M-TH: Fwd: Romania : Nostalgia for the past
Forwarded From: Rick Rozoff [EMAIL PROTECTED] ROMANIANS LIKED LIFE BETTER UNDER COMMUNISM Reuters November 21, 1999 BUCHAREST, Romania -- Ten years after communism's fall, 4 in 5 Romanians are unhappy with the way they live, with 61 percent saying they were better off under the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, an opinion poll reports. "This is a very sad picture of Romanian society," political scientist Dorel Abraham told a news conference late last week while commenting on the findings of the survey released by the Open Society Foundation. The survey also showed a dramatic plunge in popularity ratings for President Emil Constantinescu and his centrists, who are now trailing far behind the leftists they ousted in polls three years ago. "The situation in the country is very tense, the mood is bad and pessimism is on the rise," Abraham said. Disaster, poverty, chaos, difficulties and disorder were the words chosen by most of the 2,019 Romanians polled in late October to best describe the country's situation, as Romania prepares to mark 10 years since Eastern Europe's most violent anti-communist revolution. Perhaps not surprisingly, Abraham said, Ceausescu was chosen by most, or 22 percent of those polled, as Romania's best, as well as its most evil, leader over the past 100 years. "This paradox also reflects the current economic and social situation," Abraham said. The poll also showed that 84 percent of Romanians lack confidence in the government after three years of a shrinking economy and widespread layoffs. More than 80 percent said they had lost confidence in parliament and political parties. Failure to meet promises of weeding out corruption, improving living standards and speeding up privatization also halved support for Constantinescu, now at a record low of 17 percent, down from 38 percent last year. Leftist rival Ion Iliescu, defeated by Constantinescu in 1996 polls after seven years in office, is now credited with 44 percent of credibility, up from 28 percent a year ago. With support for Constantinescu's centrists halved from June's 34 percent, the survey showed that Iliescu's Party of Social Democracy was the biggest gainer from what Abraham called "three years of mismanagement and hesitation." -- *This was NOT attached by the Tao collective* Looking for radically new approaches to your internet? Check out the Tao "ten point platform": http://new.tao.ca/ Computing the revolution. Macdonald Stainsby --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: joke circulating in Beijing (NYTimes)
One of the most-repeated jokes imagined the president's thoughts during the anniversary parade. He looks to the north, the story goes, and sees millions of unemployed workers. He looks to the south and sees millions of prostitutes. He looks to the east and sees the vast smuggling of goods and he looks to the west and sees ethnic rebellions. He looks to the sky and sees NATO bombs falling, then he looks down and finds himself surrounded by Falun Gong demonstrators intent on continuing their spiritual movement. Jiang walks to the Mao mausoleum to ask the Great Helmsman's advice. After hearing all the woes, Mao rises up from his crypt and says, "You'd better lie down here, I'll take charge." They weren't telling that -- __** *This was NOT attached by the Tao collective* Looking for radically new approaches to your internet? Check out the Tao "ten point platform": http://new.tao.ca/ Computing the revolution. Macdonald Stainsby --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
Re: M-TH: Fwd: Investigations belie NATO's genocide claims
Iinternational Committee for a Fourth International (ICFI), A Trotskyist group that is dedicated to web work almost exclusively. The site has been up for years, don't get so hot headed about it. Macdonald From: "THE WORLD SOCIALIST MOVEMENT(via THE SOCIALIST PARTY of Great Britain)" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: M-TH: Fwd: Investigations belie NATO's "genocide" claims Date: Wed, 10 Nov 99 16:57:09 PST -- World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org Investigations belie NATO claims of "ethnic genocide" in Kosovo By Chris Marsden and Barry Grey 9 November 1999 Main Text Body Copyright 1998-99 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved Who is putting themselves out as the World Socialist web site? Any ideas? I mean, we must at least have a right to reply or something... I mean, if I set up a stall on a fruit market, named the same as my competitor, but selling plastic fruit instead of real fruit, I would be hauled before the courts! If you're in touch with them, can yuou arrange a debate over the issue or something? Or at least give us their organisation's name and address? Simon (member of the World Socialist Movement) Messages from [EMAIL PROTECTED] which are not signed by the General Secretary or a responsible member of a party department or committee are not to be regarded as official communications from the Socialist party of Great Britain --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fw: Defining Politics
From: "Charles F. Moreira" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Undisclosed-Recipient:@relay14.jaring.my; Subject: [Cuba SI] Fw: "Defining Politics" Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:38:49 +0800 Oooh! Good One! Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 10:22 PM Subject: FW: "Defining Politics" A small boy asks his Dad, What is politics?" Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me Capitalism. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the People. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense." So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what his Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now." The father says, "Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about". The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in Deep Shit." __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com winmail.dat
M-TH: Fwd: Investigations belie NATO's genocide claims
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org Investigations belie NATO claims of "ethnic genocide" in Kosovo By Chris Marsden and Barry Grey 9 November 1999 Substantial evidence has emerged refuting the central justification for NATO's war against Serbiathe claim that the Milosevic regime was conducting "ethnic genocide" against Albanians in Kosovo. During the conflict, the NATO powers asserted that somewhere between 100,000 (according to US Defence Secretary William Cohen) and 500,000 (according to an April 1999 statement of the US State Department) Albanian Kosovars had been killed by Serb forces. Such far-fetched claims were already being discounted by the end of the war last June. But now the much-reduced official estimate of 10,000 Kosovar deaths has been discredited by the results of investigations carried out by the Hague war crimes tribunal and other agencies. Most post-war surveys estimate the actual number of deaths attributable to Serbian forces at less than 2,500. The October 31 Sunday Times of London reported that an all-party committee of MPs had asked Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook to answer for having misled the public over the scale of civilian deaths in Kosovo. Labour MP Alice Mahon, who chairs the Balkans committee, said, "When you consider that 1,500 civilians or more were killed during NATO bombing, you have to ask whether the intervention was justified. The November 3 Toronto Star ran an article by Richard Gwynn that drew the conclusion, "No genocide means no justification for a war inflicted by NATO on a sovereign nation. Only a certainty of imminent genocide could have legally justified a war that was not even discussed by the UN Security Council." The US State Department claims that some 1,400 bodies have been recovered from 20 percent of suspected massacre sites. But priority was given to those sites assumed to contain the most bodies. The Canadian-based publication Stratfor last month noted that "evidence of mass murder has not yet materialised on the scale used to justify the war". This is despite the fact that there are teams from 15 nations conducting investigations. Stratfor states that of the 150 suspected sites examined, "the bodies are generally being found in very small numbersfar smaller than encountered after the Bosnian war". Of the civilian dead found thus far, a good number were apparently executed, but others died as a result of fighting between Serb forces and the NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and some were killed by NATO bombs. During the war, the Trepca mining complex, supposedly the hub of Serbian ethnic cleansing operations, was compared in the British press with the Nazi death camps. NATO and the KLA claimed that as many as 1,000 bodies a day had been dropped down the shafts, incinerated or dissolved in hydrochloric acid. In the aftermath of the war, however, investigators surveying the mine complex have found no evidence of executions. In two trips to Kosovo since the war's end, the American FBI has found a total of 30 sites containing some 200 bodies. A Spanish team investigating one zone in Kosovo found no mass graves and only 187 bodies, all buried in individual graves. One team member, Emilio Perez Pujol, said, "There never was a genocide in Kosovo. It was dishonest and wrong for Western leaders to adopt the term in the beginning to give moral authority to the operation." The Western media has, in the main, ignored these reports. But there has been an attempt at a counter-attack by some supporters of NATO's war. The London Times ran an article that said the actual number of civilians killed" was "irrelevant". The prevention of mass murder and ethnic cleansing, on whatever scale, remains a war aim of which NATO can be proud, the paper declared. Guardian columnist Frances Wheen coined the term "Kosovo revisionists", equating those who dispute NATO claims of genocide with right-wing historians who deny the Nazi holocaust against the Jews. Such statements amount to a rationalisation in advance for any military intervention that the US, Britain or NATO might decide to undertake, on the grounds of alleged human rights abuses, against any sovereign country. If the self-appointed world policemenwho happen to be the richest and militarily most powerful nationsare not even obliged to prove that the targeted country is guilty of killing and repression on a mass scale, they have a license for colonial-style domination not seen since the days of the White man's burden at the end of the last century. Guardian columnist Wheen's attack on Kosovo revisionists is an inversion of reality. By ignoring established facts for definiteand reactionarypolitical ends, he is, in fact, aping the approach of Nazi apologists who downplay Hitler's crimes. Those like Wheen who seek to dismiss the growing evidence of NATO lies generally attribute to their opponents the most despicable motives: those who demand that NATO governments account for
M-TH: Fwd: Check THIS out!
