Muslims trapped by India's apartheid [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Muslims trapped by India's apartheid Gujarat's Hindu nationalist chief minister, Narendar Modi, holds the media responsible for the cycle of communal bloodletting, but the blame lies largely at his doorstep, writes Luke Harding The Guardian, London Tuesday April 23, 2002 When will the violence in Gujarat stop? Judging by the horrific events of this weekend, not yet. Nearly two months after communal rioting first broke out in India's most infamous state, there were more deaths in Gujarat. Some 17 people were killed and at least 100 injured in fresh Hindu-Muslim clashes. The state's main city Ahmedabad continues to burn. A group of Muslims dragged a police constable into a lane and stabbed him to death on Sunday. The police responded by going on a killing spree, shooting dead at least six Muslims in the Gomtipur area of the city. They included an 18-year-old girl, Nazimabanu Mehmood Hussain, and her 42-year-old father. She and the other victims of what is euphemistically known as police firing were shot in the head at point blank range. The depressing cycle of violence follows a now-familiar pattern in which Gujarat's partisan Hindu police force - instead of trying to stop the violence - trains its guns on India's minority community. The response of Gujarat's unrepentant Hindu nationalist chief minister, Narendar Modi, has been to blame the media. In full-page adverts in Sunday's Indian newspapers Mr Modi accuses his critics of malicious propaganda. They have tarnished Gujarat's reputation by spreading untruths, he says. Few people outside India's ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) - of which Mr Modi is a member - share this view. Last week a leaked report compiled by senior diplomats at the British high commission in New Delhi squarely pointed the finger of blame for the violence at Mr Modi and his administration. The report also suggested that the official death toll - 800 - was a gross underestimate. A truer figure was 2,000, with the vast majority of dead Muslims, the report noted. Extremist Hindu organisations began preparing an attack against the state's Muslim community well before the Godhra tragedy, in which a Muslim mob burned to death 56 Hindus on a train, the report added. In a declaration to be made public this week, the European Union compares events in Gujarat since February 27 with the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany. The carnage in Gujarat was a kind of apartheid ... and has parallels with Germany of the 1930s, the declaration says. While secular Indians have been appalled by the epic scale of the retaliatory destruction in Gujarat, Mr Modi has become a hero among hardliners within the BJP and its Hindu revivalist allies. It is this, perhaps, which explains why India's BJP prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had refused to give in to persistent demands from the opposition to sack the defiant Mr Modi. It seems that many in the BJP and its revanchist sister organisations feel that India's Muslims have finally got the beating they deserve. The Muslims have to be taught a lesson, once and for all, Pravin Togadiya, the secretary general of the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), opined on Sunday. Mr Vajpayee clearly finds the violence embarrassing. India's reputation internationally has suffered badly. New Delhi's previously plausible argument that the problem of extremism was one that only affected its archrival Pakistan now seems hollow. But with the BJP in deep electoral trouble, many within the ruling party believe that continuing Hindu-Muslim unrest is the best way to consolidate its Hindu vote bank and bounce back to victory in a general election scheduled for 2004. India's ultra-nationalist home minister LK Advani - seen by many as a successor to Mr Vajpayee - has defended Mr Modi. The bodies have continued to pile up, but Mr Advani has maintained a sphinx-like silence, which appears to hint at approval. Several of the prime minister's secular coalition partners, meanwhile, have also demanded Mr Modi's dismissal. But they have refrained from pulling the plug on the government, realising that loss of office, which an early general election would bring, means loss of influence, power, and money. With more deaths every day Mr Modi's declaration in yesterday's Indian newspapers that Peace is our collective responsibility seems nothing more than a sick joke. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Ukrainian pres. for the deployment of internationals [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Ukrainian pres. for the deployment of international forces in the Palestinian territories (Leonid Kuchma) also called for an unconditional, immediate and complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories and "ending all violent operations and terrorist acts, a step which must be declared officially by the Israeli leadership and the President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat." Ukrainian president called for the deployment of international forces in the Palestinian territories -- AMMAN, (Jordan), April 24 - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma called for the deployment of international forces in the West Bank and Gaza to set the stage for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Kuchma said Wednesday that the resumption of negotiations should focus on the establishment of a Palestinian state and a cease-fire. Kuchma spoke in Jordan at the end of a Mideast tour that included Lebanon and Syria. He also called for an unconditional, immediate and complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories and "ending all violent operations and terrorist acts, a step which must be declared officially by the Israeli leadership and the President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat." The Ukrainian president, who arrived Tuesday in the Jordanian capital, held talks with King Abdullah II. The talks between the two men focused on the situation in the region and the escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories as well as bilateral economic cooperation. Jordan and Ukraine signed economic and cultural agreements to enhance and facilitate trade exchange, joint ventures and the establishment of trade centers in the two countries. Last year, the volume of bilateral trade reached 56,9 million dinars (dlrs 80 million) of Ukrainian exports to Jordan, while Jordanian exports to Ukraine reached one million dinars (dlrs 1,4 million). --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Deadly American Attack No Surprise To Residents Of Kandahar [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- The Globe And Mail Deadly American mistake no surprise to residents of Kandahar By MARK MACKINNON Thursday, April 25, 2002 KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- To many Afghans, the saga of the four Canadian soldiers who died in a training exercise near Kandahar sounds all too familiar. They've been through the sequence many times before: the Americans drop bombs, the Americans kill the wrong people, the Americans apologize and the Americans promise an investigation. The investigations rarely lead anywhere and many Afghans have grown deeply cynical about their liberators. The list of so-called friendly fire incidents involving Afghans during the past six months is long. The first was the mistaken bombing of the Red Cross/Red Crescent headquarters in Kabul during the early phases of the air war to root out the Taliban regime. Since then, errant bombs and missiles have hit Afghan forces working with the U.S.-led coalition several times, including a mistaken attack in Kandahar in December that lightly wounded the country's interim leader, Hamid Karzai. In late December, U.S. planes hit a convoy near Khost, killing dozens of Afghans, including tribal leaders on their way to Mr. Karzai's inauguration in Kabul. Even more infamous is the attack in Orozgun province on Jan. 23, which left at least 16 Afghans dead, and which the Americans have since admitted was a special-forces operation gone awry. So when news rippled through Kandahar that four Canadians had been killed by another errant American missile, residents only shook their heads. It's not good. The Americans, they do whatever they want, kill whoever they want and it doesn't matter, said rickshaw driver Taimoor, who like many Afghans uses only one name. Some have a warning for Canadians expecting to find out what really happened last week when an F-16 dropped a 250-kilogram bomb on Canadians conducting a training exercise. Do not believe them. The Americans always say they will investigate, but never do, said Gul Ahmed, who sells Polaroid photographs in Kandahar. Such cynicism is perhaps understandable. The number of Afghans killed during the U.S. war on terrorism has yet to be tallied, but it ranges from several hundred into the thousands. The Orozgun incident stands out in the minds of many here. In January, a U.S. special-forces team descended on two compounds in the town of Hazar Qadam, believing they had discovered a cell of Taliban fighters. Instead, they attacked allies of Mr. Karzai. At least 16 Afghans were killed in the raid -- some of them, according to witnesses, killed execution-style or shot in their beds as they slept. More than 25 were taken prisoner. A few weeks later, after journalists visited the site, the Pentagon admitted the Americans had hit the wrong people. __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
SCMP: Hu Jintao says China opposes world's bullies [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Hu Jintao says China opposes world's bullies JAKE LLOYD-SMITH in Kuala Lumpur Next Story Vice-President Hu Jintao yesterday delivered a strong message to Washington ahead of his arrival in the US this weekend - that Beijing will oppose the "big bullying the small". Speaking to diplomats and executives in Kuala Lumpur, the man expected to succeed President Jiang Zemin said Beijing "opposes the strong lording it over the weak and the big bullying the small, and has long pledged not to seek hegemony, not to join any military bloc and not to pursue its own spheres of influence". He added: "It is recognised that the major powers in the world all have some interests in Asia. A peaceful, harmonious and co-operative relationship among these powers is what Asian countries desire." Although he did not mention the US by name, his comments came after the world's sole superpower significantly beefed up its military presence in Asia in the wake of the September 11 attacks. While many neighbouring countries appear concerned about the mainland's growing clout, Beijing is wary of the US presence in the region. Southeast Asian leaders - including those in Singapore, Mr Hu's next stop, and Malaysia - have become increasingly worried about the steady rise of the mainland economy, which has been drawing jobs and investment away from the region. Mr Hu praised Mr Jiang's leadership and assured the region he remained committed to opening the mainland's economy. "In the next five years, a more open China will provide its trading partners with opportunities of at least US$1.5 trillion [HK$11.7 trillion] worth of goods," he said. China's foreign trade is currently worth about US$500 billion. After arriving in Malaysia late on Tuesday, Mr Hu held talks yesterday with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and met King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin. He is due in Singapore tomorrow before leaving for a week-long US trip on Saturday. He arrives in Honolulu before travelling to San Francisco, New York and Washington, where he will meet President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^ right.gif Description: GIF image empty.gif Description: GIF image
Stratfor: The Mysteries of Saudi Troop Deployments [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- STRATFOR The Mysteries of Saudi Troop Deployments24 April 2002 SummaryUnusual reports of Saudi troop movements along the northern border with Jordan have raised several questions. The movements -- ostensibly in response to an Israeli military buildup or, as Riyadh claims, a routine military maneuver -- more likely reflect the government's growing concern with domestic instability.AnalysisThe official Saudi Press Agency confirmed April 23 that Saudi troops were deployed over the past two weeks to the northwestern region of Tabuk. The deployment included 8,000 troops, or a total of eight brigades, equipped with missile launchers and driving armored personnel carriers, Agence France-Presse reported. Several explanations for the deployment are possible. An unnamed Gulf military official quoted by AFP said the maneuver came in response to an Israeli military buildup near the Jordanian border. The Saudi Press Agency denied this claim, asserting that the deployment was routine. Another, more likely possibility is that the movement was triggered by a wave of political unrest that swept through Saudi Arabia in early April. Although the reason for the deployment remains in question, it does illustrate the growing import of even the smallest events in the kingdom. Despite an appearance of calm, a well of dissatisfaction with the royal family bubbles just below the surface of Saudi society. How deep this dissatisfaction runs and how widespread it is remain unclear, but what is certain is that the government in Riyadh recognizes the danger and is responding with several unusual maneuvers to quell dissent. But using the armed forces to launch a security crackdown of some sort, even if in response to increased dissent, would abrogate the House of Saud's social contract with the nations' many tribes and invite political and social chaos. The recent deployment doesn't necessarily indicate a forthcoming crackdown, but it does raise concerns about stability in the region.Tabuk is in Saudi Arabia's northwestern quadrant -- just south of Jordan and west of Sakakah, the scene of recent rioting. It is home to the Northwest Area Command at King Abdul Aziz Military City. It also hosts the Royal Saudi Land Forces 7th Armor, 8th Infantry, 12th Armor and 14th Infantry brigades; the RSLF Airborne School and Brigade; the RSLF Armor Institute and the King Faisal Air Base with the F-5 2nd Squadron. There is also a U.S. Military Training Mission based outside the city. If Riyadh were expecting trouble in the region, reinforcing the military units in Tabuk would make perfect sense. Given the tense situation in the region, the claim that the troops were sent in response to Israeli military activity near the kingdom's border with Jordan is also, at first glance, plausible. According to AFP's Gulf military source, the Saudi military was responding to Israeli air force activity near the border. But Saudi officials claimed Israel was massing troops along the Jordanian border, The Associated Press reported April 23. It is highly unlikely that Jordan would not have responded in some way to an Israeli buildup, and nothing in the way of diplomatic protests or military movements has emerged from the Hashemite kingdom. Israel did raise the security alert level in the southern Negev region -- which is separated from Saudi Arabia by only a 15.5-mile strip of Jordanian territory -- on April 9, about the same time the Saudi troops movements began. But a number of potential explanations exist for the security alert, which came during the Israeli military offensive in the West Bank. For instance, Israel reportedly plans to open an internment camp for Palestinians outside of Beersheeba in the Negev. Trouble with Palestinian gunmen in Gaza also may have triggered the alert, as could reports of Egyptians carrying explosives and trying to cross into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. The Saudi deployment to Tabuk is too far from the border with Iraq or any other Gulf states to suggest that problems with those nations prompted the movement. A second possibility is that Riyadh sent forces to the region to scout out potential al Qaeda hideouts. Unconfirmed rumors surfaced last year that Osama bin Laden and his supporters were using the mountainous deserts of Wadi Rum, south of the ancient Jordanian city of Petra, as sanctuary. Tabuk is about 62 miles south of the Jordanian border, with easy access to the valley, and indirect evidence ties bin Laden to the area. In the late 1960s, after his father died in a helicopter crash, bin Laden traveled to Tabuk to live with his mother. Moreover, one of the men involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania -- Mohammed Sadiq Howaida, also known as Odeh -- is from Tabuk.More recently, bin Laden mentioned the region specifically in a video statement broadcast by the Al-Jazeera
