Serb minister seeks closer defense ties
By Yossi Melman
Israel's defense industries, eager to sell their
weapons at almost any price and on any terms,
swoop down on every visiting defense
representative, arrange visits and arms
exhibitions for him and offer him tempting deals.
Boris Tadic, the visiting
defense minister of Serbia and
Montenegro (part of the former
Yugoslavia), had just this
experience. Tadic, who is
leaving today after a few days'
visit, signed a memorandum of
understanding yesterday with
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on
security cooperation between the two states.
He also visited Rafael - the Israel Armaments
Development Authority, Israel Aircraft
Industries, Israel Military Industries, Elbit,
Elisra and Tadiran. "But we are more interested
in setting up joint ventures than in just
purchasing products from you," he said in an
interview with Haaretz. He said that what his
army mainly needs are new communication systems
to advance his plan to take part in the NATO
defense system.
Under President Tito's rule, Tadic noted,
Yugoslavia had a well-developed military
industry that even enabled it to produce
fighter planes. This industry was damaged by
the Balkan wars and NATO bombings in 1999, "but
we still have superb human resources and we can
cooperate with your defense industries, taking
advantage of the ties that Yugoslavia developed
with various states, such as Vietnam or other
former Communist states." These ties, he said,
could help establish joint ventures with Israel
and market both countries' products.
Tadic also said that his country is interested
in Israeli drones, because "we have a joint
interest in fighting terrorism. You are
fighting Muslim Palestinian terror and we are
fighting against terror from Albanian Muslims
in Kosovo, as well as problems of infiltration
from Albania into southern regions of our
country."
Tadic added that there are indications that
Al-Qaida and other radical organizations have
ties with the Albanian terrorists. "Here, too,
there is room for cooperation, especially in
exchanging intelligence," he said.
These issues were also discussed in Tadic's
talks with Mofaz. Tadic, 45, was appointed
defense minister after the murder of Serbian
Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. Tadic said that
he knew Djindjic when they were both children.
"He was like a brother to me, he was my
sister's boyfriend and studied with my father,
who was a philosophy professor," he said.
He said Djindjic was the one who persuaded him
to enter politics "and modified my positions,
which were left-wing, bringing them to the
center and to liberalism." Tadic, a former
water polo player and a clinical psychologist
by training, was deputy chairman of the
democratic party that Djindjic formed.
"After the murder, we and the world discovered
the depth of corruption prevalent in society,
the connection between organized crime and the
foundations of nationalism and corruption." He
said the new government is struggling with
crime and corruption. "This is our top
priority, and if we don't vanquish them, we
will not succeed and the government will
certainly not win the elections slated for next
year."
During the interview, Tadic was informed that a
few more officers in his country's army had
been arrested on suspicion of corruption,
although, he said, they had nothing to do with
Djindjic's assassination.
The investigation of the prime minister's murder
is continuing, but the most wanted suspect has
not been arrested yet. This is a police officer
from the Interior Ministry's special police
force, the Lagia, who was also a key leader of
the Zaman crime gang, many of whose members
have been arrested on suspicion of involvement
in the assassination. Tadic said that although
this is not within his authority, "I get rumors
or crumbs of information every now and then
that he may be in Croatia, against which Lagia
fought during the war, or in South America, or
perhaps in east Asia."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=324502&contrassID=2&su
bContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