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Check THIS out! Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 15:26:06 -0600 (CST) STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG [The following is written by a lifelong, dedicated ANTI-communist. Draw your own conclusions.] The Red Tide Turning? by George Szamuely New York Press 11/9/99 Ten years ago this week the Berlin Wall came down. Cold War stalwarts like myself rejoiced. Today, however, I rejoice every time I read of a poll that suggests the Communists will soon be back in power in Russia. The demise of the Soviet Union gave rise to the unrestrained global tyranny of the United States. This tyranny brooks no rivals. It disregards election results and robs nations of their dignity. Armed to the teeth with missiles and a relentless self-righteousness, the United States is unable even to respect worthy adversaries like Yugoslavia or Iraq. Military victory is never enough. There have to be sanctions, ostracism, isolation and half-witted attempts at subversion. In this U.S.-led order there is no room for friends only client-states or supplicants. Today, the Communists in Russia, China or Cuba are heroic fighters. Almost alone they are resisting the relentless juggernaut of the United States and its mindless "market democracy" ideology. Perhaps and this is what Cold Warriors like me failed to grasp it was always thus. The Communists were a dreadful bunch. Stalin's Gulag, Mao's "Great Leap Forward," Cambodia's "killing fields" can never be forgotten. Yet, strangely, Communists also often succeeded in restoring dignity to downtrodden nations. In 1917 Lenin took Russia out of a terrible war and proclaimed his supreme indifference to the war's outcome. He did the right thing and was rewarded with absolute power. Czar Nicholas II and the hapless liberals who followed him were the Yeltsins of their day. Forever seeking guidance on all matters from Western liberals, they led the Russian people to disaster and themselves to oblivion. In retrospect, it seems amazing that the Communists stayed in power for as long as they did. Surrounded by a capitalist world that wanted them gone, they used all the guile and ruthlessness they learned from Lenin to outmaneuver their enemies. By the 1980s the Communists had made Russia into a formidable rival, if not quite the equal, of the United States. Mao Tse-tung freed China from its century-long submission to foreign powers. Fidel Castro restored dignity and pride to an island with a miserable recent past. For 40 years he defied the United States. He defeated a U.S.-sponsored invasion. He thwarted innumerable assassination attempts. He overcame a crippling trade embargo. What's in store for Cuba after Castro? Probably nothing more inspiring than becoming a satellite of Miami. Unlike most members of my generation, I supported the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Whatever the atrocities the U.S. perpetrated, I believed that they were a price worth paying to resist Communism. It is obvious now that Ho Chi Minh, unlike the assorted political hacks who played musical chairs in Saigon, was an authentic leader of Vietnam. He did not need 500,000 Soviet or Chinese forces to assist him. Left to its own devices, South Vietnam collapsed in a few weeks. The Hanoi regime, on the other hand, took everything the United States threw at it and still prevailed. Today there is no countervailing force to U.S. supremacy. There is no power that can offer support to a nation asserting old-fashioned independence. Washington's tantrums are international law. Consider the following: Hans von Sponeck runs the United Nations "oil-for-food" program, which allows Iraq to sell $5.2 billion of oil every six months to purchase food and medical supplies. The other day the U.S. let it be known that it wanted him out. His crime? He had blurted out something self-evident to everyone in the world except for Washington. The sanctions on Iraq were hurting civilians and made little sense. Unusually for him, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stood his ground and refused to follow Clinton administration orders. In the meantime, the U.S. government hosted a conference in New York to the tune of $3 million for an organization called the Iraqi National Congress. Billed as a meeting to unite Saddam Hussein's opponents, it really was nothing more than a gathering of out-of-work Iraqis on the U.S. payroll. Now the United States knows perfectly well that this bunch can never hope to overthrow Saddam Hussein. By resisting relentless U.S. pressure for almost 10 years, Saddam has shown himself to be the authentic leader of Iraq, something these toadies can never hope to be. The only way they can come to power is by riding in to Baghdad in U.S. tanks. Since hysteria about Iraq can be turned on and off at will, a full-blown U.S. invasion can
M-TH: Fwd: [Cuba SI] Iraq and Yugoslavia vow to resist Western siege
I can hear the accusations already, but to my view, this is very good news, not in the least to the peoples of Iraq and Yugoslavia. Macdonald Iraq and Yugoslavia vow to resist Western siege BAGHDAD: Nov 8 (South News) - Iraq and Yugoslavia, both under sanctions, pledged to work together to resist the United States and its hegemony. ``Iraq and Yugoslavia have to work together...against the aggression which is still continuing,'' Monday's Baghdad press quoted Yugoslav Foreign Trade Minister Borislav Vukovic as saying during a meeting with President Saddam Hussein. Iraq and Yugoslavia started trade talks to cement economic cooperation between the two countries, and to strike trade contracts under the United Nations oil-for-food deal. Vukovic was the only official received by President Saddam Hussein among several visitors from other countries attending the current international Baghdad trade fair. The Iraqi News Agency INA quoting Vukovic as telling Saddam during the meeting on Sunday that Iraq and Yugoslavia should work together in order to end international sanctions on their respective countries. INA said Vukovic delivered to Saddam a message from Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic ``on bilateral relations and means to develop them.'' ``We are with you... and both Baghdad and Belgrade are fighting imperialism,'' Saddam said in a clear reference to the United States and its Western allies. Parallels were drawn between the Yugoslav crisis and Iraq's own confrontations with the United States. ``In their aggression against Iraq and Yugoslavia, the aggressors have used the same tactics,'' Saddam told the Yugoslav visitor. In December last year the United States and Britain unleashed a four-day-long air campaign against Iraq over weapons inspections, similar to NATO bombings of Yugoslavia. Baghdad newspapers quoted Iraq's Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan as saying the bombing of Iraq and air strikes against Yugoslavia were intended to impose control of the two countries. The papers said Ramadan made the remark while receiving Gojkovic. On Sunday, INA said Iraq and Yugoslavia started trade talks to cement economic cooperation. Both countries played major roles in the Non-Aligned Movement and many Yugoslav firms were involved in industrial and construction projects in Iraq before its 1990 trouble with Kuwait. Earlier this year the Belgrade press said Yugoslavia had signed contracts with Iraq worth $18 million to supply food in exchange for oil. ``The Iraqi market is open wide for Yugoslav companies to resume business in Iraq,'' the Iraqi press quoted Saleh as saying. Iraq strongly condemned the NATO air strike campaign against Yugoslavia over its violent repression of ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo earlier this year. INA said there had also been a meeting between Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Yugoslav deputy Prime Minister Maja Gojkovic, who was in Baghdad for a women's conference. ``Iraq's support for Yugoslavia is a principled attitude based on Iraq's rejection of interference in the internal affairs of countries,'' INA quoted Ramadan as saying. ``Yugoslavia will continue defending its sovereignty and destiny despite all sacrifices,'' INA quoted Gojkovic as saying. The 16th Iraqi Women Conference, focusing on "women and children reeling under the 9-year-old UN economic embargo" opened Monday in Baghdad with more than 200 women participants from around the world. According to UNICEF, more than 1 million children have died as a direct result of the UN economic embargo. Other UN agencies have reported that Iraqi women have the highest rate of nervous disorders among women worldwide. EnKhedu Anna of Mesopotamia, "history's first known woman poet," is the symbol of the conference, depicting the history and culture of Iraqi women. __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fwd: Western Reality: Russia
This post reminds me of a Russian joke I read in a book by Michael Parenti: "What did capitalism accomplish in one year that socialism couldn't do in seventy years?" A: "make socialism look good." Macdonald The Times of India Friday 5 November 1999 Posted at 0130 hrs IST Majority favour Bolshevik Revolution: Poll MOSCOW: A majority of Russians believe the Bolshevik Revolution, which brought Communism to Russia, wasn't a bad thing, according to a poll published Thursday. The poll by the All-Russia Public Opinion Center said 45 percent of those surveyed agreed that the revolution played a positive role in Russian life and history. The poll, with a margin of error of 4 percent, said that 35 percent disagreed that the revolution was good, while 20 percent were undecided. The center conducts the poll each year to mark the Nov. 7 anniversary of the revolution. Last year's poll indicated that approval for the revolution was down, with just 15 percent saying they would have aided the Bolsheviks. Approval ratings for the revolution were up this year, probably because of the country's continuing economic and social problems and the uneven impact of market reforms. Communists and some elderly Russians still regard the revolution's anniversary as the most important date on the calender and some take part in rallies and marches. However, President Boris Yeltsin in 1997 renamed the Nov. 7 holiday that used to mark the revolution as the Day of National Accord and Reconciliation. Many Russians, particularly young people, see the event as just a day off work. _ __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fwd: Pinochet Judge indicts 98 in Argentine 'dirty war'
Pinochet judge indicts 98 in Argentine 'dirty war' cases Copyright © 1999 Nando Media Copyright © 1999 Associated Press MADRID, Spain (November 2, 1999 10:49 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - The Spanish judge seeking to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet took aim Tuesday at alleged perpetrators of the "dirty war" in Argentina, filing international arrest warrants for 98 former military officers. Judge Baltasar Garzon charged former the officials linked to the military juntas that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 with genocide, terrorism and torture. An Argentine government report has said at least 9,000 people disappeared and are presumed dead from the military regime's crackdown on leftists and dissidents. Some human rights groups estimate the figure at 30,000. Argentina put several former military leaders on trial after democracy was restored in 1983. They were sentenced to life in prison, but pardoned five years later by the President Carlos Menem. Among those named Tuesday was former Gen. Jorge Videla, who was the first junta-backed president, former navy chief Adm. Emilio Massera, and former dictator Leopoldo Galtieri. Garzon's 300-page indictment said the officers sought "to eliminate people based on their race, ideology and religion," according to EFE state news agency. The indictment also requested the officers' assets be frozen worldwide, EFE reported. A similar warrant filed by Garzon led to Pinochet's arrest last year in Britain. Since then, the Spanish magistrate has been trying to extradite Pinochet and put him on trial in Spain for alleged torture and human rights violations in Chile during his dictatorship. Pinochet is under police custody in London, pending resolution of Garzon's extradition request. Menem issued a decree last year to block cooperation with Garzon's judicial probe into human rights abuses in Argentina. His successor, President-elect Fernando de la Rua, is also expected to refuse to aid the Spanish judge. Videla and Massera have also been accused by Argentine officials of kidnapping children born to political prisoners who disappeared and putting them up for adoption. They are under house arrest. Galtieri lives in the Buenos Aires area. __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fwd: Neocommunists in Czech Republic
