Russian FM: NATO Double Standards - Macedonia And Baltics [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Ivanov] pointed out Russian consternation with double standards used by the West for the language issue in Macedonia, whose ethnic Albanian community accounts for a mere 20 percent of the total population, and in the post-Soviet Baltics, where Russian speakers' percentage is spectacularly greater. None of those countries has ever been reproached for restricted use of the Russian language, and they are welcome to join the European Union and NATO July 19,2001, Thursday RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS AGAINST PROVISOS IMPOSED ON MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT ROME, JULY 18, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent Igor Poushkarsky) -- Macedonia has a lawfully elected democratic government, and whatever provisos imposed on it are inadmissible when serving the interests of particular forces, especially such whose activities violate available understandings, Igor Ivanov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, emphatically said following today's conference of the international contact group for former Yugoslavia. The conference gathered the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the U.K. and the USA. As Mr. Ivanov said to newsmen afterwards, the conferees had focused attention on the Macedonian issue in the context of negotiations underway between the government and Albanian ethnic minority spokesmen. The language issue is now in the foreground of the talks as ethnic Albanians insist on an official bilingual arrangement for Macedonia. If the government is forced into related concessions, they will breed a dangerous precedent, warned Igor Ivanov as he called to regard all current Macedonian developments in the context of their tentative influence on other Balkan countries. The minister pointed out Russian consternation with double standards used by the West for the language issue in Macedonia, whose ethnic Albanian community accounts for a mere 20 percent of the total population, and in the post-Soviet Baltics, where Russian speakers' percentage is spectacularly greater. None of those countries have ever been reproached for restricted use of the Russian language, and they are welcome to join the European Union and NATO, said Mr. Ivanov. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yugoslavia: National Assets On International Auction Block [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- First 16 Serbian Companies on International Tender BELGRADE, Jul 19, 2001 -- (dpa) Serbia has opened an international tender for 16 of its companies Wednesday, the first intended for privatization under the new law. The advertisement for the tender was also placed in the influential London-based Financial Times, Privatization Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic told reporters. Vlahovic added that the Privatization Agency, tasked with handling the sale of companies, was also established Wednesday. In his words, a tender for another 20 firms is planned for August, in cooperation with the World Bank, but that the figure of firms earmarked for tenders this year was at 40 at most. However, around 7,000 firms from the so-called social ownership would be placed on auctions early next year, Vlahovic added. (C)2001. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Annals of Humanitarian Intervention -- The Philippines [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- Tuesday, July 17, 2001 (SF Chronicle) Images of racism/ How 19th century U.S. media depicted Filipinos, other nonwhites as savages Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer Abe Ignacio said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the century-old illustration for sale on eBay.The cover of an 1899 issue of Judge magazine shows President William McKinley scrubbing a Filipino child saying, "Oh, you dirty boy!" The caption reads: "The Filipino's First Bath." Ignacio of San Leandro bought the rare image and others from the era that are now part of a Berkeley exhibit of depictions of Filipinos in mainstream media -- as savages to be civilized by the United States as part of the colonization of the Philippines. "It's revisiting a terrible period that most historians have ignored," said Ignacio, who works as a Federal Express driver and has collected about 400 images from that period. "It's important to show that there was a very ugly side to America's rise as a world power." "Colored: Black n' White," at exhibit at Pusod, a community arts and environmental center, includes drawings, editorial cartoons, photos and news clips from prominent magazines and newspapers that covered the U.S. annexation of the Philippines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was put together by Ignacio, his wife, Helen Toribio, who is a college instructor, and Jorge Emmanuel, an environmental scientist. The Philippines had declared its independence from Spain in 1898 when the archipelago was ceded to the United States for $20 million. Filipino revolutionaries rejected the U.S. colonial regime, but their resistance was suppressed in a bloody war of conquest that claimed at least 250,000 lives, mostly Filipino civilians. To justify the use of military force in the Philippines, many pro- annexation politicians, writers and artists portrayed the Filipinos as primitive, childlike and incapable of governing themselves. An August 1898 drawing from Puck magazine, which is part of the exhibit, shows a mother figure representing America accepting a basket of crying babies representing the Philippines and other nations conquered by United States, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. An 1899 illustration in Judge magazine shows a similar image with the caption "The White Man's Burden" -- a phrase coined by British writer Rudyard Kipling, who supported the U.S. bid to annex the Philippines.In 1899, the Boston Sunday Globe published an illustration depicting the supposed transformation of Filipinos under U.S. tutelage, from ignorant savages to civilized people who play baseball and wear Western clothes. A headline from the San Francisco Evening Post declared: "Filipinos Do Not Like Work."The collection includes clippings from two other San Francisco newspapers. "Manila Insurgents Routed With Great Slaughter/Two Hundred of Our Men Wounded, Natives Driven Into the River and Drowned," reads an 1899 headline in The Chronicle. "I Left Samar A Howling Wilderness," read a headline with an account of a U.S.-led massacre published in the Hearst-owned Examiner. The most striking illustrations in the collection came from Puck and Judge magazines. The publications are now defunct, but Professor Tom Leonard, university librarian of the University of California at Berkeley, said they were important and influential publications in the early 20th century, the equivalent of today's Time and Newsweek."They were major magazines and they were read by educated people," he said. "They were not fringe publications."U.S. media in the late 19th century were notorious for depicting nonwhite communities, including American minorities, as lower forms of people, Leonard said. Public opinion has progressed to the point that such depictions are "widely condemned" as inaccurate and unfair, he added. Ignacio said he believes racism is still a problem in America, citing the killing of Joseph Ileto, the Filipino American postal worker shot in Los Angeles two years ago by a white supremacist.Collecting the images was a personal journey for Ignacio. The son of Filipino immigrants, he endured racial taunts as a child growing up in San Diego."You actually begin to not like yourself and deny that," he said.Doing research on the Philippine American War helped him understand the roots of the racism. He began buying old magazine illustrations and cartoons at antique stores, bookstores and on the Internet."It was exciting, like a treasure hunt," he said. "You find important pieces to give people a full flavor of the racial sensibilities of the time."Many who have seen them were shoc
Yugoslav Naval Boat Fired On From Albanian Border Post [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- Yugoslav Naval Boat is Fired on From Albania BELGRADE, Jul 19, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) A Yugoslav naval vessel patrolling a lake separating Yugoslavia from Albania came under fire from the Albanian side, Yugoslav military headquarters said here Wednesday. No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred on Tuesday on Lake Skadar, a body of water straddling the border between Albania and the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro. Tanjug news agency quoted a Yugoslav military statement as saying the burst of automatic fire came from an Albanian border post at Tunel. No indication was given of the source of the gunfire. But the statement claimed the border post provided cover for smugglers. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse) __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Shocked": Judas Paid In Counterfeit Coins [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- Pravda.Ru July 19, 2001 The ruling coalition of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia is too tied up with the West. And only the West will manage to save them from their compatriots' anger in the future SERBIAN PREMIER SHOCKED: MILOSEVIC GIVEN UP, LOAN IS NOT COMING The Western aid to Yugoslavia is being delayed for an unspecified time. It looks like a $1.28bn loan, agreed at the latest conference of donor countries, is not going to reach Yugoslavia. