Byzantine Blog

The End of a Unipolar World

“I consider that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world. And this is not only because if there was individual leadership in today’s – and precisely in today’s – world, then the military, political and economic resources would not suffice. What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilization.

“[...] Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions have not resolved any problems. Moreover, they have caused new human tragedies and created new centres of tension. Judge for yourselves: wars as well as local and regional conflicts have not diminished. [...] And no less people perish in these conflicts – even more are dying than before. Significantly more, significantly more!

“Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible.

“We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations [...]

“In international relations we increasingly see the desire to resolve a given question according to so-called issues of political expediency, based on the current political climate. And of course this is extremely dangerous. It results in the fact that no one feels safe. I want to emphasise this – no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them.

“[...] I am convinced that the only mechanism that can make decisions about using military force as a last resort is the Charter of the United Nations. [...] The use of force can only be considered legitimate if the decision is sanctioned by the UN. And we do not need to substitute NATO or the EU for the UN.

“[...] Russia is a country with a history that spans more than a thousand years and has practically always used the privilege to carry out an independent foreign policy.

“We are not going to change this tradition today. At the same time, we are well aware of how the world has changed and we have a realistic sense of our own opportunities and potential. And of course we would like to interact with responsible and independent partners with whom we could work together in constructing a fair and democratic world order that would ensure security and prosperity not only for a select few, but for all.”

Vladimir Putin, President of Russian Federation, Munich Speech, February 10, 2007

It's No Longer 1999
2007 in Review

By Nebojsa Malic, AntiWar.com

After several years of enjoying near-unchallenged world hegemony, in 2006 it began appearing as if the U.S. Empire had suffered a series of setbacks. The true extent of this "long defeat" became obvious in 2007, as the fruitless Iraqi occupation continued to produce death and destruction, a rickety economy collapsed on the home front, and a rival power arose in the East.

When the Democrats took over the U.S. Congress at the start of '07, one of the less-noticed consequences was the increased focus on the Balkans. The year began with a screed by the new head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), calling for action against "opponents of new Kosovo." Biden turned out to be a harbinger of things to come; both the Democrats and the White House really got into the notion that this was still 1999, which proved to be a miscalculation of great proportions.

Setting the Stage

Around the time American voters put Biden's party in control of the Congress, Serbia held a constitutional referendum, which resulted in a general election in January. Gains by the Democratic Party of president Boris Tadic were understood in the West as a sign that Serbia would submit on the issue of Kosovo. EU foreign policy commissar Javier Solana expected a "nice, soft landing." Within weeks, Empire's envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, presented his proposal for the occupied province's final status: independence under a NATO/EU protectorate.

Despite clear warnings from 2006, up to this point few policymakers in Washington actually believed that Serbia and Russia would persist in their opposition to the separation of Kosovo. It was to prove a fateful miscalculation.

The leadership in Belgrade, far from being pliant, rejected Ahtisaari's plan. On February 10, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a now-famous speech at a conference in Munich, blasting the American empire for aspiring to global hegemony. From there onwards, 2007 would be a long, futile struggle of the Empire to impose Ahtisaari's dream in Kosovo against Serbian and Russian opposition.

Collision Course

As Empire's frustration grew, the friendly make-up began to flake off. In April, Germany's ambassador in Serbia threatened the country's further dismemberment if it did not cooperate, while a U.S. Congressman appealed to "jihadists of all color and hue" to note America's commitment to creating an Islamic state in Europe.

Russia responded by killing the Ahtisaari plan on the East River. Nothing to it, the Imperial pundits declared, confident Moscow would change its mind at the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. Nothing doing. The hapless Emperor then invited Vladimir Putin on a fishing trip, only to find out Moscow wasn't bluffing. By July, Empire's Kosovo policy was a wreck.

That was a chance to cut losses and attempt to salvage an honorable exit from the Kosovo quagmire. But all too many powerful people had invested heavily into the Bank of Collective Serbian Guilt, and could not forfeit their deposits any more than the sub-prime lenders could forfeit their "investments." The Empire chose to escalate. Moscow called its bluff in September, announcing that Kosovo was one of the "red line" issues, on which there was no retreat.

Now certain that Ahtisaari's proposal would never make it through the Security Council, U.S. and UK diplomats in New York tried to salvage Ahtisaari's proposal by offering a four-month deferment. While the Serbian government offered several models of functional autonomy as practiced elsewhere in the world, Albanian separatists abjectly refused to consider anything short of independence, content to run out the clock. On December 10, the talks were officially called off; however, attempts to reactivate the Ahtisaari plan were stymied. At this point, sponsors of the separatists are once again waiting for elections in Serbia – presidential, this time – to try and declare independence without the UN. Once again, they are relying on the assumption that Boris Tadic and the Democratic Party would accept the fait accompli. Even if the assumption about their ultimate loyalties is right, the elections' outcome is far from certain.

The Verdict

Another sign of the changing times came in March, when the International Court of Justice in The Hague (not the sham ICTY, but the actual World Court) acquitted Serbia of spurious charges of genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The verdict came out of the blue for most people, used to seeing the Serbs railroaded before the courts that did Empire's bidding. The World Court itself had previously ruled Serbia had no standing to sue NATO over the 1999 bombing – but could be sued by "Bosnia" (in actuality, only one faction in the civil war) for events that allegedly took place in 1993. The March verdict was still dodgy, in that it accepted certain assertions made by the ICTY as established truth, but it was nonetheless a body blow for professional victims and hate-mongers in the Balkans.

Dead Ends

Increasingly unable to impose its whims as law any longer, the Empire has tried to browbeat the Serbs into accepting their designated lot. For a period of time following the October 2000 coup, Serbian leaders would do anything Washington and Brussels commanded; sometime in the summer of 2006, that definitely changed. The World Court verdict took some wind out of Empire's sails, but did not silence the atrocity propaganda in the mainstream media. Despite evidence coming to light that revealed KLA involvement in the Albanian exodus and the doctored estimates of deaths in 1999, the agitprop mills continued to tell of "10,000 Albanian civilian deaths" and "Serbian oppression."

At one point in the game, the "non-governmental organizations" and "human rights" groups in Serbia – lavishly funded by the Empire – tried to help out by manufacturing a "Nazi" menace. Despite considerable media furor, nothing came out of it. The "Serbian Nazis" meme simply did not take.

The Sinking Ship

Parallel with the threats, Serbia was also getting promises. The idea of trading Kosovo for faster EU accession had been discretely suggested for months; in December, British PM Gordon Brown and France's President Sarkozy actually made it openly – only to see Serbia's officials dismiss it as an "indecent proposal."

Though a majority of Serbians still favors eventual EU integration (sans the "Atlantic" part – support for NATO, never big to begin with, is now marginal), it has not escaped their attention that Europe's shiny ship looks to be foundering. The Belgian crisis, at the very heart of the EU Leviathan, plays out like a familiar re-run to the former Yugoslavs.

Wars Without End

Twelve years after the Dayton Agreement ended the military phase of its civil war (it has very much continued politically) Bosnia still cannot find peace. Its foreign viceroys have near-absolute power, though they preach democracy and human rights. The former Yugoslav republic remains torn between its feuding communities, and trapped by the incongruities of post-modernity. Even here, the Empire's grip is loosening; this year was the first time that the viceroy's absolute power has been successfully challenged.

More people are also awakening to the fact that militant Islam has played a role in Balkan conflicts. Unfortunately, the mainstream media have done their best to cover up the Balkans connection to an alleged plot against the U.S. military in New Jersey this spring, or the Valentine's Day massacre in Salt Lake City. The "War on Terror" seems all but forgotten, a slogan of convenience to line up popular support behind some other wars, for other causes.

Moments of Transition

Kosovo – and the Balkans conflicts in general – have become a crucial issue for the Empire by its own choice. No one forced Bill Clinton to intervene, or George W. Bush to endorse his predecessor's Balkans agenda. America went into the Balkans quagmire thinking it would be a good way to advance its global hegemony project. Instead, it is reliving the fate of every empire that had the misfortune of dabbling in the region.

Deluded by their worship of power, the imperialists have fatally misunderstood what – and who – they were dealing with. The reversal of their fortune in the Balkans over the course of 2007 certainly had a lot to do with the demonized and vilified Serbs refusing to be bullied any more. It was not some great Serbian leader that rallied them, though; from Bosnia to Kosovo and Belgrade, Serb demonstrators throughout this year brandished photos of Russia's Vladimir Putin. More than anything else, that was a sign Joe Biden and his fellow imperialists were wrong; it is definitely 1999 no more.

