[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 12:31 AM Subject: NATO Vs. Macedonia [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Please take careful note of what NATO is 'suggesting": An aggressive miltary alliance based in Brussels, Belgium is dictating to the government and people of Macedonia specific and extensive changes in its constitution; it is doing so, blatantly, out of concern for its own 40,000 troops in Kosovo - who "rely on rear logistics bases in Macedonia" - and not at all with any consideration for the rights and security of the Mecedonians and the region, much less international law; NATO is compelling a legally elected and internationally recognized government to grant amnesty, presumably blanket, to armed bands who launched a completely unprovoked attack, from foreign bases, against a legally-constituted state authority. Nothing less. To put this in perspective while reading this report, imagine NATO dictating such terms to its two major client regimes in the Eastern Mediterranean, both of whom are contending with ethnc minorities - and dealing with them in a heavy-handed, largely military manner. But better than that, imagine a direct parallel: An imaginary UN global military force dictating to the nations of NATO itself comparable measures. For example, the United States should immediately revamp its constitution to acknowledge that it s a bi-cultural nation and that Spanish should be constituted a second official language (an idea with some merit); that Judeo-Christianity is to have its historico-cultural 'primacy' removed; that all armed movements in the country should be granted amnesty and that its members should be given full political legitimacy and involved in power-sharing arrangements with the government. Similar diktat should be delivered to the NATO nations of Western Europe, with France compelled to reach similar arrangements with its Corsican and Basque separatists; Spain with the Basque ETA; Great Britain with Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Cornish supporters of independence (again, an idea not without merit). When that day arrives - and not one moment sooner - then the sincerity, if not the right, of NATO in restructuring the internal legal and political dynamics of other nations might be entertained.] Tuesday June 12 1:26 PM ET NATO Urging Macedonia to Grant Albanian Rights By Douglas Hamilton BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO leaders including President Bush were expected to urge Macedonia to speed up political reforms needed to end an ethnic Albanian guerrilla insurgency, a senior NATO official said Tuesday. In addition to practical arrangements for voluntary disarmament of the rebels, there must be rapid progress on giving Albanians and their language formal status in the Macedonian constitution, he told reporters. ``Im quite sure that this will figure high on the agenda tomorrow, the official said at a briefing ahead of a one-day meeting Wednesday of the leaders of NATOs 19 member states, convened for Bushs inaugural visit to Europe. ``So far the international community has not succeeded in convincing the government in Skopje to speed up the political process, because we feel if the process is not sped up then the chances for the NLA to lay down their weapons and accept the usefulness of political dialogue will not be there, he said. The NLA is the National Liberation Army, which says it took up arms in January to win equal rights for a one-third Albanian minority who are treated as second class citizens by Macedonia's majority Slavs. A tenuous cease-fire -- the first mutual truce in five months of rebel ambushes and long-range shelling by the army -- was holding Tuesday, but guerrillas said they were now in range of the capital, Skopje and its international airport. ALBANIAN STATUS, LANGUAGE ARE CRUNCH ISSUES Macedonian political leaders were due to have further consultations at Lake Ohrid in the south of the former Yugoslav republic at the weekend, with alliance and European Union representatives present to facilitate final accord. The EU and NATO have been closely involved for the past three months in efforts to broker a political solution to the conflict, which threatens to spread from northern border areas into urban centers, igniting a civil war. ``This is of major concern to us, the NATO official said, noting that the allies have 40,000 peacekeeping troops in neighboring Kosovo who rely on rear logistics bases in Macedonia close to the scene of recent fighting. He said one part of the political solution was a disarmament plan by the coalition government of Slavs and Albanians. It aimed ``to create confidence building measures, to set out a timetable for the NLA to lay down their weapons, the possible question of an amnesty and what have you. ``This is one part of a package which we think is very relevant. But the other package is the really political package, which means to provide the Albanian part of the population equal rights and responsibilities, he continued. It was ``absolutely essential for concrete discussions very soon of ``possible change of the constitution to make the Albanians a constitutional part of this nation and also with regard to Albanian as a second official language. The Kosovo Albanian newspaper Zeri Tuesday said 90 percent of the political deal was complete, including proportional representations for Albanians in all state institutions, a state-funded Albanian university, and secularization to remove the primacy of the Orthodox Church. But the sticking points were the preamble to the constitution -- which mentions Albanians as a minority but not as one of the two founding peoples -- and official status for Albanian as Macedonia's second language. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! 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