from abroad go? Where wasit invested? If so much money has been gotthrough loans and if we add to this let us say35 billion dollars of foreign debts donationsfrom various sources than the inflow of for-eign capital is very, very high. And the ques-tion is how people feel about this in Serbia’sreal life. Has employment gone better? Haveliving standards gone better? Are we havingbetter health services, education and so onand so forth?

That is one question. And the other ques-tion is: Who and when will we be able torepay those debts. It seems to me that some-one lent Serbia so much to indebt it in a waythat it can never become independent, thatit always remains tight and obedient to the

creditors – or to the West. We have one ofthe highest unemployment rates in Serbia, itis around 30 per cent now, in spite of all new

methodologies which were meant to show –at least as a by product – that it is lower. But

nothing helps. Serbia is loosing 10,000 workplaces monthly.

 Every month?10,000 a month, right now. Adding this rateof unemployment to the existing army of un-employed young people leads to nowhere.This is, let us say, the economical side. Ona political or on a state level, after the 1999NATO aggression, Yugoslavia was first de-stroyed. Af ter that Solana and the Americanssuggested to the then federal government: «Itis not good that you continue with a strongcentralized federal government. It is better tohave a community of governments, to havesomething between a state and an organi-zation of Serbia and Montenegro». So whathas been Yugoslavia was transformed into atemporary organisation called «Communi-

ty of Serbia and Montenegro». But this wasonly one step towards dissolving Yugoslaviain general. This was done on purpose by theUnited States and by the European Union orby those politicians in the European Unionwho blindly follow American interests in Eu-rope. Instead of having one relatively mediumsized state in the Balkans we now have twopuppet states – Montenegro, separated fromSerbia. This is not democratization, this is notthe European Union helping the Balkan.

So ten years after the aggression on Yugo-slavia there is no more Yugoslavia. It has beenkilled in stages: first bombs, then so-calleddemocratic changes and then actual and for-mal dissolution. But the Americans and theirfriends in Europe have a strategy to weakenSerbia generally as a political factor in theBalkans and in Europe, to make Serbia abso-lutely irrelevant as a political subject, a politi-

cal factor in this part of Europe. So they havenot stopped. The dissolved, they destroyedYugoslavia – first big Yugoslavia. SocialistFederal Yugoslavia was composed of six re-publics and two autonomous provinces, butthen even the Federal Republic of Yugoslaviacomposed of Montenegro and Serbia they de-stroyed. And then they think that Serbia, re-maining Serbia is still big and capacious notto correspond to their interests and their strat-egies in the Balkans and in Europe. So theycontinue to fragment Serbia. They took overKosovo and Metohija by force. They werepaying an alliance of terrorists during the ag-gression and on 17 February last year they il-legally proclaimed the independence of Kos-ovo and Metohija. The very same states thatbombarded Yugoslavia and Serbia during theNATO aggression in 1999 were the first to

recognize the independence of Kosovo. SoKosovo was in a way stolen from Serbia,taken away by force. And even now I have

the feeling that this processof destroying Serbia has not

come to an end.

 In how far does this processcontinue?They are encouraging sepa-ratists in the Sanjak or Rajkaregion, populated mostly byMuslims. This region is onthe border to Bosnia, andthey are also encouragingthe Vojvodina leadership toweaken the central govern-ment by various demands.

This poses one question,the crucial question: Howmuch smaller should Ser-bia be in order not to be big?And the process that they areencouraging – of which they

do not recognize that nobodywould agree – is to coverand disguise these destruc-tive policies with democraticphrases like «regionalizationis necessary», «decentrali-zation» and so on. And theyhave now proposed a statute,a kind of highest law in Vo- jvodina, which says that Vo- jvodina is an autonomous province of Ser-bia and at the same time an European region.This European region is a first stage to rela-tivise the fact that Vojvodina is only part ofSerbia. No region in Europe, no country inEurope which is part of the European Unionhas such a provision in its constitution say-ing that part of its territory belongs to thestate and part belongs to European regionalmovements, or regional associations and so

on. Truly nothing prevents Vojvodina to haveregional cooperation. But why include it inthe constitution?

This should be put in the constitution?In the constitution of Vojvodina. When theyare authorizing Vojvodina to enact regula-tions with a law force, with the force of laws,while the constitution of Serbia says, all lawsare passed only in the parliament of Serbia –laws, the other parliaments on a lower levelincluding in autonomous provinces can enactother regulations, statutes and so on, but notlaws. So they introduce this tricky formula-tion «regulations with the force of law». Thereare many institutions that they are introduc-ing by constitution, by the statute of Vojvo-dina. For example Vojvodinas Academy ofScience and Arts while now there is only the

Serbian Academy of Arts in Belgrade. Themajor newspapers in Belgrade contain sup-plements on Vojvodina every week, which donot even refer to Serbia.

So they constitute a sort of a parallel struc-ture, parallel institutions?Exactly. They installed Vojvodina’s repre-sentations in Brussels, in Paris, in Wash-ington and so that they can open their ownrepresentations. And they say, well that isto care for the specific interests of Vojvo-dina and so on. But this is exactly the samemethod that was applied in Montenegro, be-fore Montenegro seceded. Montenegro hadrepresentatives in Washington, in Brusselswhile it was part of Yugoslavia. These werethe preparations. So I understand this tactic:step by step providing a process and thenreaching the point of no return. And when

they reach a certain quality of independenceand sovereignty they would say, well now itis really only formality, why should we stayin Serbia, we simply go away and anyway weshall all be in the European Union, so whynot go. This is indeed a very dangerous pol-icy. And it is not only anti-Serbian, it is alsoanti-European. It is led – such a policy is ledby the United States and Great Britain andis followed by politicians in Europe who inone way or the other are obliged to the Unit-ed States and to Britain. But who ever didharm to Serbia in the past, in history, this

was in favour of destabilization and evenwars. Wars. Serbia should be recognized asit is and be respected. But unfortunately wehave no leadership at the moment with thecourage to see reality and react on such a re-ality not permitting a ny further weakeningof Serbia. Serbia is very weak now. And th isweakening process should be stopped in theinterest of Europe, in the interest of the Bal-kans. I am not exaggerating not only once

in the history the destiny of Europe start-ed to be shaped from the Balkan, from here.And I think there is not enough seriousnessor enough wisdom in Europe to realize thatSerbia should not be given the runaround.The majority of people of Serbia understandwhat this is all about. But they have theirpuppets on the top, and they think that thesepuppets reflect the whole feeling of the Ser-bian nation. That is not true. It’s not true.

You have now mentioned various aspects ofthe economic and political situation in Ser-bia. I would like to ask you also about the sit-uation in the education and health care sys-tem. Yugoslavia’s reputation concerning its public health system and its educational sys-tem was very good. What does the situationin Serbia look like today?