What comes next is anybody's guess.

Posted by Svetlana at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Biggest Internet Fraud: Wikipedia

Couple of weeks ago independent UK journalist and columnist Neil Clark brought up an important issue most internet users who consider Wikipedia a reliable source of information on a whole range of issues, including history and politics, are entirely unaware of — that Wikipedia is infiltrated by the Western secret services which use it to manipulate truth and prevent the inconvenient facts reaching the wider public, by planting their governments’ official versions of events through Wiki articles.

It was Dr. Ludwig De Braeckeleer who first reported about this sobering discovery. He stumbled upon it while researching the material for article regarding a terrorist attack from 1988, only to find that popular online encyclopedia has removed the crucial bits of information from the previous piece, at the same time blocking further edits and removing previous versions of the same article (usually available for comparison).

Free Press? Yeah, Right!

De Braeckeleer writes: “Conducting false flag operations and planting disinformation in the mainstream media have long belonged to the craft of the spies. In the months preceding the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, U.S. and U.K. intelligence agencies used both techniques abundantly [...] According to clues accumulated by ordinary citizens around the world, it could be that the CIA and other intelligence agencies are riding the information wave and planting disinformation on Wikipedia. If so, tens of thousands of innocent and unwitting citizens around the world are translating and propagating their lies, providing these agencies with a universal news network.”

According to the 2002 Reuters article, “recognizing that sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword, the CIA has a colorful history of planting false information in media outlets overseas, with results ranging from irritating the Soviet Union to paving the way for a coup in Latin America.”

Being part of the agenda-setting elite itself Reuters, of course, prefers to present the scandal as an exclusive “overseas” practice, focusing mainly on subversive disinformation-spreading operations aimed against former Soviet Union. It magnanimously ignores CIA tentacles swarming throughout US universities and American news agencies, including Associated Press, responsible for the bulk of (dis)information regularly carried in each and every American and other English-language media outlets (professor De Braeckeleer touches upon those connections in the linked article).

Reuters piece also fails to mention the series of color-coded revolutions, aimed at mass-scale regime changes in Eastern Europe during the 1990s, but it is certainly no secret that every single coup toppling the regimes in that part of the world, from the Polish “Velvet Revolution” to October 2000 “Otpor” (Resistance) farce in Serbia, and “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine a bit later, were CIA-orchestrated and run operations.

A number of independent researchers have also established CIA’s direct involvement in spreading carefully crafted disinformation through the largest American news network, CNN, especially during the 1999 NATO bombardment of Serbia. But, thanks to paralyzing self-censorship, compliance and servitude that holds all of Western MSM in a deadly grip, every similar discovery is destined to be drowned in silence as soon as it surfaces.

Administrator SlimVirgin, a Cover for a Team of Agents Editing Wikipedia Articles

Narrowing his examination of Wikipedia “neutrality”, professor Braeckeleer found that the person editing an unbelievably large chunk of Wiki entries under the name SlimVirgin is the key mutilator of the facts he was tracking down. Her real name is Linda Mack, “rumored to reside in Alberta, Canada, under the name of Sarah McEwan.”

Wikipedia-Watch.org went further in unmasking the real person or, rather, a group of people hiding under the SlimVirgin screen name.

“[SlimVirgin] is known as an administrator with inhuman capacity for work. Over the past year, she edited nearly 35,000 articles (about 100 every day, without holidays and weekends). The same SlimVirgin also holds a record of continuous editorial work lasting 26 hours, with the longest break in editing not exceeding 40 minutes. These statistics from Wikipedia's editing records suggests either a supernatural ability, or more likely that SlimVirgin is a convenient smoke screen for an entire team of specialists editing Wikipedia articles on behalf of intelligence services.”

Wiki Founder: “Don’t Cite Us!”

And, while the official mainstream media is still filled with praises for the highly dubious Wikiality, independent sources have confirmed Wikipedia is neither “open”, nor “egalitarian”, and certainly not “free”. Unless one thinks CIA and MI5 are veritable fountains of unvarnished, solid-as-gold truths, generously shared with the rest of world for no other purpose but to inform, educate and enlighten the slumbering masses.

Before deciding to rely on Wikipedia as a source of information for serious research on any political subject and most other issues (except for, say, tapeworms and sessile leaves), one would be well advised to heed the warning of founder Jimmy Wales, who personally instructed users not to cite Wikipedia as a source.

For much more information on the Wikipedia fraud, visit BannedInTheUSA.net and, especially, John Borland’s article on Wired.com See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign, explaining how searcheable database created by a computation and neural-systems graduate student traces millions of Wikipedia entries and edits to corporate sources and CIA.

Posted by Svetlana at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Solana Above the Law

Commenting Javier Solana’s recent claim that sending EU mission to the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija against Serbia’s will and without the UN Security Council approval would not represent the violation of international law, Kosovo-Metohija Minister Slobodan Samardzic said that such statement “can only mean that, for Solana, the international law does not exist.”

“The announcement that the Council of EU ministers could formally decide on January 28 to send EU mission would not only be a most severe violation of the international law and Resolution 1244, but it would also annul the initialed Stabilization and Association Agreement,” Samardzic told Tanjug.

He stressed that the agreement initialed between Serbia and EU explicitly obligates both sides to respect the UN Charter, Resolution 1244 and Helsinki Final Act.

“Each of these basic documents absolutely guarantees Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in its current internationally recognized borders,” said Samardzic.

“The international law must be respected and that is why the EU cannot decide on January 28 to unlawfully send a mission to Kosovo and Metohija,” Samardzic said.

While Minister Samardzic deserves utmost regard as a rarely decent, honorable man, an esteemed educator and university professor, the issue is not whether Solana thinks the international law exists, but when did he ever act as if the international law does exist, or as if it applies to the self-styled Illuminated Elite he belongs to?

Belgrade had a good opportunity to teach the gnome that law indeed applies to him too, but it missed that chance, so it’s no use complaining now. Unless they plan to arrest him on his next “return to the scene of crime.”

Posted by Svetlana at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Aleksandar Popovic: EU Could Become Serbia’s Enemy

“The way Serbia relates towards the EU will depend on the way the EU treats Serbia. Serbia is neither ill-tempered nor hostile so that now, for no reason whatsoever, it does not want to have the ideal relations with all countries. But it takes two for both love and friendship. In case there are countries willing to recognize possible unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija, if there are states prepared to brutally violate all the principles the civilized world rests upon since 1945, then they have to be ready for Serbia to treat that as an enemy-gesture.

“The same goes for the EU if it intends to send its mission to the part of our territory bypassing the Security Council and against our will, in order to implement the rejected and failed Ahtisaari’s idea on Serbia’s dismemberment — how can anyone expect Serbia to smile and act as if nothing happened?!”, said DSS deputy president and Minister Aleksandar Popovic in an interview for Belgrade daily Glas javnosti.

State Defense, Government’s Top Priority

Q: Is [Premier Kostunica’s] DSS now supporting Tadic at presidential elections?

A: Right now our absolute priority is defense of Serbia’s territorial integrity. If there is no state, there is no point talking about who’s the president, who’s the minister, what is the taxation, how high are the excises... Serbia is today being confronted with the kind of threats no other state is facing and preservation of the state is, at the moment, our priority. Others may have their own schedule, which doesn’t have to be the same as ours, but they shouldn’t blame us for placing state preservation at the top. When the state is under threat, we do not think about the ads, posters, buying the TV studio terms and the election slogans.

No One Should be Fooled: Serbia Won’t Take it On the Chin

Q: According to the new Resolution, does defense of Kosovo-Metohija include military means?

A: I believe that Resolution is quite clear and needs no additional interpretations.

Q: Which legal means will Serbia use to defend its sovereignty?

A: Legal experts can give the most competent response to that question, but there is no doubt that Serbia will react to seizure of a part of its territory — something that is happening in Europe for the first time since 1938 — in the way any serious state would react. All legal means will be used. Absolutely no one should be fooled into thinking we can be bought in any way, with any carrots — signing of some treaty, with a credit here and donation there... Such offers probably speak loads about the character of those who are proposing them, but not about ours.

There Will be No ‘Independence’

Q: Is Belgrade prepared for the declaration of independence, since it is clear that Russia can’t fistfight in the UN Security Council?