From: Donald Todd [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: dsanet: Fwd: Neocommunists in Czech Republic Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 16:59:35 -0800 This message is from: "J. Hughes" [EMAIL PROTECTED] A communist comeback Broken promises of prosperity drive many to blur bad memories, embrace neo-socialism BY LORI MONTGOMERY Mercury News Berlin Bureau Published Sunday, October 31, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- At 21, Sarka Snoblova is old enough to do the sad math of her life. Her monthly salary as a small-town seamstress is $120. Her allergy medicine costs $30. An apartment would cost $150, excluding water, electricity and heat. ``It's impossible to get married now,'' said Snoblova. She can't even imagine making enough money to move out of her parents' house. ``That's why, three years ago, I started voting communist.'' Ten years after the fall of communism, the communists are not gone. Visions of prosperity that once flourished in central Europe have given way to disillusionment and the realization that corruption and inequality can flourish in free soil, too. Drastic economic reforms left many behind, creating new and widening gaps between rich and poor. Political parties founded by leaders and supporters of disgraced communist regimes still sit in every parliament and hold mayors' offices in hundreds of towns and villages. Stock in many ex-communist parties is rising across central Europe. In Germany, the Party of Democratic Socialism scored stunning victories against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party in recent state elections. In Poland, the ex-communist Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (Democratic Left Alliance, known by its acronym SLD) not only holds the presidency but also hopes to stage a comeback in parliament. But nowhere is the pro-communist surge more striking than in the Czech Republic, home of the ``Velvet Revolution'' and dissident President Vaclav Havel. Buoyed by voters such as Snoblova who are disillusioned by low wages, few jobs and a rising cost of living, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia now claims the support of 1 in 5 Czechs, polls show. It may soon be the nation's most popular party. These, however, are not your father's communist parties. In most nations, the ex-communists are socialists who water down their Marxist theory with a draft of open markets. Apologetic about ``mistakes'' of the past, they try to temper the ravages of capitalism by maintaining the social safety net and guaranteeing jobs. In Germany, no leader from the Party of Democratic Socialism held high office in the Communist Party of the old German Democratic Republic. ``We of course understand that the GDR has been defeated,'' said Michael Benjamin, the head of the PDS's communist platform. Poland's SLD isn't even socialist. Many Poles and Wall Street analysts consider the SLD a more reliable steward of free-market reforms than the anti-communist -- but trade-union dependent -- Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc (Solidarity Electoral Action). In the Czech Republic, on the other hand, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia hasn't even changed its name. ``This is a total neo-Stalinist party and they make no bones about it, either,'' said Jiri Pehe, a former dissident and Havel adviser who now heads the Prague campus of New York University. ``If the communist party is the most popular party in the country, it should send shivers down anyone's spine.'' Czechs also are not typical ex-communist voters. In Germany, the bulk of PDS support comes from young protest voters or disgruntled easterners who are tired of being preached to by richer west Germans. Voting PDS -- a purely east German party -- lets easterners support something that is solely theirs. Czechs, on the other hand, are being presented with the kind of Marxist rhetoric most countries shelved 10 years ago -- and many are responding with hearty approval. At a recent rally to celebrate Miners' Day, a communist-era holiday, a crowd of about 500 filled the town square and lined the streets of Pribram, a former mining center where all the mines have closed, to hear Communist Party chief Miroslav Grebenicek denounce the Czech government. ``The conditions for honest life for simple people have been worsening and worsening. . . . We're disgusted with 10 years of empty promises!'' thundered Grebenicek, whose party opposes membership in NATO and the European Union and supports a planned state economy with guaranteed employment. ``Every worker, every farmer, every citizen who works honestly and hard . . . is more useful to his country than all the so-called market economists who steal our money,'' Grebenicek said. ``Social rights are also part of human rights. Despite anti-communist rhetoric, the Communist Party provided social rights for everyone, not just the rich.'' Afterward,
M-TH: WW: GI's and the Pentagon admission on Syndromes
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M-TH: The REAL WW: pentagon and Gulf Syndrome
Subject: Pentagon poisoned GIs Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 17:01:26 -0500 EST - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 4, 1999 issue of Workers World newspaper - EXPERIMENTAL DRUG TEST: PENTAGON POISONED GIs RESERVES RIGHT TO DO IT AGAIN By Hillel Cohen A Pentagon-sponsored study has reported that Gulf War Syndrome may have been at least partly caused by an experimental drug that unsuspecting U.S. troops were ordered to take. Before the 1991 invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon brass ordered as many as 300,000 U.S. soldiers to take three pills of the drug pyridostigmine bromide each morning. An estimated 100,000 veterans of that war have reported symptoms of what has become known as Gulf War Syndrome-- chronic pain and fatigue, nausea, memory loss, sleep disorders and general neurological complaints. Some even died prematurely or became permanently disabled, and some veterans have reported severe birth defects among children born after the war. The Pentagon paid for the study carried out by the Rand Corp., a so-called Pentagon think tank. Study author Dr. Beatrice Golomb concluded that, while PB was not necessarily the cause of Gulf War Syndrome, "the possibility can't be dismissed." Even this indefinite conclusion is a huge admission. For years, the U.S. government has denied that Gulf War Syndrome even existed. Officials told veterans who filed for disability benefits that they were imagining their illnesses and refused to pay for testing or treatment. After tens of thousands of complaints piled up and couldn't be ignored, the Pentagon routinely rejected any responsibility. Military officials have claimed that poor wartime record keeping made definitive studies difficult. The Pentagon claims it gave PB to GIs as a preventive antidote against a chemical warfare agent known as soman. Although PB is a known drug approved for a rare neurological disorder, it was never tested for safety in wide-scale use, nor is it proven to be protective against soman. The U.S. government has never even suggested that Iraq might have had soman. Yet it administered an untested drug against an unanticipated agent. Was it a massive field test with GIs as guinea pigs? Was it to condition GIs into believing they were at risk of a deadly chemical attack in order to arouse more fear and hostility toward the Iraqi people? Neither the Rand report nor the capitalist media asks these questions. NOT THE ONLY SUSPECT PB was one of several experimental drugs given to GIs. Other factors may have contributed to Gulf War Syndrome, which is composed of several ailments with overlapping symptoms. No one can tell for sure the effects of the toxic smoke from the thousands of oil and chemical fires that burned for months. Almost a million anti-tank shells used by U.S. forces contained depleted uranium--a radioactive, heavy metal recycled from the toxic waste left behind after the processing of uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Since large numbers of Iraqi civilians who never had access to the experimental drugs given GIs have also reported illnesses and birth defects similar to those associated with Gulf War Syndrome, it is likely that factors in addition to the PB drug were involved. The Rand study also recognizes the likelihood of other contributory factors, but steers clear of addressing which ones. The study itself was done only as a result of enormous pressure from U.S. veterans' groups and anti-war activists. Earlier Pentagon "studies" and reports denied the possibility that PB, oil fires, depleted uranium or local viruses or bacteria could possibly be linked to veterans' illnesses. By focusing only on PB, the current report may be designed to cover up other possible factors. Because DU is such a substantial part of U.S. weaponry, an admission about DU could lead to an international outcry against the U.S. military, or at least to a campaign to ban the use of DU weapons. Nonetheless, the admission about PB after years of official denials has major importance. Right now, the Pentagon is forcing over a million GIs to accept vaccinations against anthrax. U.S. troops who refuse the injections are subject to court martial. Like PB, the anthrax vaccine was tested for safety only for small numbers. It was designed to protect against the agricultural form of the disease but has never been tested for usefulness against the militarized version. As a hysteria campaign is promoted over the risks of bioterrorism, there will be more "initiatives" like the anthrax vaccination program. The government may promote experimental programs to guard against the alleged threat of biological or chemical agents. The Pentagon, the CIA and the FBI want to direct public-health policy making in the name of anti-terrorism. Of course, the people have the Pentagon's word of honor that the programs are necessary for defense and safety--just like PB. Asked if the Rand report
M-TH: NYT: Military aid to Saddam's opposition
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M-TH: NYT: Military aid to Saddam's opposition
I simply have to stop posting after a night of "revolutionary activity". At any rate, here's what I was trying to post. Macdonald U.S. to Aid Iraqi Opposition to Develop a Military Cadre Related Articles Issue in Depth: Attack on Iraq By STEVEN LEE MYERS ASHINGTON -- The Administration has authorized the first direct military training for opponents of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, senior officials said Wednesday. Starting next week, four Iraqi rebel leaders, including two former officers in Iraq's armed forces, will attend a 10-day training course at the Air Force's special-operations headquarters in Florida, where American officials will school them on how to organize a military in an emerging state. Other courses are being prepared. The Administration has also approved its first contribution of surplus Pentagon equipment intended to help foster the overthrow of President Hussein, offering the main Iraqi opposition groups $2 million worth of office supplies. While the initial assistance is modest -- and, the officials emphasized, "nonlethal" -- it reflects the sharp shift in policy toward overt support of what amounts to an insurgency against Hussein's Government. In that sense, it recalls American support in the 1980's for the contra rebels in Nicaragua and for the mujahedeen guerrillas who resisted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The training and equipment, which includes computers, fax machines and file cabinets, represent the first portion of $97 million in aid authorized by Congress last year to bolster the fractious groups intent on deposing President Hussein. "The notion here is to help people associated with the opposition to think about a plan for the country after Saddam Hussein," a military official who has worked closely with the Iraqi opposition said Wednesday. Ever since four days of American and British air strikes against Iraq last December, the Administration has openly stepped up contacts with Iraqi opposition leaders. So far, those efforts appear to have had little impact on dissent inside Iraq, and officials at the Pentagon, in particular, remain deeply skeptical of the viability of Hussein's opponents. The Administration, however, has been under increasing pressure from Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress to do more to support the opposition with equipment and possibly arms. Representative Benjamin A. Gilman of New York, the Republican chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Wednesday accused the Administration of having "a lethargic approach" and called for more significant assistance. "I can't imagine that Saddam Hussein would be worried about being overthrown by Iraqi exiles trained in civil affairs brandishing fax machines," Gilman said. Iraqi opposition leaders, however, strongly welcomed the support. Dr. Salah A. Shaikhly, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, a coalition of exiles, said the equipment and training would be "vital to our work in Iraq." " 'Nonlethal' doesn't mean not useful inside Iraq," he said in an interview today in Washington. Administration and military officials said they hoped this first installment would strengthen the credibility of the opposition. The Administration made its decision on the eve of a large gathering of opposition groups in New York City this weekend. They are looking to the gathering as a chance to forge a unified front against President Hussein, something that has been sorely lacking because of infighting among his many opponents. "The United States Government wants to hear from a unified Iraqi popular leadership just how it can proceed to support the people of Iraq in promoting the change of regime, as it is the right of you, the Iraqi people, to do," the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas R. Pickering, wrote to the leaders of seven opposition groups on Monday. The aid comes during a troubling period in the Administration's handling of Iraq. There have been no inspections of Iraq's reported nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs since the Government expelled United Nations inspectors 15 months ago, leading to December's punitive attacks. And while the Administration says Hussein remains isolated, diplomatic efforts to set up a new inspection system, as called for under the terms of the cease-fire that ended the gulf war in 1991, have foundered. Senior Pentagon officials also fear that Iraq has quietly rebuilt much of what American and British warplanes destroyed in December, including missile factories. And while American and British jets patrolling "no flight" zones over Iraq regularly attack Iraqi air-defense sites, including a strike today against missile sites in northern Iraq, those attacks have not put an end to
M-TH: NYTimes: Montenegro leaving Yugoslav Federation?