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, the chief initiator of Slobodan Milosevics controversial extradition, has already admitted that he is shocked with the farce called the Western aid. Really, out of $300m of humanitarian aid, which are to have arrived in Yugoslavia the coming August, as little as $75m may arrive, and not in August, but in November at the best. The rest of this amount will be suspended by the international community to repay the debts of the former Yugoslavia. We did not put forward any preconditions for Milosevics handover to the Hague and thus showed readiness to being integrated into the international community, said Mr. Djindjic in an interview to the Der Spiegel German weekly. It turns out, however, that the international community does not want to meet us halfway, Mr. Djindjic complained. He warned that if Serbia did not immediately get the financial aid, we coud see demonstration and unrest being there as early as in September, since we will not be able to deliver on our promises. It looks like the Serbian premier has grown aware of the fact that he was to quick to celebrate the victory. It is clear that the Milosevic handover is not enough for the West and that this should be consolidated by a dozen of other military criminals. Moreover, the state machinery is supposed to be cleared of the former presidents supporters (which is easier said than done). All in all, there should be guarantees that the Serbian ruling elite is completely free from nationalistic elements. Only then, given favourable circumstances, a long-awaited aid may finally come in. Generally speaking, the Serbian government seems to have only one way out of this predicament to keep on pressing for cooperation with EU and USA (often, even if unilaterally). The ruling coalition of Democratic Opposition of Serbia is too tied up with the West. And only the West will manage to save them from their compatriots anger in the future. SERGEI STEPHANOV PRAVDA.Ru __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FRY: Western-Directed Purges Intensify [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [A headless corpse in Ukraine, mysterious death squads in Belarus, shadowy paramilitaries in Macedonia who disappear as soon as they're concocted, grotesque horror stories from Yugoslavia, trumped up embezzlement charges, etc., etc. We all know whose stock in trade it is to create or fabricate such incidents, and who has been doing so for the past fifty three years. I hope everyone has had the chance to read the feature from yesterday's Russian Observer about the Zbigniew Brzezinski-led "Milosevic scenario" planned for both Belarus and Ukraine, which is marked for violent partition, just as Macedonia now is. The Grand Plan for dismembering and occupying wides swathes of Eastern Europe is intensifying at breakneck pace. Be alert and question everything you read from established sources - even more than usual.] Thursday July 19 9:16 AM ET Former Serbian Interior Minister Is Charged BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serbian police source confirmed a report on Thursday that the Interior Ministry has filed preliminary charges of abuse of office against Vlajko Stojiljkovic, its leader under ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The former interior minister and three others are accused of illegally providing a Milosevic-era secret police chief with a home and using state cash to furnish and decorate it, the source said. Stojiljkovic is also wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where Milosevic is awaiting trial. Belgrade's deputy district prosecutor told the Politika Daily newspaper that his office was looking into the police charges. Under the Serbian justice system, the Interior Ministry can file preliminary charges but it is up to the prosecutor to decide whether they are justified. Stojiljkovic, his former deputy Petar Zekovic, former secret police chief Radomir Markovic and his deputy Nikola Curcic were all accused of causing material damage to the police of around half a million U.S. dollars, the source said. ``We filed preliminary criminal charges and now it´s up to the prosecutor to decide on whether there is enough evidence to start court proceedings,´´ the source, who demanded anonymity, told Reuters. If convicted, the four face a jail term from six months to 10 years. The reformers who ousted Milosevic last October have launched investigations into many of the former president's associates on suspicion of crimes ranging from corruption to multiple murder. Earlier this month, Markovic and Curcic were sentenced to a year and 14 months respectively for revealing state secrets, becoming the first senior Milosevic allies to be convicted since the downfall of their authoritarian patron. Milosevic and Stojiljkovic were charged in May 1999 along with three other senior state officials with crimes against humanity in connection with the mass killing and expulsions of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serb forces under their command. Stojiljkovic is a deputy in the federal Yugoslav parliament for Milosevic's Socialist Party and as such enjoys immunity from prosecution. But the parliament could vote to strip him of immunity on the request of a prosecutor. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FRY: Western-Directed Purges Intensify [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [A headless corpse in Ukraine, mysterious death squads in Belarus, shadowy paramilitaries in Macedonia who disappear as soon as they're concocted, grotesque horror stories from Yugoslavia, trumped up embezzlement charges, etc., etc. We all know whose stock in trade it is to create or fabricate such incidents, and who has been doing so for the past fifty three years. I hope everyone has had the chance to read the feature from yesterday's Russian Observer about the Zbigniew Brzezinski-led "Milosevic scenario" planned for both Belarus and Ukraine, which is marked for violent partition, just as Macedonia now is. The Grand Plan for dismembering and occupying wides swathes of Eastern Europe is intensifying at breakneck pace. Be alert and question everything you read from established sources - even more than usual.] Thursday July 19 9:16 AM ET Former Serbian Interior Minister Is Charged BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serbian police source confirmed a report on Thursday that the Interior Ministry has filed preliminary charges of abuse of office against Vlajko Stojiljkovic, its leader under ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The former interior minister and three others are accused of illegally providing a Milosevic-era secret police chief with a home and using state cash to furnish and decorate it, the source said. Stojiljkovic is also wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where Milosevic is awaiting trial. Belgrade's deputy district prosecutor told the Politika Daily newspaper that his office was looking into the police charges. Under the Serbian justice system, the Interior Ministry can file preliminary charges but it is up to the prosecutor to decide whether they are justified. Stojiljkovic, his former deputy Petar Zekovic, former secret police chief Radomir Markovic and his deputy Nikola Curcic were all accused of causing material damage to the police of around half a million U.S. dollars, the source said. ``We filed preliminary criminal charges and now it´s up to the prosecutor to decide on whether there is enough evidence to start court proceedings,´´ the source, who demanded anonymity, told Reuters. If convicted, the four face a jail term from six months to 10 years. The reformers who ousted Milosevic last October have launched investigations into many of the former president's associates on suspicion of crimes ranging from corruption to multiple murder. Earlier this month, Markovic and Curcic were sentenced to a year and 14 months respectively for revealing state secrets, becoming the first senior Milosevic allies to be convicted since the downfall of their authoritarian patron. Milosevic and Stojiljkovic were charged in May 1999 along with three other senior state officials with crimes against humanity in connection with the mass killing and expulsions of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serb forces under their command. Stojiljkovic is a deputy in the federal Yugoslav parliament for Milosevic's Socialist Party and as such enjoys immunity from prosecution. But the parliament could vote to strip him of immunity on the request of a prosecutor. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: How to cut health care costs? Philip Morris has the answer [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- Tony Blair being the opportunist and in need to cut the spiralling costs of our NHS service may see this as way forward. Free tobacco products via the NHS prescriptions! jacques -Original Message- From: Sandeep Vaidya (LMI) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday July 18 2001 12:19 To: STOPNATO (E-mail) Subject: How to cut health care costs? Philip Morris has the answer [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- Critics Assail Philip Morris Report on Smoking Lee Dembart International Herald Tribune Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Tobacco Giant's Analysis Says Premature Deaths Cut Costs in Pensions and Health Care The tobacco giant Philip Morris was flayed Tuesday for an economic analysis concluding that smoking is good for government coffers because it causes people to die prematurely, thereby saving pension and health care costs. In a report to the government of the Czech Republic that was made public Monday, the tobacco company estimated that the net economic benefit of smoking there was about 5.82 billion koruna ($147.1 million) in 1999. The report put the company's argument starkly: "Our principal finding is that the negative financial effects of smoking - such as increased health care costs - are more than offset by positive effects such as excise tax and value-added taxes collected on tobacco products." The monetary estimate of benefits was based on the fact that the average smoker dies 4.3 years to 5.23 years earlier than a nonsmoker and is therefore less of an economic drain. The report, which was prepared by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little International, appeared to be one of the first direct acknowledgments by a tobacco company that smoking kills. The industry has previously recognized that cigarettes cause serious diseases, including cancer, but this report accepted without argument that smokers die prematurely. The report also acknowledged that second-hand smoke can be a health threat to nonsmokers. The British-based group Action on Smoking and Health said the study was "a sort of extermination program for the newly retired." "The whole exercise is repellent and should be dismissed," said John Connolly, its public affairs manager. "Philip Morris is whispering in the ear of the Czech government, saying: 'Look, we can help you deal with those expensive old people, so why don't you go easy on controlling smoking?'" Philip Morris, which makes 80 percent of the cigarettes sold in the Czech Republic, said it received the report in November and gave it to the Czech government recently in response to Health Ministry claims that smoking constitutes an economic drain. The company said that the report was only intended as economic data. "We deeply regret any impression that premature death of smokers could represent a benefit for society," Remi Calvet, communications director for Philip Morris at European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, said in a statement. "Tobacco is a controversial industry, but we are still an industry and sometimes we need some economic data on our industry." Ales Janku, head of public relations at Philip Morris, Czech Republic, said the company thought Parliament was going to raise taxes on cigarettes in an effort to harmonize taxes with the European Union. Czech cigarette taxes are 42 percent compared with EU recommendations of 59 percent. Otakar Cerny, a spokesman for the Czech Health Ministry, dismissed such arguments. "No government can calculate with reports like that," he said. "The health minister leads an irreconcilable struggle with smoking so that Czech citizens live long and healthy lives." In a statement released in Washington, Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said, "Philip Morris's cost-benefit analysis of the consequence of smoking represents not only bad economics but a callous disregard for life." Michelle Di Leo of the British Lung Foundation asked, "What will Philip Morris argue next, that we should put people down at 50 because it would save us all a lot of money on health care?"