A: What you call “independence” does not exist for us. We shall nullify such announcement and continue to treat Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia, while doing everything so that each Kosovo-Metohija resident who considers Serbia their state feels like a full-fledged citizen of the state of Serbia. And, of course, we shall issue a clear response to each state that dares to unlawfully recognize the robbery.

Cartoon by Srdjan Jovanovic (Serbia)

Posted by Svetlana at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Serbia’s Prime Minister: Battle for Kosovo is Battle for Serbia’s Freedom

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s address to the Parliament Assembly on December 26, on the occasion of proposing Kosovo-Metohija Resolution and State Negotiating Team Report to the MPs for adoption.

Honorable Parliament Members,

You have before you today the report of the state negotiating team so that you could get fully acquainted with all relevant facts on the negotiations thus far. Before you is also the proposal of the Resolution outlining directions for future work and committing state institutions to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.

In my view, the latest UN Security Council session in which the report of the mediating troika was reviewed deserves special attention. It is my duty to inform you that in this session held on December 19, the will of the US and a few European countries blocked Russian initiative to continue the negotiating process, thereby blocking the work of Security Council on finding a compromise solution for the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

At the same time, Western countries led by the US have stated that, following the presidential elections in Serbia, they would recognize unilateral independence of the province, based on rejected Ahtisaari plan.

US and UK Demonstrate Militancy and Zeal in Efforts to Cut Up Serbia

So, we find ourselves in the following situation: United States decided that no further negotiations are possible, with an explanation that only for Kosovo issue no compromise can be reached. Furthermore, US decided that a problem which Security Council started solving with its resolution, has to be resolved outside the Security Council and through a direct violation of the Resolution 1244, UN Charter and Helsinki Final Act. When all this is considered, it becomes impossible not to ask why US chose to openly destroy international law and dismantle the United Nations system.

I believe that no one thought for one second US is doing all this in the interest of the Albanian national minority in Kosovo-Metohija. That was best seen in the UN Security Council session in which Kosovo Albanian representative was all but invisible. The idea of unilateral independence of Kosovo was advocated and defended by the US and British ambassadors, with authentic militancy and zeal used only to defend own interests.

There can be no doubt that America is sinking the valid UN Security Council Resolution 1244 mainly in order to execute its own military and security interests. The US is consciously sacrificing Serbia’s state and national interests, as well as the essential interests of Kosovo Albanians, solely for the purpose of creating a quasi-state in which NATO would be the “ultimate supervisory authority” in an “independent Kosovo”, as cited in the Annex 11 of Ahtisaari plan.

Once a Symbol of Freedom, US is Turning into a Symbol of Brutal Force

To better understand this politics of force, we can set things like this: if we are to compare who has greater power, we accept that might is on the American side. But we also bear in mind the other side of the medal, that America, which at one point was seen as a symbol of freedom by the rest of the world, today through Kosovo example is more and more becoming the symbol of politics of force. Serbia cannot be happy to have this bullying force turned against us, but we can be at peace knowing that our strength lies in the respect of law and that we are defending the simple truth that Kosovo is Serbia.

We can also accept that today’s world is in a state where law has become almost meaningless for a number of countries, just like the truth, justice and dignity of the state and people. Maybe the violation of Resolution 1244 has already marked a new era in which the true values are force, violence, injustice, humiliation of the weaker and trade with national goods and state interests. Serbia has not joined to seize upon the benefits of this politics of force and we draw our strength from people’s will, which established the Constitution of Serbia and the position of Kosovo within Serbia. We find another pillar of support in the decision of National Parliament to entrust us with the task to defend Kosovo and Serbia, through law and justice. Therefore, while we admit that might is on the side of America, we can be sure that, when it comes to law, the things are completely in Serbia’s favor.

And here, in parliament, we can support this with firm evidence already presented to the whole world, namely: it was America and not Serbia that said negotiations should stop, while Serbia supports the continuation of negotiations; it was America and not Serbia that said no compromise is possible, while Serbia advocates reaching a compromise; it was America and not Serbia that said it will use unilateral solutions, while Serbia is explicitly against unilateral acts; it was America and not Serbia that said it will act in contravention to the decisions of the Security Council, while Serbia insists that all decisions must be brought by the Security Council; it was America and not Serbia that threatened to violate the valid Resolution 1244 and UN Charter through illegal recognition of the unilateral independence, while Serbia demands strict respect of the Resolution and the UN Charter.

Honorable parliament members, let us imagine that the roles are reversed and that it was Serbia supporting the above-listed positions on the Kosovo issue, advocated by the countries of the old western democracy. There is no doubt that all international media would immediately tie Serbia to the pillar of shame and even much crueler measures would have been applied. When one imagines such reversal of roles, that is when it becomes even more obvious to what extent is Serbia in the right, simply fighting for its own rights. Great Serbian Patriarch Pavle has left a legacy to his people never to commit injustice, not even when our own survival is at stake. These are the words Serbian Patriarch is sending to the entire world today.

No Generation of Serbs Ever Betrayed Kosovo

Because of all this, we must show more self-consciousness and self-respect for the fight which the entire Serbian people is leading in defense of Kosovo-Metohija. Kosovo has not been betrayed by a single generation of the Serbian people and each generation has defended it within the limits of their possibilities. This is why we too have to do what we can and must, what our duty and conscience commands. Future and better generations may do even more.

Honourable members of the parliament, I believe that we all, or almost all, share the strong joint devotion to the position that Serbia rejects once and for all any kind of the province’s independence and that this is Serbia’s first and final word. In this hour, our last line of defense from brute force and unilateral independence must be a strong resolution which Serbian parliament will adopt today.

This is at the same time a message to Kosovo Serbs that they have their government and their parliament in Belgrade, that they have absolutely equal rights to each and every citizen of Serbia, and that they should fully ignore the illegal document on unilateral independence and treat it as non-existent.

We Owe Immense Gratitude to President Putin and Russia

We are all well aware that all along Russia has been Serbia’s strong and faithful ally, that it defended international law and Serbia’s right to its territory in a principled manner. President Putin did not allow the Security Council to humiliate Serbia and make it the first state since the UN were founded to have its territory taken away. Had it not been for Russia, our struggle, in the eyes of the international pubic, would have been reduced from the supreme defense of our rights to a mere regional conflict in which two sides are fighting to achieve their particular interests. Creators of Kosovo independence had devised to mark Serbia with a stigma of being the only state allowed to be cut up into pieces and to call that, as they say, a unique and unrepeatable case, which would not be a precedent, because it concerns Serbia. All proposals of new resolutions, which were based on Ahtisaari plan and envisaged sending a EU mission to implement monitored independence, were prevented from adoption at the Security Council thanks to Russia and Serbia’s joint policy. We owe immense gratitude to Russia for this.

Serbs and Albanians Can Agree, but Americans Won’t Let Them

Honorable parliament assembly, the battle for Kosovo is the battle for Serbia’s freedom. It would be best to reach an agreement with Kosovo Albanians to live peacefully, freely and together, because Kosovo is big enough for all of us to realize our essential interests. This is, of course, in line with the values of multiethnicity upon which the entire democratic world vows. The problem is that apart from Serbian and Albanian essential interests, it is obviously impossible to satisfy American interests, which is why the US is preventing Kosovo Albanians from moving towards an agreement. Serbia will not give up the search for agreement, let alone give Kosovo up. Because we, as a people and state, are not free if Kosovo is not free, if it is not a province within Serbia, as the Constitution says.

Honorable parliament assembly, could Serbia give away a portion of its territory, could it give Kosovo away, in exchange for any other goal or interest? Whoever thinks it could, must first get the approval of the people to change the Constitution, before attempting to fulfill such intention. Until then, the Constitution orders us to see the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity as the first and highest constitutional obligation of all Serbian state institutions.

We Must Fight Because We Have No Other Option

The future of our country cannot be a crippled Serbia, our future must be a whole Serbia. Just like any other people, we must fight for our future and for the preservation of Serbia’s unity. If some countries think they have crippled us through unilateral independence, Serbia must show them in the upcoming years that for us, unilateral independence is but a puppet creation about to disappear.

We must fight for and win Serbia’s future, because we have no other path. Otherwise, tomorrow someone might just get the idea that already maimed Serbia can be further cut up, according to their moods.

The future of Serbia and the fate of Kosovo are permanently linked and it is therefore clear what we must do. As for Serbian parliament and all state institutions, in line with the Serbian Constitution, Kosovo-Metohija will remain an integral and unalienable part of Serbia. This is our duty which we must fulfill. Therefore, I call upon you, honourable parliament members, to vote for the proposed resolution for the sake of the preservation of Kosovo, for the sake of Serbia’s future and its freedom”, said Kostunica.