Stratfor: Partisan U.S. Politics Could Worsen Latin American Crises [WWW.STOPNAT
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- STRATFOR Partisan U.S. Politics Could Worsen Latin American Crises24 April 2002 SummaryThe recent political turmoil in Venezuela has given Democratic congressional leaders in Washington an opportunity to create a divisive issue ahead of November's mid-term congressional elections. With the economy on the rebound, Democrats are looking at the Bush administration's foreign policy. The party likely will exploit three crises in Latin America -- Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela -- as evidence of the administration's incompetence. AnalysisSen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, narcotics and Peace Corps, reportedly plans to schedule hearings soon on the recent political upheaval in Venezuela. Subcommittee sources tell STRATFOR that Dodd will look into allegations that the Bush administration was involved in, or had advance knowledge of, the April 11-14 military coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.The planned hearings will unfold over the next several weeks or months against a backdrop of continuing political instability in Venezuela, deepening economic collapse and hyperinflation in Argentina and the likely election of Alvaro Uribe Velez as Colombia's next president. While the hearings likely will conclude that the Bush administration played no role whatsoever in the coup that briefly toppled Chavez, Dodd could seek to portray the worsening economic and political crises in Latin America as evidence of the incompetence of Bush's Latin America policy team.Democratic and Republican sources in Congress tell STRATFOR that Dodd's hearings will have two main objectives: to discredit Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and to create a wedge issue that Democrats can leverage to their advantage in November's mid-term congressional elections. Since the rebounding U.S. economy has deprived Democrats of an effective campaign issue, the Bush administration's foreign policy will come under partisan congressional fire. The administration's supporters in Congress likely will counterattack by waving the red flag on national security concerns in Latin America, to which Dodd is particularly vulnerable. However, the hearings on Venezuela could distract the Bush administration's Latin America policy team from the multiple crises requiring their close attention. Moreover, any increase in partisan bickering over Latin America policy ahead of mid-term elections could hinder the Bush administration's efforts to manage the economic and political crises consuming Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela simultaneously.Additionally, if Uribe Velez is elected president of Colombia May 26 -- as is probable, given his commanding lead over Liberal Party rival Horacio Serpa -- Democratic support for expanded U.S. military aid to Colombia likely will weaken or be withdrawn altogether. Unless Uribe Velez can prove convincingly that he has never had ties either to paramilitaries or drug traffickers, Dodd and other Democratic leaders can be expected to resist Bush administration attempts to increase U.S. military aid to Colombia -- especially between now and November.Similarly, the Bush administration's efforts to advance other important Latin America policy initiatives -- including Senate approval of trade promotion authority, renewal of the Andean Trade Preferences Act, and an immigration deal granting amnesty to millions of Mexicans and Central Americans living illegally in the United States -- also are likely to be delayed this year by partisan bickering. In fact, the Bush administration may have as much, if not more, difficulty selling trade and immigration initiatives to some Republicans in Congress this year as it will have with Democrats.While the Bush administration is distracted by election-motivated tussles over Latin America policy, the economic and political crises in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela likely will get much worse. Three of Latin America's most significant economies are under extraordinary duress and at great risk of a near total collapse of their democratic institutions and procedures. Moreover, it is also likely that this deterioration will become more pronounced across the region -- especially in countries like Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador, where presidential elections are scheduled in June and October. Argentina's economic crisis is now so severe that even if the International Monetary Fund comes to its swift aid with billions of dollars in fresh loans, which is unlikely, its economy will shrink by up to 15 percent, unemployment will shoot above 30 percent and a hyperinflationary burst likely will trigger violent social disturbances in coming months. Even if President Eduardo Duhalde remains in office until presidential elections in September 2003 - which is doubtful, given
Guardian: Pilot freed as terror case fails [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Pilot freed as terror case fails Judge finds no evidence of September 11 link Audrey GillanThursday April 25, 2002The Guardian An Algerian pilot accused by the United States of training some of the September 11 hijackers walked free from court yesterday after a British judge ruled that charges against him were unsubstantiated. He is now considering suing for damages. Lotfi Raissi, 27, who was originally told he was likely to be charged with conspiracy to murder and could face the death penalty in the US, smiled as the judge said that there was no evidence whatsoever to support allegations of involvement in terrorism. His family clapped and outside the court he and his wife Sonia wept as they realised that an ordeal that has lasted seven months was finally over. The man who was the first person to be accused of participating in the attacks on the World Trade centre and the Pentagon - and who was said to be the key suspect in the biggest investigation in criminal history - was free to go. After all serious allegations were dropped, Mr Raissi faced extradition to the US on minor charges that he lied on a form for his pilot's licence after he failed to declare a previous criminal conviction and an old tennis injury. District judge Timothy Workman, sitting in London's Bow Street magistrates court in London, discharged him, saying that the criminal conviction had been spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and that the tennis injury had been declared on a similar form a year before and had not been considered a problem. He said he was not satisfied there was a prima facie case to answer. After discharging the defendant, Mr Workman said to defence lawyers: "Your client has appeared before me on several occasions where allegations of involvement in terrorism have been made. " I would like to make it clear I have received no evidence whatsoever to support that contention." However, James Lewis QC, representing the US government, said: "Mr Raissi continues to be subject of an ongoing investigation into those responsible for the September 11 attacks." Outside the court Mr Raissi, who was remanded in Belmarsh high security prison for five months before being given bail in February, said: "I am very relieved it is all over. I would like to thank the British public for believing in my innocence." His lawyer, Richard Egan, said that the family was contemplating taking further action, possibly against the British police as well as the US authorities. He said: "There is no evidence that has been produced in this case to substantiate any involvement in terrorism. There was talk at one stage of terrorism charges being brought and none could have been brought. "The effect of these proceedings is that Mr Raissi has been held for five months on the basis of wholly unsubstantiated allegations before being released on bail. He and his family have had to endure the finger of suspicion being pointed at them. At the very least one would hope for an apology." With reference to the prosecution saying Mr Raissi was still subject to an investigation, Mr Egan said they "had got a sound beating and had to say that. "Bearing in mind the length of time this case has already gone on it's absurd to suggest that there is still an ongoing investigation into Mr Raissi," he said. "It's time that this whole sorry farce came to an end. It's time that his absolute innocence is recognised." A Guardian investigation revealed in January that the US evidence against Mr Raissi was flimsy and was causing concern in Whitehall that the US was holding the British justice system to ransom by insisting that it would eventually find a connection to link him to the September 11 attacks. In an exclusive interview after he was released on bail, Mr Raissi said he had been made a scapegoat because he was Muslim and a pilot. He said his reputation had been ruined by the allegations and he did not know if he would ever be able to work as a pilot again. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Xinhua: British Newspapers Least Trusted in EU States [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- British Newspapers Least Trusted in EU States Xinhuanet 2002-04-24 22:20:12 LONDON, April 24 (Xinhuanet) -- British newspapers are trusted by their readers far less than any others in the European Union (EU),a latest poll found. Eurobarometer, the polling body of the European Commission, found in its latest public opinion survey that trust in papers in Britain was a dismal 20 percent, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday. The rate was much lower than the EU average of 46 percent, but up by 5 percent compared with last year. No less than 75 percent respondents said they "tended not to trust" the written press. The next worst result, 39 percent, came from Italy, where the media is dominated by billionaire Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.Trust in the written media was the highest in Belgium at 60 percent, followed by Finland and Luxembourg at 58 percent each. About 48 percent of Britons read a newspaper every day, higher than the EU average 40 percent but far lower than 72 percent for Sweden. Across the EU, trust is higher in radio and television, at an average figure of 62 percent. The poll in Britain showed 65 percent trust in radio and 71 percent in TV. The poll found the most trusted institution in Britain and for seven other EU states was the army, trusted by 82 percent; followed by the police, 65 percent; and the United Nations, 59 percent. Enditem ¡¡ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Guardian: Kissinger admits possible errors on Vietnam [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Kissinger admits possible errors on Vietnam Jamie Wilson and Giles Tremlett in MadridThursday April 25, 2002The Guardian Henry Kissinger yesterday responded to calls for his arrest for allegedly aiding and abetting war crimes by admitting that mistakes were "quite possibly" made by the administrations in which he served. As the former US secretary of state told an audience of British business leaders at the Royal Albert Hall in London that the issue was whether courts were the right place to determine what had happened, protesters calling for his arrest staged a demonstration outside. They accused him of involvement in war crimes in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The 78-year-old told the Institute of Directors: "No one can say that he served in an administration that did not make mistakes. The decisions made in high office are usually 51-49 decisions, so it is quite possible that mistakes were made. The issue is whether 30 years after the event courts are the appropriate means by which determination is made." Mr Kissinger said it would be impossible to recall every one of the thousands of cases he dealt with every day when he was in office, and that the US government had decided it would deal with questions about past policies, adding: "It is not a refusal on my part to answer questions." However, documents obtained by the Guardian show that the British authorities had to turn down requests from Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge responsible for the arrest of Augusto Pinochet, to question the former US secretary of state, because Mr Kissinger had personally refused to answer questions. "We have spoken to Henry Kissinger's office. Mr Kissinger has refused to give evidence on his knowledge of the events mentioned in your rogatory commission. Apparently he has taken this decision on the advice of the US state department," a Spanish translation of the document sent to Judge Garzon said. "According to British law it is not possible to take evidence from a witness without their consent. We regret, therefore, that we cannot help you with this request." The document said that both the US state department and Mr Kissinger had said that if the request was sent through the US authorities, his attitude might change. Earlier yesterday human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell made an unsuccessful legal move to have Mr Kissinger arrested under the Geneva Convention Act 1957, for the "killing, injuring and displacement" of 3 million Vietnamese and Cambodian people during the Vietnam war. However, Mr Tatchell said he believed the wording of the ruling had left open the possibility that he might issue a warrant in the future if he could produce stronger evidence against Mr Kissinger. "It is now my intention to liaise with human rights lawyers and organisations in the US in order to obtain further evidence and witnesses. I hope to come back to court in a few months time and make a new application for Mr Kissinger's arrest," he said. Mr Kissinger arrived at the conference via a side entrance, ignoring reporters' questions over whether he had been involved in war crimes. Outside the hall Guy Taylor, from Globalise Resistance, said: "Henry Kissinger will not travel to Spain, France, Switzerland and lots of countries in South America because he knows he will be arrested. But he has been swanning in and out of London for years." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Interview With NATO's Nazi-Installed King [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- [King Simeon II, Saxe-Coburg Gotha, partner of Romania's King Michael, also placed on the throne by the Nazis in the 1940s, and who has also recently returned to the homeland whence he was expelled for his World War II fascist collaboration. Both King Simeon and King Michael have for years made NATO membership for their own countries and NATO expansion in general their very raison d'etre. We're supposed to believe that the monarchs' dedication to NATO's world expansion - both Bulgaria and Romania presently have military forces in Afghanistan - is actuated solely by their commitment to the 'democratic values and virtues enshrined in the Atlantic Charter.' Just ask Tony Blair, Lord Robertson, Javier Solana, Joschka Fischer, Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Lionel Jospin and Robin Cook - the bombers of Belgrade.] Interview: Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha By Martin Hutchinson UPI Business and Economics Editor From the Business Economics Desk Published 4/25/2002 9:46 AM WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- It is not simply journalistic curiosity. It is impossible to interview Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha, prime minister of Bulgaria, without remembering that he was crowned, and to legitimists remains, H.M. Simeon II, czar of all the Bulgars -- and wondering whether one day he will again resume the latter status. Born in 1937, Simeon ascended the throne in 1943, on the unexplained death of his father Czar Boris in an air crash. After his coronation in Sofia, the country underwent a Communist coup on Sept. 9, 1944, and his uncle and guardian the Regent Prince Kyril was executed. Two years later, the Moscow-controlled Communist government held a referendum, in which allegedly 94 percent voted for Simeon's deposition. He left Bulgaria, moved to Spain in 1951, graduated from the Lycee Francaise, and spent a year (1958-59) in the United States, at the Valley Forge Military Academy. To legitimists, the fall of the Bulgarian Communists in 1991 seemed to offer the promise of Simeon's return. Though the record of the Bulgarian monarchy had been good, and Simeon, as a crowned monarch who had been illegitimately deposed, has one of the better exiled-monarch claims to return, no referendum was held. Instead, in April 2001, Simeon announced his intention to run for Bulgaria's parliamentary elections, formed the National Simeon II Movement, and on June 17, 2001, won a handsome parliamentary majority. Simeon visited Washington this week, in connection both with the IMF-World Bank meetings and Bulgaria's application to join NATO, and Tuesday hosted a small media breakfast which I attended. On NATO, Bulgaria's way ahead is fairly clear, said Simeon. My message to President Bush is a pragmatic and realistic one, bearing in mind the relative sizes of the countries concerned. Bulgaria has no conflict with her neighbors, and has acted as a good ally of the United States since Sept. 11. Illegal immigration of Muslims is not a problem -- Bulgaria isn't rich enough -- and ethnic tensions are defused by the Muslim minorities in Bulgaria coming from three groups, ethnic Turks, ethnic Bulgarians and Roma, all of which live in different parts of the country. The Turkish party is now a member of Simeon's governing coalition. Greece and Turkey are both backing Bulgaria's application to join NATO, because they recognize they will be less isolated if Bulgaria and its neighbor Romania are members. At the same time, NATO itself is evolving, from an alliance against Russia to a vast mutual security perimeter of which Russia itself may well become a member -- President (Vladimir) Putin, for example has been invited by Italian Prime Minister (Silvio) Berlusconi to attend a NATO meeting in Rome next week. NATO itself has very strong support within Bulgaria -- 67-68 percent if opinion polls are to be believed. My main concern is that a rejection of Bulgaria's application at September's Prague summit may cause an upsurge in anti-Western feeling in Bulgaria. The victory of the leftist (though young and apparently pragmatic) Georgy Purvanov in November 2001's Presidential election indicates that support for the old eastward-looking alliances is by no means dead. Bulgaria's application to join the European Union is also making good progress, according to Simeon, with Bulgaria having completed 17 of the 29 chapters of legislation required for EU entry -- the task is huge as 80,000 pages of legislation must be translated into Bulgarian. Simeon is a strong believer in European integration, both for Bulgaria and more broadly for Europe as a whole, although he recognizes that a concentrated administration over a large population without proper devolution of powers has the potential to be a nightmare. In economic matters, said Simeon. I recognize and empathize strongly with the wish of the Bulgarian people to be lifted out of poverty, and with the large social needs of the population, particularly the elderly.
Update On Albanian Tribute To Nazi Wehrmacht [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Albania Stops Memorial Project for German Soldiers in Tirana TIRANA, Apr 25, 2002 -- (dpa) The Albanian government has ordered Tirana municipal officials to stop work for the construction of a graveyard and the erection of a memorial for German soldiers killed in Albania during the World War II. Prime Minister (Pandeli) Majko has ordered the interruption because he thinks that there is a need for clarification over the procedures for the construction permit, government spokesman Sokol Gjoka told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Thursday. The graveyard has already been built and work for the erection of the memorial is in its final stages. The remains of 56 German soldiers were recently taken from the German embassy building to the graveyard. Gjoka said that the order was handed over to Tirana local officials on Wednesday. Government newspapers reported on Thursday that the prime minister issued his order under pressure from World War II partisan associations, who have complained about the location of the project. The graveyard is located in Tirana's National Park, near the monuments of four Albanian 19th century patriots and the graveyard and memorial of British soldiers killed during the World War II in Albania. The associations claim that the German soldiers were occupiers and, as such, their remnants should not be allowed to lie in the national park. An estimated 3,600 German soldiers were killed in Albania during World War II, but the remains of only 56 have been found. Under a 1994 agreement, the German government has charged a German association that cares for war cemeteries abroad, Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraeberfuersorge, with the technical implementation of the project for the construction of the graveyard and the memorial in Albania. (C)2002. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
RIM (UK): MAY DAY EVENT [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- May Day Event - Organised by Sympathizers Of The Revolutionary Internationalist Movement including the following Parties - ALL WECOME ! Communist Party Of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) http://www.sarbedaran.50megs.com/ Communist Party Of Turkey (Marxist-Leninist) http://www.tkp-ml.org Tuesday 30th April, From 6.45 P.M. Onwards At the Hundred Flowers Centre, 2A, Belgrade Road, Off Stoke Newington Road, London, N16. Public Transport: Dalston Kingsland BR; Buses: 67, 76, 149, 243 * Wide - Ranging Discussion Of the International Situation today and the need to step up the struggle against the U.S. Led imperialists! * Video Material regarding the situation in Palestine! * Live Revolutionary Music and Food. Those coming from outside London should bring a sleeping bag if they want to stay the night so as to be able to leave and Join The Maoist Contingent on the May day March the next morning.. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Ojdani: 'My conscience is absolutely clear' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- AFP. 25 April 2002. UN war crimes court nets biggest catch since Milosevic. THE HAGUE -- Former Yugoslav army chief Dragoljub Ojdanic surrendered to the UN tribunal Thursday, the most senior war crimes suspect to be turned over for trial since former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic last year. The former general, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo, arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on a regular flight from Belgrade and was promptly transfered to the tribunal's prison facility outside The Hague. He is certainly the most senior military official to have been transfered by Belgrade, tribunal spokesman Jim Landale told AFP. He said Ojdanic would make his first appearence in court on Friday at 2:30 pm (1230 GMT). Before leaving Belgrade on a Yugoslav Airlines flight accompanied by his wife and his lawyer, the retired general said he was setting out to prove his innocence. I have nothing to be ashamed of and my conscience is absolutely clear, Ojdanic said in a TV interview late Wednesday. Ojdanic refused to say whether he would testify against Milosevic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
DPRK: Korean Liberation Army 70th Anniversary Reports [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY (April.24.2002 Juche 91)[CONTENTS]* Kim Il Sung's ceaseless field inspection of KPA units* 70th anniversary of KPA celebrated* Army-people unity in DPRK* Wreaths laid before patriotic martyrs cemetery* Floral baskets to monument to victory in Fatherland Liberation War* Wreaths laid before revolutionary martyrs cemetery on Mt. Taesong* Kim Jong Il sees performance given by troupe of of CPLA * Stamps issued to mark KPA birthday * Cyprian crewmen observe KPA birthday *Wreath laid before Liberation Tower* Kim Il Sung's ceaseless field inspection of KPA units Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- President Kim Il Sung had covered a totalof 182,668 Kms to make field inspection of over 3,120 units of the threeservices of the Korean People's Army from the liberation of the country tothe last period of his life, according to compiled information. Thepresident put forward the four-point programme for increasing the politicaland military might of the Korean People's Army, a regular army, andinspected more than 460 units of the KPA for its implementation fromFebruary, Juche 37 (1948) to June Juche 39 (1950).He set out original military ideas and war tactics such as the ideas offirmly ensuring the politico-ideological, strategic and tactical advantagesof the army, properly combining large unit operation and small unitoperation, regular army battles and guerrilla battles and successfullyfighting mountain warfares and night operations during the last FatherlandLiberation War and ceaselessly inspected the front, leading the units of thethree services of the KPA and their sub-units to victory in the war.He traveled at least 32,548 kms to make field inspection of more than520 units of the three services of the KPA and their sub-units forstrengthening the revolutionary armed forces in the 1960s.The president, on a scientific insight into requirements of the modernwarfare in the middle of the 1970s, put forward an original five-pointpolicy the keynote of which is staunch revolutionary spirit, peculiar andsuperb tactics, steel-strong physical body, marksmanship of never missingtargets and iron military decipline and provided ceaseless field guidance tounits of the three services of the KPA and their sub-units in their effortsto implement it to the letter.Leader Kim Jong Il always accompanied the president on field guidancefrom may Juche 49 (1960) when he inspected the 105 tank division to April25, Juche 83 (1994), the last period of his life, when he visited KPA unitno. 564. 70th anniversary of KPA celebrated Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- Events are taking place one after anotherto celebrate the 70th anniversary of the heroic Korean People's Army.Performances of workers and clerks' family art circles from across thecountry were given at the Pyongyang Grand Theater and the East PyongyangGrand Theater on April 23.Put on the stage were a poem and chorus "the Korean People's Army, thearmy of Mt. Paektu", drum and chorus "the army-based leadership is best" andother numbers. The performers highly praised the greatness of SupremeCommander Kim Jong Il who is leading the cause of building a powerfulsocialist nation to victory with his unique army-based policy and showed thestrong faith and will of the Korean people to uphold his leadership withloyalty. A meeting of youth and students in Pyongyang with anti-Japaneserevolutionary fighters and DPRK heroes was held here on the occasion of theanniversary. On the same day, the economic and commercial councilors corps herevisited the Revolutionary Museum of the ministry of the people's armedforces and the military attaches corps here was invited to the film showhosted by the ministry. Army-people unity in DPRK Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- The army and people in the DPRK love andhelp each other as they do their own flesh and blood. In February lastservicemen of the unit of the Korean People's Army to which Pak Yun Dubelongs threw themselves into a house in flames to protect people's livesand property. People in Thongchon county, Kangwon Province, miraculously saved a5-year-old son of an officer of the KPA, who suffered third degree burns on78 per cent of his body.It is commonplace in the society that soldiers of the people's army savechildren from drowning in rivers at the cost of their lives and peoplesincerely assist the army.The trait of unity between the army and people dates back to the periodof the anti-Japanese armed struggle organized and led by President Kim IlSung. The Korean People's Revolutionary Army could fight against the Japaneseimperialists for a long period without a home front nor any aid from outsideand