Well, to tell you frankly, I think that edu-cation right now is taken care a bit betterthan so far, simply because we have one uni-versity professor being Minister of Educa-tion. He is a socialist and I think he is quiteaware that modernization of education doesnot mean diminishing national history, na-tional culture, national literature and it re-ally does not mean listening or copying alladvice of Bologna or whoever. The problemis that some of those who are pressing Ser-bia to accept so-called European standardsin education – they have their own standardsand they do not apply those – like in Brit-ain. So this is a very hypocritical position,very dishonest position – something that isnot good for Britain, Britain wants to im-pose here. Let us say this is only an exam-ple. I am not saying that Britain is exercisingpressure concretely here. But it is definitely

that Britain, France and some other Europe-an countries disregard the Bologna process.But they want Bologna and Bologna in cer-tain aspects is brainwashing future genera-tions. So this is about education. I hope thatthe leadership of education will be cautiousand will not accept any recipes without crit-ical analysis.

 And what about the health situation?

Those weapons, however, kill toxicallyand indiscriminately and cause immeasura-ble pain in soldiers as well as civilians andare therefore banned by the Geneva Conven-tions.

Many conventions, international contractsand protocols have been violated since 1999.And the world does not take any notice.

[…]

Since the half-life of DU is 4,5 billionyears...

Today mankind is permanently exposed tomany kinds of radiation. The radiation emit-ted by the universe, the radiation of house-hold appliances, of antennas, of mobile tel-ephones, etc. DU, however, takes its effectas an ioniser. So I underline, I emphasisethat the most terrible impact of DU on thehuman body does not derive from radiationbut from the possibility of ionisation, i.e. t heeffect on the cellular structure resulting ina dysfunction of the cell. If the DU parti-cle enters into the organism one way or theother, by inhalation, via the skin or via the

food chain, this will trigger problems for theorganism, for these particles evoke a distur-bance leading to dysfunction of the cells.The cell is no longer capable of communi-cating normally with the other cells, to goon reproducing itself and send signals tothe other cells so these are the first indica-tions of the disease. Of course, in the begin-ning this will not be noticed by the organ-ism and that is why it is very hard to detect.Only when first symptoms of the disease orthe dysfunction become obvious, the diseasecan be detected.

There is another fact: the greater partof these particles is excreted via the urine.

During the first 100 days 90% are being ex-creted. However, a small part remains with-in the tissue, most of it in the soft tissue,e.g. in the lymph glands, in the brain, inthe bone marrow, in the blood so that thereis a permanent negative impact on humanhealth.

Since the half-life of DU is 4.5 billionyears, the best measure will be to clean upthose regions which are contaminated andto permanently control the population’shealth. •

“Did They Intend to Contaminate …”continued from page 11

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The health situation – well day-by-day it ismore difficult. First of all they play down theconsequences of NATO aggression, the con-sequences of depleted uranium, of clusterbombs, or chemical weapons used during theNATO aggression. There is a shameful qui-etness in Serbia about the tragic consequenc-es of this NATO aggression on the health ofthe nation. The number of people affected bycancer has steadily and sharply risen from

1999 until today especially from 2001 up tonow. But the government plays this down andmedia censorship respects that this is not totalk about, this is not likeable by the mas-ters from the United States, Britain, Germa-ny and so on.

Generally the number of poor people whohave become even poorer after the aggres-sion and after the so-called privatization ofthe economy has grown and they eat lessqualitative food. Sometimes, imported foodfrom the West, which is forbidden over thereis tried to be sold here because they preferto get some money rather than throw this inthe garbage. And this is affecting the health.With high unemployment and sharpening ofthese social and economic problems peoplecan not pay for their medical and hospitalcare. It has become rather unbearable to payfor good care.

Now, all this is linked with corruptionwhich even health services are experienc-ing. So health and to a great extent educa-tion is now a privilege only of a few rich peo-ple. Poor people, children from poor families,elderly, sick and all those who need medicalor hospital care from poor strata can not af-ford treatment, can not afford buying appro-priate medicine. And this is really very badlyaffecting the health of nation.

Now the others like Italians, Portuguese,and the others are openly exposing these trag-ic and dramatic effects of depleted uranium

on their soldiers while they served in Kosovoand Metohjia and so on. But the governmenthere seems not to care! Not to care. Why? It isnot good for their American bosses and they

do not want to disturb the comfort of Ameri-cans and of Germans or whoever is responsi-ble for this. So I am really worried about sucha policy being practised. And these people in

Serbian politics now they see that EuropeanUnion is still in Kosovo, is taking Kosovo fur-ther away from Serbia through EULEX (Eu-ropean Union Rule of Law Mission in Koso-vo) and so on, but they nevertheless say: “Wehave no other alternative, European Union,Brussels is our only alternative.” This is notserious; this is neither serious policy nor se-rious leadership. You do not say that you willaccept someone, that you will be close to himwhatever he is doing to you, how hard he ismaltreating you. We need more courageousleadership here and more wisdom in estab-lishing the policy, which is in comfort with

Serbian interests.Americans and the European Union orAmericans and NATO have treated Serbia asa playground, as an experimental territory forexperimenting various policies, tactics, andvarious armaments and so on.

I think it is advisable to contemplate, tothink, to analyze the geo-strategic situationof the world at the time of aggression in 1999and the situation in Europe and the world oftoday. Whatever would be the results, onething is certain: The situation today is muchmore different, but the methods of the Unit-ed States and NATO countries in Serbia, to-wards Serbia have remained the same, thereis no change. They should notice that thereis a growing gap in Serbia between the lead-ership and the people. That gap has neverbeen as deep as now. The government offi-cials who act as transmitters of EU, NATO

and American interests in Serbia have neverbeen so far away, so much separated frompeople as today. And those from Brussels andfrom Washington, from Berlin, from Londonwho are manipulating the leadership in Ser-bia, should be aware that there will be somelimits somewhere. I do not know where andwhen those limits will be on the scene. Butdefinitely it can hardly continue like this for-ever. And I think using all the tricks and allthe old methods today like in 1998 and1999,may not be conducive to those interests oftheirs. •

«A huge damage has been done to usby shooting at certain targets with DUweapons. We have already seen imme-

diate consequences of these actions. Wedo not know a lot about future possi-ble consequences, but we can alreadysomehow feel them. [...] Those who tookpart in the bombing campaign [...] most-ly claim that there is no damage or sub-sequent consequences and that if thereare any in the areas where they couldnot be avoided, they are minimal. Eventhe World Health Organization, accord-ing to the British physicist Keith Baver-

 stock  crossed out the information fromone report to the United Nations statingthat DU weapons used in some regionsof the former Federal Republic of Yugo-slavia in 1999 are carcinogenic and harm-ful to health. [...]