Posted by Svetlana at 04:46 PM | Permalink

Serbian Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly in Favor of Kosovo-Metohija Resolution

By an overwhelming majority, members of the Serbian parliament adopted Kosovo-Metohija Resolution for Defense of Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and the Constitutional State Order. Serbian parliament has also adopted report by the State Negotiating Team on the negotiations mediated by the Contact Group troika for the future status of southern Serbian province.

The government-drafted Resolution was adopted by 220 votes for and 14 against, while 3 MPs abstained. Kosovo-Metohija Resolution received unanimous support by the ruling coalition (consisting of DSS, DS and G17 Plus parties), as well as backing of the strongest political party currently in opposition — Serbian Radical Party, and of the most other opposition parties, including the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Roma Party and the Roma Union of Serbia. Fourteen votes against came from the Albanian, Liberal party and the League of Social-Democrats MPs, while the parliament representatives of the party of ethnic Hungarian minority abstained from voting.

Defense of Kosovo-Metohija Priority of All State Institutions

The Resolution states that international agreements the Republic of Serbia signs, including the EU’s Stabilization and Association Agreement, have to have as their aim the preservation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The document includes several key points which, after being adopted, represent a binding framework for all state institutions and other public factors in defending the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutional order.

According to the document, the defense of southern province of Kosovo-Metohija as an integral part of Serbia is the priority of state institutions and all public factors in the country until a compromise solution to the problem is adopted based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Kosovo-Metohija Integral Part of Republic of Serbia

“Every act of declaration and recognition of Kosovo and Metohija independence, as well as any activities in the international community that would result from those acts, regardless who adopts and implements them, will be declared null and void and contrary to the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia,” the text reads.

“Accordingly, Kosovo and Metohija will be considered an integral part of the Republic of Serbia both in the state’s domestic and foreign activities, its institutions and public factors, and such a position will be applicable to each individual act or activity of state institutions and public factors until a compromise solution to the issue is found based on Resolution 1244,” the resolution continues.

Diplomatic and all other relations with states that might recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija will be reconsidered.

The Resolution commits the government to adopting a concrete and comprehensive plan of measures to be taken in all areas of its authority in the event of an unlawful declaration of independence by the province’s Albanian separatists.

Using All Legal Means to Preserve Kosovo-Metohija Within Serbia

The parliament also requests that the government applies the constitutional prerogatives of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija with utmost efficiency, strengthening the activities of state institutions in fulfilling those prerogatives, with special focus on protection of life and possessions, rights and freedoms of the province residents, particularly those of Serbian and non-Albanian ethnicity.

Despite the attempts of certain Western states to block further negotiations which would enable solving Kosovo-Metohija status by peaceful means and in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, authorized representatives of Republic of Serbia should continue their efforts aimed at renewing negotiations and searching for the solution based on the international law.

Parliament will instruct the government that international agreements negotiated by Serbia, including the Stabilization and Association Agreement, must have as their purpose the preservation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Finally, the National Parliament Assembly commits the state organs of Republic of Serbia to use all legal means in the international and state courts for defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Serbian state.

Alarming Announcements from the West

These standpoints are based on certain facts, first and foremost the fact that the Albanian side during the negotiations mediated by the troika avoided to really negotiate the same way they did in the first phase, led by Martti Ahtisaari. The main reason for their obstruction is the position of some western states that Kosovo province should be severed from Serbia.

According to the Resolution, Parliament Assembly assesses that some western states are strongly opposed to the continuation of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, thereby blocking the Security Council from finding the compromise solution to this issue.

These states are encouraging the Albanian separatist representatives in Kosovo and Metohija to declare the independence of the province, while threatening Republic of Serbia with the recognition of this unlawful act.

The Resolution states that the parliament finds extremely alarming conclusions of the Presidency of Council of Europe from December 14, 2007, which have announced activities related to Kosovo-Metohija and in the province that would directly infringe upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Republic of Serbia.

Parliament determines that declaration of Kosovo independence, as well as the recognition of province’s independence by any state, would represent brutal violation of the international law, mainly the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and the UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Such acts and activities would directly breach the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia.

EU Mission without the UN Security Council Approval a Tantamount to Invasion

The National Assembly concludes that establishing of the proposed EU mission for implementation of the rejected Ahtisaari plan would represent an act of infringement on sovereignty, territorial integrity and the constitutional order of Republic of Serbia.

During July 2007 the Security Council has rejected six resolution drafts that were based on Ahtisaari plan, and mainly on Annexes 10 and 11, concerning the establishment of the EU mission and NATO military troops in Kosovo and Metohija.

Having this in mind, the parliament demands that prior to the arrival of any mission that wishes to replace the existing UN administration, the UN Security Council-approved compromise solution for the future status of the province of Kosovo and Metohija has to be reached through negotiations.

“Parliament requests the government to reach agreement with the EU that no EU mission may enter Serbian territory, i.e. Kosovo-Metohija province, without a corresponding UN Security Council resolution,” the document goes on to say.

No to NATO

“Owing to NATO’s overall role — from the unlawful bombing of Serbia without a Security Council resolution, to Annex 11 of the rejected Ahtisaari plan, where it is stated that NATO is the ‘ultimate organ’ of power in an ‘independent Kosovo,’ parliament adopts a decision proclaiming the Republic of Serbia’s military neutrality with regards to existing military alliances until decided otherwise by a referendum,” states the Resolution, which parliament members have adopted on Wednesday.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:26 PM | Permalink

West Eager to Enforce the Law of the Jungle

United States and several European countries are determined to grant independence to Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province at any cost, even if it means a violation of international law, and this is where no similarities can be found with the Russian position, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

“Our Western partners, above all the United States and a couple of European countries, are resolute in giving Kosovo independence, cost what it may, even if it means a violation of international law,” Lavrov said in an interview for the Moscow daily Vremya Novostei.

“This is where it is impossible for us to have similar positions with them,” he stressed.

“There can be no unilateral solutions either for Kosovo, for Iran, Lebanon or for the Near East issue as a whole,” the Russian foreign minister said, adding that “it was not in vain that that the UN Charter included the principle of unanimity of the permanent members of the UN Security Council.”

Unilateral Recognitions — First Violent Change of Borders in Europe After WWII

“In case of the unilateral recognition of the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, Russia will be entitled to change its approach to the so-called unrecognized republics in the post-soviet regions - South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Pridnestrovie,” the chairman of the Council of the Federation (upper chamber of the Russian parliament), Sergei Mironov, said on Tuesday.

“If countries start recognizing Kosovo randomly, this will be the first violent change of borders in Europe after World War Two, and the consequences will be unforeseeable,” Mironov warned at a press conference in Moscow.

According to him, this will mark the beginning of the domino principle and then it will be possible to raise the issue of the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away form Georgia. We shall also see the resurfacing of the Cyprus problem, the problem of the Basques and even Scotland.

“In case of such a recognition of Kosovo, Russia will be able to say that it is free in its approach, including towards the so-called unrecognized republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Pridnestrovie,” Mironov said.

Artwork by Taro (Japan)

Posted by Svetlana at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Atlas on the Air: Kill, Maim, Destroy — Get a State!

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs talks about southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija with Julia Gorin and James Jatras, American political commentators credited for the most dedicated and consistent efforts in breaking the deafening silence in United States over the ongoing jihad in the province.

YouTube (audio file) Part 1 and Part 2.

Nebojsa Malic: As Long as Belgrade is Saying No, There will be No Independence

Ottawa-based CKCU Radio host Boba Borojevic talks to Nebojsa Malic, Serbian historian and columnist, about the background of the current Kosovo-Metohija crisis, including the present-day Western attempts to impose severing of the Serbian province: Interview with Nebojsa Malic [RealPlayer].

Posted by Svetlana at 11:37 AM | Permalink

Merry Christmas!

A blessed and joyful Christmas to all Byzantine Sacred Art Blog readers who celebrate the birth of our Lord according to the new calendar: Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will among men!

Enjoy in the gift from Serbia, an angelic song written by St. Bishop Nikolaj (of Zhicha) and performed by the group of Serbian musicians and children, with few scenes from Belgrade in the background. Video clip from the studio recording is also available on YouTube.

Angels are Singing, by St. Bishop Nikolaj of Zhicha

The night glorious and the silent night,
above the cave the star alight,
inside the cave the Mother sleeps,
above Jesus the Angel watches.