Fwd: [WW] 100,00 in DC, 35,000 in SF: Free, Free Palestine [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^ ---BeginMessage--- - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 2, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper - 100,000 IN DC, 35,000 IN SAN FRANCISCO: FREE, FREE PALESTINE By Monica Moorehead Washington, D.C. Some 100,000 people made history April 20 by chanting, Free, free Palestine, and, Stop U.S. aid to Israel, as the biggest pro-Palestine rally ever here defiantly transformed Washington into liberated territory. While there were many issues raised at the demonstration-- including opposition to U.S. intervention in Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines and elsewhere--the struggle in Palestine assumed central importance. Heroic resistance in the Occupied Territories had spread around the world and crossed the Atlantic to the United States. A large majority of the people who descended upon this political and military nerve center of U.S. imperialism were Palestinians and other Arab and Muslim peoples. Many were children and youths, waving the red, black, green and white colors of the Palestinian flag and wearing their traditional dress including the beautiful kaffiya scarves. They along with thousands of anti-war and revolutionary activists from the Black, Latino, Native, Asian, Jewish, lesbian/gay/bi/ trans communities, came to protest the brutal Bush/Sharon war against Palestine. The size and political significance of the protest com pelled some of the big-money media, including the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, to report the day's events. In addition, C-Span and Al-Jazeera--the world's largest Arab- based TV network--both showed live coverage of the White House rally. Millions of people worldwide--and especially in the Arab world--know what happened here April 20. Many mosques and Islamic centers as well as other sectors of the Arab-American community organized hundreds of buses to show support for the current phase of the Palestinian Intifada. People in 100 U.S. cities mobilized for the actions. They used every form of transportation to get here-- including car caravans, trains, vans and planes. As speakers and rally literature pointed out, the Bush administration had tried to use the attacks last Sept. 11 not only to push the United States into new war adventures from Afghanistan to Iraq, but also as an excuse to intimidate and demonize the most vulnerable and marginalized sectors of U.S. society--namely Arab, South Asian and Muslim communities. The turnout here April 20--and the crowd's mood--showed that the heroic Palestinian resistance to U.S./Israeli aggression in the occupied territories has helped reverse the reactionary tide of intimidation and paralysis that had plagued the movement for social justice here and worldwide since Sept. 11. Ever since the U.S.-backed Israeli terrorist killing machine elevated its murderous assault on the Palestinians beginning on March 29, the whole world has watched in horror as the Israeli military destroyed whole neighborhoods in Jenin, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah. Many at the march carried signs showing graphic images of those who were either slaughtered or injured at the hand of the apartheid-like Israeli regime. An estimated 1,500 Palestinians have been massacred--500 in Jenin alone--and thousands injured. Besides the Washington, D.C., protest, another 35,000 people marched in San Francisco in support of the just cause of the Palestinian people. International solidarity protests were also called for April 20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; San Salvador, El Salvador; Managua, Nicaragua; Basque Country; Madrid, Spain; the cities of Tabasco, Oaxaca and Mexico City, Mexico; Montreal, Canada; Belgium; Japan; and South Africa. The International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition issued a call for activists to converge on the White House to demand an end to the U.S.-backed onslaught by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, and an immediate end to the 54-year-old illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. ANSWER leaders said they made the conscious decision to build a pro-Palestinian demonstration to illustrate that supporting the Palestinian people's right to self- determination is part and parcel of the overall struggle against imperialist war and racist repression. Before the march began, 50,000-60,000 people gathered at the Ellipse, behind the White House. They heard a diverse
DPRK: U.S WWP delegation meets former unconverted long-term prisoners - KCNA [WW
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY U.S party delegation meets former unconverted long-term prisoners Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- Members of the delegation of the WorkersWorld Party of the U.S. led by Deirdre Griswold, member of the secretariatof its national committee, met with Kim Tong Gi and Hong Myong Gi, formerunconverted long-term prisoners who are known as men of strong faith andwill, at Pyongyang Koryo Hotel yesterday. At the meeting, Kim and Hong saidthat the former long-term prisoners had kept their pledge to the party andthe leader, while undergoing mental and physical sufferings beyond humanimagination behind bars, and devoted themselves to the motherland moreprecious than their lives. Noting that leader Kim Jong Il put forward them as patriotic championsof reunification and bestowed deep love and benevolence upon them, they saidthere is no enemy to be afraid of and nothing impossible to do when peoplehave the revolutionary faith and will to follow only Kim Jong Il. "The Juche Idea means, in a few words, that the owner of the revolution and construction are the masses" : Kim Il Sung ~~Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED]Web : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JucheKorean Central News Agency : http://www.kcna.co.jp/Korea Friendship Association : http://www.korea-dpr.com/Korea Friendship Solidarity Campaign: http://www.kfsc.org/Juche International Institute : http://www.cnet-ta.ne.jp/juche/defaulte.htm~~ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
ANALYSIS: Milosevic Prosecution Claims Court Unfair [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ANALYSIS: Milosevic Prosecution Claims Court Unfair The prosecution is to appeal against a trial chamber decision to conclude its case within a year. By Mirko Klarin in The Hague (TU No. 262, April 15-20, 2002) Is the prosecution going to have a fair hearing in the Milosevic trial? The question has been raised by the tolerance judges showed towards the defendant's aggressive defence style and the strict restrictions they imposed on the presentation of the prosecutor's case. (See Tribunal Update No. 255) Now, after two and a half months, the prosecution has publicly accused the trial chamber of unfairly curtailing its right to a fair trial. It was prompted by the trial chamber's insistence on April 10, 2001 that it conclude its case within a year (See Tribunal Update No. 261). Declaring that such a drastic time limit would emasculate its case, the prosecution last week submitted an application for leave to file an appeal, which contains unusually strong criticism of the trial chamber decision. The prosecution has been caught between a rock and a hard place from the start. On the one hand, it has had to ward off the accused, whose aggressive denial of all counts of the indictment and the testimonies of eyewitnesses and experts has forced it to present more evidence than it originally planned. At the same time, the prosecution has had to confront impatient and worried judges. Fearful that the trial will last forever and become unmanageable both for them and the accused, they keep demanding that the prosecution simplifies its case, which means downsizing its evidence and shortening the time for its presentation. The prosecution's appeal is based on two fundamental arguments. The first is that setting a strict time limit for the presentation of evidence in such a complex case as this, involving three indictments and a total of 66 counts, imposes irremediable prejudice on the prosecution. The latter has calculated that a 12-month deadline means they have about 193 court days to go. Judging by events thus far, the defendant will consume half of these with extensive cross-examinations while the three amici curiae (friends of the court) will use another 5 per cent for examination. So the prosecution has less than 100 'exclusive' court days left to present a case effectively and thoroughly. The appeal application warns that if the prosecution is forced to present its case in an unreasonable time frame, the only possible consequence is that the quality of its case will suffer, which, in turn, will have a bearing on the trial chamber's final decision. The prosecution says a fundamental reason for opposing a strict time limit on completion of its evidence is that the issues in the case are still not clearly identified. It says, for instance, it cannot foresee the defendant's reaction to crime-based evidence on the Bosnian and Croatian components of the prosecution case. In its favour, the prosecution can refer back to the appeals chamber decision last year in the Stanislav Galic case, which urged the trial chamber to consider whether the issues really in dispute have been clearly identified so that proper assessment of the time needed for the prosecution case can be made. The second argument for an appeal is what the application defines as infringement of the prosecution's statutory rights under the tribunal statute. The prosecution says the tribunal rules do not empower the trial chambers to deny it the right to present its case in the manner it deems fit. Three appeal judges, Claude Jorda, David Hunt and Fausto Pocar, will assess the application. In January, they ruled in favour of a prosecution appeal against a trial chamber decision to try Milosevic twice, first for Kosovo, and then jointly for Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (See Tribunal Update 249). The judges ordered a joint trial for Milosevic on all three indictments. It remains to be seen whether the prosecution will succeed once more in the battle for a fair trial. Mirko Klarin is IWPR senior editor at the war crimes tribunal and editor-in-chief of SENSE News Agency. http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/tri/tri_262_1_eng.txt Send this article to a friend --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Saudi to Warn Bush of Rupture Over Israel Policy [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Saudi to Warn Bush of Rupture Over Israel Policy By PATRICK E. TYLER OUSTON, April 24 Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is expected to tell President Bush in stark terms at their meeting on Thursday that the strategic relationship between their two countries will be threatened if Mr. Bush does not moderate his support for Israel's military policies, a person familiar with the Saudi's thinking said today. In a bleak assessment, he said there was talk within the Saudi royal family and in Arab capitals of using the "oil weapon" against the United States, and demanding that the United States leave strategic military bases in the region. Such measures, he said, would be a "strategic debacle for the United States." He also warned of a general drift by Arab leaders toward the radical politics that have been building in the Arab street. The Saudi message contained undeniable brinkmanship intended to put pressure on Mr. Bush to take a much larger political gamble by imposing a peace settlement on Israelis and Palestinians. But the Saudi delegation also brought a strong sense of the alarm and crisis that have been heard in Arab capitals. "It is a mistake to think that our people will not do what is necessary to survive," the person close to the crown prince said, "and if that means we move to the right of bin Laden, so be it; to the left of Qaddafi, so be it; or fly to Baghdad and embrace Saddam like a brother, so be it. It's damned lonely in our part of the world, and we can no longer defend our relationship to our people." Whatever the possibility of bluster, it is also clear that Abdullah represents not just Saudi Arabia but also the broader voice of the Arab world, symbolized by the peace plan he submitted and that was endorsed at an Arab summit meeting in March. Those familiar with the prince's "talking points" said he would deliver a blunt message that Mr. Bush is perceived to have endorsed despite his protests to the contrary Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's military incursion into the West Bank. Abdullah believes Mr. Bush has lost credibility by failing to follow through on his demand two weeks ago that Mr. Sharon withdraw Israeli troops from the West Bank and end the sieges of Yasir Arafat's compound in Ramallah and of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. If those events occur and Mr. Bush makes a commitment "to go for peace" by convening an international conference, as his father did after the Persian Gulf war, to press for a final settlement and a Palestinian state, the Saudi view would change dramatically. But those close to the Saudi delegation said there was no expectation that Mr. Bush is prepared to apply the pressure necessary to force such an outcome. "The perception in the Middle East, from the far left to the far right, is that America is totally sponsoring Sharon not Israel's policies but Sharon's policies and anyone who tells you less is insulting your intelligence," the person familiar with Abdullah's thinking said. Western analysts see the prince as a blunt Bedouin leader whose initiative is regarded by many Arabs as a gesture worthy of the late Egyptian leader Anwar el-Sadat, who flew to Jerusalem in 1973 to sue for peace with Menachem Begin. Abdullah's offer, now the Arab world's offer, calls for recognition of Israel and "normal relations" in return for a Palestinian state on lands Israel occupied in 1967. The Saudi assessment was apparently being conveyed through several private channels. On Tuesday President Bush's father had lunch with the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, and the kingdom's longtime ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Their specific message could not be learned, but in the familial setting, where Barbara Bush was also the hostess for Princess Haifa, Prince Bandar's wife, the strong strategic and personal ties of the Persian Gulf war that characterized Saudi-American relations a decade ago was a message in itself. Abdullah, in a luncheon today with Vice President Dick Cheney, was to convey the seriousness with which he regards the Thursday meeting with President Bush as a "last chance" for constructive relations with the Arab world. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, also flew to Houston to join in last-minute discussions before the summit meeting. A senior official in Washington said Mr. Rumsfeld and General Myers were dispatched to brief the prince personally on the American accomplishments in Afghanistan and in the broader war on terrorism. "The idea was, if he thought we were strong in Desert Storm, we're 10 times as strong today," one official said. "This was to give him some idea what Afghanistan demonstrated about our capabilities." United States military commanders in the Persian Gulf region have been building up command
