-Caveat Lector- The Serbs used to terrorize the Nazis by kidnaping a lone German soldier, cutting off his face, and hanging him upside down before sunrise near the German camp. flw The Times: 4/16/99 April 17 1999 BALKANS WAR: SCORCHED EARTH Serbs dig in for land war with history on their side FROM TOM WALKER IN BREZOVICA LARGE tracts of southern Kosovo lie abandoned, with houses broken and burnt and fields untended. Three weeks of Nato bombing has given Serb forces the lawless vacuum in which to uproot and destroy - in the most Balkan manner - the Kosovo Liberation Army and the community it fought for. As hundreds of thousands of Albanians have fled, the Serbs have dug in, using distinctly low-tech cunning inherited from their partisan ancestors to counter Nato's sophisticated threat. During an extended press trip to the now infamous six-mile stretch of death where Nato mistook refugees for a military convoy, the Yugoslav Army gave us ample time to view the new Kosovo. Most impressions were gleaned through a bus window, but the picture was clear. The Serbs are preparing to fight Nato ground forces, and would rather have their historically troublesome Albanian neighbours elsewhere - preferably over the mountains which form Kosovo's natural frontier. Nowhere is Serb resistance more evident than in the Lepanac Valley, threading across the southern border of Kosovo and Macedonia, towards the ski resort of Brezovica. The natural beauty is written into Serb folklore: it was here that resistance to the Nazis and Italian Fascists was strongest during the Second World War, and it is here that men reliving the youth of Tito are ready to spill Nato's blood on the eve of the millennium. Bereft of its Albanian population, the valley is almost completely militarised. Beaten up lorries and stolen cars rattle about, filled with regular Yugoslav Army soldiers and new recruits from the local population who hardly needed any prompting. Many wear the old, rough woollen khaki uniforms of their fathers and grandfathers, and all look natural fighters. Radovan Urosevic, who is in charge of the Serb media centre in Pristina, told me that his father fought hand-to-hand with the retreating Germans and Italians and their Albanian collaborators. The Italians, he said, were captured and kept as cheap labour. Albanians were killed. In today's Brezovica, blanketed by primroses and walnut blossom, the Serbs are ready again. Peasant farmers and soldiers are digging into the steep hillsides. Burning piles of tyres send thick, choking smoke into the sky to confuse Nato's smart bombs. Nearby Albanian villages have been emptied. Many of their houses were still burning yesterday. The Serbs can hold out for a long time; make no mistake about it. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