New York Times October 18, 1999 Montenegrins See Split With Serbia By STEVEN ERLANGER ETINJE, Montenegro -- With its economy spinning toward disaster, tiny Montenegro is close to taking one more formal step toward independence from Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia: the establishment of its own currency. In an interview in this ancient capital, its democratic-minded President, Milo Djukanovic, a former protégé of Milosevic, said that Montenegro would create a second currency tied to the German mark within days if Belgrade formally devalued the Yugoslav dinar. In the last month alone, the dinar has lost at least 15 percent of its value against the German mark on the black market. For two years now, Djukanovic has been moving toward separating Montenegro, famous for its mountain monasteries and Adriatic coastal resorts, from the authoritarian Serbia of Milosevic. Montenegro will become an independent state, he said, if Serbian officials "adhere to their retrograde path of self-isolation." For now, Djukanovic is apparently as reluctant as Milosevic to bring matters to a confrontation. While his officials privately exude assurance that Montenegro will become independent, he talks publicly of "democratization and decentralization," not independence or secession. To that end, Montenegro in August offered the Yugoslav Government negotiations on a more equal relationship within Yugoslavia as a commonwealth, with Montenegro maintaining its own army and currency. After stalling more than two months, Milosevic's governing party agreed to talks with Djukanovic's party -- rather less than the government-to-government talks Montenegro seeks. Senior Montenegrin officials say privately that Milosevic cannot delay forever and that they expect a referendum on independence by the end of February. Nervous senior Western diplomats and officials worry that this is a lull before a storm and that Milosevic may provoke civil strife inside Montenegro or even use his army to crush any move toward independence before a referendum, creating another crisis to divert the Serbian population. Strife is possible even without Milosevic's manipulations. Despite the outward confidence of the Djukanovic Government, there is significant support inside Montenegro, a land of just 650,000 people, for maintaining relations with Serbia and for Milosevic himself. Djukanovic only narrowly won the presidency in 1997 over his former best friend, Momir Bulatovic, who remains a staunch Milosevic ally. Djukanovic's party and its allies triumphed in parliamentary elections in 1998, but Milosevic continues to give Bulatovic's defeated Socialist People's Party Montenegro's premiership in the federal Government and seats in the federal Parliament. Polls indicate that at least 40 percent of Montenegro's population is against breaking ties with Serbia, with about the same percentage favoring independence. A major Djukanovic campaign for a yes vote would probably produce a majority, but as Djukanovic himself said, "Who could be happy with 40 percent against?" Much of the pro-Serbian, pro-Milosevic support is concentrated in the north of the republic, leading some officials here to worry that Milosevic might try to engineer a local rebellion leading to partition. Some Montenegrin officials suggest that Milosevic might actually prefer a final breakup of Yugoslavia because that would allow him to draw up a new constitution permitting him to run again for office. His current term as Yugoslav President ends in mid-2001 and cannot be extended. At the moment, following Milosevic's pattern, Djukanovic has strong control over the state media and has built up a reasonably well-armed police force of some 12,000 men, roughly matching the size of the Yugoslav army garrisoned in Montenegro. During the NATO bombing war this spring, Montenegro was spared some of the destruction, but Yugoslav army and naval installations were hit hard, and there were tensions between the army and the police. Montenegrin officials say they have no intention of causing a war or a crisis, but privately they are committed to an independent state, which would complete the breakup of Tito's Yugoslavia. "We know how to listen," said Dragisa Burzan, the Deputy Prime Minister. "We can be careful and cautious. But we are in a difficult interregnum with no protections." He predicted independence within a year. The Foreign Minister, Branko Perovic, said, "We do not want to stir things up, but we want to set things right." He said that all proposals have deadlines and that he did not expect negotiations with the Government in Belgrade and any independence referendum to go much past next April. While the current stalemate may suit both Milosevic and Djukanovic for now, no one regards the situation as stable. The Clinton Administration is opposed to Montenegrin independence. This month, the State Department spokesman, James P. Rubin,
M-TH: Re: Peace Arch demo misrepresented by Workers World.
There is a Peace Bridge between the U.S. and Canada, near Buffalo NY. Scahill's article might be about an event that actually took place at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo at the same time as the action that took place at the Peace Arch. Thus, the misunderstanding. If that's the case it would be a good reason to look before leaping (to conclusions.) B. Hurst This appears to be the case. I must admit the same feeling, although I can state that I did check it out, but definitely not thoughroughly enough to avoid this. I've seen far worse screw ups of details in articles, both leftist and "mainstream". Nonetheless, My sincerest apologies to WW and Scahill. Perhaps I will be accused of provocation, or at least idiocy. Comradely apologies, comradely retractions. Macdonald JE Stainsby *** How many times have I wondered if it really possible to forge links with a mass of people when one has never had strong feelings for anyone, not even one's own parents; if it is possible to have a collectivity when one has not been deeply loved oneself by individual human creatures. Hasn't this had some effect on my life as a militant- has it not tended to make me sterile and reduce my quality as a revolutionary by making everything a matter of pure intellect, of pure mathematical calculation? ---Antonio Gramsci, 1926. __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Peace Arch demo misrepresented by Workers World.
The largest Marxist-Leninist party in North America is currently the Workers World Party. As I write this, I am pained by its neccessity. Workers World has done some of the finest work in the US in most of the last decade, including close work with the International Action Center that also includes Ramsey Clark. The recent war on Yugoslavia was no exception, as WWP called the question, the only question, "Hands of Yugoslavia" and organized around opposition to the war that was unmatched in the continental US. I adress these points in the hopes that something will be done about some amazing errors in the recent article "Action Halts Border Traffic: "Free Leonard Peltier and All Political Prisoners" by comrade Tom Scahill. First off, why on earth is a comrade from Buffalo writing on an event that took place between Vancouver BC and Seattle Washington? When demos like this happen it is of the utmost importance that they be reported accurately. That usually means first hand knowledge is a pre requisite. Perhaps this misunderstanding could have been avoided if WW only wrote on what they saw. The very title of the article is, well, wrong. There was no "blocking traffic". At the Peace Arch (not a bridge!) people started gathering around 10:30 am. The location was symbolic of the nature of North American Indian struggles, one that has no borders. Perhaps 65-70 percent of the people in attendance were Indians. There were compañeros from Chile who showed up and drew out (symbolically) the continuity across all the Americas. Some brought information about Mumia. The Avakian cultists were the only party ones who showed up, newspaper bundles at the ready. Of course traffic "was backed up for miles", it's the bloody border crossing. People who drove by got a first hand reality check, and sometimes the odd individual from our demonstration would go up to this or that vehicle and talk it up with people, give them a chance to ask questions, but that's about it. The "Peace Bridge" does not exist. If it did, then maybe 35 cars could form a caravan, but we actually car-pooled to the event in a few scattered (and jam packed) vans. Ours broke down, incidentally, so looking for a ride back to Vancouver BC suggested to me first hand how desperate travel actually was. The "Peace Bridge" must be in aid of the "Peace Arch" which does in fact exist. Following in the footsteps of then-passportless Paul Robeson, the placing of the demo was in good historical company. The arch is a monument, a rather large concrete one at that. It is straight up, no one could climb it if they tried. So I have absolutely no idea where much of the WW reporting on the "bridge" could possibly be coming from. The state reacts very differently to Native struggles than it does to the rest, especially in Canada. This report is very distressing from the vantage point of what this could actually do- it can allow the state to "prove" that these folks were "out of hand", and lead to further repression. The Canadian and American states want to crush these brave folks first and foremost. That is what the genocidal attacks that still go on are all about. We can not, as supporters or as directly involved, get involved in this kind of bizarrea reportage. Shame on WW for being so casual. It can be read as a provocation. The demo was about energy. The energy to struggle. The energy to remember and to look to the future. Reminders of the modern fight can not go on without an understanding of history. You could as easily reported the songs that had been all but snuffed out by the US and Canadian governments that were brought back to life. That is survival. And that survival is far more militant than "blocking traffic". Perhaps this is rather strong. Bummer. It is intended as a wake up call to our fine Workers World comrades, unmatched in their work around Iraq and Yugoslavia. Yet that is the point. We must be twice as good in our work inside this beast than we are at describing things abroad and further. I hope this can be recitified. Comradely greetings, comradely intentions. Macdonald JE Stainsby The Article in question repoted here: ACTION HALTS BORDER TRAFFIC:"FREE PELTIER AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS: By Tom ScahillBuffalo, N.Y. Native people and their supporters shut down the Peace Bridge between the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 10. Traffic backed up for miles on both sides of the bridge. The protest--held on "Columbus Day"--demanded clemency for Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal and all other politicalprisoners in he U.S. Peltier, an American Indian Movement warrior, is serving two consecutive life sentences after his conviction in the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther Party member, is on death row in Pennsylvania, convicted in 1981 of killing a white Philadelphia policeofficer. Both are recognized worldwide as political prisoners, jailed for standing up against
M-TH: Fwd: hitler gets a laugh in Kosovo
This is what Owen was referring to... From: "Macdonald Stainsby" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: hitler gets a laugh in Kosovo Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:10:06 PDT Hate-filled town where Hitler gets a laugh Emin Xhinovci may be an eccentric, but he typifies a place where speaking the wrong language can be fatal Kosovo: special report Chris Bird in Mitrovice Wednesday October 13, 1999 Meeting Emin Xhinovci for the first time, one's laughter is mixed with horror at how Adolf Hitler's double could be walking around this ethnically divided and explosive town in northern Kosovo. It is as if the nightmarish film The Boys from Brazil has come true, where clones of Hitler are manufactured from cells preserved from the dead Führer. Mr Xhinovci, 40, might be an eccentric but his face, which evokes friendly waves and giggling salutes from ethnic Albanians in the southern half of Mitrovice, symbolises the continuance of virulent ethnic intolerance. The kind of intolerance which led to the murder of a United Nations official who answered in Serbian when asked the time by a group of ethnic Albanian youths late on Monday. The doppelganger was until recently a guerrilla with the recently disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, where he won a reputation as a fierce fighter who commanded real respect among the ethnic Albanian locals. "I am a soldier," he says simply, echoing Hitler's pride in the Iron Cross the Austrian corporal was decorated with in the first world war. Mr Xhinovci has opened a bar in Mitrovice known variously as the Bar Hit and Jet, or the Pizzeria Hitleri. He complains that French Nato troops removed a sign which carried a badly painted swastika. A disgusted French captain says only that his troops are absolutely forbidden to frequent the bar, its simple interior decorated with portraits of the owner in KLA uniform. Mr Xhinovci has taken great pains to enhance his physical likeness to Hitler. His black toothbrush moustache is neatly clipped. His hair is dyed jet black, cut and combed in perfect imitation of the lick of tar-like hair that fell across the Nazi dictator's forehead. Otherwise his purple suit, greasy white shirt and string vest are testament to his breathtaking ordinariness. "Zum voll!", he says, toasting in German - he lived near Düsseldorf from 1993 to 1997, where he said he had an import-export business before returning to fight for the "motherland". "Everyone who is against the people who carried out the bloodshed against my people is a friend of mine," he says. He refers to the brutal Nazi occupation of the former Yugoslavia, when German troops based in Mitrovice turned a blind eye to ethnic Albanian attacks on Serb homes. The occupation ran concurrently with a bitter and confusing civil war, in which ethnic Albanians fought both as communist partisans and as members of the Skanderberg Division of the Waffen SS, formed from ethnic Albanians when Hitler began losing the war. Memories are long in the Balkans and the fact that there is an admirer of Hitler in Mitrovice will not surprise the sullen Serbs, some of whom are suspected paramilitaries who carry walkie-talkies and hang out in the Dolce Vita bar, just across the Ibar river, where they watch the bridge to make sure no ethnic Albanians return to the northern, Serb, half of the city. A non-smoker like Hitler, Mr Xhinovci says the dictator went too far in killing women and children, but that it would be "a good idea to eliminate all those who thirst for our blood" - his catch-all phrase for Serbs. The extremists in Kosovo do not have to look like Mr Xhinovci to be effective in clearing the province of its ethnic minorities. There are near daily attacks on and murders of Serbs and Roma. In yesterday's latest update of violence across the province, K-For peacekeepers said the body of a Serb man had been found in a village in eastern Kosovo. At the weekend, the Guardian came across more burnings of Serb houses in Bresje, a village a few miles west of Pristina. In the nearby town of Kosovo Polje, the Serb exodus continues unabated as buses come to collect those with only a densely packed holdall to leave for central Serbia. K-For says there are about 100,000 Serbs left in Kosovo, out of an original population of 200,000, but aid workers and UN officials say there are 40,000 left at most. While K-For and the UN are supposedly the only legal force here, and the KLA has been officially disbanded, KLA members continue to harass minorities, ensure that ethnic Albanians do not sell goods to Serbs, and keep a general eye on goings on in the community, not unlike Hitler's brownshirts in the 1930s. The Guardian visited a Serb monastery near the western town of Decani at the weekend, swathed in barbed wire and guarded by Italian troops to protect the 20 monks inside. We were watched going in by thr
M-TH: Fwd: [stachkom-inter] Tense Stand-off as Vyborg Workers Capture Boss
In case anyone needs some "good" news...