The Heavens are singing,
the shepherds are ringing,
the Angels are singing,
the Wise Men are telling:
“What the peoples awaited,
what the Prophets announced,
has now been made known,
known and shown:
Christ the Savior has been born,
for the salvation of us all.
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Bless us, O Lord!”

P.S. One of the performers of the above song is Divna Ljubojevic, a well know Serbian Church chanter. You can hear her sing Eastern Orthodox liturgical chants here.

Posted by Svetlana at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Kosovo: We're On The Brink Of A Balkans Bloodbath

By George Galloway, Global Research

WHILE most were asleep, we've walked to the brink of yet another war in the Balkans.

Kosovo is a part of Serbia. That's a legal and political fact. It wants to break away and appears to have secured British and American agreement, but not, alas, the agreement of either Serbia, whose land it is, or Russia, which will veto any breakaway in the UN. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rules the roost and has said it will make a unilateral declaration of independence soon. The Serbs cannot allow Kosovo, sacred to their orthodox Christian heritage for 1000 years, to go without a fight.

Serbia, with Russian help, outguns the KLA, who can only fight with outside help. That's where we come in.

In the Nineties, we provided the air force for the breakaway KLA, branded as late as 2000 by the US as a "terrorist organisation". But this time we would have to be their infantry as well. Fancy another war, anyone?

And Serbia is not the only place where there is a substantial Albanian minority.

One quarter of the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia is Albanian. They want independence too.

And 50 per cent of Bosnia-Herzegovina is Serb. If Kosovo declares independence, so might the Bosnian-Serbs. Then we will be back in the bloody Balkan wars.

Moreover, the principle that a state can be dismembered against its will is pregnant with problems all over the world.

The Kurdish people are 20 million strong in Turkey and would like to break away. Would we fight for them? Of course not.

Which goes to show the hypocrisy which has accompanied the break-up of Yugoslavia all along.

Lord George "Bomber" Robertson was one of the chief propagandists for the last Kosovo war. You will remember his sonorous claim that the Serbs had murdered 100,000 Albanians and we must act. In fact, 3000 people died, less than the death toll in Northern Ireland, and picture if you will the outrage in Britain if the US Air Force had started bombing us over that. No one knows how many of the 3000 were Albanians or Serbs, or who killed them and how. Kosovo is a garrison for foreign soldiers, and at the same time Europe's major hub for gun-running, drugsmuggling, people-trafficking and prostitution.

If it becomes independent on the point of our bayonets, don't say you weren't warned.

The One We Liberated Earlier...

“A Brewing Crisis” by George Galloway, Morning Star

HERE’s one we liberated earlier. The mounting crisis over Kosovo, which is set to come to a head in the new year, is a grim epitaph for the Blair years and the doctrine of liberal interventionism.

The Kosovo war in 1999 was long held up as a success story - NATO air strikes on make-up women, refugee columns and market squares notwithstanding. Scalpelled out of the complexities of this part of the world was a modern-day morality tale, absolute and Manichean.

Western military force, deployed in the promulgation of a moral order that was at once universal but strangely Anglo-Saxon at the same time, had curbed a criminal regime. The last act of the wars of succession following the tearing down of Yugoslavia had been a triumphant vindication of "humanitarian interventionism."

Blair chose the fitting venue of the Chicago business club to elucidate the new doctrine. Many, even on the left, were taken in.

Eight years on and the picture is very different from all the pomp and the sight of Blair arriving in Kosovo to scenes of adulation.

It would be a case of first-time tragedy, second-time farce, except that the tragedy has continued and could now become manifold.

It has long been established that the NATO air war in 1999 precipitated exactly the forced movement of people that it was ostensibly to prevent.

[...] Kosovo itself became a haven for trade in drugs, prostitutes and guns, all three ending up on our shores. Far from having control over their own destiny, the people of Kosovo became occupied by 16,000 NATO troops, their economy overrun by gangsterism and their state structures overseen by one or other European Union potentate.

Now, all those features are to remain while, absurdly, the group around Hashim Thaci, who was hoisted into power by NATO, is pushing for what they grandiloquently call independence. It would, of course, be no such thing. Kosovo would be what used to be called a protectorate of the Great Powers. That or it would be part of a new round of bloody redrawing of the map.

There are already forces pushing for a "greater Albania" encompassing Albania itself, Kosovo and the western part of Macedonia. This way lies madness.

Yet, given the opportunity to repudiate this drive to rip a chunk out of the sovereign and independent Serbian state, Gordon Brown has spurned it. We are in danger of sleepwalking into a renewed Balkan war.

A lot has happened since the last one in 1999. Above all, we have the "war on terror" against Afghanistan and Iraq, with threats against Iran. I very much hope that those who were caught up in the rhetoric of liberal humanitarianism eight years ago will see where it has led. As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Entire article (subscription required) »

A Crisis of West's Own Making

By Neil Clark, The Australian

POWERFUL Western nations make threats to Serbia. Serbia, backed by Russia, ignores the ultimatums. A war ensues. That was the scenario in the summer of 1914, when the world plunged into the war to end all wars. Nearly a century on, the situation is uncannily similar.

Despite Western threats for it to accept Kosovan independence, Belgrade is standing firm. Serbian armed forces are on standby to reclaim the province by force if necessary. Russia has promised Serbia its support.

If war does follow, then Serbia will no doubt be blamed by Western governments for not toeing the line. But it would be an unfair judgment.

The present crisis in Kosovo has been caused not so much by Serbian intransigence, but by the West's policy of intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states, which, over the past decade has caused chaos, not only in the Balkans, but across the globe.

Ten years ago, Kosovo was at relative peace. Albanian demands for independence from Belgrade were being channeled through the peaceful Democratic League party of Ibrahim Rugova, while the small groups of Albanian paramilitaries that did exist were isolated and had little public support.

According to a report by Jane's intelligence agency in 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the most extreme of Albanian paramilitary groups, does not take into consideration the political or economic importance of its victims, nor does it seem at all capable of hurting its enemy.

It has not come close to challenging the region's balance of military power. As late as November 1997, the KLA, officially classified by the US as a terrorist organisation, could, it has been estimated, call on the services of only 200 men.

Then, in a policy shift whose repercussions we are witnessing today, the West started to interfere big time. The US, Germany and Britain increasingly saw the KLA as a proxy force which could help them achieve their goal of destabilising and eventually removing from power the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, which showed no inclination to join Euro-Atlantic structures.

Over the following year, the KLA underwent a drastic makeover. The group was taken off the US State Department's list of terrorist organisations and, as with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan a decade or so earlier, became fully fledged freedom fighters.

Large-scale assistance was given to the KLA by Western security forces. Britain organised secret training camps in northern Albania. The German secret service provided uniforms, weapons and instructors.

The Sunday Times in Britain published a report stating that American intelligence agents admitted they helped to train the KLA before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, Rugova's Democratic League, which supported negotiations with Belgrade, was given the cold shoulder.

When the KLA's campaign of violence, directed not only against Yugoslav state officials, Serb civilians and Albanian collaborators who did not support their extremist agenda, led to a military response from Belgrade, the British and Americans were ready to hand out the ultimatums.

During the 79-day NATO bombing of Yugoslavia that followed, the West made promises of independence to the KLA which, eight years on, are coming back to haunt them.

Recognising an independent Kosovo will push Serbia from the Western orbit as well as creating a real chance of war. And it will set a precedent: if the rights of self-determination for Kosovan Albanians are to be acknowledged, then what about the rights of self-determination for Serbs in Bosnia, who wish to join Serbia?

Doing a U-turn, and attempting to get independence postponed, runs the risk of violence from Kosovo's Albanian majority. It's an almighty mess, but one of the West's own making.

Had it not intervened in Yugoslav internal affairs 10 years ago, it is likely a peaceful compromise to the Kosovan problem would eventually have been found between the government in Belgrade and the Democratic League. Rugova's goal was independence for Kosovo from Serbia, but only with the agreement of all parties.

What is certain is that without Western patronage the KLA would never have grown to the force it eventually became.

By championing the most hardline force in Kosovo, the West not only helped precipitate war, but made the issue of Kosovo much harder to solve.

It is ironic that for supporters of liberal intervention, Western actions in Kosovo are still seen to have been a great success. It was at the height of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that the then British prime minister, Tony Blair, made his famous speech at Chicago in which he outlined his doctrine of the international community.