Israel Fears U.N. Jenin Mission May Be a 'Setup' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Israel Fears U.N. Jenin Mission May Be a 'Setup' By Ellis ShumanIsrael Insider TEL AVIV, Apr 25, 2002 -- Israel's government decided Tuesday that it would postpone its cooperation with the United Nation's fact-finding team to the Jenin refugee camp until the team's composition was changed and questions over the mandate of its activities were resolved. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed to postpone the departure of the team to hear Israeli arguments, but called on its members to begin their work in the camp by Saturday. Israeli officials expressed concern that statements made by Annan and the fact that two of the three members appointed to the team were veterans of humanitarian work, and possibly biased against Israel, amounted to a "setup to accuse Israel of war crimes." The decision to postpone cooperation with the team was made by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and senior Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry officials. Yesterday, cabinet secretary Gideon Sa'ar said there were "worrying signs" that the fact-finding team was overstepping its parameters and suggested that Israel could block the team from entering the Jenin refugee camp if it believes the fact-finding team is not abiding by its mandate. Sharon said yesterday that Israel had no choice but to accept the United Nations fact-finding team to the Jenin refugee camp, as it was "the lesser of two evils." But Sharon expressed his fear for the kind of result the team would produce, Israel Radio reported. Israel objected to Annan's comments at a news conference on Monday that the team would "present [its] findings and conclusions," which seemed to deviate from the Security Council's resolution that the mission was to "develop accurate information regarding recent events in the Jenin refugee camp through a fact-finding team." Annan also said the team would "focus on Jenin to begin with," while the Security Council had specified only the Jenin camp. "The secretary general went past the spirit and decision of the Security Council, which did not say that the fact-finding team can come to a conclusion," said a senior Foreign Ministry official, quoted in the New York Times. "His terms of reference made it more of an investigation, and he did it very fast, without consulting Israel." Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Yehuda Lancry met with Annan to present Israel's case that the fact-finding team "should be more balanced and should include military and counter-terrorist experts." Lancry said, "The mandate of the fact-finding team should also cover not only the military operation of Israel, but the terrorist network which has flourished in the Jenin refugee camp and which, in fact, generated the Israeli military operation." Annan agreed to a short delay in the UN mission to review Israel's requests, but "expects the team to be in the Middle East by this Saturday," a statement from his office said. The secretary general said he would not discuss his choice of team members but considered adding experts "as might be deemed necessary." Annan reportedly agreed to Israel's request that the status of retired U.S. general William Nash be upgraded from military advisor to full member of the fact-finding team, Israeli media sources reported. Israel: team members are "political" Israeli officials are unhappy with the fact that the other members of the committee are political officials, and not military officers who can discern what really happened in the eight days of intense fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen within the crowded, urban conditions of the refugee camp. On Monday, Annan selected Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland, to head a team that included Sadako Ogata, a former United Nations high commissioner for refugees, and Cornelio Sommaruga, a former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ahtisaari told reporters yesterday that both Nash and police advisor Peter Fitzgerald of Ireland were full-fledged members of the team. Lancry denied that Israel had "specific objections" to the members appointed to the team, but Israeli government sources fear that the backgrounds of Ogata and Sommaruga may make them biased in favor of the charges of international aid workers. Media sources reported Israel's serious objections to the appointment of Sommaruga, who served as head of the Red Cross from 1987 to 1999.
Powell: No Evidence of Jenin Massacre [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Powell: No Evidence of Jenin Massacre By Janine ZachariaJerusalem Post WASHINGTON, Apr 25, 2002 -- While trying to clear the way for UN fact-finders, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told Congress yesterday he has no evidence of an Israeli massacre of Palestinians at the Jenin refugee camp. "Clearly, innocent lives may well have been lost," said Powell, testifying before the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee. But, he said, "I have no evidence of mass graves. I see no evidence that would support a massacre took place." Powell said he based his assessment on a three-and-a-half-hour inspection of the refugee camp Friday by US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. Burns subsequently reported a mass destruction by Israeli troops, who invaded the camp in the search for terrorists and explosives. Powell told Senate appropriators that President Bush was still considering whether to convene a multilateral peace conference and said the administration was open to extra funding for Israel as part of an emergency appropriations bill. Powell's comments came during wide ranging testimony about US policy in the Middle East ahead of today's key summit between Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Powell conferred with Bush yesterday in the White House situation room about the latest events in the Middle East before the president departed for Crawford to prepare for today's meeting. While the US insists the Saudi leadership has played a positive role in the war on terrorism - launched after 15 Saudi hijackers took part in the September 11 attacks - the Saudis have been critical of US support for Israel, have themselves overtly raised money to support Palestinian terrorism, and have reportedly continued to funnel money to hardline, anti-western madrasas in Pakistan. Powell said he would raise in his meetings in Crawford today the subject of $100 million raised to help the Palestinian intifada during a three-day Saudi telethon. Powell said it was "troubling" some of the money, according to adverstisements, would be directed to Hamas. But a senior administration official briefing reporters en route to Crawford yesterday suggested the bilateral talks would play up the positive aspects of the relationship and play down the differences. The leaders will focus on the "common principles" the US and Saudi Arabia share, the official said. And President Bush will thank Abdullah for his peace initiative and explore ways to expand it. The official said Bush would reaffirm US support for Saudi Arabia's bid to join the World Trade Organization and that Bush would raise his concerns about weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists. "It's premature, way premature to start talking about what we do against Iraq," the official said when asked if Bush would request the use of Saudi Arabian bases as a staging ground for an offensive against Saddam Hussein. "Saudi Arabia is one of America's oldest and best friends in the region," the official said. "The Saudis have been very constructive in the war on terrorism and very constructive in general as a partner." The closely managed event will notably be closed to press. Speaking to a Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, Powell said the administration will "be engaged (diplomatically) as a close, dear friend of Israel but also as a friend of the Palestinian people, because they need peace. They need security. They need a place in the world." Powell said the president has not yet decided whether to convene a multilateral peace conference "but we're certainly looking at it." On financial assistance, the administration has requested an emergency supplemental bill to help in the war on terrorism. The White House's budgetary arm had nixed an early request for $200 million in additional funds for Israel. But Powell said extra aid "is something we should look at as we move forward." Powell, asked about Israel's use of American-made weaponry in its military offensive, said he had seen no need for an inquiry into whether the weapons had been used in violation of US law. US law says American-made weapons sold to third countries can be used only for defensive purposes. Jerusalem Post, 2002. All rights reserved. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). ---
Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this week Apr 25th 2002 From The Economist print edition Mobile woes Ericsson confirmed the worst fears of mobile-phone pessimists by announcing that it would lay off up to 20,000 staff by the end of 2003, some 20% of the total. Losses at the Swedish mobile-phone and equipment maker in the first quarter totalled SKr5.4 billion ($517m), after orders from heavily indebted mobile operators suffered. The shares plunged by 24%, and the company announced a rights issue to raise SKr30 billion. See article:Mobile phones that take pictures Kamps, Germany's biggest baker, dropped its objections to a takeover and accepted a bid from Barilla, the world's biggest pasta maker, after the Italian company added an extra slice of cash to its offer. Barilla is paying just over euro1 billion ($892m) to extend its grip on European mealtimes. CGNU, a British insurer, met resistance at a shareholder meeting to a dividend cut and its plan to change its name to Aviva. Too similar to Arriva, a British bus company, complained investors: symbolic of life, growth and vitality, retorted the company, of the cod-Latin rebranding. The European Commission drew up a list of American goods that it plans to hit with trade sanctions in retaliation for the steel tariffs that the Americans announced last month. In order to target states that are politically sensitive to President George Bush, the list includes steel products, as well as such diverse items as quinces, crocheted vests, protective goggles and pinball machines. The Americans urged the EU to postpone its mid-June deadline for imposing the sanctions. Going, going, gone Alfred Taubman was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $7.5m for his part in an illegal price-fixing scheme between Sotheby's, an auction house of which he was chairman, and Christie's, a "rival" auctioneer. See article:Auction houses in the dock AOLTime Warner, the world's biggest media company, announced the world's biggest write-off of goodwill, taking losses in the first quarter to a staggering $54.2 billion. Ford responded to the departure of Wolfgang Reitzle, head of the group's luxury-car division, and the recent ascendancy of General Motors, with a management reshuffle. Mark Fields, head of the less prestigious Ford-controlled Mazda Motor, will take over the European luxury brandsVolvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Lincoln-Mercury will revert to control by the North American unit. ExxonMobil's profits fell by 58% in the first quarter compared with a year agowhich had been a record quarter for the companyto $2.2 billion. Good weather combined with recession and the September 11th attacks to cut demand. Bill Gates appeared in court for the first time in the Microsoft antitrust trial. He argued strongly against the draconian remedies to the software giant's monopolistic behaviour that are being demanded by nine hardline states. Mr Gates, hoping to convince the court that less stringent remedies hammered out between Microsoft and the Justice Department would suffice, argued that a more drastic solution would hobble innovation at Microsoft, computers everywhereand indeed the world economy. See article:Bill Gates takes the stand Enron's new bosses said that the bankrupt energy trader's assets were inflated by some $14 billion when the company filed for bankruptcy late last year. As much as another $10 billion could be wiped away by liabilities from energy-trading derivatives contracts. Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman who has been trying to save Andersen, the accounting firm that audited Enron, seems ready to quit. Andersen's partners appear unwilling to make the changes necessary for its survival. Meanwhile, the firm made a last attempt to settle with America's Justice Department. New York state's attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer, continued his investigation of Wall Street. He announced a multi-state task-force to probe investment banks and said that federal regulators are on the case. Merrill Lynch, accused of having misleading investment research, hired Rudolph Giuliani, a former mayor of New York (and federal prosecutor), as a legal adviser. Lost in the furore: neither Merrill nor any other firm has been accused of a crime. Celera Genomics appointed Kathy Ordoñez as president, to replace Craig Venter, who left in January. It is also to transfer its genome-database business, including its version of the human genome, to a sister company, Applied Biosystems. Celera will concentrate on drug development. Bouncing back The OECD is optimistic about the prospects for the world economy, according to its latest Economic Outlook. Even Japan's recession-blighted economy is predicted to grow a little in 2003. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST
Manufacturing Truth About the Middle East [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Manufacturing Truth About the Middle East Michael Albert, Z MagazineApril 25, 2002 Editor's Note: Noam Chomsky discusses the current conflict in the Middle East, the history of U.S.-Israeli relations, and the fate of Palestine. MICHAEL ALBERT: Is there a qualitative change in what's happening now? NOAM CHOMSKY: I think there is a qualitative change. The goal of the Oslo process was accurately described in 1998 by Israeli academic Shlomo Ben-Ami just before he joined the Barak government, going on to become Barak's chief negotiator at Camp David in summer 2000. Ben-Ami observed that "in practice, the Oslo agreements were founded on a neo-colonialist basis, on a life of dependence of one on the other forever." With these goals, the Clinton-Rabin-Peres agreements were designed to impose on the Palestinians "almost total dependence on Israel," creating "an extended colonial situation," which is expected to be the "permanent basis" for "a situation of dependence." The function of the Palestinian Authority (PA) was to control the domestic population of the Israeli-run neocolonial dependency. That is the way the process unfolded, step by step, including the Camp David suggestions. The Clinton-Barak stand (left vague and unambiguous) was hailed here as "remarkable" and "magnanimous," but a look at the facts made it clear that it was -- as commonly described in Israel -- a Bantustan proposal; that is presumably the reason why maps were carefully avoided in the US mainstream. It is true that Clinton-Barak advanced a few steps towards a Bantustan-style settlement of the kind that South Africa instituted in the darkest days of Apartheid. Just prior to Camp David, West Bank Palestinians were confined to over 200 scattered areas, and Clinton-Barak did propose an improvement: consolidation to three cantons, under Israeli control, virtually separated from one another and from the fourth canton, a small area of East Jerusalem, the center of Palestinian life and of communications in the region. And of course separated from Gaza, where the outcome was left unclear. But now that plan has apparently been shelved in favor of demolition of the PA. That means destruction of the institutions of the potential Bantustan that was planned by Clinton and his Israeli partners; in the last few days, even a human rights center. The Palestinian figures who were designated to be the counterpart of the Black leaders of the Bantustans are also under attack, though not killed, presumably because of the international consequences. The prominent Israeli scholar Ze'ev Sternhell writes that the government "is no longer ashamed to speak of war when what they are really engaged in is colonial policing, which recalls the takeover by the white police of the poor neighborhoods of the blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era." This new policy is a regression below the Bantustan model of South Africa 40 years ago to which Clinton-Rabin-Peres-Barak and their associates aspired in the Oslo "peace process." None of this will come as a surprise to those who have been reading critical analyses for the past 10 years, including plenty of material posted regularly on Znet, reviewing developments as they proceeded. Exactly how the Israeli leadership intends to implement these programs is unclear -- to them too, I presume. It is convenient in the US, and the West, to blame Israel and particularly Sharon, but that is unfair and hardly honest. Many of Sharon's worst atrocities were carried out under Labor governments. Peres comes close to Sharon as a war criminal. Furthermore, the prime responsibility lies in Washington, and has for 30 years. That is true of the general diplomatic framework, and also of particular actions. Israel can act within the limits established by the master in Washington, rarely beyond. ALBERT: What's the meaning of Friday's Security Council Resolution? CHOMSKY: The primary issue was whether there would be a demand for immediate Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah and other Palestinian areas that the Israeli army had entered in the current offensive, or at least a deadline for such withdrawal. The US position evidently prevailed: there is only a vague call for "withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities," no time frame specified. The Resolution therefore accords with the official US stand, largely reiterated in the press: Israel is under attack and has the right of self-defense, but shouldn't go too far in punishing Palestinians, at least too visibly. The facts -- hardly controversial -- are quite different. Palestinians have been trying to survive under Israeli military occupation, now in its 35th year. It has been harsh and brutal throughout, thanks to decisive US military and economic support, and diplomatic protection, including the barring of the long-standing
US-led forces desecrate Serbian church [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27377 WORLD NET DAILY THE BALKANS QUAGMIRE U.S.-led forces desecrate Serbian church? Letter to Bush protests alleged violence by peacekeeping troops Posted: April 25, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Aleksandar Pavic C 2002 WorldNetDaily.com The Serbian Orthodox Church is charging the peacekeeping force in Bosnia with violently desecrating church property in its search for suspects wanted by the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. In an April 11 letter addressed to U.S. President Bush, Gen. John B. Sylvester, commander of the SFOR peacekeeping force in Bosnia, and Bosnian High Commissioner Wolfgang Petritsch, the Serbian Church protested the behavior of U.S.-led troops. Written by Serb Patriarch Pavle in the name of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the letter refers to enormously unpleasant situations which the faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church experienced on Feb. 28 and March 1, 2002, when the soldiers of the SFOR peacekeeping forces violently burst into these villages claiming to search for [former Bosnian political and military leader] Radovan Karadzic. They used explosive and other objects to smash doors and barge into houses, ambulances and even schools. Even though U.S. officials have expressed opposition to the newly ratified International Criminal Court, there is an urgency to round up people in Bosnia wanted for alleged war crimes to stand trial in another international court, the Hague Tribunal. U.S. War Crimes Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, on April 18, traveled to Bosnia to inform the Serb leadership that there would be no economic or political progress in Republika Srpska (the Serb part of Bosnia) until Karadzic and Ratko Mladic stood trial at The Hague. He went on to say that Republika Srpska risked falling behind other countries for not cooperating with the Hague Tribunal and that its citizens would continue suffering while Radovan Karadzic was free. In addition, the U.S. administration has continued applying economic and political pressure against neighboring Yugoslavia, compelling it to pass an unconstitutional law that sets the rules for cooperation with The Hague and to issue arrest warrants against alleged Hague suspects. The intensified search for suspects in Bosnia has caused Karadzic to resurface from his seven-year exile to protest the methods used in the hunt. The letter goes on to say that the Serbian Orthodox Church is shocked and appalled by the behavior of the SFOR soldiers to innocent civilians, especially by their violent entering the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God at Celebici, with weapons, where they scattered sacral objects in the altar and smashed the glass within the chalice [used] for giving the Holy Communion to priests and people. ... The Church in which our faithful pray to God, receive the Holy Communion, are christened and married has been desecrated. Religious feelings of our faithful, their human dignity and safety have been violated. The letter concludes with an appeal that measures be taken so that nothing similar should ever happen again. This is not the first time that the Serbian Church has appealed to Western leaders to stop the threat to its churches. Since the NATO-led KFOR troops came to the Serbian province of Kosovo after the bombing of Yugoslavia in June 1999, more than 100 Orthodox churches have been damaged or destroyed by Albanian Islamicists in the presence of the 50,000-plus-strong Western military forces. In the April 24 edition of the Belgrade weekly Nedeljni Telegraf, ran a letter written by Karadzic to Kosta Cavoski, a close friend and leading Yugoslav legal authority and Hague opponent, in which he says that he has been earnestly trying to avoid an encounter with the SFOR troops for the past seven years ... and that it would be better if Gen. Sylvester did the same, [for] in that encounter I may not pass very well and would probably pass very badly in the technical sense, but I would certainly be the winner in the moral sense. Sylvester, continues Karadzic, could come out the winner only if we don't meet, that is, if he refuses the role of policeman and bounty hunter. Karadzic also expresses his wonder as to why Gen. Sylvester wants to equate his soldiers with cruel bounty hunters and whether his soldiers' parents know that their children break into houses of our innocent civilians in the middle of the night and frighten our children, who fall unconscious from shock. Referring to the tribunal that is hunting him, Karadzic goes on to ask what kind of court and prosecution is it that first arrests and only then compiles evidence ... which has held our speaker of the House, who has had no role in the executive branch, in detention without trial for two years, further wondering whether such things are allowed in Gen. Sylvester's country. Finally, Karadzic wonders whether President Bush, Gen.
Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague Text: Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague (Indicted for crimes during Kosovo war) (610) The former chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav army, Dragoljub Ojdanic, indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), will make his first appearance before the court on April 26. He surrendered April 25 and was immediately transferred to The Hague from Serbia. Ojdanic has been charged on the basis of both individual and superior criminal responsibility for executing "a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians" between January 1, 1999 and June 20, 1999 in an effort to expel them from the province. Following are ICTY press releases on his transfer and his appearance before the court: (begin text) International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia Press Release JL/P.I.S./672e The Hague, 25 April 2002 TRANSFER OF DRAGOLJUB OJDANIC TO THE HAGUE On 25 April 2002, Dragoljub Ojdanic was transferred from Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), to the Detention Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Dragoljub Ojdanic is charged in an amended Indictment, confirmed on 29 October 2001. It alleges that, between 1 January 1999 and 20 June 1999, forces of the FRY and Serbia acting at the direction, with the encouragement, or with the support of the four accused, Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic, Vlajko Stojiljkovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic, executed a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians. At all times relevant to this Indictment, Dragoljub Ojdanic held the post of Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (VJ). It is alleged that the operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with the objective of expelling a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province. The Indictment goes on to describe a series of well-planned and coordinated operations undertaken by the forces of the FRY and Serbia. Approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians were expelled from the province by their forced removal and subsequent looting and destruction of their homes, or by the shelling of villages. Surviving residents were sent to the borders of neighbouring countries. En route, many were killed, abused and had their possessions and identification papers stolen. Furthermore, specific massacres allegedly committed by Serb forces in places such as Dakovica/Gjakovë, Suva Reka/Suharekë, Racak/Reçak, Bela Crkva/Bellacërke, Mala Krusa/Krushë e Vogël, Velika Krusa/Krushë e Madhe, Padaliste/Padalishtë, Izbica/Izbicë, Vucitrn/Vushtrri, Dubrava/Dubravë Prison complex, Meja/Mejë and Kacanik/Kacanik are listed in the Indictment. Charges The Indictment charges Dragoljub Ojdanic, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) thereof) with: -- one count of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute - murder), -- four counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 thereof - deportation; murder; persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; other inhumane acts) The date and time for the initial appearance of Dragoljub Ojdanic will be announced in due course. (end text on transfer) (begin text on court appearance) International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia Press Advisory JL/P.I.S./PA049 The Hague, 25 April 2002 INITIAL APPEARANCE OF DRAGOLJUB OJDANIC TO TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2002 Please be informed that the initial appearance of Dragoljub Ojdanic will take place on Friday 26 April 2002 at 14.30 in Courtroom I before Judge Patrick Robinson. All media are welcome to attend. For further information please call: 0031 70 512 5343/5356. (end text on court appearance) (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Nepal rebels blow up PM's house [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- . . Matter in Motion through Space and Time ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 4:28 AM Subject: [kominform2] Nepal rebels blow up PM's house From: Magnus Bernhardsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Peoples War] Nepal rebels blow up PM's house http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1948000/1948035.stm Wednesday, 24 April, 2002, 12:47 GMT 13:47 UK Nepal rebels blow up PM's house The government has been trying to guarantee safety Rebels in Nepal have destroyed the family home of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Reports say the Maoists blew up the house on Tuesday evening, on the first day of a five-day nationwide strike they have called in protest at the government's state of emergency. The strike was said to be waning on Wednesday, with many businesses in the capital, Kathmandu, and elsewhere reopening. President Bush's administration says it will seek approval from the US Congress for $20m of military aid for the government to combat the rebels. The Nepalese Government has now offered rewards of $64,000 for the capture of three of the leading Maoists. Ministers targeted Prime Minister Deuba was in Kathmandu when the rebels attacked his family home in the town of Assigram, some 490 kilometres west of the capital. A group of Maoist terrorists ordered the housekeeper to go out and then blew up Mr. Deuba's house, local administrator Narendra Raj Sharma told the AFP news agency. The rebels have carried out several attacks recently The Maoists have targeted the houses of other ministers in recent weeks. Mr Deuba has ruled out any resumption in peace talks until the rebels lay down their arms. They broke off peace talks last November, resuming their attacks. That prompted King Gyanendra to declare a state of emergency, freeing the army to join in the fight against the rebels. Some 3,000 people have been killed since the rebels began their campaign to abolish the constitutional monarchy six years ago. Much of Nepal was paralysed on Tuesday, the first day of the rebels' strike, with many ordinary Nepalis afraid of defying the call for a total shutdown of the country. However there were clear signs of life returning to normal on Wednesday. Traffic in Kathmandu was estimated to have returned to about 50% of normal levels. Domestic flights were running again. Much of the east of the country was still said to be shut down though, and long-haul public transport was still affected. In one eastern district, Mahottari, a group of rebels attacked a broadcasting station of the state-owned Radio Nepal, destroying costly equipment including transmitters. Built in 1990 with Japanese assistance, this was the first radio station to be destroyed by the rebels. Military financing US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told journalists on Tuesday that his government was reviewing several options for military assistance with Nepal. We've asked Congress for a supplemental appropriation of $20m in foreign military financing for Nepal, so that we can support more assistance, he said, AFP reports. US military advisers have been touring parts of Nepal recently held by the rebels. The Nepalese Government is waiting to see if its offers of $64,000 rewards for the capture or killing of three senior Maoist rebels will have any effect. The bounty has been offered on the heads of Maoist supremo Pushp Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, Mohan Vaidya, alias Kiran, and Baburam Bhattarai. This is the first time Nepal has fixed prices on the heads of Maoist rebels. The home ministry has offered rewards for other rebels as well. _ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Katsauksia suomeksi: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-- Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/VL0olB/TM -~- Peruuta ryhmän tilaus lähettämällä sähköpostia osoitteeseen: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