RUSSIA INFO-LIST
from International Solidarity with Workers in Russia - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
***
ISWoR web-site - http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html
***
***
Tense Stand-off as Vyborg Workers Capture Boss
Update 14 Oct 99 mid-afternoon
This morning's report detailed how armed police had stormed into the Vyborg
Paper and Pulp Mill, Sovietskii (near Scandinavian border), shooting at the
workers who were in occupation. Latest reports indicate that eleven workers
were injured, two by gunfire. The police had barricaded themselves into a
section of the building and taken several workers hostage, including one of
the injured, refusing to admit any medical personnel or journalists.
However,
during the afternoon, the workers responded by seizing Sabodazh, boss of
Alcem (British-based company which owns the mill), who received light
injuries during the incident. They soon released him for medical treatment.
Meanwhile the workers taken hostage have been released by the Spetsnaz and
are now undergoing medical examination. The hundreds of workers present on
the mill grounds, though surrounded by police, have refused to leave until
the special ("Spetsnaz") armed police unit which attacked them is removed
from inside the building.
The strike committee of the mill asks to send protests to
Prime-minister Vladimir Putin
Moscow, Krasnopresnenskaya nab. 2
The Speaker of the State Duma Gennady Seleznev
Fax: +7 (095) 292-94-64.
The Governor of Leningrad Region Valery Serdiukov
Fax: +7 (812) 271-56-27; 274-85-39
The Press Secretary A. Veretin
Fax: +7 (812) 110-78-41. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The President's Representative G. Potapchenko
Tel/fax: +7 (812) 274-08-25
You may e-mail your protest copy directly to Russian campaigners at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
with copy to us to us at e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Background information can be found on ISWoR website at URL
http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/news/vyb2.html
***
Workers of All Countries, Unite!
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M-TH: Jiang's address on the fiftieth anniversary
Jiang Zemin Addresses National Day Rally The following is the full text of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's speech at a rally in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. FELLOW Countrymen, Comrades and Friends: Today, we gather here in the majestic Tian'anmen Square for a grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. This is a big festival for the people of all ethnic groups in China and a solemn ceremony to review our achievements and strength. On behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the National people's Congress, the State Council, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Central Military Commission, I would like to pay high tribute to all the revolutionaries of the older generation and martyrs who performed immortal feats for the independence, unification, democracy and prosperity of the motherland. I also wish to extend warm festive greetings to the people of all ethnic groups in China and all patriotic compatriots at home or overseas, and to express sincere gratitude to foreign friends and people of the world that care for and support China's development. Fifty years ago today, chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed here to the world the birth of New China. Hence the Chinese people stood up and the Chinese nation entered a brand new era of development. Fifteen years ago today, Comrade Deng Xiaoping declared here to the world that the Chinese people would continue their march on the road of reform and opening-up, and that China would stride forward in building socialism, like a ship braving the wind and waves, towards the glorious destination of modernisation. Arduous struggle and strenuous efforts of fifty years, particularly the past twenty years since reform and the opening-up, have brought about earth-shaking changes to the erstwhile poor and weak old China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the hard-working, courageous and talented people of China have worked wonders on this ancient Chinese land to the admiration of the world. Practice has fully proved that socialism is the only way to save and develop china. It has also proved that building socialism with Chinese characteristics is a broad road to economic prosperity and all-round social progress in China. Mankind now again stands at a critical juncture plus the turn of the century and the dawn of a new millennium. It is a good moment for the people to review the past journey and accomplishments and look ahead into future development and prospects. From the middle of the last century to that of this century, we Chinese people fought with blood and life for 100 years and finally attained national independence and liberation, thus changing our own destiny once and for all. From the middle of this century to that of the next, the Chinese people, with hard and enterprising work of 100 years, will by and large bring about socialist modernisation. The Chinese nation will stand rock-firm in the family of nations. Our great motherland has traversed a course of five thousand years. In this long history, the Chinese nation has, with its own wisdom, ingenuity and outstanding creativeness, made indelible contribution to world civilisation. In the new millennium, it will contribute even more to world civilisation with splendid new achievements. We will continue to adhere to the Party's basic theory, basic line and basic programme and, by virtue of the strength of the people of all ethnic groups in China, go on achieving fresh successes in building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the coming new century. We will continue to pursue the policy of "peaceful reunification and one country, two systems" and ultimately accomplish the national reunification of Taiwan with the mainland following the successful return of Hong Kong and Macao. The complete reunification of the motherland and the maintenance of its security are the very foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unshakable will of all the Chinese people. We will continue to pursue the independent foreign policy of peace and develop friendly relations and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of peaceful Coexistence. The Chinese people will, as always, side with the vast number of developing countries and the people throughout the world, oppose hegemonism, promote global multipolarity, push for the establishment of a just and equitable new international political and economic order and work unremittingly for the lofty cause of world peace and development. Hard work involves hardships, and hardships give rise to new development. This is a universal law. China has an extremely bright future. let us hold high the great banner of Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory and
M-TH: Fwd: The Second Communist Manifesto (A.B. Razlatzki)
From: "stachkom" [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.samara.ru/~stachkom/hh1str.html http://www.samara.ru/~stachkom/hm_2_p.html Introduction for Western and World Readers The Crisis of the International Workers Movement The world-wide impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the workers movement has been extraordinary. Increasing reaction in the decade leading up to, and that succeeding, this final implosion of the putrid remnants of the world's first proletarian dictatorship, led to retreat after retreat of the working class. Though, on a world basis, the effects were a little more uneven, certainly in the advanced capitalist countries, the, primarily self-proclaimed, "advanced detachments of the working class," fell victim to an almost unbelievably rapid withering and decline. At first glance this seems quite remarkable. After all, the entire, Western, revolutionary left had opposed the Soviet Union in one way or another; so why were they all so devastated by its collapse? Only the thoroughly bourgeois French and Italian communist parties were less affected, and even they suffered significantly. A Simple Question! What Went Wrong? Yet in fact, a common thread connected them. None among them had any real, useful answer to the simple question of the working class, "What went wrong?" When those of them that still had the fortitude to get up at four on a winter's morning to hand out their propaganda to workers going on shift were confronted with the inevitable "Go back to Russia!" taunt, instead of being able to straighten up, look their misguided tormentor in the eye, and say with conviction "I'd like nothing better!" the best they could do was to shuffle their feet and launch into a long, dull, slippery presentation based on the chosen formula of their particular sect. With no genuine Marxist analysis of the phenomena, the movement was completely hamstrung. The most intellectual of the left trend, whether within the predominantly petty-bourgeois, radical, activist left circles or among those who had become ensconsed in academia, showed themselves to be completely incapable of producing anything more than a lot of hopeless moaning about what might have been and self-flagellation about the lack of an ideological compass. Such is the tragedy of the Western left at the threshold of the millennium; and whatever uneveness their may be elsewhere, it is a tragedy shared by all progressive forces around the world. Marxism has the Answer It is doubly tragic that, in fact, the missing, creative development of Marxism which might have broken the impasse has existed since 1979 when Alexsei B. Razlatzki wrote "The Second Communist Manifesto." Still, better late than never! The Five Extraordinaries are Good! "The Second Communist Manifesto" is an altogether remarkable work. To borrow a styling (but not an ideology!) from Mao Tse-Tung; this work is permeated with the Five Extraordinaries. It has extraordinary scope, extraordinary depth and extraordinary creativity, it shows extraordinary prescience and has extraordinary practical implications for the revolution. Its scope is sufficiently broad as to justify its borrowing the title of the jewel of the popular works of Marxism. It is truly a worthy successor to the "Communist Manifesto" by Marx and Engels. It is not an easy work to read, yet it is both simple and accessible. Although aimed squarely at the Russian proletariat, its scope utterly transcends its own immediate aims, which gives it an enormous significance for the international working class and their advanced detachments. It is also a work of great depth. Razlatzki's profound grasp of Marxist materialism and the dialectic of history is revealed again and again. His relentlessly proletarian perspective is coupled with a deep humanistic concern for the fate of our species. It is a work that positively sparkles with creative developments of Marxism. From the pressing questions of the relationships between the proletariat, its party and its state under the dictatorship of the proletariat, to the ideological degeneration of the intelligentsia in the period since the second world war, this little book is packed with vital, original Marxist insights and powerful, new, analytic categories. It is intended as a popular work, so its insights have a synoptic form; but it is easy to see that behind these concentrated expressions, lies a broad, dialectical, historical and materialist understanding of the human condition, which Razlatzki's untimely death in 1989, has, alas, left for the proletarian intelligentsia to reconstruct. Again and again, Razlatzki shows the power of Marxist materialism by correctly prophesying the fate of the Soviet Union, the character of the succeeding regime, the crisis of the workers movement in the capitalist countries; and all this fully a decade before these events took place. It even makes some predictions which, while they have yet to be fulfilled, act as sign
M-TH: Date: Sat, 09 Oct 1999 23:14:01 PDT
