Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- Dear Konstantin, Please accept my apologies. I should have acknowledged the help given to me by you and others who sent in ideas and suggestions for why we should oppose NATO. You were among the first to send me ideas for the list and I certainly did use some of them. You sent me 9 points (they are copied below, just as you sent them to me). In our publication, I will certainly include your name, and the names of others who submitted ideas and made suggestions for the list. Acknowledging where all this material came from is important. However, I think that technically speaking I did "produce" the list. I used many different sources of info. including books, data from various web sites and material from the STOP NATO list. I also asked certain specific experts for advice on refining my understanding of particular items. For instance, I consulted with three people on the nuclear weaposn issue alone. I did indeed use a few phrases from your listing of 9 points. I asked others to help by editing and proofreading all of the material. If and when this list is ever printed, I will try to credit everyone for their help. (Some however specifically said they did not want to be credited.) It will however probably take several hours to cite all the sources of information on the list of 24 reasons to oppose NATO. Right now, I am in a terrible swirl of activity. I am organizing our big festival to oppose NATO, October 6 in Ottawa. I am really overworked and stretched to the absolute limit of my tolerance. Cheers and peace! Richard P.S. Here is the list of reasons that Konstantin sent me (July 18). Readers can see for themselves that I did indeed take a few bits and pieces from here and there on his list for use in the list of 24 reasons to oppose NATO that I put together: 1 NATO continues to employ depleted uranium in its armaments in contravention of the Geneva conventions which explicitly prohibit weapons that primarily affect civilian populations 2 NATO continues to employ cluster bombs in its armaments in contravention of the Ottawa Process on Landmines 3 According to the UN Environmental Program, NATO triggered an environmental catastrophe in Yugoslavia 4 NATO member-state Turkey: a) continues to wage an aggressive campaign of ethnic cleansing against its Turkish population in which 3,500 villages have been destroyed, 35,000 people killed, and millions have been displaced, b) continues to sporadically invade Iraq to carry out mop-ups of ethnic Kurds in foreign territory, c) continues its occupation of half of Cyprus 5 NATO has been a prime source of destabilization in Macedonia 6 NATO controlled Kosovo has been ethnically cleansed of 250,000 non-Albanian citizens, while the remaining minorities in this Yugoslav province have no freedom of movement, live in ghettoes and face daily terrorist attacks, destruction of their property, etc. So far 1,300 citizens of Kosovo have been killed during NATO's occupation and another 1,300 are reported missing or disappeared 7 NATO troops are heavily involved in fuelling the demand for prostitution in both Bosnia and Kosovo, making sexual slavery one of the most lucrative businesses in the region 8 The women that service NATO troops live in deplorable conditions and are frequently held against their will by local captors. Whenever evidence of UN or NATO involvement in this trade has surfaced, the officers were discharged and sent home without any criminal proceedings being initiated against them. 9 NATO forces have been involved in enforcing the cancellation of election results in Bosnia, the shutting down of media stations and transmitter towers of media critical to the NATO presence in the country, and have seized banks and other assets of political parties refusing to cooperate with these forces 10 NATO fomented ethnic war in the Balkans and prolonged the bloodshed in the region to discredit its competing rivals and to cement its hegemony in the European theatre Richard Sanders Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) A national peace network supported by individuals and organizations across Canada 541 McLeod St., Ottawa Ontario K1R 5R2 Canada Tel.: 613-231-3076 Fax: 613-231-2614 Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Web site: <http://www.ncf.ca/coat> ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Help build opposition to NATO PA meetings in Ottawa, Oct. 5-8, 2001! Join the "no_to_nato" list serve: Send the message: subscribe no_to_nato to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Read the archives of our list serve <http://www.flora.org/coat/forum/> ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