Zimbabwe: 'Milosevic Scenario' Escalates [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- The mission includes officials from the United Nations, the European Commission and the World BankThe U.S. Congress is considering a bill that would impose travel restrictions on Mugabe and other top officials Thursday July 19, 9:22 PM UN-led team expected in Zimbabwe for talks on land HARARE, July 19 (AFP) - An international team organized by the United Nations is expected to visit Zimbabwe next month in another bid to find a solution to the government's violence-wracked land reforms, diplomats here said Thursday. The mission includes officials from the United Nations, the European Commission and the World Bank, Western diplomats in Harare said, confirming a report in the weekly Financial Gazette. The team will urge Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to return to a scheme the government and international donors had agreed to in 1998, under which donors would provide money to buy land from white Zimbabwean farmers for resettlement with black farmers. That scheme, which would have bought land from willing sellers, has been sidelined since the violent invasions of white-owned farms began in February last year. Veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation have led militant government supporters and youths in the often violent occupations of hundreds of white-owned farms, in a politically charged campaign that has fuelled the nation's economic recession. Donors have suspended their aid because of the government's inaction in cracking down on crimes committed during the farm invasions, which supporters say are a protest at the slow pace of land reform in Zimbabwe. The reforms aim to correct colonial-era imbalances that have left the tiny white minority owning a disproportionate amount of prime farmland. The government originally said it aimed to resettle about five million hectares (12.3 million acres), or slightly less than half the white-owned land. But the government has since earmarked the vast majority of white-owned farms for its so-called "fast-track" resettlement scheme, under which tens of thousands of landless blacks have been resettled in the past year. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week said he hoped it was not too late to intervene in the land dispute in Zimbabwe. "I hope that, even though things have moved as fast as they have, that it is not too late to take measures to calm the situation so that agricultural production can be continued and those who need to be resettled can be resettled," Annan told reporters in Lusaka. The Commonwealth is also organizing a separate mission to Zimbabwe, under a compromise deal brokered by Nigeria and Kenya. The US Congress is considering a bill that would impose travel restrictions on Mugabe and other top officials for failing to end the lawlessness in the countryside. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fwd: Andean News Update [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- [DynCorp has been implicated in flying attack helicopters during operations in southern Colombia against the FARC. This wouldn't be the first time that US organizations tied to the US State Department would be implicated in drug trafficking. Of course Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine is by no means an "independent" body, as it is state controlled, and any confirmation that DynCorp was involved in heroin smuggling would completely deligitimize the US presence in the region! Thus the clean bill of health. Nonetheless these allegations should be followed closely because they are more than likely to continue re-appearing over the coming years] Colombians clear U.S. firm of heroin suspicion BOGOTA, Colombia, July 16 (Reuters) - Colombian investigators have cleared a U.S. firm that is playing a key role in a massive anti-drug offensive of suspicions that some of its workers might have been sending heroin to the United States. An official at Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine said on Monday that new tests had shown that motor oil samples sent by Reston, Virginia-based State Department contractor DynCorp did not contain illegal drugs. The U.S. Embassy said last week that an initial test at Bogota airport in May 2000 had detected what could have been heroin in two motor oil samples. The company regularly sent samples of oil to its offices at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida for maintenance purposes, but the find raised suspicions that someone might be trying to smuggle heroin. DynCorp supplies crop dusting pilots and other personnel in the Plan Colombia anti-cocaine offensive, which is the recipient of about $1 billion in mainly military U.S. aid. The embassy said last week it had not been informed of the results of the new, more accurate tests, which the institute carried out the same month that suspicions emerged. Institute officials and Colombia's National Police, which had requested the tests, said last week that they did not know what the results had been. 18:19 07-16-01 [The OCP Pipeline mentioned in the article below has met huge public sector and civil society disaproval in Ecuador. As you will see bellow, there is a very CANADIAN element to all this. Alberta Energy Corp is the main interest holder in OCP's construction. Local and environmental groups have been particularly vociferous in opposing the proposed "northern route" for this pipeline citing the fact that it crosses 90+ seismic fault lines and through the Mindo nature preserve (which has one of the world's largest concentrations of bird species, many of them unique to the region) as evidence that the pipeline poses a serious environmental threat. Furthermore as Ecuadorian Armed Forces, with the assistance of US military advisors begin undertaking operations to cut the guerrillas lines of communication in norther Ecuador, it is feared that the FARC will retaliate by hitting the pipelines. This is a further source of potential problems. Finally, the groups opposing the "northern route" have proposed an alternate route to the south - which would be more expensive - but the potential environmental impact a lot lower.] AEC Enters New Growth Era in Ecuador with Start of OCP Pipeline Construction CALGARY, July 18 /PRNewswire/ - Alberta Energy Company Ltd. has embarked on a major oil growth initiative in the South American nation of Ecuador, founded upon the start of construction of the 450,000 barrel per day Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP Pipeline). On July 5, OCP started building the 500-kilometre, US$1.2 billion pipeline after receiving final regulatory approvals in late June. "This is a watershed event for the future of Ecuador. The start of construction illustrates the vision and foresight of the people of Ecuador, the Government of Ecuador and the partners in the OCP consortium. For more than a decade, lack of export capacity has prevented Ecuador from realizing the economic potential of its petroleum resources. The OCP Pipeline is a vital building block for the future of Ecuador. It will double Ecuador's oil pipeline capacity and encourage new investment. By mid 2003, new volumes of oil will be flowing to international markets," said Gwyn Morgan, AEC's President and Chief Executive Officer. OCP recently signed a fixed-price, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Techint International Construction Corp., an international engineering and construction company based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The pipeline will run from Ecuador's interior oil fields, across the Andes Mountains, to a port on the Pacific Ocean. AEC is the largest interest
Macedonia: UCK/KLA Massing For New Offensive [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- Thursday July 19, 7:13 PM Ethnic Albanian rebels massing across north and west Macedonia: Skopje SKOPJE, July 19 (AFP) - Ethnic Albanian guerrillas are regrouping across the north and west of Macedonia, the defence ministry said Thursday as talks to find a way out of the six-month crisis faltered. Shooting erupted in several northern areas as guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA) were spotted mustering as far afield as Struga, near the southwestern border with Albanian, and Tanusevci, a former stronghold on the northern border with Kosovo, a ministry statement said. The NLA opened rifle fire on police positions in villages around the northwestern town of Tetovo late Wednesday and early Thursday, and uniformed fighters were spotted in the town itself, the ministry said. No injuries were reported. Firing targeted police at a checkpoint near the stadium in the mainly Albanian town, with shots coming from Drenovec on the edge of Tetovo and a number of other Albanian villages. The ministry said that men in civilian clothes had been spotted hauling covered crates into mosques in what appeared to be preparation for renewed fighting. Eight fighters also attacked a police checkpoint at a petrol station near the northern town of Kumanovo, close to villages held by the rebels in the foothills of the Black Mountains between Kumanovo and Skopje. They were driven off without any casualties, the ministry said. For the first time a group of 15 rebels were sighted near the Matka dam on the southwestern fringes of Skopje, where the army has heavily reinforced its garrison in recent weeks. Other guerrillas were seen moving for the first time near Radusce, 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Skopje, where the capital's water supply is stored in reservoirs. And for the first time a group of fighters was seen near Struga, a town just 10 kilometres from the Albania on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the ministry said. Macedonian troops also opened fire on a group of rebels trying to enter the country from Kosovo. They were replused after a brief firefight near the village of Tanusevci, where the rebellion first erupted in February. The widespread regrouping came after two bomb blasts in the capital left one woman injured, while the governmental coordinating committee overseeing military aspects of a fragile ceasefire confirmed that three Macedonian men had been abducted Wednesday by a group of 11 armed NLA fighters near Tetovo. Political talks among Macedonian Slav and ethnic Albanian political leaders foundered late Wedenesday, with both sides saying they were drawing the line on further concessions. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Macedonia's Capital, Second City Under Attack; NATO Chiefs Postpone Visit [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- NATO, EU chiefs postpone Macedonia trip as bombs rock capital SKOPJE, July 19 (AFP) - NATO chief George Robertson and EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana postponed a trip to Macedonia on Thursday as two bomb blasts rocked Skopje and talks to solve the six-month ethnic Albanian uprising became bogged down in a storm of recriminations targeting Western mediators. The defence ministry said in a statement Albanian rebels from the National Liberation Army (NLA) were regrouping across the north and west, firing on police near the northwestern town of Tetovo and showing up for the first time near the southwestern border with Albania. Robertson and Solana put off a joint two-day trip that was to have started on Thursday, deeming the situation there too difficult, Solana's spokeswoman Christina Gallach said. "Their trip depends on the situation on the ground," she said. "They prefer to wait because the situation is very difficult in Macedonia." News of the postponement came a day after Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski accused the West, which has been sponsoring strained peace talks in Skopje, of supporting ethnic Albanian rebels fighting the government. He accused EU and US envoys Francois Leotard and James Pardew of creating "a scenario for fracturing Macedonia" between its Slav majority and large ethnic Albanian community. The Macedonian Slav leaders and press accused the Western envoys of backing demands -- shared by both the Albanian political leaders and the rebels -- to grant Albanian the status of a second official language and giving local police extra jurisdiction. The Macedonians see in both moves an attempt to split the country into two separate ethnic entities, something they refuse to countenance. The envoys rejected the charges, while in Washington the State Department said the West repected Macedonia's territorial integrity. "We are trying to help as much as possible to come out with a political solution," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, calling the charges "truly untrue". Meanwhile the leader of the main ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia's coalition government accused Macedonian Slav parties of trying to restart from square one the difficult two-week discussions on boosting Albanian rights. "The Macedonians want to go back to the positions held at the start," said Arben Xhaferi, the president of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA). Zamir Dika, head of the parliamentary group of DPA deputies, warned there was no time to start over again with the slow-moving dialogue, with the strained ceasefire between the rebels and the army already showing signs of unravelling. "If we have this situation much longer we will have civil war," he said. Violence seemed to be gaining momentum again as two bomb explosions rocked the capital late on Wednesday and early on Thursday. Two handmade devices planted under a car injured a Macedonian woman, while a blast in a shopping centre in a mainly Albanian district caused substantial damage but no injuries. No one claimed responsibility for the explosions. Meanwhile the defence ministry accused the NLA of exploiting the two-week ceasefire, brokered by NATO to give the political talks a chance. It said the guerrillas were regrouping across the north and west of the country. Firing targeted police checkpoints from Albanian villages on the edge of Tetovo in the northwest, while uniformed fighters were seen in the predominantly Albanian town itself, the ministry said. Men in civilian clothes were also spotted by security forces stockpiling crates in mosques in the area, the ministry said, hinting that the rebels were preparing for a renewed escalation if the talks failed to bear fruit soon. A defence spokesman said on Wednesday a new escalation was possible in "crisis zones" where the guerrillas are active. NLA guerrillas were also spotted for the first time near Struga, a town close to the southwestern border with Albania, and near water reservoirs just west of the capital Skopje. Groups of rebels also opened fire on a police checkpoint at a petrol station close to the northern town of Kumanovo, while the army opened fire and repulsed another group of fighter strying to cross near the northern hill village of Tanusevci, where the rebellion broke out in February. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Where The World Is Heading [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ListBot SponsorSopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay.http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay A Poor Understanding Of Where The World Is Heading By Charley Reese © 2001 Orlando Sentinel http://orlandosentinel.com 7-19-1 The president says that a key part of his foreign policy will be to alleviate poverty in foreign countries. Horse apples. Number one, foreign countries are not his responsibility. Number two, he doesn't have the ability to alleviate poverty even in his own country, much less somebody else's. Number three, the very globalist free-trade policies he advocates are causing some of the poverty in foreign countries as well as our own. Number four, U.S. meddling in the internal affairs of foreign countries has greatly contributed to bad government and poverty. Does he think we are helping to alleviate poverty in Iraq with bombings and sanctions? Does he think we bear no responsibility for the poverty in Yugoslavia caused by our sanctions and our bombing? Does he think supporting all the African dictators we supported so they would sell out their country's interests to U.S. multinational corporations was alleviating poverty? Does he think encouraging American manufacturers to move their jobs overseas is helping to alleviate poverty either in the United States or in the foreign country where workers have to live on sweat-shop wages? Does he think we made any advances toward alleviating poverty in Panama when his Daddy killed 3,000 Panamanians in order to arrest one little guy who had been on our payroll for years? Does he think he's helping to deal with poverty in Africa by giving Israel (which has a higher per-capita income than Spain) $3 billion a year? That happens to be more than all the aid the U.S. gives to sub-Sahara African countries combined. Does he think he's going to alleviate poverty by spending $8 billion on an anti-missile system that's going to force a new nuclear-arms race? Does he think we're fighting poverty by being the world's number one arms peddler? Does he think we're fighting poverty when we browbeat Third World countries, desperate for schools and clean water, to buy high-tech American weapons? And if he thinks he has to visit Africa to find poverty, I would suggest he visit the Mississippi Delta area or any of the slums that blight most American cities. And most of all I wish he would read his damned oath of office and tell us where it says he was elected president of the world. And read the Constitution and tell us where it says politicians can tax the labor and sweat of the American people and give the money away to foreign governments. By God, I'm sick of this pseudo-philanthropic, pseudo-compassion-for-the-world bilge which spews forth from the mouths of our politicians like the filth that comes out a broken sewer pipe. I supported George Bush because I thought he was a decent man and his opponent was not. I'm sorry to say, however, that after six months in office, I have to say that Vladimir Putin has been a better president for Russia than Bush has been for America. Putin seems to know which country elected him, to which country he owes his loyalty and which people are his responsibilities. Morally, Putin is right about the ballistic missiles, and right about the sanctions against Iraq. I'm rather tired of presidents who seem to think they are either deputy prime ministers of Israel or emperors of the world. In the meantime, our economy grows less fast than either the Russian or the Chinese economies. Our public schools deteriorate, our infrastructure grows increasingly old and in need of replacement, and our borders are rendered practically non-existent while our prisons are jammed to the gills. That prison population, by the way, is 62 percent black and other minorities. I would say that indicates a problem that both Bush and the NCAAP might consider working on rather than knocking down old Confederate monuments. Nobody in public office seems predisposed to acknowledge a basic truth. We have two conflicting forces at work in the world. One is population growth and the need for jobs paying a living wage. The other is corporate consolidation and automation, which are eliminating jobs. Now you don't have to be a graduate in higher mathematics to figure out that if viable jobs are shrinking and the population which needs them is growing, something real bad is going to happen in the political and social arena in the near future. The day when people were willing to politely and silently starve to death while their "betters" gorged themselves inside fortified compounds is gone. Unless we address this imba