Clinton Jolts Canadians With a Plea on Federalism Related Article Clinton Opens Embassy in Canada as Relations Between Neighbors Remain Warm (Oct. 9, 1999) By JAMES BROOKE TTAWA, Canada -- Canadians on both sides of the nation's deep linguistic divide say they were stunned by President Clinton's unexpectedly passionate appeal here for national unity and federalism. President Clinton traveled to the flashpoint of separatism in North America and without once mentioning Quebec nationalism argued on Friday that "the United States and Canada are among the most fortunate countries in the world because we have such diversity." If every major "racial and ethnic and religious group" won independence, "we might have 800 countries in the world and have a very difficult time having a functioning economy," Clinton said, addressing a forum on federalism that earlier in the week had become a platform for complaints by Quebec separatists. "Maybe we would have 8,000 -- how low can you go?" "The great irony of the turning of the millennium is that we have more modern options for technology and economic advance than ever before, but our major threat is the most primitive human failing -- the fear of the other," he said at Mont Tremblant, north of Montreal. "We must think of how we will live after the shooting stops, after the smoke clears, over the long run," the President said. National independence, he warned, is often "a questionable assertion in a global economy where cooperation pays greater benefits in every area than destructive competition." American leaders traditionally sidestep the hornet's nest of the separatist aspirations of many Quebecers, the central political quandary of Canada for the last three decades. In turn, Canadians put extraordinary weight on the words of the President of the United States, the nation that dominates Canada's foreign trade and investment. Canada's widely read weekend papers, English and French, viewed the speech as a strong argument for Quebec's remaining inside Canada. President Clinton made "a powerful argument in favor of federalism, which he describes as the political regime of the future," Vincent Marissal wrote in La Presse, a Montreal daily that bills itself as the largest-circulation French newspaper of the Americas. "But his message on the merits of federalism went much further, questioning even the usefulness of the nationalist projects in the era of globalization." The English-speaking media were less restrained. "Clinton Sings Praises of United Canada," read a banner headline in The Montreal Gazette, one of only two surviving English-language daily newspapers in Quebec. The National Post, a conservative newspaper, hailed Clinton's "historic speech" with a banner headline: "Clinton Takes a Swing at Separatists." The Globe and Mail, Canada's other nationally circulated newspaper, declared, " Clinton's speech was the most powerful and subtle argument in favor of the federal idea heard in Quebec in years." Quebec separatists sought to make the best of the speech, noting that Clinton had praised the European Union, which they see as a model for future ties between an independent Quebec and "English Canada." Separatists also noted that after the speech, Clinton met with Quebec's Premier, Lucien Bouchard, the first such meeting between an American President and a separatist Premier. But Clinton did not allow photographs, kept the meeting to 15 minutes, and rushed off to a photo opportunity and golf with Canada's Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien. On Oct. 30, 1995, Quebec voters came within a whisker of approving a third nation for North America. In a referendum with a huge turnout, the yes vote for an independent Quebec was 49.4 percent. But austerity policies adopted by Bouchard's Parti QuébÀcois government seem to have contributed to a fall in separatist support, currently said in opinion polls to be around 40 percent. Consequently, Bouchard has been vague about holding what would be a third referendum on the issue since 1980. About 70 percent of Quebec voters do not want another referendum, according to a Sondagem poll conducted for Le Devoir, a separatist daily in Montreal, early last month. This position is shared by Quebecers opposed to independence and by nationalists who fear they would lose for a third time. Early last month, the Bouchard government was hit with the resignation of its top secession strategist, Jean-François Lisée. "It's a departure that says out loud what everyone in Quebec City is whispering and doesn't dare say yet," Michel C. Auger, wrote last month in Le Journal de Montréal. "Unless there is a miracle, there will not be a referendum on sovereignty during the P.Q. government's current mandate."
M-TH: Buchanan's ambitions/ career.
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Re: SV: M-TH: Is NZ a bloated semi-colony?
Yes he would. And which side would you have blocked with in WW2 out of your little NZ perspective. This I think a realistic alternative. And which side in the Russia/Chetchenen stuff? Warm Regards Bob Malecki Actually, Bob, I'll get a lot of heat for this, but bear with me. I'm with Russia on this one. Why on earth do I say that? Times change, and so with do strategies. The global ruling class has its strategy nicely set out today, that new strategy (among many) is simple: in any country and/or region that may pose a threat, back reactionary "liberation movements" that can help balkanise (forgive the pun) the entire plantet. While Yeltsin's Russia is nothing at all like the former USSR, the Chechen rebels are much like the Afghani Mujahideen- cutthroat vile anti-woman butchers, who recieve their blood money for a "holy war" from the greater Imperial powers. The German-led strategy in the destruction of what is/was left of socialist Yugoslavia is to reduce the country into a whole series of weak useless client states. We should recognise (and, to the Sparts credit, when the bombs fell, they did) that it wasn't Kosovars vs Yugoslavia for the land of Kosovo, it was Imperialism trying to wrest it away, vs Yugoslavia trying to maintain it. The same can be said of Chechnya and Dagestan. These "rebels" would not have a single day of fighting to do if it weren't for the caches coming from the Western powers. The contest is really between the US'huge military machine, where they use legitimate grievances to spark an illegitimate succession and those in the Russian ruling class/clique who want to "prove" that they can keep the country together. There is a bigger long term impact coming here. In the event that the next Russian revolution comes along, what will the power base for the new baby be? the outskirts of Moscow? The Imperialist strategy is also working currently in DR Congo. Kabila may only be a shade of what he was in his days in the bush with Che Guevara, but that doesn't stop him from being on the bad list. All he did so far was try to rest some extra concessions from the Imperialists before they carted off DR Congo diamonds. However, that was enough to get the entire continent into a war against him. What we will soon see in this case, is the re-drawing of the DRCongos map along "ethnic" or "ancient tribal" lines. In fact, we will just be witnessing the fracturing of the large and possible-to-resist state into smaller, weaker and dependant states. When we are going to wake up to this, and realise that the old lines we raised of "self determination for" just don't cut it anymore, I'm not sure. Here's hoping the poor Chechen peoples are able to get through their horrible situation quickly, it is ironic that this time around we see refugees fleeing en masse and no one says they are fleeing anything other than bombs. H Macdonald __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: East Timor, Kosovo, some parallels and the DSP.
The previous post from "Green Left Parramatta" (on the marxism list) showed that the DSP contradicts itself. In the case of the occupation of East Timor, one of the gains is that "East Timor will be allowed to become formally independant and the East Timorese will be able to choose their own government and policies" How touching that the DSP believes that the Aussie army et al will alow them such complete democratic rights. Obviously the best solution to put forward then is that Imperialist armies occupy the whole planet- then we will all get "our own governments and policies". As strange as this notion is, it has a complete contradiction inside the DSP itself- their line on Kosovo. Forgetting for a moment that I don't believe Kosovo was in even the same hemisphere as East Timor as far as oppressed nations are concerned, the line was that the war unleashed by NATO was designed to halt true independance for the KLA led insurgents. Now, considering that the DSP likens both Milosevic and Suharto to pretty much the same thing, both are "servants and collaborators with Imperialism", etc, there is a mite of a problem here. Again, I will forget how strange a notion it is that Milosevic's Yugoslavia is in the same camp as Indonesia. This "explanation" of the East Timor sitation begs the following set up: (Purely because I would like to reinterate my distance from the line on Kosovo, I do it now..) 1. The DSP has us believe that the KLA and Falintil are both leaders of genuine national liberational movements. 2. The DSP has told us that the governments of Yugoslavia and Indonesia are both out to once and for all crush these movements. 3. The DSP has expressed how important it is to oppose military intervention on the part of Imperialism in Yugoslavia, but not to oppose "peacekeepers" (read- military intervention) in East Timor. The occupation of Kosovo (despite the "reverse" ethnic cleansing) has produced a de-facto seperate state for the Kosovars. We are told that the war was to stop a "truly independant" Kosovo from emerging. That the KLA were underway in overthrowing the horrid Yugoslav state and about to set up a new republic. The current "peace" is an occupation that is designed to hold back real independance from the virtuous Kosovars (ie-the KLA!). So, in this case we have administrators and others who are working with/for the KLA but no matter- this is simply not good enough. This has been the line, with my embellishments, of course. The point they raise over and over again was that the Imperialists will never allow true independance, even if they hand it over on paper. Even if they stop "ethnic cleansing", it is never permissable to have Imperialism sticking its nose in the affairs of other countries/nations. Despite the fact that we were all treated to watching KLA representatives nighty denounce the "Totalitarian Stalinist regime" of Milosevic and expressing that the bombing must continue, we were told that this was not enough, the KLA didn't know what they were getting into, was the inferrance. Then we have East Timor, a situation where there was a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" of a truly brutal and massive scale. For the time being, the idea of Imperialist armies being worse than the problems they profess to solve has been tossed out. As well, now they have gone one step further and stated as I reposted at the top of the post, that within the Imperialist occupied territory indeed true democracy (of a bourgeois type) can blossom. That formal independane and choosing the course of history for the East Timorese themselves can now begin. That, sometimes, in fact IT IS permissable to have a little faith in the Imperialists ability to work out better arrangements for oppressed peoples than previously existed. How strange, I feel, that in the first case the DSP demanded the arming of the KLA, but in this case the idea of arming the East Timorese independance movement is not a worthwhile call. I wonder since we are now in the habit of making seperate demands of Imperialism other than to get out, we cannot arm this movement, but it would be good to do it in Kosovo. Perhaps it is not a loss of Marxism, but rather a loss of confidence that is at work here. It seems as if giving advice on how to live up to "humanitarian" pretensions is the order of the day for the DSP. In all countries that are under the weight of CNN and the like, we get handed different issues, and then we are given two or three different frameworks for what the debate will be. I could use the word "opportunism", but that would imply that this is something deliberately being done on the part of our comrades in Australia. Rather, I fear what is going on is that the CC no longer believes in the original premises of Marxism, without even recognizing their own doubts. The frameworks that are posed by CNN are taken at face value by the DSP these days, so the positions they
Re: M-TH: Fwd: Re: Fwd: jhurd_dsa-doc: The Dalai Lama on Marxism (fwd)
Hi Mac How do I sub to this list. Is it sectarian? Before you get confused, and that would be my fault, it is the list of the "democratic" Socialists of America. The DSA have been the "socialist" appendage of the American Democtarts for some forty years. The party is tied to the Democrats and Hoffa, et al. The main focus is generally on news-listings, from their bizarre spectre. I don't subscribe to the list, it would be like being on Hillary Clintons fan list in some ways, from the "left". The post I sent you and the "lists" was one that a friend forwarded me. I can find out how he subscribed, if you still want. I, personnally, don't. Macdonald Warm regards George Pennefather Be free to check out our Communist Think-Tank web site at http://homepage.tinet.ie/~beprepared/ Nestor is an Argentiniam Marxist who calls himself a Marxist-Leninist-Bolivarist, moderates the Leninist International list, and generally has some of the sharpest insights into todays international situation. I personnally look forward to all of his posts over there, clear insightful and sharp, even if english is his second language. Macdonald __ --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
Re: M-TH: Thaxis web site