Blair argued that the principle of non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states - long considered an important principle of international order - should be subject to revision. "I say to you: never fall again for the doctrine of isolationism," Blair pleaded.

But after surveying the global debris of a decade of Western interference, from the Balkans to Afghanistan and Iraq, is it any wonder that isolationism and observing the principle of non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states again seems so appealing?

Billboard by the California Department of Corrections—CDC—“a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline, and rehabilitation of California's advertising.”

Posted by Svetlana at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When Will Solana Learn to Shut Up?

Serbian Prime Minister adviser, Srdjan Djuric, criticized ludicrous statement by the EU High Representative Javier Solana that sending the EU mission to southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, against Serbia’s will and contrary to the UN SC Resolution 1244, does not represent violation of international law.

“Javier Solana’s claim that the EU mission which would impose rejected Ahtisaari plan is legal and would not represent a violation of the international law is as truthful and correct as Solana’s decision for NATO to attack Serbia without the approval of the UN Security Council was legal,” Djuric told Beta news agency.

He added that Solana has been “an active participant in all stages of Kosovo-Metohija crisis, from the beginning of NATO aggression, all the way down to attempts to impose illegal Ahtisaari plan unilaterally, even though it was rejected by the UN Security Council.”

“It might be the right time for Solana to restrain himself at least once and refrain from taking part in unlawful decisions aimed against Serbia,” Djuric said.

From the “Subversive” to the Top of Satanic Pyramid

Javier Solana, who currently holds multiple highest positions within the European Union organization, was NATO Secretary General at the time of NATO’s aggression on Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which begun on March 24 and lasted until June 10, 1999. He was the one who gave the order on behalf of NATO to launch the attack.

Only few months later, in October 1999, he was rewarded for his role in the aggression on Serbia with a position of “High Representative for the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.” He is also a Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU).

Interestingly enough, before his native Spain joined NATO military alliance, Solana was a vocal opponent of NATO, and had even written a wonderful little pamphlet titled “50 Reasons to say no to NATO.” This has earned him an honorable place on a US “subversives list” at the time.

But then, the ambitious little twerp obviously decided that “if you can’t beat them, join them” is a valiant motto to live by and ever since, he’s been climbing the masonic/satanic Pyramid as if Albert Pike is his guide.

Wait a minute!
He is.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:19 AM | Permalink

No Agreements with the EU, Unless Brussels Changes its Kosovo Province Policy

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and its coalition partner, New Serbia (NS), want country’s accession to the European Union blocked unless Brussels changes its Kosovo province policy, according to the official DSS-NS statement released Saturday.

Premier’s DSS-NS coalition said Belgrade must not sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, if the 27-member bloc continued pursuing severing of southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija from the rest of Serbia.

Expressing concern over president Tadic’s DS party call for presidential elections on their own, without the prior agreement with DSS-NS and other coalition partners, while the EU officials are openly saying they will call for the recognition of the Serbian province’s independence right after the elections run-off (February 3), DSS-NS coalition has issued a public invitation to Tadic’s party to formulate common policy, in order to be able to support Tadic’s nomination once again.

Key Issues: Conditions for the EU Accession, Opposition to Illegal EU Mission, Decisive No to NATO

Coalition of Democratic Party of Serbia — New Serbia has analyzed the current position of the country and the results of the future status of Kosovo and Metohija province negotiations after the UN Security Council session on December 19. DSS-NS Coalition holds that the State Negotiating Team defended the interests of the country in the best way during the negotiation phase.

At the Security Council session, United States of America and few of the European states have blocked the joint initiative of Russia, China, Indonesia and South Africa, which Serbia strongly supported, to continue negotiations in order to find the compromise solution. In this way, USA and European members of the Security Council have blocked the UN Security Council from searching for a compromise. They have also announced unilateral implementation of the Ahtisaari plan for the “supervised independence” of the Province.

[...] The DSS-NS Coalition assessed that, at the moment, there are few extremely important issues we have to address, since the destiny of Kosovo and Metohija and the fate of Serbia as a whole, depends on them.

It is well known that the EU has decided, contrary to the legal norms and in contravention to the Resolution 1244, to send its mission for implementation of the rejected Ahtisaari plan on the territory of Serbian state, in Kosovo-Metohija province, in order to impose the supervised independence of Kosovo province. Clearly, ‘supervised independence’ is nothing but another name for the creation of a puppet state. DSS-NS Coalition is firmly opposed to the arrival of the EU mission and finds it necessary for this question to be entirely resolved, prior to the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Relations between Serbia and the EU are going to become seriously problematic in case the EU remains determined to create such a puppet state on Serbia’s territory.

DSS-NS Coalition is expressing deepest concern over the announcements of the significant majority of the EU member states that they will recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo. This is why both DSS and NS insist that, prior to the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, a document be drafted which would unequivocally state that the EU, in accordance with its constitutive acts, guarantees and respects Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in its internationally recognized borders. It is essential that the EU applies to Serbia the same guarantees it gives to every other EU member. Therefore, DSS and NS firmly demand clear assurances that the EU would sign this agreement having in mind Serbia as a whole, and not a mutilated Serbia.

Cooperation and integration of Serbia into the EU, based on the principles that apply to all the other European states, is part of the policy and a common goal of both DSS and NS. No one should interpret this as a policy of isolation, but as looking truth straight in the eye and the expression of the most basic national and state self-respect. DSS and NS are convinced that drawing this red line of the national self-respect is the key condition of the very survival of our state and nation. We expect the EU to show proper respect for this principled position.

Next important issue concerns NATO and its role since bombardment of Serbia, up to the Annex 11 of the Ahtisaari plan. Why did NATO bomb Serbia and then brought its troops into the Province is best explained in the Annex 11 which defines NATO as the “final instance” of power in the puppet state called “supervised independent Kosovo.” Due to NATO’s role in the attempt to dismember Serbia and attempted seizure of 15 percent of our territory, DSS and NS are convinced it is necessary to declare military neutrality of Serbia in relation to the existing military alliances.

For DSS-NS Coalition, these are the most important questions at the crucial moment. If there is the interest on behalf of DS for formulation of the common policy during the upcoming presidential elections, we remain open to serious dialogue and sincere cooperation.

Tomislav Nikolic could Gain DSS-NS Coalition Backing

DSS-NS Coalition is, for the moment, refraining from nominating the New Serbia candidate—Minister Velimir Ilic—for the presidency. Depending on the Tadic’s DS response to their public call for agreement over the key issues and formulation of common policy, Premier’s party and its coalition partner might decide to back Tadic in the upcoming elections, nominate their own candidate, or support the Radical nominee, Tomislav Nikolic. The Radicals share the views with DSS-NS Coalition on the issues brought up in this statement in entirety.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:51 AM | Permalink

Resolution 1244 Crystal Clear, but Western Powers are Eager to Violate it

UN Security Council Resolution 1244 clearly defines that negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija be conducted within essential autonomy for the Serbian province, said on Thursday Serbian international law professor Milan Paunovic.

The resolution is clear, but in this situation the United States and several other powers on the decline in Europe do not want to accept it but to violate it, Paunovic said, commenting on the Wednesday session of the Security Council of Kosovo and Metohija.

“What the United States has imagined is not going to go down easy,” Paunovic assessed in a statement to Tanjug, and cautioned that a crisis was once again looming over the international law, thanks to the “arrogant and unreasonable behavior” of the largest world power and several other states in Western Europe.

Through a behavior pernicious for modern international law, the United States is seeking to destroy the international order, created after WWII by the UN Charter, “because it no longer serves its interests,” assessed Paunovic, who is a professor at Belgrade University Faculty of Law.

According to him, the United States is infringing upon the basic principles of the UN Charter, including the principle of territorial integrity of member states, in what it is followed by “the so-called powers in Europe,” who think they might “gain something in the new world order created under their domination.”

General Ivashov: West Treats Serbia the Same Way Hitler did

Russia’s Academy of Geopolitical Affairs President, General Leonid Ivashov described as very disturbing the announcement by the European Union and the United States of America that they will independently resolve the question of the status of Serbian Kosovo and Metohija province. He did not rule out the possibility of the outbreak of new war in the Balkans.

“The EU, and especially NATO, have no right to adjudicate on the independence of this or that state,” General Ivashov said in an interview for the internet edition of the Moscow daily Pravda.

According to him, it is not by chance that “the representatives of the USA and a series of states dependent on America refused to support a UN resolution against the heroization of fascism.”