Turkey: Statement on Prisoner Resistance [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . - Original Message - From: kazanacagiz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 12:44 AM Subject: DHKC statement Date: July 17, 2001 Statement: 200 URGENT APPEAL To all anti-imperialists, anti-globalizationists, anti-capitalists, anti-fascists and all those who are on the side of labour and freedom, to all Marxist-Leninists and all progressive institutions and people. THE MASSACRE AND RESISTANCE CONTINUES IN THE PRISONS OF TURKEY. WE URGE YOU TO PUT THE RESISTANCE ON YOUR AGENDA AND TO SUPPORT IT! Between 1999-2000 the f type prisons were constructed in our country with the approval of America and Europe. The revolutionary prisoners and the forces outside started the death fast after having tried all possible democratic ways to close down the F type prisons. The hunger strike started by the prisoners of the trials of DHKP-C, TKP(ML) and TKIP on 20th October 2000 was turned into a death fast on the 19th of November 2000. 204 death fast resisters were participating in the first two death fast teams, of which 131 belong to the DHKP-C and about 1000 prisoners went on a support hunger strike. On the 60th day of the death fast, December 19th, the state launched a simultaneous operation in 22 prisons. It massacred 28 prisoners by burning and shooting them. It has injured hundreds of them. It opened the F types. In the middle of the massacre and the torture the prisoners who were transferred to the F types were thrown into the cells. But they couldn't break the resistance. The resistance continued by drawing in a wider section of society. Several political groups who had not participated in the death fast earlier now also joined the death fast. The murderous government, who wasn't able to break the resistance with massacres, torture and isolation cells, tried to break the resistance with forced medical intervention. More than 60 prisoners were left handicapped as a result of this torture. Finally the government released the resisters whom they had left handicapped and who were on the brink of death, in order to break the resistance. The released DHKP-C prisoners have continued their resistance on the outside. Two of them, Gokhan Ococak and Sevgi Erdogan fell martyred. Tens of released death fast resisters are continuing their resistance in the poor Gecekondu shantytowns in our country. THIS IS THE RESULT, To date we have given 60 martyrs, both inside and outside of the prisons and more than 60 of our people remain handicapped, mainly suffering from memory loss, the so-called Wernicke Korsakoff disease. The resistance continues both inside and outside of the prisons. We continue to give martyrs. The numbers and data relating to the balance of our resistance, and the stages through which our resistance has gone through, has now entered into the fourth season. This in itself is enough to show the dimension of the oppression and the size of the resistance. To all those who are against imperialism, fascism, isolation and torture. The F-type prisons are part of the plan, which is being used by America and Europe to destroy the resistance and the revolutionaries against imperialism in all countries, and to make reality their plan of globalization and the New World Order. Our resistance is against this plan, the IMF, the World Bank and the colonialisation that is presented under the name of globalisation. For this reason this resistance belongs to all of us. For this reason isolation is a matter of concern for the whole world. Therefore we are calling upon you not only to give your support but also to take this resistance as your own. We are calling the prisoners of different countries in the world, all anti-imperialists and progressive forces, for action. We appeal to you to put on the agenda at Genoa the massacre in the prisons of Turkey and the resistance, which has entered the fourth season. Day by day people are dying inside and outside of the prisons. Capitalism, the IMF and isolation are killing. There's not even a second to loose. Imperialism wants to split, divide and weaken us. We call all people of the world, all progressives, anti-fascists and anti-imperialists to unite and to destroy this game, and to support and enlarge together all kinds of resistance against tyranny. REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL
All to Genoa (appeal by Italian Communists) [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . - Original Message - From: secr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 11:36 PM Subject: [mobilize-globally] All to Genoa (appeal by Italian Communists) Subject: [UK_Left_Network] All to Genoa (appeal by Italian Communists) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 16:32:40 - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] All to Genoa against the G8 For a communist alternative to capitalist barbarism! http://www.marxist.com/Globalisation/all_to_genoa.html (an appeal from the Editorial Board of the Italian Marxist journal FalceMartello http://www.marxismo.net ) Only a few weeks away from the anti-G8 demonstration in Genoa, few people have any doubts that this is going to be a mass demonstration. On July 21st some 200,000 people are expected to turn out. The security forces will do their utmost to physically stop them from arriving in Genoa. The 'red zone' is already being policed by 20,000 officers who check 241 selected routes where even the local residents need a special pass to cross. The manhole lids have been welded down, the harbour will be shut, as well as the train station and the airport, which will only be open to special flights bringing in the G8 delegates. Of all the demonstrations of the "Seattle movement", Genoa is expected to be the biggest. What are the social ingredients that have transformed this movement from a protest limited to a few thousand people into a mass event of such dimensions? Over the last ten years the bourgeois have been on a neo-liberal binge: they have repeatedly promised that many benefits would flow from the process of European unification, the policies of the IMF, the World Bank, the policy of balanced budgets applied by all governments, the destruction of the welfare state and the attacks on the workers' rights and living conditions. Now that the binge is over, all that is left is a massive headache. There is a paradox here. The past period has been one in which the leaders of the labour movement have least challenged the capitalist system, and yet at the same time it has been an unstable period with an accumulation of enormous contradictions within the capitalist system. Whilst the concentration and production of wealth world-wide has reached unheard of levels, the living standards of billions of people have worsened. Between 1995 and 2000 the combined wealth of the world increased by six times while the average income and life expectancy of the people in 100 countries around the world have gone down. The worst relative decline has been precisely in the United States themselves. The US economy is about to end its longest period of growth since the Second World War. But this has been a boom which has not had any positive effect on the living standards of the American masses. While the richest 1% of the US population owns 40% of the national wealth (an unprecedented figure), 35% of American workers, even though they have a job, live below the poverty line. It was not by chance that the movement itself started in the USA. As the liberal economist and former editor of Sole 24ore, [Italian financial journal, similar to the British Financial Times] Deaglio recognises, the amount of people who think that the globalised economy is the worse of all possible evils is rapidly increasing. This process inevitably had to find an expression in a mass movement, sooner or later. That's what has happened since Seattle. Apart from the international factors that propel this movement, there are a number of national [Italian] factors that also contribute to it. Since 1991 the Italian workers have been swamped by the logic of 'social partnership' put forward by their own organisations. The centre-left government represented the high point of this period. The Prodi government, that came to power as a result of the long wave of the movement against Berlusconi in 1994, very soon shattered all the expectations and hopes of millions of people who had looked to the centre-left. The period of 1996-98 was one of profound shock. With the willing participation of all the main labour movement organisations, almost all the past gains of 20 years of struggle have been rolled back. Between 1996 and 1998, 10% of privatisations worldwide took place in Italy. The 'Treu package' introduced a rapid casualisation of the labour market. The Turco-Napolitano bill led to the expulsion of 90,000 immigrants. The counter-reform of the education system destroyed the already slim right to study, with the allocation of publi
US missile test denounced by Vietnam Peace Committee [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . .US missile test denounced by Vietnam Peace CommitteeThe Vietnam Peace Committee has denounced the United States for a recent missile test as a danger to the current global structure of nuclear weapons disarmament, thus threatening to create a new arms race in the world. The committee said in a statement: "The United States' intercept test on July 15 as part of its national missile defence move has threatened to break the current global structure of non-proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons, which was built on principles of the anti-ballistic missile treaty signed by the United States and the former Soviet Union in 1972. The test runs counter to the trend for peace and co-operation of the time and does nothing to promote world peace and security, and it will pose a danger of creating an arms race in the world." "The Vietnam Peace Committee and the Vietnamese people, together with peace-loving people the world over strongly denounce this action. The Vietnam Peace Committee will continue with peace activities to contribute to the struggle for a complete disarmament, particularly of nuclear weapons," the statement concluded. (VNA) _ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
US & EU at odds over Trade Billions [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . [Nerver in the history of 'free trade' has there been so much trade war...Bill] - Original Message - From: John Clancy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Cc: Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 2:23 PM Subject: Guardian:US loses trade case in EU. Australia-Kyoto from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Guardian: US loses trade case in EU. Australia-Kyoto Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Washington Post / Fear of punitive sanctions after U.S. loses trade case to Europe / Paul Blustein >Fear of punitive sanctions after U.S. loses trade case to Europe >Paul Blustein > >The United States lost an international trade case to the European Union last week that could result in billions of dollars of punitive duties on U.S. exports to Europe, according to industry and official sources. Such sanctions, if imposed, would far exceed any that have been allowed in previous cases decided by the World Trade Organization, which has handed its confidential decision to the U.S. and EU governments. The decision involves a $4 billion tax break for U.S. exporters that a WTO panel found to be an export subsidy that violates international trade rules. Because of the amounts of money at stake, the ruling threatens seriously to inflame transatlantic tensions and could set back efforts to launch a new round of negotiations to lower trade barriers worldwide. U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick exhorted European officials last month to settle the dispute, warning that "it would be like using a nuclear weapon" on the global trading system if the EU were to win the case and fully exercise its right to impose sanctions. A U.S. appeal of the decision is virtually certain and would take months. But if that ruling goes in the EU's favor, Washington would face