>URL for his article is http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
>www.tenc.net [Emperor's Clothes]
>
>KLA Attacks Everyone; Media Attacks...Miloshevich?
>by Jared Israel (3-2-2001)
>
>The Western media is preparing us for yet another terrorist war which NATO
>will be helpless to prevent although it is training the terrorists.
>
>"Western special forces were still training the guerrillas, as a result of
>decisions taken before the change of government in Yugoslavia." (BBC, Jan.
>29, 2001) (1)
***** New York Times 28 February 2001
U.S. and NATO Back Serbian Access to Kosovo Buffer Zone
By JANE PERLEZ
BRUSSELS, Feb. 27 - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said today
that the United States was prepared to allow Serbian soldiers back
into a three-mile-wide buffer zone along the Kosovo border, where
Albanian militants have been increasingly active.
Such a concession would be the first such easing of the stern
restrictions that NATO imposed on the Yugoslav Army after the bombing
campaign of 1999.
The "ground safety zone," on the Serbs' side of the border, was set
up to keep Yugoslav and Serbian troops and NATO peacekeepers well
separated after the Kosovo war, while Slobodan Milosevic was still in
power. Only lightly armed police officers are now allowed in the
area.
But one section, the Presevo valley, has become a haven for armed
Kosovar Albanian guerrillas who seem to want to annex the valley to
an independent Kosovo. NATO has been increasingly concerned that the
conflict could intensify, but has been reluctant to send in troops.
Today, with General Powell standing beside him, Lord Robertson, the
secretary general of NATO, said NATO was prepared to carry out a
"phased and continued reduction of the ground safety zone" and return
the area to Serbian authorities. But Lord Robertson offered no
details, and said NATO needed "further military advice" to carry out
the plan.
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, has effectively been under United
Nations control since the end of the NATO bombing.
NATO had been expected to announce today how it would deal with the
Albanian insurgents. But last week the Bush administration failed to
define the specifics on how far NATO troops, including American
soldiers, might go to calm the situation.
That is a particularly sensitive issue for Washington because the
Presevo valley abuts the sector of Kosovo where American troops are
stationed.
The United States agrees to a phased re-entry into the buffer zone of
soldiers from Serbia, and Yugoslavia, which includes Serbia, General
Powell said, but he gave no timetable.
He said the return of the soldiers would be "conditioned," a
reference to a plan by Nebojsa Covic, Serbia's new deputy prime
minister, that includes some concessions to ease border tensions.
Among Mr. Covic's proposals is the integration of some Albanians into
the local Serbian police forces in the Presevo region, whose
residents are about 90 percent Albanian.
Among the conditions that NATO is setting is that Serbian soldiers
and police officers who were involved in attacks on Kosovars would be
excluded from any force that might return to the area.
Lord Robertson also met in Brussels today with Carla del Ponte,
prosecutor of the war crimes tribunal at The Hague, which has
indicted Mr. Milosevic for crimes against the Kosovars. No details
were disclosed.
Recent killings of civilian Serbs in the border zone by Albanian
militants have inflamed passions, leading to concerns at NATO about
renewed fighting.
"Serb tanks are in a very, very aggressive position," one American
official said. "They are in a position to run roughshod over this."
For the moment, he added, Serbian authorities have pledged restraint,
but it is not clear how long that restraint will last, the official
said.
General Powell said today at the news conference with Lord Robertson
that the problem should be resolved without having Serbian forces
become "belligerents," which would make "a more difficult situation
than we have now."
Lord Robertson said NATO forces along the buffer zone had taken
measures to tighten controls and "crack down on extremists." NATO has
about 43,000 troops in Kosovo, including about 5,700 Americans.
Finally, in Belgrade today, the Yugoslav government indicated that it
welcomed the effort to solve the problem.
The interior minister, Zoran Zivkovic, welcomed the announcement at
NATO as a policy success for the new Yugoslav government, saying it
was "obvious to everyone that the ground security zone was the least
secure place in Europe."
Cedomir Jovanovic, leader of the government alliance in the Serbian
parliament, said he welcomed NATO's decision but warned that Serbian
forces would move to solve the issue alone if necessary.
"If NATO does not fulfill its obligations, then we will do it," he said.
General Powell, who was making his debut appearance at the North
Atlantic Council, where the foreign ministers of the 19 NATO
countries meet, said he had explained the Bush administration's
policies toward missile defense and a planned European "rapid
reaction" force, which is to include 60,000 troops, telling his
colleagues that Washington would consult with them as concrete plans
for missile defense evolved.
He repeated President Bush's statement of last week that the United
States endorsed the development of the rapid reaction force, which is
intended to send European troops to trouble spots where NATO is not
engaged. *****
What do Jared & others on the CrashList think of this development?
Yoshie
_______________________________________________
CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