And where is the truth? Unfortu-nately, our population is feeling this

truth more and more. It is the growingnumber of carcinogenic and other dis-eases in these regions. Neither of the of-ficial state agencies is willing to analyzeand publicly comment on this fact, yet.[...]

In the name of truth let’s raise ourvoices and say clearly: During the bomb-ing campaign against the Federal Repub-lic of Yugoslavia in which joint Nato forc-es took part, we were exposed to threatsto our lives and to health of people to

a larger extent and with long lastingconsequences. According to some of itscharacteristics, radiological and chemi-

cal war was waged in these regions. [...]As for the effec ts of action, it is a highlytoxic radioactive weapon of low activitiesharmful to living creatures, and as such itshould have to be prohibited. [...]

After sampling, laboratory tests andmeasuring, as well as the nucleus anal-ysis, it has been found that 238U withdecomposition products, as well as 235Uand those following them were dom-inantly present. There were also rela-tively low concentrations of iron, tita-nium, nickel, zinc, copper. By dosimetermeasuring the presence of alpha, betaand gamma radiation has been found.By sampling of contaminated materialfrom some locations, it has been foundthat specific activity of depleted urani-um in some samples ranges from a few

hundred to as much as 235 000 Bq /kg ofthe sample (over 1 100 times higher thanthe lower defined limit). [...] This majorthreat is increased by the fact that, apartfrom DU, in the process of samplingsome traces of americium, neptunium,plutonium, technetium and 236U havebeen found.»

General Slobodan Petkovic (ret.), duringthe war Deputy Minister of Defence, headof the department for NBC defence of the

Yugoslav army.

«A Huge Damage Has Been Done to Us»

Atomic contamination through war

“The Process of Destroying Serbia …”continued from page 12

 Every war starts with a lie. So did the Kosovowar. To be able to control Kosovo as a stra-

tegic area, NATO needed a pretext for war.To serve that end the Serbs had to play therole of the villains. Today the goal to sepa-rate Kosovo from the Serbs has nearly beenachieved by the unilateral declaration of in-dependence. But what does it really look likein the northern territory of Kosovo wheremainly Serbs are living and how did the eth-nic minorities live previously in the Republicof Yugoslavia?

 In October 2008 a small group of Swissand Germans undertook a 5-day-journey tothe Kosovo to get a first hand impression onsite. This journey had been organized by thecharity organization “KosMit e.V.”, whichsupports ethnic minorities in Kosovo tryingto improve their living conditions.

It is already night when we get stopped at

the “border” of the UN district. At thesecheckpoints we have to pass several sen-tries. All passengers have to exit: electronicregistration of the passports, lengthy wait-ing next to police, soldiers (UNMIK – U nit-ed  N ation  M ission in  K osovo), Kosovo Po-lice, KFOR =  K osovo  Force, barred wire,tanks. Interdiction to take photographs! Fi-nally, just prior to midnight, upon arriv-al at the college where we are logging, weare welcomed as heartiest as you can thinkof. Our host does not spare any expendi-ture to serve us best despite their very lim-ited capabilities. The building belongs tothe Prizren Technical University and hadbeen relocated out of Prizren in 1998 be-cause of frequent attacks against Serbianstudents and professors. Here in  Zub inPotok   the college has been rebuilt and islocated in the Serbian enclave around Kos-

ovska Mitrovica.During breakfast next morning the con-cierge tells us that she had to leave her home

10 years ago together with her family fromPrizren and moved here to Zubin Potok. In2004 her house had been burned down in thecourse of attacks against Serbs carried out byAlbanian mob. She lost all her belongings.She was so shocked that she was unable tospeak for a certain period of time. Today sheis happy that she found a new job here in thisplace. She regrets that her family is still sep-arated. Her husband lives in  Novi Sad , herdaughter has found work in Belgrade. The as-sault had been caused by the tragic death oftwo Albanian kids who died in an accidentin the river Ibar . Claiming a Serb had set hisdog against the children the Albanian pop-

ulation was instigated against their Serbianneighbours. There is proof that it was a trag-ic accident.

Kosovska Mitrovica, the divided city

It took approximately 20 kilometres on anewly built mountainous street to reach Kos-ovska Mitrovica. We would have been muchfaster if we had been able to drive throughAlbanian territory. But in order to do thatwe would have had to pass two checkpoints,an unpredictable risk for the Serbs in ourgroup.

In Kosovska Mitrovica we were informedby the major about the city’s actual situa-tion; prior to war the inhabitants of the city,Albanians and Serbs had been living togeth-er, today they are separated. Attacks con-

ducted by the Albanian population support-ed by the UCK  (a paramilitary right winggroup of Kosovo) under the eyes of KFOR

and UN the minorities had been expelledout of the southern part of the city. Into the

empty houses Albanian families moved inand refused to accept the return of the own-ers. In the course of time the city as wellas the Kosovo will experience a completeethnic cleansing. In the northern part only asmall number of Albanians live among theSerbian majority and other ethnic minori-ties. Many of them are refugees. The accessto facilities in the southern part, for exam-ple schools or hospitals, is denied to them.The Serbian facilities in the north are opento everybody. The physician reports that inthe hospital in the northern part, Albaniansfrom the southern part of the city are treatedin case it is necessary from a medical pointof view.

The standard of the health system in theAlbanian part is much lower because of thelack of specialists. The infrastructure in the

north needs to be partly rebuilt. But there isno funding for this. The river Ibar has be-come the segregation line. Only one bridgein the centre of the city is connecting thenorthern part with the southern part. Thischeckpoint is strictly controlled by KFOR and UNMIK .

Unemployment, closed mines and naturalresources

The unemployment rate in the city is close to60 %. This is mainly due to the close downof the mines and the charcoal power station.A reason for the war coalition to render theKosovo independent from Serbia is the pres-ence of natural resources. You can find hugeamounts of brown coal or copper here, as wellas clues to the availability of gold in the Trep-ca mines, near Kosovska Mitrovica, or chro-mium at the border to Albania. As early as in

March 2006 there had been reports, that Ko-

Travelling into the Heart of Serbia – a Journey into Kosovo &Methochia

by Dr med Maria Winter and Rita Brügger, participants in a trip to the Serbian enclaves from 1 to 5 October 2008

continued on page 15

The river Ibar has become the separating line of Kosovska Mitrovica. Only one bridge left in the cent-er of the city connects the north with the south. KFOR and Unmik strictly control this passage. (pho-

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“The Serbs, whom the rest of Europe mayhave regarded as poor, give us delight withtheir rich poetry.” (Jacob Grimm, 1849)

“Besides, I strongly practice Serbian, thesongs collected by Vuk Stef. Karadži.” (Frie-drich Engels, 1863)

The times of intimate and deep friendship be-tween  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832),  Jacob Grimm  (1785-1863) and thegreat Serbian philologist, language reformerand song collector Vuk Stephanovic Karadžic (1787-1864) have long gone. Instead, anti-Ser-bian prejudices have prevailed in Germany –and in a weaker form also in Austria – formany generations.