Hi Rob, Are we getting new subscribers via the web site? I've tried to make sure that it gets picked up by the search engines but there's a lot of competing sites out there! BTW: Anyone got any tips on getting it better? What would Thaxians like to see included? I'd like to know the url. Macdonald Russ __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fwd: stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal (fwd)
[from BRC-MUMIA] please forward this statement. OCTOBER 22nd COALITION SAYS: STOP THE EXECUTION OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! Download this document: http://www.unstoppable.com/22/pdf/oct22mumia.pdf The October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation fully supports the fight to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia is a former Black Panther who has remained a revolutionary since the 60's. He is also an award winning journalist who uses his skills to give voice to those this society wants to make voiceless and powerless. Mumia has been on death row in Pennsylvania since 1982 when he was framed on charges of killing a cop. During his trial, Mumia was denied the right to choose his attorney, testimony against him was gotten through bribery and intimidation and witnesses who said he was innocent were either hidden from the defense or intimidated from showing up in court! Judge Sabo, who presided over this kangaroo court, demonstrated his pro cop bias (he's a life long member of the Fraternal Order of Police) by denying almost all of Mumia's defense motions and even banning Mumia from the court during the trial! Mumia deserves a new trial because his first trial was a travesty of justice. Mumia is on death row because he is outspoken against police brutality and other government abuses aimed at poor people. Even from the bowels of death row, Mumia continues to expose official misconduct across the country and around the world. The government is even ignoring its own laws as it tries to execute Mumia. Witnesses who have come forward to testify to his innocence have been persecuted. The Black United Fund of Philadelphia has seen its sources of funding being squeezed by the authorities because it provides tax-exempt status for Mumia's defense. This shows that the powers that be are determined to execute Mumia in order to silence him. We have to fight to save his life with equal determination. All people who oppose injustice should stand with Mumia because he is a victim of injustice AND because he is an outspoken opponent of injustice. The October 22nd Coalition was formed in 1996 to fight the nationwide epidemic of police brutality and police murder. Our annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation shines a spotlight on police brutality and helps build resistance to it. Our Stolen Lives Project (SLP) exposes how widespread the problem of police murder really is. SLP documents more than 2,000 cases of people killed by police and other law enforcement agents in the US just in the 1990's. From 1997 to today, we have documented more than one death per day at the hands of law enforcement. This doesn't even count the killings they've covered up, or the people who survived being brutalized by cops. What we're dealing with here aren't isolated incidents. They're part of a growing nationwide epidemic that must be stopped. We in the October 22nd coalition know what happens when cops stop a car driven by a Black man at 4am, like they stopped Mumia's brother back in December of 1981. We know cops make up false evidence and that cops, prosecutors and judges conspire to suppress evidence favorable to a defendant and to railroad people into prison in rigged trials, which they also did in Mumia's case. This is the experience of far too many people, especially young people of color and poor people, at the hands of the criminal justice system. We also know Philadelphia cops have a long history of brutality and corruption. In one precinct, cops were caught manufacturing evidence in cases that put more than 1,000 people in jail. Back in the 1960's under Rizzo, Philadelphia cops beat protesting school children as viciously as any red necked, southern sheriff. They brutalized members of the Black Panther Party and stripped them naked in the street. In 1985, they dropped a bomb on a house occupied by members of MOVE and let the resulting fire burn till it had killed 11 people, 5 of them children, and burned down a whole city block! If you're somebody who's been abused by the cops and the courts, or somebody who has a loved one or a friend that has suffered this kind of abuse or just somebody who thinks this kind of injustice is wrong and must be stopped, then you have to do two things. You have to join the fight to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. We can't let the authorities silence this powerful voice against injustice. We need to get Mumia back out on the streets with us, helping to build a powerful movement to stop police brutality. You need to add your voice to those crying out, "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!" And you need to join the thousands of people of all races and from many different backgrounds who will take to the streets in cities across the country on October 22nd, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. Together we will
Re: M-TH: Fwd: Re: Fwd: jhurd_dsa-doc: The Dalai Lama on Marxism (fwd)
Nicely put, but who is this Nestor geezer? Russ _ Nestor is an Argentiniam Marxist who calls himself a Marxist-Leninist-Bolivarist, moderates the Leninist International list, and generally has some of the sharpest insights into todays international situation. I personnally look forward to all of his posts over there, clear insightful and sharp, even if english is his second language. Macdonald __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Fwd: Interview with Albanian refugees
PRO-YUGOSLAV ALBANIANS SPEAK; REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO TELL OF U.S.-KLA COLLUSION [On Aug. 9, members of a North American delegation conducted interviews with refugees from Kosovo who had fled to Belgrade, Yugoslavia. A full transcript of the interviews was prepared by Gregory Elich and is available on the Web site of the International Action Center at www.iacenter.org. Below are excerpts from interviews with Faik Jasari, Corin Ismali and Fatmir Seholi, members of the Kosovo Democratic Initiative. There are also comments by Biljana Koteska, first secretary of the United Nations Law Projects Center in Belgrade; Bajram Haliti, secretary of the Republic of Serbia Secretariat for Development of Information on the Languages of National Minorities and editor of "Ahimsa"; and Jovan Damjanovic, president of the Roma organization in Yugoslavia. The interviewers are Barry Lituchy, Joe Friendly, Iman El-Sayed, Ken Freeland, Jeff Goldberg and Gregory Elich, all of the North American Solidarity with Yugoslavia delegation. Koteska acted as the translator. Elich provided additional translation into English when transcribing the transcript.] KOSOVO ALBANIAN REPRESENTATIVE AT PEACE TALKS IN RAMBOUILLET Lituchy: Please introduce yourself and tell us your position in the government. Jasari: I am Faik Jasari from Gnilane. I was a member of the Temporary Executive Board [in Kosovo] and I was a representative in Rambouillet. I am also president of a political party, the Kosovo Democratic Initiative. Lituchy: Are you afraid for your life? Jasari: Yes. I am afraid. I've already told you that the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] is looking for me, even now. Lituchy: Is there a death warrant on you? Jasari: If they find me, they will kill me. Lituchy: Approximately how many Albanians were forced out of Kosovo by the KLA? Jasari: About 150,000 Albanians were forced out of Kosovo by the KLA. We don't know the number of people who were killed or kidnapped by the KLA. Lituchy: Is there an approximate number? Jasari: I think about 200 Albanians were killed by the KLA. Lituchy: What happened at Rambouillet? Jasari: The Federal Republic of Yugo slavia was always for peace. During 1998, the government attempted to meet with KLA leaders 17 times, but the KLA leaders refused to attend. When Western countries asked Yugoslavia to meet the KLA in Rambouillet, Yugoslavia sent representatives. Lituchy: Did the representatives from Yugoslavia and the representatives from the KLA ever meet face-to-face? Jasari: Only once, at the first meeting with Jacques Chirac, did the two delegations meet. Lituchy: That was like an introductory meeting? Koteska: Yes. Lituchy: Why were there no negotiations? Jasari: Our representatives attempted, every day to meet them face-to-face, but they refused. Lituchy: Why? Jasari: Because they did only what the United States told them to do. Lituchy: Did you ever walk up to one of the KLA people and say, "Why can't we discuss this?" Jasari: No, we couldn't even meet them in the hotel. We only had meetings with American and British officials, but not with them. We could only meet with their Western supervisors. Lituchy: Who did you meet with from the United States? Jasari: We met with Ms. [Madeleine] Albright, Mr. [James] Rubin and Mr. [James] Hill. Lituchy: What did they talk about, what did they tell you? Jasari: They told us to sign our names to the paper drafted by the United States. In this paper it was written that Kosovo must be a republic. The paper had the same aim as what the KLA representatives told them. At first, they thought that the delegation from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would not go to Rambouillet. Later, they saw that was not true, and when they also saw that not only Serbs, but also Roma, Albanian and Egyptian representatives were in our delegation, they were shocked. Lituchy: The Americans were shocked? Koteska: Yes. Jasari: Only three Serbian representatives and one Montenegrin were in our delegation. Lituchy: Tell us what you think the reason was for the United States to launch this war. Jasari: I think the United States wants to establish military bases here, and extend its occupation of the Balkans. Lituchy: What is the motive? Jasari: The United States wants to dictate to all countries in Europe. CHIEF EDITOR AT RADIO TELEVISION PRISTINA Lituchy: Would you tell us your name, what town you're from, and your occupation and position? Seholi: My name is Fatmir Seholi. I am from Podujevo. I was the chief editor at Radio Television Pristina, and I work in public relations for the Kosovo Democratic Initiative. Lituchy: So you have worked as a journalist in Kosovo for a number of years, and worked in radio and print journalism. Would you tell us a little about the type of media that was available for the Albanian population in Kosovo? Seholi: I must point out that the Albanian people had more media than did the Serbian people. In Kosovo, you could find
M-TH: Fwd: Saudi Arabia/Iran
Indonesian Announcement Ends Political, Starts Military Debate http://www.stratfor.com/asia/specialreports/special74.htm Where Serb Forces are Forbidden, Serb Paramilitary Grows http://www.stratfor.com/CIS/commentary/c9909142140.htm Has Iraq Boosted Its Air Defense? http://www.stratfor.com/MEAF/commentary/m9909142100.htm __ STRATFOR.COM Global Intelligence Update September 15, 1999 Saudi Arabia Looks to Iran Summary: A message from a high-level Saudi envoy to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami reportedly called for increased Saudi-Iranian cooperation. The call likely fell on eager ears; Iran has wanted for years to increase cooperation with Saudi Arabia in order to supplant the U.S. presence in the region. And after eight years of a low-grade, U.S.