a painful prospect: If the United States failed to abandon or substantially alter its export tax system, the EU would be entitled to $4 billion in "compensation." That could involve duties of 100 percent and possibly more on selected U.S. products, enough to price the American products out of the Euro pean market. It is impossible to say which U.S. products might be subject to European sanctions, because WTO rules give the winner of a case considerable leeway in deciding how to take its compensation. Many of the companies that would be vulnerable would presumably be among the hundreds of U.S. multinationals, such as General Electric, Boeing, Caterpillar and Microsoft that benefit from the tax break in dispute. The duties would hurt European importers, too, which is why companies on both sides of the Atlantic have been urging a negotiated settlement. Zoellick and his EU counterpart, Pascal Lamy, have expressed determination to keep the issue from damaging broader relations, but both are under severe pressure to stick to their guns. Congress rewrote the export tax law last year when a previous version was ruled illegal by a WTO panel, and lawmakers are loath to change the current law. On the European side, many policymakers feel strongly that the United States shouldn't be allowed to wriggle out of WTO rulings. Moreover, the ruling comes at a time when ties between Washington and Brussels are under strain because of disagreements over environmental and defense issues and the recent opposition by EU antitrust authorities to a proposed $45 billion merger of GE and Honeywell International Inc. "This is a very dangerous case because of the size of any retaliation that might follow a U.S. loss," said Willard Berry, president of the European-American Business Council. "It's clear that both EU and U.S. companies would be terribly hurt." U.S. exports to the EU totaled $152bn last year. Although $4bn might seem small by comparison, it would dwarf the $191m in sanctions that Washington imposed on European products in a recently settled dispute over bananas and the $117m in sanctions that remain on European products in another EU-U.S. dispute over hormone-treated beef. In another development that does not augur well for transatlantic trade, Zoellick formally asked the U.S. International Trade Commission for a broad investigation into whether increased imports are causing serious damage to the U.S. steel industry. The independent commission could issue a finding that would lead to stiff duties on steel imports. The Guardian Weekly 28-6-2001, page 32 >
70% of Britain Fears US-Driven Arms Race [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . - Original Message - From: Abolition 2000 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: mobilize-globally <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 12:59 PM Subject: [mobilize-globally] 70% of Britain Fears US-Driven Arms Race Press Release 18 July 2001 70% of Britain Fears US-Driven Arms Race A majority of the British public believes that America's controversial plan to build a missile defence system will start a new arms race, make nuclear disarmament harder to achieve, and may even make the United Kingdom a military target, according to a new opinion poll.* The poll, conducted by MORI on behalf of a coalition of UK-based arms control organisations,** shows that 70% of Britons agree that: "The development of the US missile defence system will encourage other countries to build more advanced nuclear weapons". Over 60% of those surveyed also believe that international agreement on nuclear disarmament would be harder to achieve in the wake of US plans to deploy the system. President George W. Bush arrives in the United Kingdom today for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two leaders are expected to discuss missile defence plans which will be likely to involve the use of UK-based facilities. The British government recently confirmed the completion of two new radomes at RAF Menwith Hill in Yorkshire. The radomes form part of the ground relay station for a network of satellites and will likely become an integral part of a future US missile defence system. However, a forceful 72% of those polled feel that such a move could make the United Kingdom a target for an attack directed at the United States' system. In addition, while over half of those surveyed feel that denying use of UK-based radar facilities to be used in the system may harm transatlantic relations, less than a third think that it is in Britain's best interest to cooperate. President Bush arrives in Europe buoyed by the successful intercept of a dummy warhead in a test early Sunday morning, and his administration is determined to press ahead with the controversial project in the face of strong international opposition. Allies were informed recently of Washington's plans to violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty "in months, not years". Dan Plesch, Director of BASIC, one of the NGOs who commissioned the poll, said: "The involvement of UK facilities would represent the biggest shift in UK strategic orientation since the World War II, yet Blair has neither sought nor gained a mandate for such a reorientation." Mark Bromley, BASIC Analyst, added: "This opinion poll gives one of the first indications of the strength of the British public's unease, and it is a message that Blair must take to President Bush." For more information contact Mark Bromley at BASIC on 020 7407 2977, Nigel Chamberlain at CND on 020 7700 2393, Stephen Whiting at QPSW on 020 7663 1061 or John Leaman or Andy Byrom at MORI on 020 7347 3000 For a full breakdown of poll results visit www.basicint.org or www.mori.com * The MORI survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,110 British adults aged 15+, throughout 193 sampling points, between 5-9 July 2001. Interviewing was conducted face-to-face in respondents' homes. Data has been weighted according to the GB profile. Results have a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. ** The UK Working Group on Missile Defence is an informal coalition of arms control organisations including Abolition 2000UK, the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB), Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), MEDACT, the United Nations Association (UNA), and Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) Claire Poyner Abolition 2000 UK 601 Holloway Road London N19 4DJ Tel: 020 7 281 4281 Fax: 020 7 281 6281 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.gn.apc.org/abolition2000uk To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Free Slobodan! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . - Original Message - From: SolidNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 8:11 PM Subject: CP of Greece, International appeal from Greece for releasing Sl.Milocevic http://www.solidnet.org News, documents and calls for action from communist and workers' parties. The items are the responsibility of the authors. Join the mailing list: info/subscribe/unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] . == === CP of Greece, International appeal from Greece for releasing Sl.Milocevic --- From: Communist Party of Greece, Thu, 19 Jul 2001 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] , http://www.kke.gr == === Dear Friends and Comrades, We forward you an appeal signed by 19 prominent Greek personalities from all political parties, among then Mikis Theodorakis, university rectors, members of the Greek parliament, former ministers, scientists and intellectuals demanding the support of the international public opinion for the immediate release of Slobodan Milosevic. Please consider the initiative as a reinforcement to the similar national and international actions in the last time. We would very much appreciate if the appeal can be endorsed by personalities from your country. Our idea is after collecting so much as possible signatures from various countries to publish simultaneous in all our countries the final list. The signatures can be send by e-mail to : mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] or by fax to: +301 2592298 In case you have better ideas as far as the initiative concerns please be so kind and inform us. We thank you very much for your support. The international section of CPG INTERNATIONAL APPEAL The dramatic events being experienced by all of humanity owing to the unprecedented process of handing over and selling out the former President of Yugoslavia, his indictment by and deliverance to the so-called "International Court of Justice on former Yugoslavia" violate and abolish all concepts of national sovereignty and international law. These events were the result of the heavy and multiple pressures exerted by NATO, whose leaders should be on trial for their attack against Yugoslavia, in which they sowed death and destruction, flagrantly and cynically violating the UN Founding Charter. Through these actions, an effort is being made to penalise international political life, to overthrow International Law completely and to create a terrorist international framework of "rules and institutions" that will bring to trial and convict all those who resist the barbarity of the new international order. We protest strongly and express our absolute opposition to these actions. We call upon all those who refuse to keep silent or to give their consent to the rule of "might is right" and ask them to join us and mobilise for the release of Slobodan Milosevic, former President of Yugoslavia, to bring a halt to these unacceptable processes, and to prevent the penalisation of international political life. 1.GLEZOS MANOLIS, Fighter in the National Resistance 2.KATRIVANOS THEODOROS, Prefect of the Atiika Region, Former Minister of the Interior 3.KATSAROS NIKOS, MP-ND, Former Vice President of the Greek Parliament 4. KATSAROS NIKOS, researcher,General Secretary of the Balkan Association of Chemists, 5. KAZAKOS KOSTAS, actor, Vice President of Honor of World Peace Council 6. KOSSIONIS PANAGIOTIS,MP-KKE, Vice President of the Greek Parliament 7. KOURIS NIKOLAOS, Former Minister of Defense, General 8. KRITIKOS PANAGIOTIS, MP-PASOK, Former Vice President of the Greek Parliament 9.MANGAKIS GEORGIOS, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs 10. MAHERAS EVANGELOS, President of Honour of World Peace Council 11. MARAGOPOULOU ALIKI, President of the Human Rights Foundation 12. PAFILIS ATHANASSIOS, Executive Secretary of World Peace Council 13. PAPAMARGARIS THEOHARIS, Chairman of the Greek Committee for International Democratic Solidarity (EEDDA),Former Minister of Labour 14. POLIDORAS VIRON,MP-ND,Former Minister of Press 15. ROUPAKIOTIS ANTONIS, President of the Athens Bar Association 16. THEODORAKIS MIKIS, Composer 17. VARTANIS MICHALIS, Major General (ret.) 18. Prof. VAVOURAS IOANNIS, Dean of the Panteio University of social and Political Sciences, Athens