At the beginning of the 20 th century, andparticularly during World War I, polemicaland racist jokes about Serbs appeared in Ger-man magazines. According to these jokes,Serbs are backwards and uncivilized, dirtyand violent. The two enclosed pictures pub-

lished in the satirical weekly newspaperSim- plicissimus of 1909 are part of a two pages’cartoon sheet with altogether 12 pejorativecartoons about “habits and customs of theSerbs”. On another page, there is a one-sidedpicture sheet with 6 likewise pejorative car-toons entitled “Some things about Montene-gro”. These 18 cartoons were all drawn byThomas Theodor Heine (1867-1948), one ofthe founders of the magazine Simplicissimus.The magazine Simplicissmus united the thenmost important German authors and artists. Itwas considered to be the most important op-positional voice against militarism, civil dou-ble standards and the repressive WilhelminePrussian state. However, it was not free fromthe worst German nationalism – as these anti-Serbian cartoons by Heine show.

And since the Serbs are what they are, theapperception of them is often only half true. Egon Erwin Kisch (1885-1948), who for goodreasons became world-famous later by his so-cial reports, in 1930 wrote an article about histime as an Austrian soldier in the war againstSerbia in the summer of 1914. Therein hevividly described many war events, but “for-got” to mention the numerous massacres ofthe Serbian population by the Austrian-Hun-garian army in the villages along the Drina,although there is evidence that he had been inthese very villages.

How virulent the agitation against Serbiawas, is illumined by another small but mostcritical article by Paul Zöllner  i n Kurt Tu-cholsky’s Weltbühne (world stage) of 4 Sep-tember 1924. It reads: “After 1914 the Ger-man public had been sufficiently nourishedby eager scribblers with contempt and ab-horrence against the Serbs, so that Austria’s

predatory war was met with devoted enthusi-asm and seen as a German affair – afterwardsthe so-commanded public opinion continuedto exist in Germany. The Serb was a pig. Andthose, who did not believe it, were even big-ger pigs. […] However, those who visit Bel-grade today discover to their amazement orsatisfaction, […] that they enter a flourish-ing, immaculate, rising city. […] They re-member Sombart ’s ridiculous gaffe of heroesand dealers. The same Sombart with his gro-tesque unawareness and eager assiduousnessof a subject had called them rattrap dealersor so, thinking of the dumb imperial-royalseigneurs, who considered themselves to beso superior. Oh, so superior! […] Shouldn’tthose bands of German secondary teacherswho incessantly teach rubbish about foreignpeoples to our children, get to know them be-fore? For example: get to know the Serbs!”

The German fascists in the Second WorldWar could well link to such selective apper-ceptions and anti-Serbian prejudice. Whenthe Third Reich started its war of aggressionagainst Yugoslavia in 1941, the national so-cialist propaganda magazine Signal spoke ofa German “liberation” of Croatia and gavefree reign to its hate against Serbia. Signal regarded the Serbs merely as “conspirators”,“bandits” and “terrorists”. The “Serbian peo-ple’s character” was a “mixture of impeni-tence […] nepotism and corruption”. Even82 years after the anti-Serbian caricatures in

the 1909 Simplicissimus had appeared, Mar-ion Countess Dönhoff – the Grande Dame

of German journalism after 1945 and oftencalled a “liberal” publisher – insinuated aquasi-innate and natural aggression to thepeoples of Yugoslavia. In 1991 she wrote in Die Zeit :

“Even the Soviets, who are often describedas backwrds, ready to subordinate and lack-ing every sense for democratic rules seemto manage to fit into new federal structureswhich offer sufficient room for autonomy.Why shouldn’t the allegedly “western” peo-ples of Yugoslavia not be able to achieve thesame? But if they absolutely want to act outtheir Serbo-Croatian hate, we should let thembe.”

It is so simple: Yugoslavs are aggressive bynature – it would be a good thing they killedthemselves!

The language of a Wolfgang Petritsch to-

wards Serbia is not different. But should wenot expect a diplomatic and polite languageof an important politician of the SPÖ (So-cialist Party of Austria), a diplomat, Aus-trian Ambassador in Belgrade from 1997to 1999, head of the European Union dele-gation with the Rambouillet negotiations inFebruary 1999 and laureate of the Europe-an Human Rights Award (!) of the EuropeanCourt of Justice in 2007. But in an interviewin Der Spiegel dating from 8 February 1999his mask slipped and he spoke in plain andcompletely undiplomatic language about thecompulsive character of the Rambouillet con-ference, which had then just started:

“We do not bid for it any longer. 80 percent of our ideas are simply steamrollered.Two things are definitely forbidden to theconflict parties: Press contacts and droppingout. They all remain detained like in a con-

clave. In the end, when it is either do or die,the final result will probably be a diktate. TheSerbs will snarl and snort, but I can guaran-tee one thing: Before the end of April the Ko-sovo conflict will either be formally solved orNATO is going to bomb.”

It is so simple: Let the Serbs snarl – it is uswho decide on the bombing and no one else!

Media are a mirror of society and a socialplayer, simultaneously.

Therefore, today we must commemoratethe murder of thousands of Serbian civiliansduring the war from 1941 to 1945 in Croatia.

The estimations on thenumber of Serbs mur-dered by the CroatianUstascha – under Ger-

man protection – varysubstantially. The Ger-man genocide research-er Richard Albrecht  es-timates this numberto be around 600,000,and the Serbian histo-rian and Tito  biogra-pher Vladimir Dedi- jer   speaks of 800,000murdered orthodoxSerbs. The numbersof Serbs murdered inthe Croatian concen-tration camp  Jaseno-

vac   also vary strong-ly: They reach from30,000 to 52,000. Thetwo German air strikes

on Belgrade on 6 and7 April 1941, whichwere in many ways of-fensive of internationallaw, and were ruthlessand unheralded, costan estimated numberof 15,000 to 30,000 ci-vilian deaths. After theSerbian surrender on17 April 1941, approxi-mately 350,000 Serbiansoldiers were barrackedin German prisoner-of-war camps.