“Americans created the problem in Kosovo and they have now pushed it over to the Europeans, while they themselves will deal with destabilization of other regions in the world, maintaining, at the same time, their base there (in Serbian Kosovo province) permanently,” Russian general said.

“They are doing the same thing Hitler did, while only slightly changing their methods. Hitler and his machinery also worked upon their own norms and terms which they attempted to impose on the European community, like the alleged Munich Agreement, i.e. imposed annexation of part of Czechoslovakia,” General Ivashov said.

The situation with southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija most obviously demonstrates “methods of destroying states, imposing one’s own will and one’s own standards for subjugation,” he said. The balance of forces following the Second World War is toppling and the right of might is being imposed, said General Ivashov in the interview.

Tomislav Nikolic: Putin’s Russia is Our Pillar

Serbian Radical Party (SRS) deputy leader and presidential candidate Tomislav Nikolic on Thursday stated that Serbia was well represented at the UN Security Council session on Wednesday.

“I regret the fact that Serbian president, who is in charge of foreign policy, did not dare go there and directly oppose the seizure of Kosovo and Metohija because it would mean directly opposing his friends,” Nikolic told reporters in the parliament.

According to him, it is high time for the Serbian parliament to discuss Kosovo and Metohija, because the crisis “will last many years and will be exhausting,” which is why it is important “that those who would agree that it is time to end the crisis by accepting everything — are not ruling Serbia.”

Everything else is the matter of Russia's support, which is now the subject of a joust, said Nikolic, adding that “no one can break Russia led by Vladimir Putin, and that is our pillar.”

EU Out of Place in Trying to Impose its Will Upon the Country which is not its Member

When asked what would happen if the settlement of the status of Kosovo and Metohija would be transferred to the EU, Nikolic replied that the issue may not be transferred to the EU because, among other things, Serbia is not a member of the Union.

“Why should the EU discuss the situation in the state which is not its member,” asked Nikolic, concluding that Serbia does not have anyone within the EU who could protect her with any kind of a veto.

“For those who believe that they have destroyed militarily all other peoples in the world by NATO’s taking over even the United Nations political functions, I believe that the UN still exists, and for as long as it officially exists it may not hand over its competencies to international organizations at a lower instance,” said Nikolic.

Cartoon by Slawomir Luczynski (Poland)

Posted by Svetlana at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Unilateral Actions Critical for Relations with Russia

Unilateral actions of the European Union and NATO on a solution to the Kosovo and Metohija status problem will result in critical problems in the relations with Russia, high-ranking official of the United Russia Konstantin Kosachev stated on Friday.

For the first time in history of the United Nations, the two organizations announce their intent to bypass the United Nations in order to impose a solution and affect the fate of a country that is not a member of those organizations, underscored Kosachev, who is also the former chairman of the international affairs committee of the Russian Duma.

Kosachev warned that this would set a “dangerous precedent not only from the point of view of ‘frozen conflicts’, but also from the point of view of international law and collective security, which the UN is a symbol of.”

“Such unilateral actions will result in critical problems in Russia’s relations with those organizations,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted Kosachev as saying.

EU Kosovo Mission Only with Security Council Decision and Belgrade’s Consent

The EU mission could replace the UN mission in Kosovo, but this requires a corresponding decision by the UN Security Council and Belgrade’s consent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

If the EU intends to replace the UN, two conditions must be fulfilled: a special decision should be adopted by the United Nations Security Council, without any changes to its Resolution 1244, and Belgrade should agree to this, since this is obligatory for all peace operations, the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov recalled that within the EU there is no firm resolve to violate the international law.

Even those countries that appear to believe that amputation of southern Serbian province is a solution with no alternative, comprehend the harm of such a move, Lavrov stated.

According to him, this is why they are trying to obtain a Security Council reaction in all possible ways also with regards to the decision to dispatch police and civilian EU missions to Kosovo-Metohija province.

Orwellian Logic Cannot Overrule the UN Security Council Resolutions

UN Security Council can endorse only a negotiated solution, while the formula for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija will be precedent-setting in any case, said Russia’s permanent representative in the UN Vitaly Churkin.

In an interview with RIA Novosti correspondent from New York, released by Kommersant daily on Friday, Churkin dismissed as completely erroneous assertions of some American and European politicians that Resolution 1244 provides a window for the independence of Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

This is Orwellian logic, where black is presented as white. Resolution 1244 establishes international control over Kosovo province until the solution of the future status of the Province is agreed upon. In the absence of such solution the Resolution unequivocally prevents Kosovo independence, said the head of the Russian Mission to the United Nations.

“We do not need an arbitrator here,” he said and added “if Pristina was to decide to take the path of unilateral declaration of independence, the UN leadership must nullify such a decision and demand from Pristina to revoke it.”

Kosovo-Metohija Province Solely Within the UN Security Council Responsibility

Kosovo province issue cannot be resolved outside the UN Security Council, the main UN body responsible for upholding peace and security, the Russian diplomat said, adding that “any activities that call into question the authority of the UN are inadmissible.”

Russian UN Ambassador called the theses on the alleged “uniqueness” of the case of Serbian province “false optimism of those who advocate the idea of unilateral solutions.”

To reject dialogue over Kosovo would give a strong impetus to separatism in different parts of the world. This would trigger a dangerous chain reaction that, sooner of later, would touch every region or country, where there are latent problems of separatism and ethnic and religious conflicts, Churkin said.

International Presence in Serbian Province Not within EU/NATO Competence

International presence in Kosovo-Metohija is not among the prerogatives or in the competence of the European Union or NATO, Russia’s Contact Group representative Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said on Thursday.

If independence was unilaterally declared and if an EU mission was sent to Kosovo province bypassing the United Nations, this would be the grossest violation of the fundamental norms of international law, UN Charter and fundamental peacemaking principles with all the resulting consequences, Botsan-Kharchenko said for the Russian state television.

After the Wednesday UN Security Council session, representatives of European countries and United States declared their intention to “take the responsibility for the fate of Serbia’s southern province,” believing that the negotiating potential was exhausted. The European Union has announced its plans to send a police and judicial mission there.

Both Belgrade and Moscow are decisively opposed to such flagrant violations of the agreements signed by all the key international players, including NATO and EU member-states.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Moscow will Stand its Ground on Kosovo, One Way or the Other

According to Tanjug, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksander Alekseyev says his country will stand its ground on Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija.

In an interview for the Thursday issue of Belgrade daily Politika, Alekseyev said that it would be “a very serious mistake if the EU mission arrived in Kosovo without a corresponding decision of the UN Security Council,” reminding that the possible replacement of the UN mission with an EU mission “had been envisaged, but only in scope of a general regulation the sole basis of which was Resolution 1244.”

Asked if Russia was considering the possibility of its military presence in Serbia, as opposed to that of NATO in Kosovo-Metohija province, a subject which Radical’s deputy leader and Serbia’s presidential candidate Tomislav Nikolic raised in public recently, the Russian ambassador replied that it was “a very delicate matter not considered until now.”

“We have had different plans that refered, first of all, to our economic presence and political support, which we are working on very seriously,” Alekseyev explained.

At the same time, Russian ambassador also reminded of a recent statement by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Yuri Baluyevskiy, who did not rule out the possibility of military assistance to Serbia, but in one case only — if Serbia requested something of the kind.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Lakota Country Secedes from the US

Official Press Release

Threaten Land Liens, Contested Real Estate Over Five State Area in U.S.West Dakota Territory Reverts back to Lakota Control According to U.S., International Law

WASHINGTON, DC - December 20 - Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today in Washington D.C. following Monday's withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.

The End of U.S. Colonial Rule

"This is an historic day for our Lakota people," declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. "United States colonial rule is at its end!"

"Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit," shared Garry Rowland from Wounded Knee. "They never honored the treaties, that's the reason we are here today."

The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.

Lakota Country Includes Parts of Five American States

"In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children — we have no choice but to claim our own destiny," said Phyllis Young, a former Indigenous representative to the United Nations and representative from Standing Rock.

Property ownership in the five state area of Lakota now takes center stage. Parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as predecessor sovereign [historic owner]. Lakota representatives say if the United States does not enter into immediate diplomatic negotiations, liens will be filed on real estate transactions in the five state region, clouding title over literally thousands of square miles of land and property.

Young added, "The actions of Lakota are not intended to embarrass the United States but to simply save the lives of our people".

Lakota Connects with Bolivia, Venezuela

Following Monday's withdrawal at the State Department, the four Lakota Itacan representatives have been meeting with foreign embassy officials in order to hasten their official return to the Family of Nations.