Arafat Holds Talks with Arab League Chief, Arab FMs [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . .Arafat Holds Talks with Arab League Chief, Arab FMs Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and Arab foreign ministers to discuss the Middle East situation. Arafat was expected to present to the consultative meeting "a detailed picture of Israel's aggressions against the Palestinians and the Palestinian demand for political and economic support," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The meeting was held before an emergency meeting of an Arab follow-up committee, due to open later in the day, aimed at crystallizing an Arab stance on Israel's brutalities against the Palestinians and Israel's non-commitment to signed agreements with the Palestinians, MENA said. Arafat arrived in Cairo Wednesday morning to attend the emergency meeting, during which he will brief the participants on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and escalating Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians. "The latest Israeli military escalation in the Palestinian territories is not only a setback for the peacemaking but also shows Israel's determination to pursue aggressions against the Palestinians at all levels and their institutions, as well as against Islamic and Christian sanctities," Arafat said in a statement, issued upon his arrival. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict raged on after Israeli helicopters killed four Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday, in retaliation for the killings of two Israelis in a suicide bombing attack by a Palestinian activist in northern Israel on Monday. The Arab follow-up committee will be convened at the request of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states to discuss the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and ways of protecting the Palestinians. The committee was set up at the Arab summit held last October in Cairo to follow up the implementation of moral and financial aids pledged by the Arab leaders to the Palestinians. It is made up of foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia, as well as the Arab League chief. __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Train to Genoa Cancelled [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . - Original Message - From: secr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 11:57 PM Subject: [mobilize-globally] Re: G.R train to Geoa - GR PRESS RELEASE Subject: [UK_Left_Network] Re: G.R train to Geoa - GR PRESS RELEASE Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 15:24:55 - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], erol <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A friend informed me that charter train top Genoa from Clais has been > cancelled by the French Authorities. There is no information on globalise > resistance site. Tey have not e-mailed us either. Does anybody know anything > about this? > erol A friend sent me this Neil From: Globalise Resistance Office <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: French Government Stamps out Dissent Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 17:20:07 +0100 PRESS RELEASE FRENCH GOVERNMENT STAMPS OUT PROTEST French Government ministries are blaming each other and the Italian government for the cancellation of a chartered train of protesters. The train, carrying 450 protesters from the UK was due to travel to the French border to be met by a fleet of coaches taking the demonstrators on to Genoa for the actions against the G8 summit starting o Friday. A fax recieved by Globalise Resistance this morning (Tuesday) informed them of the decision to cancel. Globalise Resistance has been offered a refund, but expenses incurred in advertising and organising other parts of the journey will not be covered. Guy Taylor for Globalise Resistance said "We are fighting this decision. Democracy without the right of protest means nothing. On our train are pensioners, trade unionists, children, socialists and envirnmentalists. We have already had a huge amount of support for our right to demonstrate. It shows the weakness of the authorities and their policies that they feel it necessary to stop people having a voice at all." "Our members and supporters will be going to Genoa anyway. While fighting the decision we are booking other means of transport and encouraging everyone to make their own way there. We spent an enormous amount of money on transport and now we're denied the services we have bought - so much for the free market!" Globalise Resistance members have a 100% clean record on violence. Since setting up in February, not one member has been arrested for a violent crime - although many have been arrested for non-violent protest. Despina Mavrou, also from Globalise Resistance asked "What are they scared of? We only want to put the case for preserving the environment and cancelling third world debt. This whole thing is ridiculous" ends... For more information / interviews please phone: Amy Jowett: 07947 433 445 Guy Taylor: 07956 681 328 Despina Mavrou: 07940 105 446 SUPPORTING THE CAMPAIGN TO RE-INSTATE THE TRAIN ARE: Tony Benn (former MP) George Monbiot (activist & columnist) John Pilger (film maker) Noreena Hertz (writer) Louise Christian (human rights lawyer) To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NATO Jumpy Over Rumors Of Russian Troop Movements [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- Monday, Jul. 16, 2001. Page 10 NATO Jumpy Over Rumors Of Russian Troop Movements Combined Reports SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - NATO ran urgent checks a few days ago on rumors that the Russians planned to pull a fast one like they did in Kosovo, rushing their troops in first ahead of the West on the heels of a deal to make peace in Macedonia. The Macedonian government assured us it had not invited the Russians to send forces," said a NATO diplomat. "If Russia did so without an invite it would be a hostile act," he pointed out. Whether it was all only rumor, or whether Moscow had been caught out and warned off such preparations, he did not say. "At one point we had a report of actual sightings . but it would be a bizarre thing to do. There's no parallel with the case in Kosovo when the Russians dashed in from Bosnia." That game of one-upmanship nearly resulted in an armed confrontation with NATO at Pristina airport two years ago this month, as a major allied peacekeeping force deployed only to find Russians had cheekily got there first. Macedonia's fate is on a knife edge and nerves are frayed as NATO allies peer into the unknown, trying to anticipate the unexpected and make all the right contingency plans. Western envoys shuttled Sunday between fractious Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders in attempts to bridge differences on a peace plan to bring an end to the five-month insurgency and avert the threat of a civil war. Envoys from the United States and the European Union were meeting separately between the two sides in attempts to nudge them toward consensus on the plan. But Western officials close to the talks described them as hard going six days after they had begun. "Everybody's still on board, the intensive and difficult talks continue," said one diplomat, who asked not to be identified. (AP, Reuters) __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NATO will not dissolve itself, neither will it accept Russia in its ranks [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ListBot SponsorSopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay.http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebayNATO will not dissolve itself, neither will it accept Russia in its ranks Viktor Sokolov Interview with the Vice President of "Reform" Foundation, Andranik MigranyanQ: Vladimir Putin has just suggested that either NATO dissolves itself or accepts Russia in its ranks as an equitable partner. What is this - another invitation for a discussion? Or perhaps, the time has come for the Alliance to either open its door for Russia or cease its existence?A: First of all, NATO cannot open its door for Russia, and neither can it dissolve itself. Putin's suggestion is, of course, a belated but the same continuation of the line that was more or less pertinent back in the 1991-1992s. The idea that it was necessary to dissolve NATO and set up a universal structure of security for the world and Europe first surfaced after the Warsaw Treaty Organization dissolved itself. After that, it was considered pointless to retain NATO since the mutual threat had disappeared, and there was no military bloc confronting NATO.However, the West decided to do it in its own way. They decided to turn NATO into a universal structure of security, without the participation of Russia. Moscow's attempts, through Partnership for Peace or the Founding Act of Russia-NATO, to become a serious factor of international security actually resulted in nothing. This can be seen from the Alliance's unilateral decision to bomb Yugoslavia. This can be seen from the repeated bombings of Iraq by British and American aircraft. It can be seen in a lot of other events.That is why Putin's words are seen as a revival of those positions that Russia at one time upheld, but the West ignored them. And Moscow seemed to have become accustomed to this.Q: Why does such a revival come precisely at this time?A: I think that this is connected with the upcoming next stage of expanding NATO eastward, with the inclusion of the Baltic states. The Russian side, in the person of Putin, is coming out with a forestalling, radical statement on this account. Putin is not asking why the Alliance needs Eastern Europe? Why it needs the Baltic states? He puts the question more radically: "Why, in general, do we need NATO?" And he replies to this question himself: if NATO is a universal structure for European security, then it must function together with Russia's participation. In the political aspect, I don't think that much will come out of this. But from the point of view of propaganda, this may have definite significance during discussions at the G8 summit in Genoa, as well as in all other discussions where the question of NATO's enlargement comes up.Q: Perhaps the Russia-NATO Permanent Council will work more energetically?A: I've already said that this council is not very effective. We had two lines in respect to NATO. The first - to cooperate, to become closer to each other and to try to influence NATO.The second was to distance ourselves from NATO and to find other possibilities for opposing NATO's expansion. The first line led to nothing. The recent accords with China and Putin's tough statement yesterday concerning NATO seem to indicate that Russia is departing from its previous line of nodding "yes" and following in the wake of Western policy. © National Information Service Strana.Ru, 2000. RF Press Ministry Registration Certificate: El.