RE: Ojdani: 'My conscience is absolutely clear' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Complete idiot! Barry Stoller wrote: AFP. 25 April 2002. UN war crimes court nets biggest catch since Milosevic. THE HAGUE -- Former Yugoslav army chief Dragoljub Ojdanic surrendered to the UN tribunal Thursday, the most senior war crimes suspect to be turned over for trial since former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic last year. The former general, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo, arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on a regular flight from Belgrade and was promptly transfered to the tribunal's prison facility outside The Hague. He is certainly the most senior military official to have been transfered by Belgrade, tribunal spokesman Jim Landale told AFP. He said Ojdanic would make his first appearence in court on Friday at 2:30 pm (1230 GMT). Before leaving Belgrade on a Yugoslav Airlines flight accompanied by his wife and his lawyer, the retired general said he was setting out to prove his innocence. I have nothing to be ashamed of and my conscience is absolutely clear, Ojdanic said in a TV interview late Wednesday. Ojdanic refused to say whether he would testify against Milosevic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Where Stalin has admirers and Maoists still fight on [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- . . Matter in Motion through Space and Time ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: John Clancy [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Africa: ; Cc: news: ;; overflow: ;; blindmice: ;; Asia: ;; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 12:47 AM Subject: Where Stalin has admirers and Maoists still fight on from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Where Stalin has admirers and Maoists still fight on Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Washington Post / Where Stalin has admirers and Maoists still fight on Micha Odenheimer Where Stalin has admirers and Maoists still fight on The failure of democracy in Nepal has led to a rise in popular support for rebels who have taken over much of the country Micha Odenheimer More than a decade after the collapse of Soviet and East European communism, and a quarter-century after China ended Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, the mere existence of a Maoist communist movement should be a strange anachronism. Yet in Nepal Maoists not only exist, but have been gradually seizing control over more and more of the mountainous nation of roughly 25 million people, while killing hundreds of government troops. Late last August I traveled to southeast Nepal and walked hours through the jungle into a revolutionary stronghold in the Sindhuli district. Sindhuli was then the 15th of Nepal's 75 districts to fall to the Maoists. The Maoists were set to celebrate their victory in Sindhuli and, as I walked deeper into the area, families were streaming in from all over the region to attend the festivities. Along the way local peasants fed us for free. We passed through victory gates made of bent saplings adorned with flowers, and waded waist-deep to cross a river before emerging onto a grassy plain, which quickly filled up with almost 10,000 people. I spotted a platoon of the Nepali Maoists' People's Army: about 60 young people in fatigues carrying ancient rifles. Children trailed after the soldiers as if they were rock stars. At the far end of the plain was a schoolhouse with a porch that would serve as a dais, and a dilapidated megaphone for a sound system. The dais was decorated with paper stream ers, confetti and watercolor portraits of the movement's heroes: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao. Stalin? I asked my guide, shocked to see the former Soviet dictator included in the pantheon. Don't your friends know that he murdered 20 million people? Our leaders say Stalin was 75 percent good and 25 percent bad, came the answer. They know he wasn't completely good. In the Western world, which claims to care about both democracy and terrorism, Nepal's fight is one worth noticing. Six months since my visit to the Maoists, Nepal is mired even deeper in a bloody civil war that has taken 2,600 lives since 1996, and threatens to destroy a decade-long experiment with democracy. On February 17 thousands of members of the People's Army crept down from the mountains at midnight and surrounded an army garrison in western Nepal. By morning, 137 soldiers had been slaughtered. A few days later in eastern Nepal the Maoists struck again, killing 30 policemen. The army has fought back hard, regaining control of some district headquarters, slaughtering hundreds of Maoists, and driving the rebels into the rough interior of the country. The Maoists have targeted civilians, too. In January - according to Amnesty International - they abducted an acting school headmaster, tied him to a tree and shot him to death apparently because of his affiliation with a ruling party association and his refusal to give donations to the Maoists. He was one of 28 teachers killed by the insurgents. People aren't the only casualties of the battle. Democratic institutions have also suffered. Since the government declared a state of emergency in November, police in the capital, Katmandu, have arrested an estimated 4,000 journalists, students, teachers and political activists. Subodh Pyakarel, general secretary of a respected Nepali human rights organization, says that many of those arrested have been tortured. Nonetheless, the rebels continue to exert an impressive degree of control over the population - even in Katmandu. During February and March, the Maoists called a series of strikes, including a general strike that paralyzed the city for three days. What's astonishing about the Maoist revolution in Nepal is that it exists at all. Like seeing a movie monster rise after his apparent death, watching Maoist rebels gain ground anywhere in the 21st century defies belief. Twelve years ago, Nepal became a multi-party democracy, ending years of monarchic dictatorship. Why have the Maoists become a major threat just as democracy has begun to flourish? From the outside the crisis in the Nepalese royal family would
US Military Aid to Israel To Rise $200M Annually Beyond $2.4B Ceiling in 2007 [W
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- . . Matter in Motion through Space and Time ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . - Original Message - From: Cor Groenendijk [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: IKV Oosterzee, J.J.v. - Den Haag [EMAIL PROTECTED]; AI London [EMAIL PROTECTED]; mobilize-globally; USA [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Paul Lansu; Pax Christi International [EMAIL PROTECTED]; mw Marjolein Wijninckx; Pax Christi Nederland; Utrecht [EMAIL PROTECTED]; ICCO Ackerman, E. - Zeist [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Lankamp, H. - Delft [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Cordaid - Den Haag [EMAIL PROTECTED]; CODIP Vandecan, M. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 8:46 AM Subject: [mobilize-globally] Fw: [armstrade] (Israel) US Military Aid to Israel To Rise $200M Annually Beyond $2.4B Ceiling in 2007 - Original Message - From: sento To: ArmsTradeList ; Home Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 5:10 AM Subject: [armstrade] (Israel) US Military Aid to Israel To Rise $200M Annually Beyond $2.4B Ceiling in 2007 My Groups | armstrade Main Page Ivri: US Military Aid to Israel To Rise $200M Annually Beyond $2.4B Ceiling in 2007 GMP2002042449 Tel Aviv Ha'aretz (Internet Version-WWW) in English 24 Apr 02 [Report by defense correspondent Amnon Barzilay: Ivry: U.S. Military Aid To Rise By $200M A Year] U.S. military aid to Israel is likely to grow by some $200 million a year beyond the $2.4 billion ceiling it is slated to hit in 2007, former ambassador to Washington David Ivri said yesterday. Ivri completed his Washington posting last week. According to an agreement with Washington, U.S. civilian aid to Israel is being gradually phased out over a 10-year period, while military aid is being increased by half the amount of the civilian aid cut each year. When the process ends in 2007, annual military aid will be $2.4 billion. But in practice, said Ivri, two joint ventures between the Pentagon and Israel's Defense Ministry will result in higher aid levels. One of these ventures is the joint production of the Arrow anti-missile missile, which the United States is funding. The second is a project to develop an anti-aircraft laser gun. The United States has so far invested $33 million in the Arrow production line, which was set up at a Boeing plant. The line is slated to become operational in 2004, and Israel has asked for a grant of $600 million over five years ($120 million a year) to finance actual production. The laser gun project (originally called the Nautilus) is expected to cost $250 million over three years. Due to budgetary constraints, the Pentagon will start funding the project in 2005, but Israel expects that once it begins, it will cover 75 percent of the costs. Until then, the United States has allocated smaller sums ($13 million in 2002, for instance), primarily to keep the scientists involved on payroll. Thus by mid-decade, Ivri noted, the Americans are slated to be giving Israel an extra $200 million a year in military aid. [Description of Source: Tel Aviv Ha'aretz (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- Left-of-center, independent daily of record; root URL on filing date: http://www.haaretzdaily.com] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL to this page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armstrade Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Korea. KCNA Apr 25 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Korean Central News Agency Extracts. Kim Jong Il meets Pulikovski Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- General Secretary of Kim Jong Il yesterday met Konstantin Borisovich Pulikovski, plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation to the far east federal district, and his party on a visit to the DPRK. He courteously conveyed congratulations from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to Kim Jong Il and presented his gift to him. Kim Jong Il expressed thanks for this and had a talk with him in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Kim Yong Nam meets delegation of UMNO Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly who is member of the political bureau of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, met with the delegation of the United Malays National Organization of Malaysia (UMNO) led by datuk ahmad Zahid Bin Hamidi, member of its supreme council, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall yesterday. Pak kyong son, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, was present there. Noting that the UMNO and the Malaysian people fully support the workers' party and people of Korea in their struggle to reunify the country peacefully by federal formula on the principle of national independence, the head of the delegation said that they would work hard to develop the friendly ties between the two parties and the two countries. Talks held between Korean, Dominican party officials Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- Talks were held here yesterday between Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, and Miguel Mejia, secretary general of the united left movement of Dominica. At the talks both sides informed each other of their party activities and exchanged views on the matter of developing the friendly ties between the two parties and a series of issues of mutual concern. The talks proceeded in a friendly atmosphere. KPA, revolutionary armed forces Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean People's Army. On the occasion all the officers and men of the people's army and people look back with deep emotion upon the proud course of the revolutionary armed forces replete with victory and glory. Seven decades ago President Kim Il Sung founded the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, the first genuine army of the people in the history of Korea, to wage a protracted and hard-fought struggle against the Japanese imperialists and accomplish the historic cause of the country's liberation. After the liberation of Korea in August 1945 the KPRA grew to be the KPA, the regular armed forces. The servicemen displayed matchless self-sacrificing spirit and mass heroism in the three-year-long Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953) to defeat the U.S. imperialist aggressors who had boasted of being the strongest in the world and creditably safeguarded the sovereignty of the country and the nation and their dignity. The KPA that won the wars against the two formidable imperialist enemies has grown to be an invincible army under the guidance of supreme commander Kim Jong Il. He has pursued the army-based policy to train the KPA as the main force of the revolution, lead the struggle to defend socialism to victory and remarkably increase the nation's military potential. In the 1990s when the imperialist campaign to isolate and stifle the DPRK was at its height and a dangerous situation was prevailing in the country the KPA gave full play to the revolutionary spirit of soldiers to perform shining feats in the defence of the country and socialist construction. The rare wisdom, outstanding politico-military ability and matchless grit of the supreme commander are the source of the tremendous combat power of the KPA. KCNA slams Japan's call for right to collective self-defense Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- The economic and fiscal policy minister said monday the right to collective self-defense is inherent to a country and Japan's war-renouncing constitution should be revised. In this regard, Kyodo said, it is rare for a serving cabinet member to comment on revising the constitution. Such happening in Japan is arousing deep apprehension among the world public as it means that the Japanese militarist and ultra-nationalist forces' moves for overseas military aggression have entered the phase of being legalized and adopted as a policy through a constitutional revision. In 1946 when a