-led war against Iraq, Saudi Arabia is now being forced to reconsider both its strategy and the balance of power in the Persian Gulf. Recent evidence indicates the Saudis may be looking to Iran to tip that balance. Analysis: Since the Iranian revolution, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been anything but regional allies. While Saudi Arabia traditionally backed U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East, Iran became internationally isolated due to its extremist politics and anti- Western orientation. This dynamic appears to be changing. The Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran reported on September 12 that Dr. Abd al-Aziz al-Khuwaytir, special envoy of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, met with Iranian President Khatami on September 11, presenting Khatami with a letter from Abdullah. The letter reportedly referred to the satisfactory relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and called for increased collaboration in stabilizing the oil market and developing military cooperation in the Gulf. While there have been previous contacts between the two, this is the first discussion of joint security cooperation. Saudi radio on September 11 also reported the meeting, saying that the envoy who delivered the letter voiced a desire to see Saudi-Iranian ties strengthen. This is not the only indication of improving Saudi-Iranian ties. In May 1999, Khatami visited Saudi Arabia, paving the way for further cooperation. During the visit, economic and cultural accords were signed. Prior to that visit, the two countries agreed to consolidate relations and expand mutual ties at the eighth Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Tehran, where they reportedly discussed setting up an Islamic deterrent force to defend Moslem rights in the midst of the Kosovo crisis. These improved relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have already borne fruit by helping boost oil prices. One reason the Saudis may be looking to Iran as a potential ally is in reaction to weak, increasingly untenable U.S. policy in the gulf. U.S. policy in the region has long focused on countering Iraq, with Saudi policy generally reflecting the U.S. line. But Washington is locked in a vicious, dead-end cycle, bombing Iraq while trying to keep the lid of international sanctions clamped on Baghdad. The bombing accomplishes little strategically. The sanctions are increasingly porous, as Iraqi oil comes out and the money of anxious European companies comes in. The Clinton administration can't seem to break the cycle. It has so demonized the Iraqi regime in the eyes of the American public that any perceived slackening of tension would immediately be condemned as hypocritical. Given the lack of a strong U.S. policy, and the Saudis' concerns about Iraqi intentions, the kingdom is forced to re-examine ties with the only other power in the gulf, Iran. The Saudis could easily influence the policy of other states in the region, a move with serious implications for the United States. Iran has called for increased military cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to counterbalance U.S. air and naval presence in the region. The Saudis, however, must tread cautiously. They must avoid alarming the United States while uniting an apparently divided GCC coalition. The GCC seems unsure of future of relations with Iran. Signals from the rest of the GCC have been mixed. Early this week, there was consternation in Oman over an Iranian announcement of a joint Oman-Iran naval exercise. Since the Saudis cannot afford to hand over regional leadership to the Iranians, the kingdom must rally the rest of the GCC. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have traditionally taken their lead from the Saudi monarchy. Finally, although the Saudis would benefit from having the Iranians help contain Iraq, they have no desire to see the Iranians grow so strong that Iraq is eliminated as a valuable buffer. However, if Saudi Arabia can get the rest of the GCC to fall in line, it can attempt to play the balance of power game between Iran and Iraq. It is a game that the Gulf states have played skillfully in the past. In the 1970s, during the reign of
M-TH: Fwd: East Timor
From: Philip L Ferguson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: East Timor Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 15:30:40 +1200 Yesterday I sent an email which had stuff that Fretilin leader Jose Ramos Horta said in a major interview on a TV current affairs programme here on Monday night (Sept 13). I didn't have my notes from the interview at the time, so thought I'd repost it, with my notes. Horta had just met Clinton and he said that the meeting confirmed his view of Clinton as "a very warm, caring and compassionate person". He stated that Clinton is the Western leader who has most raised the question of East Timor. He then praised Madeleine Albright. He then moved on to praise the speech Clinton made last week and the positive role of US world leadership. He then said, "we have to do everything to support Habibie" whom , he said, had made a "brave, courageous decision" in relation to East Timor. Horta then echoed UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson* and argued for a UN_initiated War Crimes Tribunal on Indonesian Crimes in East Timor. Asked about rebuilding East Timor, he said Fretilin people had been busy lining up a lot of overseas investors for reconstruction work and that there was a meeting set up with the World Bank later this year. Philip Ferguson * Mary Robinson was president of Ireland in the late 80s/early 90s. She has a long record of support for the partition of Ireland and British imperialism, along with a liberal social conscience. __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 00:59:30 PDT
Hi folks. I was wondering who moderated this list, can someone tell me? Macdonald __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
M-TH: diana Johnstone on E Timor.
all the enemies in the world and all the world's enemy [Note http://www.emperors-clothes.com encourages everyone to distribute the following in any way possible but please include the entire text including this note.] Diana Johnstone on what NATO and the U.S in particular has wrought and its consequences, including comments on East Timor. Jared: I just spoke to Ben Works.I wanted to interview you too. On East Timor. Diana: Oh oh oh! Jared: That's a great beginning. Your opinion is important on this because you raised the whole question of the new Crusade, the 'Humanitarian Trigger.' (1) . And the question is, liberals are clamoring for some kind of intervention in Timor. And I'm suspicious. How do you feel? Diana: And I am too. That's why I said 'oh oh oh.' What a mess. I think that one of the problems is precisely the 'humanitarian' intervention in Kosovo that was supposed to be an example to the world to show that we had this New World Order where from now on self-determination was going to be enforced by the righteous missiles of the United States. It's going to have a backlash effect. Countries around the world are going to smash their minorities preemptively, to keep the U.S. from coming in. Indonesia is a very spread out, multi-national society with lots of possibilities of separatist movements. I want to point out, the case of East Timor is completely different from Kosovo. East Timor was never a part of Indonesia. It was invaded after the Portuguese let it go. It was part of this de-colonization mess, the same way the Southern Sahara is part of it, only then it was Spain; Spain let the colony go in an irresponsible way that allowed Morocco to grab it. That led to this long, still unresolved conflict. In Indonesia, Portugal let East Timor go without a proper transition which allowed Indonesia to grab it but that has never been recognized internationally. Indonesia has no historic or legal right to be there, whereas Kosovo is a part of Serbia, which was recognized; it's always been. But the problem remains. There are a lot of countries in the world with minorities that are very alarmed by this new American policy. Governments are going to smash their minorities to avoid the sort of situation where everybody will be clamoring for independence and self-determination with the idea that the United States will help them. That doesn't answer the question what to do now. I don't really know. You've got these bands in there who are doing what we accused the Serbs of doing, only they weren't. The Indonesian Military has a long record of that - Jared: Starting with murdering the Communists and the ethnic Chinese - vast numbers - Diana: I think probably the largest slaughter since WWII. An unbelievably huge massacre plus people whom they didn't massacre they put in prison forever. So they totally wiped out the Communists, the left in Indonesia; it's been a dictatorship ever since, 'our ' kind of dictatorship, etc. Now it's falling apart. And probably the Army, which has been the authority holding it together, is afraid that the United States, having supported them all this time, now that they are in economic difficulty, political difficulty, isn't going to support them anymore and might support a whole lot of separatist movements since that seems to be the trend. All of Asia, you see, except the country we like to quote, which is Singapore, because that's our great ally out there - all of Asia has been quite appalled by the NATO aggression in Kosovo and fears that something like this is in store for all of them. Because everybody has got minorities somewhere that can be supported as a pretext for going in, you see. Now I don't think that's actually the case in Timor. I think it's somewhat different. However, the danger of announcing these great principles that are in fact not great principles at all but simply a pretext to go into one place which is strategically interesting namely the Balkans - that's the only place the United States wanted to go into right now, I mean later they might want to go into the Ukraine, Azerbaijan - they're interested in places that have oil reserves and so on - but this issue has nothing to do with great principles but of course they call on these great principles when they want to occupy a particular territory as they wanted to occupy Kosovo and set up NATO bases there. They dont want to set up NATO bases right now in East Timor, but they might later in someplace else around there, Sumatra or someplace else. I think in fact, with this Kosovo action the United States has initiated a long series of bloody wars. On the one hand encouraging minorities to think they can get some kind of self determination and on the other encouraging the states who dont want that to massacre the people who might ask for self-determination. Jared: The Portuguese seem very anxious to intervene directly. Diana: Well of course.
M-TH: Castro and Chavez play ball....
Venezuelan leader in Cuba for baseball, business 10:36 p.m. Nov 17, 1999 Eastern By Andrew Cawthorne HAVANA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Latin America's oldest and youngest ``revolutionary'' leaders, Fidel Castro from Cuba and Hugo Chavez from Venezuela, traded an effusive bearhug on Wednesday ahead of a showdown on the baseball field. Perhaps of more tangible benefit, the pair's state oil firms also appeared close to a deal to set up a joint venture at a disused Soviet-built oil refinery in southern Cuba. ``We are ready to start a joint work in the Cienfuegos refinery,'' Chavez told reporters, adding talks between Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) and Cuba Petroleo (CUPET) had ``advanced much more than we thought'' during the trip. Castro, 73, who led his 1959 Cuban Revolution when Chavez was just four, laid on a lavish military welcome ceremony for the Venezuelan leader in the morning before they entered talks at Revolution Palace in Havana. ``I am here to play baseball and do business,'' Chavez, 45, said of his stay in Cuba, which follows his attendance at an Ibero-American summit in Havana. Caracas has long considered investing in Cuba's small oil sector, and has also been leading efforts to increase supply lines to the fuel-needy Caribbean island. It was the third visit to Cuba by Chavez, immersed in his own self-styled ``peaceful revolution'' in Venezuela, but his first as president since taking power in February. Although the oil issue occupied behind-the-scenes negotiations between Venezuela and Cuba, most attention was fixed on Thursday's friendly baseball game at Havana's biggest stadium, the Latinoamericano. There, a full house of 45,000 mainly baseball-crazy Cubans are expected to watch Chavez pitch against a team of veteran local stars managed by Castro, also a keen fan and former player in his youth. In a region dominated by passion for soccer, Venezuelans and Cubans have made baseball their national sports. Chavez dashed straight for the stadium to walk the field and limber up upon arrival for the summit on Monday morning. The game comes as a light note in Cuba after the Ibero-American meeting, during which Castro's one-party system and denial of political space for dissidents came under scrutiny. Chavez has stayed well clear of that controversy. Asked this week if he would follow the example of other foreign leaders in Cuba and contact government opponents, Chavez replied: ``Me? On the baseball pitch is where I'm going to have contact. I don't have any other contact planned.'' On the oil joint venture, sources said the deal over the Cienfuegos refinery would be a smaller-scale project to make oil derivative products principally for the Cuban fuel market, rather than a major refurbishment of the plant. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters the operation would begin ``within a month, a month and a half more or less...to produce fuel for the island, and also go to the Caribbean and Venezuela.'' It is not thought to involve large investment figures. Both Venezuela and Cuba would provide crude for the project to make oil products such as lubricants, diesel, jet-fuel and kerosene for Cuba's expanding national market. A 1994 initiative to start up the Cienfuegos refinery, which has never operated commercially, involved a group of Mexican investors and was not successful. Chavez added that Cuba and Venezuela were also finalising rice, sugar, agriculture machinery, and fisheries' cooperation deals during bilateral talks that officially began Wednesday. Chavez, a former failed military coup leader, has left-wing roots and was cast by his rivals during Venezuela's election campaign as another Castro-in-waiting. Caracas has long opposed the 37-year-old U.S. economic embargo on Havana. ++ __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