#77-4102 of September 7, 2000. Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to http://www.strana.ru/. To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Will Lukashenko and Milosevic have the same fate? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ListBot Sponsor Will Lukashenko and Milosevic have the same fate? (The RussianIssues.com) Lukashenko is running the risk of not only losing popular trust but also his power by Yevgeny Yevdokimov, Strana.Ru observerissued on 18.07.01 Full story: "Alexander Lukashenko Is Likely to Share Milosevic's Fate"[printable version] A political scandal in Belarus over abuses of power committed by incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko has been one of the key subjects covered by Russian newspapers in recent weeks. These public exposÊs may prove to be really harmful for Lukashenko. He is running the risk of not only losing popular trust, but also his power into the bargain. Presidential elections are slated in Belarus for September. If accusations against the incumbent president keep growing at the same pace as they are now, the entire election campaign may follow the scenario in Yugoslavia, when former President Slobodan Milosevic first lost the election and was then put behind bars. The Kommersant - Vlast magazine writes that the chief threat comes from the Belorussian elite, which considers Lukashenko's performance as a top leader to be unsatisfactory. The magazine notes that two invisible players could seriously influence the election's outcome: Russia and the United States. US policy towards Belarus in the year of the presidential election has been strange: the United States has noticeably reduced its aid to the Belarus opposition but, on the other hand, has expanded contacts with Lukashenko. True, America has its own logic. It must have considered that bringing a pro-Western politician into power at this point was unrealistic. Therefore, the Americans decided to wait and see until the next elections when the inevitable growth of social tensions and an anti-Russian sentiment will help a pro-Western politician to win. On the other hand, Moscow can determine a lot in Belarus' elections. Forty-five percent of the Belorussian elite said Moscow's stand will determine their vote. Although formally the Kremlin seems to be marking time, it is unlikely to openly back Lukashenko now despite the fact that he counts on this support. This can be explained by the fact that the Russian military-industrial complex and national gas giant Gazprom are holding serious grudges against Lukashenko. Belarus is extremely important for Russia in military terms. It produces prime movers for Russian Topol nuclear missiles and equipment to track nuclear explosions. A radar station in Baranovichi is the key element of the entire CIS aircraft defense system. The military accuses Lukashenko of trying to use these circumstances to his own advantage either by blackmailing the Russians or taking steps without their prior consent. For example, Lukashenko has sold several S-300 systems to the United States and a Mig-29 helicopter to Peru at lower than market prices. Gazprom's list is much longer. Belarus has built only one new gas pipeline out of the four promised by Lukashenko. Despite the existing contract, Lukashenko has failed to privatize the Belorussian state gas transportation company. When asked whom Moscow will support during the upcoming presidential elections in Belarus, an unnamed presidential administration official replied, " Do you think that Russia or Europe will trust Lukashenko to take care of the pipe?!"In addition, Russian media notes that the Belorussian opposition has been clearly showing its intention to borrow the experience of the Serbian "velvet revolution." Some Belorussian posters replicate the ones that were carried by the Serbs. On the eve of last year's elections, Belgrade had been plastered with one-word posters saying, "Finished!" Similar posters reading, "We are Sick of You," have appeared in Minsk. Moreover, the Kommersant Vlast magazine writes that some of Belarus' opposition leaders have already visited Belgrade to borrow valuable experience. Serbia's democratic coalition had nominated its candidate Vojislav Kostunica at the very last minute. It looks as if the same thing is going to happen in Belarus. Translation(full): Marina Philippova , Strana.RuPublished: 18.07.01, 18:10 To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lunch with Djindjic two mills German marks [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay -- Lunch with Djindjic two mills German marks Belgrade - Some of the companies that will have to pay enormous taxes according to Law on single taxation, have idea about organization of domestic donors' conference with participation of 500 domestic companies. The conference would be organized as a lunch with Prime Minister Djindjic. The Government would present projects that should be supported by investments while domestic companies would take part at lunch-conference with at least two mills of German marks. Thus a billion of German marks would be collected and after that another lunch would be organized for the companies from Diaspora", "Blic" daily source said on condition of anonymity. __ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Le Monde Views US Efforts To Bring Russia Into NATO [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- ListBot Sponsor -- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb -- Le Monde Views US Efforts To Bring Russia Into NATO, Impact for Europe Le Monde July 17, 2001 [translation fo personal use only] Analysis by Daniel Vernet: "Will George Bush Bring Russia into NATO?" A decade after the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union, will George W. Bush succeed where his father failed; namely, define a "new international order?" An order in which Russia would be integrated because the area of conflicts of interests had shifted toward Asia? We are still far from that, and a number of decisions taken by the new Republican administration would suggest, rather, that the path chosen is that of the most traditional confrontation. However, the tone has changed. During his visit to Europe, the US President could not find enough kind words for Russia and for Vladimir Putin. His entourage, although full of veterans of the East-West conflict who served their apprenticeship under Ford, Reagan, or Bush Senior, have prepared a rhetoric with resolutely innovative ambitions. From that viewpoint, Russia no longer represents a threat for US interests -- and, it is added in Washington, for those of the Europeans, which implies a redefinition of transatlantic relations. At the most, it is "a problem," to use French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine's expression. Hence we must stop thinking in Cold War terms and believing that international stability continues to be ensured by East-West agreements; often purely US-Soviet agreements dating back around 30 years. That is true both of the 1972 ABM treaty and of the SALT and START treaties on strategic arms limitation and reduction. The aim of the ABM treaty -- which confined the two great power within narrow limits for building antimissile systems -- was to guarantee nuclear deterrence; that is, to maintain the possibility of the camps' mutual destruction by a nuclear holocaust. Who will serious believe today that Russia is preparing to launch intercontinental missiles against US cities and vice versa? asks a former senior Pentagon official who has reenlisted with Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush's defense secretary. Of course the Americans would like to amend or even scrap the ABM treaty in order to be able to launch their missile defense (MD) program. But that is not just a tactical aim, the same personality continues: "To put an end to those treaties is to put an end to the spirit of the Cold War," he says. A document such as the ABM treaty requires the existence of an enemy such as we had for 40 years after World War II. That era is over. "In order to turn our backs on the Cold War, we must put an end to the agreements which governed the military relations between two potential enemies." The first reaction of the Russians -- and the Europeans -- is to view these fine words as a kind of camouflage aimed at pushing through decisions calling into question the international status quo. But perhaps it would be necessary to ask ourselves whether, beyond an immediate concern, the Americans are not aiming eventually at a complete redefinition of their relations with Russia and, through that, even the setting-up of a new security organization in Europe. Decisions unpleasant in principle for Moscow are being prepared: In addition to the antimissile defense program, a new enlargement of the Atlantic alliance, starting from 2002, which could include one or several Baltic states; that is, for the first time, republics which belonged to the former USSR but also to the former czarist Russia. Will Russia receive compensation? In 1997 -- two years before NATO's first eastward enlargement (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic), Moscow obtained a quid pro quo: The signing in Paris of the fundamental act on relations between Russia and NATO, and the setting-up of the NATO-Russia joint council. That offer of cooperation fell short of the Russians' expectations. They had been allowed to believe, among other things, that they would have a "right of inspection" over NATO's affairs; they were hoping for a "right of veto." The Kosovo war showed them that the joint council could not prevent the Atlantic alliance's 19 members from disregarding Moscow's objections. And so the Russians stayed away from that council's meetings for several months and are now rejecting all the proposals for relaunching made by the Westerners. Another form of compensation for NATO's expansion could be financial. Although it is not the official position, some people in Washington are talking about a cancellation of the debt contracted by the former USSR: An act of generosity which would