Jenin: 'Put a bullet in each window' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Washington Post. 26 April 2002. Ill-Prepared For a Battle Unexpected. Excerpts. JERUSALEM -- It was the second day of the battle for the Jenin refugee camp, and things were going badly for the Israelis. Palestinian gunmen, firing from sandbags hidden behind curtained windows, had pinned down advancing Israeli troops on the camp's western edge. Two Israelis had already died. To a young Israeli army sergeant watching from a nearby rise known as Antennae Hill, perhaps 400 yards above the camp, it was clear that his commanders had been wrong when they had confidently predicted a few days earlier that the Palestinians would surrender at the first sight of approaching tanks. That's when he heard the orders to open fire. The orders were to shoot at each house, recalled the sergeant, a member of a heavy weapons company in the Yoav regiment of the army's Fifth Brigade, a reserve unit that did the bulk of the fighting in Jenin. The words on the radio were to 'Put a bullet in each window.' The sergeant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was troubled by the orders, which did not require soldiers to actually see the gunmen they were trying to kill. But he said the Israeli soldiers didn't hesitate. They pounded a group of cinder-block homes -- the apparent source of Palestinian sniper fire -- with .50-caliber machine guns, M-24 sniper rifles, Barrett sniper rifles and Mod3 grenade launchers. It's not true there was a massacre, because guys did not shoot at civilians just like this, the sergeant recalled. However -- and this is terrible -- it is true that we shot at houses, and God knows how many innocent people got killed. In separate interviews Wednesday, the sergeant and another Israeli reservist who fought in Jenin, Sgt. Shlomi Lanyado, offered a detailed account of the battle from the perspective of the Israeli forces. Both sergeants participated in the house-to-house combat in the center of the densely built refugee camp. The sergeants' accounts add up to only a small piece of a much larger picture. Their recollections are parallel in some respects, but do not provide a comprehensive account of the battle. Both sergeants have returned to civilian life, and spoke without the presence of Israeli army press officers. The soldiers described a lack of preparation by Israeli reservists. They were hastily mustered from civilian life less than two weeks before, and were told to expect a Palestinian surrender within three days, the sergeants said. They spent barely a day rehearsing the operation. They also described the trauma of losing close friends in battle. They expressed grudging admiration for a mostly unseen enemy that had meticulously planned for the assault, stockpiling ammunition, food and medical supplies as well as crude but effective bombs made frommetal canisters filled with phosphate and acetone. I can't be contemptuous of them, said Lanyado, 32, a cheerful, animated stage actor and producer who lives in a high-rise near Tel Aviv with his wife and two small children. Somebody there had thought very much what to do and how to fight and succeeded for 10 or 11 days against a very big army. Both Lanyado and the other sergeant said they do not believe that Israeli soldiers intentionally killed Palestinian civilians. Lanyado said he and the other members of his platoon went out of their way to treat Palestinians with respect, providing them with water and once summoning a medic to treat an elderly man who collapsed in his bedroom. [N.B.] The other sergeant, however, said he was troubled not only by the order to fire through open windows without specific, identifiable targets, but also by what he said were insufficient efforts by the army to allow civilians to leave their homes in safety. [N.B.] He also questioned the decision to use bulldozers to knock down houses at a time when he said the fighting had mostly subsided. Neither soldier said he was aware of Israeli troops using noncombatants as human shields, to open doors, closets or packages that could be booby-trapped, as Palestinians have charged. Both sergeants acknowledged, however, that soldiers often drafted Palestinians to knock on neighbors' doors as the soldiers moved from house to house in search of gunmen and terrorist suspects. The sergeants were called to active duty on March 17, about two weeks before the start of Israel's offensive in the West Bank. Israeli intelligence had identified the camp as a center of operations for two militant groups, the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, as well as fighters affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. On Monday, April 1, Lanyado said, he and other members of the company rehearsed their mission -- to round up terrorists and gunmen -- using empty buildings at an army base near Jenin. We practiced knocking on the door and then waiting to one side, he recalled. We were told
RE: Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague [WWW.STOPNATO
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- What was this moron thinking??? Miroslav Antic wrote: Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague Text: Former Yugoslav Army Chief Dragoljub Ojdanic Sent to The Hague (Indicted for crimes during Kosovo war) (610) The former chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav army, Dragoljub Ojdanic, indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), will make his first appearance before the court on April 26. He surrendered April 25 and was immediately transferred to The Hague from Serbia. Ojdanic has been charged on the basis of both individual and superior criminal responsibility for executing a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians between January 1, 1999 and June 20, 1999 in an effort to expel them from the province. Following are ICTY press releases on his transfer and his appearance before the court: (begin text) International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia Press Release JL/P.I.S./672e The Hague, 25 April 2002 TRANSFER OF DRAGOLJUB OJDANIC TO THE HAGUE On 25 April 2002, Dragoljub Ojdanic was transferred from Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), to the Detention Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Dragoljub Ojdanic is charged in an amended Indictment, confirmed on 29 October 2001. It alleges that, between 1 January 1999 and 20 June 1999, forces of the FRY and Serbia acting at the direction, with the encouragement, or with the support of the four accused, Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic, Vlajko Stojiljkovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic, executed a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians. At all times relevant to this Indictment, Dragoljub Ojdanic held the post of Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (VJ). It is alleged that the operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with the objective of expelling a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province. The Indictment goes on to describe a series of well-planned and coordinated operations undertaken by the forces of the FRY and Serbia. Approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians were expelled from the province by their forced removal and subsequent looting and destruction of their homes, or by the shelling of villages. Surviving residents were sent to the borders of neighbouring countries. En route, many were killed, abused and had their possessions and identification papers stolen. Furthermore, specific massacres allegedly committed by Serb forces in places such as Dakovica/Gjakovë, Suva Reka/Suharekë, Racak/Reçak, Bela Crkva/Bellacërke, Mala Krusa/Krushë e Vogël, Velika Krusa/Krushë e Madhe, Padaliste/Padalishtë, Izbica/Izbicë, Vucitrn/Vushtrri, Dubrava/Dubravë Prison complex, Meja/Mejë and Kacanik/Kacanik are listed in the Indictment. Charges The Indictment charges Dragoljub Ojdanic, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) thereof) with: -- one count of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute - murder), -- four counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 thereof - deportation; murder; persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; other inhumane acts) The date and time for the initial appearance of Dragoljub Ojdanic will be announced in due course. (end text on transfer) (begin text on court appearance) International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia Press Advisory JL/P.I.S./PA049 The Hague, 25 April 2002 INITIAL APPEARANCE OF DRAGOLJUB OJDANIC TO TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2002 Please be informed that the initial appearance of Dragoljub Ojdanic will take place on Friday 26 April 2002 at 14.30 in Courtroom I before Judge Patrick Robinson. All media are welcome to attend. For further information please call: 0031 70 512 5343/5356. (end text on court appearance) (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov http://usinfo.state.gov/ ) --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
French Foreign Minister blasts American Jews... [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- French FM: US Jewry more 'intransigent' than SharonBy Herb Keinon In order to pressure Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to show more flexibility, the EU should try to whittle away at American Jewry's support for the prime minister, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said in a closed meeting Monday. In the world according to Vedrine, who as a result of the recent French elections is on his way out of office, Sharon is an obstacle to the peace process bolstered in his intransigence by American Jewry, which Vedrine said is essentially more Sharon than Sharon. These diplomatic insights were shared by Vedrine at a closed meeting with the EU and Mediterranean state foreign ministers in Valencia, Spain, on Monday night. In comments which diplomatic officials who were in attendance said reflected Vedrine's deep frustration with Sharon and the situation here, the French foreign minister said American Jewry - which supports Sharon - is more "intransigent" than the prime minister, and influences the positions of President George Bush. "The Jewish organizations," Vedrine said according to diplomatic officials at the meeting, "have not made the switch toward peace." Referring to Former US Secretary of State James Baker who applied heavy pressure on Israel in the early 1990s, Vedrine said "without Baker's pressure, Oslo would never have come about." Therefore, Vedrine said, "I am not in favor of economic pressure [on Israel], I don't think economic pressure is effective. But political pressure is definitely helpful. The job of the European Union is to strengthen the peace camp in Israel, strengthen the PA, and change US positions." Pierre Lebovics, the spokesman for the French embassy in Tel Aviv, refrained from commenting on Vedrine's words regarding American Jewry, because he had not seen the text of the comments. However, Lebovics said, "I can confirm that my minister is not in favor of economic sanctions." One EU diplomatic official, responding to Vedrine's comments regarding American Jewry, said there is nothing wrong with trying to convince people their direction is wrong. "What is wrong with trying to convince a target group that their attitudes are mistaken or bring negative results. "If Europe is convinced that the solution- a long lasting solution - will only come through restoring a political dialogue, then the next logical step is to convince all the players of this reality," the official said. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, responded to Vedrine's comments about pressuring American Jewry by saying "any effort of that kind would only intensify the resolve of the Jewish community. Our support is not tied to the particular government in power in Israel, the community's record in supporting efforts to achieve a true peace speaks for itself." According to Hoenlein, "change is indeed called for, but on the part of the French government and the EU who need to return to a position of at least objectivity to Israel, rather than the open and blatant hostility that is now being manifested." http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/24/News/News.47702.html --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
Egypt ready to wage war on Israel ... for $US100 billion [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Egypt ready to wage war on Israel ... for $US100 billion April 25 2002 Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid said his country would go to war with Israel if Arab countries stumped up $US100 billion ($A186.32 billion) to pay for the confrontation, in an interview published yesterday. "If you want to undertake an action and be ready to face up to challenges, you need at least $100 billion," he told the Abu Dhabi Government's Al-Ittihad newspaper when asked why Egypt had taken no measures against Israel's military offensive against the Palestinians. "I told you we want $100 billion," he repeated in response to a question why Cairo had not expelled Israel's ambassador to Egypt. "Let the Arab world give $100 billion from Arab funds deposited around the world. Let it say to Egypt: 'This is a budget for confrontation. This budget is at your disposal. Undertake confrontation,' " he said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused Israel yesterday of going "beyond all limits" with its military actions in the West Bank, particularly in Bethlehem and Jenin. Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel and signed a treaty in 1979. Protesters in Egypt have frequently called for cutting diplomatic ties with Israel and expelling the Israeli ambassador. AFP http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/24/101944126.html --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
YUGO [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Yugo rides again http://www.forbes.com/2002/04/23/0423yugo.html http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/novyugo.jpg http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/studija3.jpg http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/flsedan-1.jpg http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/flsedan4.jpg --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^