Lakota's efforts are gaining traction as Bolivia, home to Indigenous President Evo Morales, shared they are "very, very interested in the Lakota case" while Venezuela received the Lakota delegation with "respect and solidarity."

"Our meetings have been fruitful and we hope to work with these countries for better relations," explained Garry Rowland. "As a nation, we have equal status within the national community."

Education, energy and justice now take top priority in emerging Lakota. "Cultural immersion education is crucial as a next step to protect our language, culture and sovereignty," said Means. "Energy independence using solar, wind, geothermal, and sugar beets enables Lakota to protect our freedom and provide electricity and heating to our people."

Colonizers’ Shameful Legacy, Apartheid Against Indigenous People

The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average. 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.

"After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative," emphasized Duane Martin Sr. "The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway."

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have traveled to Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at LakotaFreedom.com.

Reports available from AFP, Telegraph.co.uk, USA Today, and Radio Netherlands, among others.

Posted by Svetlana at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

CIA/NATO Queen Schook Gets Booted by the UN from Serbian province of Kosovo

UNMIK deputy head, retired US General Steven Schook, who is under investigation because of his links with terrorist KLA members, left southern Serbian province on Tuesday, after being told that his contract would not be renewed, an unidentified UN official told the AP news agency.

Schook, whose term of office as deputy head of UNMIK will officially end on December 31, will not be invited back to participate in the mission, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation case.

The official offered no reason why Schook had been requested to leave or any details about the investigation.

Schook told local media in September that the UN office was investigating his links with Kosovo Albanian officials, including “energy minister” Ethem Ceku, who led a murky multi million dollar power plant construction project.

Schook is also under investigation because of his unprofessionally close relationship with Ramush Haradinaj, former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK) terrorist commander turned politician, and a war criminal currently on trial in the Hague for atrocities committed against Serbian and Albanian civilians (an Albanian woman who testified against Haradinaj and Brahimaj as a protected witness told the court that, when KLA butchers were done with her husband, “only his soul was left untouched, everything else was mutilated” — Albanian liberators indeed).

What was Schook’s Role in Intimidation of Witnesses Called to Testify Against Haradinaj/KLA?

While the Hague prosecution continues to complain about the thorough witness intimidation that is all but preventing the trial of Haradinaj and his KLA henchmen, it remains unclear whether Haradinaj’s best friend in Serbian province, Steven Schook, has been in any way involved in direct or indirect intimidation of witnesses called to testify against their former provisional “prime minister” in the Hague.

As a NATO official holding one of the highest posts in UNMIK administration (appointed by Kofi Annan, after being a NATO commander in both Bosnia and Kosovo-Metohija), who loudly protested Haradinaj’s arrest and kept praising the KLA cutthroat as the “guarantor of peace” in the Serbian province, he already presented a significant threat and really didn’t need to do much more to strike fear into those Kosovo-Metohija residents who would otherwise be willing to testify against the KLA butchers.

Interestingly enough, Ramush Haradinaj, even though a Muslim, was allowed to leave prison — for Christmas. Another of his KLA buddies, also a Muslim, Lahi Brahimaj, will be released for Christmas too.

When CIA is your friend, you can even be promoted into an honorary Christian if that suits your present needs.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:15 PM | Permalink

Kosovo Serbs Rally Behind their Government

Around 10,000 Kosovo Serbs gathered today in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica, the largest remaining Serbian enclave in the province ethnically cleansed of over 300,000 non-Albanians since the arrival of NATO in 1999, at rally in support of their government, to say that Kosovo Serbs want to continue living in the province and within Serbia.

The rally in a central city square was held in support of the state delegation that is participating at a UN Security Council session on Wednesday, focusing on the future status of southern Serbian province of Kosovo, following the stage of negotiations mediated by the Contact Group troika.

The gathering, organized by the Serbian National Council (SNV), comes a day ahead of a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the future status of Kosovo, as a sign of support for official Belgrade's position in the crisis.

No to Illegal EU Mission, No to Seizure of Kosovo-Metohija, No to Another Albanian State on Serbian Territory

The rally is held under the motto, "No to the illegal EU mission circumventing UN resolution, No to independent Kosovo, a huge Yes to Kosovo as part of Serbia and Serbs as full-fledged citizens of Serbia".

Ten thousand people have gathered in the Sumadija Square in town. Heavy police presence is reported at the site.

“We are clearly and loudly telling a part of the international community 'No' to an independent Kosovo,” Kosovo Serb politician and member of the state negotiating team, Dr. Marko Jaksic said.

“We are sending the message that incessant attempts by Albanians to create another Albanian state in Serbia's territory, with foreign help, are unacceptable to the Kosovo Serbs,” said Jaksic.

“We are sending European Union a message that its mission won't be coming to Kosovo outside of the UN resolution,” he said.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 approved the deployment of the UN mission eight years ago after NATO aggression on Serbia which was drawn into an anti-terror war, against the Albanian Muslim armed insurgency under the terrorist KLA banner.

“The West, under the guise of the 'International community' wants to gift the Albanians yet another country in the Balkans after it bombed Serbia,” Dr. Jaksic said.

Serbia to Suspend All Processes with the EU

“Kosovo Serbs expect Belgrade to fight tooth and nail for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia,” said Jaksic.

“We want Serbia to suspend all processes with the European Union because that's no place for us. We don't care about full pockets and bellies if we lose Kosovo-Metohija,” he said.

“The state of Serbia is each day more and more capable of offering security to its citizens in Kosovo and Metohija,” he added.

Serbian Delegation Headed by Prime Minister Arrives in New York

Serbian delegation that will take part in the Wednesday close-door session of the UN Security Council dedicated to Kosovo, arrived in New York late on Monday, where over the next 24 hours it will have talks with a number of international officials, including the Foreign Ministers of Italy and Slovakia, Massimo D'Alema and Jan Kubis, respectively.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Slobodan Samardzic will meet, before the Security Council session, with the ambassadors of several member countries of the world organization's most influential body.

Prime Minister Kostunica announced ahead of his departure for New York that Serbian delegation would require a continuation of the negotiations on the status of southern Serbian province of Kosovo.

On Wednesday, the Serbian delegation will take part in the Security Council session, which will review the report [.pdf file] by the mediators of the international Contact Group on the recently concluded 120-day negotiations between Serbian authorities and Kosovo Albanian separatists.

Posted by Svetlana at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Presidential Candidate Tomislav Nikolic: EU Will Close Its Doors to Serbia in February

Tomislav Nikolic, presidential candidate in the upcoming elections and leader of Serbian Radical Party, the strongest political party in the country, in an interview for the Sunday edition of the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik said the EU leaders delayed imposed amputation of Kosovo-Metohija province from Serbia until mid February, in order to enable their candidate, Boris Tadic, to win the elections.

Scheduled for January 20, Serbia’s presidential elections are considered decisive in regards to the country’s future relation towards key Western governments which are openly advocating dismemberment of Serbia through the severing of its southern province of Kosovo-Metohija.

Boris Tadic, commonly praised in the West as a “pro-Western, pro-Euro-Atlantic integrations” candidate and the current president of Serbia will face a fierce challenge in the leader of Radical Party, which holds a third of votes in the Serbian parliament. Tomislav Nikolic and the Radicals are staunch opponents of Serbia’s accession to both NATO and the EU, due to NATO aggression and Western insistence on seizing Serbia’s territory.

Since the Lisbon summit on December 13, when the EU leaders issued direct ultimatum to Serbia to accept amputation of its southern province if it intends to join the Union, the opinion polls have shown that the public has made a definite shift in favor of Nikolic, and leader of Radicals is currently considered a frontrunner for the presidential appointment.

Assessing that joining NATO is no longer a dilemma among the greatest majority of Serbian voters, Nikolic told Dnevnik that “NATO has closed its doors to Serbia already” and now it is only a question of whether the EU accession is desirable or not. “However, the EU will close its doors in February for sure, because it will recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija,” Nikolic said.

He also rejected a claim that “hundreds upon hundreds of millions of Euros” would allegedly be poured into Serbia after it would sign the EU accession agreement, reminding that similar speculations and promises were being circulated at the time of CIA-funded “democratic revolution” in October 2000, but the supposed “billions” dwindled into a pittance after the coup.

A Handful of Western States Trying to Dismember Serbia are Not the Whole World

While against Serbia asking to be accepted into exclusive clubs