-Caveat Lector- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Yugoslavia Poll: U.S. EU wield Carrot & Stick Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 23:36:58 -0500 (CDT) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Organization: ? To: undisclosed-recipients:; ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Sept. 28, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- YUGOSLAVIA ELECTIONS: U.S., W. EUROPE USE CARROT & STICK By John Catalinotto With the big vote set for Sept. 24, the European Union and the U.S. government have stepped up their already blatant intervention in Yugoslavia's national election. Both the Yugoslav government and anti-war forces in NATO countries have reacted with anti-NATO actions. The EU offered the carrot. In a "message to the Serbian people" from a Sept. 18 monthly foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, the EU said it would lift sanctions if Yugoslavs voted out President Slobodan Milosevic in the presidential election. "The elections ... will give the Serbian people the opportunity to repudiate clearly and peacefully the policy of Milosevic." Should they do so, "we will lift the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, we will support the necessary economic aid for its reconstruction, and we will support the reintegration of the FRY into the international community," is how the EU presented its bribe. Washington continued to wave the big stick. The U.S. Navy plans maneuvers in the Adriatic Sea off the Yugoslav coast on election weekend. Both U.S. and NATO leaders have threatened intervention should there be conflict in Montenegro, the smaller republic, which along with Serbia makes up what remains of Yugoslavia. If Yugoslavia is treated like the other former socialist countries of the Balkans, "reintegration" means that a handful of Yugoslavs will grow rich while the bulk of the population is driven deeper into poverty and the people as a whole are forced to submit to Western imperialism. An article in the Sept. 19 New York Times makes it clear that the only job opportunities for young Bulgarian women is to work as prostitutes in the Czech Republic near the German border. The only serious candidates for president of Yugoslavia are Milosevic and Vojislav Kostunica, who is backed by 18 small opposition parties, some of them openly pro-NATO and all pro- Western. Kostunica is a long-time anti-communist with credentials as a Serbian nationalist. Kostunica is also the only opposition figure who is not tarnished by open association with NATO forces. He can possibly attract voters who are weary of the assault on Yugoslavia and who hope that removing Milosevic will end the hostility. The U.S. and West European imperialists, however, want Kostunica to defeat Milosevic in order to weaken the best- organized anti-NATO structures inside Yugoslavia. These structures include Milosevic's Socialist Party and the party called the Yugoslav United Left, plus the security forces and the army. Weakening this apparatus would leave the road open for imperialist penetration and for turning all of Yugoslavia back into a colony of the West, whether or not that is what Kostunica plans. The Western media claim Kostunica is leading in election polls. Pro-Milosevic sources point out that the polls were taken by pro-NATO organizations that want to try to claim Milosevic "stole" the election should he win. BELGRADE PUTS NATO LEADERS ON TRIAL Meanwhile, the Milosevic forces have run their election campaign against NATO threats, pointing to the opposition as NATO puppets. In addition, the Yugoslav government has gone on the political offensive against NATO. In Belgrade Sept. 18 the government opened a trial of NATO leaders for war crimes committed during the 1999 aggression and 78-day bombing assault. Yugoslavia charged Presidents Bill Clinton of the United States and Jacques Chirac of France, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and nine other NATO and Western government leaders with war crimes. Their names were attached to 14 empty chairs in the front of a Belgrade courtroom. Serb authorities appointed a lawyer for each of the accused. Yugoslav officials said it would take four days to present the evidence. "They are charged with inciting an aggressive war...war crimes against civilian population...use of banned combat means, attempted murder of the Yugoslav president...the violation of the country's territorial integrity. ..," the charge sheet read. "They fired 600 cruise missiles and made 25,119 [air] sorties during the 78-day aggression, attacking both military and civilian targets, killing and wounding many people, causing mass destruction of property," it added. The charges were similar in structure to those presented at the dozens of "People's Tribunals" held in Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria, Greece, Russia and other countries in the past 14 months, all of which found the NATO leaders guilty. The Yugoslavs will be able to present more detailed, eyewitness descriptions of the crimes. Exposing NATO's crimes and especially the lies NATO leaders used to justify their aggression has strengthened solidarity with Yugoslavia in some of the NATO countries. In Italy, a traditional annual peace march from Perugia to Assisi will take place Sept. 24 with a more clearly anti- NATO position than it has had in recent years. Last year former Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema led the march--but he also had led the war against Yugoslavia. This year march organizers invited forces carrying a banner "Against NATO, against the embargoes" to play a big role in the march and promised that none of the war criminals from the Italian regime would be present. In Germany, a group of anti-war intellectuals have issued a call from Berlin: "No new NATO-war on the Balkans!" The call warns of U.S.-NATO military preparations for a possible new assault on Yugoslavia, and asks for actions against this new aggression. There are also vigils planned in Bonn on Sept. 22 and 29. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