One must know atleast a little about thisfatal connection be-

tween anti-Serbian pictures and the sufferingof Serbs in World War II in order to be able to

understand, why US-American PR-agenciescould later successfully manipulate the world

press in the Balkan wars between 1991 and2002. And as German scientists, we shouldpossess some historical expertise in order toargue in a balanced and thoughtful way, not

arrogantly or one-sidedly.The Serbian mass murder of thousands of

Bosnians in Srebrenica in summer 1995 canneither be defined away nor relativized, es-pecially if we assue the victim’s perspective:One cannot define away the personal suffer-ing of a mother, whose son was murdered.At the same time one must (if not exclusive-ly) look at the mass murder in Srebrenica inthe context of the Serbian hard-luck story– asoutlined here. In addition, we may not disre-gard that numerous moments of this murderare still judged extremely controversially andabove all we may not mix up this mass mur-der with its political instrumentalization (bywhoever).

“Serbien muss sterbien” (Serbia must die):These dictums were written by Karl Kraus (1874–1936) in his five-act tragedy “Die letz-

ten Tage der Menschheit” (The last days ofmankind, 1915–1922). In this theatre play theauthor deals with the inhumanity and absurd-ity of World War I. It includes the followingdialogue: “ A Viennese: ‹The affair […] is nota fair one, there is no alternative, and there-fore I also say, Serbia – must die!› Voices from the crowd : ‹Bravo! That’s right! - Ser-bia must die! – If they wanna or not! – Every-one must die!› The intellectual: ‹Who wouldhave dreamed of how the times have changedand we have changed as well.›”

Who would have expected this to happenand how much have the times changed, thatGermany starting from 24 March 1999, tookpart again in a war against Yugoslavia, re-spectably Serbia, thus violating internationallaw, this time only poolry disguised as “hu-manitarian intervention”! •

(Translation: Current Concerns)

The Historical Tradition of Anti-Serbian Prejudicesby Professor Dr. Jörg Becker 

The PR-companies, which were activein the Balkans wars, are – as has beenshown – predominantly powerful, so-cially (at least by the US society) ac-cepted and trustworthy communica-tion specialists. They are considered tobe reliable sources and participants, inparticular with regard to their person-nel profile. They fulfill all conditionsof an “independent messenger” as re-quired for public diplomacy (Peterson

2002).Thus the conditions in the Balkans

wars were that war governments couldtransform their propaganda into re-liable messages with the help of thePR-agencies’ filters and their numer-ous communication channels. This re-sulted in a strong homogenization ofpublic opinion in the USA (and in thewestern societies in general). The USGovernment,  Amnes ty International,Human Rights Watch, Freedom House,the United States Institutes of Peace,the Soros Foundation,  liberal intellec-tuals and large circles of conservatives,the United Nations, journalists, but alsothe governments in Zagreb and Sara-

 jevo, the leadership of the Kosovo Al -banians, the UÇK  – with slight nuances,

they all express an almost identical ver-sion of the Balkans wars.

In a slightly exaggerated short formit reads as follows: The Serbs lapsedinto nationalistic madness and wantedto establish Greater Serbia; SlobodanMilosevic, an incorrigible communist,made himself their leader and attackedthe non-Serbian republics and peo-ples with the Yugoslav People’s Army.He let them commit mass rapes, eth-

nic cleanings and genocide; where-as the other ex-Yugoslav nations – theSlovenes, the Croats, the Bosnians, theAlbanians and the Macedonians – werepeace-loving, democratic peoples. (TheMontenegrins had a divided image – aslong as they identified with Belgrade,they were considered equally aggres-sive, but when they broke with Bel-grade, they transformed themselvesinto a peace-loving people).

This is the picture of the Balkans wars,which the PR-agencies spread one-to-one. And it is congruent with the prop-aganda of the ex-Yugoslav, non-Serbianwar parties.

Source: Becker, Jörg, Beham, Mira.Operation Balkan: Werbung für Krieg und

Tod, ISBN 3-8329-1900-7, P. 35 

How PR-companies lied the Westinto the war against Serbia

 Like all other soulful people the Serbs live in intimate relationship with their domestic animals. Thenewborn is breastfed by the mother pig. The Serbian mother breastfeeds the small piglets in return.

 Another amusement of the Serbian people is to murder kings.Source: Simplicissimus, vol. 14, 31 May 1909, unpaged p.22 and 23

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Kosovo was, is and remains the biggest prob-lem for Serbia. The desire for dominance by

a part of the Albanian population and theseparation of the Kosovo’s from Serbia hascaused serious difficulties for the State of Yu-goslavia – today Serbia – for many decades,now. All this has become a traumatic experi-ence for the Serbian people.

By their one-sided and unobjective report-ing and information policy many westernmedia have contributed to the problem thatthe world knows only one side of the medalas to the conditions in Kosovo.

Back in the Second World War Kosovowas divided into two occupation zones andwas mainly controlled by the fascist powersGermany and Italy. The largest part of theKosovo Albanians fought on the side of theoccupying forces against the Yugoslav liber-ation forces. Nevertheless, after the war they

were granted all rights as free citizens in thecountry.There was no threat to the Albanian popu-

lation by the Serbs, as many prominent posi-tions in the communist party KPY (the onlyone in Yugoslavia at that time) representingthe Kosovo province, were held by KosovoAlbanians. Out of 43 representatives in thecommittee for the Autonomous Province Ko-sovo, 22 were of Albanian nationality. In theParliament of the Republic of Serbia 55 rep-resentatives were elected for the Kosovo, 38of them were Kosovo Albanians. The samewas true for the Federal Parliament SFRY(Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).22 out of the 34 representatives for the prov-ince of Kosovo were of Albanian origin,there. In general, the Kosovo was predomi-nantly represented by Albanians and not bySerbs in the government SFR. With such a

large number of Albanian representatives inthe government, the Albanians’ opression bythe Serbs would have been impossible.

Expulsion of the Serbs andAlbanian settling

In the Second World War, there were no sig-nificant or well-known fights against the oc-

cupying powers in Kosovo. Nevertheless,over 10,000 Serbs were killed by those Al-

banians, who cooperated with Germany andItaly. Another 100,000 Serbs were expelledfrom the Kosovo. That was only the begin-ning of further expulsions of the Serbs. Atthe time, when masses of Serbs fled by footto Central Serbia, 70,000 people came fromAlbania, who moved into the houses and set-tlements left by the Serbs. Many were alsopolitical refugees, because they feared theStalinist dictatorship of  Enver Hodscha   inAlbania. In Yugoslavia, they were able to livewithout fear and were not pursued.

