[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2001 1:14 PM Subject: Balkans East: Same Game, Different Name [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [A careful reading of this report will establish parallels - with Kosovo, with Macedonia and elsewhere - that aren't so much simply obvious as glaring. This is indisputably the pattern being employed to undermine and fragment the Commonwealth of Independent States, former Soviet Republics, from Southeastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia. The prototype is Yugoslavia, beginning in 1990, and the script rarely varies: Armed insurgents, often hiding behind theocratic aims but in fact linked to drug and other criminal operations, launch completely unprovoked attacks against the security and civilian sectors of a nation; their bases of operation, as well as sources of arms, recruits and logistical support, are in neighboring countries and beyond; they always have links, direct or second-hand, to key Western intelligence agencies; as soon as they succeed in their initial objective, compelling the state under siege to take security measures against them, they cry foul and are immediately defended by the usual gaggle of "human rights" groups in New York, London and Brussels; under economic and diplomatic pressure from the so-called international community the central government makes dangerous concessions to the rebels (see below), only to yet further embolden the separatists to increase their demands, and their armed attacks, assured as they are of foreign backing; and when no internal settlement proves possible - because none can ever be reached under these circumstances - the same international community, which is to say NATO and its regional partners, steps in to "stabilize" the situation. And the petroleum reserves, the oil transport facilities, the trade routes, etc. By the way, the window dressing used to sell these mlitary interventions to domestic populaces - to wit, human rights - is the first casualty of them.] Tajik forces killed in operation to free hostages The Associated Press 6/23/01 3:27 PM DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) -- Gunmen who seized a group of hostages have clashed with Tajik government troops trying to free the captives, killing four servicemen and wounding 10, an army spokesman said Saturday. The gunmen are believed to be led by two rebellious warlords, Rakhmon Sanginov and Masur Muakalov. Officials in the Central Asian nation say 15 to 17 hostages were seized June 11, but other reports of the numbers of hostages have varied. Police and military troops were moving toward a village in a gorge about 15 miles east of Dushanbe, the capital, in an operation to free the hostages, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Four soldiers died in clashes with the gunmen on Friday, a military spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties among the gunmen. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, impoverished Tajikistan descended into civil war between a hard-line secular government and the mostly Islamic opposition. A truce that ended the war gave the opposition jobs in the government and the military, but some rebellious warlords have refused to recognize the deal. Following the truce, Sanginov was appointed commander of a military unit, but was discharged in 1998 for insubordination. Muakalov, his ally, also served in the Defense Ministry but quit this year. The government accuses their group of fighters of committing hundreds of crimes since 1997, including 270 killings as well as drug dealing, hostage taking and illegal weapons possession. An American and two German aid workers were among 15 people abducted and later released in a separate incident earlier this month. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