On 6 March 1945, after a resolution of theYugoslav government, the Serbian refugees’return to their former homes in Kosovo wasforbidden. Not one Albanian, however, hadto leave Kosovo and go back to Albania. Thatwas the continuation of the ethnic cleansingsin Kosovo. Between 1945 and 1961, another

20,000 Serbs fled and left their houses for-ever. Between 1961 and 1971, there weremore than 34,000 refugees and until 1981,under the pressure of Albanian nationalismand separatism, nearly 87,000 were added.Another 50,000 Serbian refugees were reg-istered between 1981 and 1987. So, between1945 and 1987, approximately 230,000 to240,000 Serbs had “voluntarily” left Kos-ovo, the southern province of Serbia. Offi-cially, Serbian sovereignty prevailed but ac-tually Albanian communists were in charge.The reasons for the Serbs’ ‘voluntary’ exo-dus from the country were that in Kosovo theSerbs were persecuted, offended, thrashedand the women raped. Their possessions wereoften wilfully burned. Wells and sources ofwater in Serbian villages were poisoned; thepower supply lines cut off and graves des-ecrated. In 1961, there were no more Serbs

in 410 out of 1439 communities in Kosovo –and in 1981 there were 670 of them altogeth-er “Serb-free”.

The largest mass expulsion of the Serbsfrom Kosovo happened between 10 June andthe end of September 1999, during the time,when Kosovo became a protectorate of UNand NATO. According to statistics, more than

230,000 Serbs had to leave their homeland –together with the Roma and other minorities

they were 300,000. They have been on therun until today.

Between 1941 and 1990, 140,000 to160,000 Albanians moved into the Kosovo.The birth rate, which is very high with theAlbanian population, also contributed to theimbalance among the Kosovo population.During the war in 1999, again thousands ofAlbanians entered Kosovo with the NATOtroops. All attempts of the Yugoslav gov-ernment to stop these national “liberation”movements failed. The Western support ofthe Kosovo’s secession was too strong. Hereit becomes obvious who expelled whom fromthe country, no matter what the media falselyreported and still report.

Jihad in Kosovo

After the Dayton Agreement, the Islam-

ic Jihad spread from Bosnia to Kosovo andwas organized there. At the Islamic Confer-ence in Pakistan in 1998, the Albanian sepa-ratist movement was generally acknowledgedas Jihad, and the fight was directed againstall the infidels, against the non-Islamic pop-ulation. So fighters from many Islamic coun-tries entered Kosovo. This process was beingcontrolled by the secret services of the USA,Germany and Albania. This way it becamepossible that a group of 16 Mujahidin droveseven cars from Munich to Bari in Italy on 3June 1998, from there to the port of Drac inAlbania and from Albania into Kosovo. Notonly NATO and many western countries sup-ported the plans of Kosovo’s secession fromSerbia, but also eastern countries like e.g. Pa-kistan and Afghanistan.

Many Mujahidin came into Kosovo andfought there with the UÇK. They were all

very well paid – between 3,000 and 5,000dollar a month.

 Abu Hamza from Tunisia was the com-mander of the Kosovo Al Qaida basis in Dulj,close to Prizren. When the Serbian police dis-covered this basis and liberated Prizren andDulj, the Serbs found many beheaded civil-ians, natives from the Serbian villages of the

surroundings. This calls to mind the ritualmurders, by which the Al Qaida members

used to kill non-Islamic individuals.The commission for human rights found

Abu Hamza guilty of organizing the transportof Mujahidin into Kosovo, where they com-mitted the most horrifying atrocities againstSerbs together with the UÇK. Shortly after-wards, however, Clinton  took the UÇK offthe list of terrorist organizations. They weresuddenly called “liberation army of Kos-ovo”. In unison with NATO and western pol-itics, Kosovo was almost “liberated” of theSerbs, and all this in an allegedly democraticprocess. All that was acknowledged by manycountries, and ten years after the war, nobodytalks about this inhuman and illegal war anylonger.

Humanitarian disaster

It is the Serbs who are suffering from this in-

 justice, from the many lies, which still hauntthem. And – even worse – they are sufferingfrom a sustained ecological and health catas-trophe.

A severe grievance caused by the bom-bardment in 1999, are the hundreds of thou-sands of refugees. The UN Security Coun-cil resolution 1244 ruled that the return of allrefugees must be secured, so that they can getback into their homeland without any inhibi-tion. But that was only granted to Albanians,not to Serbs. The Serbs, who remained in Ko-sovo, are living under similar conditions as incamps. There are enclaves, in which they canhardly move. They survive only by the char-ity of others, particularly by that from Serbiaand by some international humanitarian or-ganizations. Those who have caused all thatmisery do not care about these fellow men.Most of the Serbs, who left Kosovo, are liv-

ing in different centers in Serbia today, most-ly in barracks, for example in Belgrade, Gro-cka and Smederevo. Once a day they receivea warm meal by the state; they live withoutelectricity and water and – even after such along time – they are still waiting in vain forhelp from the European countries. •Translation Current Concerns

For More Than 60 Years Now Serbs Have Been ExpelledFrom Their Home Country

 Dipl. phil. Vojislav Jevtimijevic, coordinator for refugee assistance for Serbian refugees from Kosovo

sovo could only expect to receive credits bythe IMF as an independent state as this wouldguarantee the economic stimulus for foreigninvestment. Only in that case – this was theobvious calculation – the remaining legal un-

certainties would be diminished for the in-ternational investors and the Serbian proper-ties of the province could be easier bargainedaway to foreign investors without any com-pensation.

The Trepca mines were closed in 2000 bythe forced illegal appropriation of the NATOwar allies. The Trepca mines, however, couldhave been a model to re-establish the coexist-ence between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs –if this had been the West’s intention: Unionmembers of both ethnic groups have beenin regular contact to work for the reopeningof production since the Trepca mines wereclosed.

Another reason for the high unemploy-ment rate is the trade embargo that has lastedfor ten years now and the high inflation rateas well as the many refugees from the south.Prior to the war 43000 Serbs lived in Pristina,

a remainder of 80 are working there today.All together there are 254.000 displaced peo-ple in Serbia and another 27.000 in Montene-gro. They all live in camps, mostly withoutany prospects. Shortly after the UN resolu-tion 1244 (in June 1999, directly after thewar ended), which claims the territorial in-tegrity of Serbia and the autonomous statusof Kosovo a huge wave of expulsion start-ed under the eyes of KFOR, that so-calledpeace keeping force, while the UN and allNGOs retreated from their responsibility forthese people.

Only the Serbian government, the SerbianOrthodox Church and the Serbian Red Crossmaintained their aid.

Omnipresent: foreign military

In the streets of the northern part of Kos-ovska Mitrovica you see Albanian retailersrunning their small business. You also en-

counter trucks with German and Swiss com-pany labels, transformed into shops or evengas stations. On the bridge, the only connec-tion between the two parts of the city, wemeet multinational KFOR military person-nel. Most of them are standing around chat-ting and they enjoy being photographed withus. They keep warning us, that in case wecrossed the bridge, they could not guaran-tee for our security. They warn us that in thenorthern part of the city a demonstration isplanned to protest against the unilateral dec-laration of independence of the Kosovo andthe interference of the European Union intothe domestic Serbian affairs by  EULEX , theEuropean legislative mission.Arriving at the market square we see ap-proximately 1000 people gathering peace-fully. With speeches and songs (Kosovo isSerbia) they name the injustice. A repre-

sentative of “KosMit ” speaks up spontane-ously and expresses her sympathy. The peo-ple are enthusiastic and applaud. They arehappy and grateful for the fact that some-body listens to them and is interested inthem as they are left completely alone bythe world.

Roma camp

Some time ago Roma were settling on thesouthern river side of the Ibar in KosovskaMitrovica. In 2004 they were displaced in thecourse of the progrom. Due to that they were

given a piece of land to build a barracks camp

on it in the northern part of the city. They arelacking everything; electricity, constant watersupply, clothing. Fire wood for heating andcooking is very expensive. The children, play-ing in the puddle on the clayey roads, lookill. We hear that most of them suffer fromchronic lead poisoning. The camp that waspreviously thought as a provisional solutionhas existed for four years now. An end is notin sight. Despite the unhealthy and devastat-ing circumstances the Roma prefer to stay inthis camp. The children can go to school, andthey have access to medical treatment and the

Serbian authorities guarantee a better protec-

tion than UN and KFOR in the south. Nev-ertheless, attacks are possible. A Roma, whoonce lived in Germany for some years, tellsus that some time ago people came into thecamp and shot two children. No one knowswho they were. Nobody searches for the mur-derers, nor will they be punished.

Celebration

Still overwhelmed by this experience we ar-rive at the guesthouse and take our seats at

Even Kosovo Albanians have to take noteof the fact that the victors over Serbia are

totally indifferent to the Albanian agenda.They attach, however, greatest importanceto the fact that the secession of the Kosovoprovince from Serbia does not lead to thefounding of an independent state. The Al-banians have subjected the greater part ofKosovo under their ethnic hegemony, but“Albanian Kosovo” is directed from outsidein such a way as it has never been under Yu-goslavia’s conditions. “Nowadays there areno less than four international missions”,the Kosovarian author Beqë Cufai lists thepowers which have turned his home prov-ince into a “stabilizing factor on the Bal-kans”. “The Unmik  Mission of the UnitedNations, who have administered Kosovosince 1999, has remained. They are led by

the Italian Lamberto Zannier . Of more im-portance now is the International Civilian

Office, headed by the Dutch Pieter Faith, who is at the same time special emissaryof the EU foreign affair policy chief  Javi-er Solana. The  European Union Rule of Law Mission  in Kosovo EULEX  is led bythe Frenchman Yves de Kermabon, and weshould not disregard the  OSCE   Missionunder the Austrian Werner Almhofer . Fi-nally, this is directed from the backgroundby the so called Quint , the body of the am-bassadors of the US, France, Great Britain,Germany and Italy.” […]

Beqë Cufai counts that 80 percent of theEuropean taxpayers’ money for Kosovoflows into the pockets of these colonial ad-ministrators.Source: junge Welt  from 21 Feb 2009

 Victors Are Totally Indifferentto Albanian Agenda

by Werner Pirker 

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Page 16 No 9/10 May 2009Current Concerns

a well-laid table. The daughter of the restau-rant owner had once participated in a stu-dent exchange program in Germany togeth-er with other youth, invited by the charityorganization “Freundschaft mit Valjevo”,who together with “KosMit” is taking care

of the interests of Serbs in Kosovo. As someof their representatives are members of ourtravel group the girl’s father wants to expresshis gratitude. Despite his poverty our hostoffers the utmost to us to make our stay asagreeable as possible. Even Serbian songsare presented by an entertainer. We hearabout the efforts and difficulties of the peo-ple. The doctor of the local hospital tells usthat the incidence of cancer has increased byalmost 30%, mainly leukaemia in childrenand lung cancer. The exact statistics are keptsecret by the authorities to hide the real ex-tend of the diseases. But the increase of car-cinoma in Kosovo – as well as in the otherbombarded parts of Serbia – can no longerbe ignored. (see ZEIT-Fragen No. 49, Dec.1,2008, p. 3).

Red Cross duties and refugee camps

The Red Cross premises of Kosovska Mitro-vica are cramped and old. With limited re-sources the local Red Cross manages its du-ties in cooperation with the headquarters inBelgrade although above all medicine andequipment are lacking. For example ethnicalminorities in the refugee camps are backedwith food programs. Moreover, searchingfor missed people has become vital becauseof the war. Especially first-aid courses areimportant for adolescents offering them aprospect. Therefore, benefit competitionsare taking place, in which children and ado-lescents are actively involved in improvingthe situation by making money for the RedCross.

Next stop is a refugee camp. In the tran-sit camp the refugees have had at least a roofover their head for the first few nights. Due

to their age and their mental health someof them are not able to make a new begin-ning. Therefore, they have been vegetatingthere for years in boxes of 5 m2 divided bycarton walls. They are cooking on a woodheated oven. People are helpless and total-ly depending on outside help. We give themflour, oil and sugar so that the distress canbe relieved a little. The caretaker tells usthat sometimes representatives of human-itarian organisations arrived taking peo-ple with them under the pretence to shelterthem better. They mostly lose track after-wards. Given the flourishing organ trafick-ing the worst must be feared.

Serbian monasteries in Kosovo

Kosovo and Metochia are the cultural cradleof Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

It was there, where the first monastery wasfounded in the 13th century by Saint Sava,son of King Steve I., who was influenced bythe Greek monks of Athos. In the 14th cen-tury the first patr iarchate evolved from thereand Christianity expanded to the north.The Battle of Amselfeld in 1389 against theTurkish conquerors symbolizes the embodi-ment of resistence against the Ottomans forthe Serbians. The Serbians are deeply re-ligious and bound to their church. Kosovois the province where most Serbian monas-teries are located. Due to limited access totheir historical roots and their most impor-tant religious sanctuaries, they feel deprivedof their identity. The KLF hit this nerve,when destroying churches and monaster-ies. Therefore, the most important sanctu-aries on the Unesco’s World Heritage Listare guarded by the KFOR, e.g. the famous

monasteries of Pe and Deani. When visit-ing these monasteries, we had to pass thecheckpoints and to leave our passports. Themonks live in an isolated way, surroundedby Albanian terr itory. Many of them weredisplaced, came back and rebuilt destroyedsites with the help of financial support of theSerbian Orthodox and the Polish Curch. Themonastery complexes are maintained withloving care. Dignified and proud monksshow us the valuable frescos and icons. Asan honoring of our visit the coffin of SaintSteve is opened.

Serbian enclaves

The Serbian residential estate Belo Polje issituated at the edge of the Pe. The power sup-ply lines are are cut off, many houses de-stroyed. A few, mostly elderly people haveprovisionally rebuilt their houses. They livein primitive circumstances and in permanentdanger. Young people left the region. On thenear cemetery most of the graves are ruined.The systematic devastation of Serbian ceme-teries is part of the psychological warfare. If

one can make out the inscription on a grave-stone one can easily see that mostly youngmen have lost their lives – probably by thewar.

The Serbian enclave Gorazdevac has got1600 inhabitants. Not a single one has everleft the village during the war, although theirlives have been made miserable in all re-spects.

Electricity supply is guaranteed only afew hours a day. The hospital ward is de-serted. A Red Cross nurse shows up once aweek. For visits to the doctor and major pur-chases people have to go to Kosovska Mitro-vica. These rides are dangerous as car crash-es frequently occur provoked by fanaticizedAlbanians. The inhabitants help one anoth-er. Neighbours share their belongings. Tech-nical knowledge helps the people to be ableto keep their houses in good conditions. But

for the most part there is a lack of materi-al. One mostly lives on what is grown. In ashop resembling a kiosk only the bare ne-cessities can be bought. Money is tight. 240children live in the village, children whomthe adults would like to give a perspective.That is why people place great hope on awell-kept school. Plants are arranged eve-rywhere with loving care. Everything iscleaned up spick and span, walls are brightlypainted and decorated with children’s draw-ings. None of the school desks is smearedwith paint or scrawled. Outside joungsters

play on a football ground. At the back of theschool villagers set up a public swimmingpool, so that something which occurred in2003 would not happen again: children, whowent for a swim in the river, were shot in anambush. People face their destiny with anadmirable activity and creativity.

Great hospitality

In 1999 all residents of the village Oso- jane were forced to leave their houses. Af-terwards the village was burnt down. Lit-

tle by little some residents came back andrenovated their damaged houses. Peopleface problems as we see them everywherenow:

Unemployment, economic plight, lack-ing energy supply, isolation, grief over theloss of one’s belongings. Yet, one noticespeople’s will to tackle the situation. Not farfrom the newly constructed school we dis-cover wooden sheds, which serve old peo-ple as makeshift accomodations – withoutany electricity, water or heating. They tellour tourist guide about their misery in theirnative language. We spontaneously buysome groceries in a nearby shop. It givesus great delight. Hard to believe: The eurois the Kosovar currency. Apparently, stabil-ity criteria and missing EU-membership donot matter.

In Opraske, a place with 13 houses above

Osojane, we are privately accomodated forthe night. In the house our hosts, the mayorof Osojane and his wife welcome us warmly.Clean sheets were put on all beds available,an extended table in the eat-in kitchen waslovingly set. We move together closely sothat everybody may join the meal. Candlesare burning as there is a power cut. Againand again the big power plant near Pristi-na has had cuts. 8,500 Serbian employeeshave been expelled there so that the knowl-edge to operate the plant has been lost to alarge extent. Despite linguistic obstacles –

our hosts speak Serbo-Croatian and only afew are able to translate - we are warmingup to one another quickly.

The city of Prizren

On our way to Prizren, we pass beautifullandscapes. Many fields are lying fallow.Our guide and translator tells us that, beforethe war, Prizren was the most beautiful and

cleanest city in Kosovo. Ten years ago, hehad to flee from there, and now, accompany-ing us, he is coming back to his home townfor the first time. The same applies to Vera,our host from Zubin Potok . She did not sleepthe night before and took some tranquillis-ers, because she was so tense and agitated.This short “return” has only been possibleby the protection of the Unmik. We meetwith sinister glances when we step off thebus with the Serbian number plate. Our Ser-bian tour guide urges us to stay together. Thetownscape is characterised by minarets andchurch towers and, high above the houseson the hill, the town’s landmark, the CrkvaSvetog Spasa, the “Church of the Holy Sal-vation”. On the side of the hill, houses haveburnt out.

On the bridge, Vera stops. “Up there,

that’s my house!” She points it out to us.While we are still looking, an Albanianapproaches her and asks, “Where is yourhouse?” She is alarmed, afraid that he isabout to deny her possession, but it turnsout that he is a former neighbour who wantsto know how she is doing. Many Albani-ans who have lived here for a long time andwho used to get on well with their Serbianneighbours do not feel comfortable withthe present situation. But if it became obvi-ous that they had patronized Serbians, theywould have to expect repressions. For theyalso are under the dictate of the ever-presentand still de facto existing UCK. You can seepretentious UCK-monuments everywhere,also in Prizren.

In the main shopping street there is one jewellery shop next to the other. Prizren hasalways been famous for this. And between

them the Austrian Raiffeisenbank! Kosovois in the control of foreign enterprises andcapital. This, too, is a high price they paid fortheir so-called independence.

A bit further on we see barbed wire andsoldiers. This is the only way to protect theSerbian church from wanton and hateful de-struction. Our translator is full of joy whenhe finds the snack bar which he used to visitas a student. He still knows the owner and thespeciality still tastes the same. We have a cupof coffee at the restaurant next door. We areserved zealously; business is not as good as itwas before the war. No, times used to be bet-ter, says the landlord. He is still yearning forthe old Yugoslavia.

The container village

We arrive in Gracanietwa in the dark. Here,

Russians erected a container camp for needyfugitives in all haste, basically meant only asa temporary solution. Now people have beenliving here for more than five years, becausethere is nowhere else to go. A woman of over60, whose husband is dead and whose fam-ily is scattered, has decorated her shack –you cannot call the dwellings by any bet-ter name - with flowers. Her bed is in theback, a small table with a chair in front ofit, right in the front a small corner has beenpartitioned off for hygiene. The glasses withajvar , a wonderful spicy paste which she haspreserved herself, are on the rack next to thesmall stove. She gives us a glass as a presentto thank us for our interest. Across the streeta young family with two small children. Youcannot call that life, she says. Homework,cooking, sleeping, all to be done in one smallroom, like in a mobile home. In winter, in

the cold, they have to cross the street for thecommunal lavatory, the toilet. But what canthey do? The Red Cross makes school at-tendance possible. The young wife decidedto stay here, because her family lives near-by. There is not room enough in their house,but at least they are closer this way.

We return with a heavy heart because of allthe misery we saw, but we are also very im-pressed by the great hospitality that we werefortunate to experience. •

(Translation: Current Concerns)

“Travelling into the Heart …”continued from page 15

Kosovo and Metochia are the cradleof Serbia’s culture and the Serbian Orthodox Church(photo Maria Winter)